Where Art Thou Josh Vitters?

All this Jake Peavy madness has me thinking about Chicago Cubs top hitting prospect Josh Vitters, the former center piece of a Peavy-to-the-North Side deal that would have been going to San Diego.

Actually I had thinking about Vitters long before Pursuing Peavy Pt. II started. ... It actually began when Aramis Ramirez injured himself in Milwaukee and I realized the Cubs were stuck with Mike Fontenot and Aaron Miles as platoon mates at third base. So when I finished throwing up in my mouth a little, I did what any self-loathing Cubs fan would do: Check up on Vitters' progress.

And even though he is only in Single-A, he is torturing opposing pitching. Vitters is batting .360 with 7 homers and 21 ribbies and a batting-average driven .389 on-base percentage. The Peoria Chiefs third sacker is slugging .581 with an OPS of .970.

Vitters is coming off a 12-for-19 week against the Beloit Snappers. Fontenot has 13 hits since April 25.

You can see why the Padres insisted he was part of the deal and why the Cubs were not so willing to deal him.

Unfortunately, Vitters isn't getting the call and Cubdom will be stuck with Fontenot and Miles ... who have combined to hit .208 and a .284 OBP.

Then there is Jake Fox, who can play first, third, left, right and be an emergency catcher and is currently tearing through the Pacific Coast League like an inland hurricane with a .431 average, .513 on-base percentage, .954 slugging percentage and an absolutely sickening (in a good way) 1.467 OPS.

Meanwhile, expect Lou Piniella to do some line-up shuffling as the Cubs try to not get swept by the arch rival Cardinals.