Some Chicago Cubs prospects will be playing 120 miles closer to Wrigley Field in 2013. The Kane County Cougars will reportedly replace the Peoria Chiefs as the Cubs' Single-A affiliate in the Midwest League next season.
Neither the Cubs nor Kane County has yet confirmed the report, but the move was a surprise to Peoria brass:
"It definitely caught us off guard," Chiefs president Rocky Vonachen told the Peoria Journal Star. "It’s the first we’ve heard anything like that."
Mark Grace and Greg Maddux are two prominent Cubs who played minor league ball for the Chiefs, over an on-and-off 30 year affiliation between the two teams. Kane County's contract with the Kansas City Royals ends after the 2012 season.
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