Edwin Jackson finally arrives
The 'real' Edwin Jackson showed up for the first time this season, striking out eight while allowing one run, one walk, and four hits in seven innings. More importantly, his fastball averaged 94.78 on the day, much closer to his career avg of 95 mph than the paltry low 93.x mph he had been throwing earlier this year. The velocity bump showed up in the rest of his pitches that well. We had a false start of excitement in his rain-shortened start against the White Sox last week – his stuff looked a lot better (maybe more movement), but the Cell has a hot gun and a historically bad offense. He was pummeled for 12 hits and five walks by the DBacks in his next start, averaging 92.4 on his fastball. He said the key to his good start was that he was just "having fun out there", so I guess he got a pep talk from Brett Favre before the game.
The offense managed to pull out a win thanks to the dynamic hitting abilities of Cubs 1-2 hitters Darwin Barney and Cody Ransom. *facepalm*. Gregg nailed down the save, and it's hard to believe it was only his seventh. Well, maybe not *that* hard to believe. Brett points out that it's been nearly a month since he's been in a save situation.
David DeJesus is quietly having a good year, but…
This puff piece on Cubs.com exhorting Cubs fans to vote for him (or really, any position player) for the ASG is kind of laughable. There are currently 14 NL OFs ahead of him in fWAR. With Starlin Castro's struggles, it's pretty clear that he's not going to continue his streak as the Cubs ASG representative. Luckily the Cubs have multiple starting pitchers who are more than worthy (Shark) or more-or-less worthy (Wood, Feldman), though I feel pretty certain in saying Shark is going to be the lone representative.
Dale Sveum's son is a grinder, or whatever the hockey equivalent is
Buried in this blurb about the Cubs living vicariously through the Blackhawks playoff run, Sveum talks about how he and his son are big hockey fans. His son had some loose teeth from hockey injuries and would only have them pulled at a hockey game, where he did it himself.
Kudos to the D-Backs
The D-backs drafted former Arizona State OF Cory Hahn in his first year of college elgibility. Hahn was paralyzed from the chest down following a horrific injury in 2011. Great writeup of the story from Fox Sports Arizona. (h/t HardballTalk). They plan to keep him involved in the org as a full-time employee.
Signing news
The Cubs signed pitchers Zak Hermans (30th round) and 14th round pick Daniel Poncedeleon. A lot of people had Poncedeleon as the best name in the draft, but meh. No one's going to be usurping Rock Shoulders for the best name in hte minors anytime soon anyway (aside: his real name is RODERICK D. SHOULDERS. Somehow that's even better. If only his middle initial was F., he could be as much talent as Young Player Brad F. Snyder).
Tweet of the yesterday
@stanteater He knows all about falling. Usually backwards, from the punch of a DE. Or grasping at the DE running around him.
— Mercurial Outfielder (@MOutfielder) June 10, 2013
Carimi was a solid lineman in what was one of the best Badgers O-Lines ever. Too bad it didn't work out for him in the pros.
Comments
Wow I know Carimi sucks, but trading him for a 6th round draft pick is pretty shitty. I almost rather have him ride the bench.
WaLiQuote Reply
This is one of those years where the Cubs rep to the ASG will know beyond any doubt that he’s only there because the rules required a Cubs rep.
joshQuote Reply
That’s a Grade A tweet right there
MylesQuote Reply
@ josh:
Nah, Samardzija is definitely deserving
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
It depends on how many pitchers they need, I guess. Maybe I’m just biased to think all the Cubs are horrible.
joshQuote Reply
WaLi wrote:
Someone on the PSD board put a positive spin on this by mentioning the Bears will save $1.9m for trading him when he was probably just going to be on the bench anyway. He didn’t help himself by skipping voluntary workouts. So they got a pick and that money they saved can go towards a C, LT, or DE (resign Izzy).
JonKneeVQuote Reply
wait didn’t he just get called up a week ago? is that 5 errors just at iowa?
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
@ EnricoPallazzo:
yup, 5 E in 5 games. impressive.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
Yeah, and there are people who legit think he can be a supersub. You’ve got to be kidding me
MylesQuote Reply
@ Myles:
I think I saw a Ben Zobrist comp somewhere the other day (dying laughing).
BerseliusQuote Reply
Myles wrote:
A) Who cares about minor league errors? The guy has barely played this year, let him get into the swing of things. Castro started the year with like 5 errors in the first 10 or 15 games and settled in fine. Further, he’s at a new position, give him a bit.
B) You guys could really use some focus on the nonnegative aspect of… Something. Like that he hasn’t struck out yet this year. And is hitting doubles all over the place. If his bat actually works pretty well, he can be a damn good CF, cause he’s really fast (60-65 on the 20-80) and has a cannon for an arm (80, arguably the best in the minors and one of the best in all of baseball). So he wouldn’t need to super-sub.
That’s not to say the errors are to be entirely ignored, but errors in the minors are hardly important or all that indicative of MLB error rates. And it’s not like Lake isn’t also doing some things that are encouraging.
/Optimism flag!
DoogolasQuote Reply
Doogolas wrote:
FLAGGED
BerseliusQuote Reply
Doogolas wrote:
I think this is the wrong place for that (dying laughing)
I really appreciate the Daily Facepalms and the JOT with the inclusions of the major league team. I know it’s tough to write about this Cubs team so often, but I do enjoy reading the stuff posted here.
WaLiQuote Reply
Doogolas wrote:
While errors (and definitely minor-league errors) are not a very good stat for measuring defensive capability, they do mean something when you average one a day. Combine that with the actual scouting reports that say he couldn’t play either SS or 3B and it’s just hard to imagine him being useful at a variety of positions. Usually supersubs exist because they can play passably everywhere without needing a lot of reps. Lake can’t play passably anywhere; maybe eventually at CF or RF, but he’d need a ton of reps that this organization isn’t going to give him. Maybe his bat carries him (and I like his bat more than most – it could maybe play in right and definitely in center), but there is a minimum threshold that Sveum or any other manager has to be allowed to play in the field at Lake doesn’t meet it at ANY infield position unless he’s Barry Bonds at the plate. I hope he proves me wrong.
Not to mention this is all in extreme small sample size territory (this year).
One last thing, I’m just not an optimist like dmick89.
MylesQuote Reply
WaLi wrote:
Not to be pedantic, but aren’t the guys on the active Cubs roster techincally Journeymen of Today?
uncle daveQuote Reply
@ uncle dave:
Yeah, but that won’t change tomorrow.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Myles wrote:
I’ve literally never seen a scouting report say he can’t play 3B. In fact, almost every one of them I’ve ever read has said he’d probably end up at 3B or CF/RF. Obviously CF and 3B are most preferable, but eh. And given his error rates at SS in his career, it’s absurd to assume he’ll make even remotely this many at 3B with time to play there. I dunno how many reps it’ll require, at any of the positions, but he also has a shot at 2B. He makes very few errors there by comparison, which makes sense because the throws don’t need to travel as far, so he could likely stick there and with his bat be a fine player. And he certainly has the ability to do something like DeRosa, 2B, LF, a little CF, RF and maybe 3B every once in a while. Even if he’s only average at a couple of the positions and below average in CF and 3B, that gives him plenty of playing time and easily enough value to be worth quite a bit depending on how his bat holds up (which I also like more than most. And this streak of no strike outs (21PA) is longer than any he had all of last year, which is a good sign).
I’m kind of rambling at this point, but I guess I’m just saying that I think he might be able to have a good amount of value, and I base that largely on his body and speed. He’s huge these days, has to be close to 6’4″. Anyways, Lake is just interesting. The Cubs have to get lucky with one of these fucking guys eventually right?
DoogolasQuote Reply
uncle dave wrote:
JoT stands for whatever I need it to. Journeymen of Tomorrow, Journeymen of Today, Joffrey ogling Tyrion, you name it
MylesQuote Reply
@ Doogolas:
I don’t know if DeRosa is what you want to aim for. The guy really only had one good year and 2 okay years. Not exactly inspiring.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
Then again, since when has horrible defense ever mattered when it comes to a guy who can hit?
joshQuote Reply
josh wrote:
BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!!!!!
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
I think Lake will be fine as a utility player. At least defensively. He’s played a lot of SS, has a very strong arm and was, not all that long ago, considered the best fielder in the system. There has always been questions about whether he’d remain at SS. That question has been answered. He can’t, but I think defensively he’ll be fine elsewhere.
The question with Lake has never really been defense. The question is whether or not he can hit well enough. At one point I was convinced he could. I’m not convinced any more. At SS, I wouldn’t worry too much about his bat, but at 3rd base or the OF, he’ll probably never cut it.
Sorry Doog, but I can’t be more optimistic about this
dmick89Quote Reply
@ Myles:
Not looking forward to the series of Joffrey ogling Tyrion posts.
uncle daveQuote Reply
dmick89 wrote:
I wasn’t saying be more optimistic in that sense, I was saying that if we’re questioning his defense because of five games, should we not also praise his outstanding performance offensively, which includes not a single strike out? Why must we ONLY focus on the negative thing taking place when the other side of the ball is every bit as positive?
DoogolasQuote Reply
Doogolas wrote:
Because we know more about Lake’s offensive abilities. He was recently moved away from SS because of defense. He’s always made way too many errors.
it’s not like there aren’t reasons to highlight his questionable defense. You’re making it sound like this is a guy with spotless defense in his career and that we’re point it out as a negative because he’s had a bad week.
dmick89Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
I thought Doogolas’s main point was highlighting the SSS nature of Lake’s errors this season, and trying to contrast to some pretty good trends he was putting up. At least, that’s how I read it.
Next time I make a case for Bijan Rademacher or Kyle Hendrick, I’d like Doogolas to active on the blog that day. (dying laughing)
SVBQuote Reply
Some pretty funny names got drafted last week. Also, MLB writers apparently can’t count backward from 10. Must be ZazF7 got them mixed up.
SVBQuote Reply
SVB wrote:
This is what I meant. And next time you throw something up I’ll join in that, not a fan of BJ myself, I want him to just switch to pitching with both hands for the novel of it. He makes Szczur look like the hulk and he doesn’t have near the speed.
Hendricks I like, he reminds me of… Fuck, I forget his name, he pitched for the Jays and Brewers though. I think his name starts with an M, let me look it up, Marcum!
DoogolasQuote Reply
Oh. Well, yeah, it’s small sample size for sure (as is his no K’s and overall line this year). It’s just that, jeez, 5 errors in 5 games. That’s the rate that Baez can only dream of.
MylesQuote Reply
Also, about 3B… maybe the scouting reports on him are better than I thought, I freely admit that. All I know is that I’ve personally seen him field SS terribly and while his range might be better hidden at 3B (and his arm is incredible), I can’t see how he could field the position without putting in a ton of work he’s not going to get by being a supersub.
MylesQuote Reply
New shit
http://obstructedview.net/commentary-and-analysis/series-preview-cincinnati-reds-37-26-at-chicago-cubs-25-35.html
BerseliusQuote Reply