Chicago Cubs 1 @ San Francisco Giants 0
The Cubs are playing well enough lately that they're suddenly in danger of losing out on a protected top 10 draft pick next year. They've got three days to trade away talent though, and I'd be shocked if the team finished the year in that mediocre 10-20 range Theo mentioned wanting to avoid at the beginning of the season.
RizzoWatch: Anthony was 0-4 last night, and it's starting to get pretty ugly. Starlin Castro was 2-4. Hooray! The Junior Lake Show was 0-3 with a walk. Nate Schierholtz was pretty much the whole offense, blasting a solo homer in a 1-4 day that won the game. All in all, the offense was tepid as hell.
Thankfully Chris Rusin decided he wanted to be awesome for a change of pace, doling out 7 shutout innings on 3 hits and 2 walks. He only struck out 3, but who cares. Pedro Strop loaded the bases with 0 outs in the eighth, then proceeded to extricate himself from the trouble without allowing a run to score. Magic. Kevin Gregg did the same with one out, and was saved by a 3-6-3 double play. Thank god for good defense.
Iowa Cubs 0 @ Oklahoma City RedHawks 5
Iowa got 4-hit last night, struck out 14 times, and nobody got past first base. Logan Watkins was 1-4. Mike Olt was 0-3 with a walk. Edwin Maysonet had the best day by going 2-4, and then proceeded to get picked off both times. Congratulations on winning the Ryan Theriot Memorial Dance Fever Award for today, Edwin Maysonet.
Barret Loux was basically a 40 degree day. 6 innings, 7 hits, 4 runs, 3 walks, 4 Ks. If you missed it, he had a really nice, interesting NYT piece written about him being the player drafted after Matt Harvey. Worth a read. Alberto Cabrera worked 2 innings in relief, which is a bizarre thing that's been happening since Cabrera came up to Des Moines. Cabrera had a ton of success in the Southern League this year as a starter, but he is getting just a bit old (age 24 season) and walks a few more guys than you'd like to see. They might just want to ease him into the PCL, which can be tough on pitchers. Or maybe this precedes a September bullpen callup to the majors? Just a guess. No idea what's going on.
Tennessee Smokies 6 @ Huntsville Stars 3
Has it been fully articulated how stacked this Tennessee lineup is? They've become the lineup I was expecting Kane County to be all season, just a fun player at almost every position. Javier Baez was 0-3 but took 2 walks! Fuck you Keith Law! Arismendy Alcantara was 0-4 with a walk and 3 Ks. He is ice cold of late. Justin Bour is not, however, going 1-5 with a home run for his 4th homer in as many days, and his 6th in his last ten. Nice work Justin Bour. John Andreoli also went deep in a 1-5 day.
Rubi Silva had the game of the day though, going 3-4 with a homer and a triple. Silva's having a weird season in the Southern League, posting a .285/.305/.496 line. He has just 11 walks on the year for a career high 3% rate. He's not gonna make anything of himself with that kind of aggressiveness, but it's always interesting to me when a guy can manage an .800 OPS despite barely cracking .300 in OBP.
Jonathan Mota was 2-4, and Christian Villanueva was 2-4 with a homer. Nice offensive day for the Smokies, all told.
Kyle Hendricks continued his dominating ways last night, tossing 7 innings of 6-hit, 2-run (1 earned) ball on a walk and six strikeouts. Zach Rosscup worked the 8th and allowed a hit while striking out one. Tony Zych got an out in the ninth before allowing a run on 2 walks and a hit and being replaced by Frank Batista, who got the final two without incident and closed out the game. Trade somebody so Hendricks can go to Iowa already.
Daytona Cubs 6 @ Palm Beach Cardinals 0
Taiwan Easterline was 1-4 with a double. Pin-Chieh Chen was 0-4 and the only D-Cub not to reach base. Dustin Geiger was 3-4. Bijan Rademacher was 1-4 with a SB. And Ben Carhart was 1-5 with a SB.
Eduardo Figueroa scattered 6 hits across 5 innings and kept it scoreless on 2 walks and 5 Ks. Zach Cates worked the 6th, allowing a hit and nothing else. Jeffry Antigua finished off the last three, allowing a hit and a walk while striking out 3.
Kane County Cougars 1 @ Peoria Chiefs 4
Dan Vogelbach hit his 15th homer of the season in a 1-4 day. That was the extent of the offense for KC. Rock Shoulders did go 2-3 with a double and a walk. Tayler Scott continued the season-long trend of Cougars SPs not named Johnson being terrible, allowing 4 runs in 5 innings on 9 hits, 2 BBs, and 0 Ks. Sheldon McDonald worked 3 innings and didn't allow a run, giving up a hit and a walk on 1 K.
Spokane Generals 3 @ Boise Hawks 1
Kris Bryant was 1-4. Daniel Lockhart was 3-4 with a SB. David Bote, Yasiel Balaguert, and Jose Dore were all 1-4. Nothing remotely interesting going on here.
James Pugliese is having a nice go of it in his second time through the Northwest League. Last night he worked 6 innings, allowed 5 hits and an earned run while striking out 4. He's got a 38:8 K:BB rate in 47 innings and has a 2.23 GO/AO rate. He turns 21 in two weeks. I'd give him a taste of Kane County, especially given the pitching situation there, but what do I know.
Trey Masek kept his ERA blemish free, working 2 innings and walking 2. Eddie Orozco worked the ninth and took the loss, allowing 2 runs in 2 hits, 2 walks, and a K.
Brett Jackson was 1-3 with a BB and 2 Ks. Jeffrey Baez was 3-4. Greg Rohan was 2-3 with a 2B. Zak Blair was 1-3. Charcer Burks was 2-4.
On the pitching side, Anthony Prieto worked 4 innings and gave up 2 hits, 3 walks, and no runs on 3 Ks. Then it was turned over to 2013 draftees, as Tyler Ihrig worked the 5th and 6th, allowing a run on a hit and 2 Ks. Trevor Graham took the bump for the next two, gave up 2 hits, a walk, and struckout 4 with no runs allowed. Josh Davis worked the last, and allowed a hit and no runs, striking out 1.
Comments
EnricoPallazzo wrote:
LET’S GO LYNX.
sitrickQuote Reply
That’s what I see, every time.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Soriano 4-5 with a walkoff hit
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Cy-Babe Wood winning the game
Suburban kidQuote Reply
He has the second-best SLG% in the lineup (behind Lake).
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
And a homer.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Anyone else just hear Len say that Paul Sullivan will no longer be the Cubs beat writer after the next homestand?
GBTSQuote Reply
NDB Paul Sullivan ———————> off the beat
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
No.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
CJ Edwards ——–> 8 Ks through 3 (!)
JonKneeVQuote Reply
What the hell, Rizzo.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Suburban kid wrote:
haha, i was thinking earlier that i always read that as “mayonn-egg”.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
Did he quit
dmick89Quote Reply
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Doesn’t seem like the Cubs have made a boneheaded baserunning play in awhile so Rizzo fixed that.
dmick89Quote Reply
Go on the Cubbies
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ dmick89:
He’s gonna do something else at the Tribune. The Sox writer Mark Gonzalez will switch to the Cubs.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
that was Cub’d
dmick89Quote Reply
I was looking at the Kane County game and I saw the guy hitting leadoff for the Cardinals Low-A team is Chuck McElroy’s son.
“How about that?!”
– Mel Allen
Baby McElroy
Chet MastersonQuote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
Mop floors?
dmick89Quote Reply
The Cubs just swept the defending world champions on the road.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
The Cubs scored 6 runs all series and at no point had more than a 1-run lead.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
dmick89 wrote:
He accused the custodian of plagiarizing his techinique
MylesQuote Reply
Myles wrote:
Good luck with your bucket.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Looks like Pujols will be on the DL for a long while.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Honestly, I’m amazed he’s avoided the DL for so long. He’s been off all year.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Can you guys imagine where we’d be right now if Marmol hadn’t blown that one save like a month ago?
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
So Marmol had four losses on the season prior to his trade…
Cubs now 48-55. So they could’ve been 52-51 instead. Hmmm. HMMMM.
Nope, still not good enough.
But dammit, Marmol.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
I’m hoping that Gregg and Russell get traded so that we can go back to losing 1 run games. This extended run of respectable play doesn’t help anything. Would be nice if we can get a top five pick. HOU, FLA, and CHW seem safely in the bottom 3. It might be hard to fall behind Milwaukee though.
JQuote Reply
Baez with 2 HRs tonight (dying laughing)
JonKneeVQuote Reply
@ JonKneeV:
… and struck out 3 times. (dying laughing)
He’s now 3rd in the Southern League in HR’s by a SS. (Alcantara is 2nd.)
http://www.fangraphs.com/minorleaders.aspx?pos=ss&stats=bat&lg=6&qual=0&type=0&season=2013&team=0&players=0&sort=10,d
shawndgoldmanQuote Reply
@ shawndgoldman:
@ JonKneeV:
He has a .900+ OPS with a sub-.300 OBP. (dying laughing)
sitrickQuote Reply
I think they’re just trying to manage Alberto Cabrera’s innings. He was strickly bullpen last year, and having started all of this year, has already thrown 30 more innings than all of last season. He may also end up with another callup to MLB for the pen this year though.
Recalcitrant Blogger NateQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
This is a strange team. They have exactly zero impact bats, yet are more or less league average on offense. They still have three solid starting pitchers and are quietly assembling at least a portion of a passable bullpen (Gregg turning back into a pumpkin notwithstanding). If they added a bona fide impact bat or two in the offseason and got at least something out of Rizzo or Castro, they could actually be OK next year with a fuckton of talent approaching the horizon. It’ll be interesting to see what they can do.
uncle daveQuote Reply
I think this team could approach .500 next year with an impact player in the outfield (Choo) and a decent SP and RP acquisition or two. There’s going to be money to spend. I like the A’s model of using the platoon advantage as much as possible and having position flexible guys to make that easier. Expensive free agents tend to stick to one spot and they want to play every day. But this team has already got good value from guys like Schierholtz, Navarro, Ransom, Hairston, and Sweeney, simply by setting them up to succeed.
JQuote Reply
uncle dave wrote:
Hitters’ park. Go by something park-adjusted like wRC+ and they’re well below average: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=nl&qual=0&type=8&season=2013&month=0&season1=2013&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=17,d
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
So, who went to Cooperstown for Hank O’Day? Without him, 50% fewer Cubs championships.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ Rizzo the Rat:
average wRC+ in the NL looks to be about 94 so I wouldn’t say well below average. They are a below average offense, but I think Dave is close enough in saying “more or less league average.”
dmick89Quote Reply
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Yeah, I’m not hope monstering next season at all.
joshQuote Reply
So, I think Javier Baez should be promoted to Iowa. I’m going to talk about it in the JOT, which might again be late, depending.
MylesQuote Reply
Not to kick a bunch of giggling idiots while they are down, but my friend the Cardinals fan has been talking about Pujols’ plantar fasciitis forever. From March this year, Angels beat reporter: ” For most of his career, seemingly dating to 2003, Albert Pujols has played through plantar fasciitis on his left foot.”
That’s only going to get worse with age. I don’t know, I guess they thought he’d be good for a season? Seems like a big gamble for the money they paid him.
joshQuote Reply
I agree about this team being very interesting next year with a couple impact bats added in the offseason. The most obvious ones would be Robinson Cano and Shin-Soo Choo.
dmick89Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
You really think Cano will make it to free agency?
joshQuote Reply
@ dmick89:
You think this FO would go after Cano? Surprising.
I really, really want Choo. And maybe Lincecum if the price is right.
sitrick2Quote Reply
@ sitrick2:
I think someone will pay big for Timmy, hoping to fix him.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
Was thinking if you could get him to take something in the vague range of like 3/$33 it’d be worth it, then I looked and saw he was making 20 mil this year. Jesus. Nevermind.
sitrick2Quote Reply
No way on Cano, that would be a gross contract in 2018 (not that we can’t afford one of those).
Give me Choo, and I’d even take Lincecum if the price was right (1 year + option for like 7.5/12.5(2.5))
MylesQuote Reply
I want one of Ellsbury and Choo, Saltalmacchia, 2 RP, and a SP (gamble on Josh Johnson returning to good Josh Johnson?).
JonKneeVQuote Reply
I don’t see it happening with Choo. Maybe I’m wrong and this is the year the FO make their move, but I don’t see it.
joshQuote Reply
My guess is Timmy goes to the Angels, where he does poorly.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
Yeah, Pujols was apparently offended by the lower-than-expected deal his former team offered him last year, but I think they were being wisely cautious.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Are these guys going to cost a draft pick?
WaLiQuote Reply
O’s suggest that Dylan Bundy is available…
rice in limboQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
Probably. The Cubs can determine whether that’s a first round pick or a second round pick with their play the rest of the year /nervous
rice in limboQuote Reply
What if the Cubs took Josh Hamilton off the Angels hands in exchange for LAA paying half the contract? would you take Hamilton at 4/54? I don’t think he’s actually as bad as he’s been this year. Hamilton and a prospect in single A in exchange for half the remaining contract? I kind of expect some outside the box stuff from the FO this offseason in efforts to acquire potential impact talent.
NateQuote Reply
@ rice in limbo:
I wonder if that’s related to Samardzija
NateQuote Reply
Fuck next year’s free agents. History is important. Hank O’Day —————-> Cub Legend.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
While it would suck to give up the 11th pick for Choo, I’d still do it for sure.
MylesQuote Reply
New Shit
MylesQuote Reply