The Children Are The Future-Cubs Minor League Update Sponsored by Alta Vista

Iowa

Josh Vitters is getting dangerously close to be interesting again as he hit another HR last night. Vitters is about as locked in as you can get right now with a .405/.476/.757 line in his last 10 games. The HR came off Royals starter Jonathon Sanchez who is on rehab assignment. 

Smokies

Junior Lake went 2-4 and committed his 9th error of the year. How anyone can have that many errors in a month is beyond me. Nick Struck got 9 batters to strikeout din 6 IP and Kevin Rhoderick lowered his ERA to .83. Rhoderick should be the closer in the bigs and I'm not even kidding.

Daytona Game 1

Rob Whitenack had a rough return to game action. His control wasn't there and 10 hits including a HR in 4.1 IP. He walked one and didn't strike anyone out. This was a bit surprising considering he had been very sharp in AZ but he is still less than a year removed from TJ so results aren't as important as getting his arm back up to strength. 

Game 2

PJ Francescon had his first poor start in high A giving up 5 ER in 6 IP. He struck out 5 and walked three. Szrzr was 1-3 with an RBI and Alcantara was 2-2 with a walk. 

Peoria

It was a long game in Peoria last night ending in the 14th. After Larry Suarez blew the save the bullpen rallied for 7 scoreless innings. Javier Baez was 0-5 with a BB, SB and 3 strikeouts. Anthony Giansanti was 2-6 and continues to play all over the field. 

 

146 thoughts on “The Children Are The Future-Cubs Minor League Update Sponsored by Alta Vista”

  1. So MD- is this the worst Cubs team you’ve seen? I’ve been thinking about it and I would say no, the 2006 team was worse but only because of the TRANSFORMATION! of F7. Without him this team would be the worst Cub team I’ve ever seen.

    Joe Mather is batting third. Joe Mather.

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  2. Sveum is just another manager IMO. I had hoped for this cutting edge guy but outside of the defensive shifts he might as well be Ned Yost

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  3. @ dylanj:
    I’ve actually thought about this more than I should, but I’m not sure if it’s the worst team in my life, but I think it’s easily worse than the 2006 team in terms of talent level. The 2006 club had a very productive Michael Barrett behind the plate. They had Ramirez at 3rd base. At 1st was Lee, but he was injured early on in the season. Matt Murton was taking over in LF and we expected above league average numbers and I’m pretty sure he delivered. Juan Pierre came over as an above average CF and was close to or above average. Then there is Jack Jones in RF and there’s nothing to get excited about, but he wasn’t bad by any means. They also had Zambrano and a declining Greg Maddux.

    Between Ramirez, Lee and Zambrano there was something to watch and be excited about even if you didn’t think they’d contend. FWIW, PECOTA did. They thought the ’06 Cubs would win 85 games and finish close behind the Cardinals at the top of the division. I wasn’t so optimistic as I was expecting less than nothing from Wood, Prior and Cedeno.

    The teams I always go back to and haven’t really looked back past them are the 1999 and 2000 teams. Even as bad as those teams are (each team lost 40 out of 50 at one point in the season!), it was must watch baseball with Sammy Sosa hitting home runs as frequently as he was. Those teams also had Mark Grace and Henry Rodriguez. Jon Lieber was their best pitcher and at least in 1999 Kyle Farnsworth was throwing 300 mph fastballs as a starter.

    In terms of interest this team pales in comparison to those teams even if it was Sammy and a bunch of replacement level players, but it wasn’t. In terms of talent? I don’t know. I’d probably take the 1999-2000 teams over this one. I know I would. In 2001 Sammy was the entire offense and they nearly reached the playoffs. That was possible in the other two years too.

    I think this is probably the least amount of talent the Cubs have had since 1997: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/1997.shtml

    The 2012 team is the least interesting Cubs team in my life. There’s not one damn player on the team that makes me want to watch. At least the shitty teams I remember from my childhood had Sandberg on them. Then Sosa. I hope the Cubs go out and sign Hamilton because I’ll watch. I don’t care if it’s a good idea or not.

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  4. F7, Castro & Garza are fun to watch. Campana is entertaining. All I remember is after Lee went down the 06 was unbearable. Dusty was running out Neifi, Womack, Nevin and I was crying.

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  5. @ dylanj:
    Castro is okay to watch. I think he’d be a really exciting guy in a good lineup. Spraying singles over the field so that the rest of the team can leave him on base is depressing.

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  6. mb21 wrote:

    I hope the Cubs go out and sign Hamilton because I’ll watch. I don’t care if it’s a good idea or not.

    At some point the Cubs have to worry about attendance. Even if signing Hamilton probably won’t do much in terms of their post season hopes, it will probably bring people to Wrigley. I don’t know if attendance has been down too much but it does seem like it has. People have to be getting sick and tired of paying to see the shitfest the Cubs have been putting out there for the last couple of years.

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  7. There is just no way on God’s green earth that Josh Hamilton wouldn’t relapse in a major way in Chicago. Between the 104 years bullshit and the media poking him about his demons every time he goes 0 for 4, he’ll absolutely be slamming shots back at Tais ’til 4 before Memorial Day. As much as I’d love to see him in a Cubs uniform, there is just no way that works out. Then not only will we have managed to run another perfectly good ballplayer out of town, but we might actually kill the guy.

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  8. Attendance last year averaged 37,258. This year they are averaging 37,250.

    They’re doing just fine in attendance. They will not have an attendance problem until the Season Ticket Holders bolt. otherwise it is 26,000 or so tickets sold per game without any tourists, walk-ups, corporate outings, etc.

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  9. @ mb21:

    Should have had to watch the teams of the early 80’s. The 80 & 81 teams were pathetic. This team actually has a pretty good rotation and is about the only thing worth watching. I’ve also seen enough Mick Kelleher, Larry Biitner & Pete LaCock’s to last a lifetime.

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  10. @ Aisle424:
    I was kind of thinking the millions of dollars might help. Maybe he’d do a 2-year deal for big money knowing he’ll be the bright shining star in Wrigley for a chance to pad his stats by bombing the baseball out onto Sheffield.

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  11. @ dylanj:
    F7 has been so far. I enjoy Dempster. I also enjoy Castro, but I think it’s about time the Cubs offer him $100,000 for every walk he takes. It’s getting ridiculous. It won’t be long before his average is higher than his OBP. Never been too excited about Garza, but it has nothing to do with his talent. Just don’t care. I’m not going to tune into any game to watch any of them. I’m not going to sit down and say, you know, I just want to watch Castro play so I’m watching the Cubs. Not happening because he’s not good enough.

    dusty ran some stupid lineups out there, but even after Lee’s injury they still had Barrett, Ramirez, Murton, Pierre and Jones on offense. They had Zambrano on the mound and we were getting to see Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol for the first time. As much as that season sucked I watched just about every game that was televised. There was a reason to watch and many times more than one reason. 5 of the every day offensive players had an OPS+ over 100. Cedeno, Walker and Pierre didn’t, but Pierre added value on the bases and defensively. Ramirez hit 38 home runs and slugged over .560. Barrett had a slugging over .500. Z allowed 6.8 hits per 9 innings. He alone was must watch baseball back then. Aside from Bryan Lahair this team is just boring to watch when they’re batting in my opinion. LaHair’s May is probably closer to what we get from him the rest of the season (.814 OPS).

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  12. Honestly, I almost enjoy watching Tony Campana more than anyone else, save LaHair. He may not hit too much, but he usually makes it close on the bases and it’s fun watching him score from first on a single.

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  13. @ pinetar:
    Or Mike Ivie, or the many incarnations of Steve Ontiveros. I’m glad they got Sandberg for Ivan deJesus, of course, but in those days deJesus was my favorite player. Now, with hindsight, I can’t say if its because he was really good, or because Pete LaCock made deJesus seem stellar. Maybe it was a sign of how truly crappy the early 80s teams really were (Guess I could look that up, but why spoil a foggy memory?)

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  14. This minor league update is brought to you courtesy of Alta Vista, the search engine that is perfect for Cubs fans. Just like the Cubs, we used to dominate. We were the number 1 search engine of the mid-1990s, which in internet years is like the early 1900s, when the Cubs were setting records for wins.

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    Cubs and Alta Vista. Feed your nostalgia.

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  15. Here’s what Wikipedia says of Alta Vista:

    AltaVista was a web search engine owned by Yahoo!. AltaVista was once one of the most popular search engines but its popularity declined with the rise of Google. In 2010, Yahoo! announced that it plans to discontinue the site.

    But I read it like this, without even realizing it:

    The Chicago Cubs was a baseball team owned by the Tribune Company. The Chicago Cubs was once one of the most popular baseball teams but its popularity declined with the rise of suckiness. In 2010, the Tribune Company announced that it plans to discontinue caring.

    Wikipedia—->Transformed ?

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  16. @ dylanj:
    That’s a cool article. My summary, “Wow, Colin Wyers must have some time on his hands!”

    (Or maybe BP pays him a salary.)

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  17. @ mb21:

    That team had the third worst offense in the NL, 4th worst in all of baseball, and IIRC Marmol and Marshall weren’t really that exciting prospects. I was a different kind of fan then though so I find it tough to compare. I think this is a better team and more interesting (especially if/when Rizzo and Jackson get called up), though the (lack of) skill levels are definitely more uniform. At least this team does one thing well (starting pitching). The 2006 team sucked all around as a whole.

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  18. Guys, I got this email from Mr. James W. McJunkin FBI. His reply-to address is fbi.cybercrime911@ovi.com. In the subject, he says “Contact us ASAP Kindly View the memo for more info”. The memo must be in the “McJunkin.rtf” file attached, because there’s nothing in the body of the message.

    Do you think I should open the file? This sounds serious…

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  19. Even though this team is likely worse than 2011, I find them a lot more watchable. Maybe because Quade is gone and Sveum has cut down on the shenanigans that fuel Paul Sullivan and Yellon.

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  20. @ jtsunami:
    I thought Quade was hilarious. That’s the problem. Sveum is too serious. He’s all “The team is working on fundamentals.” He needs to be teaching them how to catch balls with their hats and have a little fun.

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  21. @ josh:
    Josh is the same kid that in third grade told his friend, “Yeah, you should put the tack on Mrs. Thompson’s chair.”

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  22. Ryan Dempster is taking a chance challenging Nick Hundley in a location where he is hitting .389 for the season compared to .173 overall.

    Yes, Gameday. I would imagine Nick Hundley is crushing 4 seam fastballs down the middle.

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  23. @ Aisle424:
    Clearly you became a Cubs fan because you got to see a future Cy Young and league MVP start that day for the CUBS! Also a future heavy weight boxer pinch hit.

    God, what a horrible line-up. Except Buckner, I guess, and maybe Dave Kingman (Rob Deer’s all time hero).

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  24. @ Berselius:
    85-77, 1 game behind the division winning Cardinals is what that team was projected to do: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4917

    That roster was expected to have Barrett, Lee, Ramirez, Zambrano, Wood, Prior and other contributors like Murton, Pierre and Jones. Dempster was returning from his best season as a reliever. There’s a reason that team was expected to be a contender. As I’ve said, I was much less optimistic because Prior and Wood couldn’t stay healthy and I wasn’t as high on Cedeno as the scouts were.

    As for prospects they had Felix Pie around the corner (rated higher than Jackson or Rizzo by Baseball America). Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol were in the Cubs top 10 and not far from the big leagues. Cedeno was a top 100 prospect too.

    If the measure of how good the team is by season’s end then we’ll have to wait. If it’s how good the teams were entering the season the 2006 team isn’t it. If it a measure of how bad the teams were to this point in the season it’s not them. If it’s about excitement I can’t speak for others. I just know that I’d much rather watch an in prime Derrek Lee, Carlos Zambrano and Aramis Ramirez than anything this team has to offer. Lee was coming off what should have been an MVP season. Zambrano was in his prime, as was Ramirez. Barrett had become one of the top hitting cartchers in baseball. Murton was a 1st round pick who was given the opening day job in LF. Murton, by the way, was drafted in 2003, reached the big leagues in 2005 and was the opening day starter in 2006. Jackson is behind his pace.

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  25. @ mb21:
    @ Aisle424:
    I was looking at Aisle’s first game line-up. Mike Vail batted 5th and this was in his most productive year, where he got into 114 games. (His WAR from 79 was better though.) Who does Vail compare with during 79 and 80? Reed Johnson, Dwight Smith, MATT MURTON….

    /odd convergence

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  26. Ronny Cedeno: .346
    Starlin Castro: .345

    If you adjust for the run environment Castro would be higher, but not by all that much.

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  27. Year Player Proj wOBA
    2006 Lee 0.402
    2006 Ramirez 0.381
    2006 Murton 0.371
    2006 Cedeno 0.346
    2006 Walker 0.345
    2012 Castro 0.345
    2006 Barrett 0.342
    2012 LaHair 0.335
    2006 Jones 0.333
    2006 Pierre 0.331
    2012 Byrd 0.33
    2012 Soto 0.329
    2012 DeJesus 0.321
    2012 Stewart 0.313
    2012 Soriano 0.312
    2012 Barney 0.303

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  28. @ SkipVB:
    @ Aisle424:
    Alright, I’m really bored at work today…so I looked up Ivan de Jesus more on BR, but only because it was convenient from the link to Aisle’s first game. Career WAR of 9.5, but 7.5 of that with the Cubs.

    Maybe de Jesus’s best contribution to the Cubs was that the Cubs always got the better end of trades that de Jesus was part of.

    January 11, 1977: Traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with Jeff Albert (minors) and Bill Buckner to the Chicago Cubs for Mike Garman and Rick Monday.

    Albert never made it past AA. Buckner had his best years with the Cubs. Garman had an OK year with the Dodgers in ’78, tanked in ’79 and was done. Monday was injured and never really had a full season with the Dodgers. Cubs definitely got the best of this trade.

    January 27, 1982: Traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Philadelphia Phillies for Larry Bowa and Ryne Sandberg

    I assume no further commentary is needed on this one.

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  29. Just tuned in (Thanks for link, Cone). Has Dempster been laboring this much all day? Is he ok?

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  30. @ pinetar:
    Hmmm. Same thing with F7 yesterday, but he had much better command than it seems Dempster did today.

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  31. Also, really nice job by Brenly of breaking down that last pitch to Castro. He’s really good at that kind of stuff. Wish he did more of it.

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  32. Clevenger has a really quick bat. He can let the ball get really deep into the zone.

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  33. So you can overslide first? I guess you could. He would have been fine running, I think. I think your brain turns off in that situation.

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  34. I know the Cubs aren’t fun to watch, but this was a fun series (and not just because the Cubs swept).

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  35. @ josh:
    Not to mention, that nail-biting scene yesterday with the tying run on third and no outs. My heart skipped a beat when Camp gave up that hard-hit liner that Baker somehow caught.

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  36. In other news, with 3 walks today, Joe Mauer’s OBP = SLG. And he’s actually having a pretty good year.

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  37. Rumors are that Uncle Bud is none too pleased about Hawk’s 4-inning diatribe against the umpires.

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  38. I honestly don’t mind that ump throwing that Sox pitcher out. I couldn’t care less if an ump tosses a pitcher without warning for blatantly throwing at a guy who has done nothing to deserve it. If Wegner had warned both benches after A.J. got plunked, you know Hawk would be all OH WELL NOW WE CAN’T THROW INSIDE DAGGUMMIT, LET EM PLAY! MERCY!

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  39. A few good defensive plays, timely hitting, bullpen performances that didn’t make you want to smash grapefruits with a sledgehammer. Overall, decent baseball. These moments will be few this season.

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