Iowa Cubs 8 @ Tacoma Rainiers 4 Mike Olt was 2-5 with a double and triple; he struck out twice. Jake Arrieta was nasty, as I said earlier. He struck out 11 in 5 scoreless innings, scattering 2 hits and 3 walks. Alberto Cabrera allowed a pair of runs in the 2 innings he pitched. Chang-Yong Lim, coming to a …
JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 8-3-13
Iowa Cubs 0 @ Tacoma Rainiers 5 Another day, another Iowa snoozefest. Luis Flores was 2-3. Darnell McDonald was 1-4 with a double. Mike Olt was 0-4 and made his 16th error on the year, but no Ks at least. Dave Sappelt got a hit. Something something Edwin Mayonnaise. Brooks Raley got the start and was forgettable. 4 runs (2 …
2014 Cubs: A Bat Away From Normal
Any baseball fan likely realizes that the game is fundamentally different in 2013 than it was in, say, 1999 (the height of the "We Care About Steroids" era). In 1999, the league wOBA was .341; in 2013, it's .313. That's a titanic difference. Walks are at a 20-year low, and strikeouts this year are only lower than last year (and …
JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 8-1-13
Iowa Cubs 3 @ Salt Lake Bees 9 Mike Olt was 1-4 with a strikeout. Logan Watkins was 1-5. As I said, only 2 people actually play offense on this team. I think starting next Friday, I'm going to take a vacation from Iowa box scores and just write about anything more interesting (which, coincidentally, is anything). Barret Loux was …
Eloy Jimenez Officially Signs With the Cubs, Leonardo Molina With the Yanks
Eloy Jimenez officially announced his signing with the Cubs today in a press conference in the Dominican Republic. The move has been long-rumored, but the Cubs asked him to wait until after the trade deadline to make it official. BA TAM Bonus Gleyber Torres (ss) 2 2 $1,700,000 Erling Moreno (rhp) 16 48 $800,000 Jefferson Mejia (rhp) NR* 22 …
JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 7-31-13
Iowa Cubs 3 @ Salt Lake Bees 6 Mike Olt went 0-4. Jae-Hoon Ha went 2-3 with a walk. No one else played so don't even look. I seriously considered linking that score to a rick roll. Justin Grimm had a pretty forgettable 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 SO start. Casey Coleman was dicey in his scoreless …
Way Too Early Look at 2014 Cubs
Well, the Cubs didn't trade anyone today. With DeJesus and Schierholtz in the fold for 2014 (though either could be traded in the offseason, I really doubt it), the Cubs 2014 roster (with no signings) looks like this: C: Welington Castillo 1B: Anthony Rizzo 2B: Darwin Barney SS: Starlin Castro 3B: Mike Olt LF: Junior Lake CF: David DeJesus RF: …
JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 7-30-13
Iowa Cubs 4 @ Salt Lake Bees 5 I. Don't. Care. And neither do you. Mike Olt went 1-4, but every time he didn't single, he struck out. Logan Watkins also singled, as did a bunch of other people. What do you want from me? At least Jae-Hoon Ha doubled and homered; Edwin Mayonnaise and Luis Flores doubled too. The …
Bears Training Camp Week 1: Hester on Expanded ST, Bushrod Day-to-Day
Training camp is under way, and (precious few) interesting tidbits have emerged: The Bears used pads for the first time on Sunday. Devin Hester apparently IS going to at least practice some expanded ST duties this year. He apparently almost blocked a kick in practice, according to a Zach Zaidman tweet (he's a good follow). Jermon Bushrod is day-to-day with a …
A snapshot of how depressing the Cubs are
Sitrick had a nice tweet about how Starlin Castro (I first typed Stalin Castro and really thought about keeping it) leads the team among qualified Cubes in batting average. I wanted to see how that stacked up this year, and found that Castro is 29th among team-leaders. Adeiny Hechavarria is 30th and the only Marlin with enough PA to qualify. …