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JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 6-27-13

Chicago Cubs 7 @ Milwaukee Brewers 2

CastroWatch: Starlin was 2-5 with a double and a SB. Progress. Dioner Navarro was 1-4 with a homer. Matt Garza was 2-3, and, more importantly, carved up the Brewers, striking out 10 in seven innings and allowing 1 run on a walk and 8 hits. Price of the brick goin' up.

Iowa Cubs 4 @ Omaha Storm Chasers 2

Decent amount of offense in this one by I-Cubs standards, as the roster got 13 hits — with 4 going for extra bases — and drew 6 walks. Donnie Murphy had a big day, going 2-5 with a double and a home run. Dave Sappelt was 3-5 with a double. Jae-Hoon Ha was 2-5. J.C. Boscan and Tim Torres were both 2-3 with a walk, with Boscan adding a double to the mix. Logan Watkins was 1-4 with a double and a SB. Junior Lake was 1-5. This is already probably more than you cared about.

Guillermo Moscoso was effectively wild, giving up 2 runs in 6 innings on 4 hits and 4 walks, striking out 2. Michael Bowden K'ed 4 in 2 innings of relief, giving up 1 hit and walking 1. I tried to type Brian Schlitter worked a clean 9th for the save.

Jackson Generals @ Tennessee Smokies

Postponed due to rain.

Daytona Cubs @ Tampa Yankees (Game 1 of DH, 7 Innings)

Javier Baez was 1-3 with a double and a HBP. After a torrid start to the month, he's cooled off recently, hitting .211 over his last 10 with an 11:3 K:BB ratio. Still, even over that stretch he's OPSing .811, which is the kind of slump I can deal with. John Andreoli was 1-4 with a 2B and a SB. Zeke DeVoss went 2-3 with a 2B and a BB. Ben Carhart was 1-3. Wes Darvill had the game of the day, going 2-3 with a double and a triple. I miss Jorge Soler.

Ben Wells threw 6 innings of 1 run ball, giving up 5 hits and striking out 7. He was excellent. Jeffrey Lorick cleaned it up, giving up a hit and striking out 3 in the seventh.

Daytona Cubs 2 @ Tampa Yankees 3 (Game 2 of DH, 8 innings)

John Andreoli said goodbye to Daytona by going 3-4 with a SB. Zeke DeVoss was 2-3. Javier Baez was 0-4 with 2 strikeouts, and was ejected in the 8th, though I can't find anything about why. He also made his 30th error, which is not so great. Dustin Geiger, Ben Carhart, and Tim Saunders were all 1-4. Nobody on the roster had an XBH, and the team took 1 walk (Yaniel Cabezas, who was 0-2 otherwise).

Yesterday was apparently the day for losing the zone and not letting it hurt you, because, like Moscoso, Zach Cates walked 4. He worked 5 innings, giving up 2 hits, 1 run and struck out 7. Larry Suarez gave up a solo home run in 2.1 innings of work, striking out 2 and taking the loss.

Beloit Snappers 7 @ Kane County Cougars 8 (10 innings)

Albert Almora wants his average back up over .400, goddammit. He went 3-5 with a triple. Marco Hernandez was also 3-5 with a double. Oliver Zapata was 3-4 with a walk, a triple, and a SB. Rock Shoulders hit a 3 run homer, going 1-4 with a BB. Gioskar Amaya hit a double, going 1-5. Dan Vogelbach was 1-4. Bijan Rademacher was 0-5 in his last game as a Cougar.

Tayler Scott worked 4 innings, giving up 7 runs (4 earned) on 6 hits, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Sheldon McDonald gave up 3 hits in 3 innings of work, striking out three and staying otherwise clean. Jeffry Antigua worked the final 3, giving up a hit, walking one, and striking out 3 without allowing a run.

Hillsboro Hops 3 @ Boise Hawks 5

Jacob Hannemann had a 2-4 day with a 3B and a caught stealing. Shawon Dunston was 2-4 with a SB. Kevin Encarnacion was 0-4 and got promoted. Yasiel Balaguert was 1-2 with a homer and 2 walks. Nothing else terribly interesting going on in this one.

DSL Cubs 2 @ DSL Nationals 0

Hector Perez struck out 6 in 5 scoreless innings, giving up 3 hits and a walk.

VSL Cubs 7 @ VSL Rays 8

Armando Calero had a big day, going 3-3 with a homer, a double, and a SB.

AZL Giants 3 @ AZL Cubs 1

Jeffrey Baez was 3-4 with a SB and that was about the most interesting thing that happened in this one.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 6-21-13 & 6-22-13

June 21, 2013

Nashville Sound 4 @ Iowa Cubs 5 (Game 1 of DH, 7 Innings)

Nice game for the I-Cubs offense, which put up 10 hits, 7 going for extra bases. Logan Watkins had a big day,going 2-3 day leading off, with a double and a home run. Brad Nelson and Junior Lake each went deep as well on 1-3 days. Dave Sappelt was 2-3 with a double and a triple. Brett Jackson was 2-3 with a double and a stolen base, but did strike out once, naturally. J.C. Boscan was 2-3.

Guillermo Moscoso threw a mostly-solid 6 innings, giving up only 7 hits and 2 walks, but allowing 4 runs, including 2 bombs. He did K 5, though. Michael Bowden worked a clean 7th and K'ed 1.

Nashville Sound 6 @ Iowa Cubs 8 (Game 2 of DH, 7 Innings)

The offense stayed hot in game 2, collecting 12 hits, 7 going for extra bases, including four homers. Apparently, Brewers AAA pitching is bad. Shocking given the state of their major league club, I know.

Logan Watkins went deep again, going 2-4 with a homer and a double. Brian Bogusevic was 2-4 with a home run as well. Junior Lake got his homer in a 3-4 day and added a double for good measure, but was caught trying to steal third in the second inning. Donnie Murphy rounded things out with a 1-2 day with a homer. Tim Torres had a 3-3 day with a triple. Darnell McDonald was the only I-Cub with a hit that didn't go for extra bases. For shame. Steve Clevenger was 0-2, but did walk twice.

Jeffry Antigua had a short day, going 3.2 innings. He was at least efficient from a certain perspective, as he allowed every baserunner to score, allowing 4 runs off of 3 hits and a walk. 2 homers in 3+ innings will do that, I suppose. He did strike out 5 at least. Marcus Hatley got the win for his 1.1 innings of 3 hit, 2 run ball with a walk and a strikeout. Casey Coleman was the only I-Cub pitcher not to let a run across, giving up 2 hits and striking out 2 in 2 innings of work.

Tennessee Smokies 7 @ Chattanooga Lookouts 8

The Smokies got a lot of runs out of a fair amount of station to station baseball in this one, scoring 7 on ten hits, 6 for singles. Matt Szczur was 2-5 with a double. Arismendy Alcantara continued to flash his newfound power, going 2-5 with a home run. Jae-Hoon Ha was 1-4 with a stolen base and three strikeouts, so of course he was promoted to AAA after this one. Justin Bour and Christian Villanueva both went 1-5. Anthony Giansanti was 1-3 with a double. Ronald Torreyes flashed some motor with a triple in his 1-3 day. That was it for the offense.

Kyle Hendricks got roughed up a bit in this one, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) in 5 innings of work. He struck out only one, walked four, and gave up 7 hits including 1 bomb. Not his best day. Yeiper Castillo allowed a run in 2 innings on 3 hits, a walk, and 2 Ks. Zach Rosscup closed it out by getting all three of his outs on Ks, allowing a hit and a walk each.

Dunedin Blue Jays 3 @ Daytona Cubs 1

This lineup's a lot less fun with Jorge Soler out of it, but ah well. Not much offense here, just 4 hits and 3 walks. John Andreoli, Dustin Geiger, Ben Carhart, and Pin-Chieh Chen each had one hit, with Geiger's going for a double. Javier Baez did get hit by a pitch, and Zeke DeVoss, Wes Darvill, and Chen all drew a walk, with Chen adding a stolen base. That's about it.

Ben Wells tried to keep the D-Cubs in it, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits over 6 innings. He struck out three. Larry Suarez worked the final 3 innings, giving up box score bingo with 2 hits, an earned run, a walk, a K, and a HR.

Houston Astros 1 @ Chicago Cubs 3

Darwin Barney was 3-4 with a double and a home run, so that's apparently a thing that can happen. Anthony Rizzo was 2-4, including his first home run in a while. Hopefully a sign of him getting on another hot streak soon. Scott Hairston went deep as well in his 1-3, 1 BB day. Nobody else had an extra base hit. Starlin Castro, Alfonso Soriano, and Dioner Navarro were all 1-4. Ryan Sweeney was 1-3. Cody Randsom was 0-3 but did draw a walk.

Matt Garza's Very Tradeable Contract threw 8 innings of 4 hit, 1 run ball, striking out 8 and walking 2. Damn fine show. Kevin Gregg worked a perfect 9th and punched out 1.

Kane County Cougars 2 @ Quad Cities River Bandits 4

Albert Almora went hitless. I didn't realize that could happen. He also apparently got yanked for not running out a fly ball, briefly sending twitter into a panic thinking he was hurt. No dinner for him. Gioskar Amaya had a good day, going 2-4 with a double and KC's only XBH. Bijan Rademacher was 1-4 with a walk. Dan Vogelbach was 1-4. Jeimer Candelario, Marco Hernandez, and Rock Shoulders were all 0-3 with a BB. Reggie Golden went 1-4. And Carlos Escobar was 2-4.

Taylor Scott gave up 2 runs on what appears to have been total smoke and mirrors, allowing 11 hits, 2 walks, and a homer in 5 innings of work, only striking out 2. Lendy Castillo sucked less than usual but still took the loss, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 4 hits, a walk, and three strikeouts in the final 3 innings.

Boise Hawks 4 @ Spokane Indians 1

Jacob Hannemann was 1-5 with a double in his debut. Yasiel Balaguert was 1-3 with a homer and a walk. Cael Brockmeyer was 1-4 with a double. Kevin Encarnacion was 2-4 with a homer of his own. Carlows Penalver and Shawon Dunston were both 1-4, and Jacob Rogers was 1-2 with 2 BBs.

Paul Blackburn had a nice day, tossing 5 innings of 1 run, 3 hit ball with a walk and 4 Ks. Carlos Martinez-Pumarino and Michael Hamann combined for 4 innings of shutout 1 hit, 1 BB, 4 K ball to finish it off. Good work gents.

DSL Blue Jays 1 @ DSL Cubs 3

Frailin Figueroa threw 5 innings of 1 hit, 1 walk scoreless ball, striking out 4.

VSL Cubs 2 @ VSL Mariners 8

Humberto Garcia was 2-3 with a home run and a walk for the only real noteworthy performance here.

AZL Cubs 6 @ AZL D-Backs 4

Zak Blair was 2-2 with 2 walks for a spotless OBP in this one. Congrats to Zak Blair.

June 22, 2013

Iowa Cubs 2 @ Memphis Redbirds 6

Brian Bogusevic was 2-3 with a walk and a triple. He is not a fast man, so that's impressive. Brad Nelson was 2-4 with a double. Junior Lake was 1-4, and Jae-Hoon Ha was 1-3 in his Iowa debut. Cardinals Superprospect Oscar Taveras was 1-4 with no XBH for the other side, which, given the opposition, I think we can all consider a victory.

Speaking of which, Chris Rusin did Chris Rusin things, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits, 3 BBs, and 2 Ks in 6 innings of work. The Redbirds took him deep twice. Eduardo Sanchez worked a perfect 2 to finish, striking out 1.

Tennessee Smokies 8 @ Chattanooga Lookouts 11

Busy day for Matt Szczur, going 4-5 with a double and a SB. He was caught stealing in the 7th. Ronald Torreyes was 1-3 with a triple and a walk. Ty Wright was 2-3 with a SB. Jonathan Mota was 2-5. Rafael Lopez and Justin Bour both went 1-4 with a double and a walk. And Arismendy Alcantara was 1-5 with a SB.

On the pitching side, A.J. Morris threw 5 innings of 3 hit ball, walking and punching out 4 each, and giving up 3 runs. Hunter Cervenka allowed 2 runs in his inning off of 2 hits, a BB, and a K. Tony Zych took the blown save in 0.2 IP, allowing 3 runs off a walk and 3 hits, striking out 1. Oof. Kevin Rhoderick decided that seemed like a good time, and thus proceeded to give up 3 runs of his own in 1.1 IP, allowing 3 hits and striking out 1. He is not very good.

Dunedin Blue Jays 1 @ Daytona Cubs 2

Both the D-Cubs runs came off of Javier Baez's 16th homer of the year at Daytona. He can kinda sorta hit baseballs. He finished 2-4 on the day. Dustin Geiger was 2-4, both singles. Tim Saunders was 1-4 with a double. Zeke DeVoss and Chadd Krist were both 1-3.

Zach Cates was impressive in this one, scattering 5 hits over 6.2 innings of1 run ball. He walked 2 and K'ed 4. Yao-Lin Wang closed it out with 2.1 scoreless innings, walking 2 and striking out 3 and allowing 2 hits.

Kane County Cougars 5 @ Quad Cities River Bandits 6 (11 innings)

Albert Almora only had 1 hit, but it was a home run so all is forgiven. Rock Shoulders went deep as well in a 2-4 day, adding a double and a walk for good measure. Reggie Golden was 1-4 for the only other Cougars hit of the day. KC did draw 6 walks as a team, however, which is good to see. Carlos Correa had a huge day for the other side, going 4-6 with a triple. He did get picked off the basepaths twice, however.

Michael Heesch worked 6 innings of scoreless ball for the cougars, scattering six hits throughout. He walked none and punched out 6, which is a nice performance to see. Armando Rivero decided to make things interesting by giving up 4 runs in 0.2 innings of work, and now his ERA sits at a fun 54.00. Yeesh. Sheldon McDonald blew the save afterward, giving up a run in 2.1 innings of work. He walked and struck out one each. Stephen Perakslis took the loss after giving up the walkoff run, allowing 3 hits and a walk in 1.1 innings of work.

Boise Hawks 2 @ Spokane Indians 3 (Game 1 of DH, 7 Innings)

Justin Marra was 2-3 with a home run. David Bote was 2-4 with a double. Daniel Lockhart was 2-3. Kevin Encarnacion, Jose Dore, and Trevor Gretzky were all 1-4, with Encarnacion adding a walk.

Loiger Padron got touched for 3 runs in 4 innings off of 5 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 3. Ethan Elias worked the final 2, allowing a hit and 2 walks with 2 Ks, letting none score.

Boise Hawks 3 @ Spokane Indians 4 (Game 2 of DH, 7 Innings)

Jacob Hannemann was 0 for 8 on the day, putting his average in a .077 hole to start his pro career. Shawon Dunston and Kevin Encarnacion went for near identical lines, both going 1-2 with a walk and a home run. Dunston managed not to strikeout, unlike Encarnacion. Lance Rymel was 1-3, Jacob Rogers was 2-3, Carlos Penalver was 1-4 with a SB. David Bote was 1-2 with a walk. And Daniel Lockhart was 0-2 with a walk.

Orbandy Rodriguez and Jasvir Rakkar both worked 3 innings. Rodriguez was not so good, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs (3 earned) on a walk and 4 strikeouts. Rakkar was much better, allowing no baserunners and striking out 1.

Houston Astros 4 @ Chicago Cubs 3

Nate Schierholtz's Fairly Easily Tradeable Contract was 1-3 with a walk and a home run. Welington Castillo was 2-3 with a rare walk. Luis Valbuena and Starlin Castro were both 1-5. Alfonso Soriano was 1-4 with a double. He got picked off, which really needs to stop happening. Ryan Sweeney was 1-3 with a BB. Darwin Barney went 1-4. Anthony Rizzo was 0-2, but did draw 2 walks.

Travis Wood worked a quality start, going 6 and giving up 5 hits and three runs on a walk and 5 Ks. He did give up a home run to J.D. Martinez, who is a player I'd never heard of until typing that. So that's less fun. Shawn Camp must be feeling better, as he worked a perfect 7th. Blake Parker walked a guy, but struck out 1 and was otherwise clean. Kevin Gregg took the loss after giving up a run on a single hit. He was bound to give up a run at some point. The losing effort sent his ERA ballooning from 0.77 to 1.11.

DSL Rojos 0 @ DSL Cubs 5

Good pitching from the DSL Cubs in this one, as the staff struck out 15 Rojos. Jose Zapata gave up 3 hits and K'ed 6 in 5 innings, while Jose Paulino gave up 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7 in his 2 innings of work.

VSL Rays 1 @ VSL Cubs 15

Roney Alcala had the game of the day, going 3-6 with 2 home runs.

AZL D-Backs 7 @ AZL Cubs 5

Kevin Brown was 1-4 with a triple; Xavier Batista was 1-4 with a double. Other than that, meh.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 6-14-13

This one'll probably be a bit short; writing it in the car on the way to Pittsburgh and PNC Park. Tomorrow's will be a little more detailed.

Omaha Storm Chasers 5 @ Iowa Cubs 5 (Game Postponed in the middle of the 6th)

This game got rained out partway through. Thus far, Steve Clevenger has been the highlight, going 3-3 with a home run. Dave Sappelt was 1-3 with a double. Brad Nelson was 1-2 with a walk. Junior Lake finished up 1-2. Brent Lillibridge was 1-2 with a walk and two SBs. Everybody else is hitless so far, though Darnell McDonald had a walk.

Brooks Raley continues to be not great. 5 earned runs on 5 hits and 2 walks, with 2 Ks over five innings. Jeffry Antigua worked a clean 6th, giving up 1 hit and K'ing 1.

Mississippi Braves 4 @ Tennessee Smokies 3

A nice day for both Ronald Torreyes and Rubi Silva, both collecting 3 hits and a double, Torreyes in 4 ABs and Silva in 5. Torreyes also added a BB. Arismendy Alcantara was 1-2 with 3 walks. Bully for him. Jonathan Mota joined the 3-hit party with a 3-4 day with a walk. Pin-Chieh Chen was 2-3 with a triple. Matt Szczur was 1-4 with a BB.

Austin Kirk had a fairly meh start. 5 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs, and 3 each of walks and strikeouts. Tony Zych took the loss, giving up a walk and a run in his inning of work while striking out 2. Trey McNutt worked an inning and faced the minimum. Zach Rosscup gave up a hit and a walk in his inning, but struck out one and didn't allow a run. Frank Batista gave up a hit in the ninth, but was otherwise clean.

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 5 at Kane Couny Cougars 1

Not much in the way of offense for the Cougars yesterday. Wilson Contreras had the best day of the group, going 2-3 with a triple. That was KC's only extra base hit. Albert Almora was 1-4 and had another caught stealing. As complete a player as Almora already is, he really, really needs work on the basepaths. Or to just stop running. Dan Vogelbach and Rock Shoulders were both 1-4. Bijan Rademacher walked twice. That was the extent of the offense.

On the pitching side, Michael Heesch gave up 5 runs on 8 hits in six innings of work. He struck out one. Nathan Dorris worked a perfect 7th, and Shawn Camp closed out the 8th and 9th, giving up a hit and striking out three in his rehab appearance.

Boise Hawks 7 @ Eugene Emeralds 0

Shawon Dunston led the way with a 4-6 day, including a 2B. Kevin Encarnacion followed up with a 2-4 day with a double of his own, as well as a walk. Jacob Rogers was 1-3, but his one hit was a home run, and he added 2 walks. Yasiel Balaguert was 1-4 with a double and a walk. Trevor Gretzky went 1-5, as did Carlos Penalver. Daniel Lockhart was 2-4 with a walk. David Bote was 1-3 with a walk.

The pitching was the story in this game, shutting out the Emeralds. James Pugliese threw 5 scoreless, striking out 7 and giving up 3 hits. Jasvir Rakkar's only blemish was a walk on 2 otherwise spotless innings. Matt Iannazzo gave up a hit and nothing more in his inning of work. And Michael Hamann was perfect in the 9th, striking out 1.

DSL Cubs 8 @ DSL Pirates2 9

VSL Cubs 3 @ VSL Phillies 5

BS of the Day: 6-13-13

Hey, the Cubs decided to win today! This should be easy. Your Bright Spots:

I'd be remiss to not start with this one: much-maligned Starlin Castro had a 3-7 day, including a 450-foot home run that the wind somehow knocked down into the ivy for a double. Even more than that, though, his at-bats looked really good today, and he seemed to be seeing the ball really well. Am I going to go through all seven at-bats pitch by pitch? Yes, yes I am:
- 1st inning: Ball 1 in the dirt; Strike 1 low in the zone, swung on and popped foul; called strike 2 high, really, really close pitch, looked out of the zone to me, but the kind of ball old Starlin might've taken a hack at; Fouled-off breaking ball out of the zone low; belt-high fastball popped foul; another fouled-off breaking ball low in the zone; check-swing on Ball 2 in the dirt; low and away offspeed pitch that Starlin flicks into center for a hit.
- 3rd inning: Starlin takes a first pitch fastball up in the zone and drives a hard fly-ball to right center that gets run-down by Choo.
- 5th inning: First pitch slider at the knees that Castro hits hard right at Phillips.
- 7th inning: Called strike 1: a two seamer low and inside; Ball 1: fastball inside; called strike 2: slider inside at the knees that PitchTrax later reveals was indeed out of the zone; Ball 2 low and away; Strike 3: tough-looking splitter in the dirt that Starlin waves at. Maybe his worst at-bat of the day, and it maybe looks worse than it was because of the bad strike 2 call.
- 9th inning: Ball 1: high and way outside; Ball 2: belt high and just as far outside; then a fastball leaking over the heart of the plate that Starlin just destroys. Any other wind conditions and that ball ends up on Waveland.
- 11th inning: Called strike 1: slider at the knees; Swinging strike 2: two seamer tailing off the plate inside that Castro swings over; Ball 1: really, really high fastball; Ball 2: really, really high fastball again; then a fastball up in the zone that Starlin pops up to short. Worth noting that there was a big shadow over the plate and sunshine over the mound, adding to the degree of difficulty.
- 14th inning: Fastball up in the zone fouled straight back for strike 1; Ball 1: a breaking ball outside; Breaking ball low and inside fouled off for strike 2; Ball 2, fastball outside; Ball 3: touuuuuugh slider diving below the knees that Starlin checks his swing on — that's the Soriano Strike, and it's really nice to see Castro holding off from it; then a belt-high fastball that gets smacked into center for a single

What's the takeaway from his day, then? When Castro's swinging early in the count he's making contact and hitting the ball hard. That seems to suggest that what Sveum & Co. are trying to get him to do — look for balls he can drive and wait for his pitch — is taking. If he's not getting his pitch early in the count, he's seeing a lot of pitches, working deep counts, and letting his contact instincts take over when he gets to strike 2. All of that strikes me as a really, really positive sign that he's through the worst of it and is succeeding at making himself a tougher out. It's worth noting that about half of these ABs were against Latos as well, one of the tougher right handed hurlers in the game right now. Seeing the results show up in the box score is great for Starlin's confidence, but even if he'd gone 1-7, with the PAs he put together today, there's plenty of reason to be encouraged.

Beef Castle had a 3-5 day, more than doubling his hit output for the month of June. Castillo's been in a nasty slump of his own, his season line dropping to .246/.294/.326 after a scorching hot start to the year. Castillo is what he is, but at .080 ISO seems like it's due for at least a bit of regression upward. Hopefully today's nice output at the plate is the sign of Beefy finding his way a bit.

Good Marmol(TM) sighting! Three Ks in his inning of work.

Cubs relievers put up 8 innings of 3 hit shutout ball today, walking 1 and striking out 13. For as much shit as we give them when they suck, it's worth acknowledging: damn good work today, boys.

The Cubs won today. We should probably feel pretty good about that.

The win today snapped an 11 game home losing streak against the Reds. Always good to end those.

Aroldis Chapman sat unsued in a 14 inning game. This makes me happy, at least.

Minor League Performance of the Day:

It's early, but the I-Cubs are getting perfect-gamed through 4 innings against the Astros AAA-affiliate. Our AAA-squad is being perfect-gamed by guys not good enough to be on the Astros major league roster right now. Let that sink in. I was going to give this to the Oklahoma City food vendors, but they don't even seem to have any specialty foods designed to shorten your life.

Nobody else is really doing anything noteworthy so far in the system. So, I'm giving the Minor League Performance of the Day to the Snappy Burger, the specialty burger of my hometown Beloit Snappers, Midwest League affiliate of the Oakland A's. The Snappy Burger is a cheeseburger with a brat on top of it. It's fantastic.

EDIT: I take it all back. Albert Almora is 3-4 with a double and a triple. He's now hitting .413/.451/.547/.998 in 18 games at Kane County. He's really, really good, and much deserving of the Minor League Performance of the Day.

That said, you should still eat a Snappy Burger if you ever get the chance.

BS of the Day: 6-12-13

Alright, let's find some sunshine through all the shit, eh? Your Bright Spots for today:

Fairly decent day for the trade bait on the major league club:
- Nate Schierholtz was 1-3, with a home run that briefly gave the Cubs the lead.
- James Russell, after giving up a leadoff double in the eighth, got through Choo, Votto, Phillips, and Bruce without giving up a hit (though Phillips did reach on an IBB).
- Kevin Gregg worked a scoreless ninth, striking out Todd Frazier in the process. He's now thrown 18.2 innings in 19 appearances and has 21 strikeouts against 7 walks. I know Kevin Gregg is Kevin Gregg, and everybody's expecting him to turn into a pumpkin at the drop of a hat, but if he somehow maintains anything close to this form into July….well, teams overpay for relief pitching at the deadline all the time.

Travis Wood isn't really trade bait, but he continues to be fun to watch, even if the offense shuts down behind him. No hits until the fifth, four hits and two walks in seven innings pitched, only 2 earned runs, and all of this without really impressive stuff at all. He scratched and clawed his way through the Reds' lineup over and over again, trying desperately to hang onto the lead. As the offense (hopefully) improves over the next couple of seasons, his starts are going to get a lot more enjoyable

With the loss today, the Cubs fall out of an effective tie with Milwaukee for last place in the division, and giving them the third worst record in the Majors thus far. Why is this reason for optimism? We're currently set up for the third pick in a 2014 draft that's supposed to be much deeper than this year's. As long as this team is not in contention for a playoff spot, every top 5 pick we can get is a victory.

Minor League Performance of the Day:

There are a fair amount of options, but being the Baez-centric individual that I am, I'm choosing to focus on Javy's 3-walk day over 14 innings of doubleheader. No hits, but frankly, the walks are more encouraging than anything at this point. No strikeouts either, and a 3 walk day has the added benefit of being unlikely to cause a mass retweeting spree by the precocious lad in all of our twitter feeds, which can only be a good thing.

BS of the Day – 6-12-13

I've got no hope to find in Garza getting shelled and the offense doing nothing against a guy with no command of anything but his fastball tonight, so let's go with Harold Reynolds making an idiot of himself.

If Casten Starro and HR sheepishly admitting he confused Almora with Baez doesn't put a smile on your face, well, I can't help ya today.

"I shoulda stuck with what I knew insteada jumpin' out on a ledge like that!"

From the mouths of babes…

BS of the Day: 6-10-13

It's depressing being a Cubs fan lately. The offense is terrible, the rotation seems to be coming back to earth, Starlin Castro is mired in the worst slump of his career, the best bullpen arm we have is Kevin Gregg…it's not pretty.

Given all this, it seems worthwhile to try and find something to be optimistic about, some glimmer of light at the end of this dark, dark tunnel. I'm not talking about Yellonesque, hopemonster optimism that's out of touch with reality, but rather meaningful, day-to-day events that bode well for the team over the long term in some fashion.

In this spirit, I humbly offer the Bright Spot of the Day, which will hopefully provide at least one item each day — ideally with the big league club, because seriously, depressing — that you can point to and say, "Hey, not everything about this team is complete and utter dogshit!"

We'll see how it goes.

Today's BS:

Starlin Castro pulled a double down the line in the ninth, a screaming liner that was the hardest I've seen him hit a ball in weeks. Fewer moving parts before the pitch, better balance, hitting to his pull-field; these are the things Sveum and company have been wanting to see out of Starlin for awhile now. And with the relieved, skyward-looking sigh he allowed himself after stopping at second, it sure seems like that was a swing Castro himself had been looking for for awhile. Hopefully that last at-bat is a sign that the slump is coming to an end. But even if it isn't, having a solid result come from the process the coaches are trying to get Castro to buy into is a step in the right direction. (Or it could be total small sample size meaninglessness, but this was a shitty game and I'm having to dig pretty deep here. I digress…)

Despite cooling off to the tune of a .160 BA so far in June, Anthony Rizzo seems to be taking Thoyer's message about taking walks to heart, receiving nine free passes in ten June games after drawing only 15 in his first 50. Despite the low average, Rizzo's still managed a .382 OBA for the month. He's contributing even if he's fighting his bat a bit, which I don't think we've seen out of a Cub hitter since Derrek Lee was good.

As I said, I'm gonna try to keep this to the big league club most days, but it's hard not to mention Javier Baez's 4 HR night this evening. He mashed everything tonight, with bombs coming on 2 fastballs, a changeup, and a slider according to a tweet that I remember seeing but can't find right now because Javy has exploded my twitter feed with self-congratulatory retweets (the kid is excited, and rightfully so). At least one of the four was an opposite field shot, and another was a ~420 foot monster that Twitter reported ended up in the parking lot behind left-center field. Some of the shine has come off of Baez because of his willingness to get himself out, but when he's seeing the ball well he's a scary, scary man to have to throw to.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 6-8-13

Round Rock Express 5 @ Iowa Cubs 8 (Game 1 of doubleheader)

Ian Stewart is apparently sick of riding the pine. You've undoubtedly by now heard about his 3-homer, 8 RBI game in the first half of today's doubleheader. Nobody else drove in a run, so he literally was the I-Cubs offense in this game. It'd be nice if this were the start of a return to form for Stewart. I don't think he'll ever play another game with the big league club, but if he spends the next 7 or 8 weeks mashing in AAA maybe he can get thrown in as a pot sweetener and net a marginally better prospect. I am probably too much of an optimist.

Dave Sappelt was 1-3 with a walk. Brent Lillibridge went 2-4 with a double. Nobody else had a hit. Logan Watkins had a walk and struck out three times. Brett Jackson and Junior Lake each had a walk. Steve Clevenger walked twice.

Nick Struck threw 6.2 innings, giving up 7 hits and 4 runs. He walked 4 and struck out 2. Meh. Alex Burnett blew the save but got the win, giving up a run and getting one strikeout in his 1.1 innings of work. I'm not sure how you blow a save in the eighth inning, but this is a special I-Cubs team. Casey Coleman worked a clean inning to finish up.

Round Rock Express 4 @ Iowa Cubs 5 (Game 2 of doubleheader)

Ian Stewart celebrated his 3 homer game by completely checking out of game 2, going 0-4 with a strikeout. Won't be holding my breath on his value being salvaged anytime soon.

I know the PCL is a hitter's league, but Brent Lillibridge hit a home run. I was under the impression Brent Lillibridge couldn't hit a ball out of the infield. What is happening.

Junior Lake had a good game, going 3-4 with 2 doubles and a stolen base. Logan Watkins was 1-3 with a walk and 2 Ks. Nobody else did anything terribly noteworthy, unless you count Brett Jackson striking out twice (he was 1-4).

Barret Loux's first game back off the DL was a decent start, giving up 2 hits and a run on 3 IP with 2 Ks. Jeffrey Antigua was not so good, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits in 2.2 IP. He walked 2 and K'ed 3. Marcus Hatley worked a clean inning and a third, walking and punching out 2 each. Hisanori Takahashi gave up an unearned run in an inning and two-thirds, striking out 2 and walking none. Brian Schittler got the last out to vulture the save.

Tennessee Smokies 2 @ Mobile BayBears 3 (10 innings)

Let's start with what you care about: Kyle Hendricks was pretty good, tossing 6 innings of 4 hit ball. He gave up 1 run, walked 2, and punched out 6. 14 of his 18 outs came on Ks or ground balls. He continues to be pretty good.

Trey McNutt worked a clean 7th with 2 Ks. Zach Rosscup worked a clean eighth, but gave up a run to blow the save in the ninth. He struck out 2 and gave up 3 hits, walking none.

Kevin Rhoderick had a pretty hilarious tenth inning. It started with a leadoff double to Keon Broxton. Nick Ahmed then beat out a bunt single in the process of trying to move Broxton to third. The Smokies intentionally walked Ender Inciarte to load the bases, after which Rhoderick promptly beaned Justin Greene for the rare walkoff HBP. It's a Way of Life.

On the offensive side, Rafael Lopez was 2-4 with a homer. Christian Villanueva went 2-4 as well, but could only manage a double. Arismendy Alcantara was 1-4 with a double. Jonathan Mota was 1-3 with a double and a walk. Rubi Silva went 1-4 with 2 strikeouts. Everybody else was a warmed-over pile of Cub.

Daytona Cubs

Off-day today.

Kane County Cougars 15 @ Cedar Rapids Kernels 1

4 Cougar homers in this one, all from the top of the order. Gioskar Amaya, Albert Almora, Dan Vogelbach, and Jeimer Candelario all went deep, and everybody in the lineup had at least one hit. Safe to say Kernels starter Brett Lee didn't have his best stuff with him today.

Almora's 4-5 days has his average back well above the .400 mark at .435. Candelario arguably had the better day, going 3-4 with two walks. Oliver Zapata and Reggie Golden both were 2-4 with a walk, but Zapata sent one of his for a double. Marco Hernandez was 2-3 with a double and 2 walks. Wilson Contreras was 2-6 with a double. Amaya and Rock Shoulders were both 1-5 with a walk, with Amaya's bomb trumping Shoulders' double. Dan Vogelbach didn't do much other than his home run, going 1-6.

Byron Buxton, Keith Law's new 2nd-ranked prospect in all of baseball, was 3-5.

On the pitching side, Michael Heesch was solid, scattering 8 hits and a walk over 6.1 innings, allowing one run and striking out 3. Ian Dickson had 2 strikeouts in his otherwise clean 1.2 innings of work. and Lendy Castillo proved he's still alive by striking out the side in the ninth.

DSL Braves @ DSL Cubs

This game doesn't happen for another 7 hours or so. If anything exciting happens I'll update this.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 6-7-13

Round Rock Express 3 @ Iowa Cubs 1

Another day, another uninteresting I-Cubs loss.

Junior Lake had a nice game in his second day back, going 2-3 with a double, a walk and a stolen base. Brent Lillibridge was 3-5 with a K.

Other than that this continued to be a pretty milquetoast offense. Steve Clevenger was 1-4 with a double. Brad Nelson and Luis Flores each had a hit and a walk. It seems indicative of something with this roster that the top half of the order had a 9:1 K:BB ratio while the bottom half posted a 0:4. And that something is that this offense is stinkyfartysmelly bad.

Today in Ian Stewart is Thoyer's Bitch: Stewart had one PH AB did nothing with it. Don't make Thoyer angry. You wouldn't like them when they're angry.

Chris Rusin had a real nice game, scattering 3 hits and 2 walks over eight innings, giving up 2 runs. He punched out seven. Brian Schlitter gave his first AAA run in his ninth inning on two hits and a punchout. He's given up 3 runs in 28 innings this year between Tennessee and Iowa, with a 19:6 K:BB ratio and a 2.35 GO/AO. I'm only half-joking when I say he should be in the big club's pen.

Tennessee Smokies 1 @ Mobile BayBears 6

Seriously, anyone who thinks this system is all set on hitters should really take a closer look at these impotent offenses. Good lord.

Jonathan Mota had the game of the day here, going 2-4 with a home run for the Smokies' only XBH and the only run of the day. Matt Szczur went 3-4. Arismendy Alcantara was 1-2 with 2 walks and a punchout. Ronald Torreyes was 1-4. Everybody else sucked.

Meanwhile, Austin Kirk got knocked around in his Double-A debut, 10 hits and 6 ER in 6 IP. If you're looking for bright spots, he struck out 4 while only walking 2, and gave up 8 groundouts against 1 flyout. Three of the 6 runs came in the first, when he gave up 3 doubles in his first 5 batters faced. After that he settled in a bit, giving up a run in the fourth on a sac-fly following a triple, and a 2-run blast to Nick Evans. All in all, I think you could do worse in your first start following a promotion. That said, he was pretty crappy in the FSL so I'm probably looking too closely at this. Moving on.

Tony Zych and Hunter Cervenka both worked clean innings to close it out, striking out 3 between the two of them.

Brevard County Manatees @ Daytona Cubs

I love that the Brevard County mascot is a manatee. I hope they make some stoned college kid run around in a giant felt manatee costume all summer, trying to figure out how a sea-cow dances to Cotton Eye Joe.

Javier Baez was 2-5, both singles. He struck out again today. After briefly slowing down his pace, he's now struck out 10 times in his last 10 games against 1 BB, and carries a 9:59 BB:K ratio. That's….that's not good. I know Myles discussed Ben Badler's comments on Javy earlier in the week, how sometimes you just need to struggle to learn what pitches you can handle and drive, and what you need to lay off of. But despite all the Ks Javy's OPS continues to rise, so I guess if he's gonna learn that it's gonna come at AA. One thing that I noticed today that really makes me nervous, if you'll indulge one of those irritating Player X/Player Y bits:

Player X's Daytona Career:

G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB

329

301

.256

.304

.482

.786

145

Player Y's Daytona Career:

316

299

.258

.294

.381

.676

114

Guess which one is Javy and which is Josh Vitters. All of the sudden I don't feel so bad if we trade him.

Jorge Soler was 0-5 with 2 Ks and has cooled off considerably, with a .642 OPS over his last 10 games. I'd been wondering for awhile what he was still doing in Daytona, but there's clearly some stuff to work on here. Meanwhile, Puig.

Tim Saunders was 2-4. Dustin Geiger was 1-5. Zeke DeVoss boosted his average to .224 with a 3-3 days, all singles but with 3 SBs. Ben Carhart was 1-3 with a walk, and Wes Darvill was 2-4. The D-Cubs had zero XBHs in this game, and as a team walked twice against 9 Ks.

Matt Loosen stunk in his first game after being demoted from Tennessee. 5 IP, 7 hits, 6 ERs, 3 walks, 4 Ks, and a home run because who likes zeros in their box score? Jeffrey Lorick gave up a run over 2 innings, with 2 hits on no walks or strikeouts. Austin Reed closed out the game with 2 clean innings with 2 hits and one K.

Kane County Cougars 3 @ Burlington Bees 2

Albert Almora's average continues to drop with his 1-4 day. He got picked off again, which seems to be happening a lot. His instincts on the basepaths seem to kinda…uh..suck. Jeimer Candelario woke up a bit with his 2nd homer of the season, finishing 1-4. Bijan Rademacher was 2-4 ith a double. Dan Vogelbach was 0-2 with 2 BBs and 2 Ks. Marco Hernandez was 1-3 with a SB. Carlos Escobar was 2-4 with a triple. Nobody else did anything.

Taylor Scott worked 7 innings of 8 hit ball, giving up 2 runs (1 earned) with 3 walks. He struck out nobody, which seems like kind of a feat over 7 innings. He had a 9-6 GB:FB ratio, too. I think he might not be very good. Steve Perakslis worked a scoreless two to finish it, with 2 hits and 2 BBs against 2 strikeouts.

DSL Cubs 0 @ DSL Rojos 1

About the only noteworthy thing I see here is Luis Guillen working the last four scorelessly with no walks and 5 Ks. Whoo.

VSL Cubs 2 @ VSL Rays 3

I have no idea if it means anything, but Greyfer Eregua has given up just 2 earned runs in 24 VSL innings this year and has a 21:2 K:BB ratio. He went 6 yesterday, giving up five hits and a solo home run on 7 strikeouts.

JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 6-02-13

New Orleans Zephyrs 7 @ Iowa Cubs 6

Hey, a Kevin Kouzmanoff sighting!

A fair amount of offense in this one. He had the third-best day at the plate, but Brett Jackson's 1-5, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 1 homer performance has me the most excited, as it was 3/4 of the way to the Brett Jackson Cycle, which we haven't seen in awhile. Shame he couldn't add the SB. Brent Lillibridge went 4-6 with a double and a strikeout, so it's fair to say the Zephyrs' hurlers had a bad day. Dave Sappelt was 3/4 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout. Ian Stewart was 1-3 with a double and a K, which would be nice to see except that Donnie Murphy came in for him in a double switch and proceeded to go 2-4 with a double and no K. That's not the way to keep getting in the lineup, Ian.

On the pitching side, Guillermo Moscoso gave up 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits in 5.2 innings. He struck out 10 and walked 2, so all in all not a bad performance. He did give up one solo long ball to Kouzmanoff. So it goes. Hisanori Takahashi had a walk and a K in 0.2 innings. Casey Coleman had 2 Ks in a scoreless 1 2/3 innings. Eduardo Sanchez then proceeded to blow the save, giving up 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk in the 9th. Marcus Hatley dropped his huge ERA down to a mere 10.38 with 2 scoreless with 3 Ks and a hit. And the game finally ended in the 13th when Jeffry Antigua gave up the winning run in his 2nd inning of work, finishing with 1 run on 3 hits with a BB and 4 Ks in 2 IP.

Even when the I-Cubs' games are fun they're still incredibly boring.

Tennessee Smokies 3 @ Birmingham Barons 9

Tennessee got blown out again yesterday thanks to the pitching staff giving up 4 homers and a mixed bag of offense. Arismendy Alcantara led the way going 2-3 with a homer and a walk. Christian Villanueva also went deep in a 1-4 day. Matt Szczur continues to display a patient approach with absolutely no pop whatsoever, going 1-2 with 3 walks and a 1/2 day stealing. He also got picked off once. There's zero chance he keeps up a .355 OBP as he advances and pitchers stop throwing out of the zone entirely to him, right? Ronald Torreyes was 1-5 with a double. Rubi Silva went 0-4 with a K. Chad Noble was 2-4.

Matt Loosen had a rough day, giving up 8 runs (4 earned) on 6 hits, 4 walks, 3 Ks, and 3 home runs in 5.1 IP. Frank Batista worked a scoreless inning and two-thirds, giving up 3 hits and K'ing 1. Trey McNutt continues to work towards irrelevancy, working one inning and giving up 2 hits, a walk, and a solo home run.

I'm getting really excited about Alcantara. It'd be nice to have a 2B on the roster that wasn't a vortex of suck offensively. Here's hoping he gets to Iowa soon and we see him in September.

Brevard County Manatees 5 @ Daytona Cubs 14

This game was all about Javier Baez. Javy made the front page of milb.com because he absolutely ransacked the Manatees hurlers for a 5-6 day with 3 doubles and a 3 run homer, raising his batting average by 10 points in a single game. His season slash line now sits at .277/.319/.519/.838, which looks pretty respectable given his dreadful start to the season. But he struck out once, so to hell with him.

Jorge Soler's 2-5 day with a blast of his own seems almost like an afterthought after Javy's high-A coming out party, but he's hitting .282/.378/.487 over his last 10 games and .295/.367/.509 on the year and I'm wondering what's taking so long to promote him. I heard Keith Law say the defense isn't quite what they might've expected out of Soler, but surely that's something that can be worked on just as well in Tennessee.

Dustin Geiger's 2-4, 2 double, 1 BB day looks pedestrian comparatively, but he continues to rake. Ben Carhart went 3-6 with 2 doubles and a K. Chadd Krist was 2-3 with a double and a K. Tim Saunders was 2-4 with 2 walks. Taiwan Easterling went 0-5 for the second consecutive day. Wes Darvill was 3-4 with a walk and a K. And Taylor Davis was 2-5 and struck out twice.

On the pitching side, P.J. Franceson had a nice day, tossing 6 innings of one run ball with 6 punchouts and scattering 5 hits throughout. The bullpen tried real hard to undo all that good work by apparently pitching to the score, with Austin Reed allowing the same 5 hits on only 2 innings worked, giving up 3 runs and 2 walks while striking out 3, and Sheldon McDonald going a home run short of the box score cycle, giving up a hit, a run, a walk, and a strikeout on 1 inning pitched.

Cedar Rapids Kernels 15 @ Kane County Cougars 2

Well, this was ugly. No Buxton on the other side today and the Kernels still destroyed the Cougars pitching, which did not matter in the slightest because the offense couldn't do anything anyway. Albert Almora was 2-4, Gioskar Amaya was 1-3, Jeimer Candelario was 2-4 with a K, and Carlos Escobar was 1-3 with a double, a K, and a walk. Other than that, nobody really did anything. Dan Vogelbach, Rock Shoulders, and Reggie Golden were all 0-4, with Voges striking out once while the other two were punched out twice.

Tayler Scott gave up 7 runs on 7 hits with 1 home run in 4 IP, walking 2 and striking out 4. Ian Dickson tried to match him, giving up 5 runs on 3 hits with 2 HRs in 3 IP, walking 5 while only striking out 2. Nathan Dorris tried to stop the bleeding, working a clean 1 hit inning, but David Bote insisted on being generous, adding 3 more runs on 3 hits and two walks in his 9th.

All in all, the Cougars continue to be surprisingly disappointing. I would have had them pegged as the best team in the system going into the year, but they've really yet to do much of anything. Quite unfortunate.

DSL Yankees1 2 @ DSL Cubs 3

So this is apparently a thing that's happening now.

VSL Cubs 1 @ VSL Mariners 4