Memphis Redbirds 0 @ Iowa Cubs 4
The I-Cubs improved to 27-26 on the season behind a strong outing from Jake Buchanan. He threw 7 innings, allowed only 4 hits, walked nobody and struckout 7. Buchanan is a 26-year old former Houston Astro. He pitched in the Majors in 2014 and 2015 without a lot of success.
C.J. Edwards threw an inning and only allowed one baserunner (a walk). He struckout a batter. Spencer Patton struckout the side in the 9th.
Arismendy Alcantara was 2-4 with a strikeout and 2 runs scored. Willson Contreras drove Alcantara in one of those times on a double. Contreras also walked and scored a run. Dan Vogelbach was 0-3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. Albert Almora was 2-4 with a run scored.
Jackson Generals 1 @ Tennessee Smokies 2
There's not a lot to talk about offensively. Jacob Hannemann was 1-4 with a strikeout. Victor Caratini was 2-3. Cael Brockmeyer and Stephen Bruno were each 1-3. That's all the offense the Smokies could come up with, but it was enough to win the game thanks to the pitching.
Brad Markey threw 6 innings, allowed 7 hits and a run. He walked 3 and struckout 1. Josh Conway threw the 7th and allowed 2 walks. Jose Rosario threw the 8th and allowed 2 hits. Corey Black got his 7th save of the season. He walked 2 and struckout 2.
Potomac Nationals 2 @ Myrtle Beach Pelicans 6
Rashad Crawford was 3-4 with a double, RBI and a strikeout. He also scored a run. Ian Happ was 0-1 with 2 walks, a run scored and an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Yasiel Balaguert and Jason Vosler were each 2-4 with home runs. Vosler also added a double. It was Vosler's 2nd home run and Balaguert's 8th. Charcer Burks was 2-4 with 2 doubles and 2 runs scored.
Zach Hedges allowed 10 hits and 2 runs in 6.2 innings. He didn't walk anybody and struckout 2. Tommy Thorpe threw 0.2 innings and gave up a hit and 2 walks. He struckout a batter. James Farres threw the final 1.2 innings and didn't give up any hits or walks. He struckout 2.
West Michigan Whitecaps 3, South Bend Cubs 10 (Game 1)
The Cubs scored 10 in this one and Eloy Jimenez didn't have any hits. He was 0-4 with an RBI. Carlos Sepulveda was 3-3 with a walk and an RBI. He also scored 3 runs. P.J. Higgins was 2-4. Donnie Dewees was 3-4 with a triple and 3 RBI. Ian Rice was 1-3 with a home run. Jesse Hodges was 2-3 and Matt Rose was 1-3 with a home run.
Carson Sands couldn't get past 3 innings. He allowed 4 hits, 3 runs, walked 4 and struckout 3. Pedro Araujo threw 3 innings, allowed 2 hits, walked no one and struckout a batter. James Norwood pitched the 7th and allowed 2 hits.
West Michigan Whitecaps 1 @ South Bend Cubs 2 (Game 2)
The Cubs had just 4 hits in the second game. Ian Rice hits his 2nd home run of the day and 5th of the season. He was 1-3 with 2 RBI. Eloy Jimenez was 1-3 with 2 strikeouts. Tyler Alamo was 1-3 and Bryant Flete was 1-2.
Casey Boomquist improved to 4-2 and threw 5 innings, allowed 5 hits and a run. He walked nobody and struckout nobody. The number of low strikeout pitchers in the minor leagues for the Cubs is at an impressive level. Craig Brooks got his 3rd save of the season with 2 innings of 1-hit baseball. He struckout 2.
Comments
Not a bad day when your entire org goes 6–0., even if they were all home games.
ceruleanQuote Reply
What’s more different: Football vs Soccer or Baseball vs Cricket?
ceruleanQuote Reply
cerulean,
I’d say football vs. soccer, but I think you could make an argument either way.
dmick89Quote Reply
The Cubs 3rd order winning percentage is almost up to .800 again. It’s .798. Nearest team is the Nationals at .638.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
Not knowing much about cricket, I would have said the same, but as I have learned more, the differences have only increased. Football is in many ways the complete opposite of soccer, but cricket is so utterly different from baseball, it’s not opposite, it’s other-worldly.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Not according to Fangraphs. But, whatever. I don’t actually place any faith in these probability estimators. At the very least, they have huge margins of error.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
June 15th is the next time the Cubs are underdogs by 538Elo. That’s only because they are at the Nationals with Strasburg going against Hammel. And it should be noted that Hammel’s negative pitcher adjustment has to do with how good the entire pitching staff has been. The Cubs adjusted Elo with him pitching is only worse than Kershaw, Price, and Bumgarner that I could find. That’s crazy.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Gotcha. BP has them at ~2% for not winning the division, ~1% for not making the playoffs, FWIW.
ceruleanQuote Reply
BP is so aggressive in regressing to their projections that they use to sim the rest of the season, and yet, almost 102 wins. Fangraphs is less aggressive, over 103 wins.
ceruleanQuote Reply
wonder if alcantra is heating up enough to be a valuable trade chip. probably not.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
really digging the return of the minor league recap, by the way. thanks dmick.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
I like doing them. My neck/back is feeling a lot better these days. the pinched nerve isn’t gone, but a couple injections per year and some routine exercises, along with medication have helped tremendously. Myles will normally be filling in for the minor league recaps on the weekend, but he’s off being lazy at some wedding this weekend.
dmick89Quote Reply
If he keeps up what he’s done over the last couple weeks he’ll certainly have more value. He’s still young, but I don’t think he’ll bring much in return. Anything that could strengthen a package for whatever the Cubs might go after will help though.
dmick89Quote Reply
I’m a lot more conservative than you are when it comes to how many games I think this team wins at the end of the season, but my prediction is up to 105 at this point. I think 110 is more than possible, but unlikely. I’ll go 105-57 and they win the division by 20. (dying laughing) That’s awesome.
dmick89Quote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
We should compile a list of interesting trade chips, that is, names that might come up in conversation from the Cubs or asking teams that the Cubs might give up.
First, who will not be traded for any reason?
Schwarber
Contreras
Rizzo
Bryant
Russell
Heyward
Fowler
Arrieta
Lester
Lackey
Rondon
Anybody else?
ceruleanQuote Reply
cerulean,
you forgot clayton richard
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
cerulean,
i dunno, i kinda think that hendricks makes that list. i’m not saying he’s untradeable, i just can’t envision a scenario where they would find a reason to trade him.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
dmick89,
My early 105-win prediction was based on a high average WAR with no sudden dropoffs through depth and versatility, particularly necessary for a 162-game season. So it’s not about matching the frontline starter at every position against opponent’s frontline starters but also 2 or 3 backups on any given day. The way the Cardinals have won this millennium, devil magic aside, was through high-quality, high-floor depth, such that there was no great dropoff when a player goes down. And that’s what I see with the Cubs team.
Schwarber hurts. Rizzo’s, Heyward’s, Montero’s, Russell’s, Soler’s, Baez’s slumps hurt. But here they are. I can’t really be disappointed with 105 wins, but I do think this team has a real chance (>10%) of breaking the all-time wins record (>116) and an outside chance (~2%) of breaking the all-time W–L% record (>123). But that assumes relatively good health/more exceptional hits with prospects at the big show like last year going forward.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Ian Happ
dmick89Quote Reply
I agree with EP that while Hendricks probably isn’t on the list, I don’t see the Cubs getting what they’d want in return to trade him. If we’re being honest, the Cubs don’t have any players that are untouchable. We’re talking about players in which the Cubs front office would probably never receive an offer for a player that would satisfy them. I think Kyle Hendricks makes that list.
I guess what I’m saying is that if the Angels called the Cubs and suggested a Mike Trout for Willson Contreras trade, they’re going to take that deal in a heartbeat. Realistically though, it’s highly doubtful any team will come up with an offer for Contreras that would get them to pull the trigger.
dmick89Quote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
His value is increasing with each passing start, leading the Cubs to rightly overvalue him in the eyes of those looking at pure *stuff*, so in that regard he may be untradeable. But there are a lot of old-school results guys who may or may not be put off by his lack of velocity and new-school stats guys who marvel at his ability to control the zone and miss bats, and the fact that his is young, cheap, and controlled for four more years, and it’s possible he could bring back quite a haul in a trade. I mean, I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that he and Happ could bring back Jackie Bradley, Jr and a low A arm, particularly given Red Sox’s need for quality starters.
ceruleanQuote Reply
dmick89,
Yeah, untradeable to me means that neither side would value the other’s wares (assuming human beings are prepackaged goods, dying laughing) enough to decide to swap, not that they wouldn’t swap them. I think Hendricks has proven himself enough that a swap can occur with the right team.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Holy shit has Bradley, Jr been good this year. My point still stands, but maybe it’s Hendricks and Soler/Baez.
ceruleanQuote Reply
cerulean,
On second thought, probably not.
ceruleanQuote Reply
cerulean,
yeah but i can’t envision any realistic scenario where the cubs would give up a quality fifth starter unless they were getting another mlb-ready pitcher in return (in which case, why would either team be making the deal). there are no holes in the roster big enough that they would get rid of hendricks and slot in travis wood or cahill as the #5 starter.
i’m sure there are plenty of teams out there that would be interested in hendricks but i just can’t imagine a realistic scenario where the cubs would be willing to part with him.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
dmick89,
I don’t think Happ is untradeable. He might actually be their best trade chip. If they didn’t have Zobrist and Schwarber was healthy and doing well behind the plate, I could see Contreras being the best trade chip and Happ untradeable, but that’s not the reality that played out.
ceruleanQuote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
Adam Warren.
ceruleanQuote Reply
new shit: http://obstructedview.net/diamondbacks-cubs-game-thread-6-5-16/
dmick89Quote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
I don’t mean to be glib since it would hurt from a depth standpoint, but I do think Warren is a viable option. I also would think that the Cubs were dealing for both short term and long term options with that and other trades.
ceruleanQuote Reply