It’s been awhile since we’ve touched on the minor leagues this season. dmick has been busy. Seeing as I held the post of “minor league wonk” fairly recently, I thought I’d give a short synopsis of each team so far. Iowa Arismendy Alcantara has not been so great this year. His walk rate is down precipitously, so even though he …
Cubs Minor League Recap: 4-16-14
Guy insulted me once, I pissed in his gas tank, car never drove straight again. Iowa Cubs Alright, Matt Szczur was 0-4. I’m tired of writing of that so unless otherwise noted, Matt Szczur was 0-4. Arismendy Alcantara said he was tired of not hitting and hit. He was 3-5 with a double and triple. He scored twice, drove in …
Cubs Minor League Recap: 4-15-14
I’ve not done these for several days and the reason is not important. Iowa Cubs Matt Szczur, Arismendy Alcantara and Josh Vitters were a combined 0-12 at the top of the I-Cubs batting order. Chris Coghlan was 1-3 with a walk and Chris Valaika was 2-3 with a double. Logan Watkins and Eli Whiteside each added hits. Carlos Pimentel got …
Minor League Recap 4-10-14
Three of the Cubs four minor league games got underway this afternoon while Daytona played tonight. Iowa Cubs Matt Szczur was 2-4 with a strikeout and run scored. Arismendy Alcantara doubled and had 2 hits in 4 plate appearances. Javier Baez isn’t getting a lot of hits, but he hit his 2nd home run of the season and was 1-4 …
Minor League Recap: 4-9-14
Iowa Cubs Matt Szczur is off to a slow start with another 0-5 night and he struck out 3 times. Arismendy Alcantara was 1-3 with a walk and Javier Baez was 2-4 with a double and a strikeout. Josh Vitters hit his 2nd home run of the season and was 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Brett Jackson hit …
Minor League Recap 4-5-14
Iowa Cubs It was a long night for the Iowa Cubs as they were beaten 11-1. Matt Szczur was 1-3 with a walk, run scored and a strikeout. Arismendy Alcantara was also 1-3 with a double. He also had an error. Javier Baez was 0-2 with 2 strikeouts and was thrown out of the game arguing the check swing strikeout. …
Minor League Recap for April 4, 2014
I know Myles includes the Cubs, in part because they’re essentially a minor league team and in part because someone requested it. I’m not going to include them. It’s not because I have so much to say about the minor leagues. It’s because I just don’t want to write about them. Emilio Bonifacio? Seriously? No thanks. Iowa Cubs Matt Szczur …
Quiet Optimism
So, we've got the team. My best guess at the 25-man roster (Wins Above Replacement – Myles): Position Player WARM C Castillo 1.5 1B Rizzo 3.0 2B Valbuena 1.0 SS Castro 2.5 3B Olt 1.0 LF Lake 1.0 CF Sweeney 1.5 RF Schierholtz 1.0 4OF Ruggiano 1.0 5OF Vitters 0.5 UTIL Barney 1.0 UTIL Roberts 0.75 2C Kottaras 0.5 #1 …
Minor League Roundtable Part 2: Breakouts and Busts
Part 2 of our Roundtable series discussing all sorts of things relevant to the Cubs Minor League system. Let's get into it, shall we? Myles: Who do you guys think could breakout next year? I think there's a slam-dunk answer to breakout candidates, but I have a few I'd like to talk about. The one I'm most confident about is Shawon …
2013 Cubs Prospects In Review: Josh Vitters
Josh Vitters came to the Cubs with the third overall pick in the 2007 draft as the reward for their dismal 2006 campaign, a highly touted high school third base prospect with an enviable right-handed swing, tremendous raw power, and almost no glove whatsoever. After a year of demolishing both the Northwest and Midwest Leagues (slashing .328/.365/.498 in 61 games at Boise …