Starlin Castro has established himself at the big league level and he's going to get better. How much so? Who really knows, but even if he never got any better, he's still an above average shortstop currently making league minimum. Anthony Rizzo hasn't established himself as Castro has, but he's more than shown in his first couple months with the …
New Cub Christian Villanueva
The main piece aquired in the Ryan Dempster trade was 21 year old Christian Villanueva. Villanueva was signed as an international free agent out of Mexico by the Rangers in 2008 and just recently turned 21. He's played the entire season in High A. His first season in the US was in 2010 in the AZL. Over 210 plate appearances …
New Cub Arodys Vizcaino
I was getting ready for bed last night when all these trades happened and I assumed I'd make it to bed at my bedtime. Then I saw Arodys Vizcaino's name surface as one of the two players the Cubs were getting in return for Reed Johnson and Paul Maholm. At that point I knew I was going to be up …
Podcasting the Cubs
Before gallivanting off to the hinterlands of Molina-esque interwebs, Berselius recorded a podcast with longtime reader, sometime commenter sitrick2. We talked the Cubs for about an hour, including talk of prospects, the Dempster situation based on what we knew on Tuesday (not much), and The Future. We also talked some Breaking Bad, Parks and Rec, and other TV stuff to …
Potential deadline trades
Nearly every player on the Cubs is a potential trade candidate so talking about each one would be exhaustive and pointless. Luis Valbuena is a trade candidate though why any team would trade for him, I don't know. It's not like there was a line of teams wanting to sign him after he was DFA'd and he's not been very …
The Children Are Our Future – Minor League Update Sponsored by TGI Friday’s
AZL Cubs Shawon Dunston, Jr.'s minor league career has not gotten off to a fast start. He was 0-4 last night. After spending 71 plate appearances at Boise he was demoted to the AZL Cubs where he's been an improved hitter, but nothing that gets you excited. On the season he's hit .228/.291/.347. Albert Almora was 1-4 with a double …
Becoming more optimistic about Josh Vitters (Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster)
Josh Vitters entered the 2007 Draft as one of the best bats in the class. Matt Wieters was considered the best college bat in the country and scouts debated whether Mike Moustakas or Josh Vitters was the best high school bat. Some scouts even said Vitters had the best bat in the draft. David Price would be selected 1st and …
Josh Vitters awaits call up
I'm going to have more on Josh Vitters in the near future, but for now you can read an article on milb.com. At a quick glance, Vitters' numbers — .302, 14 home runs, 56 RBIs through Saturday — would seem to suggest a callup is overdue. That seems especially true with Chicago third baseman Ian Stewart on the disabled list …
Obstructed View’s Top 20 Cubs Prospects
1. Brett Jackson OF AAA The Math — The 23 year old, 2009 1st round pick has a slash line .261/.339/.494. Astronomical strikeout rate (33.8%), but he still has a 114 wRC+. The Good — Despite the K's Jackson has still been a productive player. He gets a ton of XHB's with his speed and has plenty of pop from CF. …
The Children Are The Future – Cubs Minor League Update Sponsored by Cookies Bar “B” “Q”
Iowa Cubs Brett Jackson was 1-4 and struckout twice. He has an astronomical 33.8% strikeout rate, but is still managing a wOBA near .370, which is good for a wRC+ of 113. It's not as good as his stint in Iowa last year, but it's still above average. Josh Vitters was 1-3 with a walk and is now sporting a …