Towel Drills: A Chicago Cubs Blog

Transactional News

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:06:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 10, 2009.

The Cubs curse appears to be back, as just when the Cubs seem to be getting healthy, things start falling apart...

It started with Ryan Dempster, who as most of you know by now, caught his back leg hopping over the small "fence" that separates the dugout from the playing field. He thought he'd just bent the nail back and was going to pitch on Tuesday, but a precautionary X-Ray revealed a break in his big toe. He is saying 3 weeks, most people are saying it'll be more like 6.

To take Dempster's spot, the Cubs recalled Kevin Hart, who'd been sent down the day before when the team was healthy for a day. Hart started on Wednesday and pitched well. As a starter, he'd been pitching well at Iowa, with a 3-0 record and 1.41 ERA over 6 starts.

But with the transactions from Monday, the Cubs were playing a man short in the 'pen, so despite Hart's performance, he was sent back to Iowa yesterday. The Cubs called up Jeff Stevens to fill the vacant bullpen spot. With the All Star break upcoming, the Cubs won't need a fifth starter for a while, so there was no real need to keep Hart around. Stevens, of course, was the centerpiece in the Mark DeRosa trade. He had a 2.18 ERA over 30 relief appearances for Iowa and had struck out 43 in 41+ innings.

Additionally, Jason Waddell came off the D.L. and was sent to Iowa. If you remember, Waddell was called up to be another leftie in the 'pen, but was sent to the D.L. after 3 appearances with a non-baseball related injury.

In yet to be determined news, Geo Soto was scratched from Wednesday's game with a strained oblique muscle, which he pulled during BP. Another freak injury for the Cubs. The Cubs were supposed to review the MRI today to see the severity of it, but most people think they'll send him to the D.L. It'll give him a chance to get it back to 100%, instead of trying to play through it and possibly injuring it more. With the All Star break and the retroactivity to Wednesday, Geo would be able to come off the D.L. by the 22nd, which means he would only miss 11 games in total, and they'd probably hold off on activating him until the 24th, because of an off-day the 23rd.

The problem becomes what the Cubs do if Geo goes to the D.L. Koyie Hill slides into the starting spot and the current plan is to have him start and Jake Fox to be the emergency catcher (Fox was drafted as a catcher but moved a few years ago because he didn't have the tools of a major league catcher). But if Geo goes to the D.L., I'm assuming the Cubs will have to add a catcher to their 25 man roster. To do that, they will actually have to add one to their 40 man roster, because they only have Soto and Hill. The Cubs are only at 38 on their 40 man roster, so they have room, but then it becomes whether they add the AAA All Star Chris Robinson or Steve Clevenger. Robinson is the more experienced catcher, having spent the entire year at Iowa, while Clevenger is considered the 11th best prospect in the organization and excelled when he was with Tennessee. My guess is that Robinson would get the call, if the Cubs add a catcher, but I could see Clevenger added if the Cubs expected to protect him this fall by adding him to the 40 man.

And a quick little rumor for you, related to the roster. JH said yesterday that he's already talked to his scouts and spoken to the agent for B.J. Ryan, the former closer who was released by the Blue Jays yesterday. It could mean that JH is doing his due diligence, but it could mean he is considering adding Ryan to the mix. Ryan had a 6.53 ERA for the Jays this season.

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A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:08:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 10, 2009.

Iowa

Steve Clevenger-Clevenger's slow start at the plate since since promotion seems to be over. He has a 6 game hitting streak in which he's batting .417. Last night, he went 3 for 4 with his first triple since joining Iowa (he has 4 on the year).

Bonus-After a solid month in Tennessee, the Cubs promoted Blake Parker to Iowa to see how he'd handle pitching in AAA relief. In the closer's role, Parker has 9 saves and a 1.66 ERA. He's striking out more than a batter per inning and righties are hitting a mere .185 off him. You have to think the Cubs may consider adding the former 16th round pick to the roster come September.

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-Until last night, Castillo had one hit this month in 23 AB's (that's an .043 batting average). But he went 1 for 4 and watched his monthly BA jump to .074. He now passes other Smokies in July hits, namely Marcus Mateo, Jay Jackson, Jake Muyco, and Andrew Cashner. Of course, there all pitchers (but to be fair, Muyco used to be a catcher). Castillo pulls into a tie with Casey Coleman.

Tyler Colvin-Last Sunday, Colvin had a very Colvin-like performance. In 5 AB's, he had 2 doubles and a HR with 2 runs and 2 RBI's. Unfortunately, that was surrounded by 5 0'fers. He went 1 for 4 as last night's DH, but is still hitting below .200 for the month of July.

Jay Jackson-Jackson took his first loss since April on Tuesday in his worst outing since April. 5 and 1/3, 4 earned. It was a bit of a weird night for Jackson. After giving up two singles in the first and having the runner's advance on a fielder's choice, Jackson balked in a run. He gave up a solo shot in the 3rd, but that was all the hits he surrendered. He was pitching pretty well until the 6th inning, where he walked the bases loaded before being removed.

Andrew Cashner-Cashner had two starts this week. On the 4th of July, he yielded one run over 5 innings pitched while striking out 6. Cashner's outing last night was an interesting one, because he took his first loss of the year despite not giving up an earned run. After 4 scoreless frames, he had runners on first and second with two outs. Nate Samson commits a throwing error, allowing one run to score. Cashner leaves the game with runner's on second and third, both of whom score.

Bonus-Make it 7 All Stars for the Smokies, as Tony Thomas was added as an injury replacement. The former top 10 prospect is hitting .261 with 8 HR's and 8 stolen bases, but has committed 13 errors this year and has been caught stealing 12 times (yes, a 40% success rate). He's also struck out 78 times in 81 games.

Daytona

Josh Vitters-Vitters hasn't quite adjusted to FSL pitching just yet. In his first 8 games, he's hitting .194, including 0 for 5 against lefties. His season average is still above .300 and I'd expect this is just a slump for Vitters.

Starlin Castro-For the week, Castro is hitting .353 with 3 extra base hits. One was his third HR of the year and first since May. Castro has an impressive 10.5% strikeout ratio, and with only 11 walks, he's putting almost every ball in play.

Bonus-A 24th round pick last year, David Cales struggled at Tennessee but is lighting it up at Daytona. The last time the D-Cubs closer gave up a run, it was May. He has a WHIP of an even 1.00 and righties are hitting .176 against him at Daytona. He has struck out at least one batter in his last 8 appearances.

Peoria

Ryan Flaherty-Flaherty has hit safely in his last 4 games and 7 of his last 8. He's scored 7 runs in during that stretch and he's hitting .346. He also hit his 10th HR of the year, which is 2nd on the team to former Chief Josh Vitters.

Bonus-Hopefully, Kyler Burke can turn his warning track power into HR power. He leads all of the minor leagues in doubles, with 30. The 21 year old's doubles are helping him to an .801 OPS and he's a perfect 8 for 8 in the stolen base department. He was the player thrown in in the Michael Barrett for Rob Bowen trade.

Boise

Hak Ju Lee-Lee has a 4 game hitting streak and is hitting .286 for the year. He is 6th in the league in runs scored, with 16 in 18 games. He is also 2nd in the league in stolen bases, with 7. The bad news continues to be his defense...he has 11 errors in 18 games (that would be nearly 100 over a 162 game season).

Bonus-In the 2nd inning of his first appearance, Jeffry Antigua gave up a 2 run HR. In the 11 1/3 innings since then, he hasn't allowed a run. In fact, that HR was one of only 6 hits Antigua's allowed in his 13 innings of work. He's walked 5 (giving him a WHIP of 0.85) and struck out 11 (giving him a K/W ratio of over 2 to 1). Righties are hitting .097 off him so far this season.

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Angel Guzman's Story

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:09:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 8, 2009.

Name the only top prospect (according to BA) in the last 7 years to be in a Cubs uniform today.

Yes, it's an easy answer since Angel Guzman's name and photo are above, but it's also a pretty remarkable story and one I think often gets overlooked.

Guzman originally signed with the Kansas City Royals in 1999 before having his contract voided and later signing with the Cubs. Guzman made his professional debut with the Cubs Rookie club in Venezuela as an 18 year old, making 7 appearances with a 1.93 ERA. Guzman made his stateside debut as a 19 year old with Boise in 2001. He went 9-1 in 14 starts with a 2.23 ERA, leading the league in victories and being named an All Star. In '02, he played in his first full season of professional baseball. He pitched 156 innings between A and Advanced A ball, going 11-4 with a 2.19 ERA.

It's notable that he pitched 150+ innings as a 20 year old because of the way things would go after that. After being a major league spring training invitee, he opened '03 at AA, where he went 3-3 with a 2.81 ERA in 15 starts (89 2/3 innings). He was selected to the Futures Game. But, he felt shoulder discomfort after a start in late June and Dr. James Andrews performed labrum surgery on him on July 8. Despite the surgery, the Cubs added Guzman to the 40 man roster at the year's end.

Guzman got started late in 2004 following surgery, making his first appearance mid-May. The Cubs started him in Advanced A ball while he rehabbed his shoulder. After a 3-1, 4.70 ERA performance, he was promoted to AA. After 4 starts in which he went 0-3 with a 5+ ERA, he went to the D.L. with shoulder tendonitis. He would remain on the D.L. for the rest of the year.

In 2005, Guzman went to EST (extended spring training) and remained there until August 10, when he returned to the mound in a rookie league game. He would only pitch in 6 contests that year between Rookie ball and Class A. He would get some additional work in in the Arizona Fall League.

Despite having missed the better part of the last two seasons, Guzman broke camp with Dusty Baker's Cubs in 2006. After 4 starts, he'd head to Iowa for the first time with a MLB ERA of 7.00. He'd bounce between Chicago and Iowa for the rest of the season, ending up with a 0-6 record and 7.39 ERA in the Bigs and a 4-4 record with a 4.04 ERA at Iowa.

In '07, he broke camp with the big club again as a reliever. But with Wade Miller struggling, the Cubs sent Guzman down to get in some more innings and prep him to start. He was back as a starter in May, until cramping issues sent him to the 'pen. At that time, Ryan Dempster was supposed to prepare Guzman to be the team's closer of the future. But two weeks after going to the 'pen, Guzman headed to the D.L. with a strained elbow. It was supposed to be a mild sprain, but after throwing a couple of relief appearances in rookie ball in July, Guzman was shut down again and underwent reconstructive elbow surgery late in the year.

His '08 campaign began in August after rehabbing from surgery. It also began in Daytona. He would climb up the rehab ladder to AA and AAA before being called up in September last year.

This year, on April 19, he earned his first career victory in his 21st major league appearance. He went to the D.L. in late June with a triceps strain and recently returned after rehabbing in Peoria (A Ball) and Iowa (AAA).

Since joining the Cubs in 2000, Guzman has undergone 2 major surgeries and has only had 2 full seasons of injury-free baseball. He has spent at least a portion of every season in the minors, albeit sometimes in rehab roles. After skipping Iowa on his way to the Bigs, he was sent there after his first MLB stint and has been there every year since (4 years in total). He threw more innings in his first three years stateside (2000-02) then in the 6+ years since.

Even with all that adversity, he's now the team leader in ERA (among those with more than 10 innings pitched).

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Who gets the Boot?

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:29:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 6, 2009.

UPDATED 4:23 CT-The Cubs avoided making three moves by placing David Patton on the D.L., but I was 2 for 3 anyways. Sam Fuld and Kevin Hart are headed back to Iowa.

With ReJo, ARam, and Guzman slated to return to Wrigley tonight, who is most likely headed out of Chicago? Let's take a look:

Jeff Baker-That anyone even mentioned his name is ridiculous. Baker is out of options, so the only way the Cubs would get to keep him is if they sent him through waivers. Why would JH trade for a guy, only to put him on waivers 3 days later? The Cubs added Baker for versatility, not for 3 days of bench warming.

Sam Fuld-Look, the kid's got spunk. There's no doubt about that. And yes, he's leading the team in hitting, at .364. And he's played a more than solid OF. But...he's basically taking ReJo's spot. The Cubs haven't played with 5 true OF's since they traded Joey Gathright, and Lou never used Gathright when he had him (14 AB's in 20 games played over 6 weeks).

Andres Blanco-Andre White is the kind of guy you'd have on your team as the late-inning defensive replacement in the 80's. But it isn't the 80's. Blanco's hitting .225 and has the 2nd lowest OPS among all position players still on the 40 man roster. He could stay or go; he's out of options, so again, the Cubs would need to get him through waivers. Then again, you'd have to wonder if teams are desparately seeking defensive replacements. He could also stay until Aaron Miles returns.

Micah Hoffpauir and Jake Fox-It's just easier to discuss these two at the same time. Both have options, but it's highly unlikely both would be sent down. Hoffpauir has the advantage in being left-handed, but Fox has the advantage of being able to play third. Hoffpauir has been mired in a terrible slump (8 for 47 since the calendar hit June 1), but the Cubs may see the need to get Fox consistent PT at the 3-sack to make him more a reliable backup.

Mike Fontenot-Remember when the Cubs traded DeRo and JH said they did so in part to get lil Mikey more AB's? Well, he's had those AB's and has shown that that wasn't the right move. Fontenot is hitting .236 and has lost PT to Fox and Blanco. Because Fontenot was with the Big Boys all of last year, he actually still has options left. He has made his case to stay by amassing 7 hits in his last 4 games.

Kevin Hart-Hart was just called up 2 weeks ago. He has an impressive 1.59 ERA, with the one earnie coming off a solo HR, but Lou can't like the 5 walks in 5 and 2/3 innings pitched. Hart struggled at the beginning of the season, which may have been the reason we hadn't seen him earlier, but given the fact he has options, he would be the easiest to move.

Jeff ND-Samardzija was called up even more recently than Hart, but is making his second tour with the Cubs this season. He pitched a scoreless inning against the Pirates, but gave up 2 on the 4th of July to the Brew-Crew. Like Hart, he was starting in Iowa and the Cubs have been reluctant to call him up so he can work on second and third pitches, because they still project him long term as a starter. His contract may dictate whether he stays or goes, given that he makes $2M/year.

David Patton-There has been talk that it's time to end the David Patton experiment. He has a 5.63 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP on the year and he pitches roughly once per week. But despite the high overall ERA, Patton has a respectable 3.52 ERA after the first month of the season. The bigger question is whether the Cubs are going to continue to hold on to him through the rest of the year or whether it's time to cut bait and go with the young arms they have in the system.

My Predictions

I think Sam Fuld is the most likely to get sent down out of all these options. Sure, he was great for those two days. But the Cubs brass needs to be honest with itself. Fuld isn't going to supplant any of the starters and the Cubs have a more successful (long-term) option in Reed Johnson. The Cubs have 5th outfielder options in Baker, Fox, and Hoffpauir.

As for the other spot, it's really up in the air. Most experts think that Fox's bat and ability to play the 3 sack will keep him in the Bigs. While Fontenot has struggled, his back came around of late, and I think Lou likes him enough to keep him. Plus, of the group, lil Mikey's ego would take the biggest hit if sent down, and while the Cubs aren't in the ego business, they could lose him forever if he gets demoted. I think the Cubs are leaning towards Hoffpauir, because they have a thunder stick off the bench and because Blanco can keep the bench warm until Miles returns. With ARam back, the need for sticks shouldn't be as great as a gloveman.

I think it's really a toss up with the relievers. Hart's 5 walks in 5+ IP would make him the leading candidate. But if the Cubs see Jeff ND as a long term starter who needs to work on certain pitches, he isn't getting that experience in the Bigs as a reliever. And I wouldn't think they have plans to keep Patton and be a contender, but they've held on to him this long and the Cubs 'pen hasn't been overworked. So, I'll have to guess and say Hart.

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A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:39:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 3, 2009.

The I-Cubs ATAtM list shrinks again, a couple of the Cubs best find new homes, A pre-Independence Day edition...

Iowa

Steve Clevenger-Clevenger's hitting streak ended at 10 games, and things haven't been so hot for him since. Clevenger's amassed just 4 hits during the week, hitting .182. Still, Clevenger's hitting .304 on the year between the two clubs with a .774 OPS.

Jeff ND-now with the Big Boys

Bonus-No need to do a deluxe edition of the I-Cubs All Star roster, as it's only one player, Chris Robinson. Robinson will be the PCL's starting catcher (yes, the Cub's organizational catcher logjam continues). Robinson is hitting .314 and has successfully stolen 7 of 9 bases this season.

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-4 starts for Castillo this week. A 2 for 4 performance was sandwiched in between three 0'fers. Castillo is hitting .154 for a combination of the months of June and July. Castillo only has 18 RBI's in 50 games.

Tyler Colvin-Colvin has a hit in his last 4 games and 7 of his last 8. He has a .901 OPS since being promoted back to Tennessee. But Colvin has also struck out at least once in 8 of his last 9 games. In 203 AB's this season, Colvin has K'd 45 times.

Jay Jackson-Jackson had his worst outing since April last Saturday, giving up 3 earned runs in 4 and 2/3 innings pitched. After not walking a batter in his previous 2 starts, Jackson yielded 4. Jackson bounced back last night, but didn't go deep into the game. He went 4 innings, giving up 1 earnie on 4 hits and 2 walks.

Andrew Cashner-The Cubs third best prospect according to BA has been promoted to play for Ryne Sandberg. Since Cashner hasn't officially toed the rubber for the Smokies, we'll take a quick look at his Daytona numbers. No record, a 1.50 ERA over 12 starts, a 1.10 WHIP and 1 HR allowed over 42 innings pitched. You have to wonder if this move puts him in line for a September callup.

Bonus-Jayson Ruhlman followed the unfortunate path that a few of his Smokie teammates did...he was demoted from Iowa after a slow start. Ruhlman has bounced back, posting a 3.00

ERA with a WHIP of 1.00. Both righties and lefties are hitting under .200 against him.

Daytona

Josh Vitters-With the #3 prospect moving up, who could the Cubs promote to keep the excitement level high in Daytona? Josh Vitters. While Vitters didn't have a hit in his first game, he did walk, something he did only 7 times in 70 games for the Chiefs. Vitters has 3 hits in his last 2 games, giving him a .273 BA in 3 games as a D-Cub.

Starlin Castro-The D-Cub fans may be spoiled, as they may be getting a peek at the future left side of the Cubs infield playing together. Case in point? Last Friday. Castro went 2 for 4 with a double, a triple, and a walk. He grabbed 5 RBI's, but also was caught stealing twice. He followed that up with a 3 for 5 night on Saturday.

Bonus-Daytona also added the Cubs 3rd round pick from 2008 in Chris Carpenter this week. Carpenter was 4-3 with the Chiefs, but posted an impressive 2.44 ERA in 15 starts. He had a 1.19 WHIP at Peoria and lefties were hitting .185 against him.

Peoria

Ryan Flaherty-Hopefully, Flaherty is getting things going. He's hit safely in 4 of his last 5 games, but also struck out 6 times. Beyond Flaherty's .238 BA, he's hit 10 HR's and has stolen 6 of 9 bases. He has a .740 OPS.

Bonus-A 20th round pick from the '07 draft, Jose Made was recently added to the Chiefs roster. After an '08 campaign in which he hit totalled 4 hits between 3 stops in 60 AB's (a .067 BA), Made has already amassed 6 hits in just 12 AB's for Peoria.

Boise

Hak Ju Lee-Lee is off to a hot start at Boise, hitting .340 with 12 runs in 12 games. He's hit in 11 of the 12 games this season, and already has 7 stolen bases in 9 attempts. The 18 year old is leading the league in stolen bases and tied for the lead in runs scored.

Bonus-An 18 year old out of South Korea, Jae Hoon Ha has shown a couple of good signs in his professional debut. First, he has 9 RBI's in 11 games, leading the team in that department. He's hitting .289 (thanks to 3 straight games of 2 for 4). But the most impressive stat is that he has struck out only once in 38 official AB's.

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No DeRo...No Problem. Cubs Make a Trade

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:33:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 2, 2009.

UPDATED at 1:56 PM CT

While a lot of Cubs fans envisioned the return of Mark DeRosa to supply the Cubs with a utility-man, JH had other ideas. JH's return fire to the Card's DeRo trade?

Jeff Baker. The Cubs announced today that they have traded Alberto Albuquerque for Colorado's Jeff Baker, and in a corresponding move, they designated Ryan Freel for assignment. More on Albuquerque and Freel in a moment. Jeff Baker was hitting .130 for the Rockies...3 hits in 23 AB's, before a wrist injury sidelined him in late April. He has been on the D.L. since then, but is near the end of his rehab.

So why did the Cubs trade for him? I don't know. I guess they felt his utility-ness was more favorable than Ryan Freel's. Baker's natural position is third base, but he's played both other sacks (1 and 2) as well as the outfield. The confusing part for me is that the Cubs continue to stockpile utility players, yet none of them can play SS. Andre White is the only player who can realistically play SS other than The Riot. I guess Aaron Miles can play there in a pinch, but I just can't fathom bringing in guy after guy who is a good 2-sack and/or 3-sack and ignoring the fact that Lou is always saying how he'd like to get The Riot some rest.

Maybe JH feels Baker can produce like he did in '08, where he hit 12 HR's and drove in 48 in 333 AB's. I doubt anyone will be surprised to hear 8 of those HR's and 30 of the RBI's were at Coor's Field. In fact, his career .257 BA is really .295 at home, .205 on the road.

Not surprisingly, the Rockies were more than willing to get rid of him, given that they still have a plethora of infielders as well. Plus, Baker was moved to the 60 day D.L. because the team was at it's 40 man maximum, so they would've had to let someone when he returned.

So what did the Cubs surrender to get a career .205 hitter away from Coor's? Alberto Albuquerque (AA from now on...it's dizzying to write to type Albuquerque) was 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in 24 games of relief for the D-Cubs and righties were hitting a mere .174 off him. AA wasn't really considered a Cubs prospect because he didn't pitch at all last season (I assume it was based on an injury, but googling it did no good). So, the Cubs didn't give up much in this deal, at least on the surface.

Freel's tenure with the Cubs was brief in actual active duty. When he was acquired (from the Orioles for Joey Gathright), he was on the D.L. (yes, JH seems to like making trades for players currently hurt). He played in 10 games in May before heading back to the D.L. He played in 4 games since his second return from the D.L. He hit .143 for the Cubs with 1 run and 1 RBI.

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Let's Just Switch Iowa and Chicago

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:04:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 1, 2009.

With a team like the Cubs, you can't expect the minor leaguers to have a huge impact. But amazingly, it seems like the Cubs are getting more production from them than some of the regulars. So I decided to rank the AAA players based on their performance in the Bigs to how a minor leaguer being called up should perform.

Below Average

Chad Fox-It's hard to remember that Fox even played for the Cubs and it's something I'm sure he'd like to forget. His callup lasted 1 outing shorter than last year, at 2, before another arm injury that will probably mean the end of his career. Fox's performance wasn't helping...5 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning.

Jeff ND-Samardzija was the first player called up from AAA this season. His first stint wasn't so good, lasting only 2 weeks, as he compiled a 8.10 ERA. But he was sent downt to work on a second pitch, and Lou said after his first return outing on Tuesday that he thought he looked a lot better. While the Cubs don't want to waste Jeff ND in the minors, he needs to prove something or he'll be sent back in favor of Ascanio or Hart.

Jason Waddell-When the Cubs added Waddell, I thought they finally had a 2nd leftie in the 'pen. Not that his 5.40 ERA at Iowa and the fact that lefties were batting .346 off him were making him attractive, but at least there were options. Well, 3 games in, and Waddell was gone. He is on the D.L. for a undisclosed, non-baseball-related injury reason, so when/if he'll return is up in the air. He left with a matching 5.40 ERA in the Bigs.

At Par

Kevin Hart-A limited sample size, but Hart has pitched relatively well in his 3 appearances since being recalled a week and a half ago. While he has a 2.45 ERA, he has walked 4 in less than 4 innings of work. Hart is probably a quick fill in until Angel Guzman comes back from the D.L., especially with Jeff ND up.

Above Average

Jose Ascanio-Ascanio was called up when Chad Fox went down, and was returned to Iowa when Jeff ND returned to the majors this week. Ascanio has been one of the cogs that has solidified the bullpen, giving up 6 earned runs over 15 and 1/3 innings. And while the Cubs have too much invested in Jeff ND to keep him at Iowa, Ascanio had struggled as of late, prompting the demotion.

Andres Blanco-Andre White was another headscratcher when he was called up, because he hadn't played in the Bigs since '06. And while Blanco has only hit .231, he's done the little things you'd expect out of a bench player. He plays solid defense (getting the #1 web gem last night, which you can see here) and has good AB's. He has more walks than K's and is tied for the team lead in sacrifices.

Sam Fuld-It only took one game for Fuld to play above average. A 2 for 4 performance, including a double last night, a diving catch, and throwing out a runner at home with a great throw from left will do that. Fuld is likely only here until ReJo comes back next week, but with last night's performance, we may see him log some PT.

Bobby Scales-When I heard that the first position player the Cubs were calling up from AAA was a 31 year old who'd never sniffed the Bigs, I thought the Cubs farm system was in bigger trouble than I'd expected. But Scales performed admirably in a 25 games before his return to Iowa. He hit 3 HR's and had a .466 slugging percentage, which ranks higher than everyone but D.Lee, ARam, Sam Fuld (in his 1 game), and Jake Fox.

Excellent

Jake Fox-Fox was leading the minors in the triple crown categories (BA, HR's, RBI's) when he was called up. There were a lot of questions as to whether he would actually get to play, because he was considered a defensive liability basically everywhere. So, Fox took matters into his own hands and hit his way onto the field. His .316 BA and .509 slugging percentage are 3rd to Fuld and ARam. He has given Lou a solid option at 3rd until ARam comes back, and you have to wonder where the Cubs would be if Fox had been playing the 3-sack instead of the Fontenot experiment.

Randy Wells-Called up as a replacement for Zambrano, Wells has been nothing short of amazing. His 2.43 ERA is almost a full point better than any other starter on the staff and he has a 3 to 1 K/W ratio. Wells has also saved Lou's 'pen, going at least 6 and 2/3 in 7 of his last 8 starts. Unless he falls apart or they trade him, expect him to be in the rotation for the remainder of the year. All this from a guy considered to be about the Cubs 50th best prospect in their system.

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All Star Update-Southern League

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:45:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on June 29, 2009.

I previously announced the Class A minor league All Stars via the weekly ATAtM, but I decided to profile the numerous Tennessee Smokies who made the Southern League All Star team separately. Here are the six:

Jay Jackson-This was an obvious selection. While his 4-3, 3.15 ERA overall doesn't jump out, his 4-0 record and 1.55 ERA in the last 9 starts tells the story. Jackson was a 9th round pick by the Cubs in the '08 draft (yes, only a little over 1 calendar year ago) and is a top ten prospect in the Cubs system.

Casey Coleman-Coleman's 2.79 ERA is the fifth lowest among pitchers in the Southern League. Combine that with an 8-3 record and only 4 HR's yielded in 87 innings pitched (his 87 IP is 4th in the league) and you've got yourself an All Star. Jackson has gotten most of the notoriety as being a lower drafted player having success, but Coleman was a 15th round pick in that same 2008 draft, 461st overall.

Brian Schlitter-Schlitter made the All Star team on the strength of his closing numbers: 12 saves, 3rd best in the Southern League. He has better than a 2 to 1 K/W ratio, but nothing else jumps out. He's 0-4 with a 4.64 ERA and 7 HR's allowed. Schlitter was acquired from the Phillies in exchange for Scott Erye late last year.

Darwin Barney-Barney is 4th in the league in batting average (.317) and is one of only three infielder's hitting above .300. He's mostly a singles hitter (his slugging % is just over .400) and he still has some work to do defensively (16 errors), but that average is hard to ignore. Barney was a 4th round pick in the '07 draft and is the Cubs 19th best prospect according to BA.

Blake Lalli-Lalli is one of the other two infielders hitting above .300 in the league, as he enters play tonight at .302. Much like Barney, Lalli is mostly a singles hitter. One of the more impressive things about the 1-sack is that he was actually an NDFA (non-drafted free agent) who the Cubs signed out of college.

Jim Adduci-Adduci joins Lalli and Barney in the .300 club, although he is one of the 9 OF's in the Southern League (which means that the Smokies have 25% of the .300 hitters in the league). But Adduci adds a little more...he is tied for 5th in the league in stolen bases, with 17. The Cubs acquired Adduci from the Marlins. How? Well, he was supposedly given to the Cubs by the Marlins as compensation for Zach McCormack, who failed his physical after the trade. McCormack was part of the deal that sent Todd Wellemeyer to the Marlins, so you'll often see that he was "traded" for McCormack.

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A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:34:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on June 25, 2009. Futures game roster announced, an All Star MVP, and the first stats from Boise.

Iowa

Steve Clevenger-The I-Cubs catcher is starting to hit like he did at Tennessee. Entering tonight's game, Clevenger has a 9 game hitting streak. During the streak, he's hitting .382 (13 for 34) with 4 doubles. In his last 5 games, he has 6 RBI's. He also stole his first base this week.

Kevin Hart-now with the Big Boys

Jeff ND-Samardzija must make scouts want to bang their head against a wall, because his good game, bad game streak continues. This week was his good game. 8 innings of shutout baseball, dropping his ERA by over half a point. It was also his longest outing of the year and his 7th consecutive start with a decision. Samardzija also went 1 for 3 at the plate.

Bonus-Maybe something to starting to click with Mitch Atkins. When he toed the rubber on June 6th, he had a 2-7 record with an ERA approaching 9. But in his last four, he is 3-0 with an ERA of 2.73 and a WHIP of 0.91. Last night, Atkins had a no hitter going into the 8th inning before the wheels came off (a little); he gave up 2 singles and a double, along with a sacrifice, before being lifted.

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-Last year's representative in the Future's Game for the Cubs won't be making a return trip this year. Castillo has played in 5 games this week, going 2 for 15. On Father's Day, he hit his 6th HR of the year in a 3 RBI, 2 run performance. But he followed that up on Monday with an 0 for 4, 3 K performance.

Tyler Colvin-Colvin's hitting streak ended at 8, but has hit safely in 11 of his last 12. He added another HR last Friday (giving him 4 in 3 days) and went yard on Wednesday night in a 3 for 4 performance. He's now hitting .319 with 6 HR's (in 69 AB's) at Tennessee. Maybe he's concerned he'll lose his status as the most athletic player in the Cubs organization (with the signing of 1st round pick Brett Jackson) or his status as College World Series star (to 2nd round pick D.J. LeMahieu).

Jay Jackson-I get the impression that people keep waiting on Jackson to fail. Well, they'll have to keep waiting. Another strong performance for Jackson this week. A really strong performance. 5 innings, 1 hit. No walks, no runs. He also struck out 5. Since May 19th, he has an ERA of 1.01. There's not much more to say about how great he's pitching.

Bonus-Marco Carrillo made one appearance in Daytona before being called up to Tennessee at the end of May. In his 2nd appearance at Daytona, he gave up a solo HR over 2 and 1/3 innings. That is the sum total of the runs he's given up this season. 1 run over 16 and 2/3 innings in total. The only concerning aspect for Carillo is that he has walked 7.

Daytona

Starlin Castr0-The Cubs shocked some "experts" when they put the younger, more inexperienced Castro at Daytona while keeping the polished Ryan Flaherty at Peoria. How has Castro handled it? Well, along with the FSL All Star selection, Castro has been named this week to the Future's Game World squad. Speaking of that All Star game...Castro was named MVP, thanks to a 4 for 4 performance which included an inside the park HR.

Andrew Cashner-Tuesday's start was a typical Cashner start...meaning it was short and sweet. 4 innings pitched, 1 hit. No walks, no earned runs. In his last 5 starts, he's allowed a total of 2 earnies. I still find it interesting that the Cubs say they project Cashner as a starter, yet he hasn't thrown more than 4 innings twice this year. A lot of guys who project as relievers still start to get more work in, but you'd expect Cashner to be stretched out by now.

Bonus-Unfortunately, Ryan Searle didn't enjoy the same success in the All Star game as Castro. The Australian came in in relief, yielding 4 earnies. According to former Daytona head coach and Cub Jody Davis, it was the first time Searle had ever pitched in the rain.

Peoria

Josh Vitters-Vitters will join Castro in the Future's Game, but will actually oppose him on the U.S. squad. Vitters started the MWL All Star game, going 0 for 3 with a strikeout. He closed the first half of the season at .308 with 13 HR's and 42 RBI's in 250 AB's (that would be 31 HR's and 101 RBI's over a 600 AB season).

Ryan Flaherty-Flaherty was probably happy to get a few days off for the All Star break after a disappointing .236 BA in the first half. But despite a low BA, Flaherty managed 22 extra base hits and 36 RBI (good for 4th on the team). Flaherty has been seeing some time at the 2-sack recently with Junior Lake (the Cubs #14 prospect according to BA) playing SS.

Bonus-Why not give a little love to Michael Brenly? Brenly has hit safely in 6 of his last 7 games, driving his BA from .235 to .278. During that stretch, Brenly has three 3 hit games and 4 doubles. He has driven in 6, or more than a quarter of his total runs batted in for the year (to date). He's also drawn 3 walks (he only had walked 5 times previous to this streak).

Boise

Hak Ju Lee-While his arm may still be recovering from off-season Tommy John surgery, his bat was ready for Northwest League pitching. He's opened the season on a 6 game hitting streak, giving him a .400 BA. He has 7 runs in the 6 games and has already stolen 2 bags (I guess his wheels are OK too).

Bonus-Obviously, a small sample size to choose from, but 8th round pick Robert Whitenack got his professional career started in the right direction. The 20 year old righthander pitched two innings of perfect relief, facing 3 righties and 3 lefties. He struck out one.

The Rest

No news on Dae Eun Rhee.

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A Few Draft Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:41:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on June 23, 2009.

A few news and notes regarding the players selected in last week's draft...

1st Round pick Brett Jackson has signed with the Cubs, according to various reports. Obviously, it's good to hear the Cubs won't be sweating it out on the final days to sign him. He is expected to report to Boise.

Speaking of Boise, the Cubs 8th round pick, pitcher Robert Whitenack, is already with the team after signing.

The Cubs 2nd round pick probably isn't thinking too much of his contract negotiations with the Cubs right now, as he is playing the College World Series Finals. D.J. LeMahieu was a huge part of LSU's game one victory. LeMahieu hit a solo homer to cut the lead to one in the seventh and had a 2 RBI double in the ninth that tied the game. Then in the 11th, he walked, stole second, went to third on a bad throw from the catcher (he probably would've been thrown out at second except for the errant throw), and scored the go-ahead (and winning) run.

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The Worst Draft of the

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:22:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on June 20, 2009.

The Cubs have had some terrible drafts in their history. But with the news of a previous 6th rounder being released this week, I thought it was time to revisit the issue and see just what was the worst draft the Cubs have had since we stopped using 19 at the beginning of our year.

The '02 draft

To say that the Cubs had the potential for a great draft would be an understatement. 10 picks in the first 4 rounds. No, that wasn't a typo, 10 picks. But it got better. The Cubs had a first round pick plus 3 supplemental first rounders, giving them 4 of the first 41 picks. The Cubs used those four picks on 4 pitchers. All would eventually get released before making to the majors.

But really, that wasn't a terrible draft, it just hurt because of all the top picks. The Cubs 2nd round pick was Justin Jones, who was the minor leaguer sent to the Twins in the 4 team trade tornado that landed the Cubs Nomar and Murton. Their 3rd round pick was Billy Petrick, who made 8 relief appearances for the Cubs in 2007. One of their two 4th round picks was Rich Hill. Some of you may even remember their 9th rounder, Adam Greenburg. Greenburg was the kid who got called up by the Cubs and in his first AB, was plunked on the head and had to be D.L'd. In the 14th round, they picked Rocky Cherry, who also made it to the Cubs in '07 as a reliever. Micah Hoffpauir (13th round) and Randy Wells (38th round) are still on the Cubs.

The '04 Draft

Nearly the opposite of the '02 Draft, the Cubs were left shorthanded after "losing" their 1st round pick to the Twins for signing free agent LaTroy Hawkins (if it's any comfort, the Twins selection didn't do anything). The Notre Dame connection came into play for the first time when the Cubs selected Grant Johnson in the 2nd round. He, along with 3 of the next 4 picks, are no longer in the system, and Mark Reed (the 3rd rounder who still is in the Cubs system) has a career .233 BA in the minors.

But there were a few bright spots. 8th rounder Eric Patterson and 11th rounder Sean Gallagher landed the Cubs Rich Harden. In another deal with the A's, 17th rounder Jerry Blevins was thrown in the deal that sent Rob Bowen to the A's and Jason Kendall to the Cubs. Sam Fuld was the Cubs 10th round pick and a guy who played in 14 games for the '07 club. He is still in the system.

'05 Draft

This draft was the worst of the millenium, hands down. Like '02, the Cubs selected pitchers with each of their first four picks. And like '02, the Cubs had an extra pick early on, albeit a 3rd round pick. And unfortunately like '02, none of the 4 pitchers are still in the system, although Donald Veal and Mark Holliman were lost when they weren't protected in the Rule V draft. With 6th rounder Kyle Reynolds being released this week, the Cubs have only 2 guys from the top 10 rounds who remain in the system.

The highlights? Ummm, is drafting Bob Brenly's son a highlight? Alright, so the Cubs do have a few guys left beyond their 35th round selection, but not much in terms of prospects. Their top drafted player left is 4th rounder Dylan Johnston, who was demoted from Peoria to Boise after hitting just .185 this season. 8th rounder Jake Muyco is in his first full season as a relief pitcher after being drafted as a catcher. That's about it. 9th rounder Matt Avery was traded earlier this year for Ryan Buchter, who is having a solid season at Peoria. 12th rounder Yusuf Carter was taken in the minor league portion of the Rule V draft last winter.

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A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:56:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on June 19, 2009.

A Hak Ju Lee sighting, Jay Jackson returns from the D.L., and more...

Iowa

Steve Clevenger-Clevenger will enter tonight's game with a 5 game hitting streak. During the streak, he is hitting .389 with 3 runs and 3 RBI's. His last 5 games have raised his Iowa batting average 50 points, to .258. Clevenger also had 2 doubles during the streak, giving him 8 on the year in 143 AB's.

Kevin Hart-Hart had one start this week and earned his 3rd W in a row. While the run total looks good, it was more of a struggle than it appeared. He only gave up one earned run over 6 innings, but gave up 6 hits and 3 walks. In the 6th, he gave up his only earned run (and an unearned run), but it could've been much worse. With runners on 1st and 3rd and only one out, Hart K'd the next two batters to limit the damage. The team responded with 3 in the top half of the seven to take the lead and give Hart the W.

Jeff ND-Back to the down portion of the starting rollercoaster for Samardzija as mentioned in last week's ATAtM. 6 innings, 8 hits, 4 earned, and a loss. Samardzija has now gone W, L, W, L, W, L in his last 6 outings. What's a little baffling is that righties are actually hitting better off him then lefties. Righties are hitting .274, lefties .261. The best stat for Jeff ND is that he's only walking 2.39 guys per 9.

Bonus-Former brick-crasher Sam Fuld is showing that speed doesn't slump. Fuld is 16 of 19 in the stolen base department on the year, and has 6 bags in his last 10 games. His 16 is tenth in the league, behind former Cubs Eric Patterson and Buck Coats. Fuld is also 2nd in the PCL in triples, with 8.

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-Castillo has only logged 11 AB's in the last week with only 2 hits. A pinch hit appearance in the first game of yesterday's doubleheader allowed the streak of games with a K to end, which was at 6. On the season, Castillo has just one fewer K than he does hits and walks combined. I'm guessing Castillo won't be making a return trip to the Future's Game this year.

Tyler Colvin-Like Clevenger, Colvin will take a 5 game hitting streak into tonight's action. Colvin is hitting .400 during the streak, raising his Tennessee BA 50 points. But Colvin is hotter. He has 3 HR's in his last two games, albeit 3 solo HR's. He has 4 RBI's in his last 4 games, doubling his Tennessee total.

Jay Jackson-Jackson came off the D.L. on Sunday and pretended he hadn't missed two weeks. 5 innings pitched, 4 hits, 0 walks, 1 earned run. After his first 3 outings, Jackson had pitched 13 and 1/3 and had given up 14 runs. Since then, he's given up a total of 6 earned runs over 42 and 2/3 innings (a 1.27 ERA).

Bonus-The Cubs 4th round pick in 2007, Darwin Barney, still has some work to do in the field as a SS (15 errors in 63 games), but his stick seems MLB-ready. He leads the Smokies in hits, RBI's, 2nd in total bases, and 3rd in OBP. He is 3rd in the Southern League in batting (among qualifiers).

Daytona

Starlin Castro-Castro has hit safely in 8 of his last 10 games, but has actually watched his BA drop by 4 points, in large part because he's only had 1 multi-hit game. He only had one extra base hit, a pinch hit double. He added 2 stolen bases this week, making him 13 of 17 for the year (76.5% success rate).

Andrew Cashner-Cashner dominated again this week, on Tuesday, with a 3 hit, 1 walk, no earned run performance. That is his 3rd no earnie start in his last four (a 1.17 ERA). He has a 1.85 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP for the season.

Bonus-After struggling at the start of the season at Tennessee, David Cales was demoted from Daytona. The demotion has done him well. In 18 games, he has a 1.29 ERA and 7 saves for the D-Cubs. The 7 saves are tied for fourth the in FSL, despite the fact he wasn't on the team for the first month of the season. His WHIP is an even 1.00 and has allowed only 1 HR in 21 innings pitched.

Peoria

Josh Vitters-Vitters has hit safely in 5 of his last 6 games after a prolonged drought. Along with a .308 batting average during that stretch, Vitters has 5 RBI's, giving him 42 on the season. He is tied for 7th in the Midwest League in RBI's. Despite a homerless June to date, he is 2nd in the league in HR's.

Ryan Flaherty-A 7 for 26 week means only a .269 BA for the week, but it raised Flaherty's BA by 4 points. Looking past his BA, Flaherty had a good week. 8 RBI's, 3 runs, and 3 extra base hits (a double, a triple, and an HR). He did K 9 times.

Bonus-Christopher Archer doesn't have the record to reflect it (2-2), but he's having a solid season at Peoria. Much like Cashner, Archer's record is more a reflection of his IP. He's only logged 5 innings 3 times in his 13 starts, and all three were 5 innings exactly. But Archer has a 2.42 ERA and hasn't given up a single HR in his 48 and 1/3 innings pitched this year. He has also struck out 62, or roughly 1.28 K's. per inning.

Boise

Hak Ju Lee-Finally, some news on Lee, who will be in uniform tonight for Boise's home opener.

The Rest

The rest is now just Dae Eun Rhee, and there's no news.

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Turning the Tide

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:52:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on June 18, 2009.

The man who will get the Cubs going is....Pedro Martinez? According to Pedro himself, the Cubs and the Rays have shown the most interest in Pedro and he is likely to sign a deal soon. There are so many angles to this story, but I'll try to cover them all.

First, let's remember that it's a report from the player, not from any other source. The Tribune is reporting that the Cubs sent a scout to watch Pedro work out, while the St. Petersburg Times says the Rays have talked to Pedro but nothing is remotely close. In other words, it sounds like Pedro either thinks he's closer to a deal than he is or he is floating teams out there to the media to try to drum up attention and his asking price.

Second, there's the issue of whether he would be a starter or reliever. People (and by people, I mean scouts and analysts) are split on the issue. Some think he doesn't have enough left in the tank to pitch 5-6 innings anymore, while others say he's too old to get warmed up quickly or pitch in back to back games. My guess is that if the Cubs are going to bring him in, it would be as a starter. Their bullpen has jelled with the additions of Ascanio and Guzman. It's not out of the realm of possibilities that they would bring him in as a reliever, but I am going to proceed as if the Cubs are looking to add him to the rotation.

Third, if this interest is genuine, what does this signal? Well, I think it could signal that the Cubs scouts don't believe that Randy Wells will continue his sterling season and that once teams (and scouts) see more of him, they will hit him. He has a 2.55 ERA in 7 starts and an impressive 3 to 1 K/W ratio. And yes, before his callup he had a similar 2.77 ERA and 3 to 1 K/W ratio in 5 starts for Iowa. But prior to this year, Wells had spent two full seasons at Iowa with a 4+ ERA and has a minor league career ERA of 3.74.

The other possibility is that the Cubs want to make a trade that will require the loss of some pitching (Wells, Sean Marshall, etc.). It would be a perfect time to trade Wells while the iron is hot. Even if the Cubs think Wells will continue to be as successful as he is now, it's still worth the risk, because his track record doesn't show this level of success. It may also be time to move Marshall, not because he doesn't have value to the Cubs as a swing man, but rather because he still figures to be a long-term starter and is value to another team may be higher.

Fourth, there's the issue of what the Cubs would do if they trade some pitching because they have Pedro and then watch their starting staff get hurt. Well, the AAA staff is full of potential emergency/short term starters, which could allow JH to be more aggressive. J.R. Mathes has been a left-handed swing man for the Iowa club, where he has a 3.25 ERA overall and an impressive 2.50 ERA as a starter. After struggling out the gates, Kevin Hart was moved from the 'pen to the rotation and has posted a 1.41 ERA in 6 starts. And there's always Jeff N.D., whose been up and down, but has a 3.91 ERA over 10 starts for Iowa.

Finally, maybe the Cubs think they need someone who can take down the oldest coach on the opponent's team if there is a brawl.

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A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:15:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on June 12, 2009.

A late posting of ATAtM last week plus a busy weekend equals a new ATAtM with only a few games...

Iowa

Steve Clevenger-So far, Clevenger has played 1/2 the number of games at Iowa that he did at Tennessee, so his stats should be half what they were, right? Not quite. He had 42 total bases at Tennessee, he has 12 so far at Iowa. He had 10 RBI's, he has added only three more. Not surprisingly, he's hitting only .100 with runner's in scoring position. Oddly enough, the lefthanded batting Clevenger is hitting .273 against lefties but only .167 against righties.

Kevin Hart-Hart started last night's game and was solid. 7 innings pitched, 2 earnies, 4 hits, 3 walks, and 5 K's. But those two earned runs doubled his earned run total as a starter and brought his starter ERA up to 1.38. Hart would be in line for a promotion, but given the disparity between starting and relieving, he's probably only going to be called up if there's a starting need and Lou doesn't want to go to Marshall.

Jeff ND-Samardzija has been on a starting rollercoaster since mid May...a good start, then a bad start, then back again. Tuesday night was time for the good start. 6 innings, 5 hits, no walks, one earned run. He got the win in his fifth consecutive start with a decision. Samardzija also managed a run-scoring triple.

Bonus-Since being sent down, Neal Cotts has pitched like a man trying desparately to get back to the Show. After giving up a run on a hit and two oh-so-predictable walks in his first outing, he has thrown up zero's in his last four, totaling 4 and 2/3. Over that span, he has allowed 2 hits and zero walks.

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-A pair of 1 for 3's since the last posting has Castillo's BA for June up to .154 and his overall BA up to .198. Castillo has struck out in each of his last 4 games and has more K's (29) than hits (25). Things haven't turned around for Castillo after being handed the majority of the starts behind the dish.

Tyler Colvin-Colvin's return to Tennessee has too small a sample size to truly determine if he's getting closer to 100% after the off-season surgery, so it's better to focus on a few small items. First, it appears the plan is to rest him about every third or fourth game, although he usually gets an AB off the bench. Strikeouts continue to be his major bugaboo. After striking almost once per game at Daytona, he's only struck out about once every two games for Tennessee, but remains on pace to strike out over 100 times this year.

Jay Jackson-On D.L.

Bonus-There aren't many batting numbers that jump out at you when looking at James Adduci's line. A .282 BA, 21 RBI's and 21 runs in 54 games. But when you get to the running game, it's a different story. He's 12 for 12 in the stolen base department, ranking him 7th in the Southern League and being the only one in the top 15 who hasn't been caught.

Daytona

Starlin Castro-Castro has a 4 game hitting streak and has hit safely in 6 of his last 7 games. His lone 0'fer was during the first game of a doubleheader (in which he played both games). Over that stretch of 7 games, he's batting .308 with 5 runs and 3 stolen bases. He's now has a 73% success rate in stealing.

Andrew Cashner-It would be hard to characterize any of Cashner's outings as bad, as he hasn't given up more than 2 runs in any start. But the problem is he isn't going deep into games, so sometimes 2 earnies looks big. Like last night, when he gave up 2 earned runs in 4 and 1/3. His second run came after he'd left the game and the bases loaded. Because he hasn't given up a ton of runs and because he has only pitched 5 innings once, it's not surprising that he has started 9 games and doesn't have a record.

Bonus-I generally try to keep from repeating the same name two weeks in a row in the bonus section, but since I used Robinson Chirinos in a double bonus, I decided it was OK. Chirinos continues to crush the ball. Chirinos hit a HR on Tuesday, didn't play on Wednesday, and hit another HR last night (in a 3 for 5 effort). On the season, he has 10 HR's and 31 RBI's. In his last 10 games, he has 7 HR's and 18 RBI's.

Peoria

Josh Vitters-Vitters has always been a streaky hitter. After hitting .386 with 12 HR's in the month of May, he's off to a .152 start in June, thanks in large part to an 0 for 16 in his last 4 games. The good news is that he only K'd in one of those AB's and still managed to drive in two RBI's. He now has 37 RBI in 56 games, which would be over 100 over the course of a 162 game season.

Ryan Flatherty-Flaherty's minor 5 game hitting streak came to an end on Tuesday. After going 0 for 6 in his last two games, the promising start to the month of June has stalled. Flaherty is hitting .235 for the month after hitting exactly the same in May. In a weird stat, he's hitting .291 with runners on base but only .196 when those runners are in scoring position.

Bonus-With 6 Chiefs on the All Star roster, it's not surprising that there were probably deserving guys left off. One of those guys is Christopher Huseby. Maybe it was Huseby's 1-4 record that kept him off, but the rest of the numbers are outstanding. The 6 foot 7 inch reliever has a 2.31 ERA and 0.99 WHIP. He's also struck out 1.41 batters per inning. But here's the mind-blowing number: a 16.5 to 1 K/W ratio. He has struck out 33 batters and only allowed 2 hits all season. If you are trying to remember where you've heard the name before, it might be because the Cubs dished out a reported 1.3 million dollar bonus to lure Huseby from heading to Auburn.

The Others

No news on Dae Eun Rhee or Hak Ju Lee.

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Draft, Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:09:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on June 10, 2009.

I won't be going round-by-round, but giving highlights throughout the day...

The Cubs 4th round pick is lefthanded pitcher Christopher Rusin from the University of Kentucky. He's a senior who ranked as the #192 prospect according to BA. He had a 4.20 ERA, but struck out 108 in 94 innings pitched and had a WHIP of 1.30. He was a 23rd round pick of the A's last year.
The Cubs took Brooks Raley in the 6th round (the 200th overall pick). Raley is a leftie from Texas A&M. He is ranked as the #82 overall prospect by BA. In 2008, he was a second team freshman All American. This year, he went 7-2 with a 3.74 ERA. Raley struck out over a batter per inning and had a WHIP of 1.08. He also played OF, where he was known for his speed. BA says he's one of the best two-way college players in the draft. MLB.com has him as a safe pick, a guy who will probably make it to the majors, and could be as high as a #3 starter. He is the third left-handed pitcher the Cubs have drafted and all three had better than a K per inning. He is supposed to be a tough sign.
In the 8th round (no, I'm not just skipping the odd numbered rounds), the Cubs selected Robert Whitenack, their fourth pitcher but first righthander. He's listed at 6-5 and according to BA, has the best or second best curveball in the Northeast. BA also says it was a value pick for the Cubs.
With the 380th pick (12th round), the Cubs drafted Burundi Davis. Davis was an 11th round pick by the Pirates coming out of high school in 2007. He is also the ninth college player drafted out of the 12 picks the Cubs have made.
The 500th selection (in the 16th round) in the draft was the Cubs selection of Keenyn Walker. The high schooler was also a football recruit, ranked the 80th best safety in the nation by Rivals.com.
In the 17th round, the Cubs selected Brandon Dail. It has to be a nice day for Dail, who was in a hospital in serious condition after a car accident during the Cap Cod League almost one year ago today. He jumped on the hood of his teammate's truck and when his teammate hit the brakes, he fell off and was pinned underneath.
Local propsect Gerardo Esquivel was drafted by the Cubs in the 24th round. He attended De La Salle Institute and has a scholarship to play at Kansas State.

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Draft Recap, Day #1

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:05:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on June 9, 2009.

With the 31st pick in tonight's draft, the Cubs selected Brett Jackson, a left-hand hitting CF from Cal Berkeley. BA had Jackson ranked as the second best athlete among college position players (you may have to re-read that one to understand what it means) and the #34 prospect overall. The question becomes whether the 6-2, 210 lber will have enough speed to stay at center. According to Bob Brenly (who saw him play against his son and with his son in a summer league), he can. If he has to move to a corner, there's some concern that the 20 year old won't have enough power. The other knock on Jackson is that he lacks a little plate discipline. Jackson hit .321 with 8 HR's and 11 stolen bases this year.

In the second round (79th overall), the Cubs selected David LeMahieu, a righthanded hitting infielder from LSU (yes, another infielder from LSU). But LeMahieu doesn't suffer from the same height deprivation that The Riot and lil Mikey suffer from, as he goes 6-4, 200 lbs. Why is he labeled a infielder, instead of a specific position? Well, he started as LSU's starting shortstop, but was moved to second in late April. And at 6-4, 200 lbs, he will probably fill out and if so, would be better suited at third. LeMahieu was a bit of a "value" pick, because he came out of last year's prestigious Cape Cod league as BA's #6 prospect and was picked pre-season as a mid-first rounder. Before the draft, BA had him ranked 73rd overall. He hit .335 with 4 HR's and 8 stolen bases this year. He was drafted in the 41st round in the '07 draft by the Tigers.

In the third and final round of the evening, the Cubs selected Austin Kirk as the 109th player selected in this year's draft. Kirk is a left-handed pitcher out of high school, but is actually 19 years old. He was ranked as the 151st best player overall by BA. As most high schoolers who get drafted high, he dominated. He went 9-1 with a 0.45 ERA and 111 K's in just 62 innings of work. He had better than a 5 to 1 K/W ratio. He also plays first base. Kirk has signed a letter of intent to play at the University of Oklahoma this fall.

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A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 05:01:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on June 8, 2009.

Low level All Star teams announced (6 for the D-Cubs) and as the new draft class gets announced (starting tomorrow), news on 7 from the '08 class.

Iowa

Steve Clevenger-Iowa hasn't been quite as kind to Clevenger as Tennessee pitching was. In 13 games, he's hitting .227 (he hit .364 at Tenn.) with a .517 OPS (.976 at Tenn.). He's playing nearly everyday at Iowa, either behind the dish or as the team's DH (a luxury not afforded at Tennessee, where the pitcher's bat). In fairness to Clevenger, he was logging most of his PT at Tennesee against righthanders compared to an almost even number of AB's against both at Iowa.

Kevin Hart-What a difference it's been since Kevin Hart moved to the starting rotation. In 4 starts, Hart has pitched 19 innings and given up a total of 2 earned runs, giving him a sub 1 ERA (compared to a 5.75 ERA in relief). He's only allowed 7 hits and 8 walks (a 0.79 WHIP), but 5 of those came in his latest outing. I'm guessing they keep Hart in the rotation for the time being.

Jeff ND-For every solid performance Samardzija has put up in AAA, he has a bad one to counter it. As a result, he is 2-2 with a 4.43 ERA. He's started twice since the last ATAtM, and kept his rollercoaster going. In a shortened 7 inning game (as is the custom when you play a doubleheader in the minors), Jeff ND threw a complete game, giving up 2 earnies over 6 hits and 3 walks. But then he came back on Thursday and gave up 4 over 5 innings with 9 hits and 2 walks. He's no stranger to seeing the ball leave the playing field from the mound...he's given up 7 HR's in just over 40 innings.

Bonus-Blake Parker was promoted to AAA after a solid month at Tennessee where he posted a 1.46 ERA in 12 innings of relief with 19 K's. In his first outing with the I-Cubs, he gave up an earned run. A month later, that remains the only blemish on his ERA, which now sits at 0.82. He has 6 saves in his 11 appearances, and while he hasn't posted the 13.86 K/9 ratio he did at Tennessee, he is still over one per inning (9.82).

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-If you remove a 3 for 4 performance on May 30, Castillo is hitting a buck twenty five since the last ATAtM posting. But with that 3 for 4 performance, his BA jumps all the way to .214. Since the calendar turned to June, he has 2 hits in 20 AB's with 6 K's and nary a walk. Then again, he only has 5 walks on the season. In comparison, Koyie Hill has managed 9 walks in half the AB's with the big club.

Tyler Colvin-Colvin was bumped back up from Daytona as he slowly progresses from offseason Tommy John surgery. After struggling to a .250 BA at Daytona, he's off to a good start at Tennessee. He's hitting .316 in 8 games with 3 extra base hits, including an HR. He had a 4 game hitting streak end yesterday.

Jay Jackson-For the first time all season, there's something in which to be disappointed regarding Jay Jackson. After posting another strong performance on May 29 (5 and 2/3, 1 earnie on 2 hits and 3 walks), Jackson headed to the D.L. with a bruised right leg. Jackson has a 3.35 ERA on the season.

Bonus-One of Oneri Fleita's strengths is finding talent in the later rounds of the draft, and last year was no exception. While top pick Andrew Cashner stole the headlines and Jay Jackson has been annointed with the early title of great find, his teammate and draftmate Casey Coleman can't be overlooked. The 15th round pick from last year is arguably pitching better than Jackson. He has a 5-2 record with a 2.89 ERA, topping the team in both wins, IP, and ERA (among starters). In his last four starts, he has a 1.93 ERA.

Daytona

Starlin Castro-Castro has hit safely in 8 of his last 9 games, hitting .343 over that stretch and raising his BA from .291 to .302. In addition to the hits, he's stolen 3 bags in 4 attempts during that stretch and is drawing walks. Prior to this 9 game stretch, Castro had a total of 4 walks on the season. He has walked 3 times in the last 9 games and 4 times in the last 10. The combination of speed and hitting has landed him a spot on the Florida State League All Star team.

Andrew Cashner-In the 1st inning of Cashner's May 26th start, he gave up a run before shutting the opponent down over 5 innings of work. Since then, he hasn't allowed a runner to cross home plate; a span of 11 and 1/3 innings. He still isn't going deep into games, witnessed by the 7 total innings in his last two starts, but the results have been great. He has a 1.75 ERA for the season and has struck out nearly a batter per inning.

Bonus-It's a double bonus, as catcher Robinson Chirinos and pitcher Ryan Searle will join Castro on the FSL All Star team. After advancing to Tennessee last year, Chirinos found himself back at Daytona this year with the catcher logjam the Cubs have. He has responded by hitting .344 with 8 HR's in 27 games (assuming a catcher only gets in 140 games a year, he'd be on pace to hit 41 over the course of a full season). He has become noted for his two grand slam game on May 31. As for Searle, the 19 year old Australian was selected prior to his last outing, which is a good thing. He was 4-3 with a respectable 3.13 ERA in 10 games (9 starts). But yesterday's stat line for Searle was ugly. 3 and 1/3, 6 earned, 7 hits and 3 walks. His 3.13 ERA jumped to 4.01.

Peoria

Josh Vitters-Vitters has cooled off after being named BA's hotest prospect. In his 9 games since the last ATAtM, he hitting a mere .257. But he closed the month of May with a .386 BA and 12 HR's and 27 RBI for the month. Vitters is second in the Midwest League in HR's and fourth in batting average, which made him an easy choice for the Midwest League All Star team.

Ryan Flaherty-Flatherty has a 4 game hitting streak and has hit safely in 5 of the last 6, giving him a .292 BA since the last ATAtM. He also added 3 HR's, including in back to back games Saturday and Sunday, almost doubling his HR total for the year. While his BA still sits at .243, his OPS is up to .749.

Bonus-This bonus is times 5. Let's take a look at all the D-Cubs All Stars:

Kyler Burke-(OF) .278 BA, .812 OPS, 5 for 5 in stolen bases
Josh Harrison-(DH) .346 BA, .880 OPS, only 21 K's in 208 AB's, 8 for 15 in stolen bases
Rebel Ridling-(reserve INF) .270 BA, 6 HR's
Chris Carpenter-(P) 3.04 ERA in 11 starts, 49 K's in 50.1 IP, .204 BAA
Ryan Buchter-(P) 2.35 ERA in 23 innings of relief, 28 K's, 4 saves

The Rest

No news on Dae Eun Rhee or Hak Ju Lee

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Relief? You know how to spell it.

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:27:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on June 3, 2009.

With last night's game fresh in our minds, let's take a quick gander at the Cubs offseason pitching moves:

Aaron Heilman for Ronny Cedeno and Garrett Olson-Heilman took the loss last night, making him 2-3 on the season with a 5.09 ERA. The Cubs parted ways with Cedeno because they signed Aaron Miles. Makes sense...get rid of a guy who can play the 4, 5, or 6 spot to get a guy who can't play third. Hmmmm...now we've seen how many guys try to play the 3 sack in ARam's absence? The silver lining is that Cedeno is only hitting .173. Olson has been the Mariner's swing man, starting 3 of his 7 appearances, with a 4.68 ERA. In other words, the Cubs traded a guy who has a 4.68 ERA and a potential fit at third for a guy with a 5.06 ERA.

Kevin Gregg for Jose Ceda-After last night, Gregg is 8 of 10 in the save department and has a 5.24 ERA. The only "good" news is that Jose Ceda was shut down for a few days in Spring Training and has yet to pitch. I guess the Marlins have a different idea of a few days.

Jason Marquis for Luis Vizcaino-Most of you know how the latter portion of this trade went, but the Rockies are happy with the Marquis for nothing trade. Marquis is 7-3 with a 3.93 ERA. His .211 BA matches Geo Soto's.

Rich Hill for PTBNL-We're supposed to be excited about the fact that Rich Hill is doing well, and he is. He's 2-0 with a 4.15 ERA in 4 starts. Can't say much about who the Cubs got, because the Cubs don't know.

Michael Wuertz for Richie Robnett and Justin Sellers-This was a good one. Wuertz has a 2.59 ERA in 24 appearances for the A's. If he were with the Cubs, he'd have the best ERA among the relievers and be one of only three below 4. Justin Sellers was traded to the Dodgers for future considerations (i.e. most likely a small sum of money). Robnett was released by the Cubs this week after batting .175 between Iowa and Tennessee with a .555 OPS.

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Rumor Mill in Full Swing as June Hits...

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:40:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on June 1, 2009.

Say goodbye to May, and to boring articles about things like on-field performance, it's now time for every writer in America to start announcing trade rumors and coming up with their own potential trades. Luckily, thanks to a split with the Dodgers, things remain relatively quiet on the North Side front...

As a lid-lifter, Fred Mitchell of the Trib says that the Cubs may not be able to make any moves this summer because the deal between the Tribune and Tom Ricketts continues to be held up. If you are looking for the blurb about it in the article, you have to scroll down past the picture of the ghost who threw out the first pitch on Saturday.

In the post-game wrapup from Saturday, Fox's Ken Rosenthal reiterates the ownership issue is problematic, but goes as far as saying the Padres will need to move Peavy to rid themselves of his salary.

SI's Jon Heyman keeps hearing that the Cubs may be the only team to land Jake Peavy, because they may be the only team Peavy is willing to go to. If that's true, my excitement meter in this story may move a little bit, because it could put the Cubs in an advantageous position. If Peavy is only willing to go to the Cubs and the Padres want to get rid of his contract (as Rosenthal states), it may not take as much as it did over the winter. But as I've said before, starting pitching is not the Cubs problem.

Heyman also added that Bob Costas thinks the Cubs may try to re-acquire Mark DeRosa. Didn't know Costas was inside the wire, but OK. This one is interesting simply for the fact that a) would the Cubs have to give up more than they acquired originally for DeRosa (answer is probably yes) and b) how would DeRo receive the news...he loves Chicago, but can't be a big fan of JH.

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A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Fri, 29 May 2009 07:20:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on May 29, 2009.

Jake Fox comes off the ATAtM board, Josh Vitters is hot, and my bitching finally pays off...

Iowa

Steve Clevenger-Welcome to Iowa. After weeks of my bitching about why the Cubs had their two best catching prospects on the same team, the Cubs finally promoted Clevenger. It was a well-deserved promotion, as he was hitting .364 with a .443 OBP and an OPS nearing 1.000. He got his first taste of AAA last night, going 0 for 3 with a walk and two K's.

Kevin Hart-As mentioned in last week's ATAtM, Hart has made his return to the rotation after struggling mightily in the 'pen. He got 2 starts this week and showed why this was a smart move. He only pitched 4 innings in each start because he's still being stretched out, but the results were outstanding. Last Friday, 1 earnie on a hit and a walk. The run scored on a single, a stolen base, a groundout moving the runner to third and a wild pitch. On Wednesday, no earned runs on 3 hits and 2 walks, including 5 K's. The only bad part was that he had no clean innings.

Jeff ND-Samardzija had his worst start of the season on Monday, giving up 4 earned runs over 4 and 2/3 innings pitched. He gave up 8 hits and 5 K's. Former teammate Eric Patterson had one of each. Jeff ND took his first loss of the season, while another former teammate Sean Gallagher took the W.

Bonus-With all of the movement between Iowa and Chicago, the I-Cubs rotation has had to add and subtract. Just as Hart moved back to the rotation, so did J.R. Mathes. As a starter, Mathes is 4-1 with a 2.37 ERA over 6 starts with a 1.05 WHIP and he has struck out 4 times the batters he's walked. In his latest outing on Sunday, he threw 7 innings, giving up a run on 3 hits and 2 walks.

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-With Clevenger gone, Castillo can get some regular PT and hopefully get his swing back in the groove. He had a modest 4 game hitting streak heading into game 2 of Tuesday doubleheader (he had a pinch-hit single in game 1), but has gone 0 for 9 since. The righthander is now batting .185 on the season, including a surprising .107 against lefties. The only good news is that he only K'd twice this week.

Jay Jackson-Jackson turned in another strong performance on Sunday, going 6 innings, giving up a run on 3 hits and 3 walks and striking out 8. He earned his third W of the year. Over his last 5 starts, he is 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA. He's struck out 35 batters in 32 innings pitched and has a 1.09 WHIP. He starts tonight and with another strong performance, he could be looking at pitcher of the month honors.

Bonus-The "centerpiece" of the Cubs return in the Michael Weurtz trade, Richie Robnett, is struggling, and that's putting it nicely. He started the season at Iowa, where a .184 BA sent him to Tennessee. He still is looking for his swing. In the 8 games since his demotion, he's 3 for 21 and has 6 K's. On the season, he has more triples (3) than doubles (1).

Daytona

Tyler Colvin-With the constant rain in Daytona preventing the D-Cubs from playing 7 games, Colvin essentially had an extended layoff from his D.L. stint, playing only once in 7 days since being removed. But the last three days have been clear, allowing Colvin to get into the swing of things. Over the last 3 games, he went 3 for 10 with a triple and 2 RBI's. In what's been a shortened month for him, he's hitting .298 in May.

Starlin Castro-Again, only 3 games this week, so limited stats. 3 for 12 with a walk, 2 K's and 2 caught stealing attempts. He's hitting .384 for the month of May with 8 extra base hits, after hitting only singles in April.

Andrew Cashner-Cashner started on Tuesday and pitched well. Over 5 innings, he gave up a earned run on 3 hits and no walks while K'ing 5. His 5 innings were his first start over 3 and 1/3 this year. He was in line for the win before 2 ninth inning runs crossed the plate, leaving him without a record on the season.

Bonus-Alberto Alburquerque (who prefers to go by Al, meaning his name is Al Alburquerque) has been a nice reliever for the D-Cubs this year. In 14 relief appearances, he has a 2.14 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. He's given up just 2 runs in his past 13 and 1/3 innings. He has an impressive 22 K's against 8 walks in 21 innings pitched. The lone issue with Al Al seems to be the longball...he's given up 3 HR's, accounting for 4 of the 5 earned runs he's allowed.

Peoria

Josh Vitters-As mentioned earlier this week on TD, Vitters is now the #1 hot prospect on BA's Prospect Hot Sheet, released last Friday (he was also the Midwest League hitter of the week last week). He's likely to stay on the list, if not at the top of the list, when it's released later today. Vitters has a 7 game hitting streak and has hit in 11 of his last 12. 3 more HR's this week, bringing his total to 11 (he is trying to go after Fox now that he's in the Bigs?). In April, he hit a respectable .302 but had 4 extra base hits (including 1 HR) and 7 RBI. In May, he's hitting .400 with 10 HR's (15 XB's in total) and 21 RBI's.

Ryan Flaherty-Flaherty is in a funk. 2 hits this week in 24 AB's (.083 BA). Both hits were singles. He didn't add any walks and he struck out 6 times. So much for his stat of getting more walks than K's. He did add a stolen base, making him 4 for 5 on the season.

Bonus-For all those who are ready to lynch JH for trading DeRosa, maybe part of the return will calm you. Chris Archer, considered the weakest prospect of the three, has blossomed in his first season in the Cubs organization. 9 starts, a 2-0 record, a 1.29 ERA, and a 1.11 WHIP. He's struck out 47 batters in just 35 innings (12.09 per 9). The righthander is equally effective against lefties (hitting .160 off him) as righties (.176). In his last 5 starts, he's given up just 2 runs total (a 0.78 ERA).

The Rest

No word on Dae Eun Rhee or Hak Ju Lee.

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Roster Moves Afew

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:02:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on May 28, 2009.

Bobby Scales trip back to Iowa was a short one...in fact, he never saw the cornfields. With Ryan Freel coming up with a strained hammy in the 4th inning yesterday (yes, there was more to yesterday's game than Mt. Z's eruption), the Cubs held Scales in Chicago while Freel was being evaluted. It is now believed the Cubs will D.L. Freel and recall Scales.

For those interested in the rules of this situation, a player who is sent to the minors must stay in the minors for at least 10 days. But there is an exception to the rule that allows a team to recall a player in less than 10 days if there is an injury that requires a player to go on the D.L., as in this case.

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Roster Moves Aplenty

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:08:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on May 27, 2009.

Wow. I decided to check the Cubs website before the start of today's action just to review the standings after last night when I was blindsided by roster moves. Let's take a look at the 6 players affected.

Off the 25 Man

Aaron Miles-Miles was put on the 15 day D.L., retroactive all the way back to yesterday, with what's being called a right shoulder strain. I don't know if that's actually the case or if he has some mild discomfort and they convinced him he could use a 2 week vacation to get his head on straight and try to get his swing back.

Neal Cotts-Cotts was sent back to AAA. Cotts has been the latest in the long line of relievers in Lou's doghouse, although Lou has given him every chance to work himself out on the mound. 3 earnies against the Pirates on Monday probably sealed the deal. Cotts had a 7.36 ERA and 9 walks in 11 innings.

Bobby Scales-Scales was sent back to AAA, which was a bit odd given the fact that Miles was D.L.'d, but with the addition of Ryan Freel, the Cubs probably had a INF too many. Scales wild ride lasted 24 days, but after opening up his MLB career with a 7 game hitting streak, Scales was 1 for his last 17. Despite that, his .257 average put him 6th on the team, ahead of D.Lee, Soriano, Fontenot, Soto, Bradley, Miles, and Freel.

On the 25 Man

Jake Fox-There isn't much to say about Jake Fox that hasn't already been said. I think Fox will take the potential loss of his minor league Triple Crown (which he was holding) for an upgrade to some new digs. Fox can play a little bit of everything. After being moved from catcher (because he was an all stick, no defense catcher) he's played mostly 1st and the corner OF spots, but they've even tried him out at 3rd this year. Mostly though, he's going to be a stick off the bench unless he gives the team a huge offensive spark.

Andres Blanco-Blanco was added to the 25 man after being added to the 40 man roster. Who, you might ask? Blanco is a 25 year old SS who signed as a minor league free agent after the '07 season and re-signed this offseason. He hit .285 in 298 AB's with Iowa last year and went 9 for 12 in the stolen base department. This year, he's off to a .314 start and despite hitting only 1 HR all of last year, he has 4 this year. With Miles out, the Cubs needed a backup SS so Blanco was added. Blanco actually has nearly 250 plate appearances in the Bigs, but all were with hapless Royal teams in the middle part of this decade.

Jason Waddell-Same deal with Waddell. Added to both the 25 and 40 man roster, and another who? guy. If Waddell stays up for 15 days or so, he'll celebrate his 28th birthday in Chicago (OK, so technically he'll be flying back from Houston after a day game, but you get the idea). Waddell was called up for his handedness, not surprisingly. The leftie has been far from dominant at Iowa, giving up 10 earned runs in 16 and 2/3 innings. However, he is the definition of a situational leftie...lefties are hitting just .205 off him, compared to righties hitting .346. He was a minor league free agent signing this offseason and his first appearance this year will be his first MLB appearance.

This moves the Cubs 40 man roster up two notches to 38. Chad Fox's career seems to be in jeopardy, so he'll be transferred to the 60 day D.L. if needed. Technically, they could also move ARam to the 60 day D.L. if the situation gets dire, but then would have to put someone on waivers when he returned. If you were wondering why the Cubs added Waddell instead of calling up a leftie already on the 40 man roster, it's because they don't have another one who wasn't already on the 25 man roster.

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Rumor Mill Starting to Churn

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:19:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on May 27, 2009.

It seemed like the sleepy baseball writers and reporters were caught off guard last week when the Jake Peavy to the White Sox deal popped up, so now they are all scrambling to start some rumors, even if they are absurd...

Obviously, the first rumor out there is that the Cubs will try to go after Jake Peavy. The Daily Herald gave some thoughts on this, basically saying it either had to be done now or never. I would love Peavy, but this rumor just needs to die. First, the Cubs problem isn't the starting rotation. In fact, I don't think I'm providing any major insight when I say that the SP's are their strongest suit. Second, it would take a Josh Vitters (currently #1 on BA's hot prospect sheet) plus 3-4 other players to get Peavy. The Cubs farm system is weak enough, we don't need it weaker to get another SP. Third, Peavy is a 6 inning pitcher, meaning that you have to have a good 'pen behind him. That also means that he isn't going to give you those long outings you may need in September.
Speaking of rekindling old trade rumors, Dayn Perry of Foxsports.com decided to spark up a classic: Brian Roberts. Like most writers, he didn't actually go as far as saying he had anything concrete, rather he was just throwing names out there. That much is clear when he gets to the part where the Cubs are trading Jeff ND. Samardzija has a full no trade clause, according to various reports, so his trade proposal is just an armchair GM picking names. But I would welcome a trade for Brian Roberts. I wasn't sold on the Mike Fontenot experiment from the start and if he wasn't needed at third, I would say it's time to put lil Mikey to bed. Roberts would spark the offense and could be used in the two hole, since Sori refuses to try if he's not hitting leadoff.
Gordon Wittenmeyer jumped in with the thought that the Cubs could use Kevin Kouzmanoff to fill in until ARam returns. Is it just me, or does everyone seem to have a solution for replacing ARam with another light-hitting 3 sack? I think the Cubs have enough of those already on the roster. Instead of further weakening the farm to get a .231 hitting Kouzmanoff, maybe they should just stick with their .200 hitters until ARam comes back for the last 70 games or so.
From the ridiculous, the Berryessa Sun (San Jose, CA paper) points that the A's will be trading Matt Holiday and the Cubs (among other teams) are good trading partners with the A's and could make them an offer they couldn't refuse. Really? Where, pray tell, would Matt Holiday play? Good idea, though. Let's just name every team that the A's have previously traded with and say they could land Matt Holiday.

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TD's Top Prospects-#15 Pitcher

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Sat, 23 May 2009 09:15:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on May 23, 2009.

Billy Muldowney

Rank: #15 Pitcher (TD)

Age: 24

Position(s): SP

'08 Team(s): Peoria, Daytona

Acquired: Drafted in 8th Round (2006)

'08 Key Composite Stats: 18 starts, 6-3 record , 2.85 ERA, 1.02 WHIP

Breakdown: After making 7 starts at Peoria with a 2.61 ERA with a 0.87 WHIP, the righthander was promoted to Daytona. While his domination didn't continue, he was still very solid for the D-Cubs, going 5-3 with an ERA just south of 3. Muldowney's overall 1.02 WHIP ranked 6th in the organization and was based on a solid combination of not allowing hits and not walking a lot (instead of one dominating stat). The only concerns about Muldowney in '08 were his innings pitched (he averaged only 4.74 per start) and his HR's allowed. He gave up 9 HR's in 85.1 innings pitched, or almost 1 per 9 IP. He's already 24, which discounts his impressive season just a bit.

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A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:58:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on May 22, 2009.

I remain confused why the Cubs feel the need to have Clevenger and Castillo split time instead of putting them at two different levels. The Cubs seem to have decent catching prospects throughout their system, but Castillo and Clevenger are the two "prized" prospects. Clevenger is handling it better than Castillo, as we'll see in this ATAtM...

Iowa

Jake Fox-On a list chalk full of top prosepcts, BA has Fox ranked as the #11 hot prospect and admits he'd be higher if it weren't for his age. In addition to his noted power, Fox now has a 12 game hitting streak, but saw his 8 game extra base hit streak snapped. His BA sits at .425. He "only" hit two HR's this week, bringing his season total to 17. Updated extrapolated numbers: 76 HR's (down 4), 224 RBI's (down 12) and 175 runs (down 2). He must be slowing down.

Kevin Hart-Hart only pitched twice this week, although both were in extended outings. Why? Well, he was being stretched out to return to the rotation, which he will do tonight. His long relief numbers were outstanding: 5 and 2/3 innings pitched, 2 hits allowed, no walks, 8 K's. His three inning outing on Monday was 3 innings, 5 K's, no runner's allowed, and he earned the save to boot.

Jeff ND-Samardzija only made one start this week, but it was solid. 5 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 walks, 1 earned run, and 6 K's. He got the W, his first decision of the year. At Iowa, he has a 3.5 K/W ratio and righties are hitting .180 against him. Overall, batters are hitting only .221 against him, compared to .380 when he was with the big boys.

Bonus-Last year's Cubs Minor League pitcher of the year doesn't look like he'll be going back-to-back. Mitch Atkins has a 2-5 record with an 8.38 ERA in 9 starts. Think it's a bad start or two? No. He's given up 7 earned runs in 5 of his starts. Batters are hitting .291 off him. The I-Cubs seem content on letting him get his work in, as he's gone at least 4 innings in every outing and pitched 7 innings plus in his two wins.

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-Not much good news to report from the Castillo Camp. 3 starts this week, 11 AB's, 3 K's, no hits, no walks. I was hopeful that his mini 5 game hitting streak was turning him around, but that doesn't seem to be the case. He now has 18 K's in 19 games and is hitting .181. I feel like a broken record in saying this, but Castillo is more known for his defense.

Steve Clevenger-4 starts for Clevenger, 5 hits in 15 AB's, 1 walk, 3 K's. His 3 K's were a surprise (again, a broken record), as he only had 5 on the season prior to this week. Despite that, he still has more walks than K's on the year and has a .916 OPS.

Jay Jackson-Jackson started on Tuesday night and while the end result was pretty, he was far from dominating. He recorded 6 shutout innings, but allowed 7 hits and 2 walks in doing so. The positive is that Jackson knows how to work himself out of trouble. At least one baserunner was abroad in every inning and there was a runner in scoring position in four of his six.

Bonus-The Cubs moved 2007 7th round pick Casey Lambert from the 'pen ot the rotation heading in to this year, and I think they're happy with the results. The leftie has a 1.91 ERA and a sub 1 WHIP in his 7 starts. Despite that, he's only 3-2, losing two games where he allowed only 2 runs. In his last two starts, he's pitched 13 innings, allowed 4 hits, 1 walk, no earned runs, and struck out 7 (doubling his total for the year).

Daytona

Tyler Colvin-Colvin came off the D.L. on Tuesday with a 1 for 4 performance that included a double and an RBI, but also included 3 K's in his other 3 AB's. Then the rains came, shortening that game to 5+ innings and the D-Cubs haven't played since. While I'm glad to see Colvin back, I don't mind seeing the rainouts, which will hopefully give him a little more time to be 100%.

Starlin Castro-Castro might not be too fond of the rain, as it has interrupted him in the middle of an 8 game hitting streak. During the streak, he's hitting .441 with 8 runs, 7 RBI, and 5 extra base hits. On the season, he's now hitting .302 with an OPS of .728. Two weeks ago, he was hitting .250 with a sub .600 OPS.

Andrew Cashner-I'm sure Cashner threw more pitches than his previous outings (while he builds arm strength), but his last start was technically his shortest of his brief season. Only two innings pitched, giving up 4 hits and 2 walks, allowing 2 earned runs. He has a solid 2.63 ERA, but you have to wonder how long it's going to take before he gets stretched out to be a "real" starter.

Bonus-There isn't much that jumps out at you about Nate Samson's stat line. A .250 hitter on the season, only 3 extra base hits, and a terrible 1 for 5 in the stolen base department. But his patience at the plate is remarkable. 19 walks compared to 4 K's. He has more walks than RBI or runs and his .250 BA jumps to a .356 OBP.

Peoria

Josh Vitters-All season, I have been mentioning that Vitters hasn't "stuffed the stat line," as most of his hits had been singles. So, I'll take full credit for motivating him this week, as I'm sure he reads ATAtM. Last Saturday, he went 3 for 4 with an HR. Sunday, 3 for 5 with an HR. Monday, 3 for 5 with an HR. Tuesday, 3 for 5 with an HR. Wednesday, o for 4 (where did that come from?). Thursday, 1 for 4 with an HR. Totalling the week's effort: .481 BA, 5 HR's, 3 doubles, 10 RBI, 9 runs, and a stolen base to boot (and I've reached my limit of using "to boot" this week). He went from 3 HR's to 8, 13 RBI to 23, and 15 runs to 24.

Ryan Flaherty-Flaherty will take a 4 game hitting streak into today, which would be 7 if not for an 0 for 5 performance last Saturday. For the week, he had 4 runs, a double, an HR, 2 RBI, 2 walks and 4 K's. His 4 K's pushed the number of strikeouts on the season to one more than his walks. He has a solid .815 OPS on the year, despite a BA that only sits at .264.

Bonus-Josh Vitters is third in the Midwest League with a .357 BA, but his infield teammate Josh Harrison is leading the Midwest League and sixth in all of minor league baseball. Harrison's six game hitting streak has brought his BA up to .389, over 30 points better than anyone else in the league. On the week, he's hitting .462 with 5 doubles, 2 HR's, 5 RBI, 6 runs, and a stolen base.

The Rest

No news on Dae Eun Rhee or Hak-Ju Lee.

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