Towel Drills: A Chicago Cubs Blog

A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:08:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on August 14, 2009.

Maybe it's about time to be focusing on what guys could impact the team in '10...

Iowa

Steve Clevenger-Only 3 games and 7 AB's for Clevenger this week. He went 1 for 7 with 2 RBI's and a run. The former 7th round pick is hitting just .188 in the month of August. Despite having less than half the AB's against lefties than he does against righties, he has the same number of extra base hits and RBI's.

Bonus-Clevenger's offensive struggles have been counterbalanced by catcher Chris Robinson's strong bat. He started 4 games this week and went 9 for 16 with 4 RBI's and 3 extra base hits. On Wednesday, he went 4 for 4 with an HR. His season batting average is up to .339, which would be tops in the league if he had 37 more AB's (enough to qualify him for the batting championship).

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-2 for 17 for the week for Castillo. For as well as he was hitting, he's certainly headed back toward his old habits and consequently, his BA is back down to .212. He is struggling even more with runner's on base; he's hitting just .197 with 18 K's in 76 AB's.

Tyler Colvin-After snapping his 11 game hitting streak a week ago Thursday, Colvin had a mini 3 game hitting streak that made it 14 out of 15 games with a hit. That's the good news. The bad news (there always seems to be good news/bad news with Colvin) is that he's 0 for his last 9. He is sporting a healthy .292 batting average since the All Star break and .310 for the month of August.

Starlin Castro-Castro has slowed down a little bit at Tennessee. After back to back two hit games to start his Smokie career, Castro had 4 straight 0'fers. But he's back to hitting, garnering a single in each of his last 3 games. What is amazing is that he's showing great discipline at the plate; after walking only 19 times in 277 plate appearances at Daytona (or roughly 1 per 20 PA's), he's already collected 5 walks in 9 games and once per 7.6 PA's. He has also yet to K at Tennessee.

Andrew Cashner-Cashner had his worst professional outing on Saturday. In just and inning and a third, he yielded 8 earned runs. His 0.88 ERA entering the game was 3.09 when he left. He rebounded nicely yesterday, giving up one earned run in 5 innings. Despite the one run, he took his second consecutive loss of the season.

Bonus-A 21st round pick in 2007, Dustin Sasser was promoted to Tennessee just over a week ago. He gave up an earned run in his first appearance, a 3 inning relief stint, but hasn't allowed a run since. His ERA at Tennessee is currently at 1.35, down from the 1.60 he logged at Daytona.

Daytona

Josh Vitters-Vitters returned from his hand injury on Sunday. He pinch hit and promptly hit a double and later scored. Since then, he's 0 for 10 with 5 K's. The Cubs are taking it slow with Vitters because they plan on playing him in the Arizona Fall League and with a Daytona team having lost 7 straight and being in the FSL cellar, I think we may see a few more off days for Vitters as the season winds down.

Jay Jackson-I hope Jackson learns something from his demotion for conduct detrimental, because that's about all that's holding him back. Another start at Daytona, another dominating performance. 7 innings pitched, 2 hits, 1 walk, 4 K's, no earned runs. Unfortunately for him, the D-Cubs didn't score either, so he had a dominating no decision. He's allowed 1 earned run in 18 and 2/3 innings at Daytona (a 0.48 ERA) and has a WHIP of 0.75.

Bonus-From all signs, the 2008 draft was solid for the Cubs. The fastest guy of their class was probably Tony Campana, their 13th round pick. He started the season at Peoria, but was promoted to Daytona in May. Since his promotion, he has 48 stolen bases, good for 2nd in the FSL and especially impressive given that he was in Peoria for 18 games, stealing 11 bags there. For the year, he's 59 of 73, or over 80%.

Peoria

Ryan Flaherty-Finally, Flaherty seems to be figuring things out. He was 10 of 25 for the week with 9 runs and 6 RBI's. He cranked his 16th HR of the year (putting him 5th in the league) and had a 4 for 4 game with 4 singles. He's hitting .333 for the month of August and is batting 60 points higher in the second half.

Brett Jackson-Given the history of rankings, Jackson will be a top ten prospect next year and given his on field performance, I decided to add him to ATAtM permanently for the remainder of the year. Jackson has an 8 game hitting streak in which he's hitting an even .400. On Wednesday, he added 2 HR's. His Peoria OPS is nearly 1.000.

Bonus-A frequent addition to the Bonus section this year has been Kyler Burke, part of the Rob Bowen-Michael Barrett trade. In his last 7 games, Burke is hitting .571 with 7 RBI's. He had a 2 HR night last night, giving him 11 on the season.

Boise

Hak Ju Lee-Lee hit his second HR of the season for the Hawks last night. Other than that, he had a relatively below average week for him. He was just 5 for 21 (.238) with 6 K's. In his only stolen base attempt, he was caught. He's now fallen one stolen base behind his teammate Jose Valdez for the team and the league lead. Not to pile on, but Lee still has some glove work to do; he has 19 errors in 48 games.

Bonus-The Cubs 28th best prospect, Logan Watkins, had a solid week for the Hawks. He hit safely in all 5 of his games, batting .409 with 4 runs and 3 RBI's. On the year, Watkins is hitting .316 with a .377 OBP. He's stolen 8 bags in 12 attempts.

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Cubs Roster Update

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:14:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on August 12, 2009.

Trying to keep up with the roster seems like an exercise in futility, but here we go...

The Cubs selected the contract of Esmailin Caridad from Iowa on Monday. While that's not breaking news at this point, it brings the Cubs 40 man roster to 38. That becomes relevant when September 1 rolls around and the Cubs can expand their roster. You can only call up guys from your 40 man roster, so the Cubs now only have 2 spots if they want to add guys not on the 40 man roster. Chad Fox could be moved to the 60 day D.L., which would clear up a 3rd roster spot if needed.

ARam had a cortisone injection yesterday which should prevent a D.L. stint. The Cubs expect him to able able to play on Thursday. He'll play the remainder of the season in pain and he'll probably undergo surgery in the offseason, although he's already had conflicting doctor's opinions as to whether it'll help. If he does, it may mean a delayed start to spring training and/or next season.

Tedders will make a rehab start today and is expected to return to the rotation on Monday, assuming all goes well. I would assume that unless a move is made between today and Monday, Esmailin Caridad would be the odd man out and returned to Iowa.

Speaking of starters, it is expected that Z will only miss the minimum on his 15 day D.L. stint, meaning he would be ready to come off the D.L. on Tuesday. The "problem" is that that's Dempster's normal day and Wells would be scheduled to pitch the next day. I would imagine that given the time of the season and the number of injuries to the staff, Lou might consider letting Z start on Tuesday and pushing the other two back a day, moving Dempster to Wells spot, Wells to Gorzelanny's spot, and pushing Gorz out of the rotation. My guess would be that Jeff ND will be sent down when Z returns.

But as I've mentioned before, that still doesn't solve the numbers problem when David Patton must return; which has to be within 30 days after he started his rehab, or roughly August 21st. One option is that the Cubs could offer to return him to the Rockies, but at this point in the season and the fact that they are battling the Rockies in the wild card race (with the Rox needing all the relief help they can get), I doubt the Cubs want to do that.

The other option is to send someone out to Iowa. Sam Fuld is probably the only elgibile candidate, but with a semi-injured ARam and no other outfield options, are the Cubs going to want to play short-handed on the bench?

Obviously, you'd like to send down a reliever, but the 'pen is full of guys who'd have to clear waivers...except Carlos Marmol. With all the command issues Marmol has had, would the Cubs consider sending him to AAA to rest his arm for a few days and try to work on some things before bringing him back up September 1? Technically, your 25 man roster on August 31 is your playoff roster, but you can get around that if there's an "injury." I think this would be an ideal solution to the problem.

Speaking of roster expansion, I don't know how much the Cubs will add when roster expand; rather it may just be a matter of getting guys off the D.L. without making a corresponding move. Guys like Andres Blanco and Reed Johnson will come back in September.

I'm sure they'll add a couple of arms to their bullpen. It's almost certain one will be Jeff Stevens and you'd figure Mitch Atkins and/or Esmailin Caridad (assuming he gets sent down when the pitching staff normalizes). Justin Berg has pitched well for Iowa and was technically on the Cubs roster for 4 days in late July, but never reached the mound.

A couple of bullpen guys may warrant addition to the 40 man roster. Blake Parker has been the I-Cubs closer and has a 2.37 ERA. He has also been nearly as effective against lefites as righties; righties are hitting .192 off him while lefties are hitting just .226. If the Cubs are looking for a 3rd leftie out of the 'pen, John Gaub could get added to the mix. Gaub was part of the DeRo deal and has been outstanding at Iowa. In 20 innings, he has a 0.45 ERA, a 0.70 WHIP, and has struck out more than a batter per inning. Righties have 3 hits off him in about 50 plate appearances.

You'd figure the Cubs would add a 3rd catcher, but then again, they didn't add a catcher to their 40 man roster when Soto went on the D.L. Either Chris Robinson or Steve Clevenger could be added, if nothing else to allow Geo Soto to pinch hit in games where Koyie Hill starts. Robinson has better offensive numbers, but Clevenger is a better prospect, which sometimes comes into play when adding guys to your 40 man roster.

Bobby Scales may head back to bring some more depth to the infield defense, especially if the Cubs need to rest ARam. Micah Hoffpauir is almost certainly going to return to give Lou a left-handed power bat off the bench.

I don't know that the Cubs will add any outfield help. First, they'll have Hoffpauir and Fox to play the corners if need be. Second, they should get ReJo back in mid September. Third, and maybe most importantly, they don't have anyone to add. The current OF alignment in Iowa averages 32 years old.

The best possibility is adding Brad Snyder, the youngster of the group at 27. He's hit well at Iowa, batting .325 with an OPS of over 1.000. He's also left-handed. The Cubs got him off waivers from the Indians and then last spring put him through waivers to clear him off their 40 man roster. I believe they'll have to add him again this fall to avoid having him plucked in the Rule V draft.

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A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:14:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on August 7, 2009.

Iowa

Steve Clevenger-Clevenger played in 4 games this past week. He only went 3 for 13, but two of those hits went for doubles, he added 2 walks, and he scored 2 runs. He's hitting only .220 since the All Star break.

Bonus-Esmailin Caridad has struggled this year after going 13-7 last year with a 3.73 ERA between two stops. That includes a 12 start stretch during June and July in which he went 0-8. But Wednesday night, he may have one of his better performance of the year. Despite giving up

2 runs over 6 innings, he gave up only 3 hits and 2 walks and he struck out 12 of the 22 batters he faced.

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-The Cubs seem to be giving Castillo all the AB's he can handle in an effort to improve his stats. He played in 6 games this past week, logging 18 AB's. His hitting streak ended at 12 after 5 consecutive games of 2 hit performances. He's now 0 for his last 6, but he's hitting nearly 200 points better since the All Star break.

Tyler Colvin-While people continue to criticize Colvin being a 1st round pick, he continues to show flashes of what he can do when he's hot. He had hits in 11 consecutive AB's, tying a Southern League record. He had an 0 for 3 yesterday that snapped an 11 game hitting streak, one in which he hit .545 with 11 RBI's, 8 runs and 6 extra base hits. His batting average at Tennessee has jumped nearly 50 points over the past 10 days.

Starlin Castro-Castro was promoted to AA on Tuesday and started off where he left off in Daytona. In his first AB (as Ryne Sandberg's leadoff hitter), Castro hit a line drive single to right. He's now 4 for 12 in his first three games in Tennessee. Personally, I think Castro is a star in waiting and let's hope Sandberg can teach him some good stuff about being a middle infielder.

Andrew Cashner-Geo Soto was able to get a first-hand look at the Cubs 1st rounder from last year when he caught Cashner on Monday. Cashner was his usual fantastic self, pitching 6 innings of 2 hit, 1 walk, 0 run baseball, while striking out 8. His ERA for the year now sits at 1.24 with a WHIP a tick under 1 and a K/W ratio of 2.5 to 1.

Bonus-Joining Castro on the trip to Tennessee was Robinison Chirinos. A little bit of weird timing on this one, with Geo Soto making rehab starts in AA, but maybe the idea was to allow Chirinos to soak up some knowledge from a big leaguer. Chirinos has yet to play in a Smokies game.

Daytona

Josh Vitters-hasn't played since July 27th, when he left the game with a left hand injury. It's not expected to be serious and he should be back in action soon. The Cubs haven't D.L.'d him.

Jay Jackson-As I mentioned yesterday in Cubs Bits, Jackson was demoted for conduct detrimental to the team. I'm sure opposing hitters in the Florida State League were none-too-happy to hear that news. He threw 6 innings of 1 run baseball on Wednesday, striking out 4 and walking only one.

Bonus-A 30th round pick in 2007, Luke Sommer isn't pitching like it. The left-handed reliever has a 2.07 ERA over 61 innings of relief this year. He has 57 strikeouts and only 9 walks on the year (better than a 6 to 1 ratio).

Peoria

Ryan Flaherty-Flaherty hit safely in 6 of his 7 games this week and 9 of his last 10. He isn't dominating offensively, but he has seen his BA jump 7 points in the past 10 days. He has driven in 8 and scored 8 times. Unfortunately, he's also K'd 12 times during that stretch.

Bonus-Welcome to the Midwest League, Brett Jackson. The Cubs first round pick 2 months ago has been promoted to Peoria after hitting .330 at Boise. He's struck out 7 times in 7 games and he's only hitting .258, but he's also scored 7 times and has 5 RBI's. He also brought his wheels to the Chiefs, as he's swiped 5 bags without being caught.

Boise

Hak Ju Lee-5 hits in 6 games for Lee this week, but he reached base in all 6 games and had his first HR of the season. That dropped his BA to .325 on the season, but he remains 6th in the league in hitting. His .394 OBP in 10th in the league. Because he wasn't on base much, he only stole one base, bringing his total to 15 and dropping him into a tie for 1st place in swiped bags.

Bonus-The Cubs are taking it slow with their 4th round pick Christopher Rusin, who made his third start for Boise yesterday. After pitching a total of 5 and 1/3 innings in his first two starts, Rusin pitched 5 strong yesterday, giving up just 2 hits and no walks while striking out 6. But Rusin was a tough luck loser in the game, giving up an unearned run on a HBP, followed by a passed ball, followed by one of the two hits allowed.

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Cubs Bits

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:05:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on August 6, 2009.

I think I am going to get out of the roster guessing business, because I continue to suck. But at least I'm not alone in thinking this is a mess. Instead of Jeff ND, the Cubs demoted Jeff Stevens. No one seems to have an answer as to why the Cubs chose to keep Jeff ND and demote Stevens. The Cubs will have another move to make on Friday. The Cubs infield has suddenly become crowded with Aaron Miles, so that would likely be where the demotion happens. So, I will stand by my prediction that Micah Hoffpauir is the odd man out. I think Mike Fontenot's 7 hits in his last 27 AB's saved him from a possible late season demotion.

The other news on the roster front was the release of two players. B.J. Ryan asked for his release yesterday, roughly a week before the Cubs deadline to make a decision on him. They told him he wasn't likely to be called up. The Cubs also released Jason Waddell who has been on the D.L. since June with a non-baseball related injury. The Cubs 40 man roster now sits at 37, but really it's 36 because if needed, the Cubs would put Chad Fox on the 60 day D.L.

I am late on this news, but I finally found out why Jay Jackson was demoted to Daytona (Advanced A Ball). According to the Cubs, he was demoted for "failure to comply with club policy" i.e. he was demoted for breaking team rules.

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Cubs Bits

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:04:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on August 5, 2009.

I obviously don't rush to admit I was wrong, but of course, after I posted on the upcoming roster moves yesterday, the Cubs didn't follow suit by sending down Jeff ND. Instead, they placed Andre White (Andres Blanco) on the D.L. That gave them an extra arm last night, which was important with the tired 'pen, but nearly blew up in their face when The Riot got plunked. I would expect that the Jeff ND move would happen today with Aaron Miles ready to be activated...and we may even see him in the lineup following The Riot's beaning. I forgot to mention it yesterday, but Blanco would have to clear waivers, because he's out of options. My guess is that his left calf strain may be healthy again about September 1, when the rosters expand.

Over the past week, the Cubs have signed 3rd round pick Austin Kirk and 6th round pick Brooks Raley, closing out their top ten picks. The Tulsa World has the story on Kirk, who signed for around $400K and according to the article, the package included a trip for him and his family to come to Wrigley. I chuckled when I read this, then realized how much I forked over this year in Cubs tickets and decided that was an important clause in the contract. The Raley contract is said to be about $750K, according to BA. It is the highest signing over slot to date, but Raley was ranked as the 82nd best prospect heading into the draft and was considered a tough sign when the Cubs drafted him.

In former Cub news, Mark Prior was released by the Padres. Prior's last and likley final MLB appearance was August 10, 2006. It was a 3 inning, 5 ER performance in Milwaukee that sent his record for the year to 1-6 with a 7.71 ERA.

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Upcoming Roster Shuffle

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:13:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on August 4, 2009.

The Cubs should probably just keep a plane on the tarmac at O'Hare for all the shuffling they'll be doing in the next 30 days or so. If everyone stays healthy, they also will be one over their limit by the end of the month...

Today will start the festivities, when Tom Gorzelanny is called up from AAA. The Cubs are expected to send down Jeff Samardzija to clear the spot for Gorz's first start in a Cubs uni.

Sometime this week Geo Soto will make his return. How quickly is unknown. Lou would love to have to him by Wednesday, but sources keep saying Friday. JH is currently in Tennessee getting a first-hand look at Soto. But what the corresponding move will be is the big question. My best guess is Micah Hoffpauir. He's started only once in the past week and he's 1 for his last 15. Plus Jake Fox gives the team more flexibility and is hitting better (I regret to mention that he now has more RBI's than Milton Bradley).

It's either Hoffpauir or Andres Blanco, but I would guess Blanco stays around until Aaron Miles returns. I heard a couple of different numbers in how many days/games you can rehab before having to be recalled, but the number I've heard most consistently in 30 days. Miles is currently at 21 games, so he's close. Miles had a 6 game hitting streak broken last night and is only hitting .253 at Iowa. The other option the Cubs would have is to simply release Miles or try to trade him, but Miles is under contract through next year (his '10 contract is for 2.7M).

That probably gets the team through the end of the week, but things don't get any easier. B.J. Ryan made his fourth appearance last night for the I-Cubs and he's yet to allow a run. That's the good news. The bad news is that reports say his velocity is still sitting in the mid-80's. Rumor has it Assistant GM Randy Bush was in Iowa to watch Ryan first-hand. The Cubs have to make a decision on Ryan by next week; he either gets added to the 25 man roster or he can declare free agency. You have to wonder if his velocity is low whether declaring free agency would work for him. In any case, if gets added to the roster, you'd guess Jeff Stevens is the odd man out. If not, they roster issue is solved (which may play a role in this decision).

Before the month is over, the Cubs will still have two decisions to make.

When Ted Lilly returns, you'd figure the Cubs would move Tom Gorzelanny out of the rotation. While the Cubs would probably like to keep him in the bullpen as a left-handed reliever, they will probably option him to AAA until after September 1, becuase they simply won't have room for him.

David Patton is currently rehabbing and the Cubs will almost assuredly let his 30 days of recovery run. His first outing was the 22nd of July, so if my numbers are correct, he would be slated to return around the 21st of August. By then, who knows what the Cubs will do if everyone remains healthy, because there won't be any open spots. Certainly, the Cubs aren't going to want to have to offer Patton back 10 days before roster expansion after doing everything in their power to keep him on their team. If I had to guess, I would say a phantom injury may befall a reliever, like say an injury to Kevin Gregg (who is admitting to a tired arm) or Angel Guzman (who has pitched 45 innings this year after only pitching 25 last year and 30 in '07). If nothing else, it would give the Cubs a chance to rest a guy before the final push and the playoffs. If Patton beats Lilly back, Gorzelanny may be sent out and the Cubs could rearrange the rotation until Lilly gets back, assuming it's just a few days, but that doesn't solve the problem.

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Schedule Situation

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:30:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on August 3, 2009.

The Cardinals have played 5 more games than the Cubs (which will drop to 4 after tonight) and both teams are almost even in home v. road games (again, the Cubs will be at 50/50 after tonight's game). So, who had the advantage going down the stretch?

The Cubs have 7 games against the division leaders (3 v. PHI, 4 @ LA) while the Cards only have a 3 gamer at Chavez Ravine. In the Wild Card bunch of teams (Florida, Colorado, and San Fran), the Cubs have 4 at Colorado and 4 at San Fran, while the Cards have 3 at Colorado and 3 against Florida.

Then we move to the .500 teams. I define .500 teams as teams that are within 3 games of .500 (Atlanta, Houston, Milwaukee, plus the White Sox). I think the "games against teams with winning records" is a cheap stat, because any day these 3 teams could be on the other side of the equation. The Cubs have 11 of those games left, 8 of which are at home. The Cards have 18 games left, 12 at home and 6 on the road.

That leaves the bottom feeders. The Cubs have 30, 18 at home. The Cards have only 23, but 15 are on the road.

Of course, the Cubs and Cards play each other as well, one 3 game tilt in the new Busch stadium.

Beyond the actual teams, the Cards have 8 off days before the end of the season. The Cubs? 4. The Cubs roughest stretch appears to be 4 at home v. the Brewers, then the three at St. Louis, then 3 in Miller Park, then a strange and random 4 game series at San Fransisco (without the normal second west coast city stop). The Cards most difficult run will be 3 games at Miller Park, then 9 games in 10 days against the Braves, Marlins and Cubs, but all 10 will be at home.

In other words, at the moment, the Cards have an easier schedule to close things out.

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Trade Deadline Week: Friday Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:57:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 31, 2009.

With things being all quiet on the North Side front (I haven't even heard a peep about another move involving the Cubs, except Bruce Miles saying if they did, they'd be looking for a bat off the bench), I thought I would give the Cubs trade another look now that I've slept on it.

I know there are a lot of people out there who didn't like the trade because they thought the Cubs gave up too much in Kevin Hart. Hart, rated as the 6th best Cubs prospect by BA, was not in the top 14 by Baseball Prospectus. He is the ultimate 'tweener; he struggled this year in the Iowa 'pen, pitched better as a AAA starter, and pitched well in both roles for the Cubs. But I think long-term he's a better reliever than starter. That's not to say that the Pirates won't use him as a starter, I just think his stuff would work better out of the 'pen.

But what I think is lost in this is that the Cubs had to give up something to get something. And when you look at the Cubs long-term, they didn't need Hart. They have a stockpile of reliever arms. You could argue that they could've kept him in the rotation, but again, I just don't see him a member of the starting 5 any time soon for the Cubs. The Cubs will have a rotation opening this offseason with Rich Harden's free agency, but with a new owner in place (hopefully) and few other offseason needs, the Cubs will either try to make a big splash or annoint Jeff Samardzija as their 5th starter.

Both Jose Ascanio and Josh Harrison were nice prospects ranked in the 30-50 range of the Cubs top prospects. Harrison's on field performance this year could've potentially put him in the top 30 next year. But again, the Cubs have a logjam of right-handed, MLB-ready relievers, so the need to keep Ascanio was reduced. Harrison played some 2-sack and some 3-sack this year, and projects long-term as a utility-infielder. While he was getting PT, the Cubs are overflowing with infielders, especially middle infielders, in the lower levels. This move could help the Cubs develop some of their higher-ranked prospects.

There is value in both the players the Cubs got in return. While it appears on the surface that they are renting John Grabow for 3 months, he currently projects as a Type A free agent. That means that if the Cubs offered him arbitration and he turned it down, they would get a first round compensation pick in next year's draft. I think that would change the minds of some Cubs fans. Whether he'd do that or not would be interesting; if he accepts arbitration, he'll probably get a bump up from the $2.3M he's making this year. If he turns it down (assuming he's successful during the stretch for the Cubs), he's looking at a multi-year deal (always a plus for relievers). I'd assume that unless the Cubs see some other lefty that absolutely have to have, they'd offer him arbitration.

The Cubs are also getting Tom Gorzelanny. Gorzelanny was a 14 game winner two years ago and in 2006 was ranked among the top 100 prospects in baseball. Gorzelanny struggled to a 6-9, 6.66 ERA last year, in large part to the number of walks he issued. That trend has reversed course this year, where he's only walked 30 in 87 innings of work at AAA. When the Pirates needed another lefty in the 'pen, they called him up without much success (a 5.19 ERA in 9 appearances, but he somehow managed 3 W's). He will be arbitration-eligible, so the Cubs will continue to have control over him. If he performs well, he could fight for the fifth starter's spot next year.

So, I look at it as a situation where the Cubs spent some of their excess (right-handed relievers and lower-level middle infielders) to address specific needs (left-handed relief and left-handed pitching depth). The Pirates were reportedly asking for Jay Jackson, the Cubs 9th ranked prospect. While some believe Jackson has already peaked and doesn't project to be successful long-term, I think the Cubs were better off sending Hart than Jackson.

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A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:35:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 31, 2009.

A former top ten prospect makes a guest appearance in the bonus section, a top ten player officially waves goodbye (Kevin Hart), and a sneak peak at a potential top ten player next year.

Iowa

Steve Clevenger-I guess Clevenger is now unofficially a top ten prospect, as he was the #11 prospect pre-season and is now in the top ten with the departure of Hart. He's 3 for 13 in the past week with 3 K's. He's struck out 5 times in his last 5 games, after K'ing only 15 times in 41 games at AAA and 23 times in 67 games overall this year.

Bonus-J.R. Mathes likely just got passed by Tom Gorzelanny in the lefty starter to get called up if needed, but he's trying his best to show the Cubs he's deserving. He had two starts this week, 2 victories, 2 7 inning outings. He gave a total of two runs (a 1.29 ERA), 11 hits and a walk (a 0.86 WHIP). He also recorded his 10th win of the season, the fourth time in the last five years he's accomplished that feat (he had 9 wins in 2008).

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-Has Castillo finally broken out of his 3+ month slump? It's looks like it. He has a solid 9 game hitting streak in which he's hitting .441. He's hit 4 HR's during that time, including a 2 HR game on Wednesday. He's tied for the team lead in HR's. He's also driven in 10 runs, or 36% of his total RBI's for the season.

Tyler Colvin-Covin came up in a pinch role during game 1 of a doubleheader on Wednesday and singled. That broke an 0 for 18 streak. After K'ing once per 5.3 AB's last year, he's "down" to once every 4.4 AB's this year, and he strikes out almost 30% of the time he faces a leftie. He needs two hits tonight to finish the month of July with a monthly BA above .200.

Andrew Cashner-Cashner made his 17th start of the year and recorded his first W of the year, because he finally pitched at least 5 innings (he's done that only 3 times this year) and the team has finally given him some offensive support. He struggled in his Wednesday start, putting runner's in scoring position in four of his five innings, but the only run to score was unearned. He now has a 1.09 ERA at Tennessee.

Bonus-Tied with Castillo for the team lead in HR's, Tony Thomas is mimicking Castillo's year in a lot of ways. He also his an HR on Wednesday and he also seems to be finding his stick. Before an 0 for 4 in game two of the doubleheader on Wednesday, Thomas was 10 for his last 27 (.370 BA) with 2 HR's, 6 RBI's, 6 runs, and 3 swiped bags. This after starting the month hitting .128 .

Daytona

Josh Vitters-If you looked at Vitters last ten games as a whole, you'd say it doesn't look bad. 4 two hit games, 4 RBI's, 4 runs, overall pretty solid. Then you'd see his BA in those ten games is .233. How? Well, he's 0 for his last 8 and he has an 0 for 6 stuck in the middle of a streak where he hit safely in 5 of 6.

Starlin Castro-Castro is only hitting .268 in his last 10 games, but he has an OBP of .375. His 7 walks over the last 10 days represent 39% of his walks for the year. He's hitting an even .300 on the season and while his OBP is only at .339 (showing he doesn't walk a lot), he has K'd only 38 times in 343 AB's. For a 19 year old playing in Advanced A ball, that's fantastic.

Jay Jackson-For reasons I have yet to find, the Cubs decided to send Jackson down to Daytona. But Jackson took it in stride and showed that he's past Advanced A Ball, at least in one outing. He started last night, giving up 4 hits and a walk in 5 and 2/3 innings pitched. He struck out 9 of the 23 batters he faced.

Bonus-If ATAtM came out on Thursday, this week's Daytona bonus would've been Josh Harrison, who earned player of the week honors. But since he's no longer in the system, we'll focus on D-Cubs closer David Cales. Cales has a 0.92 ERA at Daytona (he struggled in a short stint at Tennessee) and has better than a 3:1 K/W ratio. His WHIP is under 1 for the year at Daytona.

Peoria

Ryan Flaherty-In the last week, Flaherty has shown some muscle, hitting 3 HR's to bring his season total to 14 (including one on Monday, his 23rd birthday). He's now one behind former teammate Josh Vitters and is 6th in the league in HR's. He's now reached safely in his last 7 games and his hitting .310 over that span with an OBP of nearly .400.

Bonus-The HR party extended to Rebel Ridling, who joined Flaherty in a 3 HR week. He now has 12, putting him in the top ten in the league in HR's. While Ridling is only hitting .283, he is 3rd in the league in hits, with 108. He is also 3rd in the Midwest League in RBI's, with 69, folloing a 9 RBI week.

Boise

Hak Ju Lee-Lee's had a slightly above average week, which is a great week for most players.In 6 games, he had 10 hits, 5 RBI's, 4 runs, 3 walks, 2 doubles, and a stolen base. That's a .400 batting average and a .464 OBP. He did get caught stealing once this week, dropping his stolen base success rate 4% to 78%. He leads the league in stolen bases and 6th in batting average.

Bonus-If he continues at this pace, Cubs 1st round pick Brett Jackson will be on this list next year. Jackson has a 9 game hitting streak, including a 4 for 5 performance Wednesday. It has bumped him into the top ten in the league in batting (with 3 Hawk teammates). He's struck out 20 times in 24 games, but has also walked 17 times, giving him an OBP of .443, good enough for 4th best in the league.

No News on Dae Eun Rhee

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Cubs Acquire John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:24:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 30, 2009.

UPDATED: 5:21 PM CT

The Cubs have acquired Pittsburgh's John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny. Grabow will be put in the Cubs 'pen immediately, while Gorzelanny will be sent to AAA.

In return, the Pirates receive Kevin Hart, Jose Ascanio, and Josh Harrison. Hart is the centerpiece of this deal, being ranked as the Cubs 6th ranked prospect before the season according to BA. Ascanio had a 3.52 ERA with the Cubs, 3.16 in AAA. Harrison was a 2-sack/3-sack, drafted by the Cubs in the 6th round of the '08 draft. He was hitting .327 between Peoria and Daytona this year with 26 stolen bases.

Basically, the Cubs gave up two relievers and a long-term prospect for a reliever and possibly the team's fifth starter (just because he's heading to AAA doesn't mean he won't be called up in a few days). Maybe the Pirates see Hart as a starter, but I think his greatest potential is in the 'pen.

This move makes a ton of sense for the Cubs. The Cubs had a plethora of right-handed relievers in their system and exactly 4 lefties on their 40 man roster...Lilly, Marshall, Cotts, and Jason Waddell. Lilly and Cotts are on the D.L., Marshall is already in the 'pen and Waddell has a .316 BAA vs. lefties. In addition, there is a logjam in the Cubs lower levels in the infield.

Would I have traded Kevin Hart for John Grabow? Probably, especially with the Cubs right-handed depth. Would I have traded Ascanio and Harrison for Grozelanny? Yes. So, these two for those three make sense.

As a final note, the Cubs essentially traded Freddie Bynum (traded for Hart), Jacque Jones (traded for Omar Infante who was traded with Will Ohman for Ascanio), and a 6th round pick.

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Trade Deadline Week: Thursday Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:41:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 30, 2009.

UPDATED (2:11 CT): According to John Heyman of SI.com, the Cubs and Pirates are in serious discussions about John Grabow, but the Cubs may be looking to add a second pitcher. With the growing depth in the 'pen (and Hart struggling a little bit in today's game), I'd assume the second pitcher is a starter. That probably means Tom Gorzelanny (as mentioned here first), a former 14 game winner in the Bigs (2007) who has a 2.48 ERA in AAA this year. He would provide the Cubs with a left-handed starter than they are currently missing with Tedders on the D.L. The Pirates have full control over their current 5 man rotation, so they are unlikely to part with any of them (and the Cubs probably aren't going to want to have to pay in prospects for them).

By the way, I'm fully aware that I said the Cubs would call up Sam Fuld to replace ReJo. They will, they just chose to add another in recalling Jeff Stevens for now. Lou said on the radio pregame show that they could call up Fuld as soon as tomorrow. What may happen is that Fuld will replace Mitch Atkins.

Where's Kenny Lofton?

In case you haven't heard the news, Reed Johnson broke his foot and will be out at least a month. The immediate plan is to call up Sam Fuld, but he doesn't serve the long-term need, because he is left-handed (the Cubs need a righty who could play center to spell Fukudome and to be in the lineup against righties unless MB figures out how to hit left-handed).

Paul Sullivan suggests the name Cody Ross, the Marlins CF who has 14 HR's. But according to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com, the Marlins are looking to add, not subtract.

Jeremy Hermida is also on the list...he's a guy who has been linked to Cubs rumors before, but doesn't fit the need for a 2nd CF.

Jayson Stark says the Cubs are only in the market for relievers and Fox Sports says the Cubs will stay in-house in replacing ReJo. They also say the Cubs are more interested in John Grabow than Joe Beimel.

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Trade Deadline Week: Wednesday Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:56:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 29, 2009.

New"ish" names on the list...

Bruce Levine of ESPN1000 said last night that the Cubs were still poking around to see if Mark Teahen was available. There have been reports of the Cubs interest dating back to when ARam went on the D.L. Teahen has played primarily the 3-sack position for the Royals, but with the return of Alex Gordon, the Royals have played him some in RF (he's also played the other 2 sacks this year), or maybe they have been showcasing his diversity. In any case, Teahen would be a utility guy for the Cubs.

Whether Joe Beimel or John Grabow heads to the North Side may be dependent on how B.J. Ryan performs. The lefty made his I-Cubs debut last night, throwing a scoreless inning. He walked a batter, then promptly forced a ground ball that resulted in a double play.

The Mariners and Pirates made a trade today which has Cubs ties. First, former Cub Ronny Cedeno will make his return to the N.L. Central in the trade. Second, the Pirates gained Jeff Clement in the deal. Clement was one of the Mariner's top prospects (#1 ranked prospect by BA in '06 and '08), giving the Pirates 4 catchers/catching prospects. I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but the Cubs could use a catcher until Geo Soto comes back. K. Hill has caught 18 straight games (more consecutive starts for any Cubs catcher in roughly 20 years) and the Cubs are still more than a week away from their next off day. I'm not saying Clement would be the guy, but the Pirates have current backup Jason Jaramillo (batting .255 in limited AB's) and AAA catcher Robinzon Diaz.

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Some Signing News

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:48:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on Jul 28, 2009.

The Cubs have been very active in signing talent from Tawain and South Korea this year. East Windup Chronicle is reporting the Cubs have signed 3 players from Tawain and 1 from South Korea.

The latest is Wang Tsu-an, a HS pitcher who stands 6-5 or 6-6. He is relatively raw, but reportedly throws in the low 90's. They had already signed Yao-Lin Wang, an 18 year old pitcher. He is only 5-11, but also has been clocked in the low 90's. Joining them from Taiwan is Chen Pin-Chie, a 2-sack. All three have reportedly received bonuses around 300K. From South Korea, the Cubs signed Don-Yeop Kim, a 6-1 HS outfielder, to a reported bonus over half a million dollars.

Back stateside, the Cubs signed their 3rd round pick, Austin Kirk. Kirk is a left-handed pitcher out of high school who was ranked as the 61st best high schooler by Rivalshigh.com.

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Trade Deadline Week: Tuesday Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:06:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 28, 2009.

Do the Tigers want Bradley?

Peter Gammons mentioned last night on Baseball Tonight that JH is usually very active at the trade deadline, but the unresolved ownership situation will prevent the Cubs from making any big moves. He mentioned they were still searching for a utility infielder and/or a left-handed reliever, but he's the only one I've heard still mentioning a utility-infielder.

This is a bizarre one, but Jim Leyland had to answer a question as to whether the Tigers would be interested in Milton Bradley, because there was that rumored trade to the Tigers out there. Not surprisingly, Leyland said they had no interest in Bradley.

Bruce Miles says the focus continues to be on Joe Beimel and John Grabow.

Gordon Wittenmeyer adds George Sherrill to the list.

Reports out of Pittsburgh say the Pirates asking price for John Grabow is too rich for the Cubs blood.

Overall, I would have to say that Beimel leads on the backstretch. It is curious that the Pirates would have a high asking price for Grabow, because they have sold off pieces for next to nothing this year, and Grabow would save them another $700K or so, but maybe it has to do with the Cubs being in the same division. As for Sherrill, I know this is a trendy rumor, based on the relationship between JH and Andy McPhail, but Sherrill is a closer. The Cubs already have a closer and setup man, so why would they pay a closer's price in trade for a 7th inning/situational leftie? Beimel is the only name still being mentioned in trade rumors on the Nat's team, so you'd figure they'd be motivated to show their fan base something. Reports are the Cubs could get him for a couple of mid-level prospects, which sounds about right.

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Trade Deadline Week: Monday Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:55:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 27, 2009.

Nothing much to report on the trade rumor front so far...

John Grabow remains the name most mentioned in terms of guys the Cubs are pursuing, and vice-versa (Grabow's name is most-often linked to Chicago). But, there are reports that the Pirates are also interested in retaining him and trying to sign him to an extension, because he's a good clubhouse guy. I have to believe that this is just posturing by the Pirates...they are having a firesale, but want to keep a reliever when relievers may be the hottest commodity south of the International Boundary (the border between the U.S. and Canada)?

The Twins have reportedly been keeping an eye on Pirates catcher Robinzon Diaz, currently stored away at Indianapolis. You have to wonder if JH would consider making a move to bring in Grabow and either Diaz or backup Jason Jaramillo to help out the catching situation. I know the Cubs expect Geo Soto to be back sooner rather than later, but it still baffles me that the current backup plan the Cubs continue to have is Jake Fox, who has caught a total of 3 games this year.

The other interesting take I heard the other day is that July 31 this year might be the softest trading deadline in history. With the economy the way it is, the thought is that fewer teams will be putting in waiver requests just to block guys out of fear that they will get dumped with their salaries. Usually, the overpaid underproducers are the only ones who leak through, but more guys are expected to clear waivers this August.

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You Heard it Here First

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:59:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 24, 2009.

UPDATE (7/25/09, 10AM): Theodore Roosevelt Lilly, also known as Ted, will be placed on the D.L. today with shoulder tendonitis. He is expected to be out for about two weeks. What is being discussed internally is whether Tedders should undergo arthoscopic surgery on his knee to get it cleaned out. If he opts to have the surgery, he'll probably be out an additional week. If he was a position player, I would say no, but we're likely talking about one start, so I say, get it done.

Initially, the Cubs are recalling Justin Berg from Iowa. Berg was added to the 40 man roster this offseason. He is 4-1 with a 2.00 ERA in 24 appearances at Iowa. Righties are hitting .167 off him. He was acquired in exchange for Matt Lawton from the Yankees.

I wonder if he's being showcased for a trade. Berg has been great this year, but injuries have inhibited most of his career. The Cubs have other options to call on, so this was a bit of an odd choice.

The Cubs reportedly have interest in the Pirates John Grabow to fill their need for a second left-handed reliever. Grabow is 3-0 with a 3.65 ERA in 44 innings of work this year. His 2.3M dollar salary makes him an attractive option for the Pirates to move.

But the potential loss of Ted Lilly (who will miss his next start and reports are that he's likely headed to the D.L.) may increase the Cubs interest in dealing with the Pirates, because they've also talked to the 'Rates about Tom Gorzelanny. Gorzelanny made a brief stint with Pittsburgh as a reliever this year without much success, but he has a 2.46 ERA in 14 starts at AAA Indianapolis. He has 2 complete games and has struck out nearly 1 batter per inning (79 in 80 and 1/3 innings).

There's even an outside chance that the Cubs will add Freddy Sanchez. Sanchez is a former batting champ who's hitting over .300 this year, but doesn't bring much else to the table. He doesn't draw walks (his OBP is .340) or steal bases (5 this year, but 10 total in his career). He's another right-handed bat in the lineup, but the amount of PT he logs would be the question. The Pirates offered him a 2 year contract, but he seems to want out of Pittsburgh, so the Pirates knowledge of this and his 6.25M dollar contract make his expendable.

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A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:21:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 24, 2009.

David Patton sees what AA looks like, Andrew Cashner shows first round pick stuff, and a couple of guys working hard after demotions in this week's ATAtM...

Iowa

Steve Clevenger-Clevenger was only in three games this week, going 3 for 11, with a run, an RBI, a walk, and 2 K's. Since arriving in Iowa, he's shown an ability to hit lefties, but is struggling against righties. He's hitting .327 against the southpaws but only .240 against righties, and his OPS is over 300 points higher.

Bonus-On Tuesday, Vince Perkins gave up an earned run in two innings of relief, but notched the save. But the earned run was the first he'd given up in his last 24 1/3 innings. Between Tennessee and Iowa, Perkins has an ERA of 1.88 and has only allowed 1 HR in 67 innings of work.

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-Castillo has safely reached base 10 times in his last 5 games and hit 2 HR's this past week. Maybe he just needed a few days to relax; he's hitting .391 since the All Star break compared to .174 before the break. I know it's just six games, but maybe the time off allowed him to get his swing back.

Tyler Colvin-Colvin has been going through another rough patch with the stick of late. After a month of June that saw him hit over .300 with 6 HR's, he's hitting .197 this month with only 1 HR. While he's never been particularly patient at the plate, here's an odd stat: in the 45 AB's against lefties as a Smokie this year, he hasn't drawn a single walk.

Jay Jackson-Jackson's IP per start are slowly decreasing; he hasn't gone 6 complete since May 24th. My initial thought was that they were trying to keep his IP down since he's only in his 1st full professional season, but he threw roughly 110 innings last year between college and professional baseball, and he's only at 80 innings this year with about 7-8 starts left. It appears to be an issue of throwing a lot of pitches. Case in point was last Saturday, where he went 5 innings, striking out 7 and walking 4. He gave up 2 runs and notched his 5th win of the season.

Andrew Cashner-Cashner continues to dominate, and I think it realistically raises a slight possibility (I stress slight) that he could be in the Bigs come September. But everything I hear is that the Cubs want to make him a starter and will take that process slowly. On Tuesday, he had his best outing of the year: 6 IP, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 runs, 5 K's.

Bonus-David Patton is getting his first taste of AA. The Cubs Rule V pick had only pitched as high as High A ball before making his big league debut this year, so his rehab stint in AA is his first time in AA. Technically, a player can rehab for up to 30 days; I fully expect the Cubs to use all thirty (the Pirates did that earlier this year with former Cubs top prospect Donnie Veal). Patton struggled in his first appearance, taking the loss. He started the game for Tennessee, going the first two innings, giving up a hit, then a walk, then an HR.

Daytona

Josh Vitters-Still waiting to see Vitters break out and show that he can hit pitching in Advanced A ball. He played in 7 games this week, batting .258 with a double and a triple. He had 3 runs and 3 RBI's, but he also struck out 5 times. In 76 AB's at Daytona, Vitters has only drawn 2 walks.

Starlin Castro-Castro played in 7 games this week as well and an 0 for 5 last night ended what would've been a week-long hitting streak. He hit .281 for the week with 4 doubles. He also swiped 2 bags in 3 tries, making him 19 for 27 on the year. Impressively, Castro is hitting .299 against lefties and .303 against righties.

Bonus-When a guy gets demoted due to poor play, you hope to see him take that as a challenge to prove the decision wrong. Such is the case for Brandon Guyer. The fifth round pick in 2007 deserved to be demoted after hitting .173 over the first 2+ months at Tennessee. But since his demotion, he is hitting .361 with an OPS of nearly 900 for the D-Cubs. He has as many walks as he does K's and he's successfully stolen 15 of 16 bags.

Peoria

Ryan Flaherty-The good news for Flaherty was a 3 for 5 performance on Sunday that included a double. The bad news is that he only had 2 hits the rest of the week, giving him a .208 batting average for the week. He did steal his 7th bag of the season.

Bonus-After hitting just .220 for Daytona, the Cubs demoted 3-sack Jovan Rosa. He entered last night's game with a respectable .292 batting average and 5 RBI's in 13 games. Last night, he had a sac fly in the 2nd that scored a run, a 3 run HR in the 4th, and an RBI single in the 8th, doubling his RBI total at Daytona and accounting for all the Chiefs runs.

Boise

Hak Ju Lee-An 0 for 4 Wednesday brought to close an 8 game hitting streak for Lee. For the week, Lee hit .320 with 5 runs and 4 RBI's, but he also K'd 6 times. He stole two more bases, bringing his total to 13 and his success rate to 81%. He remains the league leader in SB's.

Bonus-A 25th round pick this year, Justin Bour was added to the Hawks roster just over a week ago. In 9 games, he's hitting .364 with 8 RBI's and 6 runs. But maybe more impressive, Bour has drawn a walk in every game but one, giving him an OBP of .476.

No News on Dae Eun Rhee.

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Cubs Bits

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:44:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 22, 2009.

A few news and notes to get caught up on...

It's probably a little bit of old news at this point, but the Cubs signed their 2nd round pick D.J. Lemahieu. Lemahieu played for LSU, who won the College World Series a month ago, and was a key cog, leading the team in batting average.

By my count, the Cubs have signed 8 of their top 10 picks, the only unaccounted players being Austin Kirk and Brooks Raley. Kirk is a HS pitcher who was the Cubs third round pick. He is committed to Oklahoma, but has remained open to signing with the Cubs. Raley was the Cubs 6th round pick as a pitcher, but he also plays OF. If he doesn't sign, he'll return to Texas A&M for his junior year.

Vote Zonk. Anyone who caught the Cubs on TV just before the All Star break or has heard the Cubs on this road trip has already heard Keith Moreland doing the analysis. I have a feeling that the media execs are giving him a tryout, and from what I've heard, he's passed with flying colors. He gives great insight on to what the hitter should be trying to do (I stress should, because it's the Cubs) without cheapening the broadcast with stupid catchphrases or needless adjectives. If Brenly or Santo aren't back next year for any reason, I think Moreland will slide in.

A few rumors still keeping the Cubs rumor mill turning. Gordon Wittenmeyer of the Sun-Times suggested that the Cubs may pursue George Sherrill or Chad Qualls, and could inquire about catching help if Geo is out for a long time. Sherrill's name has been attached to the Cubs by other reports, and while JH and Andy McPhail are good friends who love dealing, most reports are saying a team would have to overpay for Sherrill and I don't think the Cubs have that great a need. Then again, the Cubs are still owed compensation for Rich Hill (I'm not saying it would go straight-up, but the Cubs could get Sherrill cheaper if that's part of the deal).

Honestly, I don't know that the Cubs need any bullpen help, unless they feel they need to give Marshall a break from being the lone lefty. As for catcher, I don't see much out there. Catchers are dropping like flies.

The Cubs were supposedly interested in Felipe Lopez, who was traded to the Brewers. Don't know if they were actually interested or were trying to drive up the price, knowing the Brewers were interested.

JH has called the Red Sox on Julio Lugo. Maybe JH is just looking to add DFA's to complement the team.

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A Trip Around the Minors

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:22:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 17, 2009.

Short weeks for a lot of the players, between the AA and AAA All Star Breaks and the Future's Game for Vitters and Castro. But check out the hitting battle at Boise in this week's ATAtM...

Iowa

Steve Clevenger-Clevenger's BA ended at 8 games on Sunday with an 0 for 4, 2 K performance. Those 2 strikeouts were his first two 27 AB's. He started off slow following his promotion to Iowa in May, but has raised his average 10 points in July.

Bonus-Since being traded back to the Cubs on July, Matt Craig has shown why the Cubs wanted him back. The former 3rd round pick who became a 6th year free agent before the season has a .288 BA with 10 RBI's in 13 games. He's only K'd once in his last 32 AB's.

Tennessee

Welington Castillo-Maybe the All Star break gave Castillo a chance to relax and refocus. Last night, he went 3 for 5 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI's. His 3 hits were more than the total for the month and his 3 RBI's were his first 3 of the month. He also scored his second run of the month.

Tyler Colvin-Colvin may have only hit .200 for the past week, but he was productive in those 4 games. He had 2 runs, 2 RBI's, a triple and a walk. Colvin's numbers on the year nearly mimic the numbers he put up last year at Tennessee. Granted, he had offseason surgery, but I think a little of the shine has come off his star.

Jay Jackson-Hasn't pitched since July 7th, due to the All Star break.

Andrew Cashner-Cashner pitched Wednesday night, going 4 innings and giving up 2 earned runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 5. Cashner was mentioned in this week's Ask BA (last question), which explains the pitch count he has been on all year, limiting the innings he's thrown.

Bonus-Maybe Jim Adduci picked up a tip or two at the All Star game, because he returned with a bang. On Wednesday night, he was a triple short of the cycle in a 3 for 5 effort. Last night, he had 2 singles, a walk, and a stolen base. If you throw in his performance the day before the AA All Star break, he has gone 7 for 12 with 6 runs and 2 RBI's, including a double, triple, HR, 2 walks, and a stolen base. In the past three days, he's raised his OPS for the season 37 points.

Daytona

Josh Vitters-Vitters added 28 points to his Daytona BA, which only puts him at .222. It's still a small sample size, just 45 AB's. The good news is that Vitters has cut down on his strikeouts (again, a small sample size); he's K'd just 4 times since joining the D-Cubs (one per 11.25 AB's) after striking out one in less than 6 AB's.

Starlin Castro-On Wednesday night, Castro went 4 for 4 with a double, 2 runs, and an RBI. In his 4 games this week, Castro hit .385 with 4 runs and he was a perfect 3 for 3 in stolen bases. Castro's stolen base percentage is back up over 70%. If you threw out April, Castro has a .335 BA.

Bonus-A year ago, Dan McDaniel was dominating the Northwest League with a 1.67 ERA and 7 saves as the Hawks closer. A year later, he's been up and down as a starter at Daytona. He went 2-0 with a sub 1 ERA in April and had a 3.86 ERA for the month of May. But June was unkind to him, going 1-4 with an ERA over 6. He's bounced back to a 3.60 ERA for this month. While his biggest issue is that he's getting hit (he's given up over a hit per inning), he is keeping them in the ballpark. 73 and 2/3 innings pitched, 1 HR.

Peoria

Ryan Flaherty-Flaherty's hitting streak ended at 7 games on Monday and so did his 7 games with a run scored streak. Thankfully for him, his 6 games with a strikeout streak also ended that night. Nonetheless, Flaherty's hitting .283 for the month, his best month of the year. Despite a low BA (.246), Flaherty has a very respectable .738 OPS.

Bonus-Manolin De Leon joined the Chiefs in May and was above average, grabbing a win and striking out 11 in 8 and 2/3 innings with a 3.12 ERA. He gave up his fourth run of the year in early June, pitching sporadically. Since then, he's given up just 1 earned run in 17 and 1/3 innings (a 0.52 ERA). Righties are hitting less than .100 off him.

Boise

Hak Ju Lee-Lee was a HR short of the cycle last night, and has posted numbers similar to Adduci's over the last three games. 8 hits in 14 AB's, 6 runs, 5 RBI's, a double, a triple, and 3 stolen bases. Lee still leads the league in stolen bases, is 2nd in the league in runs, and is tied for 3rd in doubles. But he is 2nd on the team in hits (see below).

Bonus-Not to be outdone by Lee, Logan Watkins went 5 for 6 last night with 3 runs. He's 11 for his last 15 and has an 8 game hitting streak in which he's batting .576 with 11 runs. Prior to this hitting streak, he was batting .217 with 7 runs. He's now 5th in the Northwest League in hitting and has 2 more hits than Lee.

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All Star Report

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:49:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 16, 2009.

The upper three division of baseball had their All Star games this week, so let's take a look

AA (Tennessee)

Blake Lalli got the start at the 1-sack, going 0 for 4 in the game but getting an RBI on a sac fly. He also struck out twice. Jim Adduci entered the game in the 4th as a defensive replacement. He came up with an RBI single in the 5th and flew out in the 7th. He also had an active game in the field. He caught three balls in right and recorded an assist on a forceout out second base. Tony Thomas came in as a pinch hitter, flying out in his only AB, but remained in the game at the 2-sack position for the rest of the game.

Casey Coleman was the first guy out of the 'pen, pitching a scoreless second. He struck out two and gave up a bloop single. Because of the weird way the game went, Coleman was the only pitcher credited with a hold (he entered and let the game with a lead of 3 or less). Jay Jackson pitched just one inning, the fourth, and only threw 8 pitches, but he went 3 up, 3 down with a strikeout. But with the year he's having, it was fitting that he was the winning pitcher of the All Star game. Smokies closer Brian Schlitter came in in the ninth inning, promptly recorded two outs (one via the strikeout) and was lifted with 2 outs in the ninth to assure all the team's pitchers got into the game.

Darwin Barney was selected to play, but promoted to AAA before the All Star game, making him ineligble

MLB (Chicago)

I know it looks like a weird order, but this was the order in which the games were played. Ted Lilly was the Cubs lone representative and per the Cubs request, was placed in the group of pitchers to be used last, so when the game went final in 9 innings, Lilly didn't get to pitch. Which was fine...I get to watch Lilly pitch every fifth day, I don't need to see him out there in the All Star game. As for the game, the Cubs will now have to steal home field advantage by winning a road game in the World Series.

AAA (Iowa)

Chris Robinson got the start behind the plate for the PCL All Stars and played 5 innings. He flew out in the third, but singled and scored in the fifth. He caught five different pitchers in a PCL loss.

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Cubs Bits

noreply@blogger.com (Lionel) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:26:00 PDT

Posted by Lionel on July 13, 2009.

After getting 18 innings of pro baseball plus a couple of potential future Cubs in the Futures game yesterday, the only Cubs you'll be able to see for the next three days are Ted Lilly (in the All Star game), Chris Robinson (an I-Cub in the AAA All Star game, Wednesday on the Deuce) and Sammy Sosa (in all the old HR derby's that the ESPN family of networks will be showing), so here's a few nuggets for the next few days:

I still can't believe that the Cubs are going with the plan of having Jake Fox be the team's #2 catcher until Geo comes back. I think recalling Fuld was just an opportunity to get another bat on the roster for the twinbill yesterday. I suspect they'll call up Chris Robinson, but wanted to wait until after the AAA All Star game. I know that sounds a bit weird, but team's realize that these guys have feelings too and they want them to get recognized for their accomplishments, instead of calling them up a few days before their All Star game.

The Cubs still have faith that some of those bad drafts I wrote about could still turn around. First, they re-signed Joe Simokaitis, a tenth round pick from 2005 who they released a year ago. Simokaitis, a former light-hitting SS, is trying his hand at pitching. Now the Cubs have acquired Matt Craig from the Marlins AAA system for future considerations (i.e. money) and put him in Iowa. Craig was a 3rd round pick back in 2002 who declared free agency after last season (minor leaguers who have six years service time and aren't added to the 40 man roster can declare free agency). I assume they brought him back to provide a little more depth (he can play 1st, 3rd and OF).
In former prospect news, the Padres received Sean Gallagher as the PTBNL in the deal that sent Scott Hairston to the A's.
B.J. Ryan is expected to clear waivers today and reports say that the Cubs are the leaders to land him. In fact, the Cubs are the only team I've heard showing any interest. It may allow the Cubs to have two lefties in the 'pen or could allow them to move Sean Marshall back into the rotation as the fifth starter until Dempster returns.

The Non-BJ Ryan Rumor Mill is starting to heat up as well. The Cubs are supposedly kicking the tires on a couple of 2-sacks. This is starting to feel like LF in 2005, when the Cubs started the year with a Todd Hollandsworth/Jason Dubois platoon, traded Dubois to the Indians for Jody Gerut, traded Gerut to the Pirates for Matt Lawton, then traded both Lawton and Hollandsworth and used Matt Murton and Jerry Hairston when they were 20+ games out of 1st place. But I digress...the Cubs have supposedly shown interest in Freddy Sanchez, Mark Teahen, and Felipe Lopez.

Freddy Sanchez seems like a longshot. For one, he is one of the "hotter" names out there. You'd also have to believe the Pirates still have the ARam and Kenny Lofton for Bobby Hill, Matt Bruback, and Jose Hernandez thoughts in the back of their mind, even if this is a different regime and Sanchez is 31, not 25. Then again, the Pirates fire sale is obvious and Sanchez is making $4M+ this year.

Mark Teahen is a guy who the Cubs have previously inquired about this offseason. He is a "super-utility" left-hander who, unlike the rest of the super-utility crap the Cubs have been acquiring, is actually healthy (he's played in all but 2 games) and having a solid season. He's hitting .294 with 9 HR's and 5 stolen bases, playing mostly the 3-sack, but also's played 1-sack, 2-sack and RF. He's 27 and making over $2M this year. I could see the Cubs making this move because they notoriously stay after players they want (is Brian Roberts still available?).

Felipe Lopez was an All Star and Silver Slugger as a 25 year old SS in 2005. The next year, his HR total was cut in half, but he stole 44 bags. Then spent a year and a half wasting away in Washington, but batted .385 for the Cards down the stretch last year and has a solid .302 average in Arizona this year. He has played exclusively at the 2-sack this year after playing at 6 different spots last year. He is a switch-hitter and could play SS in a pinch, something the Cubs are missing unless/until Aaron Miles comes back.

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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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