After consulting, apparently, the Mayan calendar, baseball’s cognoscenti determined that Sunday, July 31st, would be the end of the world for the Chicago Cubs, coinciding with the major-league trading deadline; or, less metaphorically, that the Cubs’ GM would dispose of every remotely tradeable player on the team just before being disposed of himself. Management would [...]
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Posted 07 August 2011
† Phil
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prospect § Quade § soriano § trade
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Tagged: alfonso soriano, aramis ramirez, brandon guyer, brett jackson, carlos pena, darwin barney, geovany soto, jeff beliveau, jim hendry, marlon byrd, mike quade, ryan flaherty, starlin castro, tim wilken, tyler colvin
If you like the Fukudome trade–and what’s not to like about a deal that nets the Cubs another 21-year-old prospect with the size, speed, power, glove and strong right arm of a Junior Lake?–then you should hand most of the credit to Mike Quade. When none of your starting outfielders is punching his weight, it’s [...]
Saturday night, the world-leading (38-12) high-A Daytona Cubs had a nice win at home. Down 5-0 in the sixth, the D-Cubs scored a couple, and the score stood at 5-3 in the seventh when Junior Lake homered with two on, two out, giving the Cubs the lead. With two outs in the eighth, Lake tripled [...]
The Cub farm system is alive and well in spite of all the talk about its having been “gutted” by the Garza deal. Below is a table of win-loss records at the four minor-league levels for the six teams in the NL Central. The Cubs do significantly better than their rivals in this comparison. The [...]
Here are a few predictions about various Cub players and about the team as a whole in 2011. Some of this might sound more like admonition than prediction, more a question of what the team should do than what it will do. But I am prognosticating, not giving advice. I have confidence in Cub management [...]
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Posted 01 April 2011
† Phil
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prospect § Running § soriano
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Tagged: aaron shafer, alfonso soriano, brett jackson, carlos zambrano, david cales, jeff baker, jeff beliveau, josh vitters, kosuke fukudome, marquez smith, michael brenly, rebel ridling, ryan flaherty, sam fuld, tyler colvin
The fact that he vented is more interesting than anything that he said. The outburst was not surprising, though, since you probably didn’t expect the Mariners to send you an Eagle Scout in exchange for Bradley. While everyone knows that Silva was linked to Bradley, few recall the chain of causation that connects both of [...]
I believe that, ultimately, Tim Wilken saves the Cubs, so my assessment of the 2011 Cub roster coming out of spring training would have to begin with the question, How did the Wilken guys do? They did pretty well. Of course, I would prefer that Brandon Guyer, fifth-rounder in 2007 and Cub minor-league player of [...]
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Posted 27 March 2011
† Phil
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prospect § Running
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Tagged: andrew cashner, brandon guyer, brett jackson, chris archer, d.j. lemahieu, darwin barney, fernando perez, james russell, jeff samardzija, josh vitters, marquez smith, marwin gonzalez, ryan flaherty, sam fuld, starlin castro, steve clevenger, tim wilken, tony campana, tyler colvin, welington castillo
I like prospects, and I have made a fuss on this blog about Guyer and Chirinos in particular. Chirinos got my attention in ’09 when he hit two grand slams in a game in late May, and then kept hitting. Disappointed when the Cubs failed to protect Chirinos from the Rule 5 draft in ’09, [...]
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Posted 09 January 2011
† Phil
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prospect
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Tagged: brandon guyer, brett jackson, chris archer, d.j. lemahieu, geovany soto, hak-ju lee, mark derosa, matt garza, mike fontenot, robinson chirinos, welington castillo
With the late-July trading season approaching, the usual rule applies that you trade older, more expensive players at positions where you have a surplus. While I hope they make a few deals, this team does not need to be “blown up,” as some fans are saying. The Cubs won’t make the postseason, and the team [...]
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Posted 01 July 2010
† Phil
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Piniella § prospect § soriano § trade
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Tagged: alfonso soriano, andrew cashner, brett jackson, carlos silva, d.j. lemahieu, derrek lee, geovany soto, jim hendry, jody davis, joe carter, joe girardi, lou piniella, marlon byrd, micah hoffpauir, rafael palmeiro, rebel ridling, robinson chirinos, sean marshall, shawon dunston, starlin castro, ted lilly, tyler colvin, welington castillo
Lou Piniella says his pitching coach won’t let him keep fewer than twelve pitchers on the 25-man active roster. That leaves thirteen position players, of whom ten, I would say, have already made the team. The ten includes two catchers (Soto, Hill), four infielders (Lee, Fontenot, Theriot, Ramirez) and four outfielders (Soriano, Byrd, Fukudome, Nady). [...]
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Posted 19 March 2010
† Phil
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Piniella § prospect
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Tagged: andres blanco, brad snyder, chad tracy, chris robinson, jeff baker, jim adduci, kevin millar, mark derosa, mike fontenot, robinson chirinos, tyler colvin