You’re the Iowa Cubs. You’re in Albuquerque in game eight of a nine-game road trip, trying to make it home still clinging to a slight edge over the fast-closing Memphis Redbirds (Cardinals), who will meet you in Des Moines this weekend for a season-ending, division-clinching four-game set. Two of your starting pitchers, Coleman and Diamond, [...]
Like many fans, I have enjoyed the work of some (not all) Cub rookies this year, and look forward to September, when the Cubs will have nothing to lose by filling the dugout and also the daily lineup card with fresh faces. The top prospects may be otherwise engaged, however. Double-A Tennessee is a sure [...]
The Cubs went into 2010 with quite a few shortstop prospects vying for four minor-league spots. Hak-Ju Lee was the frontrunner at Peoria, ahead of Logan Watkins. At Daytona, Junior Lake held a slight edge over LeMahieu. Castro started the season at Tennessee, with Flaherty forced over to second or third. Barney was the incumbent [...]
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 [...]
¶
Posted 01 July 2010
† Phil
§
Hendry § Piniella § soriano § trade
‡
°
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
This is a new prospect-rating system, adapted from my recent player-value ratings that yielded dollar values for major leaguers. In that system, an offensive player earned points for total bases, walks and stolen bases. Why those particular numbers? Because, as I explained at the time,
They are the means by which a player gets around [...]
Welcome to another season of ranking pitching prospects according to the Marmol Index, where we subtract hits per nine innings from strikeouts per nine innings. Here is what I wrote recently in justification of this unusual metric:
It’s easy to defend the Marmol index. These are the strikeout pitchers. The best scouting report, after all, is [...]
¶
Posted 08 May 2010
† Phil
§
‡
°
Tony Campana is center fielder and leadoff hitter for the Tennessee Smokies in the Southern League. As we approach the end of April, Campana sports the highest batting average (.403) on the winningest team (15-3) in the minor leagues. That he is starting his second full professional season in double A means that the organization [...]
The Cubs would score runs in more innings, and thus do better in low-scoring games, if they had hitters who were better adapted to the top of the order. Obviously, Byrd is not a leadoff hitter, nor does Baker belong anywhere other than six through eight. Can either of them bunt, or hit [...]
¶
Posted 20 April 2010
† Phil
§
Running
‡
°
Tagged: bobby scales, brad snyder, brandon guyer, brett jackson, hak-ju lee, james adduci, jose valdez, josh vitters, kyler burke, logan watkins, matt camp, starlin castro, tony campana
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). [...]
¶
Posted 19 March 2010
† Phil
§
Hendry § Piniella
‡
°
Tagged: andres blanco, brad snyder, chad tracy, chris robinson, jeff baker, jim adduci, kevin millar, mark derosa, mike fontenot, robinson chirinos, tyler colvin
I fancy myself a bit of a scout–a scout of the armchair, box-score persuasion, one who never set eyes on any of the players mentioned in this post unless they happened to be on WGN on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon in March.
The results of my scouting are tabulated, weekly during the season, in the [...]
¶
Posted 12 March 2010
† Phil
§
‡
°
Tagged: alex maestri, alfonso soriano, andrew cashner, aramis ramirez, blake parker, brad snyder, brandon guyer, brett jackson, carlos marmol, chris archer, chris carpenter, chris huseby, david cales, derrek lee, dexter fowler, dustin sasser, geovany soto, greg reinhard, hak-ju lee, james adduci, jay jackson, jeff beliveau, jeff stevens, jeffry antigua, john gaub, jose valdez, josh vitters, juan pierre, koyie hill, kyler burke, logan watkins, manolin de leon, marlon byrd, matt camp, micah hoffpauir, michael bourn, nyger morgan, ryan buchter, sam fuld, starlin castro, tony campana, tyler colvin, willie taveras, xavier nady