Tag Archives: jeff samardzija

Two new starters for 2012

The Cub organization has been ready with three young outfielders, Colvin, Campana and Jackson, over the past two seasons, although Campana is still waiting for a position to open up and Jackson needs a roster spot and a position. The high minors were generous in providing the Cubs with two solid middle infielders, Castro in [...]

2011 roster

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 [...]

November prospect watch

Several Cubs have been performing well in the just-completed Arizona Fall League season and also in winter ball in Mexico and Venezuela. On the hitting side, I would single out Brad Snyder, Robinson Chirinos, Starlin Castro, Josh Vitters, Matt Camp and Andres Blanco. player team g ab r h 2b 3b hr rbi bb so [...]

A team to watch

Many Cub fans saw the report recently that their team was 27th in organizational talent rankings according to Baseball America. Observant fans know, however, that there was a lot of healthy ferment last season in the Cubs’ lower minors, and that the high-A Daytona team, for example, won the Florida State League championship with outstanding [...]

Rothschild pro and con

He dials a mean telephone in the dugout. Other than that, I know of one positive result of Larry Rothschild’s tenure as Cubs’ pitching coach, but it’s a big one. IF YOU GIVE HIM A RIGHT-HANDED PITCHER WITH A GREAT FASTBALL, HE’LL TEACH HIM A KILLER BREAKING BALL. He’s done this again recently with Bob [...]