Tag Archives: starlin castro

Jaramillo, why . . . must we say goodbye?

A few months ago I wrote in these pages that there is a secret to hitting, and that Tyler Colvin, “lacking either the native intelligence or the proper coaching, has not been able to follow the clues that lead to that secret.” Rudy Jaramillo was Colvin’s only hitting instructor with the Cubs, just as he [...]

Top hitting prospects

Below is a table listing the eight top position prospects for the Cubs in 2012, along with a similar table from a year ago. The data in both tables is taken directly from the prospect tables in the right margin of this webpage, except that I have removed the rows for players who are too [...]

Rizzomania

People who point out that Jed Hoyer traded for Anthony Rizzo often fail to mention that it was Theo Epstein who dealt him. And sure, Jason McLeod drafted Rizzo, but that was only in the sixth round. In any case, all of that happened before Rizzo got 153 PAs in the majors in 2011. Apparently [...]

Taking names

If fans were expecting a shakeup after Tom Ricketts took over as chairman of the Cubs late in 2009, they had to wait until the third week of August 2011 to learn that general manager Jim Hendry had been terminated a month earlier. (Hendry was held over for a month to attend to unfinished business, [...]

Looking forward to 2012

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 [...]

Walk, don’t run

Looking at his numbers–a .310 BA and a .422 OBP–you would say that Fukudome was doing his job as a leadoff hitter. Never an admirer, even I will admit to being impressed at Fukudome’s ability to (a) coax balls out of pitchers who are not missing the strike zone to anyone else, and (b) somehow [...]

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 [...]

Is Lake’s star rising?

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 [...]

Trading season

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 [...]

Running prospects 2010

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 and run, [...]