Superfriends, amalgamate!
The Superfriends added a new member to the Hall of Justice this week, poaching Padres scouting director Jaron Madison for the same position with the Cubs. Fomer scouting director and draft boss Tim Wilken is being promoted to a special assistant to the GM, and the Cubs are working out a contract extension.
Adolfo: Starlin Castro needs to concentrate more on the game
Following a long batting slump. a lousy day with the glove, and a horrific TOOTBLAN thrown in for good measure, Dale Sveum was not happy with Starlin. Soriano had a little chat with him too, as he told Doug Padilla of ESPN Chicago
“It can be hard (to be so young), but we play baseball because we love baseball and that’s what we do for a living; that’s our career,” Soriano said. “We have to prepare 100 percent. Like I said to him yesterday, it’s not only catch the ball and throw the ball and hit the ball. This game is more mental. You have to prepare mentally and physically too. Not just physical. You have to prepare yourself mentally and all those little errors mentally cannot happen in this game.”
“He’ll be fine, but like I said, he needed motivation,” Soriano said. “He has to concentrate more on the game because it’s only a 3-3½ hour game. After that you can do whatever you want. You have plenty of time.”
Cue comments from meatballs on WGN about Soriano laziness, etc. etc. Soriano is well regarded as a clubhouse guy and the team sends young players in his direction for a reason.
Jorge Soler has a nice debut with Peoria
Soler hit a grand slam in his first pitch in the midwest league, silencing anyone who though the Cubs might have been a little too aggressive in promoting him two levels.
Thanks to RC for linking the video. Soler also drew a walk in the game.
The Chiefs are still in Beloit today and tomorrow, so it's just a relatively short drive for you Chicagoland folks. Also you can drink Spotted Cow there. And buy a case or two. And send it to me. Just sayin'.
Lendy Castillo returns from his long bout with David Patton disease
Castillo was pretty awful in his rare appearances with the Cubs in April and July, but in his three month rehab from a mild groin strain he only allowed two runs across seven "starts" (total of 20 IP) at various levels in the minors. Maybe he'll be a decent reliever for the Cubs down the road.
Did Dan Vogelbach homer last night?
No. Trade him for a bag of balls, then flip that bag for Ricky Nolasco's glove.
Is there a Cubs game today?
Johnny Cueto faces Brooks Raley in what is probably the biggest SP mismatch of the season. I can't wait to see the Cubs knock around Cueto while Raley throws right strikeout innings in honor of Ryan O'Malley.
Race to the Top Update
The Astros have won two games in a row against the Brewers, while the Cubs have a two game streak going and have lost 10 of their last 11. They're still 7.5 games out of the top pick. The Cubs are currently in line for the third pick, 2.5 games behind Colorado for the second and 5.5 ahead of the Padres for the third.
I will try to post details of Wednesdays OVCON on Monday, or Tuesday at the latest. The official program is shaping up good. PM me for info.
Glad to see Soler looked a little better in Beloit. He went 1-3 with a single (/double on the throw home) and miss played a couple balls in the field on Friday night in Burlington. I snapped a vid of his only hit. Dude is a big fella in person.
http://t.co/PtkM3q46
U-S-A! U-S-A!
I find Soriano’s criticism to be both insightful (Castro probably isn’t making many friends on the team) and funny (Soriano giving anybody advice defensively is just hilarious).
@ mb21:
Just because Soriano is a poor defender doesn’t mean he can’t give good advice on how to work on becoming a better defender. He’s clearly improved as an OF since his been here, especially this year. Unfortunately for him, “clear improvement” means going from Adam Dunn-level fielding FAILs to Ryan Braun-level shitty routes and never breaking correctly on the ball. (dying laughing)
That said, I agree that his comments on Castro are spot-on. What I don’t understand is why Sveum is always willing to take shots as Castro with the writers when he doesn’t do that with any other player, or at least not as regularly. LaHair has been frightful in the OF when he’s played there, and there hasn’t been a peep from Sveum about it. Although I suppose a lot it probably has to do with the fact that the Cubs have a lot riding on Castro, while LaHair is honing his OF skills for a career as a Ham Fighter.
LaHair is a poor defensive 1st basemen so you’d expect him to be a poor defensive outfielder. I don’t watch the Cubs much these days, but I haven’t read anyone saying he’s out there not paying attention.
I don’t think Soriano has gotten better defensively. I think he’s performed better this year, but you need more than one year defensively to know whether or not he’s improved. I think it’s more likely he’s the same bad defensive outfielder he’s been.
The reason I think it’s funny he’s criticizing Castro’s defense is because it would be like Koyie Hill criticizing someone’s offense. I’m glad he said it. It’s true (about Castro), but it’s still funny.
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/12661/cubs-to-increase-vitters-playing-time-soon
The Cubs are planning to ramp up Vitters’ playing time at some point.
The home plate umpire today is “Kulpa”. So if he fucks up, is that a “Mea Kulpa”?
Casey Coleman left the game last night, holding his arm. They’re saying “shoulder soreness” right now.
Cy Raley today (dying laughing)
Nice call on the bunt there, Dale.
Is ESPN fucking with me, or does BJax really have the only hit for other team? The fuck?
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Well, it WAS the pitcher, though I’m not sure if he participated in Buntfest…
@ akabari:
Yeah, it was actually a pretty good AB and a clean grounder through the hole on the right side.
Great stuff here: http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2012/8/9/3231615/fsh-2012-draft-behind-the-scenes
Aroldis Chapman is unfair. Also the third day in a row he’s been used so I wonder what that does to the arm of a guy who throws that hard.
the cubs could help themselves out over the next few days against the Astros.
I don’t know if anyone’s seen this yet, but this is cool:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/delorean-hovercraft-appears-mccovey-cove-giants-game-video-192818867–mlb.html
@ mb21:
Unfortunately the Rockies didn’t win today or else the Cubs could have gained a gain on #2. At least the Giants stayed ahead of the Dodgers though for the division lead.
Looks like the Nats are still planning on shutting down Strasburg in the next couple of weeks.
@ GBTS:
Hilarious. Good thing they positioned themselves to continue succeeding without him with those key trades they made.
@ josh:
@ GBTS:
Here’s an interesting stat that was in SI (july 30 issue on Dylan Bundy):
From 1981-2000 there were 102 high school pitchers selected in the first round of the draft…
20 career wins is a pretty low bar, but anyway. These include guys who threw more than 150 were guys like Maddux, Al Leiter, Tom Glavine, etc.
SI quotes folks suggesting that the breakdowns of Wood and Prior made everyone limit innings. Since 2002 the only HS 1st rounder with more than 150 innings in year 1 was…..drum roll…..Chris Volstad. ((dying laughing))
mb21 wrote:
/better analogy
Here’s an interesting thing I learned about shifty bank practices today.
We’ve paid extra on the principle of our home mortgage, so my mortgage hit the loan to value ratio that is required to drop LPMI (some mortgage insurance). This insurance would automatically be dropped from my mortgage and monthly payment in 2014, but because we paid early, if we want it to drop now, we have to pay for a new appraisal on the house. Of course, if the value of the house drops, then we no longer qualify.
The auto-drop date is determined based on the date that the loan to value ratio would hit 78% paying the regular payment, without paying additional principle, not based on actual loan to value.
new shit