JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 5-27-13

In Minor Leagues by myles47 Comments

Programming Note

Due to external factors, we will no longer be doing weekend JOTs. I will recap the weekends on Monday (or Tuesday, since Monday was a holiday). I'll be taking the M-F beat, and dmick89 is now minor league wonk-emeritus. Think of me as like New Pope, and dmick as Pope Classic. I'm sure that'll help.

The Weekend That Was

Iowa was 3-0 on Saturday and Sunday. No one player stood out, though Logan Watkins did have a pair of walks and a home run.

Tennessee was 1-1. Eric Jokisch got the win, Alberto Cabrera the loss. Alcantara had a home run on Saturday.

Kane County was 2-1. Albert Almora continues to be ridiculous. 

Daytona was 1-1. Nothing of note occured.

Promotions

Brian Schlitter was promoted to Iowa. He had a filthy ERA (0.83) in AA, a good FIP (2.97), and no strikeouts (13.3%). 

Marcus Hatley was also promoted to Iowa. He walked quite a few batters in AA (18.0%), but also struck out his fair share and stranded a large number of them. 

Hunter Cervenka, of the Marlon Byrd trade, will take Schlitter/Hatley's place in the bullpen of Tennessee. Cervenka has struggled with free passes his whole career.

Oklahoma City Redhawks 4 @ Iowa Cubs 3

This team is really, really depressing. Logan Watkins put the ball in play all 4 times he stepped up the plate; all 4 were outs. Brian Bogusevic had a double and two walks. Brett Jackson: Reloaded went 1-4. No other player worth mentioning did anything.

Guillermo Moscoso had his second consecutive dicey start. He allowed 4 runs (3 earned) in 5 innings of work, off of 8 baserunners. He struck out 8 (good!), but he faced 22 batters in 5 innings (bad!). Hisanori Takahashi and Brian Schlitter both pitched 2 scoreless innings.

Huntsville Stars 6 @ Tennessee Smokies 8

Matt Szczur had 2 walks and a hit. His line is .289/.354/.380 on the year. That's not going to cut it; he needs to show some more power. Ronald Torreyes had a 2 run jack in the 8th inning and another hit. He had 3 RBI. Arismendy Alcantara drew a walk and had a single. His line is up to .271/.340/.448 and he has an OPS over 1.2 in his last 10 games. He also stole his 15th base of the year. Rubi Silva had an RBI double. Ty Wright went 2-4 with a double also. Christian Villanueva had a single and a walk.

Matt Loosen has had a really bad year, stats-wise. He went 6 innings and allowed 4 runs, including 3 HR. He was still in line for the win (leaving the game up 5-4), but Hunter Cervenka gave 2 runs back in the 7th. Tony Zych pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th for his first win of the season.

Beloit Snappers 4 @ Kane County Cougars 8

The only thing that was important about this game was Albert Almora's injury. He's apparently going to be fine (he was limping at first, then was walking normally later). I'd expect he gets a day or two off. He went 0-1; that bum now carries a .519 average. Pin-Chieh Chen went 1-4 with a walk and a strikeout. Dan Vogelbach went deep and had 2 other hits; his line stands at .292/.356/.438 on the year. All 6 of this HR this year have come against righties; he has no power against left-handers. Jeimer Candelario had a double and a walk, always good to see. For some reason, his OPS in day games is .851, but in night games it's .595. Marco Hernandez and Gioskar Amaya both had a hit; Amaya also had a walk and stolen base. 

Michael Heesch had a quality start. He surrendered 3 runs over 6 innings, only walking 1. He only struck out 4, though. Steve Perakslis picked up the win in relief, going 3 innings and allowing only a single unearned run (on his own pickoff error). He allowed only 2 baserunners.

VSL Mariners 3 @ VSL Cubs 4

Brohiglyn Rivero got his ERA down to a more manageable 121.50 with his 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB performance. Jesus Castillo went 6 innings and allowed 1 hit and 1 walk. He struck out 6. 

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Comments

  9. GBTS

    I threw out the first pitch at the I-Cubs game on Saturday night. Made it to the plate, though it was a bit high. My girlfriend did as well, we both used to work for the team in college and our old boss signed us up. Not only was she nervous as hell, but our boss jokingly had her introduced as a member of the Softball Hall of Fame from her hometwon, which didn’t help. (dying laughing)

    We left after like 5 innings because it was fucking miserable outside. Brooks Raley looked not awful, albeit he was facing a lineup that literally isn’t good enough to play for the Astros.

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  27. sitrick2

    I know the answer to this is no, but I feel like hearing the arguments why would make me smarter if anyone wants to offer them:

    You’re suddenly the GM. An incredibly unlikely situation arises in that Mozeliak has just called and offered you Oscar Tavaras for Castro, straight up. What do you say?

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  30. sitrick2

    Berselius wrote:

    @ sitrick2:
    Where do I sign?

    You don’t value cost certainty, youth, and a successful major league track record with a high ceiling over huge upside but with no MLB experience and the potential that no extension gets worked out and you end up paying a fortune in arbitration contracts?

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  31. dmick89

    @ sitrick2:
    Honestly, how high is Castro’s ceiling? I don’t know the answer, but I know that berselius and I have long thought it is much lower than the average fan thinks it is. For the most part, Castro is the same player that walked into the league in 2010.

    You’d lose some certainty, but Castro’s value can be replaced. It’s not like this is a guy providing 5 WAR or anything. Maybe he becomes that guy, but I’m more convinced than I was 2-3 years ago that he won’t. His on-base skills haven’t improved and are maybe even worse than when he came into the league. He strikes out a bit more. He swings at no fewer pitches out the zone. His ISO is the exact same as in 2010 though it was slightly higher the previous 2 years.

    Castro is valuable. I’m not saying he isn’t. Any team would be happy to have him, but for Oscar Tavaras, yeah, trade him. It would take more than Castro, but that’s not what you were asking.

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  32. sitrick2

    Yeah, I mostly just find the value comparison between a known-quantity major league contributor with upside vs a guy with significantly greater superstar/bust potential interesting.

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  34. WaLi

    So why is the game yesterday going to start over instead of being resumed? I don’t know the rules that decides that.

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  36. Rice Cube

    @ WaLi:
    Rules 4.10 and 4.12 seem to cover that though there are some umpire/team discretions. Basically if they can’t get to five full innings (with the Cubs as the away team still ahead and the Sox haven’t yet tied the game) then the game is wiped out and they get a do-over.

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  37. Berselius

    @ dmick89:

    mb pretty much made all my points for me (dying laughing). Though now that I look at Taveras’s stats I’m a little less interested. The Cubs badly need guys who can get on base on the roster, and it looks like he’s as much a free swinger as Castro (but with more power).

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  38. josh

    @ WaLi:

    If a game is rained out before play begins, it is rescheduled for a later date. If a game is called after play begins but before 4 1/2 innings have been completed (if the home team is ahead) or five innings have been completed (if the visitors are ahead or the game is tied), the game is not an official game. The umpire declares “No Game,” the game is played in its entirety at a later date, and statistics compiled during the game are not counted. Games that are stopped after they become official games count in the standings (unless the game is tied, in which case it is replayed from the beginning), and statistics compiled during the game are counted.

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  40. WaLi

    @ Rice Cube:
    So if the Cubs were ahead and the game was more than 5 innings then there wouldn’t be a do-over or a resumption of play or if the game. If the game was more than 5 innings and the game was tied there would be a resumption of play?

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  42. Rice Cube

    @ WaLi:
    Yeah, if they had completed five full the Cubs would’ve gotten the rain-shortened victory. Since they were only in the third, everyone gets a mulligan. Sucks for Beef Castle and Edwin, though.

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  45. josh

    @ WaLi:
    Although there are cases where they suspend play and pick up where they left off. My guess would be that has to do with the popularity of that particular game (if they think they can make money off it) or maybe just the feasibility of finishing within a day or so.

    I wonder how much of that is the umpires’ call and how much is MLB/the owners’

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  47. WaLi

    @ josh:
    That was more my question. I know about the 5 inning rule for a “complete game” but I was more wondering when they would supend and resume a game.

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