JOT: Cubs Minor League Recap 6-19-13

In Minor Leagues by myles24 Comments

Nashville Sounds 5 @ Iowa Cubs 4 (7 innings)

Logan Watkins! Double triples and a single single. 7 bases in one game is fine with me. Donnie Murphy had a single and a walk, with 2 RBI. Junior Lake had a walk, a strikeout, and an RBI. Brett Jackson had a walk and no strikeout. Brooks Raley had a double and his average is .333.

Brooks Raley is bad at pitching. His ERA sits at 5.40 with a 6 IP, 5 ER performance. He and Rusin are both fine to leave the 40 whenever they want. Michael Bowden pitched a scoreless 7th, but it was in vain.

Nashville Sounds 0 @ Iowa Cubs 1 (7 innings)

Logan Watkins! He played shortstop and went 2-3 with a strikeout. He also scored the game's only run. Brian Bogusevic, Steve Clevenger, and Brad Nelson each had a single, but Clevenger and Nelson also had a walk. That was all of the baserunners. 

Barret Loux was awesome. He pitched 5 innings and allowed a single walk and a single hit. He struck out 5 and allowed no runs. Hisanori Takahashi vultured the win in the 6th, and Brian Schlitter had his 4th save.

Tennessee Smokies 7 @ Chattanooga Choo-Choos 2 

Everyone in the starting 9, including Alberto Cabrera, had a hit. Justin Bour and Christian Villanueva both went deep, and Rafael Lopez had a pair of doubles. Ronald Torreyes, Matt Szczur, and Cabrera each had a single double. The Smokies walked only once and struck out 11 times, but scored 7 times anyway.

Alberto Cabrera went 6 and allowed 1. He'll be promoted to AAA any day now. Zach Rosscup allowed a run in one inning, and Kevin Rhoderick and Hunter Cervenka each pitched a scoreless frame to seal the deal.

Daytona Cubs 4 @ Clearwater Threshers 3

Javier Baez loves to toy with our hearts. Baez took a walk and went 0-3 with no strikeouts. He also, of course, had another error. 28 on the year. He has more errors than walks (17) or doubles (17) and is rapidly approaching his minor league career HR total (30).  John Andreoli had the Cubs' only non-HR extra base hit, a double. Ben Carhart went 3-3 with a HR. Pin-Chieh Chen also had a pair of hits. 

P.J. Francescon had a pretty strong outing, fanning 4 and walking none over 6 innings. A HR contributed to his 3 ER. Luis Liria pitched 2 scoreless, and Eduardo Figueroa pitched the last frame for the save.

Javier Baez has now played in 162 games (if you include the Solar Sox), an entire MLB season. This is his minor league line:

.277/.331/.529, 34 HR, 112 RBI, 109 R, 34 2B, 34 BB, 151 SO

This is a line a little better than Ian Desmond and a little worse than Jean Segura, FWIW.

Chicago Cubs 1 @ St. Louis Cardinals 4

This was straight domination. The Cubs couldn't solve Westbrook or the bullpen. Only hits were from Luis Valbuena and Anthony Rizzo. Nate Schierholtz did draw a walk, though. 

Edwin Jackson pitched 5.1 innings and allowed 4 runs. He had as many strikeouts as home runs allowed, 1. That's not a recipe for success. Carlos Villanueva pitched 0.2 scoreless innings but allowed his inherited runner to score. Shawn Camp and Blake Parker each pitched a scoreless frame.

It might be time to talk about Blake Parker. First, this: 

http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=453284#gameType='R'&sectionType=career&statType=2&season=2013&level='ALL'

Look at that pitchface.

Secondly, he's been quietly great in the pen at Iowa for 2 years now. Developmentally, he's at the end of the line as a 28-year old. I'd send Rondon to the DL with whatever Lendy Castillo had last year and keep Parker in the pen when the time comes, because you need to either see if Parker is worth keeping (and over his injury) or if you should send him on his way.

Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 1 @ Boise Hawks 5

5 hits, 5 runs. Looks easy. No one had more than one hit, and the only doubles were Jose Dore and David Bote. 3 different walks helped, too.

James Pugliese went 5 strong, allowing a single solo home run and 2 other hits. He struck out 4. Corbin Hoffner allowed a single walk in 3 innings, and Michael Hamann didn't allow anything at all.

DSL Cubs 3 @ DSL Yankees1

Juan Carlos Paniagua sighting! He started and went 3 innings. He allowed a single hit, no walks, and struck out 3. 

VSL Phillies 6 @ VSL Cubs 7

Humberto Garcia stole his 12th base of the year.

Midwest League All-Star Game

This was two days ago, my bad. Dan Vogelbach was 2-2 with a walk, single, and double. Rock Shoulders pinch-hit for him and struck out and flied out. Bijan Rademacher was 0-2 as well.

 

 

 

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  3. dmick89

    The other day in the comments I asked if Castro would get to -1 WAR before he got to replacement level. He’s now at -1.0 fWAR.

    Will he get to -1.5 before replacement level?

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  7. josh

    I’m taking a guess based on the text. I don’t actually watch or listen to the games anymore.

    My interest in baseball hasn’t been this low since the summer of 1997 when I had no access to tv or internet for the entire summer.

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  11. Suburban kid

    josh wrote:

    I would check the standings in the newspaper on the weekend.
    See, newspapers were this…..
    nevermind.

    Nope. You violated pretty much every site rule I have. Don’t do this again. Ever.

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  12. Ryno

    Just for fun, I decided to look at Alvin’s open letter as an editor. All bits and hyperbole aside, I wanted to see exactly how much bullshit was in there.

    Alvin’s original was 2,185 words, and I cut it to 275 without losing any of the context.

    What’s funny is that the article was supposed to be an open letter to Epstein. The only thing directed at Epstein was a plea to build a winning team right now. He graciously told Epstein — who obviously would never have been able to concoct such a plan — that they key was to release a reliever and acquire mid-level talent.

    The rest of it was a shot at the people who think building a strong farm system is the best plan for the team.

    Just to sum up: Alvin needed 2,185 words to say the Cubs lost to the Mets, let us know that prospects are unlikely to meet expectations and tell Epstein to bring in mediocre players in order to win a World Series before he dies.

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  14. Author
    Myles

    Ryno wrote:

    Just for fun, I decided to look at Alvin’s open letter as an editor. All bits and hyperbole aside, I wanted to see exactly how much bullshit was in there.
    Alvin’s original was 2,185 words, and I cut it to 275 without losing any of the context.
    What’s funny is that the article was supposed to be an open letter to Epstein. The only thing directed at Epstein was a plea to build a winning team right now. He graciously told Epstein — who obviously would never have been able to concoct such a plan — that they key was to release a reliever and acquire mid-level talent.
    The rest of it was a shot at the people who think building a strong farm system is the best plan for the team.
    Just to sum up: Alvin needed 2,185 words to say the Cubs lost to the Mets, prospects are unlikely to meet expectations and tell Epstein to bring in mediocre players in order to win a World Series before he dies.

    Where’s the revised article?

    I’m hesitant to write shit about Yellon because I’m not that funny

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  15. GBTS

    So Tebow signs with the Patriots and literally like one week later, one of their players murders someone. Some clubhouse leader.

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  17. Author
    Myles

    GBTS wrote:

    So Tebow signs with the Patriots and literally like one week later, one of their players murders someone. Some clubhouse leader.

    God obviously wanted Tebow to start at TE

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  18. Ryno

    @ Myles:

    My comical rewrite of Alvin’s article was yesterday.

    Here’s what I would have done if I were Alvin’s content editor:

    The Cubs were leading the Mets 3-0 Sunday afternoon, looking to win their fourth consecutive game and move to nine games under .500. I started to wonder what the Cubs’ management would do if this team somehow sneaked into contention.

    That thought was short lived, though, because the Cubs didn’t win Sunday and dropped to 11 games under .500. It appears that the Cubs will once again be sellers at the trading deadline, looking to move several key players like Scott Feldman and Matt Garza.

    This particular loss prompted me to vent two thoughts:

    1. Carlos Marmol needs to go. At some point, performances like his hurt the team and its future. Some have said a game like Sunday’s was “virtually meaningless,” but I think it is meaningful to sweep the Mets in New York for the first time in 22 years. That helps build a winning attitude and culture.

    2. While following prospects is interesting, it’s important to remember that they are statistically likely to fail. We should all be excited by Jorge Soler, Javier Baez, Kris Bryant and others, but I don’t think the Cubs should expect them to be the core of a World Series contender. At some point, the Cubs need to acquire a few mid-level players to fill holes and then put some of those prospects around them to grow.

    I know people who lived without seeing the Cubs in the World Series and I don’t want to be one of those people. I’ve followed this team for nearly 50 years and already experienced several disappointments at the hands of this team.

    I’m tired of disappointments.

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  19. Ryno

    Ryno wrote:

    Here’s what I would have done if I were Alvin’s content editor:

    All I did was cut out anything that wasn’t an actual point or relevant support of a point. That said, the numbered list was basically irrelevant to the article.

    Without adding any support, this is how I would have done Alvin’s article:

    When the Cubs blew a 3-0 lead to the Mets 3-0 Sunday afternoon, a small wave of sorrow swept over me as I realized the Cubs will likely was once again wear the “Seller” label in July.

    The loss dropped the Cubs to 11 games under .500, and it appears that the Cubs will once again be sellers at the trading deadline. They’ll try to entice a team to give up talented young players to acquire productive veterans like Scott Feldman and Matt Garza.

    My opinion is that we shouldn’t mortgage the future on unproven prospects. Keep the Feldmans and Garzas of the team, fill a few holes with mid-level talent and then allow the cream to rise to the crop of the farm system.

    I’ve followed this team for nearly 50 years. I know people who lived without seeing the Cubs in the World Series and I don’t want to be one of those people. I’ve already experienced several disappointments at the hands of this team.

    I’m tired of disappointments.

    That’s 171 words, down from 2,185. And it says the same fucking thing…without the tangents.

    If his point was that the Cubs should at least field a team that can sneak into the playoffs — where history has shown that anything can happen — he failed miserably. That’s actually a fair point

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  21. Ryno

    @ josh:

    I wish he would have given an example of some of those mid-range players who ARE guaranteed to produce.

    His plan to bring in a bunch of mediocre players still requires a few stars. Are they already on the team or in the minors?

    As the SBNation Cubs writer, he’s supposed to be a relative expert on the Cubs, but he’s SO. FUCKING. STUPID.

    I feel like I’m in the top 5-10 percent in baseball knowledge and I’m constantly learning from the Rangers SBNation site. How is Alvin H. Yellon the best they could do?

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