Brett Jackson struck out 3 times which sucks, but he also walked and hit his 14th HR which is better. Vitters was 1-4 with a BB and all the pitchers sucked ass. The Iowa staff outside of Brooks Raley is really really bad.
Junior Lake was 2-5 with HR and is batting ,283. The Greg Of Rohan hit his 2nd AA HR as well & not to be outdone Bob Brenly Jr hit a towering shot to raise his OPS to .668. Eric Jokisch struck out 8 batters in 5 IP and lowered his season ERA to 2.89.
Matt Loosen continues his fine season striking out 8 last night in 6 IP while allowing a pair of runs. Loosen is old for the level so we can't get too excited yet but is striking out about a batter per which is nice to see. AJ Morris fanned 3 in 2 innings of relief. Szczur was 1-3 with a BB and stole his 34th base of the year.
Peoria
No Game
Dan Vogelbach was 2-4 in his Boise debut hitting a double off the wall. Harry P said Vogelbach has a very fast bat and a comically tiny lower body so there's that. The big story was Ian Dickson allowing on a single through 6 IP while striking out 4.
Jorge Soler hit his 2nd HR last night a line drive shot that Keith Law described as a no doubter off the bat. On the mound 2012 draft picks Ryan McNeil and Paul Blackburn both made appearances with McNeil giving up 2 hits, 1 ER a BB and striking out 2 and Blackburn working two scoreless innings while striking out 1. Law mentioned that Blackburn was sitting in the 89-91 range.
@ pinetar:
I would think it would be more like your wife telling you she needs to consider it and you scheduling a wedding without a committment.
But honestly, I have no clue how the Ryan Dempster situation compares to your scenerio at all. All I know is that my wife and I signed a long term deal with an ironclad no trade clause, so I will be locked in to my current deal for a very long time, with no performance bonuses.
Frank Wren interview being played on The Score. He characterized the trade as “highly unlikely” to proceed, saying that the Braves “had put certain parameters on the deal that expired yesterday” and the Braves have now been contacted by another team interested in a similar package. Looks like LA or nothing for Dempster.
@ Edwin:
Once again, Dempster does not have a contractual NTC. He has 10-5 rights, which allow him to veto any deal, thanks to Curt Flood.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Sorry for the misstatement, although I don’t know how that really changes the arguement either way. What are the differences between NTC and 10-5, other than that one is bargainded for (and presumably giving up salary to get it) and the other is earned over time? Is it relavent to how we should view Dempster’s decision?
If you’re referreing to my wife and I, she didn’t feel like waiting for 10-5 to kick in with our marriage, she wanted NTC right from the start.
What if the Braves leaked this on purpose to force the Cubs’ hand while intentionally or inadvertently torpedoing any leverage the Cubs had with other suitors?
they aren’t RC. Its simple, they now have less Dempster starts to get value out of so they aren’t going to give us the same return. It’s not a ploy its reality.
I have no clue to what went down on this Dempster fiasco it’s all speculation. However I find it very difficult to believe a list of places he’d accept had not been exchanged with the front office. It wastes the front offices time if that’s not the case. My feeling is Dempster got cold feet when the leak occurred and somewhat peeved from the tone of some of his comments regarding the issue. If I’m the front office he goes to the back burner and he can look for a pennant race over the winter.
Heard a comment on the local radio this morning about A-Rod. They were basically saying that he has the third best OPS among third basemen and so forth. The point seemed to be that, despite what you may be thinking, losing A-Rod is BAD for the Yankees. You know, if you actually are forced to look at the “numbers” he’s actually a “good player.” Pff.
@ pinetar:
@ dylanj:
I was talking about the initial leak earlier this week before Dempster was blindsided. If it were done properly they wouldn’t have talked about anything until Dempster either approved or denied the trade and then they could leak something then, but they didn’t. It could very well be that Demp had the Braves on his list and was willing to sit down and think about it, but various levels of the twitters and the butthurt sank the ship. That’s why I was wondering if the original leak was intentional to force the Cubs’ hand. The Braves pulling out of the deal now, I totally understand.
The parameters expiring yesterday lead me to believe the Braves aren’t willing to give up the same package for Dempster if they lose another start from him. Which makes perfect sense.
The biggest problem, and the biggest reason we all feel jerked around so much is that this shit all came out publicly. I’m sure this same exact stuff happens all the time, but nobody gets their panties in a bunch because what we don’t know doesn’t hurt us.
If we could erase the last 48 hours from our brains, we’d still be sitting here talking about how we doubt the Cubs get much more than the value of a comp pick for Dempster if at all. but now we’ve seen there WAS a possibility for more.
I don’t know Dempster’s reasoning, but I bet one of the reasons is that he didn’t get his top choice and there was almost a week left before the deadline to make that top choice happen, if possible. So he wasn’t just going to jump on the next flight to Atlanta if he thought there was still a chance he could go exchange dick jokes again with Ted in L.A. Like I said, he’s never made a secret of the fact he doesn’t actually want to leave.
DJ and Aisley have nailed it. Fewer starts means a lesser package. Dempster’s value can only go down now.
Seriously, who wants to go to Atlanta in the summer if they don’t have to?
Edwin wrote:
Dude, sorry to hear that. At least I got a kid!
(dying laughing)
@ Aisle424:
Man, fuck Atlanta!
Aisley might be right after all:
@ Aisle424:
Someone living in Houston.
Aisley I think if that’s Dempster’s gamble, he may end up getting stiffed. THoyer have shown that they won’t take lesser packages once they set a guy’s value. Dempster may regret this choice come August when he ‘s pitching for a last place team in a half-empty ballpark.
I don’t see how this is the end of the world either way. The backup plan was to make a qualifying offer and that’s still on the table. Demp had the leverage and he used it. Not much Thoyer can do there.
@ Rice Cube:
I’ll take my chances with a comp pick over Allen Webster.
@ Aisle424:
Who wants to pitch in a half-empty Wrigley for a last place team? (dying laughing)
@ josh:
Sure there is, Hoyer holds all the cards currently and will until he decides to pass them to Dempster.
@ Rice Cube:
No bromance for Dempilly.
@ SVB:
I gathered from last night’s comments that you guys weren’t too happy with Webster (dying laughing)
I am kind of intrigued by his abnormally low rate of home runs surrendered, though.
@ Mobile MO:
But Cubs fans are the greatest!
it’s not even the comp pick for me its the fact that our overall draft budget gets increased. That gives Theo more $ to make a offer on somebody he wants.
@ Mobile MO:
Yeah, but that’s his choice. He could also decide to take pennies on the dollar to stay in Chicago, like K-Wood did. He could retire and rest on his laurels.
Theo to Dempster: No trade to Atlanta? That’s fine. Here, have a little something to eat.
I’d like to thank Apple for releasing Mountain Lion today because I don’t think I could handle another all Dempster all the time day. I’m only disappointed they didn’t release it yesterday. (dying laughing)
@ pinetar:
Yeah, I meant with ATL. Hoyer couldn’t force Demp to take the deal. Regroup and move on.
@ mb21:
Like into Central Park or something?
I wonder if what happened is that Dempster finally reached that exclusive club of Cubs players who accumulate so much WAR that fans have no choice but to find reasons to hate them. See: Ramirez, Sosa, Zambrano.
Kerry Wood was smart enough to convert himself to a reliever and retire before he reached that point. I guess sometimes you either retire a hero, or accumulate enough WAR to see yourself become the villain.
I still think he gets dealt. And if I were Dempster, I’d be praying for that. The loss of a first round pick is going to kill any FA value that he has. And if, by chance, he puts up second half numbers similar to his first half of 2011, he may be forced to accept a qualifying offer.
@ Rice Cube:
To me, from the little bit of info at B-Ref, Webster is pretty meh, and I don’t like the looks of a 1.5 WHIP in AA. But I don’t know what kind of stuff he has, or anything else, just a stat line. And honestly, I don’t know if the #95 prospect is a B prospect or whatever, but I bet someone else here can fill us in. Maybe MB is working on that now.
But you could argue that a meh AA pitcher with a low HR/9 and OK K/9 is a better bet to make the bigs than a comp pick.
Could also be that I’m more disappointed with Webster because of what Pittsburgh gave Houston for Wandy Rodriguez, and in comparison, I think Dempster is better than Wandy and Webster is worse than any of the 3 guys Pittsburgh got. At least that was my first impression.
My issue isn’t that he did what he had every right to do. It’s that he went from saying publicly to the fans (because we’re the only people that get anything from his public statements) “I’m going to do what’s best for the Cubs.” To, “The Cubs will do what’s best for them and I”ll do what’s best for me.”
If he didn’t outright lie to the fanbase, nobody would (or at least should) be upset with him.
To the point of him wasting Thoyer’s time, I’d have to agree that almost has to be true. They even said, supposedly, they were going to wait for a Dempster deal before moving Matt Garza. Which means, I think, they must have thought he was going to accept a trade even if it wasn’t to LA. If that wasn’t the case he should have told them that right away. I mean it’s not like I hate him, but I’m pissy at him because of his public statements, the latter stuff is just speculation. The public statements are not. He lied.
@ GW:
That’s a good point, maybe announcing he won’t be dealt is an additional negotiating ploy.
I could give a fuck about what he said. My interest as a fan is in seeing the team get better. Dempster’s gotten in the way of that. I have no problem being pissed at him.
@ SVB:
I think Wandy had a contract up through 2013 with an option that kicked in automatically as well for 2014? That’s probably why they gave up more, not to mention that the Astros kicked in the money to make it worthwhile.
@ Doogolas:
meh, he was playing the part of fan favorite as is his wont. once he realized what that actually entailed (leaving at the drop of a hat), he essentially said fuck that…
@ Rice Cube:
That’s right. Wandy’s contract is more similar to Garza’s. But Pittsburgh gave Houston 3 prospects for Wandy and cash. I assume the Cubs will pay most of Dempster’s salary, so it seems they should get one prospect that was as good as one of those Pittsburgh gave Houston. Webster might have equalled the A-ball kid in the Wandy deal, but he doesn’t look as good as either of the other two, to me.
i’m in the minority- if we can get Webster plus a prospect or two I would do it.
@ mb21:
Are you working on optimizing OV for Mountain Lion now?
@ dylanj:
It sounded like the Dodgers knew they had some kind of leverage so they withheld Webster-plus. They have about a week to figure it out. In the meantime I’m hoping for a perfect game from Dempster today.
@ dylanj:
Hey Dylan, you spend more time with the minor league stuff than I do. What do see in Webster that looks good? Dunno if you are in the minority or not, it was just us 3 insomniacs discussing him last night.
If I were his agent, I would be on the phone with him right now, explain the possibility that he ends up getting screwed in this whole deal and begging him not to start today.
btw, Doog, I’m still trying to figure out what the hell this CAC is that you quoted yesterday.
I realize today is getaway day, but really, who screwed up the MLB schedule. Eight day games? What is this, 1936?
GW wrote:
This.
@ GW:
Maybe it’s a bluff. Still 30 minutes to call it LA!
Speaking of fire sales, Miami is reminding everyone that they’re old pros at that strategy. Anibal Sanchez and Hanley Ramirez out, the door, Josh Johnson probably to follow.
well im just scouting the stat line but his k/9 and bb/9 aren’t all that different from Delgado’s despite being nearly the same age at the various levels. Delgado has always been ranked higher so the scouts must like him better but Webster would be the best Cubs pitching prospect immediately.
@ Aisle424:
That seems likely, yeah.
@ Berselius:
sounds like the dodgers picked up the entire tab on hanley and sent over eovaldi, who is a highly regarded prospect.
@ Berselius:
That sculpture isn’t going to pay for itself!
@ josh:
Florida taxpayer money at work
@ Rice Cube:
I thought Florida didn’t pay taxes? \So confused
for 40 million plus they had better get Eovaldi
@ josh:
no state income tax != no tax
@ dylanj:
no, the dodgers are paying his entire salary
oh lord. (dying laughing).
@ GW:
So they recoup the lack of income tax in other ways!? I’m so disillusioned.
@ GW:
They still have to pay taxes in the other states where their games are played but yes they’d be exempt for a minimum of 81 games in Florida.
@ josh:
sales tax is how most states do it, which lets athletes come out ahead
(dying laughing) @ Heckler…
http://www.theheckler.com/2012/07/25/cubs-schedule-tommy-john-surgery-for-dempster-in-anticipation-of-todays-season-ending-injury/
shit: http://www.obstructedview.net/minor-leagues/becoming-more-optimistic-about-josh-vitters.html
dylanj wrote:
Ugh. Here I thought you just liked writing about Vitters, Jackson, Sczyrurur, Soler, and Vogelbach better.