Per MICubs. Both Brett Jackson and Josh Vitters are in uniform in LA for todays game. Go nuts.
Cubs call up Jackson and Vitters
DylanJ was born in a secret military base on Baekdu Mountain. His coming was foretold by a rare double rainbow and marked the sight of a new star in the sky. After defeating Jaime Lannister in battle at the age of 15 in the 77th Hunger Games he became an internet expert at staring at minor league box scores. His thoughts on said box scores can been seen Mon-Fri at Obstructed View.
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198 Responses to “Cubs call up Jackson and Vitters”
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exciting stuff. You are looking at a young core thats all been called up. Now we see how many of them stick
I will wait until Yellon confirms, thank you.
@ GBTS:
It’s not a rumor, miCubs has a source
Muskat confirms that they are on their way, promises photographic evidence when they arrive
It’ll be funny when the beat writers refuse to acknowledge they got scooped on this by a guy with a Twitter feed and a blog.
@ Berselius:
They are crossing the Plains as we speak.
Cafardo tweeting that Vitters has died of dysentary.
@ GBTS:
Shit, I hope they don’t get dysentery.
@ GBTS:
Shut me right up (dying laughing)
@ GBTS:
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
World Series?
@ josh:
Already won it.
Jeff Baker ———> traded to Detroit
Baker ———–> DET
Even Kaplan got scooped. I guess they don’t tell Crane Kenney everything.
Cubs get 2 PBTNLs
This FO is awesome. They are fucking ironclad.
Campana ———–> where he belongs
Brett says 2 PTBNL is the return for Baker.
@ josh:
Well, they did promote the boys before the deadline so they are now eligible for postseason play…
@ Rice Cube:
It’s gonna happen
All gifs aside, my expectations for Vitters and Jackson this year are extremely low (dying laughing)
@ Berselius:
what the fuck is this from? it looks awesome.
Jackson batting second today
@ EnricoPallazzo:
NO LONGER DO THE DANCE OF JOY, NUMFAR
That’s the series creator, Joss Whedon dancing in the gif (dying laughing). IIRC it’s the only time he’s appeared on screen in any of his productions.
Gordo says Jackson starting in CF, hitting 2nd.
Line up
RF DeJesus
CF Jackson
1B Rizzo
LF Adolfo
SS Castro
C Beff Castle
3B Valbuena
2B Barney
P Germano
I guess Vitters must have gotten snakebite or something
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
@ Berselius:
Yes. I foresee a fuckshittonload of strikeouts ahead.
@ Berselius:
I love Cookie Monster gif.
Now that the Cubs have another OBP-y guy, glad to see Castro moving down in the order. I hate it when middle infielders hit second by default, numbers be damned
@ Rice Cube:
It is my very favorite nonfacepalm gif
@ Berselius:
Cholera.
Maybe just giving Valbuena one last chance against a not-so-good righty before they start Vitters every day.
Berselius wrote:
I have a strange urge to watch a Cubs game today. Don’t know why.
@ Rice Cube:
The timing of the Jeff Baker trade may also have messed with Vitters’ travel schedule.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
First time since Rizzo was called up I’ve had much of any interest in watching the Cubs. It’s too bad my interest will fade away by the top of the 2nd inning.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I hope that doesn’t mean he’s being platooned, because that’s what that quote looks like.
@ Rice Cube:
Gotta get Valbuena his at-bats, I guess.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
I think something else is in the works. This FO only lets the writers know what they want them to know. They wouldn’t call up a young hitter to platoon him.
What a fricking awesome ass day! Move Baker while he has value for not much, but something and calling up the young uns. Bacon! Bacon for everyone!
Zobrist taken out of the game, hugs and handshakes in the dugout.
Hoyer speaks:
But apparently not a chance to play full time.
@ mb21:
I’m not taking what Sveum said too seriously right now. Hoyer sounds like he wants Vitters to play.
vitters doesnt even have bad splits vs RHP
@ dylanj:
Yeah, like I said either something else is going on, or Sveum hasn’t been given his marching orders yet.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
He’s…real…
Why do you both think that? I’m pretty sure Sveum has been in on the discussions with these guys. He said Jackson will play 80-90% of the time. Sveum didn’t even say he was playing every day. I’m pretty sure Thoyer didn’t call them up without first telling Sveum what’s up. We know they talked about it several times and we know Sveum previous said you want them to play every day when you call them up, but now he’s not saying that. I see no reason to not believe what he said.
Obviously it will depend on how they perform. If Jackson or Vitters start out 8 for 11 they’re not getting a day off. If they start out 0-11 look for them to get a day off.
@ mb21:
I just don’t think THoyer would bring this kid up to platoon him. Smacks of spin to me.
Fixed
@ mb21:
I think this is it. Sveum can say what he wants, but this is the truth.
I don’t care if they play every day or not to be honest. I think it makes the most sense, but I figure this is something they know more about than I do. If they don’t think either are ready to play everyday at this level, it’s not the end of the world. Pretty sure both will be playing every day to start next year unless either of them just flat out sucks this year. They have a better understanding of their weaknesses than I do so I’d assume if Jackson is playing 80-90% of the time it’s because they want him to focus on things while not playing too. Same goes for Vitters.
I don’t have a problem with a team calling a player up and making him earn more playing time this time of year. I have a serious problem with calling up a top prospect to begin the season and then not playing him every day. It’s late enough in the season I figure getting to be on the MLB roster will be of more value to these guys than an extra month in AAA.
Jackson will wear #7, Vitters #5
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
He didn’t say platoon. He’ll play against some righties, but I also expect he’ll get some days off vs righties too. Jackson will get some days off vs lefties.
There hasn’t been any miscommunication between Thoyer and Sveum. They spent much of the most recent off day discussing this. They’re on the same page here.
I was only joking with my initial comment on the subject. I have no problems with what Sveum said. It’s almost certainly what the organization discussed and agreed upon. There’s only a month left in the minor league season so even if both were platooned it’s no big deal. They’d get just as much playing time over the next 2 months as they would in 1 month of AAA.
The bottom line is that how they play will dictate how much playing time they get. Play well and they play every day. Don’t play well and they won’t. If they pull this shit at the start of the season I’ll care because they could actually go play every day in the minor leagues, but at this point in the season it’s not at all uncommon. A far superior prospect in Mike Olt was basically called up to platoon at 1st and DH.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Those are good, old school numbers. I like.
/young SK
Sveum on the radio says that he’ll be playing him a little less than Brett and against most LHP’s, at least starting out. He also said he wants to evaluate his defense at third.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
I wonder if they won’t do a Braun and move him to LF if he can’t play third. Not sure how well his bat plays at NL corner OF, though.
Whenever I see “Germano,” I pronounce it in my head like Gob Bluth saying “Hermano.”
I wet my pants.
Jagbag streaming Cubs-Dogs just switched to CLE-DET. This angers up the blood.
Replay, plz.
Cubs Wildcard 2013.
Boo rizzo!
Wow, Brett’s first day, and the “Stats Sunday” is focusing on strikeouts?
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Seems appropriate enough
Fucking stream is still on DET-CLE. I can’t imagine being less interested in a baseball game and I was at a short-season A-ball blowout last night.
(dying laughing) @ Jon Lieber with the #5 all time K:BB ratio.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
You get what you pay for, MO
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
I was really looking forward to seeing how the Cubs would do against the LA Weimeranars
@ Berselius:
Odd that my employer doesn’t think so. They seem to expect full-time work while paying me .4 FTE.
Manly BB by BJax.
Good to see Jackson take a walk
Nice hustle to prevent a clean turn of the DP grounder there.
Rizzo swings at first pitch after a four-pitch walk?
TRADE HIM.
That might be the first time I’ve ever seen a pitcher go inside on Sori to get the K.
@ Steve Swisher:
Trade him for a bag of balls, and flip them for Ricky Nolasco’s batting gloves
@ Berselius:
Nolasco’s stirrups clearly have more value.
BTW, I met Brett Jackson a while back.* Homeboy has charisma to burn. Swagger, if you will — plus a staggeringly hot 6-foot-plus girlfriend. If he puts up decent numbers, I don’t doubt he’ll be the most popular player in Chicago. He has the zazzle that Castro and Rizzo don’t.
*I will cop to developing an instantaneous mancrush. It happens.
@ Steve Swisher:
I met him at the Cubs Con when he was in full Jayson Werth Caveman mode. He was a really cool guy.
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah, he seemed very cool. Good eye contact. Firm handshake. “I’m Brett Jackson,” he said. Icy blue eyes. Lithe, supple calves. Sculpted lats. Well-defined traps. Taut…
I’ve said too much.
@ Steve Swisher:
I won’t judge if you won’t.
We also both went to Cal so that was pretty sweet.
Not a good AB for Castro.
@ Rice Cube:
I’m going to stop there. Suffice to say I’m excited. I just hope he… blah blah blah strikeouts… blah blah…
Luis Valbuena is a poor man’s Juan Uribe.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
But Juan knows something you do not know.
Jackson’s stance starts out a bit like Rizzo’s. With his SO numbers at Iowa I imagined he would look more like Happy Gilmore.
*applause*
Well done, Brett Jackson.
Pretty swing from Jackson there.
@ Eric:
Yeah, their stances are remarkably similar. Different approach to the ball, though. Jackson really closes down his front shoulder, while Rizzo squares to the plate and strides towards the ball.
Bad bounce off the bottom of the wall there. No chance to get the guy at the plate regardless.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I don’t remember the similarities in spring. I know Rizzo adjusted his hands down over the past year. If Vitters looks the same we know we can either lynch or applaud Iowa’s hitting coach, depending on the results.
Jackson flubbed that one.
Just watched his first 3 PA. Jackson has a good eye. Every time I’ve seen him play (last couple springs, game this year on tv) he’s had that great eye.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Good plate coverage too.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I only saw 3 PA today (dying laughing) but I heard Len say there was concern with his defense and for good reason too. It seems he’s not playing every day at least in part because of that. I agree with you. Not sure he has the bat to play a corner OF spot. It’s not like the guy is Ryan Braun at the plate and he doesn’t have anywhere near Braun’s speed to cover the outfield.
Beef Castle —> orbit
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Yeah, not a coincidence.
@ Eric:
Vitters, IIRC, has more typical plate mechanics. Slightly open, short stride, clean, compact swing, flat through the hitting zone.
@ mb21:
Yeah, he looks like a professional hitter up there, for sure. Knows what he’s doing.
Don’t watch enough these days…what’s up with Castro?
@ mb21:
Yeah, but they won’t find out how good or bad a defender he is while he’s sitting on the bench. We know what Valbuena is. Might as well let Vitters play, because benching Valbuena doesn’t hurt you, at all. I’m not even sure Valbuena is that much better a defender, given what I’ve seen from him. I have no idea what his rep is as a defender at 3B, though.
Scherzer now has over 11 strikeouts per 9.
@ mb21:
Getting himself out on a lot of pitchers pitches. Needs to be more selective. Power and patience have seen slight upticks, though.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I think it’s more about them knowing Vitters isn’t very good and wanting to work with him on the side. That’s my guess anyway.
I guess 80 pitches was Germano’s limit for today.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
That’s nice to see, but his BB% is still awful and the K% is higher than previous years. He’s been bitten by a low BABIP the last two months, which has hurt his performance, but he’s sucked for a couple months at the plate. Overall he’s still having a fine season, which is more important than what I just said, but it seems something isn’t right. I do like him hitting lower in the order like berselius mentioned.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
I like watching him pitch. You never know what will happen next.
@ mb21:
His numbers have been bad lately. I’m not convinced there’s anything wrong with him.
That was pretty shit that Jackson’s first career at bat was a foul ball that the umps didn’t see.
Also, Rizzo, WTF with the first inning TOOTBLAN? If you were Milton Bradley and this was in Chicago, you’d be dead fucking meat.
Also, Len said Vitters will start tomorrow.
Finally, Jackson’s stance was kind of Babe Ruth like with the low hands near the body. I think that’s what it reminded me of.
@ Rice Cube:
Or maybe Sveum didn’t feel like having Germano face Kemp a third time.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Yeah, he’s having a weird year.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
You’d know. I haven’t been watching much so I’ll take your word for it.
@ Suburban kid:
You were in your mid 40s when you saw Ruth, right?
@ mb21:
I think it’s about pitch selection. He needs to learn that just because he can hit a pitch, doesn’t mean he should hit that pitch.
@ mb21:
I’d give my left man boob to have seen him in person, but alas, it was only on the newsreels between the main features that I got to see that swing.
Damn that slider is nasty.
@ Suburban kid:
If you’d been willing to part with your right manboob you could have seen him.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
That Ethier at-bat was good all around.
Here comes the meltdown.
Yuni ———-> DFA
Rany and Poz must be ecstatic
Cubs lose.
Is Sullivan full of shit here or are the Dodgers really going to be all pissy at the Cubs front office for them “breaching ethics” by letting Dempster listen in on discussions? http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0805-main-cubs-dodgers-chicago–20120805,0,7051047.story
@ Rice Cube:
The meltdown started in 1909. They’ve just been at rock bottom for a really long time.
It seems silly to me the Dodgers would be mad at the Cubs over something so silly even if they shouldn’t have done it and Sullivan provided nothing to back up his argument.
At least 48 pitches this inning. (dying laughing)
@ mb21:
I didn’t know players weren’t allowed to listen to their impending trades…
@ mb21:
I think Sullivan is full of shit. He has no sources, thus the reason for none being cited. He’s the only one with this “story” and Morosi and Rosenthal both seem to have good sources in the LAD org.
The dodgers might get pissy because they didn’t get what they wanted (dempster for nothing special since it was a rental and they could pay the salary ). But I don’t this is a first by any stretch.
@ Rice Cube:
I don’t think it’s that they can’t listen; it’s more that teams expect some sort of privacy. That’s reasonable. I didn’t think about it at the time, but I could understand the Dodgers being a little upset over it, but pissy enough to not do any trades with the Cubs over it? That just sounds ridiculous.
With six authors there should be a Brady bunch meme.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
It seems liie nothing but speculation to me so I agree. full of shit. About like always. (dying laughing)
@ mb21:
Disparaging things are no doubt said about players in these calls. Maybe the Dodgers are embarrassed about some things they said, knowing now that Dempster heard them, but I doubt it’s a big deal. Sullivan, as usual, is just manufacturing conflict, whole cloth. The Scott Templeton of sportswriting.
Vitters ———–> BUST
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Agreed. As I said, I could see them being a little frustrated, but it’s absurd to think they’re that pissy about it. They may not appreciate what the Cubs did and might think less of them, but it’s not going to stop them from making trades. No way.
@ mb21:
Exactly. Sullivan doing Sullivan things.
If they were all that upset about it, wouldn’t they have said something? Wouldn’t we hear about this from someone else who knows what the fuck they’re talking about?
@ mb21:
And as much as the Dodgers are pissed, I bet a lot more players are looking at THoyer with respect for letting a vet who had by that point thoroughly frustrated and pissed off the FO sit on those talks. That’s a big gesture by THoyer and I bet it hasn’t gone unnoticed by veteran players.
Jackson has shown he can hit lefties in the minors so let’s see how he looks here.
Looks pretty good in that AB
That was a nice hit by Brett Jackson.
Jackson has a really, really nice swing. Picturesque.
That slide made me (dying laughing)
Well played, Soriano. Nice slide, BJax (dying laughing) (dying laughing)
Brett Jackson’s slide is the polar opposite of his swing.
Good news:
Lincecum allowed 1 run in 6 innings.
Bad news:
He walked 5 and struck out 3.
http://www.milb.com/milb/fans/moniker_madness/y2012/index.jsp
@ Rizzo the Rat:
I really don’t know what to make of him at this point. Reminds me a bit of Zambrano when he began to decline.
LaHair alert.
Brett Jackson up with two on, two out. No fear.
BJax just got his first big league K.
Welcome to a MLB sinker, Brett.
Fangraphs doesn’t have live stats on Jackson. The site probably doesn’t realize he was called up yet.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
OV has live stats for Brett Jackson: .500/.600/.500, 2 H, 4 AB, 5 PA, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 !B, 0 2B, 0 3B, 0 SB, 0 CS, 0 PO, 20.0% BB%, 20.0% K%, .000 ISO
It’s a new feature at OV.
@ mb21:
I’m worried about his ISO. What happened to his power?
@ Rizzo the Rat:
BUST
I mean, I was expecting a drop when he came to the big leagues, but losing over .200 in ISO?
@ Rizzo the Rat:
The same thing that happened to his speed. Hasn’t even attempted a stolen base yet.
Rizzo!
Rizzo has enough ISO for everyone.
(dying laughing) Marmol is up and ready to come in to blow it.
Brett Jackson is tied for last all-time in XBH. Bust.
@ GBTS:
He has as many as you and I.
@ mb21:
And fewer than Matt Garza.
(dying laughing)
Just saw B-Jax’s “slide.”
Damn Castro…wow.
That was fun (dying laughing)
Welcome to the Cubs, guys. (dying laughing)
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
I see Shawn Camp continues to MVP it up.
@ Rizzo the Rat:
Boooooo…
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I’m guessing this is on a scale of pi to 8.2, or something
/scouting “stats”
Thought I’d try a WaLi style avatar
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Ok, what does a 5-6 runner mean? I have to say, I respect Goldstein’s knowledge, but jeebus does the guy take himself seriously or what? Or maybe it’s just that I don’t like sports guys who aren’t funny.
Steve Swisher wrote:
It’s above average.
Scouting scale:
2-8
5 is average. If you have a 6 it is a ‘plus’ tool. Plus-plus is 7 and elite is 8.
Going down is basically the opposite haha. Speed actually has a specific measure:
Left side Rating Right side
3.9 80 4.0
4.0 70 4.1
4.1 60 4.2
4.2 50 4.3
4.3 40 4.4
4.4 30 4.5
4.5 20 4.6
And they also use a 60 yard time to measure it as well. I don’t have those exacts on me though.
Mobile bastard won’t log me in
Oh wait
WE LANDED ON THE MOON
@ Gbts46:
USA! USA!
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