Yesterday Joe Maddon talked a bit about what the Cubs might do if they beat the Pirates on October 7th. Jon Lester would start Game 1 against the Cardinals and then what? Jason Hammel and Kyle Hendricks haven't exactly pitched great down the stretch. The Cubs have had a couple bullpen games recently due to double-headers that have turned out …
Cubs 9, Pirates 6 (9/17/15)
OSS: Jung-ho Kang and Francisco Cervelli feel the wrath of Cubs. Three Up 1. Anthony Rizzo hit his 30th home run of the season to put the Cubs up 5-4. He tacked on a double and a walk and seems to be perhaps be emerging from his slump. Hopefully he is red hot for the next series. 2. Kris Bryant …
Where We Stand Now
Following last night’s 6-0 loss to the Indians, the Cubs are a solid 34-28, but are 8 games behind the Cardinals who have hacked their way to baseball’s best 43-21 record. The Pirates are in 2nd place and after winning 6 in a row are a couple of games ahead of the Cubs. The Cubs remain 5th in the NL, …
A Closer Look At Kyle Hendricks’s Debut
Kyle Hendricks was the “other” prospect in the Ryan Dempster trade behind Christian Villanueva. Ostensibly part of Theo’s “get an arm in every trade” mantra, scouts didn’t think that highly of him, but he showed good control in the minor leagues. Hendricks made his major league debut last Thursday for the Cubs. After a rough first-inning, he settled down and …
Journeymen of Tomorrow: The Story So Far (AAA and AA)
It’s been awhile since we’ve touched on the minor leagues this season. dmick has been busy. Seeing as I held the post of “minor league wonk” fairly recently, I thought I’d give a short synopsis of each team so far. Iowa Arismendy Alcantara has not been so great this year. His walk rate is down precipitously, so even though he …
Cubs Minor League Recap: 4-16-14
Guy insulted me once, I pissed in his gas tank, car never drove straight again. Iowa Cubs Alright, Matt Szczur was 0-4. I’m tired of writing of that so unless otherwise noted, Matt Szczur was 0-4. Arismendy Alcantara said he was tired of not hitting and hit. He was 3-5 with a double and triple. He scored twice, drove in …
Minor League Recap 4-10-14
Three of the Cubs four minor league games got underway this afternoon while Daytona played tonight. Iowa Cubs Matt Szczur was 2-4 with a strikeout and run scored. Arismendy Alcantara doubled and had 2 hits in 4 plate appearances. Javier Baez isn’t getting a lot of hits, but he hit his 2nd home run of the season and was 1-4 …
Minor League Recap 4-5-14
Iowa Cubs It was a long night for the Iowa Cubs as they were beaten 11-1. Matt Szczur was 1-3 with a walk, run scored and a strikeout. Arismendy Alcantara was also 1-3 with a double. He also had an error. Javier Baez was 0-2 with 2 strikeouts and was thrown out of the game arguing the check swing strikeout. …
OV Daily Facepalm
BA Review of Cubs international signings Ben Badler put up a recap of the Cubs international signings over at BA ($). Most of it is just a collection of scouting stuff we saw back at signing time, but still a good read since I don't remember any of it. Most of what seems new to me is where the signings are …
Better Know a Cub: Jason Hammel
After the Cubs missed on Masahiro "We think he's a No. 3 Starter – Cashman" Tanaka, the Cubs went to a fall back plan. They signed Jason Hammel to a 1-year, $6 million dollar deal. Hammel, who has been good at times and bad most others, is a classic pump-and-dump candidate a la Feldman/Baker/numerous others. Do you remember the Scott Hairston …