Ok, this will be the first in 8 or so installments until I lose interest in providing updates on the farm system. Basically the plan is to give you the high and lowlights from the lands down under.
Iowa
Mr. Rizzo continues to tear up the PCL with 2 home runs both of which whipped up the Iowa announcers to Judd Sirot levels of shouting. I fully expect Rizzo to tear up a hitters league again but the big question will be can he keep his hitting mechanics stable and work on shortening his swing a bit. So the numbers won't really tell us when he is ready vs when the organization thinks he has made these adjustments. Josh Vitters continues a decent start with a pair of hits and amazingly he has 2 walks in 14 ab's as well. Spring training leper Travis Wood did a good job striking out 6 batters in 6 IP and giving up 3 ER. Wood also added a monster HR of his own.
Tennessee
Its really hard to write anything about the barren wasteland that is our AA team so let me just say that Alberto Cabrera struck out 2 batters in 1.2 IP and the Smokies won 3-2.
Daytona
Zach Cates was the 2nd player received in the Cashner trade and there is some hope he could be a breakout pitcher. Sickels ranked him # 16 in our system and noted his peripheral stats are better than his ERA would suggest. Well last night there was little those secondary stats could do to hide just how awful Cates was. I had decided to neglect my lovely family last night so I could sit in my basement and listen to the Daytona game to get a feel for this new Cub and I was able to make it through the first inning before giving up. His velocity was down, his fastball was anywhere from 88-91 with no control and his slider was not sliding. He seems to have a decent 77 mph changeup with good movement but that's little consolation for having an ERA of 54. On the other hand with those kind of numbers you could argue Cates is ready for a setup role with the big league club. Outside of that clown shoes performance last night marked the triumphant return of AJ MORRIS– K-State grad and RP prospect who the Cubs got in the Gorzo trade. Morris was out last year recovering for TJ and pitched 1 inning with 2 unearned runs scoring and struck out a batter.
Peoria
After the Cates debacle I decided to continue to ignore my 2 year old who only wanted to play dinosaurs and focus on what matters most- following Peoria Chiefs prospect Ben Wells as he made his 2012 debut. Wells is another cross your fingers and hope to Allah they breakout SP prospect. He is ranked # 17 by Sickels and has a good sinking fastball that gets a ton of groundouts. Wells also has the size you would want out of a SP and is only 19. Last night the sinker was working as he was able to induce many grounders but the defense behind him was pretty shitty. Although his line wasn't that great there were more than a few hits that could have been outs with more competent play behind him. I tweeted the Peoria announcers to get a report on the velocity but was told that the gun was not on last night.. Oneri Fleita was in attendance and hopefully he enjoyed the two TOOTBLAN's that occurred in the 3 innings I was listening. It's the Cubs way people. In other news Kyle(r) Burke struck out 3 in IP as he continues his never ending journey to become a LOOGY for the Iowa Cubs.
That's all for now. Enjoy this wonderful piece of art that I created.
Comments
also, enjoy the lack of comma’s, grammatical form and just general typo’s that accompany all my fine work.
dylanjQuote Reply
Originality: B
Authenticity: A-
Suburban kidQuote Reply
DJ —> anti-Yellon
Death to commas.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
in case people missed it from yesterday AZ Phil had some updates on Concepcion & the other guys still in EXST http://www.thecubreporter.com/2012/04/09/late-dinger-difference-brewers-edge-cubs
dylanjQuote Reply
False.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Apparently the Marlins, not MLB suspended Guillen. It’ll be interesting to see how strong the pull of money is for MLB is here.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Ozzie should hire a substitute talker. Anytime somebody asks him a question, bring in the sub and let him answer the question. That guy just doesn’t give a shit and the media just waits for him to say something stupid and run with it.
MuckerQuote Reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHsinpmpZZA
GBTSQuote Reply
On the upside, since Guillen got suspended, I’m sure we’ll never hear from him again, right? RIGHT?
mikeakaleroyQuote Reply
We’re very happy to welcome DJ into the fold and have launched a new campaign to help announce his addition:
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Mucker:
It might be easy for the Marlins to just have one of their attorneys present whenever Ozzie has to do something non-baseball related.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
How did I never think to put Yellon in that original picture.
GBTSQuote Reply
@Aisle424: I’m new here, but who did berselius piss off to have to be Ringo?
mikeakaleroyQuote Reply
Ringo was in Caveman. People are always underrating Ringo
dylanjQuote Reply
Aisle424Quote Reply
Makes more sense I guess that the Marlins suspended Guillen. Obviously saying something good about Castro will ignite a cuban community especially when the quote is being used out of context.
WaLiQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I’m curious how the subject of Fidel Castro even came up. I could understand if Ozzie is from Cuba but he’s not. I know he’s now living and working in Miami, huge Cuban population, so I wonder if they ask all their celebrities what they think of Castro. Did they ask Lebron? Marino? Seems like Time set him up.
MuckerQuote Reply
mikeakaleroy wrote:
AC did that original image. Usually, there was no rhyme or reason as to who was assigned who, but maybe B pissed AC off somewhere along the line.
Aisle424Quote Reply
GBTS wrote:
It really was calling for it.
Aisle424Quote Reply
Aisle424Quote Reply
Man I feel bad for dj. First he has to ignore his familiy and follow minor league Cubs, and now he is portrayed as Al. Poor guy.
WaLiQuote Reply
Aisle424Quote Reply
MB, you are smoking hot.
MuckerQuote Reply
Aisle424Quote Reply
I love how Discredited Cubs Blog is now the official tagline/slogan.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Suburban kid wrote:
It’s our niche.
Aisle424Quote Reply
This blog has been discredited for quite sometime and I’m afraid I don’t know how it got to be. Could someone share some insight on how such an honor was bestowed on this blog?
MuckerQuote Reply
Mucker wrote:
OV was pre-discredited by virtue of bringing over two authors and two active commenters from ACB, which was the original discredited Cubs blog. I don’t know the full story about how ACB was originally shamed into discreditation because it was before my time over there. MB or B will have to shed some light on that.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
So it was discredited by default? That’s disappointing.
MuckerQuote Reply
Is there anyway to get that picture of Al in the banner? That would be epic.
MuckerQuote Reply
@ Mucker:
I’m not an expert in legal matters but I do hope that doing so won’t get OVBlog sued (dying laughing)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
You could probably sneak him in the outfield without raising a fuss.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I don’t see how. He’s at every home game, it’s not like he wasn’t there when that picture was taken anyways.
MuckerQuote Reply
AZ Phil said in the article above that Tennessee has a knuckleballer named Zeller. That’s nice.
jtsunamiQuote Reply
MB and I got ACB discredited via our support of Milton Bradley.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
And JefF7 is rediscrediting OV.
jtsunamiQuote Reply
Season Finale of Justified tonight.
dylanjQuote Reply
@ dylanj:
I know! Probably going to skip it though because of the Bulls and Cubs tonight.
MishQuote Reply
By the way, it should be noted that DJ does not actually resemble Al Yellon – as far as I know.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I was all right with Milton Bradley, but for his own sake, he probably should have stayed in Texas. I mean, his career tanked after that. Whatever specific cause you care to attribute that to, it sucks for him.
joshQuote Reply
you would rather watch the Cubs than Justified? Fuck the Heck brah
dylanjQuote Reply
Barry Rozner has decided, on the radio, to float the rumor “from people I know around the team” that “the team” doesn’t see Castro as a part of the team “in 3-4 years” because he’s “not their kind of guy.”
Responsible and accurate journalism FTW! SMFH
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
He’s been running aggressively! Jeez!
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
Rosner doesn’t have a source. He just doesn’t like Castro.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ josh:
Yeah on paper it was a good sign, but in retrospect, Chicago was probably the worst place for him to have come. The guy is a stone-cold asshole, though.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
He must be trying to get a job in Miami
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ dylanj:
It was more about the Bulls than the Cubs. But it looks like Rose might be out tonight, so that changes things.
MishQuote Reply
So what ever happened with Soler… Is he still not able to be signed or do we still have a handshake deal with him or did we say fuck it?
WaLiQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
Nobody knows. Maybe we should ask Nick Cafardo.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/jeff-samardzija-stats/
Fangraphs saying Samardzija is the real deal. I’m sure MO will love this. (dying laughing)
PFDQuote Reply
Re: Ozzie:
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/10/this-is-not-the-first-time-ozzie-guillen-voiced-his-admiration-for-castro/
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
He’s never been declared a free agent, as far as I’ve heard. The official line is that there was never any deal. They probably discussed it with the agent. Maybe not. Hell, last week they were talking that the Cubs were going to swap Marlon Byrd for John Lannan. Who knows what to believe anymore?
joshQuote Reply
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
Yeah, that’ll do it.
(dying laughing)
SkipVBQuote Reply
Its true that Theo hates young talented SS. how else can you explain trading Hanley?
dylanjQuote Reply
I think it’s also true that Barry Rozner = Mike Imrem
SkipVBQuote Reply
@ PFD:
I hope it’s true. He was fun to
watchlisten to on Sunday. I liked this part the best.WaLiQuote Reply
@ PFD:
Yeah, that “it’s not a small sample, it’s 70 IP” argument is just ironclad.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ PFD:
The pitch on TV that looked like his “slider” seemed more like a curveball or changeup, it barely had any horizontal movement and appeared to go straight up and down. There was one that he used to strike out Jayson Werth (swinging) that had a huge bite, but that was about it.
Brad’s heatmap suggests that my eyes weren’t lying as the sliders were all grouped around the 0 line.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
I hope so, too. The Cubs need cheap-ish good pitchers.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
MLB will support Guillen’s suspension. Selig:
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Bubbles is blacked out of Detroit/Rays game..
Bubbles lives in DC..
Bubbles=====> Confused
bubblesdachimpQuote Reply
The thing that gives me the most hope for F7 is the incredible amount of strikes he threw. That’s really been his biggest issue. And for at least one start, he showed what he can do when he can control all his pitches.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Even if he throws meatball in the zone they’re really fast meatballs with some movement so I hope that will prevent batting practice from becoming the norm. I think he was pounding the inside edge and jamming guys too.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
I didn’t read the bajillion posts in your game thread (don’t read every post blah blah) but while I was at the game I saw a few liners hit out to Soriano that I thought he was going to get, but then the ball just went past him and I was like “wut”. Did he misread them, or lose the ball in the night, or what?
Also, (dying laughing) @ the Soto “triple”…
Rice CubeQuote Reply
PFD wrote:
Love seeing the pfx data. The other stuff going back to last year (as a reliever) and including spring training tells me next to nothing. I’ve already had this argument with Brad though (dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
Rizzo walks.
Rizzo being Rizzo
bubblesdachimpQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Chris Bosio is on record saying they will throw inside early and often. Volstad was doing it too.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ bubblesdachimp:
Probably MLB is upset with John Dingell and John Conyers for being longer-termed members of the old geezer club than Bud Selig.
SkipVBQuote Reply
I don’t understand the conclusion that Rozner is reaching (not their kind of guy), but I can easily see trading Castro as being beneficial to the Cubs long-term plans. The question is, how quickly does this front office see this team contending? It’s hard to know, but based on this offseason it seems they’re looking at 5 years. That can obviously change at any time, but if they’re thinking 5 years or later, trading Castro makes a ton of sense. He’s their most valuable trade piece. He’d bring the Cubs a shitload of talent in return and improve their farm system. It might even be improved to the point where you could quite comfortably call it a top 10 farm system. If they got a really good deal in return maybe even top 5.
Paying Castro market value doesn’t do much for the Cubs, which is where they’d be at in 5 years.
I don’t see the Cubs trading him, but I can see the benefits of doing so. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Cubs traded him before next season, but I think it’s unlikely. If you can sign him long-term below market value go for it, but if not, trade him.
mb21Quote Reply
Vitters singles on second pitch
bubblesdachimpQuote Reply
@ mb21:
I dont think we should have those discussions to be honest till after this year…
I want to see if the power develops/defense gets better. I forget all the time this kid should probably be in AA
bubblesdachimpQuote Reply
Phillips ————–> 6//72.5 extension with CIN
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
It’s nothing more than people being optimistic and looking for any shred of evidence to support their optimism. I’d prefer they just say “I’m optimistic” and be done with it. Bad statistical analysis does nobody any good. I’m positive I could break down Barney’s stats in a way to make him look like a contributor if I really wanted to. You could probably do it for just about any player if you looked hard enough.
Random Joe: I’m optimistic that Jeff Samardzija has improved over his previous seasons. I think there may be something to the change we read about and maybe it makes sense to give him a shot to see if it’s true.
There.
mb21Quote Reply
mb21 wrote:
Oh, indeed.
I liked that Barney’s power transformation yesterday was enough to get the ball in the basket.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
I’m inclined to think the Reds deal with Philips was a good deal for them. If so, then it makes you wonder why Philips didn’t test the open market.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
Money guaranteed now is better than potentially earning more later on. I’m sure that’s part of it. It’s why so many young players sign below market contracts. There’s a lot of risk in going year to year.
mb21Quote Reply
@ mb21:
Good point. If last year had been his contract year, given how well he did, I bet he would have gone free agent. I just wonder if part of the driving force behind this spurt of long-term contracts is the players too. I’m curious why more players aren’t going to the open market and trying to capitalize on fear of the CBA.
joshQuote Reply
Don’t look now, but LaHair’s had a bright start, too.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Over at some other blog, Alvin asked a question I’m kinda puzzled about myself: Who the hell is Sean Kemp and why is he pitching for the Cubs?
What happened to the dozens of scrap heap pitchers that the Cubs took to ST like Lopez, Looper, Coleman, Corpas, Maine…?
DamageControlFreakQuote Reply
Vitters with another Single.. RBI too
bubblesdachimpQuote Reply
@ DamageControlFreak:
I might (dying laughing) if he actually called him “Sean Kemp”.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/campsh01.shtml
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ DamageControlFreak:
Shawn Kemp was a basketball player. Shawn Camp was signed but then released by the Mariners this offseason because he is too old. We thought he’d fit in. He’s projected to be replacement level and hasn’t been anything but in his career.
WaLiQuote Reply
Lopez is with the team, Looper is gone, Coleman, Corpas, and Maine are at AAA.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
GoT ————-> Renewed for 3rd season
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ josh:
The players have to be willing, but throwing a bunch of money in someone’s face to take now is of huge interest to just about any person. That’s especially true given how unreliable performance is at the MLB level. A bad season before free agency that’s nothing other than bad luck could cost someone like Phillips a lot of money. Teams have all the leverage here. If they’re willing to give the guy good money before free agency he’s going to take it. This will lead to fewer star free agents. It will also lead to better contracts for teams that develop talent better than others. Personally, I think developing talent at this point in MLB is nothing, but luck. I don’t think over a long enough period of time we’re going to see much of any difference between teams and the talent they develop.
The Cubs are in about the worst imaginable situation right now. They have little minor league talent that’s ready. They have little talent at the big league level. They have only one veteran worth anything on the trade market.
mb21Quote Reply
From my favorite TV blog:
Yes, please.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
I think we should refer to that trio as Colepasaine. (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
mb21 wrote:
But they have Transformation!
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Santorum======> Dropping out
Romney=======> White House
bubblesdachimpQuote Reply
DPLEETED
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Last Guillen link, one I generally agree with.
http://reason.com/blog/2012/04/10/baseball-morality-you-can-lie-to-the-tax
/political talk
MishQuote Reply
Can someone give me a coherent argument for why I should care if an athlete smokes weed?
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
mb21 wrote:
So, do you think they will win it all in our lifetime or will the cloest thing be the MLB the Show commercial (dying laughing)
WaLiQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
MORALITY. CHARACTER. [OTHER BULLSHIT WORDS].
joshQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Because Mrs. Lovejoy loves kids.
WaLiQuote Reply
@ josh:
Nice snark (dying laughing)
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ bubblesdachimp:
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
MishQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Probably has something to do with athletes being role models and public figures etc.
Personally I’d never want an athlete to be my child’s role model, but that’s pretty much it.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Vitters with another walk…
It would be nice if he started hitting for some power and kept up the on base skills
bubblesdachimpQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Looper? I think I missed something here
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
Braden Looper was a Cub for like a week. If I remember correctly, he asked for his release.
joshQuote Reply
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
He could get impaired, then get behind the wheel of a car and get busted by cops/injure someone. Then we could all pretend it never happened. Unless the police found steroids in the car.
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ josh:
This year? I thought that was 5 years ago (dying laughing)
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
He was signed to minor league deal and then asked for his release shortly after.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
It was last year.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Seems like it happens at least once a year.
joshQuote Reply
@ josh:
This year’s Looper was Andy Sonnanstine.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ bubblesdachimp:
Romney’s touring the White House? Neat.
GBTSQuote Reply
It could be worse:
White sox are leading off Gordon Beckham and then Alex Rios is next
bubblesdachimpQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
He can certainly afford to take the VIP tour.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ bubblesdachimp:
Because that’s so much worse than the DeJesus-Darwin Daily Double.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
(dying laughing) (dying laughing) (dying laughing)
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1139742-skip-bayless-video-watch-jalen-rose-call-out-espn-shock-jock-on-claims
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
It is worse. I dont know how much worse. But it is. I never liked DeJesus. One more person in the Sammy Sosa black hole
bubblesdachimpQuote Reply
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Matt-Groening-Reveals-the-Location-of-the-Real-Springfield.html?c=y&page=4
MishQuote Reply
@ bubblesdachimp:
Rios: .757 career OPS, .697 2012 OPS, 82 wRC+ so far
Beckham: .702 career, .497 2012, 46 wRC+ so far
DeJesus: .775 career, .452 2012, 13 wRC+ so far
Barney: .661 career, .886 2012, 144 wRC+ so far
The gap really isn’t that big, and as Barney and Rios regress to the mean, it’ll become almost non-existent.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Mish:
There was one episode (I forgot which one of the 500) where they sort of reveal where Springfield is but either Bart or Lisa’s head is in the way. Did the head also cover up Portland?
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Chicago Cubs ‏ @Cubs Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
#Cubs lineup vs. @Brewers 4/10: DeJesus RF, Barney 2B, Castro SS, Soriano LF, Stewart 3B, Baker 1B, Soto C, Byrd CF, Maholm P
bubblesdachimpQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
In the Behind the Laughter episode, the mention Kentucky or Tennessee as well. I read that article more to the fact that it’s based on Springfield, OR, but not that The Simpsons is necessarily set there.
MishQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Portland’s actually about an hour-and-a-half north of Springfield, but Springfield is immediately adjacent to Eugene.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I once did a Google maps search for all Springfields and Shelbyvilles and I think only three of them were even in the same state and only one set was within 200 miles of each other.
/cool story man
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Why are there two Springfields in Wisconsin? Is that allowed?
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
Does Obama charge more to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom than Clinton did?
SkipVBQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I think it’s safe to leave work now…
http://worldseriesdreaming.com/2012/04/10/a-totally-baseball-irrelevant-blog/
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Fairly certain that at some point the Tigers will lose a game. That day is not today.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Rice Cube wrote:
The Tigers must have had a pep talk from Syrio Forel at the end of Spring Training.
/Game of Thrones
BerseliusQuote Reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rna_MM3fsN0
Wait for it…
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I hope that guy was wearing brown pants.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Was that Ned Flanders?
MishQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I had a similar reaction the other day when I was at the pond looking for bugs and turned around to see a big male goose standing right behind me.
joshQuote Reply
josh wrote:
WaLiQuote Reply
josh wrote:
Good thing you’re doing entomology and not etymology.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Suburban kid wrote:
GBTSQuote Reply
I guess that doesn’t really make sense, but whatever.
GBTSQuote Reply
An interview I recently enjoyed
Recalcitrant Blogger NateQuote Reply
game thread up: http://obstructedview.net/games/brewers-at-cubs-game-thread-2.html
mb21Quote Reply