Practice Game recap
Travis Wood probably punched his ticket to Iowa yesterday, giving up six runs while only recording one out. Bullpen/tenth starter hopeful Casey Coleman also had a rough day, giving up four runs in less than two innings. The only particularly positive result of the day was that Randy Wells had three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and getting six grounders. He didn't strike anyone out, but it's certainly going to help his cause for the rotation.
Today's practice game(s)
A Cubs split squad takes on the Diamondbacks today at 3 ET, if you can pry yourself away from March Madness for that long. Pat and Zonk have the call. Here's the lineup
RF Johnson
CF Byrd
SS Castro
LF Soriano
1B Baker
C Soto
2B Barney
3B Vitters
P Dempster
The other split squad heads to play the Rockies, also at 3 CT. This game only has Rockies coverage. Lineup for this game
RF DeJesus
2B DeWitt
3B Cardenas
1B LaHair
CF Mather
LF Jackson
C Castillo
SS Lake
P Lopez
Paul Maholm and Andy Sonnanstine draw the short straw
They're starting split squad games this weekend in Arizona while the rest of the squad heads to Vegas.
Brett Jackson to start season in AAA
Not that much of a surprise. He's "blocked" by players who are being paid more than him, but probably aren't better players than him at this point. I think he'll be up by June once the Cubs can guarantee the extra year of service time.
Cubs to change minor league affiliate?
Brett from Bleacher Nation finds confirmation of a info heard a while ago about the Cubs A-ball team moving from Peoria to South Bend. Brett also mentions that it might be tough for them to move out of Peoria for political reasons (shaking down Illinois/Chicago for stadium $) but I don't think it would be a huge deal. Besides, doing a favor for the oh so sainted Golden Domers sycophants certainly wouldn't hurt in the Chicagoland area. Just put Jeff Samardzija out in front of the move.
March Madness starts today!
Brackets lock at the tipoff of the first game, which should be in half an hour or so. Give your Final Four in the comments, if you want to. I have Kentucky, Ohio State, Marquette, Kansas
Comments
Royals ————> still stupid
They just signed the most exciting player in baseball to a 4-year extension worth $10 million. Can you imagine how exciting Escobar would be if he was any good?
mb21Quote Reply
I got UK, Kansas, Mizzou, and Ohio State.
jtsunamiQuote Reply
(dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
I took the number 1s to the final 4. I can never knock those teams off. Had a hard time picking between Missouri and MSU, but that was about it.
mb21Quote Reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ok7SpbRhbA
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
(dying laughing) what a creep
WaLiQuote Reply
@ Aisle424:
It would be hilarious if some Cubs player who also Twitters finds that recorder, tells Sully to fuck off, then puts it in the clubhouse bathroom while someone takes a loud dump.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
I took Kentucky, Missouri, Florida State and Kansas. I don’t recall the last time all four #1 seeds made it to the Final Four.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Someone needs to tell Kim to tell David to tell his teammates
to search their lockers and do thispurple monkey dishwasherWaLiQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Didn’t this just happen?
WaLiQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
I don’t know. That’s why I said I don’t recall (dying laughing)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Actually only happened once since having 64 teams. 2008. Kansas, Memphis, UCLA, UNC
I don’t really pay attention to basketball but I only remember that because I was in Kansas City for work watching Memphis lose to Kansas. I was rooting for Memphis since they shared a conference with my school (UCF) which didn’t please the locals at all.
WaLiQuote Reply
@ WaLi:
That was a good one. I thought Memphis was going to win and then Derrick Rose and friends missed what seemed like 20 straight free throws. That was extremely annoying.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Jonathan Broxton is one fat bastard…
That’s Everett Teaford and Tim Collins in Broxton’s pants.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
mb21 wrote:
Don’t get excited.
It’s always anti-climactic whenever your access bandwidth goes up.
I know this is a super mega Google thing, but still.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I’m not sure it’s ever happened, but I have a hard enough time picking upsets. I picked a couple, but that was about it. If they played the tournament a million times Mish or I would win. (dying laughing)
mb21Quote Reply
@ Suburban kid:
I’m not going to have an orgasm or anything, but rather than this page taking 1.5 seconds to load it will take .5 seconds. That will save me a lot of time. I’ll finally be able to eat dinner.
mb21Quote Reply
SK, what’s your download speed where you are? I know the US is well behind many other countries. We have 24 Mbps right now so downloading isn’t an issue at all. I’m just looking forward to testing it out. I’m sure after a few seconds the excitement will be gone.
mb21Quote Reply
@ mb21:
I always try to pick at least one 12-5 upset and one 11-6 upset, as well as a random 9-8 upset. Most of the time I pick the favorites until the Elite 8 or so.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
I used to do that. I remember taking 13s over 4s because it happened several times and then when it didn’t I just looked stupid. Now that I don’t pay much attention to basketball I just do it more rationally. I know there will be upset, but I have no idea which ones.
mb21Quote Reply
Haha yeah I didn’t care enough to figure out which upsets to pick, so I did favorites all the way through on all my brackets. I’m basically giving my money away, so I’m not going to give my time, too. (dying laughing)
MishQuote Reply
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/15/the-fraud-who-promised-to-lead-the-dodgers-to-a-world-series-title/
This is both funny and sad. I’m glad the Dodgers contingent didn’t get totally suckered.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/03/15/superhero-math-posters/
MishQuote Reply
More roster cuts
Cabrera, Beliveau, Gaub, Vitters ———> AAA
Lake, Szczur ——-> AA
Jaramillo ——–>minors
Did Jaramillo even play at all this spring?
BerseliusQuote Reply
(dying laughing)
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Colorado State has failed me.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
I think he had some kind of injury so never got into a game.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Davidson is failing me. I’m not to worried now though. The second the brackets lock I start rooting for every single upset rather than obsessing over my bracket.
BerseliusQuote Reply
This was really cool of the Rays.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/15/joe-maddon-and-70-other-rays-shave-their-heads-for-charity/
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Szczur to AA is an aggressive promotion, he was struggling in A+ to close out last year.
BerseliusQuote Reply
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/feb/28/joe-ayoob-paper-airplane-world-record
GWQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
I think promotions are by in large aggressive to start out with. As more players get cut, there is a chain reaction downwards.
GWQuote Reply
@ GW:
Sad that his career didn’t work out. But still a pretty sweet throw.
joshQuote Reply
Here’s my final four: Baylor, Ohio State, UNC, Missouri.
I was in East Lansing when the Cubs low-A team was the Lugnutz and folks there really got into it. Corey Patterson was on that team. It was their first year and the Cubs put some talent there to help jump start them. Prior to that, I lived in Kalamazoo and watched a lot of games in South Bend when they were the Silver Sox, I think a Royals team, then later with the White Sox. Mike Machsudian (sp?) was the only player I remember from those days. Don’t think he made the Bigs. South Bend those days was a pretty good stadium to watch a game in, and had my favorite mid-game promotion of all time:
For the lucky fan in seat … you have won a 40 lb bag of water softener salt from (some hardware store).
Extra good when some 12-yr-old won it.
Side note to SK or Josh, who commented about this a few weeks ago:
I have satellite radio and its the single best purchase I’ve made in the last 8 years. It would be even better if I could have gotten XM instead of Sirius, because XM has more baseball. But the ability to get the other sports, news, music, etc that I want, when I want it, without having to listen the trash on local radio, which doesn’t reflect my musical or talk tastes at all, is totally worth the $25/mo I pay for it.
And that’s my brain dump for today. Go Buckeyes.
SkipVBQuote Reply
http://www.theonion.com/articles/peyton-manning-in-talks-with-dolphins-about-whethe,27644/
*snicker*
Rice CubeQuote Reply
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/15/little-leaguers-have-to-return-money-to-a-strip-club/
BerseliusQuote Reply
What the hell, Jayson Werth?
joshQuote Reply
Aisle424Quote Reply
The Peoria Chief’s stadium is for sale…not that it means they are leaving.
srbutch5Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
Why? Why do you post this stuff? I can’t unsee that.
joshQuote Reply
Berselius wrote:
did you read the comments?
“I hope they give it to them one dollar bill at a time too. At least that’s how I’d do it anyway.”
that’s fucking excellent.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
@ Aisle424:
would really like to zoom out a bit so i could see the state on that license plate… my money’s on south carolina.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
Syracuse sucks.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ EnricoPallazzo:
Steering wheel is on the left, so I don’t think it’s a foreign car.
GBTSQuote Reply
EnricoPallazzo wrote:
MishQuote Reply
FanGraphs explores a meme on ACB/OV that I recently enjoyed…
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/jeremy-hellickson-and-re-defining-babip/
Rice CubeQuote Reply
ZOMFG UNC-Asheville
/bracket bust alert
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
It’s only the first half. A 16 has never ever ever never beat a 1. I don’t think it will happen today (but I hope it will)
WaLiQuote Reply
If Syracuse loses, will Harry turn off the internet in anger?
GBTSQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
That’s a good article. I actually have been thinking of BABIP as primarily luck. That clarified the stat for me.
joshQuote Reply
Wait, is there some college basketball on?
MishQuote Reply
kenpom had that game around 90-10 syracuse, and that was without consideration of the melo suspension.
GWQuote Reply
@ Mish:
Correct.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ SkipVB:
I don’t think it was me, but I pay $25 for the entire season for MLB audio and use Rhapsody ($15/month) and Pandora (free) for music. I guess I’m paying about $2 less than you, but I do like the freedom of choosing basically anything I want to listen to while still getting some new stuff.
joshQuote Reply
@ Mish:
That’s a big ole “meh” from me.
joshQuote Reply
I have no idea why Asheville got the ball with one second left. I understand the argument there was no shot, but there was still clearly a foul before the shot clock expired. Wouldn’t it be a non-shooting foul?
GBTSQuote Reply
@ josh:
I don’t care much for college sports, outside of the Illini and prospecting players who may make the professional leagues. I just like the drinking that goes along with it.
MishQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
The only thing I can think of is that the ref blew the whistle late, after the shot clock violation, and therefore there technically “was” no “foul.”
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
i don’t have tru; watching the alford/monson bigten washouts battle
GWQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
If a player hacks another, but there’s no ref whistle around to signal it, is it still a foul? Where’s MO when you need him?
GBTSQuote Reply
GBTS wrote:
dunno. you could try posting some more racist bumper stickers
GWQuote Reply
@ GW:
First year that they’re charging right? I usually have a
Row of laptops with all sorts of
Sports on for March Madness. I made all my plans this year,
Dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Do they watch in the European Union,
EU for short?
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
such poetry.
GWQuote Reply
Hank White just homered off Dempster.
Back to basketball.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Dempster had given up 3 total. Sort of a slow bleed, but that tends to be the MO with Dempster.
joshQuote Reply
I think Rodrigo Lopez just got stung by a comebacker but I was watching basketball instead of paying attention. He’s still in the game though.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
It’s slowly slipping away from UNCA.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
Well they do kind of suck.
GBTSQuote Reply
Rice Cube wrote:
It was fun while it lasted
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
The upset was so good that they had to cut it short.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
GBTS wrote:
mb21Quote Reply
Dempster didn’t have such a good outing today. 8 hits in 3+ innings. Only 3 runs allowed so it could have been a lot worse.
mb21Quote Reply
mb21 wrote:
GBTSQuote Reply
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/southern-miss-band-chants-where-green-card-puerto-205326741.html;_ylt=AlR0anoCrqYSmypmKYVmbAA7Ysp_;_ylu=X3oDMTFkbm9pazN0BG1pdANCbG9ncyBJbmRleARwb3MDMTEEc2VjA01lZGlhQmxvZ0luZGV4VGVtcA–;_ylg=X3oDMTFvcGs0cnBnBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANibG9nBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3
What the fucking fuck.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
He left it in the second round, he’ll go get it Saturday.
GBTSQuote Reply
Holy Shit, this refereeing is absolutely shameful
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
I’m for peaceful, restrained disapproval and all that, but I think the fans should burn that arena to the ground.
GBTSQuote Reply
Kind of wish the UNCA players just gave the finger to the refs and jogged to the locker room once the buzzer sounded.
BerseliusQuote Reply
MishQuote Reply
(dying laughing)
GWQuote Reply
Rice Cube wrote:
Mississippians being Mississippians.
Aisle424Quote Reply
GBTSQuote Reply
@ Aisle424:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBiAtwQZnHs
ACTQuote Reply
GBTSQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
Got Kansas (#2), Marquette (#3), Kentucky (#1) and Wisconsin (#4) as my final four.
Long Beach State, hang in there, c’mon….
PezcoreQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
What ended up happening with that? I had forgotten about it.
mb21Quote Reply
Barney ———–> Strained left side in BP
BerseliusQuote Reply
New shit http://obstructedview.net/chicago-cubs/projecting-the-2012-cubs-matt-garza.html
BerseliusQuote Reply
Junior Lake > Colorado minor league pitching
Rice CubeQuote Reply
I may have been totally off-base with picking West Virginia over Gonzaga.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
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Cletus FidskyQuote Reply