Minor League Discussion & Boxes 4-8-10

[bubblesdachimp]

3 innings 8 K's' for Cashner

[Guest]

Someone had the audacity to pop out to short, so Cashner only has 8 K's thru 3.

[toonsterwu]

3 innings 8 K's' for Cashner

 

to be fair ... the last two were strikeout king Cody Johnson and Mike Minor. Still awesome, though, and 42 p through 3 innings looks awfully nice. Here's hoping I'm dead wrong on him and he's a studly starter.

[Guest]

Someone had the audacity to pop out to short, so Cashner only has 8 K's thru 3.

The perfect perfect game has been ruined.

[toonsterwu]

Looks like early season kinks/just a bad day for the Daytona hitters. None of the Brewers arms are top level guys, off the top of my head.

[wekim81]

Some good [expletive] outta ca$hner tonight so far.

[toonsterwu]

c'mon i-cubs ... looks like a great opportunity, 2nd and 1st, no out.

[TruffleShuffle]

10 k's in 4 ip for cashner :shock:

 

castro just tripled in a run; he also has a single and a SB as part of a double steal.

[TruffleShuffle]

cashner walked two (one seemed like he was squeezed pretty good) and then gave up a 3 run bomb.

[Guest]

BB - BB - HR to start the fifth for Cashner.

[TruffleShuffle]

all done for ca$h. 4.1 ip, 3 h, 3 r, 1 hr, 3 bb, 10 k. certainly not a boring outing.

 

i really hope he can sustain his stuff deep into games. sounds like everyone agrees he's got a big league arm, it's just a question whether he'll be a good reliever or good starter.

[davell]

Happy to see Cashner striking guys out obviously, but I'm really starting to see him as a setup guy by mid-season or so(as Tim said). Wonder why Rhee was piggybacking? I'm hoping that we are just conserving him early in the year. Struck pitched an inning tonight as well in Peoria, so maybe he's NOT even piggybacking, but just starting out in the pen? If so, I'm at least a tad disappointed, given the writeup we just saw on him.

 

In the grand scheme of things, seeing Mitch Atkins came out of the pen tonight doesn't bother me at all, but I was a little surprised anyway.....Hopefully Daytona gets their bats going tomorrow. Castro off to a good start at least for Tennessee. Nothing else really eye-popping on our first day, but damn, it's nice to have this back. I'm more excited about our system right now than I am the major league club.

[CubbieBum]

all done for ca$h. 4.1 ip, 3 h, 3 r, 1 hr, 3 bb, 10 k. certainly not a boring outing.

 

i really hope he can sustain his stuff deep into games. sounds like everyone agrees he's got a big league arm, it's just a question whether he'll be a good reliever or good starter.

 

He could definitely transition into a closer if he proves unable to throw the great stuff for more than 60 or so pitches.

[Guest]

If Dolis keeps this up, he'll be in Tennessee by May (even if Carpenter is off the DL by the end of April).

 

all done for ca$h. 4.1 ip, 3 h, 3 r, 1 hr, 3 bb, 10 k. certainly not a boring outing.

 

i really hope he can sustain his stuff deep into games. sounds like everyone agrees he's got a big league arm, it's just a question whether he'll be a good reliever or good starter.

 

He could definitely transition into a closer if he proves unable to throw the great stuff for more than 60 or so pitches.

 

He's already been able to throw great stuff up to 85 pitches.

[CubbieBum]

If Dolis keeps this up, he'll be in Tennessee by May (even if Carpenter is off the DL by the end of April).

 

all done for ca$h. 4.1 ip, 3 h, 3 r, 1 hr, 3 bb, 10 k. certainly not a boring outing.

 

i really hope he can sustain his stuff deep into games. sounds like everyone agrees he's got a big league arm, it's just a question whether he'll be a good reliever or good starter.

 

He could definitely transition into a closer if he proves unable to throw the great stuff for more than 60 or so pitches.

 

He's already been able to throw great stuff up to 85 pitches.

 

Consistently?

[Guest]

If Dolis keeps this up, he'll be in Tennessee by May (even if Carpenter is off the DL by the end of April).

 

all done for ca$h. 4.1 ip, 3 h, 3 r, 1 hr, 3 bb, 10 k. certainly not a boring outing.

 

i really hope he can sustain his stuff deep into games. sounds like everyone agrees he's got a big league arm, it's just a question whether he'll be a good reliever or good starter.

 

He could definitely transition into a closer if he proves unable to throw the great stuff for more than 60 or so pitches.

 

He's already been able to throw great stuff up to 85 pitches.

 

Consistently?

 

For the few starts he went over 80 pitches last season, yes.

[craig]

I don't think Rhee or Struck pitching relief means much this first week. If you aren't going to start until Monday or Tuesday, and you broke camp last weekend, they may want to just get you some work. You've just been trying to get things rolling in camp, to then take an 8-day layoff isn't necessarily ideal.

 

Wonderful to see Dolis have a dynamic start. No walks, and only one air out, that's fabulous. As cal had mentioned, I was surprised he's starting Daytona rather than Tenn, which made me worry that some of the buzz was baloney and that he'd been a wildman all spring and the alleged great velocity was overstated.

 

Great to see Cashner put together some control and some K's for a couple of innings. Too bad to see him unable to sustain it for another inning.

 

I think for him what we know is excellent is the arm. But whether he'll ever be much more than a Smardzija depends entirely on control. He was awfully wild in camp. I suspect having some modicum of command consistently could remain a challenge.

 

On Rhee, I could easily see him being a regular piggy-back guy. He's young, and he's not that strong. I think at this point it's arguable whether he's one of the five best rotation prospects on that roster anyway. Archer, Raley, Cabrera, Rusin, Searle, those aren't junk prospects. For Rhee as a rehab guy whose post-operation health, velocity, durability, and command are all unknown at this point, I can well understand why they'd put some of the more advanced and better-now and possible better-later guys into the rotation.

 

That he's at Daytona rather than Peoria may be more a matter of putting him in a safer warm weather team than that he really deserves to be getting rotation work ahead of the other strong prospects.

[Guest]

BTW, Cashner has already matched the number of home runs he surrendered last season.

[Guest]

Craig, you like Rusin way more than I.

[TruffleShuffle]

I think for him what we know is excellent is the arm. But whether he'll ever be much more than a Smardzija depends entirely on control. He was awfully wild in camp. I suspect having some modicum of command consistently could remain a challenge.

 

cashner has more movement on his fastball (and better velocity out of the pen) plus his slider is way better than any breaking pitch that samardzija is throwing. the write-ups on him in the offseason made it sound like he's very likely to be a good reliever; starting potential is what is questionable.

[craig]

I think for him what we know is excellent is the arm. But whether he'll ever be much more than a Smardzija depends entirely on control. He was awfully wild in camp. I suspect having some modicum of command consistently could remain a challenge.

 

cashner has more movement on his fastball (and better velocity out of the pen) plus his slider is way better than any breaking pitch that samardzija is throwing. the write-ups on him in the offseason made it sound like he's very likely to be a good reliever; starting potential is what is questionable.

 

I have two questions with Cashner.

1. Does he or will he ever have the control to be good? (Command, consistency, control...)

2. If so, will he have the durability to be good as a starter?

 

I think the question of whether he'll ever have the consistent command to be good at anything is more important and a larger question than the question of whether he'll be a good reliever or a good starter. I want both for sure.

 

But it's no given that he's going to be a good reliever.

 

Samardz was apparently a poor example of a good-arm-bad-control-bad-reliever. But I think there are plenty of guys with Cashner-caliber arms who failed as relievers due to control problems. So I think it's more than just starter-potential that is questionable.

[ChiefsVoice]

I don't think Rhee or Struck pitching relief means much this first week. If you aren't going to start until Monday or Tuesday, and you broke camp last weekend, they may want to just get you some work. You've just been trying to get things rolling in camp, to then take an 8-day layoff isn't necessarily ideal.

 

I cant speak to Rhee, but as for Struck his one inning today was his side session, or bullpen because of the weather they had him do it in the game instead of on the side. He is our Monday starter in Beloit. Rotation is set as:

 

Today - Whitenack

Friday - Antigua

Saturday - Nagel

Sunday - Jung followed by McNutt

Monday - Struck

Tuesday - Whitenack

and so on...but next time through McNutt will start with Jung following. and those two will keep switching. Whitenack and Antigua are 75-80 pitches. Nagel and Struck a little less for the first couple of starts.

 

Latham is the closer as evident by his save tonight.

 

Bedtime for me after being stranded at the stadium for 3 hours after the game (dead starter in the bus in a town with no taxis. fun times)

[craig]

Thanks for info, Nathan. Nice to know how things line up and who to expect, some of us had wondered if Morla or anybody else might be also piggy-backing. Nice to confirm that Struck is in rotation and just doing a "side session".

 

Good to see their offense get off to a good start and score some runs, getting any offense in April is often pretty tough.

 

Kopitzke said that Whitenack pitched better than his line, of the seven hits two were seeing-eye and two others were infield. So three "real" hits and no walks in five innings, that's just fine.

[Guest]

My BP account is acting up but I do know Ca$h made the first Future Shock of the season since it's up before the pay wall:

 

Andrew Cashner, RHP, Cubs (Double-A Tennessee)

 

Thursday's stats: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 10 K 

 

The line doesn't really do it justice, as for the first four innings of Thursday's game in Mississippi, Cashner was the story of the night.  He struck out the first seven batters he faced, and nine of the first10, before ruining his night in the fifth by starting off with two walks and a home run by Braves slugger Cody Johnson.  Cashner, a 2008 first-round pick had a wild spring, walking eight over five innings, and it was the same story last night; when he's throwing strikes, he's dominant and nearly big-league ready with a fastball/slider combination that allows for plenty of dreaming.  When he starts missing the zone, however, he still struggles big-time, even in the minors.

[Guest]

As always, thanks, Nate.