Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 7-6-25

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa vs. Omaha, 5:05 pm
Knoxville at Rocket City, 1:00 pm
South Bend at Peoria, 1:05 pm
Myrtle Beach at Charleston, 5:35 pm

The ACL and DSL Cubs have the day off

Probable Starting Pitchers:

Iowa: RHP Ben Brown
Knoxville: TBD
South Bend: RHP Connor Schultz (36.1 IP, 4.71 ERA, 2.74 FIP, 38 K, 11 BB)
Myrtle Beach: LHP Hayden Frank (51 IP, 6.88 ERA, 4.93 FIP, 41 K, 24 BB)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[JunkyardWalrus]

Jonny Long Dong coming for the chili, Mr. Shaw!

 

[Cubs420psd]

Where has Wiggins been? Seems like he hasn't pitched in well over a week.

[muntjack]

My theory is that they are saving some innings for October. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Rojas had two doubles.

[Donzo]

3 hours ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

 

Yes- I wanted Long playing 3B everyday.

[Donzo]

2 hours ago, Cubs420psd said:

Where has Wiggins been?

It's been talked about quite a bit. @CaliforniaRaisin posted he's on "load management".

[Jason Ross]

2 hours ago, Cubs420psd said:

Where has Wiggins been? Seems like he hasn't pitched in well over a week.

Rest. He's already above his 2023 innings in July.

[Cubs420psd]

1 hour ago, Donzo said:

Yes- I wanted Long playing 3B everyday.

At this point why not?

 

Plenty of 1B/DH types in the org. Even if he isn't great there, see if it sticks.

[muntjack]

Caissie 3/4 with a 2B and BB.

10 for his last 16 with 2 2B, 4 HR, 3BB, 2K.

[Bertz]

Booo, Mule had another game where he pitched great for a couple innings and then imploded

[Bertz]

Statcast looks like it went down for the 3rd and the 4th, but Brown didn't throw any changeups the first two innings

[Jason Ross]

46 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Statcast looks like it went down for the 3rd and the 4th, but Brown didn't throw any changeups the first two innings

Boo. Was too wrapped up in Cubs/Cards and USA/Mexico so had that one on the backburner. Was really hoping we'd see a lot of that pitch after the break as he worked on something new.

[craig]

Wasn't watching live, but nice that Jordan Wicks had some effective innings.  I haven't been much of a believer, some posters here have liked him more.  But it's nice that he's stacked a couple of good Iowa outings, and now his big-league return outing was good.  It would be so nice if he could emerge as a capable big-league pitcher, both for this year and for future.  Or, maybe if he could show enough in his next couple of appearances so that he could be a key value piece in a trade.  

Will next year be his last options year?  Or two more left?  

[Jason Ross]

27 minutes ago, craig said:

Wasn't watching live, but nice that Jordan Wicks had some effective innings.  I haven't been much of a believer, some posters here have liked him more.  But it's nice that he's stacked a couple of good Iowa outings, and now his big-league return outing was good.  It would be so nice if he could emerge as a capable big-league pitcher, both for this year and for future.  Or, maybe if he could show enough in his next couple of appearances so that he could be a key value piece in a trade.  

Will next year be his last options year?  Or two more left?  

Yeah, I really liked his start. I don't want to spoil anything, but have an article in the can looking at what he did during that appearance. Some new data points and tried some new things to effect. I do think he could be moved in July, but I wouldn't be mad if they didn't!

[craig]

The value of having two years of options is pretty significant, seems to me.  Yes, I'd love to see 1st-round pick Wicks be good enough to lock down a starting spot as a good regular starter, at pre-arb costs.  For sure I'd love for him to just be flat-out good on a contending Cubs team.  But in the world of pitcher injuries, and limiting innings, and the appropriately high priority on having depth, having a capable options guy at Iowa could be really good.  Like, I'd love for Wicks to be good-4th-starter capable, yet have enough other good guys so that he can be 7th man on reserve at Iowa.  Lots of advantages to that versus spending money on vet starters that might be mediocre or washed; but with no options their contracts kinda lock them into the big-league roster.  Credit to Cubs scouts this year, for sure, for getting Boyd and Rea at bargain prices.  Who knows where we'd be without having signed Rea.