ChiefsVoice

guess they wont have to make a decision on harvey or fuld....according to Baseball America on the new CBA: The first-year player draft, also known as the Rule 4 draft, was not the only draft process altered by the new CBA. The major league portion of the Rule 5 draft will be affected by giving teams one extra year to protect players from it. Rather than teams being allowed three years (for players signed at age 19 or older) or four years (for players 18 and younger) before leaving them off the 40-man roster subjects them to the Rule 5 draft, those periods have been lengthened to four and five. Ownership considered this a significant boost in their efforts to operate their minor league systems more effectively. "It gives the clubs more flexibility with their roster," said MacPhail, who added that the cost to select a player ($50,000) or get him back from the selecting club ($25,000) remain the same. "Anytime you can give them more tools to operate as efficiently as they possibly can is something we strive to do," he continued. "There are a lot of kids at that stage where you’re just not quite sure whether you want to get that clock ticking--the last thing you want to do is take a talented 22-year-old kid who’s not ready and you develop him for somebody else. Or often you’ll see guys taken out of A-ball who aren’t close but they get plucked out of the Midwest League. You try to let the developing clubs get as much time as they possibly can to make the best decisions they can." This rule applies to this current offseason, meaning that many minor league players who had expected to either be placed on the 40-man roster or be subject to the Rule 5 draft will have to wait another year. The union did negotiate a higher minimum salary for 40-man roster players optioned to the minor leagues ($60,000 next year), but acknowledged that this was a significant concession to ownership. "That was one of the major things we had to give up, no question about it--to me it was the worst thing we had to give up," said Diamondbacks infielder Craig Counsell, a player representative to the union negotiating team. "Some players, especially immediately, are going to be hurt by that--this year. But in the end, you have to give up something to get something."[/b]

Check it out at http://www.cubscast.com. Nice long interview done by fans talk to Len about quite a bit!

ha yes he is! How about my Gators! UF '03 for me....and speaking for M. Drew...did he get married in the offseason and have to take his wife's name since he is now M. Jones-Drew for Jacksonville? :D He was Maurice Jones-Drew last year at UCLA too. He added his grandfather's last name (Jones) to his name when his grandfather (who had been to everyone of Mo's football games from pop warner on) passed away during a game at the Rose Bowl. thanks! and do what deshaun did in the NFL...you mean get hurt every other game and screw up my fantasy team?!

ha yes he is! How about my Gators! UF '03 for me....and speaking for M. Drew...did he get married in the offseason and have to take his wife's name since he is now M. Jones-Drew for Jacksonville? :D

that should a pretty good squad in 2007. The 2005 Wisconsin Timber Rattlers lost in the Midwest League finals to a looooooaded South Bend team after winning both halves of the season. and the Mariners High A affiliate this season won the California League title with a 2nd half push at Inland Empire.

According to the roster Oneri gave me at the game his DOB is 1/10/88 so 18...19 on 2007's opening day.

Well Im out here in Phoenix visiting friends before my drive to LA and I stopped by the facility on Tuesday to say hi to everyone and watch the game vs. LA. Dolis started threw 2 innings and looked good. he got in trouble a couple times cause of misplyed flyball (by rundle in CF) and a dropped pop-up by Clevenger at 1st. The lineup I saw was Alan Rick at 1b, Clevenger at 2b, matulia at ss, reynolds at 3b, reed c, harvey in rf, rundle in cf and lewis in lf and Pie DH and led off....the pitchers i saw were Dolis, J. Castillo (nicknamed Animal), Tim Layden, Marco Carillo and Roberto Sotolongo. The first 4 threw 2 innings each, Soto threw one. Layden gave up an unearned run and Carillo gave up a long 2 run HR in a 3-1 Dodger win. Pie never got on base on his own, but in these games there are apparently no subbing rules. Whenever anyone singled or reached first with no one else on base Pie ran for them. he stole one base, got caught once and picked off 1st by a lefty. Reynolds smoked a couple of balls. Harvey K'd twice swinging. Robinson looked good in his at bat late in the game. Lewis is pretty fast in the OF and Matulia made a nice play at SS. Apparently from the people I talked too over dinner tonight, Colvin is looking great. He played today in SCottsdale but I had other things to do. And Dylan JOhnston is healthy and hitting the ball well too and running but not back at full speed. I would expect him back in Peoria in 2007. Others that have impressed this fall are Ceda, Dolis and Lansford. Was good to see those guys and talk to harvey, muyco and carter as well. I sat in the bleachers with Estrada and Blevins most the game and with Jody as well. Got a chance to talk to most of the rovers and the other guys we have had in 2005 and 2006. Also got to meet papelbon, kopach and saw pawelek throw in the pen. He is throwing thursday but i need to get on the road to LA before the 1:00 start. Just wanted to give you guys an update.

i dont know if he qualified in High A but there is NO way he was snubbed at the Low A level. he wasn't even a Midwest League mid-season All-Star while four of his teammates were. You could make the case that Atkins was a better starter in the first half than the Don. Adenhart and Pino are good MWL chioces at pitcher.

I hope it's working for you...you're announcing!! I got it back and running, something was wrong with my computer. ha! i have it streaming to record on the laptop!

its working for me....up 4-1 after 6

Playoff baseball, here we go! The stream is up and rolling...Guys are excited...and got a big laugh out of the prediction from MILB.com. Time to prove them wrong!

Best of luck to you Ron in whatever you decide to do. It was always great chatting baseball with you and thanks for the help as well. Keep in touch! NB

Beloit will toss RH Yohan Pino (14-2, 1.91) in game 1. His stats are kinda misleading...he only made 7 starts in 42 games this season. That said he was 6-0 in 7 starts with a 2.33 ERA Game 2 they will toss RH Eddie Morlan (5-5, 2.29) Game 3 will be Jesse Estrada (7-1, 3.32) against either LH Alex Smit (7-2, 2.99) or RH Zach Ward (8-4) both of whom we hit well this week. Team will take BP here on the off-day Tuesday and then Jody rented us out the back room of a Beloit Italian restaurant for a nice team dinner Tues night to get ready for the series....

The Cubs will be seding Chiefs LHP Scott Koerber (originally scheduled to go to instructs) and Boise IF Josh Lansford... I guess there could be others but our staff said those were the only two on the list they received yesterday. Nathan

Atkins 5ip, 2h (both in 1st), 0r, 0bb, 5k 48 pitches...2-0 Chiefs on RBI by Carter (double) and Chirinos (SF)...

nope. September 2008. 4 year deal.

could be a fun/interesting one tonight in Beloit. With an 11 inning game on Wed and using relievers for 4 innings on Tues and Thurs, we have Yepez (25 pitches), Rayborn (1, maybe 2 innings) and thats it in the pen tonight. Alberto Garcia is the DH and will be the third pitcher out of the pen tonight if needed. Hopefully Mitch can eat some innings. When we got on the bus today Jody asked me how many pitches I had in me and what I could top out at. He laughed when I said 55 mph and said hell they may not be able to hit it that slow! On the good side, Blackford did not tear the rotator cuff yesterday. just soreness. He will not throw again in 2006 though. Beloit will be without four of their top players this weekend and in the playoffs Post-Season All-Star 1B Erik Lis who leads the league in hitting .326/16/70...37 2B .547 SLG/.402 OBp broke his hamate bone and is out. 2006 draftee 3B Whit Robbins .304/3/26 in 32 MWL Games .482 SLUG is out with two stress fractures in his back SS Paul Kelly .280/3/48 22 2b has a torn miniscus 2B Drew Thompson .261/3/23 11 2b 7 3b has a stress fracture in his back Those four combined against us this season were .272 with 5 of their 8 HR and 22 of the 42 RBI (kelly had 10, Lis 3 HR, 7 rbi and 2 walk-off hits against us) Hopefully the Chiefs can take advantage Looks like Game 1 will be Atkins (12-4) vs. Yohan Pino (14-2) on Wed and game 2 will be Scott Taylor (8-8) vs. either Eddie Morlan (5-5) or Zach Ward (8-4 overall but 1-4 with Beloit) back home on Thursday. Nothing like 6 or 7 straight games vs. the same team...4 completely meaningless and 2 or 3 with everything on the line!

Rich told me to be ready for game 4! ha! Probably Carrillo or Jimenez. He claims 6'1 195. thats generous.

Yikes, Not good at all. he got hit often and hard. Fastball, slider, change, occasional overhand 12-6 curve that was not on the other night. he was 88-89 for the most part on the FB. looked nervous. Also looks very small. One of our front office employees confused him with our 15 year old bat boy and thought i was joking when i said #9 was the starting pitcher! Santo is still an official "Maybe" until at least Saturday.

I dont think he was gonna be in our playoff rotation. Shoulder soreness was the official word. Ill see what the prognosis is Saturday when we leave for Beloit.... Looks like Atkins, Taylor, Estrada and then if healthy Santo for the first four playoff games...

fair enough! thanks for sharing. I hope Pawelek is that good. Im shocked he hasnt been here yet thought. Thats pretty disappointing if you ask me. Im big on Patterson. Haven't seen many other hitters I do like. Very interested to see what Valdez & Norwood do next year in Daytona...They can both swing it.

Honestly, are there any guys in the Cubs minor league system you like right now? You dont like any of the top pitchers (Veal, Gallagher). What about hitters? Is there anyone at Peoria, Daytona, or West Tenn you are excited about? oh and by the way, great pic under your name....UF Grad here!

I think you make some very good points, and i obviously understand all the stats and BAPIP numbers and how they dont measure up to the average. He is not a groundball pitcher or a strikeout pitcher. He does just let these guys hit the ball and doesn't miss a lot of bats. But he is also an innings eater and hasnt been hurt by his stuff this season. Very consistent. However, I think sicne you havent seen Scott pitch, its more than a bit harsh to call him a fluke. He is 19 and just now learning how to pitch. He has come a long way from last year and even from early this season. As soon as he realizes that wasting an 0-2 pitch or a 1-2 pitch is a good thing and that a first pitch fastball should be on the black and not down the chute, i think he has a very high ceiling. As I mentioned earlier, I also think that him getting in better shape will add velocity and strikeouts as it did for Gallagher last off-season. They have the same body shapes right now. Scott is a very cocky kid, not bad cocky, but confident cocky and he doesnt let little things bother him which I think is good especially for a 19 year old at this level. He has had outings that would/have destroyed other pitchers' confidence, including guys that are still on this current team. I'm not saying Scott is a MLBer, but he is the 2nd best starter on this team, 3rd best we've had all season and with his age, if he is willing to listen and learn (I dont know either way if he is) I think he has the mentality to help at the ML level. I'd rank the overall ptichers this way for our current guys: Atkins Avery Taylor Rayborn Koerber

He's listed at 6'3 240 pounds. I take it there's room to lose some of the baby fat and add muscle? thats putting it nicely!

Neither does Jamie Moyer...then again the Cubs gave upon him... I think Atkins and Veal (and gallagher/shaver in 2005) are clearly ahead of Taylor. But Scott is better than the other starters we have had in the last two seasons (Grant Johnson, Matt Weber, Lee Gwaltney, and the others this season). I like Scott's mentality. If he gets in a little better shape i think the velocity could go up much like Gallagher did last off-season. He knows how to pitch, he doesn't just throw the ball.