ChiefsVoice

Sunday...always. Today was scheduled to be Santo. he will follow after 5 Wade Miller innings (side note: first time Miller has pitched in the Chicago area...)

Well if Cameron Maybin is #1 in this league as a hitter (and he is) then Bruce is #2 or maybe even 1A with Colby Rasmus in the mix as well from Quad Cities (now in the FSL). He was hurt and had an average series against us but he crushed a long homer Saturday and had RBI in every game but one. He also looks good in the OF and runs well. Maybe not as 5-toolsy as Maybin, but close. Upton is the best defender I've seen all season. He glides to the ball. reminds me of Andruw Jones with his speed and range. Reads the ball well off the bat. Made diving catch after diving catch and some nice running catches against us in 4 straight games. The bat just isnt where Colby Rasmus, Bruce and Maybin are yet. Id rank the top 5 opponent position players like this: Maybin Bruce Upton Rasmus Baisley

Not as long as Boise is in the race out there. And not from what I'm hearing, but it would be nice for an attendance boost on a Mon/Tue/Wed here in 100 degree August! I think there's a much better chance we get Colvin and/or Lansford down the stretch.

The Tennessee broadcaster last night was saying that he saw Samardzija pitch about a year ago (college game? don't know, wasn't paying close attention at first) and Samardzija was topping out in the upper 80s. He's skeptical of and a bit astonished at reports of him now hitting in the mid-90s. He can be as skeptical as he wants but Jeff was 94-96 here on Friday...and thats legit.... AWESOME!!!!

probably not...he has shown a good bat so far....lots of doubles, some speed, good range at 3rd. And i do agree that he is better set at 2nd base than 3rd. Reynolds should be at 3rd for us but the injury to Dylan Johnston has a couple guys out of position

He was actually drafted late beacuse he was a junior and was going to go back to school and teams didn't think he would sign. But he grew up a Cubs fan and Wilken saw him in the Cape where he hit better with a wood bat than he did his last year in college so they took him late.

WOW! Would have like to have seen more defesively but we didnt really hit the ball to center or run on his arm so I can't compare him to Upton who is the best outfielder I've seen this year. But at the plate, Maybin may not have an equal in the MWL. Jeff Baisley is close for Kane County. He hit with power to all fields, slammed one off the scoreboard. Has great speed, hustles at all times, gets down the line very quick. line drive hitter mostly. good approach. keeps his hands back and trusts his hands. He hit curveballs, sliders, fastballs, you name it he hit it against us. I can see why Detroit laughed at Washington when the Nats wanted this kid for Soriano...

Would be nice if John Manuel had done a little itty bit of homework to find out that the reason Mark Reed is in a slump has a lot more to do with a bad hammy that has him at about 70-75 percent right now instead of blaming it on the "grind." his drop under .300 correlates exactly to when he originally hurt the hammy even though he tried to play through it for about a week before finally sitting out a few games...

Ha! Sorry my bad! I'll get one in on the game tonight!

For those that are interested, my pregame guest tonight in new Cubs Scouting Director Tim Wilken. He has been with us since Saturday. its a good piece. Will air about 6:50 EST.

he's the real deal. we saw him last year at Dayton. Impressed me enought that in the big Keeper league I'm in, my co-owner and I took him with our first minor league pick this season...and we took Sean in the 2nd round....which puts them in our 5 player stable with Delmon Young, Brandon Wood, and Thomas Diamond... Sheesh. What kind of big keeper league are you in where Young & Wood were available in the 3rd and 4th rounds?!? no no....We drafted Young 2 years ago and Wood last year....you dont have to protect MILB guys until they hit the rookie minimum...but you can never have more than 5...we draft at the start of the season and again at the MLB all-star break...this year we had to promote Reyes and Markakis...

he's the real deal. we saw him last year at Dayton. Impressed me enought that in the big Keeper league I'm in, my co-owner and I took him with our first minor league pick this season...and we took Sean in the 2nd round....which puts them in our 5 player stable with Delmon Young, Brandon Wood, and Thomas Diamond...

because how one organization's teams (out of six) did against one team over the course of eight measly games tells you absolutely nothing about their system as a whole. sorry, but if reputable scouting/minor league publications say their system, as a whole sucks, that holds more weight than the fact that you've seen their low A team play decent ball over an eight game span against the chiefs. Hey I was just giving an informed opinion on the two guys in the deal THAT I HAD SEEN PITCH IN PERSON. ...I really don't care how they stack up prospect wise or if the Cubs got enough in return for Williamson...im not a Cubs fan. I just work in Peoria which happens to be a Cubs affiliate....I hope they pitch well in a Chiefs uniform the rest of this season and help us win as many games as possible and hopefully a MWL Championship. All I can do is comment on what I see....But hey, feel free to drive to Peoria, or WEst Michigan or wherever we are and watch all their games....or follow us on online broadcasts.... Nathan

I like Malone's swing and approach. He covers the entire plate from the left side. He has a short swing and puts the ball in play. he isnt afraid to walk 10 bb/14 K and 4 of those K have been the last two games. So far he has been a doubles machine. most of his doubles have been pulled down the right field line. Defensively he seems to get a good read on balls at 3rd base. his arm isnt as strong as Reynolds or Johnston but he is in no way a liability in the field. He is a lot better than other guys I've seen over the years taken in the 40th-50th rounds. I'll be interested to see how he handles the FSL next season. That level has not been kind to some guys who have hit well here in the MWL the last few years, but that has been mostly power guys.

Because they are terrible, like I explained in the original post. I'm not expecting top flight stuff for Williamson, just not the garbage we ended up getting. If the roles were reversed and the Cubs were in contention and had just given up 2 of their top 20 prospects for a pitcher with equivalent numbers to Williamson people would be ripping Hendry. Hendry has been shopping Williamson for a while now and if there was a better deal out there I am sure he would have taken it. To assume a strong market exists for a middle reliever that has an era over 5.00 and a questionable elbow is quite a reach. Those guys are top 30 prospects because San Diego's system is a joke. They're terrible, and if we had given up players with their numbers and their careers to get a reliever for a pennant chase, everyone would've been plenty fine with it because no one would miss Todd Blackford and Carlos Perez. that system may be garbage Tiger but you'd have no idea... I hope I don't offend anyone, but this kind of response bothers me. Professional members of our forum are owed a level of respect for choosing to post here. They bring a perspective that regular fans like us don't have. (Bruce Miles being the best example). For that, I am very grateful, as I'm sure everyone on the board is. However, generally, these "professional" members refrain from any back and forth nitpicking or any direct negative comments to any posters. In my opinion, when they do this, as Nathan has here, they are, to me, just another poster here and the level of respect given to them as a result of their position goes out the window. If you make a comment like that, you have to back it up with some sort of baseball acumen, not just a high and mighty attitude of "I call play by play for the Chiefs and you don't". Just because someone watches a lot of baseball doesn't mean that they have any clue what attributes make a good baseball player, or what strategies contribute best to winning. As far as evidence of baseball acumen goes, I think TT has contributed a ton more good thoughts here than most posters. As I mentioned before, I am very grateful to have the play by play voice of the Chiefs with us on this forum...it's just that this last comment really rubbed me the wrong way.. I didn't mean to rub you the wrong way and I'm definitely not offended by what you post. I wasn't trying to get high and mighty at all. My only point to Tiger or anyone else is that you shouldn't call another system garbage when you haven't seen any of their players in person. If they are garbage, why are they 6-2 against us this season, the 2nd best team in the Midwest League???? I love how all the people here automatically call guys crap/garbage because of either their numbers or what other publications *cough* Baseball America *cough* say about them. Watch them in person first. Then form an opinion. That was my ONLY point. Santo has beaten us twice this season. I posted that and Tiger jumped all over me for it. Yes I've seen him. Yes he beat us. Thats it.

Nope you didn't. Everything we have put out says two starts. Today and Friday. He will leave Peoria Saturday morning the 29th to go back to South Bend. oh, Jimenez and Santo are both here already. Santo started Friday (won against SWM) so he wont pitch for a while. Jimenez hasn't started since Monday. He was bumped yesterday when the trade went down. One of them will go to the pen...the other will compete with Estrada to A. start or B. be the long reliever after Samardzija leaves...Should be interesting how Rich and Jody balance 8 starters this week!

Because they are terrible, like I explained in the original post. I'm not expecting top flight stuff for Williamson, just not the garbage we ended up getting. If the roles were reversed and the Cubs were in contention and had just given up 2 of their top 20 prospects for a pitcher with equivalent numbers to Williamson people would be ripping Hendry. Hendry has been shopping Williamson for a while now and if there was a better deal out there I am sure he would have taken it. To assume a strong market exists for a middle reliever that has an era over 5.00 and a questionable elbow is quite a reach. Those guys are top 30 prospects because San Diego's system is a joke. They're terrible, and if we had given up players with their numbers and their careers to get a reliever for a pennant chase, everyone would've been plenty fine with it because no one would miss Todd Blackford and Carlos Perez. that system may be garbage Tiger but you'd have no idea...

We didnt see Jimenez this year in the 8 games we played against Ft. Wayne....but Santo was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two starts against the Chiefs....12 innings, 8 hits and 4 K's.... Nathan Baliva Peoria Chiefs Broadcaster

Since I am on the air I dont have time to retype it or copy and paste it right now....but i just looked at it with the Chiefs team account....and there are no Cubs in the top 25....Drew, Young, Wood, Justin Upton and Gordon are the top 5... They have Gallagher and Veal "On the Radar" with about 40 other guys....

Sunday July 23 @ Lansing Friday July 28 at home vs. Dayton....thats probably it... Hendry told us when he was here on Wednesday and Oneri confirmed it today and said we could release it....

so what????? Its the only reason we play the games!!! If wins didnt matter, Dusty wouldnt be on your guys' hot seat. If wins didnt matter we wouldn't play.... Yes, wins are good. But not a good way to evaluate a pitcher. A pitcher's W-L record and his teams' W-L record in his starts aren't basd on just what the pitcher does. It also consider's the team's offense, bullpen, etc. Why not use other stats that are more dependent on the pitcher himself? all im saying is every stat is flawed, every single one....thats why im no longer a stat guy. i was until i got into the business. your team winning is ALL that matters. thats why its a team sport....so if Greg Maddux is 3-10 but the Cubs are 25-10 in his 35 starts then I would say he has had a successful season...

How do you figure? um lets see. 1. More wins doesn't matter 2. lower era incorrect 3. less walks 4. less hits allowed incorrect 5. lewss homers allowed incorrect 6. more ground ball outs 7. more team wins in his starts doesn't matter 8. much more consistent is that enough or should i keep going for you? Veal gave up fewer runs and baserunners, and struck out many more. He walked more, but his K/BB ratio was better too. You can see the numbers here. apparently i should have qualified my answer with WHEN VEAL LEFT.....or maybe you have seen all their starts this season....? When you are trying to figure who was best in the entire first half, why randomly cut off Atkins' numbers? We're already ignoring that Veal went to the next level and didn't give up a run for 20 IP(or whatever it was). There's no point in disregarding Atkins' performance after Veal was promoted. If you read the posts, I said that Atkins was the Chiefs best pitcher in the first half.....thats why you cut off the stats there....unlike others, i try not to evaluate guys that I don't see in person....thats why baseball america sucks.... Since they rely on scouts and managers who actually see the players? They're right more often than they're wrong and are the best at the business. Sorry bud, talk to anyone who knows about baseball and they will tell you over completely over-rated Baseball america is...they see a guy maybe once, even the scouts do. thats how guys like Gallagher or Patterson get bad raps, a guys sees them once when they have a bad game and writes bad things....If you really wanna know about guys, ask people who see them every day....season ticket holders, front office guys, media, coaches, other players, etc.... Im friends with a few scouts who are here on a yearly basis for 2-4 games. ..every year they come up and ask me, " who should i watch, who impresses you, etc" they miss on quite a few guys....hell look how high BA had Harvey this season....hell Dan ugglas is #29 in the Marlins system and is a rookie all-star and possible ROY....and on and on...

so what????? Its the only reason we play the games!!! If wins didnt matter, Dusty wouldnt be on your guys' hot seat. If wins didnt matter we wouldn't play....

How do you figure? um lets see. 1. More wins doesn't matter 2. lower era incorrect 3. less walks 4. less hits allowed incorrect 5. lewss homers allowed incorrect 6. more ground ball outs 7. more team wins in his starts doesn't matter 8. much more consistent is that enough or should i keep going for you? Veal gave up fewer runs and baserunners, and struck out many more. He walked more, but his K/BB ratio was better too. You can see the numbers here. apparently i should have qualified my answer with WHEN VEAL LEFT.....or maybe you have seen all their starts this season....? When you are trying to figure who was best in the entire first half, why randomly cut off Atkins' numbers? We're already ignoring that Veal went to the next level and didn't give up a run for 20 IP(or whatever it was). There's no point in disregarding Atkins' performance after Veal was promoted. If you read the posts, I said that Atkins was the Chiefs best pitcher in the first half.....thats why you cut off the stats there....unlike others, i try not to evaluate guys that I don't see in person....thats why baseball america sucks....

How do you figure? um lets see. 1. More wins doesn't matter 2. lower era incorrect 3. less walks 4. less hits allowed incorrect 5. lewss homers allowed incorrect 6. more ground ball outs 7. more team wins in his starts doesn't matter 8. much more consistent is that enough or should i keep going for you? Veal gave up fewer runs and baserunners, and struck out many more. He walked more, but his K/BB ratio was better too. You can see the numbers here. apparently i should have qualified my answer with WHEN VEAL LEFT.....or maybe you have seen all their starts this season....?