ChiefsVoice

First of all, no disrespect to the people at BA, but dont believe everything you read. Their rankings and comments should be taken with a grain of salt. I know some people quote them like the Bible and yes I have the prospect handbook to get more info on the players, but with all the players they have to cover it is impossible to do. I'm glad they exist and they work very hard at what they do, but they are wrong on some people. They see a guy play one game, he bobbles a ball and all of a sudden he is a bad fielder. Now, off my soapbox and to answer your question....Patterson is hands down the best defensive second baseman that has played in Peoria in my four years here. He currently leads the MWL in fielding percentage by a second baseman and has just 9 errors on the season in 102 games. Not bad. He goes both directions well, can throw on the run toward second and turns a good double play. The one negative would be that his hands might not be as soft as you'd like but he is quick to recover and that makes up for it. As for the 2nd question posted below about tickets, there are a variety of ways to handle it. If players have the same agent as MLB players they can get them through the agent. They can have our manager leave them, they can call directly and get them through the minor league department or they can have Cubs players leave them. It all depends on where they want to sit and how many they need. But there is no problem getting them and I can tell you first hand that the Cubs take great care of them once they are up there. Thanks for the questions JoeCub I appreciate them!!

Peoria, IL -The Peoria Chiefs, in conjunction with the Chicago Cubs have announced that infielder-turned-pitcher Alfredo Francisco has rejoined the Chiefs and will be in uniform in time for Saturday’s 7:00 PM game at Quad Cities. To make room on the roster, injured catcher Jonathan Douillard, who left the team for surgery two weeks ago, was officially placed on the Disabled List. Francisco joined the Chiefs on April 7th as a third baseman and appeared in four games as a batter hitting .154 (2-for-13). He then appeared in one game as a pitcher, tossing a scoreless 9th inning against Wisconsin on April 17th and hitting over 90 with his fastball. Francisco was send down to extended spring three days later to begin the conversion to the mound. The right-hander went 2-3 with a 4.19 ERA in 11 games with the Mesa Cubs in the Arizona Rookie League including five starts. In 38 2/3 innings he struck out 31 and walked 13 while allowing just one homer. Francisco spent most of 2004 in Boise batting .187 with four homers and 27 RBI in 61 games. He also played 24 games for Chiefs manager Julio Garcia at Lansing. In 2003, Francisco started in Mesa for 41 games where he batted .263 with 19 RBI before earning a promotion to Boise for the final 14 games. The Dominican native signed with the Cubs as a non-drafted free agent in 2002. Douillard injured his knee in Fort Wayne on July 29th while turning to cover a play at the plate. He left the Chiefs August 4th to see doctors in Chicago about season ending surgery. In nine games in Peoria, the former Vanderbilt star batted .200 (6-for-20) with one homer, one double and three RBI.

or for the past month! we had more hits with runners in scoring position in that inning than the whole 4 game series at South Bend!

Ryan wasn't in the lineup Saturday (was his second missed game with his hamstring injury). He isnt ready to play RF yet and to pinch hit him at the DH position we would have lost a player right off the top and we only have 3 available bench guys as it is. Ryan is available to PH and expect him to start game 2 at DH. 0-0 bottom 5

No problem. That is me. I am the only one who has access to the website and I change/update/create everything on there....unless you dont like it or its wrong, then uh, someone else does it! :twisted:

yeah this first one is gonna be weird. We are in the visiting dugout as always in Davenport and wearing our raod grays....but we ARE the home team since the game started at O'Brien. Granted I'd rather blow these guys out, but wouldn't it be funny for the Chiefs to get a ROAD Walk-off win! :lol:

Sweet! Thanks, Nathan! I look forward to having some of the folks from the Peoria area joining us here at NSBB! No prob, you guys run a great site and Im happy to contribute. Expect both of my listeners to join up soon! :lol:

We dont have AB numbers....but he has allowed 53 hits to RH in 75.1 innings and 41 hits to LH in 58.2 innings. Thats all the info I can get on it. Hope it helps. Sorry.

Yep! the Warriors come through in the organization for some reason. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Pat formally though I did introduce myself to him during a basketball home game in 1998 or 1999 (I did play by play for mens games on student radio, and god were we bad). I listen to him quite a bit when we are at home and they play during the day and he is a great play by play voice. As for Len, I first met him while I was in school. I had an internship at the CBS TV affiliate and got interviews at Brewers games and he did some radio work there. He also talked to one of my classes and observed a little bit around the stations. I got to interview him at the Cubs Caravan this season and talk to him for a while about Marquette and baseball in general. And I also have kept in touch with him through Email during the season and dropped in on him in the booth for a few minutes when I attended a Cubs-Marlins night game on one of our off days in June. He is a true class act and hopefully one day I will be a colleague of his at the Major League Level. Says a lot for Marquette education and the broadcasting classes and experience there if you ask me. Now if they could just decide on a good nickname.....

The stretch by Weber is believed to be a Chiefs record. For streaks on that we only have records dating back to 1994 when the Vonachen family regained ownership of the Chiefs. Many of the programs, record books, etc from 1983-1993 seem to have disappeared. I have recreated records books with straight stats butrecords such as hitting streaks, errorless streaks, walk streaks etc you cant figure out from a simple stat line. THe Midwest League record is 45 innings set by William Castro of the Danville Suns in the summer of 1973...

I am a collector and have been ever since I can remember. Everytime I go home for the holidays or to visit my mom still complains about the room my boxes of baseball cards take up. I've had some great opportunities to collect. When I was five I got to meet Dave Parker of the Pittsburgh Pirates before a game in St. Louis and he became a friend of mine and my family. We saw him every year until he retired in 1991 and then as a coach in 1995, 1996 and 1998. As a result I met and collected autographs from the likes of Pete Rose, Eric Davis, Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Rod Carew, Eddie Murray, Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor, Robin Yount, the 1988 and 89 Oakland A's etc. I also have numerous signed photos and baseballs I got at card shows from Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Hank Aaron, Ozzie Smith, and on and on. In addition Ihave made ebay purchases in high school and college and I love my Michael Jordan free-throw line dunk auto, Andre Agassi, Brett Favre, Marshall Faulk, etc....I collect everything from baseballs to pennants to photos to ticket stubs of games I went to. My favorite photos are: one of Jack Buck and Harry Caray behind the mic at KMOX that is hanging in my booth, a 2003 Marquette (my alma mater) Final Four banner and SI cover signed by Dwyane Wade, and a Magic Johnson/Larry Bird both signed photo. As a broadcaster I have not asked for one autograph. or piece of memorabilia. I did purchase a jersey last year in an auction because I wanted the #39 (Parker's) and in another I wanted #23 (Jordan). The only other pieces I have picked up because of my job were given to me. In 2003 one of our pitchers was a former teammate and great friend of Anthony Gwynn Jr and at the end of the year he gave me a ball signed by Gwynn and Prince Fielder. And this season, all of our front office staff members were given Nomar baseballs by our team President. I wont ask any of out players for bats or autographs, but if they offer then I will accept and most likely use it for a Chiefs off-season auction. Would I love to have a ball signed by Daric Barton? Sure, but I just never thought it was right to use my position of privilege to take advantage and ask. I do most of my collecting in the off-season and most of it is done either on EBay, at card shows or in stores. I loved collecting in person as a child and personally, as an adult, I don't want to be in the way of this generations youngsters asking for autographs in person. They deserve the same opportuinity that I had so you wont see me standing outside the players entrance at your local stadium or hotel!!!

Relating to this Nathan, how do you get the split information? Does the team track it? Can you get this info for opposing players? As you know, this sort of information is very useful when evaluating minor leaguers, and yet there is very little of it available to the public. Yeah CP, unfortunately all that info is on a Private Backdoor site that we have to use passwords to get to and they won't even allow us to give the passwords to our local media outlets or beat writers. The Private Stats site is for front office use only to give stats to the coaches and scouts. I can give splits on our players if needed, I have no problem with that. Other than Home-Road, Situational (bases loaded, RISP, RISP & 2outs) Left-Right and Monthly stats, everything I use I track myself...this includes lead-off walks scoring, inherited runners scoring, outfield assists, pick-offs, hit-streaks, multi-hit games, etc. I have excel charts for EVERYTHING....and it takes a while each night/day to update....thank god for interns at home! Is there anyone on the Chiefs that has simply ridiculous R/L splits that we should know about? Pitcher or hitter, really. Thanks! Well here ya go (current players only): vs. Right Bernard .236/2/17 Flowers .237/5/27 Fuld .285/3/27 LH hitter Granato .270/3/19 Harvey .279/18/72 Larsen .239/3/32 Patterson .336/12/52 LH hitter Rick .170/2/15 LH hitter Rivera .250/0/4 Schmidt .234/2/10 Switch Hitter Simokaitis .174/0/6 Smith .243/3/15 Billek .174 Opp avg, 2 HR Blevins .254, 3 LH pitcher Dickson .154, 0 Estrada .336, 6 Gallagher .199, 5 Johnson .279, 4 Jones .388, 1 Layden .241, 2 LH Pitcher Mendez .204, 0 Nolen .236, 1 Phelps .135, 0 Weber .277, 9 Vs. Left Bernard .278/0.6 Flowers .293/2/16 Fuld .268/0/4 LH hitter Granato .333/1/9 Harvey .240/4/16 Larsen .257/1/13 Patterson .318/0/12 LH hitter Rick .172/0/7 LH hitter Rivera .000/0/0 (1 AB) Schmidt .250/0/3 Swith hitter Simokatis .316/0/1 Smith .238/0/3 Billek .216. 0hr Blevins .273, 1 LH pitcher Dickson .361, 0 Estrada .274, 4 Gallagher .200, 3 Johnson .176, 2 Jones .395, 0 Layden .170, 0 LH pitcher Mendez .293, 0 Nolen .196, 0 Phelps .333, 0 Weber .314, 3 as a team we are hitting .298 against LHP and .260 vs. RHP...lefties also hit us better at .262 to .254...

Relating to this Nathan, how do you get the split information? Does the team track it? Can you get this info for opposing players? As you know, this sort of information is very useful when evaluating minor leaguers, and yet there is very little of it available to the public. Yeah CP, unfortunately all that info is on a Private Backdoor site that we have to use passwords to get to and they won't even allow us to give the passwords to our local media outlets or beat writers. The Private Stats site is for front office use only to give stats to the coaches and scouts. I can give splits on our players if needed, I have no problem with that. Other than Home-Road, Situational (bases loaded, RISP, RISP & 2outs) Left-Right and Monthly stats, everything I use I track myself...this includes lead-off walks scoring, inherited runners scoring, outfield assists, pick-offs, hit-streaks, multi-hit games, etc. I have excel charts for EVERYTHING....and it takes a while each night/day to update....thank god for interns at home!

Pictures? I confiscated them all!!!! :lol:

Hey PJ we'd love to have you in Peoria for a game. My brother lives in Burbank and works on a prominent TV show and I love the LA area and can't wait to get there at least a couple of times this off-season! You can fly into Peoria on Delta or Northwest and then either take a $15 cab ride downtown to the hotels or catch a bus downtown though I would advise the cab. There are a few hotels that are about a mile walk from the stadium and right near everything downtown. Our team hotel is the Holiday Inn City Center...There is also the Mark Twain Downtown, Staybridge Suites. in walking distance and the Radisson a few minutes away. As for things to see, i dont know if CAT gives regular tours or not but they have their headquarters in Peoria and some impressive buildings/machinery close by. Wildlife Prairie Park is awesome and i would suggest that. Otherwise, check out http://www.peoria.org to see what else is going on the days you are gonna be there!

No country music? Where's the fun in that? :lol: ha! there is a COuntry Line Dancing Bar called Stone Country about 10 mintes from O'Brien Field in Bartonville...and yes I've been there a couple of times

Now this is the easiest question I've had and one right after my own heart. I consider myself an expert on the Peoria bar scene and a frequent visitor after home games! My "hometown bar" or Cheers is called Gorman's Pub and is on Bradley's campus. All of my non-baseball friends hung out there in college at BU or in the summers and I am a regular there in-season and off-season. As for the downtown area, I would suggest Old CHicago on the river for microbrews, beer from around the world and food. Sully's on Adams street (6 blocks from stadium) has Dance Music/80's Rock/etc, great food and a decent amount of space. A quiet bar to go with great food is Richard's on Main (from the stadium take adams to main turn left and it is right there on the left). If you are in for a wild night then head another 2 blocks down Main and check out Babe's on the corner or Adam's Apple or the dance clubs of Club Reign, Tomcats and the "other place" next to those two bars. Hoops across the street has the best non-sober 4:00 am food and pizza and SOP's is a good place to dance too. All of Peoria's downtown bars are open until 4:00 AM. Sullys closes earlier during the week. My favorites to relax at are Gormans, Richards and Sullys (non-weekend). If you are looking for food go to Old Chicago. iF you are looking to meet people then head to Club Reign, Tomcats, SOP's or Babes. And yes I could keep going and going on this topic! Hope I helped. As for E-Patt's numbers vs. lefties: Good Average, little power vs. LHP. He is hitting .318 against LHP with 0 homers, 7 doubles, 3 triples, 12 RBI and 20 runs scored. He has 19 walks, 19 k's vs lefties, 9 steals and 7 caught stealings (5 are 1-3-6 CS)

There are a few Jiml60, but to be fair, all of them are still in the Minors so I won't right them off yet. I'll list the ones for you by year that I thought would be there already or higher ranked prospects than they are now. 2002: Pitchers Justin Pope, Tyler Johnson, Jared Blasdell and Chris Narveson...OF Rick Asadoorian and IF Shaun Boyd. Boyd is in AA, Johnson AAA, Blasdell was with the Cubs and then Rule 5'd....Narveson traded twice now back in St. Louis AAA. Asadoorian is on his 2nd franchise after St. Louis and Pope is AA with the Yankees. 2003: Blake Hawksworth. He is injured and starting over in SHort Season. On a note with the 03 team, Brad Thompson shocked me being this ready this soon. I also thought Reid Gorecki would be in AAA by now. That's about it from guys I have seen on our teams in peoria.

Yeah Raisin he has, but he still doesn't take many walks and needs to lay off the low and away slider. Once he does that (and im confident he will) then the sky is the limit

Thanks Brian. Ill answer that in two ways. I think the most Major League ready players I have seen this year are: Luis Montanez and Eric Patterson. They are more polished and have less areas to concentrate on than any of the others that have played here I think the most potential to succeed in the Majors lies with either Ryan Harvey or Sean Gallagher. They are the youngest and Harvey just has so much power. He is starting to go the other way more and that makes him a lot more dangerous. Once he starts being more selective at the plate, takes his walks and adjusts to the curveball, the sky is the limit. Sean is the best pitcher I have seen all season. His curveball is sick and his fastball explodes. He already knows how to pitch, now he just needs to refine it, and work on endurance and stamina. Sam Fuld would be my 5th ranked potential wise and then Matt Weber would be my second pitcher. Hope I answered what you were asking Brian and thanks for the question.

Thanks for the question, I definitely follow former Chiefs. I still talk to both Lee and Chris both of whom are great friends with each other and two guys I got to know rather well during their time in Peoria. Ramos I don't know all that well, he was only here a couple of weeks. As for scouting reports. Gwaltney is older and knows how to pitch. I think him moving to the pen in Daytona was a great call as he always seemed to tire here in about the 5th or 6th inning and wasn't throwing nearly as hard. If he avoids walks, he can shoot up the system in the pen in my opinion. As for his pitches, he throws his fastball 89-93 if I remember correctly, and the fastball has a lot of sink on it and works like a sinker, a splitfinger, a tight slider and a chageup. Shaver was a top draftee last year and is left handed which of course is always an advantage. He his tall and has a unique release point and is more effective against right handers than left handers. His biggest problem that I saw was control as he walked a lot of guys early in the inning on the nights that he struggled. He struck out a lot earlier in the season and then started pitching to contact. He too is about 89-91 with the fastball, throws a curveball which again is more effective inside on righties and a changeup. I only saw Ramos pitch five times and only an inning at a time for the most part. I remember he threw hard and had a tight breaking ball, but that's really about it. I was surprised he jumped to AA but he has been effective there. We could sure use his numbers in our pen! Hope that helps! Thanks again for the questions. Keep them coming!

I don't know off the top of my head. All four photos I have on my laptop of Maddux in a Chiefs uniform are either front or side views where you can't see. I have put out an email to a few people who I think may know including our President Rocky Vonachen. I will also look for the 1985 Program when we get back to Peoria on Monday and let you know. I will find the answer, I promise.

Ryan Harvey back in tonight's starting lineup. Hamstring still bothering him but he is gonna give it a go as the DH, batting 3rd!

Well #1 is Daric Barton who is very close to being Major League ready with the A's. That trade was a neccessity for St. Louis to get a top pitcher and especially since Barton wasn't going to play in Busch anytime soon with Pujols at first base and I dont think he can be an outfielder. After that I saw some really good players the last two years who I think can make an impact in St. Louis. IF Travis Hanson (played 3b in Peoria, might play 2B in MLB can flat out hit) OF Cody Haerther (great left-handed bat who just seems to hit everyday) SS Brendan Ryan (good bat, low power, too many errors) SP Chris Lambert (very solid, impressed me in a half season) SP Jordan Pals (tall, 6'8, great control) RP Justin Garza (hurt this season) OF Reid Gorecki (good speed, some power, best defensive CF I've seen in Peoria, struggled in AA this season, on the 40-man) RP Mark Worrell (funky deliver, colser mentality...having a great year at High A) And Rick Ankiel doesn't count as someone I saw in Peoria, but I saw him this year in QC and he has impressively made the tranisition to OF. He is at .297 since his recall to AA and don't be surprised to see him in September. And current Swing OF Nick Stavinoha has been lights out in 6 weeks since being drafted out of LSU. And the system is only ranked low because the Cardinals brass trades away all the top guys to make the MLB team better and win division titles, and I for one have no problem with that strategy...It has worked for STL, Boston, Houston, and NYY though it has backfired for the Mets, Dodgers and Phillies the last few years.

O'Brien Field rocks! There's some talk of pulling together an NSBB get-together in Peoria before the end of the regular season. Craig- Billek has looked great in all of his starts except for one so far. Last time out he was spectacular allowing just one hit and two base runners through six. He tossed 91 innings in college this year so he is on a 70-75 pitch count to make sure his young arm can handle the work. Therefore, to answer one of your questions, it is to his advantage to pitch to contact and not go deep in counts and end up with walks or strikeouts so he can stay in games longer. In his second start he walked 3 and K'd 3 and was done after 3 innings. He will be a control pitcher I think but he does touch 91-92. He threw mostly fastballs the other night though he does have a nice curveball. He could end up like a David Wells type but he is on the same program as the other pitchers and if he works hard as he has so far, then his body shape shouldnt be an issue. He and Gallagher both have that issue and the Cubs are working on both of them. Hope that helps get you caught up on Billek who has looked great in a Chiefs uniform and is a great kid and fun to hang out with and talk to off the field as well. Tune in tonight (Aug 17) at 7:00 as he takes on South Bend (shamless plug!!!) :lol: