BeerHere

A 3 run cushion wasn't even enough. Wow he's bad.

He clearly needs to work with Maples. It wasn't just that he was wild, he certainly was, but he looks like a shoulder injury waiting to happen.

Who is Derek Johnson?

Where did you sit?

BeerNotes: As someone mentioned earlier, Maples was terrible. No command of the FB whatsoever. Very Very wild. I was there 40 minutes before the game and watched him warm up. He was clearly working on his mechanics with his pitching coach who was stressing to him the importance of his stride. He seemed to repeat his delivery well but his motion is mostly in his shoulder, not much use of his lower body and his stride seemed a little short for someone of his size. The error my Amaya certainly didn't help but Maples wasn't getting out of that inning either way. Velo touched 92 and he threw one knee-buckling slider. Other than that, he was absolutely terrible. He did seem to be listening to his coach and genuinely working on what he was hearing. Defensively, Amaya was pretty bad. The untimely error in the first and he booted a ball later as well. Generally the Cougars defense was pretty bad. Almora had a ball hit right at him, he broke in on it and it was well over his head. He turned and made a very nice over-the-shoulder grab (Willy Mays style). Candalario had an error as well. Vogelbach made a couple nice plays and seemed comfortable at first. He and Almora are clearly friends and hung out/stretched together. The two of them play loose. At the plate, Rademacher had a nice day. His homer was to straight away right and with the wind blowing out after the 5th, I'd guess it traveled to 380/390. He had a nice hit earlier in the game as well and was impressive at the plate. Vogelbach saw a minimum of 6 pitches in every AB. He works the count well and was robbed of a single up the middle by the Timber Rattlers 2B who is excellent with the glove. He squared up the ball well but didn't take advantage of the wind. Everything Almora hit was square. He has good speed as well and his SB wasn't even close despite the pitch being decent for the catcher to throw. Golden looks exactly like a friend of mine. He is a big guy but is still somewhat athletic. He seemed fine in right and has a pretty good arm. At the plate he seems like an all-of-nothing kind of swing but the TR relievers were throwing a lot of strikes after the 3rd. He was a little overly aggressive IMO, swinging at the first pitch in his first two AB's (both breaking balls). Overall a disappointing day but still a good time for my family. This was my first trip to 5th 3rd Field this year and they have made some nice changes now that they are a Cubs affiliate. Fireworks after the game, running the bases, etc. The people around me were very nice and everyone knew who the prospects were, and followed them closely.

I'm going to the Cougars game tonight and will provide my very amateur scouting review of the players that I see. (assuming the game gets in - it is raining at the moment)

Alcantara getting some press....from CBSSportsLine

Please beat Dusty's Reds.

They should call him up just for the awkwardness that would ensue between Stewart and Sveum. Once he apologizes to Sveum, send him down the next day and force him to make the same decision again (elect FA or go to the minors).

His whole rant is about that $2M. He wants to keep it and if he declares himself a FA, he may not get another offer and even if he does, it may not be for that same amount of money. He knows that and by getting the Cubs to release him he gets the best of both worlds (keeps the $2M and gets to try and find another deal). Sorry if this is obvious to everyone else already. I wasn't sure of the rules that applies when he was sent down.

When Stewart was sent down to Iowa, didn't he have the opportunity to elect free agency? I believe he did but can someone more knowledgeable please verify that? If that is true, isn't Stewart the one that chose to be a member of the Cubs minor leagues (by not electing FA)? He didn't do so and this whole fake "they won't call me up because Sveum doesn't like me" thing is complete BS.

Another bad day for Pieters. 4 more walks, 5 hits and he didn't retire a batter.

So does Jeffrey Baez go to AZ for rookie ball?

I do believe this is a story, but we need to keep in mind that Sullivan is an ass who constantly takes cheap shots at the Cubs. Sullivan is doing his best to blow it up to embarrass the Cubs.

I don't know....after HR #2 I would have been pitching around him. After HR #3, same thing or perhaps a free pass. Point being - they chose to pitch to him so unless he did a bat flip or something else, it would be bush league to drill him IMO.

He's clearly trying to get released so he can sign with another team. His $2M from the Cubs is guaranteed so if he gets released he'll get that plus whatever (league minimum?) deal he gets. It's clearly a money thing. He knew the situation when he signed and it was reiterated to him when he was sent down to rehab.

is he? Castillo at the MLB level last year: 6.03 xFIP Rondon: 5.65 I know there's more to it than that, but it feels sometimes like Rondon's awfulness is a weird blind spot in Cubs fandom this year. 11 walks, 3HBP and 18 hits in 20IP. I have to admit, I didn't know Rondon's numbers were that bad. I'd still take him over Castillo though.

Where he has a 7.34 ERA. I like taking a chance on R5 guys but Castillo has been absolutely terrible from day 1 with the Cubs. Rondon hasn't been great but he's worlds better than Castillo.

Lendy Castillo sighting....in low A ball.

Apparently it was an infield double. Almora has INSANE speed

3 hits and a run through 4 for Johnson. Almora has a double in two plate appearances.

This week's Prospect Notebook from BA featured Vogelbach and Almora: http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/prospect-notebook-dan-vogelbach-gets-best-of-former-teammate/ Dan Vogelbach, 1b, Cubs: At Fort Myers, Fla.’s Bishop Verot High, first baseman Dan Vogelbach hit the home runs and righthander Hudson Boyd picked up the wins. Now two years later, Vogelbach is still hitting home runs, they just sometimes come against Boyd. Vogelbach, a 2011 second-round pick of the Cubs, is now playing for low Class A Kane County. Boyd, the supplemental first-round pick of the Twins in 2011, plays for Cedar Rapids, which gives the two former teammates plenty of chances to challenge each other. “When you see him on the mound in warmups it’s definitely different—you’re used to seeing him on your side,” Vogelbach said. “But when you step into the box and everything changes and he’s just another pitcher and you zone everything out.” When the two face off, we’ve learned that Vogelbach has the advantage. The first time Boyd faced Vogelbach last week, Vogelbach hit a home run and a double against him. When they went head-to-head again yesterday afternoon, Vogelbach again hit a home run and a double. “I don’t try to overthink it, because he has a scouting report on me, so it would be scouting report on scouting report,” Vogelbach said. “I just try to go out there and get good pitches to hit and be aggressive and selective.” Vogelbach hit his 11th home run of the season, but his double on Sunday was arguably more impressive. Boyd got ahead in the count and seemed to have Vogelbach where he wanted him, but even when he made a solid two-strike pitch, Vogelbach stayed back and didn’t try to do too much. “I pride myself on not striking out,” he said. “It’s going to happen, everyone strikes out, but I want to control that. I try to shorten up and use the whole field. He made a good pitch with a two-seamer away. I was just able to shorten up and get the barrel there.” Vogelbach had shortened up his swing, but he doesn’t need to take a big cut to drive the ball. With a short swing, Vogelbach lined the ball the opposite way to the left field wall. Vogelbach’s 2-for-3 day improved his numbers to .277/.347/.472. It was his second consecutive day hitting a home run. Albert Almora, cf, Cubs: With Jorge Soler and Javier Baez in high Class A Daytona and No. 2 overall pick Kris Bryant on the way, the Cubs are on the verge of having three of the elite power-hitting prospects in baseball in their farm system. Almora doesn’t fit that profile, but his hit tool has the chance to be special. A broken hamate bone kept Almora off the field until May 22, but in the 16 games he’s been on the field for Kane County he’s hit .433/.466/.567 while showing outstanding bat control and rhythm at the plate.

How many Zach and Tylers did they get? One Tyler. Drafted in the 40th round out of a California HS. http://www.baseballamerica.com/draftdb/2013xteam.php?team=1007 So then it was just a so-so draft?

So who had the best draft? Colorado?

Also a Zack and two Zak's.