BeerHere

Good point. I think the best approach is to take the best payer available in the early rounds (1/2) without regard to their position. Not saying that hasn't been the Cubs approach under Wilken. I would hate to see them take a pile of pitchers in the next draft bypassing better positional talent to fill holes in the system. Though the new draft budget could impact that as well. If a club has $3M to spend, it may be better to spend that on two pitchers with high ceilings rather than a single 3B. I still think for a middle range system they have to take best player available.

Was Pawelek not a Wilken pick? I completely agree though, the wasted picks on pitchers that flame out or never do much is depressing. Sorry, he was 2005.

Was Pawelek not a Wilken pick? I completely agree though, the wasted picks on pitchers that flame out or never do much is depressing.

Blind squirrel found a nut.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-soriano-sits-tonight-against-braves-20120507,0,7317960.story

That was my first though as well. It makes me feel a little better than Stewart should see some improvement based on BABIP. Likewise, Freese should regress but of course there are no guarantees.

Burke has a nice outing going for Peoria. 6ip 3h 2bb 3k 1ER on a HR

That AB by Barney is the exact reason why I think he doesn't fit with the new front office. He swung at every pitch that was thrown, including two that almost hit him. He has zero patience and instead of working himself into a hitters count he kept swinging away until he got himself out. About the only good thing you could say is that he at least made the pitcher work a little by fouling some off. Terrible AB.

That's the most frustrating part? Marmol can't throw strikes. Don't put this on Soto. Without a doubt, Marmol needs to throw strikes, or at least make the non-strikes serve a purpose. The control issues are 100% on him but Soto called nothing but sliders in that sequence knowing Marmol had no control of it. The slider with the bases loaded on a full count irritates me. If he had been throwing the slider for strikes earlier in the game I can understand that call there. But the fact is, he wasn't and I think he had a much better chance of getting an out there throwing the fastball. I feel like I'm nitpicking a little and I'm not putting the loss on Soto at all, but pitch selection in the 9th was terrible.

I rewatched the 9th, twice (shoot me). During the sequence to Harris-Votto-Phillips-Bruce-Ludwick Marmol had absolutely no control of the slider. He threw exactly two decent/good sliders in that sequence and even those didn't have the movement he once had. What I found interesting though is that Soto never called anything other than a slider in that sequence, at least as far as I could tell. Marmol never shook him off either. Hitters just sat there waiting for the fastball, if they saw anything other than that they took. I think part of what made Marmol great a couple seasons ago was that he could spot the fastball for strikes keeping hitters off balance and putting them away with the slider. I don't understand why Soto didn't call for a couple more fastballs there. As a fan I can watch the game and within the first 4 or 5 pitches I can tell if Marmol has decent stuff (like Wednesday) or if he has nothing (like yesterday). Surely Soto can see the same thing. I think both Soto and Marmol have fallen in love with the slider, maybe because both guys know he's lost something on the fastball, or maybe both guys know he can't hit his spots with anything. Either way, it seemed obvious that Soto was calling only sliders and hoping that he'd keep it in the zone. Even with a full count and the bases loaded, he still called the slider knowing that he had no control. That pitch was terrible and at some point Soto needs to recognize when Marmol just doesn't have any control and start doing something different - like a fastball low and away or something, anything other than consistently missing with the slider. To me this is easily the most frustrating part of that collapse yesterday.

Outstanding job by Dolis there. DP followed by a K to limit the damage. Unfortunately Marmol left him with a load of crap so the game is tied into extras.

Grounder right to him, he made a break for the bag in a clear attempt to get the lead runner and potentially turn two. He missed the ball and it went into left. Terrible play at a time when his pitcher needed him most.

Marmol has absolutely no control. Three walks. The error certainly didn't help either but OMG Marmol is terrible.

So he takes the average lefthanded hitter and turns him into Ted Williams at his best (in a limited sample size this year). Brett, not Jay. :blush:

So he takes the average lefthanded hitter and turns him into Ted Williams at his best (in a limited sample size this year).

I think he's the WSox beat writer. At least he was last year.

Big 3 == Rizzo, Jackson and ? Vitters? ugh

He's settled down after that rocky start. He's still in there in the 6th and has not given up another run since the first. 5IP 8H 5er 2K 1BB

lol Honestly, all trolling aside, I would tend to agree with him. The pitching hasn't been good and the offense has been terrible. Yes, it's still early but this team lacks punch and everyone knows it is rebuilding. 65 wins sounds about right to me.

Del Valle went 6 but gave up 4 on 5 hits, a walk and 6 K's Szczur was 0-3 but drew a walk, scored twice and had two SB. 5SB's total for Daytona. Torreyes was 2-5 with 2 runs scored.

nm - wrong thread

LaHair again. Nice job.

Is the wind blowing in?

I'd like to see Raley miss more bats but he's keeping the walks down so far. Mildly impressed with his start to the season.

BA story on the continued struggles of Simpson. Simpson, Pawelek, Ben Christiansen, Brownlie.....shoot me. http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2012/04/cubs-hayden-simpson-struggles-carry-over-into-2012/