Little Slide Rooter

I'm not going to lie, I'm not so much pumped as I was ready for it to be over. But yeah, I'm pretty pumped.

One would think that Ryan Zimmerman would make us pay for walking Harper to get to him every time, but I guess he's not bothered.

Move over Rizzo, Bryant, Arrieta, Heyward, Lester, Schwarber, Fowler, Russell, Baez, and Zobrist. This is what Cubs fans have been dreaming of.

It actually made sense from a PR standpoint; at the time, the Nats had a great farm system, but nothing on the big league field, and nobody in the stands. Paying big money for Werth, who was having a great run with the Phillies, and signing him away was the first sign since the move from Montreal that they were ready to win.

You must have killed people between 2010-2014.

Can't the same be said for every relevant Cubs pitching prospect of the past 15 years?

Duno. Why? Don't you think you should find out?

Aww now he can't throw 120 pitches against us and not get out of the 5th. These are Dusty Baker's Nats we're talking about; pitch count be damned.

So who's pitching for Beloit this evening?

You stop filling people's heads with those kind of wicked thoughts, you hear?

Scared? No. But he got raked over the coals pretty badly for it. I wouldn't be surprised to see him gun shy (or ask for a serious overpay) for Gray. It's going to be business-as-usual. It's not a pitching trade without someome crying overpay anyway. Billy and Theo knew exactly what they were doing, and it was all about a perfect timing for two teams with opposite wants and needs. The A's had perhaps their best chance to win it all in quite some time, and Theo offered up 2 front end starting pitchers well before the trade market was even shaping up, one of which came with an extra year of team control.

When September rolls around, I'd happily take him on in the same capacity as we had that speedster whose name eludes me last September.

Is Shane Victorino still rehabbing somewhere? Or maybe being used as a special assistant to the special assistant to the special assistant of something or other?

If anyone's interested, Josh Vitters has resurfaced with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League. I found it off, if not sad that he completely disappeared after being cut by the Rockies at the end of last year's Spring Training at only 25 years old. Best of luck to him. On a side note, it seems as though the Atlantic league is littered with ex Cubs/ex Cub prospects including Bryan LaHair, Justin Berg, Phil Coke, Nick Struck, Brad Snyder, Ty''Relle Harris (if anyone remembers the fringe prospect who was hit by a car,) and ready for a blast from the past- John Leicester. Speaking of blasts from the pasts, a few other old schoolers kicking around that league are Endy Chavez, Fred Lewis, and former mega-prospect Sean Burroughs. And yes, I wasted more time than any normal man should looking through Indie rosters.

So basically 2008 when we got Harden and that drunky reliever who's name eludes me.

http://www.bleachernation.com/2016/04/29/lukewarm-stove-will-cubs-have-interest-in-as-gray-and-reddick-braves-buying-picks/ Can't begin to imagine what the package pwould look like.

If you've got to miss a few games, best to be against the awful teams.

And the best catching prospect in all of baseball at AAA. And a guy who hasn't hit below .300 since 2013 Sorry, I was referring to the big league roster. I'm thinking that if Willson were to be an option, he'd be up. But that's for the other thread.

We have to find something to bitch about when we win every game by like 7 runs. I think we've done our share of bitching over the years. Time to sit back and enjoy.

Is that really Chris Capuano, or is Gameday stuck on 1998 mode?

So our catching dept goes from Montero-Schwarber-Ross to Ross-Some Guy.

Hey, as long as they're supplements and not the guys we're relying on, I'm good with cranking out Brock Holts like Lumberjacks and Gunfighters in World Zombination.

Speaking of quiter minor league mainstays off to big starts: Felix Pena's doing well for himself with a 0.85/0.55 ERA/WHiP and 2/16 BB/K through 11 IP. Paul Blackburn: 26 IP 0.35/0.85 ERA/WHiP, 11/4 K. He's never been much of a strikeout guy, so I'm not sure if he's a ground ball guy who could be a poorer mans Kyle Hendricks or a fly ball guy who'd be destroyed upon reaching the PCL. ETA Gerardo Concepcion, who I completely forgot existed: 10.1 IP, 0.00/0.48 ERA/WHiP, 1/9 BB/K. It's nice not having to desperately cling to the hope that our fringe prospects blossom into serviceable big leaguers, but it's still fun to look in on them every now and then.

Realistically, much as I like Chesny Young, he's the type of guy that, for me, as I said about Torreyes back in the day and others, simply has to prove it up each level. In that respects, he's still a relatively fringe prospect, as is Bijan. That said, a fringe prospect who is a utility player that can play MI is far more valuable than a fringe corner OF prospect like Rademacher. Young has a better hit tool than Bijan, and has better raw bat speed, at least, he did (not sure about anything this year). He was a college shortstop who ... if i recall correctly right now ... showed very well one summer in one of the Wood bat leagues - Northwoods, I think. I'm pretty certain that he's handled some 3rd before, to go with 2nd, and I'm pretty sure he's not going to show a David Kelton arm in the OF. A comparison to Ryan Theriot sounds ... awkward ... but really, if Theriot was thought of as simply as a last man on the bench, utility type option ... he'd be alright. I think Chesny has a better hit tool than Theriot ever did, but it's not that extreme. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but Rademacher has a big time arm, IIRC. The type of arm that might be able to give transitioning a shot, IIRC. You are correct. Rademacher fell to the 13th round because he told teams he wanted to hit and hit only. He had a mid-90s FB from the left side which doesn't grow on trees and didn't blow people away with his bat in college, so teams saw him more as a pitcher. The Cubs promised to give him a shot in the field with the caveat that if it didn't work out he'd return to the mound. He's made enough progress every year that they haven't asked him to transition back yet. I would imagine this year (or next depending) is a make or break one for him with the bat. He turns 25 on June 15th. I agree with you for the most part on Chesny, but the Torreyes comparison, while in the ballpark, isn't that great. Beyond rookie ball and Low-A, Torreyes never put up the numbers Young has. He's also quite bit smaller than Young. Their biggest similarity is K/BB ratio, but their High-A numbers and thus far AA numbers aren't comparable. That said, we agree Young is most likely a utility guy, certainly on a good team. Perhaps something along the line of La Stella whose minor league numbers track better with Young's thus far. On thing of note with Chesney Young is that he has 2 home runs after having a total of 1 in his 2 previous seasons. Not saying that he'll blossom into Dustin Pedroia, but maybe more David Eckstein than Ryan Theriot?

Middle aged white men should never do what those two did again.