falcon

You're right ......Jones led the Arizona rookie league in batting average ( up to the last 3 weeks ) last summer and was named to the all star team. He was not assigned to a team coming out of spring training and didn't get assigned to Daytona until May 31st. Buddy Bailey had his starting lineup carved in stone by then. Buddy has the major league managing mentality when it comes to his lineup and pretty much sticks with his starting 8 defensive players every day, every game. The starting outfielders in Daytona are all speedy singles & gap hitters (and they're the heart of that team) Jones has average speed but when playing everyday will hit for power and average. He doesn't seem to fit the Cubs prototype for an outfielder ( 6'5" 225 lbs ). I agree that he should've been assigned to a team where he could use his skills and it's a real puzzle to me what the Cubs plans are for him. It might be better for him if he were released so he could sign with another club that is looking for a power corner outfielder. This has to be a very frustrating summer for Jericho being limited to cameo DH appearances. I don't care what level a player is at.....if you get an average of 7 plate appearances per week, you're not going to be successful at the plate. Even a worse situation if you're only a DH because you can't get into the flow of the game, you can't get into any rythym at the plate, and you can't prepare mentally for the game not knowing if your in the starting lineup from day to day.

Most of the "power hitters" hit a brick wall when they get to the FSL where huge parks,high humidity,and no wind make a player look like he's lost his power. Put the same player in the PCL and he appears to have all kinds of power.

"Buddy Ball" ( Daytona manager Buddy Bailey) is soooooooooo borrrrrrrrrring. He went from a major league bench coach, to AAA manager,to AA manager,to adv A manager. He's a loser and will never climb the ranks to the Bigs. His only success is with the Venezuelan winter teams. I think he needs to move there permanently.

Now if you can get past the word "philosophy".......the fact that they are teaching linear hitting in the Cubs minor league system is a serious problem. Soriano,Lee and many of the Cubs MLB players are part of the 95% of MLB players that are rotational hitters. 100% of the HOF hitters that have over 500 home runs are rotational hitters.Many of our draft picks are rotational hitters but are soon forced to learn to swing down on the ball and drive the ball into the ground.

After listening to the evaluations of a hitting coach from a rival organization, I can't help but agree that the Cubs have a serious problem with the hitting techniques they are teaching throughout their system. The Cubs buy into the old linear technique of hitting that has been discarded by the better hitting coaches and students of the game years ago. They are continuing to teach our players to swing down on the ball and then lift the bat after contact. You have a baseball that is traveling at a downward angle toward the plate and the batter is supposed to hit a round ball with a round bat by swinging at a downward angle ? That's crazy, and yet that is what they're teaching in our system. No wonder the big league club on down through the minor league teams our power numbers and extra base hits are just average to below average.http://cubs.scout.com/2/881770.html comments from Peoria coach Peavy. This particular rival coach said that he was looking forward to watching Josh Vitters hit, but was greatly disappointed to see that he was also swinging down most of the time. We need to get with the program and introduce "rotational hitting " into our system. I challenge anyone to google rotational hitting and you'll see that we are behind the times and this way of hitting makes a lot more sense.They're even teaching it to womens softball teams and it has been so successful that they were considering moving the fences back.The top hitters in MLB are are all rotational hitters, but the Cubs keep plodding along asking their players to drive the ball into the ground.

Jericho Jones went 1-3 tonight for Daytona in one of his rare cameo DH appearances. Now batting .120 (but that batting average is understandable when the guy has 50 ab's in the 8 weeks he's been with the club.) How do you expect a player to jump in there every 4th or 5th game and produce offensively or get into any kind of rythym ? Don't know why Onieri Fleita doesn't have him on a team where he can get 300 ab's, but the outfielders on the Daytona team are older, more experienced players who are very integral parts of that team. It seems like they're wasting his season by leaving him there. I didn't know they had "bench players" in Adv A ball. Is this happenning with any of our other 2008 draft picks still in our system ?

Ryan Keedy signed with the Greensboro Grasshoppers in low A ball. Wish him well

Stupid. He's our top prospect and he should be getting as many at-bats as possible. The whole Cubs organization is mentally challenged. Vitters may be ready for adv A pitching, but is he up to playing for Mr. Personality, Buddy Bailey ? He is the "manager from hell" and a detriment to the Cubs organization. :banghead:

Don't know the real reasons these guys got their pink slips but it could be because they're both 24 years old (wow,that's really old! )

I think Onieri Fleita has a screw loose or the heat is getting to him. He released a proven hitter, Sean Hoorelbeke from Boise after getting him a whopping 16 at bats. The guy batted .322 last summer in 58 games with a .938 OPS. IN turn, he promotes an unproven NDFA John Contreras to Daytona. Go figure ?????? Another good player we drafted out of college, Ryan Keedy got released yesterday from Daytona. Another college player, Kurt Calvert, quit in spring training after being told he was down the promotion list.Why even draft college players if your not going to play them everyday for a couple of seasons to see if they develop into prospects? It seems that if you're a NDFA from Venezuela or the Dominican Republic, the Cubs minor league system is taylored for you.I sure hope that Hoorelbeke, Keedy, and the other college players they cut can sign with organizations that will give them a better chance to show the obvious skills that got them drafted in the first place. :banghead: :banghead:

I'm glad to see Ryan Harvey doing well in Double AA. After 55 games Harvey is batting .242 with 12 doubles, 11 homeruns, 34 rbi's and a .825 OPS. It seems that the Cubs are leaning more toward the smaller,speed burner type outfielders who can put the ball in play and steal bases. They've gotten away from the slower, game changing power guys who usually play the corner positions. Harvey,at 6'5" 240 doesn't fit into that new phylosophy.....and they gave him the ultimatum which he wisely refused. Another player that is in that mold is second year outfielder Jericho Jones. He is 6'5" 225 and presently getting into about 25% of the Daytona Cubs games ( and only as a DH ) It appears that Buddy Bailey has no intention of putting Jones in the outfield (although he fields his position well and has a strong arm) He was a weekend starting pitcher for his three years in college and is a low 90's guy (clocked at 96 at a Dodgers pre-draft workout). It would be better for a player like Jones to be traded or moved down to a lower level team where he could play everday in the outfield and get in a hitters rythym ( instead of 5 at bats per week as a DH ). It looks like they will eventually do the pitcher ultimatum strategy to Jones (not a good idea). I wish Harvey the best and hope he makes the bigs someday.

It makes more sense for Dylan Johnston to stay in Mesa and see how he progresses,but when have the powers that be ever made a decision that makes sense? Dylan is already listed as an outfielder on the roster on the Boise site ( but then again, so is Ryan Sontag....and he is a pitcher now)

Dylan Johnston will be in Boise. I think he is going to be converted into a pitcher. I think the players fly out to Boise tomorrow so we ought to know the roster tomorrow.

the official announcement......http://www.daytonacubs.com/cgi-bin/dist/news.cgi?id=1

90% chance of thunderstorms until 1 am in Daytona Beach.....don't think they'll get this one in