CubsWin

There's nothing blocking DLee from resigning with the Cubs during the offseason if he feels this is the best place for him contract wise or family wise or whatever his reasons. Blocking the trade only does two things. It keeps him from having to uproot himself and be away from his family more over the next few months and it keeps the Cubs from getting whatever prospects they might have for his services.

Was he really the most likely candidate for the job? I wouldn't have thought they had him at the head of the line even before this outing. I have no idea who they'll pick. They seem to be following their plan to put Z back in the bullpen. Cashner probably would be determined to not be stretched out either. Marshall's certainly not going to move. It will probably come down to one of Diamond, Jackson, Samardzija, or Atkins. In the back of my head I was thinking Cashner has been getting a lot of 2 inning outings lately and may be preparing to be stretched out. But when I see he's only gone over 1 inning 4 times in the past three weeks. And last nights bad 2nd inning occured a day after an outing. I don't care that he only threw 2 pitches, you don't make a young arm come out on back to back outings and pitch past one inning the 2nd day. Is that actually an industry standard or just your own thing? I've never heard that before.

Anyone else joining me on the Lake in the top 5 bandwagon yet? I'm close. But I can't commit to top 5 just yet.

Yeah, in 137 pre all-star break ABs he hit .212/.290/.234 with only 3 doubles, 0 triples, 0 HRs and 14 walks against 40 Ks. In just 17 less post all-star break ABs he's hit .308/.394/.592 with 9 doubles, 2 triples, 7 HRs and 14 walks against 29 Ks. I think it's fair to say a light has turned on. He's been awesome for almost as long as he sucked. Lucky for us, the awesome part came second.

i'm sure the pointless 2 or 3 week shift to the bullpen benefited him greatly. At this point I have trouble believing that's all that's wrong. It was 91 degrees at game time with a 10 mph wind blowing out to right field. During the 2003 season, the Albuquerque stadium was found to have the largest park factor in the league. (I couldn't find stats for any other season.) That may have something to do with tonight's performance being as bad as it was. He certainly wasn't the only pitcher to do poorly tonight. He's been hot and cold for a while now. His last two starts have been bad. But the two starts prior to that he was great. I don't know what's up with him.

I'm someone who can't wait to check the box scores of all the Cubs minor league affiliates and do so almost everyday. I agree with his assessment that it appeared Vitters was beginning to figure out AA like he had the lower levels after first struggling. But we'll never know for sure due to the timing of his injury. It could have been just a hot streak. That said, I am not at all confident that Vitters will OPS at .900+ next season. True, if he greatly improves his walk rate (like he began to this season) he can get there, but such leaps in plate discipline are rare and should not be expected. I can see him continuing to improve his walk rate and completing his adjustment to AA level pitching next season, and as a 21 year old, I would be pleased to see him spend the majority of the year at AA unless of course he blows up early. I think it is reasonable to believe that Vitters will likely be a major league ready hitter by the time he is 22 or 23 which would have him be right on schedule. The thing I think may hold him back from the bigs is his glove. Any reports on how his defense progressed this season?

I'm not one of the guys who despises Jim Hendry on this board. I think he's done a lot of good things and a lot of bad things. But I am one who believes that the Cubs could do better and would like to see them try someone else. I don't think that's going to happen however for a couple of reasons. One is what Ricketts said earlier today... (Sorry, Truffle, looks like the head honcho disagrees with your sig. :wink: ) And the other is the way the Cubs front office is currently constructed. They seem to have put their eggs firmly in the scouting basket. From everything I've read, they use sabermetrics, but only as a part of the player's profile. Rightly or wrongly, I think they still trust a proven scout's trained eye and opinion more than the abstract metric. And unless that changes, it doesn't matter if they do ship out Hendry, he would likely be replaced with someone of a similar ilk and not a Theo Epstein type. I'm not sure exactly why, but my initial reaction on who I'd like to replace Lou is Joe Torre. I'm a Girardi fan, but I don't see the Yankees letting him go anytime soon. I'm not intrigued by Sandberg yet. I'd need to learn more about him as a manager. There's been some turmoil in the Cubs clubhouse recently with Bradley and Zambrano. Torre seems like the best man for the job to deal with stuff like that. The question I have is how well does he work with and develop younger players. The Cubs seem to have some of those on the horizon as well as those already on the team. And I need to learn more about Bobby V. But it seems like a lot of people who know what they're talking about like him.

tenor? Yes. Early on he was a tenor. Now Daniels is a bass. Everyone knows that.

Dolis and McNutt. 'Nuff said.

Yikes. So that's why he was a 12th round pick. Eh, the Cubs have been successful improving Archer's control. Maybe they can help Reed as well. I took that as great news - getting an electric HS arm in the 12th round is always good. Professional coaches have a much better chance of fixing mechanics than a HS coach. I agree with cal and had the same reaction. "Big, strong kid with electric stuff" for a 12th round pick is exciting. He's 18, IIRC he just switch to pitching this senior year, and that was the only of his four appearances where control has been a problem. There are lots of competitive short-season pitchers, but you never know which have "electric stuff" that will play in the majors. I think this is encouraging. Oh I agree that getting a guy with a decent ceiling and good stuff in the 12th round is exciting, and I didn't know he'd just switched to pitching recently. That's even better. But, obviously, for any pitcher to totally lose his control and not get it back for stretches at a time is no bueno and explains why someone with his stuff would have lasted until the 12th round. The good news for me is that he's new to pitching. That makes it even more likely that he will improve his control over time. And, cal, I agree that professional coaches have a much better chance of fixing his mechanics than a HS coach. I said as much in the post you responded to with my comment about how well the Cubs coaches have done improving Archer's control.

chirinos has been terrific the last two years, but future every day big leaguer seems a bit of a stretch. he's been in the system nearly 10 years... he should be able to hit at AA at this point. definitely a backup option if he has a solid glove, though. Chirinos probably looks like a back-up to us because Soto's having a good season. But if Robinson keeps hitting like he has over the last year and a half, there are several teams out there that would consider him better than the scrub who is starting for them.

Vitters keeps his hot streak going. Through 7 tonight, he's 2-for-4 with 2 doubles. He now has 6 hits in his last ten at bats, all of them for extra bases (4 doubles, 2 HRs).

Looking forward to Jay Jax and Rusin today. Also interested to see if Vitters can keep it going. His last two games haven't been too shabby. 6 ABs, 4 hits, 2 doubles, 2 HRs, 6 RBI.

Yikes. So that's why he was a 12th round pick. Eh, the Cubs have been successful improving Archer's control. Maybe they can help Reed as well.

not me. 4 BB is 5 IP still sucks. his problem has always been command, both inside and outside the strike zone. 76 pitches, 40 strikes isn't good. if he can hit his spots more often, he'll have a shot. Yeah, this game wasn't great control wise. He's continues to be inconsistent with his control. In his last start, he completed 5 innings in just 59 pitches, 38 of them for strikes. He's got to perform that way more often if he wants to be a starter in the bigs. That said, he's now allowed just 2 earned runs in 23.1 innings as a starter this season at AAA.

As a starter this season, Samardzija is 1-0 with a 0.98 ERA in 18.1 innings over 4 starts allowing 12 hits, striking out 23 while walking 8. Opponents have hit just .185 against him and he has yet to give up a HR. There. That should sufficiently jinx him tonight.

Agreed. Cashner's no longer in the minor league organization and it doesn't look like he'll return anytime soon. But if he were still in Iowa, he'd be the top pitching prospect hands down. That's not to say that Archer is way behind him, just clearly behind him. What's exciting to think about is that McNutt is still 20 (for a few weeks anyway) and Archer is still just 21. Cashner is almost exactly 2 years older than Archer. These guys look like pretty solid prospects at the moment. Here's hoping they just keep on keeping on.

He also just described McNutt. Plus velo w/ sink. Except for his anomaly game on July 9th when he gave up 3 HRs in one game, McNutt hadn't allowed one all year. I'm inclined to call Archer and McNutt the top two pitching prospects in the organization followed by Jay Jax. For a guy acquired as the Low-A project arm in the DeRosa deal and the 32nd round pick last season, that's not bad.

According to MiLB.com, his last three starts have been really really good. He's had two pretty bad starts in his last eight. Whatever, here's hoping he can keep going like he has in July. 3 starts, 18 IP, 11 hits, 16 Ks, 1 walk and an ERA of 1.00

I'm not sure if Callis is aware that Archer's so called inconsistent command has been getting more consistent every year. 2008 - 115.1 IP, 106 K/84 BB 2009 - 109 IP, 119 K/66 BB 2010 - 84.1 IP, 92 K/33 BB he may not be, but 33 BB in 84 IP is not really that great. certainly the big strides are something to be excited about. Agreed. I'm pointing more to the trend than to the present condition. As a 21 year old at AA with a 3-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio and a solid trend of improving control, I don't think his trajectory is pointed toward the bullpen.

Hopefully it wouldn't be Lancaster. There's a reason teams keep leaving; their stadium is murder on pitchers. I'd gladly spearhead the effort to rebuild their outfield wall and make the park bigger, if they would come to Lancaster. I live a half hour away. I'd throw in my play-by-play skills for free...

I'm not sure if Callis is aware that Archer's so called inconsistent command has been getting more consistent every year. 2008 - 115.1 IP, 106 K/84 BB 2009 - 109 IP, 119 K/66 BB 2010 - 84.1 IP, 92 K/33 BB

You had to post this, didn't you... Rusin gives up a hit in the 7th. I blame you.

You went out of your way to make a comment on one player for the sole reason of criticizing another player. I'm not sure what else you expected. I think that was West Side Rooter who did that. Or am I missing something?

Oh heaven forbid somebody make a snide remark about a top draft pick who is playing like crap. Not sure where this adjustment supposedly happened, he's been crap since the callup. I guess one must always assume that a top Cubs pick who isn't performing eventually will perform because the Cubs saw fit to promote him despite a lack of performance. The adjustment hasn't happened yet at AA, but the adjustments being referred to were the ones that happened at the previous levels. He struggled at first at Low A and then made the adjustment and started crushing the ball, then was promoted rather quickly to High A where he struggled at first again and then eventually start hitting the ball well. The Cubs then saw fit to promote him very quickly after not much time succeeding at High A. The pattern and evidence is there in black and white. It doesn't mean that he is or is not a bust. That's up to you. For me, when I look at that pattern of struggling at first and then eventually figuring it out, the fact that he's 20 and playing at AA and the fact that the jump from A+ to AA is considered the hardest of all the promotions, I'm willing to be patient. It is totally fair to say that he is currently performing like crap. But to say he's a bust, doesn't appear to be supported by the facts quite yet.