CubsWin

Just saw that. You can't hope for anything better than that. As meaningless as it is. Its still really good to see.

He was a starter for the first 6 seasons of his minor league career but struggled despite having a good FB and a nasty slider when it was on. The Cubs converted him to a reliever last year, and he did very well in the minors (4-1, 3.11, 74 Ks against only 14 BB) but struggled with wildness when called up. Outside of the walks, his peripherals in Chicago were quite good (6.6 hits per 9 and 11.2 Ks per 9). So Theo and Co. decided to give him one last go as a starter, and this season has been his best so far. He's 24. If he continues to pitch like he has in June, he should see time in AAA in the 2nd half. Depending on how he does in the PCL, he will be given a shot to win the 5th starter spot next year in spring training. Still a ways to go, but so far, the decision to move him back to starter is paying off.

So $29,400 underslot.

At this point, Alex Jackson falling to the Cubs would make smile. I wonder if the apparent depth of the 2014 draft would come into play with Cubs decision to trade/extend Garza. That comp pick they could get might be more valuable than normal.

That's not what I've been hearing. He's still got stuff to work on defensively, but doesn't he have all the tools to stay there?

there really hasn't been much buzz about him. but a middle infielder with the 6th best OPS in a double-A league, at age 21, is pretty damn notable. I agree. But I've been hearing some buzz out there about him. Somebody said he was in his top 100 recently, I forget who though. Some respected expert type...

He didn't hit much in EXST but did show a decent eye walking 16 times against 21 Ks in 80 PA which is in line with his DSL numbers last year. He's 18 and 6'3" so he may need some time to coordinate his body, but his middle name is Eckersley so he should be fine...

Wow. Not too shabby at all. And all position player prospects. The last time the Cubs had two prospects period in the Top 30 was 2002 with Mark Prior and Juan Cruz. They almost had two position player prospects in the Top 30 in 2005 with Dopirak and Pie, but Pie was ranked 31st. The last time they had two or more position player prospects ranked in the Top 30 at the same time was 2001 with Patterson and Choi. Cruz was also ranked 17th then (and Ben Christensen was 37th). That's the only time they've had 3 in the Top 30. They never had more than two in the Top 30 prior to that going back to 1990. So that's only 2 times in the last 23 years that they've have two players or more in Baseball America's Top 30 prospects. If Bryant is signed, we'd probably have 4 right now come next season. Pretty incredible. EDIT: I know Parks is BP and not BA, just wanted to add some perspective Those prior names in the Top 30 do not fill me with confidence. I'm hoping that we hit on two of the current top 4 guys but 1 is probably more realistic (by "hit" I mean All-Star type player). Patterson, Choi, Dopirak and Pie are vastly different (and by different I mean worse) prospects than Baez, Soler, Almora and Bryant. Granted, the chances of all 4 of the Cubs current prospects reaching their ceilings is low, but it's higher than the previous group because they actually have individualized developmental plans, worthwhile instructors and their skill sets includes at least some pitch recognition which comes in handy in the bigs. Choi was the only prospect that exhibited any plate discipline, and he netted the Cubs Derrek Lee. Dopirak's big year was in Low-A and kinda sucked after that. Pie and Patterson were tools guys that lacked a batter's eye and weren't properly prepared for major league pitching.

Really intrigued to see how Blackburn does in his 2nd start.

Today's walk was his 15th of the season, giving him a new career high. 5.6% BB rate this season. And something like a 12% BB rate in June.

You do realize you can't just do that, right? :roll: Ha! That's the spirit.

How about Marmol sent to Iowa and Rusin called up? WTF?

And walking only 1.

If there's any way to get them to agree to Zimmer/Ventura and Cam Gallagher. I'd be a very happy man. Send some prospects back. Include an OFer. Whatever it takes. Git 'er done. Doesn't ABTY's source supposedly work for the Royals?

Not that I doubt you at all, David, but where did you hear this?

It's not hard to understand why it's been reported that Jackson is McLeod's favorite prospect. Ever. I don't know if the FO is shooting for this result, but I have been rooting for the Cubs to get good performances out of their tradeable assets and development from their young veterans while losing as many games as possible since Theo and Co. took over. A top five pick, hopefully as high as third with a comp pick and whatever prospects can be brought in via trade is just what the doctor ordered for the Cubs rebuild. It's a long time before the 2014 draft, but, in some probably sick way, I'm already looking forward to it. 97 more games of futility please.

Yissssssss That's exactly what I was hoping to see. Keep it going into July and he'll likely see AA soon thereafter.

Pretty sad what passes as "an amazing pitching day" for the Cubs these days... Though oddly, the fact that Juan Paniagua pitched today authentically made this an amazing pitching day today for me. So what the [expletive] am I talking about...?

Who is Telles? Did you mean Torres?

Almora triple, RBI. :yawn:

I dunno. Buxton's pretty good at baseball. Let's see now if Buxton goes into a slump. Good thinking, Kyle.

:eek: Apparently you see things differently... He's awful at blocking pitches and might be the worst I've seen at framing. I'll give you that he's struggled there. For me, not the worst I've ever seen, but you are entitled to your opinion. He's thrown out 31% of base stealers so far this season which is good enough for 6th in the majors right now among starting catchers. Baseball-Reference has him down as a 1.0 dWAR. It's not great, but I'd say pretty good is fair. Admittedly, receiving has been a little rough this season though...

:eek: Apparently you see things differently...

C - Castillo. Even if he doesn't improve much at the plate over the next few years (which I think he will), defensively he's pretty good back there. The Cubs don't have much in the system that would be ready by then anyway. 1B - Vogelbach (Can't count Rizzo cuz he's not homegrown! :P ) 2B - Alcantara SS - Castro 3B - Baez LF - Soler CF - Szczur/Lake followed by Almora RF - Bryant Okay... now for the all homegrown starting pitchers... SP - Samardzija, P. Johnson, Cabrera, Paniagua and Zastryzny? Wells? Jokisch? Ouch... Now add in the players that were traded for...

I knew the Cubs had to have sent more than just Ian Dickson in return for Rodriguez.