Thrilho

Unless one or more of these players isn't able to field their position, hit enough to be an MLB player, or is too injured to count on.

@sahadevsharma: McLeod on Schwarber (3/3): But we do feel, with his profile & the way that he handles himself as a hitter, that he can move pretty quickly I don't think they're expecting him to stay at catcher. Soler in RF, Almora or Alcantara in CF, Schwarber in LF, Bryant at 3B, Baez at 2B. Done.

Here's an HS football scouting video of his. There's a play 40 seconds in of him picking the ball and taking it 70 yards to the house that should give you a pretty good idea of his speed. Or at least his speed 3 years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GftNbeodOh4 I love this pick. If he pans out, this is exactly what the lineup needs. Another lefty power bat with patience and ability to make contact. It seems like he was rated lower because nobody could figure out what his position was. If the Cubs have seen enough to think he can play left field then it seems like an easy decision. I wanted Alex Jackson, but they've seen both these guys and they've seen Schwarber tear up college baseball for three years with power, patience, and contact. And he's left handed. And 2 or 3 years away. Since I wasn't posting before the draft here was my board: Aiken Jackson Rodon Schwarber Conforto Pentecost Gordon Nola Kolek So again, LOVE THIS PICK!

Justin Amlung dominated tonight, 5.2 IP 4 H (all singles) 0 R 0 BB 8 K. 8-1 GO-FO. On the season: 46.2 IP 1.54 ERA 34 H 7 BB 40 K 4 HR Last 4 games: 21 IP 0.43 ERA 11 H 1 BB 20 K 0 HR I didn't go back to check, but from what I recall he hasn't been giving up much hard contact. His first start, right before that 4 game stretch, he gave up 2 HRs in 6 IP, but other than that he's done a great job of limiting damage, as evidenced by the 1.54 ERA. And the walk rate looks pretty good. The GO/FO for the season is only 1.35, so today's 8 ground outs was a good sign.

The only reason Bryant is still in Tennessee is so Manny can get some 1 on 1 time with Baez. Bryant knows it and is choosing to make public mockery of the decision.

X Here's Javy's spray chart from 5/17-5/21. Today's game hasn't been added yet, so just pretend there are two green diamonds at the wall in right center, green square in shallow right, and a red diamond right about where that X is at the top of the post. My favorite part of this is I'd forgotten all about his single off the wall the over day.

I'd still be very happy with Jackson, but that time frame is still a killer. Seeing Almora struggling drives home the optimistic nature of the "let's put Jackson in right and fast track him." It would be nice to have a catcher who could be ready around 2017 or late 2016 rather than be looking at potentially 2018/2019. If they take Kolek I'll trust they measured the risk, but I wouldn't take that risk if it was my decision. Rodon I'd be happy with, but I'd rather just for college bat if it's possible and avoid waiting an entire career for the other shoe I drop.

When I said "if that kept up" I meant an even split against lefties and righties. The overall numbers for Blackburn I'd obviously take if they could be produced consistently.

Underwood with another good outing. 5IP 2H 0R 4BB 5K. The two hits we're singles, and one was on a bunt. He's striking slightly out more guys this year (7.2 per 9 in 2014 vs 6.0 in 2013), but has been getting less ground balls (1.04 GO/FO in 2014 vs 1.53 in 2013). The walks are obviously still too high but also better than last year (3.4 per 9 vs 4.5). Here's an article on what he's throwing. http://www.chicagonow.com/cubs-insider/2014/05/first-looks-cubs-prospects-duane-underwood-and-jen-ho-tseng/ This guy says he worked around 92, and hit 95 a couple but that it didn't have much life. He liked the change up he saw, although he didn't see many. I'm wondering how much Underwood is throwing it though, because he's got a stark split against lefties (in 29 whole innings). 1.92 WHIP and 2 HR in 13.2 IP for righties and 1.09 WHIP and 0 HR in 11 IP vs lefties. Too earlly for splits as Jason Parks reminded us, but I'll be watching his and Blackburn's L/R splits, because that could give a gauge on the progress of their change ups. Blackburn worked a ton on his last year, and so far his production is about even vs lefties and righties. ERA is better against lefties (1.71 vs 3.80) due to two HRS, but the rest are very even. More hits to lefties (.235 BAA vs .189), but Ks, BB, GO/FO are just about the same. If that kept up I'd call it a win.

88-92 FB, average slider, change. Thanks Raisin. Arguello had this in his notes this morning: "Amlung has starters stuff: 90-93 mph FB, curve, slider, change" He doesn't address how good the secondaries have looked or what time frame he's looking at for the velo, but 90-93 sounds pretty good if he keeps this production up. He's got 18Ks to 1 BB in his last 21.1 innings.

He also had 2 doubles and a HR in a game on 5/11, so I'm sure that didn't hurt his stock.

McDaniel has been all over Pentecost on Twitter the last couple days: 18 May Kiley McDaniel @kileymcd Since 4/6, Max Pentecost has gone 46/87, hitting .529/.577/.722 w/5 HR, 6/7 SB, 10/5 BB/K in 97 PA. The last game I saw him? 4/5. 18 May Kiley McDaniel @kileymcd In the 160 PA before that, he still hit .357/.425/.463 w/3 HR & 17/18 BB/K, but scouts were hot and cold on his swing early in the year. 18 May Kiley McDaniel @kileymcd And if you're worried about Pentecost vs. better pitching or with wood? Last summer on the Cape: .346/.418/.480 w/6 HR, 16/22 BB/K in 146 PA Seems like everyone likes his defense, athleticism (speed), and hit tool. Most reports have him with gap power, but the power has obviously ticked up lately. In the video McDaniel posted he doesn't look like he's got much of a power stroke, and he's got some of the Baez waggle in the load, which seems like it would sap some power. Not a big fan of all the movement overall, but it seems to be working for him at the moment. http://sbb.scout.com/story/1398378-draft-video-max-pentecost?s=381 He's got a .441 BABIP to go with his line of .422/.477/.626. 21 doubles and 8 HR in 230 ABs, up from 14 doubles and 3 HR in 212 ABs last year. Easy to see how he went under the radar until this hot streak. Stats: http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?P=max-pentecost

Amlung dominated tonight. In his 7 innings he walked nobody, threw 51 strikes in 71 pitches, K'd 5, had a 8-4 GF/AO, and allowed only three singles. One bunt single, one infield single, and a line drive to center. Anyone know what he's been working with?

was it toonster who was comparing him to pedroia the day he was drafted? It was. Toonster was pretty geeked about getting him. Was anyone watching the game who can say where the HRs were hit and what they looked like? He hit them both to left, and it's 310 down the line at Jackson, 395 to center. 4 mph wind blowing out to center. So I'm wondering what to think of them. He's only hit 4 HR 492 career minor league PAs, and had only 9 in 258 college ABs. Whether they're Minute Maid Park HRs matters quite a bit I'd say. Also, has anyone been watching these last 10 games who can say what all these doubles look like? Kyle, you said he's getting a lot of fast guy doubles. Have you seen any of the recent ones during the last 10 where he's got a .421 ISO? Seems like at least these HRs today would indicate he's trying to hit the ball in the air more but a lot of his doubles have been coming on line drives.

+1 Part of the idea when they were going for Tanaka was that they'd "go for it" and sign Shark too. So then the money is presumably there for two front line pitchers. If you added Shark to the mix of FA pitchers this offseason my top two would be Scherzer and Shark. (That includes Lester.) You've already got negotiating leverage and a window to exclusively deal with Shark. So go get the best two guys. I'd also much rather have Shark than anything similar to the Garza deal or the Stroman/Sanchez deal. The Cubs need front line, playoff type starters. Shark has the stuff to dominate, and if he starts consistently getting results then he's one of those guys. Plus, his risk factors are low. Never really been injured, big enough that he's a pretty low injury risk going forward, and low mileage for his age. Even if you get a top 15 pitching prospect he's still got plenty of TINSTAAP going on.

Tseng was pretty great today before he got chased by two doubles in the 6th. He let up a home run to the the first hitter he faced, then over the next 5 innings he surrendered two ground ball singles, walked nobody, struck out 5 and had a 9:2 GO/AO ratio.

Even after all those ifs I didn't really say why I thought Samardzija would take a market value contract from the Cubs. Being a year away from FA, you don't really know what contender is going to give you that offer. Also, if he dominates this year and can get that $15-20 mil from the Cubs, it's a fairly big risk to assume he dominates at the same level in 2015. You can say he bet on himself the last couple years but turning down $50 mil to bet on yourself is different than turning down $100-$150. Also, as much as the lack of run support has sucked, if you've got Bryant, Baez, Rizzo, Castro all launching HRs I'm guessing you'd get caught up in the "FINALLY" aspect of it. And pure and simple, power is lacking around the bigs. IF these guys can come up and show him a taste of what his offense could look like that would be big. Plus, signing a big FA pitcher before Shark could help. If if if...I agree with the folks that think it's likely that he's dealt. But with every dominant start he makes I think the likelihood that he stays goes up.

I don't think you'd see any stories about the 2 sides being close until they were very close on a deal. The FO has until the trade deadline to see if he can continue to dominate. If they decide they want to keep him, they've got until the end of the year to convince him it's worth sticking around. We likely won't know a thing until something big happens. So say by year end you've got Bryant, Baez, and Alcantara up and playing well. Say Rizzo and Castro are still performing the way they are now. The offense looks pretty good then. Say Vizcaino and Rivero have come up to solidify the bullpen. Say they play .500 baseball in August and September. Then, say the Cubs come to Samardzija with that 6 year 100+ million contract. I'd guess its likely Samardzija signs up. That's a hell of a lot of ifs, but a lot of them seem fairly likely to me. The deal that Samardzija is gone for sure because of the competitiveness of he team doesn't jive hat well with me. They haven't offered him the money he wants. Stuff can change, especially when you've got Bryant making a joke out of AA, and our two young ML hitters destroying the ball. I'm hoping like hell they find a get to get Shark back, and if they need to get a just a little aggressive with timetables on these top prospects I'm cool with that. I'm hoping Baez, Bryant, and Alcantara all come up together around July/August, partially to show Shark and other FAs that there's some near term hope. Of course, that would require that all three are destroying AAA. Fingers crossed.

lol wtf The guy Arguello got that from clarified in the comments that it was one pitch that hit 94 or 95, and one other hit 93. Says he "averaged 88 with a handful of 90-91."

In other news, Alcantara didn't strike out today. First time in 8 games without a K. In those 8 games, he had 13 Ks in 34 PAs including a nasty 10 Ks in 17 AB spell. Only 3 in his last 3 games though. Alcantara's strikeout column is the first place I go each day. After the Bryant endorphin fix, of course.

Game summary says he hit it on a line drive to the left fielder. Did he line it off the top of the wall?

Right after Bruno's ninth double in his last 6 games.

This came with first base open after Bruno hit his second double of the game and 8th in his last 6 games. Was anyone listening/watching the game who can say if it was intentional? I'd guess no, given that it was no outs in a six run game.

To the corner store? To first base. A station to or through which he advances a full 26.9% of the time this season. He's Josh Vitters with less power and more CF-i-ness. He also had a double, his first XBH in his last 7 games. Keep giving Almora that sweet doom boner mojo.