Outshined_One

Brandan Wright would be an ideal pick. He'd fall far enough to have a chip on his shoulder and would have the kind of coach who wouldn't put up with any slacking. I think he would have been best served with staying another year, but hey, I'll happily take him on this team.

Bit of a creepy start, but hey, welcome aboard!

How cheeky of the mods! :o

El Toro Junior!

So...what happens if the team isn't sold while the Cubs have exclusive negotiating rights with Zambrano?

:(

Nice to see the White Sox are also quite effective with the fake rally! :D

...would it happen to have that frickin' laser on its frickin' head?

Congratulations to Mark, but 1.2 G/F doesn't really signify a "groundball pitcher". There's a difference between an extreme groundball pitcher (Webb, Wang) and someone like Holliman, yes. However, considering he generates more groundballs than flyballs by a decent margin, I think that qualifies him as a groundball pitcher. However, that's pretty much arguing semantics.

Watching him run out onto the field with an American flag in the first game back following September 11th. I'll always have a special place in my heart for Sosa for one specific moment, which I've told a few times on this board. Back in late spring of 2002, I was a senior in high school and got tickets to a Cubs/Pirates double header to which I was going to take this girl. After waiting around for awhile at my place, she never showed up and didn't answer any of my phone calls. I was angry and kinda depressed, so I just went by myself. I show up at the double header at the tail end of the first game, which I think the Cubs ended up losing 11-1. I was in a pretty bad mood about being ditched and some other things, so watching the Cubs get their brains beat in didn't exactly do much to lift my mood. The second game featured a matchup of Juan Cruz against Josh Fogg, so I wasn't exactly thrilled about the prospect of that game since Cruz had been scuffling and Baylor had been jerking him around up to that point. But, an odd thing happened after the first game. My mom showed up. She saw the ticket I left on the counter and put 2 and 2 together, so she decided to come to the game and cheer me up. It didn't work at first, but it was nice to have some company. Game 2 gets under way and Cruz actually pitched halfway decently. However, the Cubs were doing their best to try and bumble through the game and things weren't looking promising as the game went on. However, Sammy came up to the plate with the Cubs threatening. Everyone at Wrigley got on their feet and just cheered him on, chanting his name, and doing everything they could to just get a runner in! And then, it happened. BOOM! He got a hold of one and took it out of the yard. The stadium erupted. I got a smile on my face and cheered my lungs out for the guy. The Cubs won that game thanks to that home run. On that day, I was in a terrible mood and was feeling utterly depressed. However, with one swing of the bat, I forgot all about it. Even if Sammy's career goes completely into the toilet and he's implicated in everything from steroids to the Kennedy assassination, that one moment will always endear him to me. That's why he'll always be one of my favorite Cubs.

Since I know a bunch of you don't stop by the minor league forum all too often, I figured I'd share this info with you guys since it's pretty darn nifty. Holliman's no-no :D Final line: 7 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3/1 K/BB, 12-6 GO-FO, 22 BF Some points for those of you wondering... -This was in Game 1 of a double header down at AA Tennessee. Double header games in the minors go 7 innings. -Holliman was a 2005 third rounder out of Ole' Miss. -He's a RHP who projects to be a solid middle of the rotation starter in the majors. -He probably won't be a high strikeout guy in the majors (55 K in 86.2 IP this season), but he doesn't walk many guys (27 BBs on the season) or give up many HRs (only 3 on the season). -Moreover, he's a groundball pitcher (1.20 GO/FO on the season). I know the major league team sucks right now, but it's always nice to hear good news from down on the farm. :D

...okay? Where be the Don? :(

About as uncommon as in the majors! :D Good for Mark! A no-no is an awesome achievement! =D> =D> =D> *Whistles*

Oh! Oh! I know what the Cubs should do! Let's trade Zambrano for some washed up never was infielder who has an arthritic elbow!

Cubs lose again? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw You don't say!

If the Cubs can con them out of a decent prospect, I'd be all for it. Hell, if the Cubs only get some Big League Chew and an Ivan Rodriguez rookie card out of the deal, I'd be all for it.

"Can we be fwends?" "Kay." ":D" "I've spent the last few years in Chicago building up an immunity to Iocane powder. " "Want to try my world famous roofiecolada?"

"Can we be fwends?" "Kay." ":D"

Hey Nate, do you know if Kyler Burke is heading to Peoria or if the Cubs are sending him to Boise?

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh...I smell a defamation suit!

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh...I don't think that comparison works. Burke seems to have something resembling a clue at the plate but hasn't displayed much power in his professional career. Harvey has no clue at the plate but probably has the best power in the Cubs' minor leagues.

He's a raw five tool player, you're telling me the Cubs don't have an irrational amount of manlove for guys like that?

Speaking of... Where did you hear this as he hasn't pitched in the minors yet? Yeah, this. Most of what I've read about Burke from last year's draft suggests he's better at the plate than on the mound. He'd start an outing while working in the low 90s, but lose velocity in the middle innings. That suggests the guy needs to do some serious strengthening if he is to remain a starter. Along with that, his mechanics were so-so in terms of what kind of upside he'd offer later in his career. As a hitter, on the other hand, he had a pretty good swing that was a bit handsy (i.e. he "throws his hands at the ball"), but otherwise was clean and repeatable.

I'm intrigued with Burke, but I'm not excited about him. There's some reason for hope with him and there's plenty of reason to believe he might never amount to anything in this system. Here are a few things worth noting: Positives -I dig that .094 IsoD. I'm not overly thrilled with the Cubs' minor league system when it comes to the coaches' ability to teach guys to take a walk since they seem to equate plate discipline with being able to make contact with a pitch anywhere from the nose to the toes...and actively encouraging guys to do so. Burke at least doesn't seem to have a problem with taking a pitch...which makes me wonder what his Ks looking versus Ks swinging splits look like. -5 tool guy. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! -His home/away splits are absolutely bizarre. Check it: Entire Season AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS Home Games .171 33 111 13 19 2 1 1 12 11 36 3 1 .250 .234 .484 Away Games .255 29 102 11 26 5 0 0 9 15 37 0 0 .361 .304 .665 I have no idea what kind of an effect Fort Wayne has on a player in terms of dimensions, but that kind of split is rather eye-opening. However, considering his BABIP at home is .250, that tells me he's been unusually unlucky at home this season (more on this in a moment). -Apparently power was one of his better tools coming out of HS, but he hasn't been able to translate that into professional ball yet. Granted, guys like Ryan Harvey and Brian Dopirak have shown us that power doesn't mean anything if you can't use it in-game, but it's nice to know that Burke might have that tool come around. -He's got a good arm, so I'd imagine he could end up being at least an above average defensive RF with his speed. -19 is young for Low A. If he has to repeat, he'd still be on the right track as far as age development goes. Negatives -I hate using strikeouts as a metric for measuring minor leaguers, but in some cases, it's justified. It can be a red flag for a guy who has trouble making consistent contact at the plate, which could completely submarine his career as he progresses through the minors. Pitchers are Low A usually don't have good breaking balls and changeups. What will happen to him as he advances if he strikes out at a rate like this already? Guys definitely learn how to cut down their Ks as they move along, for certain, but right now, color me skeptical. -His BABIP is roughly .321 overall and around .400 on the road. In other words, that .215 batting average actually should be lower! That's...that's just not good. -His LD% is about 12%. For a guy who supposedly has good power, that's pretty bad. Considering he grounds out about 45% of the time, I have to wonder if some idiot coach in the Padres organization told him that he should beat the ball into the ground and use his speed to his advantage. His swing might also need some readjustments. Or it could be that he has no power. -2 HRs in 376 ABs. Wow. Maybe the mountain air in Boise will do him some good. But for now, I'm not very excited about him.

You do realize it's tough to judge NINETEEN YEAR OLD minor leaguers based on stats in Low ball right? Man you are the king of hyperbole. It's tough, but the guy's stats do not inspire much hope in me. Cripes, he's barely hitting over .200 and has a BABIP of .321.