Transmogrified Tiger

The Cubs have also split series with the Dodgers, Braves, Cardinals, and White Sox during that time frame, and knocked the Astros from the ranks of .500 when they played them.

It's late so this probably won't make any sense and couldn't happen, but if you want to shake things up after 3 years of not being able to break through: Let Gregg, Harden, and Grabow walk. Offer arbitration to Harden, and to Gregg provided he doesn't humiliate himself the rest of the year so he won't take arbitration. If Harden choses to come back, cool. If not, yay draft picks. Eat Miles' money so I never have to see him again. Lilly, Theriot, and a pitching prospect(hope for someone like Coleman, willing to give up someone like Jackson) for Jose Reyes and a low level prospect. Buy low on Howie Kendrick. He and Fontenot can be in a platoon with Kendrick taking at bats if he has a nice year. See if you can get Rafael Soriano for less than 3 years. I wouldn't be picky about the money if that could happen. Reyes Fukudome Lee Ramirez Bradley Soriano Soto Fontenot/Kendrick Best 5 of Zambrano/Dempster/Wells/Gorzelanny/Samardzija/Marshall/Jackson/Atkins/Coleman (NOT Cashner) Marmol/Guzman/Soriano finish games, Marshall is in the pen if he doesn't make the rotation, Heilman is mopup duty, and Stevens, Gaub, Parker, and whoever else you find(trade, FA bargain, Rule 5, etc.) compete for middle relief. Overall, stronger offense(especially without the flukish 2 months of awfulness from everyone), stronger pen, and weaker rotation, plus 3 or 5 of the first 50 picks in the draft. The hope is that there's enough depth in the rotation to handle whoever is ineffective, and hope that someone of Cashner/Jackson/Carpenter continues making big strides in 2010 to show they're ready for a rotation spot.

Flaherty hasn't really been a bad luck BABIP guy. He just isn't hitting the ball very hard consistently(13.8% LD%, 14.4% IF/F). That's particularly worrisome for a college product like Flaherty that is old for his level.

Snyder never walks and has a near 30% K rate at AAA. He wouldn't be a good idea on the Major League club.

It's not compared to his peers, it's compared to himself in normal situations. That's why it's possible to have anti-clutch and not clutch. Aaron Miles isn't anti-clutch, he's just bad. Aramis Ramirez isn't clutch, he's just good. There are rare examples of players who really underperform in those situations over a significant timeframe, but the examples are even more rare for those who overperform in those situations over a significant timeframe.

When I first saw that I thought I saw the dude's nose laying on the ground next to him. That was a terrifying quarter-second before I realized that wasn't possible.

Nope. Samardzija is their best chance of not having to waste the whole pen that day. He's the only one who can get you through 5 IP right now, unless you call up an inferior pitcher like Atkins.

Also, Samardzija's Iowa line the last 2 years as a starter: 18 GS, 103 IP, 3.32 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 7.95 K/9, 2.97 BB/9, 2.68 K/BB, and a FIP of about 4.30.

If you're not going to call someone up, it has to be Samardzija. He's been used as a long man more than Marshall(whose only time reaching 30 pitches in the last two months was him getting torched in 2 IP the other day), and he's coming off his longest outing where he was reasonably effective.

I believe it is Cashner day. Iowa: Atkins Tennessee: Cashner Daytona: Muschko? Not sure Peoria: Cabrera Boise: Nagel

I was a big fan of The Forgotten Titans, a name I used last year. Couldn't come up with anything as clever this year.

Not crazy at all, Raley had been rated as someone who could go in the 1st or Supplemental round prior to the draft. He may not have the 2nd highest ceiling of our draftees, but he could easily end up the 2nd best or even best prospect from the draft. I'm excited to see how much of a leap he takes from focusing exclusively like pitching, hopefully it's as big as Jay Jackson's.

http://cubsminors.wikispaces.com/castros

Jackson is off to a good start at Peoria, although his K-rate is already pushing 25%. 7/8 in stolen bases as a pro so far too, that's a nice plus.

Theriot's strike three wasn't even close. Bob looked like a dummy trying to criticize Soriano. Soriano didn't lollygag to first base, he did what he was supposed to. He had the play in front of him and didn't try to take the extra base when there was going to be a guy on third with 2 outs and the play at 2nd would've been close.

That's a real good pickup for the Twins.

I've always wondered if you put together a lineup like that for a full season, how many times would said team get shutout in 162 games. I'd imagine no matter who you put up there your bound to slump together at least a couple of times out of 162 games. For some point of reference, there have been 79 All-Star games, and 6 shutouts.

I'll put this here so it gets seen as sort of a PSA. Just about every signed pick from this year(or at least the ones that have started playing) should be added into the Cubs Minors Wiki at www.cubsminors.wikispaces.com. It should prove really useful as we've had a lot more good discussion recently in this forum, which is great. So for those not familiar with it, please check it out, cause feedback is awesome. Also, as you come across reports that would be useful to the Wiki, post them here. As someone who isn't a subscriber to BP, BA, PG, etc., this forum is the chief source of such information that I draw from.

My guess is that pitch f/x is classifying too many of Guzman's cutters as sliders. Regardless though, that's a lot of movement with a lot of velocity.

I'd like to see Bour moved up to Peoria before the end of the year.

I thought this was going to be a comparison of the early careers of Ramirez and Alex Gordon, which sounded like a very interesting topic. I was wrong.

Watch yourself, things didn't go so well for you last time you got [hugged] in the mouth.

It does make some sense considering that Castro's flaws(errors, hitting for extra bases) are such that he probably won't be overwhelmed by AA. On the other hand, he hasn't hit LHP worth anything this year, and most importantly, why? What's there to gain by playing the last month for Tennessee?

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/randy-wells/ Harry Pavlidis is awesome. I'm so glad he's a Cubs fan so their players are routinely the focus of his articles.

I'm thinking we spend this fall making Vitters into the first infielder/short reliever.