No Lee for the WBC
PEORIA, Ariz. _ The big question of the morning over in Mesa was whether first baseman Derrek Lee would join Team USA for the World Baseball Classic as Kevin Youkilis will miss the rest of the tourney with a sore left ankle. D-Lee says no. He's still on the mend from a sore right quadriceps, and he's not making the trip over here to the west side of the valley. However, he did say that he'd play if this were the regular season and that he hopes to be back in there tomorrow against the Padres in Mesa. (That's a day game, by the way, not a night game as it had appeared on some schedules. Channel 9 and WGN radio will have tomorrow's game.)
Geovany Soto returned from the WBC this morning, with Puerto Rico out of the tourney. Koyie Hill starts behind the plate today.
It's definitely a non-regular lineup, and I'll provide first names:
Aaron Miles, 2B
Nate Spears, SS
Micah Hoffpauir, DH
Jake Fox, 1B
Corey Koskie, 3B
Reed Johnson, RF
Ty Wright, LF
Koyie Hill, C
Joey Gathright, CF
Aaron Heilman, P
As far as other things, came across this from Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=8629
He ranks the Cubs' farm system 26th. Cubs people I talked with said they have no problem with that because these things tend to be subjective. Remember when Baseball America had the Cubs first, with the likes of Bobby Hill and David Kelton and Hee Seop Choi and Ben Christensen and everybody? But what they do take issue with, and strongly, is Goldstein writing:
"Other than (Josh) Vitters, there is really not a single hitter in the system that excites anyone; this weakness in terms of the organizaton's depth is the key reason that the long-rumored Jake Peavy deal never went down."
That implies that the Padres nixed the deal. It was actually the Cubs who halted talks at the winter meetings. Maybe Vitters is the only hitter who has anyone excited, and maybe that's why GM Jim Hendry turned down the deal.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090319&content_id=4034578&vkey...
PEORIA, Ariz. -- Infielder Corey Koskie, who is trying to make a comeback from a concussion that has sidelined him since 2007, had to leave Thursday's game after feeling ill.
Koskie, 35, handled back-to-back ground balls in the first inning for the Cubs against the Seattle Mariners. He stayed in the game to hit in the second and third innings, grounding out both times, and was then lifted for a defensive replacement in the bottom of the third.
"As soon as he said he wasn't feeling well, we got him out of there," Piniella said.
We'll know more in the morning. Koskie is trying to come back from post-concussion syndrome. We don't know at this point whether today's condition in any way is related to that.
Hoffpauir just hit a 3-run homer in the third, and Jake Fox followed with a solo shot to put the Cubs up 6-1. Going to be hard to keep Hoffpauir off the team.
The only name I'm really blanking on is Ty Wright. What's his story again?
He was a seventh-round pick by the Cubs in 2007. In Daytona last year, he batted .300 with 8 homers and 72 RBI. His given name is Ty and he's from Tyler, Texas.
"His given name is Ty and he's from Tyler, Texas."
I like him already.
...you really DO need a scorecard with that lineup.
D. Lee doesn't need any more distractions so glad he's staying put.
Those names from the past (Choi, Hill, Kelton) proves that sometimes you can take information like a grain of salt.
He can't hit anyway...why would they want him? :)
You obviously didn't see Adam Dunn play first base last night. I'll be kind and say it was less than adequate. (Adequate is how Hendry describes Hoffpaiur's outfield defense.)
Right on Riggs. He can't hit for POWER, as we've seen. Still a GREAT defensive player, and a decent doubles/single hitter.
I'm waiting for another 10 days before I ask Bruce to ask Piniella about possibly moving D-Lee down. I know he's a slow starter, but that 3 hole hitter has got to have some pop. All about moving A-ram up there and batting Bradley 4th and Soto/Lee 5th. This is all assuming that Lee continues to have little pop this spring. Gotta make you wonder where that 2005 season came from. Or if that wrist injury completely screwed up his power. We may never know.
Hopefully, Hill beats out Mr. .205 avg for the back-up job. I really don't want to sit there and watch Bako go 0-4 every few days and leave small villages on base.