Cubs' top prospects moving up
If you were planning on heading out to Kane County this week to see Cubs prospect Josh Vitters, you’re too late. The Cubs announced today they have promoted Vitters from their Class A Peoria club to high-A Daytona. The Peoria club will be in Kane County this week, and you may be able to see Angel Guzman in a rehab outing later this week.
Vitters, 19, was the Cubs’ No. 1 draft pick (third overall) in 2007. At Peoria this year, the third baseman turned in this hitting line:
.316/.351/.535
He had 15 homers, 46 RBI, 7 walks and 42 strikeouts.
The Cubs also said they promoted righty Chris Carpenter from Peoria to Daytona. At Peoria, Carpenter was 4-3 with a 2.44 ERA in 15 starts. In 73.2 innings pitched, he gave up 55 hits with 33 walks and 60 strikeouts. The Cubs took Carpenter last year in the third round of the draft.
Right-hander Andrew Cashner, the Cubs’ first-rounder (19th overall) last year, is moving up from Daytona to Class AA Tennessee. At Daytona, Cashner made 12 starts and was 0-0 with a 1.50 ERA. In 42 innings, he gave up 31 hits while walking 15 and striking out 34.
As far as the big club goes, they may have to battle some rain in Pittsburgh tonight. Ted Lilly pitches. Since the start of the 2006 season, Lilly ranks third in wins among left-handed starters:
Johan Santana: 59
CC Sabathia: 55
Lilly: 54
The Cubs are 11-13 in June, and they’ll finish with a sub-.500 month for the first time since August 2007, when they were 12-16.
The Cubs lead the majors in quality starts with 46. They are 27-19 in those games, and their starters have an ERA of 2.35 in the quality starts. When the Cubs don’t get a quality start, their record is 9-18.
Soriano’s hitting line is this:
.232/.296/.427
He has 2 homers in June, with his last coming June 7. He also has 7 RBI this month. Of his 14 home runs for the season, 11 have come away from Wrigley Field.
Some Cubs’ OPS:
Lee: .840
Theriot: .759
Bradley: .728
Soriano: .723
Soto: .706
New owners, if they are "true blue" cub fans need to step up & show cubs nation they mean business. New GM asap that can make sound decisions. The last trades & loss of Derosa says enough.
I like Lou but he has lost his fire & discipline. Rothschild is a "yes man" puppet to Lou. Neither one of them build confidence in the starting rotation. Pitchers throw great games & are taken out by the 7th inning (ex: Wells with a 2 hitter 5-0 lead then loses / Guzman throws 5 or 6 pitches & looks great & we take him out only to lose again/ Marmol strikes out 2 or 3 batters in a tough jam & is pulled.). Until they give Marmol a chance to close he will struggle. He was screwd by Hendry & Lou by going to the WBC event during Spring training & they hold it against them. Marmol needs to be a closer period & coached not to pitch inside to any batter & throw more fast balls for strikes. Guzman is the best releiver for the 8th inning & part-time closer. Samardija, Marshall, & Gregg could do the 7th inning.
We never bunt & hardly ever steal bases or sacrifice to move runners. How many times have opponents this season bunt the runner in from 3rd base against us. Soriano says he wants to do anything to help the team.....how about playing 2b, bat 5th, take some walks & not swing at low outside pitches so Fox, a more consistent hitter can play LF.
Tell Soriano to produce or sit. Tell "Z" if he acts up he is pulled no matter what inning. Tell our starters that maybe we can have a complete game when you are pitching great.
The Cubs also need to look at Richie Zisk in Daytona A ball to come up & help with hitting & maybe bunting. Joshua can't do it alone & needs help.
Lee, Fukodome, & Ramy are great defensive players. Koske feels more comfortable in right. There is still time left but we are running out of it with the lack of leadership. I wish someone would listen to suggestions.
What kind of reaction would Hendry get if he was a guest soloist to "Take me out to the Ball Game". I think all of "cubs nation" know the answer to that final question.
When does it end?
Props to Bob Brenly, who will probably be fired by Hendry once his criticism of this team continues. Soriano should be ripped daily. He is the dumbest baseball player I have seen in a long time. Should be a Dh. He makes fielding the scariest thing on the planet. At any position.
Fundamentals: More of the same with Theriot and Fontenot. Where the heck is Allan Trammel to teach them that if you want to catch a guy stealing second, you might have to wait for the ball to reach the bag? This is beyond frustrating, it's just stupid right now.
You know, if the story is true about Cub players thinking Bradley is out for himself, then what about Soriano? Guy refuses to move down, or do anything. It's a joke. The guy runs the team.
Fukudome: Shocking. The guy took another pitch because he was guessing something else.
Ahh.........this is just horrible. Losing is one thing, but looking stupid day after day after day after day, is beyond maddening. Until that trend stops, this team is going to continue to drive everyone here insane.
How about Soto trying to go from first to third with the play right in front of him and two outs in the inning.
i've been saying the same thing all year.....maybe some AL team dumb enough would want Sorian as DH......
This is a dead team! They have no vocal leaders. Your highest paid, most visible players, are your biggest babies in Zambrano and Soriano. Who would ever mistake them for LEADERS! I saw a good article on SI.com about what happens to hitters at 33 years old...it's a good read. If true...Soriano is not coming back to anything close to what he was before.
Great article, and everyone should read it. At some point a guy starts declining, and Soriano looks to be on that way.
Agree on the leaders. I have been the saying the same thing since last year. You don't go 0-6 in back to back years of the playoffs with leadership. They have none. Somebody should slap Zambrano around. His act is beyond old, yet goes undisciplined.
If this team falls to last place, it's a joke.
does everyone always say "Soriano refuses to move down in the order"???
Someone please post a link where Soriano has said that. I don't think I'll get a response to that.
Its Lou's choice to keep him there. Stop blaming Soriano and blame Lou.
Soriano cannot bat anywhere else in the lineup. He will see the most fastballs in the 1-hole and it is obvious he cannot hit anything else with any consistancy. Why do you think he says he is most comfortable there? Why do you think Lou refuses to move him down? The real issue is not holding players accountable for their performance. Whether that is Hendry, Krane Kenny, or Lou, it remains behind closed doors. What happened to playing time associated with effort? Remember how Theriot won the SS job back in '07? Where is that strategy of managing gone with this ball club. I admire how well Bob Brenley has matured in the booth. I thought he was boring the first year, but each year he becomes more comfortable, he becomes more valuable. He is not the same color guy that used to do Public Insurance commercials, but I cannot think of a better color analyst to replace him. Aramis has to know how much pressure is on him......He is going to be the reason this team is resiliant or the reason several people loses their jobs.
Cheers
Bruce,
Now that the Cubs AGAIN have called him up...what can we expect different from Samardzija this time around. Let's hope he sticks so they can solidify this crappy bullpen.
have more range/skills then Theriot? we need a top of the line SS/2nd combo....since the outfieders and Lee/A-Ram have no trade/long term contracts our only hope for top players are SS/2nd.....
also heard Lou is sitting Bradley today.....
where's "plays the hot hand Lou"?....
Bradley gets 2 hits last night and now he's benched...forget what he's hitting against righty pitching.....
who has more upside, Bradley or soriano?....they both have not hit all year, Bradley hits from both sides, strikes out less, better fielder, so who would you bench? who does Lou bench?.....who is he playing in right? fukudome a guy who can't hit major league pitching.....
Lou told reporters who are in Pittsburgh that Bradley was going to get today and tomorrow off to work on his left-handed swing. His hits yesterday came while batting right-handed against Zach Duke. It's on the left side where he's struggled.
They guy is terrible right now.
Actually,
I don't even care if he gets a day off...just move down in the order.
was his day off, but Lou said Soriano talked him out of it.......that's happened all year....who's the boss?
Scheduled day off or not, Soriano should have been pulled from the lineup and still be riding the pine after getting doubled off 1B on that fly out to the LF wall a few days ago. That would have set an example and may just have done something to wake this team up. He's shown no hustle and hasn't helped the team at the plate, so it couldn't have hurt. Fox or Hoffpauir could have manned LF. Then he could have been bumped down in the lineup when he was reinserted.
Soriano has more and its not even real close IMO.
Bradley's season last year was pretty flukey. 396 BABIP on the year which is unsustainable and down over 100 points this season. Never had more than 77 RBI's in a season, I think Soriano had that as a leadoff man last year; and Bradley is a 15 homer type player (outside of last year).
Bruce - you've been talking about this for months....have you asked Hendry about David Patton's lock on the roster?!? Ascanio has better stuff and upside than Patton. I just don't get it and would love to hear an explanation from Hendry.
you'd have to give Patton back and i assume the cubs are high on him. ascanio still has options so he's the one to go....
Yeah I get he's a Rule 5 pick, but as Bruce has written about a couple times, he's a wasted roster spot. He's used like once a week and only when its a blowout. I believe at one time there were 13 pitchers on the roster because of this; and with the offense playing so bad, they could've used another position player.
Before we get too happy about the stat line, let's keep in mind that Brian Dopirak put up a .307/.363/.593 line at Lansing before fizzling out. The k/bb ratio that Vitters is sporting scares the bejeezus out of me. Aren't they teaching those guys plate discipline?
aren't really anything to look at. Like you said, Dopirak and countless others hit at that level and then stop hitting. Even in High A, its not much to get excited about if Vitters keeps raking. The jump from A to AA is supposedly the biggest (outside of AAA to the Majors)...so I wouldn't even bother with stats until they are in AA.
Now BAD numbers on the other hand IS something to worry about and Vitters was pretty much dead last in walks for those that qualified for the leaderboard in Peoria. That worries me as well. I think he needs to experience some struggles with better pitchers and hopefully he adapts.
Bruce, didn't Darwin Barney get promoted as well??
Yes, he has been promoted from Tennessee to Iowa, the Cubs said today. Barney, a shortstop, was the Cubs' fourth-round pick in 2007 out of Oregon State. His line at Tennessee:
.317/.368/.401
He was a nonroster invitee to spring training. He's considered a fiery type player. Some in the organization have compared him to Theriot.
That's all the fans need to know! I remember watching Barney in the CWS and he's an almost mirror image of Theriot other than maybe having better range and arm. He's what scouts like to call a "gamer". Will that translate at the big league level? For Theriot it has, but for many others it hasn't.
Bruce,
Any idea who the Cubs feel are their 3 best prospects? I'm talking players who in due time can make a difference at the major league level.
Thanks and enjoy your insight.
The Cubs still express high hopes for Colvin. They don't rank them, but I've got to believe their top three are Vitters, Samardzija and Starlin Castro, a shortstop at Daytona.
They also like pitchers Casey Coleman and Jay Jackson. Darwin Barney is a guy who will play in the big leagues. It appears he has a stronger arm and better range than Theriot.