Chicago Cubs Minor League Baseball

Expect Callups Soon

2008-08-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

Just trying this out as I haven't done it in a while.

It appears the Cubs are looking at calling up the following players on Monday when rosters expand:

Micah Hoffpauir
Kevin Hart
John Lieber
Angel Guzman
Koyie Hill*
Felix Pie

* Koyie Hill is not currently on the 40 man roster.

We've moved....

2007-03-05T11:42:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I have taken the opportunity to work for MVN.com and write about the Cubs' minor league system. So, without further ado, check out my new blog:

Road to Wrigley

Don't forget to change your bookmarks!

Big News for this Blog

2007-02-21T06:17:00.000-08:00

Recently, I was approached by MVN.com to take on the responsibilities of their Cubs minor league blog. This is a great opportunity which I accepted with much enthusiasm, so check back soon for a link to my new site.

Ultimately, nothing will change (except the URL), you will keep getting the same content there as you did here. The good news is that there should more traffic, more opportunities for interviews, and more opportunities to see the Cubs minor leaguers in action.

Long time no post

2007-02-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

Well, baseball is rapidly approaching and the college basketball season has only 2 months remaining. There should be a smooth transition for me from my College Fantasy Basketball site, to this site in April, so keep the shortcut, as the content will return.

For now, note that the Cubs have traded prospect Jae Kuk Ryu to Tampa Bay for a couple prospects, outfielder Andrew Lopez and RHP Gregory Reinhard.

Reinhard has a good sinker and a miniscule HR/9 rate, while Lopez is young but has performed nicely in a couple seasons of rookie ball. This is simply a roster move to clear a spot on the 40 man for Cliff Floyd.

Here's hoping Ryu doesn't post too many 20 win seasons.

Instructional Leagues and More on Free Agents

2006-10-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

The benefits of Instructional League are numerous, and InsideTheIvy.com has a piece up on some of the things players have been working on. Felix Pie and Ryan Harvey are mentioned among others.

Over at The Cub Reporter, there is more on minor league free agents and on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

21 Cubs' Minor Leaguers Opt for Free Agency

2006-10-24T05:02:00.000-07:00

Twenty-one Cubs minor leaguers opted for minor league free agency after the season:

C Jon Sprowl
1B Brandon Sing
2B Andrew Lane
SS Pedro Lopez
SS Augie Ojeda
OF Jeff Deardorff
OF Nick Jackson
OF Luis Montanez
OF Mike Restovich
OF Gordon Weston
OF Jake Whitesides
RHP Hugo Castellanos
RHP Wilton Chavez
RHP Brandon Emanuel
RHP Mike Garcia
RHP William Gwaltney
RHP Kerry Ligtenberg
RHP Brian Reith
RHP Mac Suzuki
LHP Cliff Bartosh
LHP Carlos Perez

AFL Update

2006-10-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

Eric Patterson - After a slow start, Patterson has rebounded nicely to a line of 292/370/333 and also is 2 for 2 in stolen base attempts. Patterson has gone 6-12 over his last 3 games, but also leads the Mesa Solar Sox in errors with 3.
Scott Moore - Moore currently has a line of 200/375/400 and has 1 of Mesa's 4 homeruns on the season. Moore has also driven in 5 runs, primarily hitting 4th in the order. Moore is second on the team in stolen bases with 3 in 3 attempts.
Jacob Fox - Fox is hitting 357/357/500 in 14 at-bats in 4 games. It appears Fox may not be playing everday for the Solar Sox with the limited ABs he is getting. In the 14 at-bats, Fox does have 2 doubles, and has seen time in the outfield, behind the plate, and at first base.
Adam Harben - The player the Cubs received for Phil Nevin started the season opener and took the loss. Harben is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in 4 IPs in 2 appearances, both starts.
Lincoln Holdzkom - Perhaps the most impressive appearance by a Cub so far in the AFL has been Holdzkom. The big, hard throwing righty has thrown 4 IPs in 3 relief appearances, giving up just 1 hit, no walks, and has struck out 6.
Clay Rapada - The sidearming, lefty is 1-1 with an ERA of 3.00 in 3 appearances. So far Rapada has been pretty decent giving up 1 hit, walking 2, and striking out an impressive 5 in 3 IPs.
Carmen Pignatiello - Another situational lefty, Pignatiello has thrown 1.2 IPs, giving up a walk, a hit, and has struck out 3.

Mesa Solar Sox Team Stats

Update on this site

2006-10-16T05:15:00.000-07:00

As I thought might happen, I'm struggling to manage consistent updates to this site, while continuing content updates and development on my other site, SCACC Hoops. SCACC Hoops is a college fantasy basketball site, which is currently concentrating on ACC Fantasy Basketball, although there is a hope to expand to other conferences very soon.

Anyway, if your a college hoops fan, check it out.

If your looking here for some minor league baseball info, then be patient, I will return soon!

Oh yeah, looks like it's Lou Piniella, kinda disappointing if you ask me.

AFL Update for 10/13

2006-10-13T04:50:00.000-07:00

Mesa 7 Grand Canyon 7 - The game was suspended after 11 innings and will resume at a later date. Scott Moore played third, while batting cleanup and went 1-4 with 2 walks, and drove in 2, while Jake Fox batted 5th and caught and went 1-3 with a RBI. Eric Patterson was moved down in the order to 9th while batting 2nd in the first 2 games and went 0-5 and is now 1-12 in the AFL. On the mound, Carmen Pignatiello pitched 0.2 IP striking out 2, giving up 1 hit.

AFL Update for 10/12

2006-10-12T04:49:00.000-07:00

Mesa 3 Pheonix 0 - Scott Moore went 1-1 with a double and a RBI, while Eric Patterson went 1-4, while Jake Fox pinch hit and went 0-1, striking out in his only appearance. On the mound Lincoln Holdzkom made an appearance throwing a perfect inning in relief striking out 2, while Clay Rapada pitched 0.2 IP, giving up a walk and striking out 1.

Notes: Over at Project Prospect, the one of the guys took a look at minor league prospects that have 30/30 potential, and Felix Pie shows up on the list. Although a couple days later than promised, Baseball America has released their Top 20 Pacific Coast League prospects. As we linked to earlier, Felix Pie was listed as the #11 prospect, while Rich Hill was #17.

Cubs sign Matt Harrington; Update on Brackman

2006-10-11T05:04:00.000-07:00

The one time #7 overall pick in the 2000 draft, Matt Harrington, was signed by the Cubs on Tuesday. Harrington doesn't have the 97 MPH fastball he boasted coming out of high school, where he was labeled the Baseball America high school player of the year, and is coming off of 4 consecutive seasons in the Independent League.

This is a good gamble on a player that is finally devoted to baseball, after a strange past.

Speaking of the draft, Andrew Brackman, who I mentioned just the other day, has finally committed to baseball. Brackman decided to not play basketball for NC State this season, although it does sound like he is open to possibly playing next fall, which shouldn't conflict with the baseball season.

Update
Phoenix 3 Mesa 0 - No Cub farmhands had a hit with Eric Patterson going 0-3, Scott Moore going 0-4, and Jake Fox didn't make an appearance. Adam Harben (0-1) started going 2 innings, giving up an earned run and striking out 3 while taking the loss. Carmen Pignatiello pitched an inning in relief walking run and striking out 1.

Some AFL News

2006-10-10T07:16:00.000-07:00

Grant Johnson has been removed from AFL roster, and Adam Harben will replace him on the Mesa Solar Sox roster for the Cubs. Harben was acquired from the Twins for Phil Nevin, and will start on Tuesday in the AFL opener for Mesa, according to manager Pat Listach.

Just as a reminder, here are the seven Cubs represented in the AFL:

Jake Fox
Eric Patterson
Scott Moore
Adam Harben
Carmen Pignatiello
Lincoln Holdzkom
Clay Rapada

The 2007 MLB Draft

2006-10-09T11:37:00.000-07:00

With the Cubs having the #3 overall pick in the 2007 draft, CubsHub.com looks at a few players that could merit the Cubs' selection.

Southern League Top 20

2006-10-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

Baseball America posted their Southern League Top 20, and just as AZ Phil posted, the Cubs had to players on the list. At #12 Sean Gallagher showed up again, after showing up at #11 on the FSL list, while Eric Patterson was placed at #17 on the Southern League list.

Browsing for my other site, SCACCHoops.com, I noticed an article on NC State center, Andrew Brackman. In the insider info section, there is a mention from Scouts Inc. on Brackman's baseball career, where he pitches for the Wolfpack, and notes that he could be the top pick in the 2007 draft. Brackman is 6'10" with a repeatable delivery, giving him good command to go along with a mid 90s fastball and a good breaking ball as well. Brackman is a Scott Boras client, which may work favorably for the Cubs.

BA Top 20 lists (Warning Spoilers Ahead)

2006-10-05T06:09:00.000-07:00

Over at The Cub Reporter, AZ Phil has released the remaining rankings for the Cubs organization in the Baseball America lists. AZ Phil also posts quite a bit of info in the comments, particularly about how certain players are doing in Instructional Ball. Definitely worth checking it out!

On another note, the offseason is off to an interesting start for the Cubs, and its this pages hope that Joe Girardi will be coming back to Chicago next season.

I fondly recall watching Cubs games in the afternoons in the late 80s with Joe Girardi working with Maddux, Morgan, and Bielecki. Girardi was a manager on the field in those days, and he will hopefully resume his managerial skills in Wrigley sometime soon.

Florida State League Top 20

2006-10-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

Baseball America has released their Top 20 FSL prospects, and 2 Daytona Cubs have made the list. As I suggested, Donald Veal jumped up a few spots from #9 in the Midwest League to #5 in the Florida State League. Also joining Veal was Sean Gallagher at #11, who may show up on the Southern League list as well.

Cubs will pick #3

2006-10-02T06:39:00.000-07:00

In an exciting race for last place, the Cubs failed once again finishing 3rd to worst, and will pick #3 in the 2007 MLB draft. Over at MinorLeagueBall.com, one poster has determined the draft order.

Worth noting is that the Royals and Devil Rays pick ahead of the Cubs, and if history is our guide, the Cubs could still get the best player in the draft if money is an issue.

Also, if you read Cubs' blogs, you know team president Andy McPhail resigned and John McDonough will be replacing him on an interim basis. McDonough says all the right things, but we shall see what this all means throughout the winter.

Update: Dusty Baker follows McPhail out the door.

BA Top 20s: What you missed?

2006-09-29T04:44:00.000-07:00

Well, Baseball America is a wonderful resource, when you are willing to subscribe to their site, otherwise you're stuck reading who is in the Top 20 only. A poster over at the message boards on InsideTheIvy.com, cubs08, is passing on some general information on the scouting reports of Cubs players and any relevant material from the question and answer sessions. Check it out, its certainly worth a read.

Please note, the poster is not passing on anything word for word from Baseball America, but just the overall notions that BA is describing about each player. Otherwise, I would not be linking the content, as it isn't fair to Baseball America.

Over at The Cub Reporter, AZ Phil has an analysis of the Cubs upcoming offseason moves, not the obligatory we should trade for X, and sign Y, but which minor leaguers will be added to the 40 man roster, which players will be minor league free agents, etc. To call his breakdown excellent is slighting the article.

Midwest League Top 20

2006-09-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

Baseball America has released their Midwest League Top 20, a league stocked with talent, and the Peoria Chiefs, only had Donald Veal show up on the Top 20 list at #9. Veal went 5-3 with a 2.69 ERA in 14 starts for the Chiefs before being called up to the Daytona Cubs. Veal is likely to show up on the Florida State League Top 20 prospects, and most likely at a higher spot than 9 on the FSL list.

Staying with the BA trend, Alan Matthews has an interesting series of articles being posted, about his experience at Major League Baseball's scouting bureau development program. Matthews is passing on some great info about a scouts thinking process when looking at a player.

Finally, over at InsideTheIvy.com, Steve Holley has an article posted about Jose Ceda, and since I do not have a subscption to the full article, the teaser has me scratching my head. I shudder to think that Holley is comparing Ceda to Jose Mesa, any subscribers care to fill us in on what Jose they are comparing Ceda to?

Northwest League Top 20

2006-09-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

Baseball America released their Northwest League Top 20, and 2 Boise Hawks made the list. Tyler Colvin was rated the #1 prospect, while Mark Pawelek was #9. On the front page of Baseball America, Colvin is compared to Shawn Green due to his 5 tool ability. Pawelek, was the top prospect last year of the Arizona League, but dropped to #9 this season, most likely to his slow start which was attributed to showing up to camp out of shape.

It is a little disappointing to not see Russ Canzler, Alfred Joseph, Jeremy Papelbon, or Bill Muldowney not making the list, but this is a prospect list, not a performance list.

For BA subscribers out there, you can check out scouting reports on Pawelek and Colvin, as well as access a chat this afternoon.

Minor League Hitter of the Year

2006-09-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

InsideTheIvy.com announced this weekend that Jake Fox is their Cubs minor league hitter of the year. Fox had a nice season combined between AA and AAA, where he combined to hit 21 HRs while hitting .296.

Jacob Fox will most likely start the year at AA Tennessee next season, but if he duplicates his efforts this season he could see a callup next season.

Diamond Jaxx are No More

2006-09-22T05:35:00.000-07:00

The Cubs have announced the end of a relationship with the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx, and have come to a new agreement with the Tennessee Smokies. The Tennessee Smokies play in Sevierville, Tennessee, close to Pigeon Forge, a local tourist attraction. Ultimately, this means absolutely nothing, as the Smokies play in the Southern League.

Over at Baseball America, as we reported a few days ago, the Top 20 prospects lists for each league are being released, and they have also released a schedule for each of the prospect lists. Here are the relavent dates for the Cubs organization:

Arizona League -- DONE
Northwest League -- September 27th
Midwest League -- September 28th
Florida State League -- October 2nd
Southern League -- October 6th
Pacific Coast League -- October 11th

Q and A with Matt Camp

2006-09-21T04:36:00.000-07:00

The Cubs 13th Round selection in the 2006 draft, Matt Camp, did a Q and A session with InsideTheIvy.com. Camp is a gritty player that will take a pitch and do all of the things that you would as of a leadoff hitter. Camp discusses his first professional season, and the adjustments he is making in Instructional including playing some at second base and shortstop.

Notes: Missed this the other day, but it is one writer's take on the Top 3 prospects from each of the National League Central teams.

AZL Top 20 Prospects from BA

2006-09-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

As they annually do, Baseball America has begun their Top 20 Prospects for each league. First was the Arizona League Top 20, and the Cubs only had one player on the list, #14 Jose Ceda. Ceda was acquired from San Diego in the Todd Walker trade, here are couple quick notes on Ceda:

mid to high 90s fastball without a lot of movement
has average curveball but rarely uses it
lives and dies with the fastball
big body which suggests durability

All in all, only 1 Cub making the list isn't too surprising, when looking at the AZL Cubs roster. It would have been nice to see Drew Rundle, Chris Huseby, or Cliff Andersen on the list, but none performed well enough consistently to make the list.

Winter League Action

2006-09-19T04:33:00.000-07:00

With the minor league season ended, the content for this site has decreased quite a bit, and there have been some questions on the site and via email as to what this site will be dedicated to during the winter months. Luckily, baseball is now a year round sport including the Arizona Fall League, the Hawaiian Baseball League, and all of the Winter Baseball that is played in Central America. The Arizona Instructional League will get going this weekend, so Top Cubs Prospects will follow all of the Cubs prospects, and continue to give you the latest web content over the winter months.

On that note, InsideTheIvy.com has an article up about which Cubs' farmhands will be participating in Winter Ball. Of course topping that list is #2 prospect, Felix Pie.

As always, this site looks for suggestions from its readers, so please post a comment about a player to review, a topic to discuss, or anything else you see fit.

Update: There was a problem earlier that I corrected. The Arizona Fall League doesn't start this weekend, but Instructional Ball does. Over at The Cub Reporter, there is a pretty good summary of the Cubs representives in all the leagues with schedules for each as well.

Monday Morning Thoughts

2006-09-18T04:52:00.000-07:00

With my Duke Blue Devils getting pummeled by 36, my Carolina Panthers losing to the Vikings 16-13, I thought I was having a tough weekend, until I read this. You've probably already heard the decision that Derrek Lee has made to sit out the rest of the season to be with his daughter. Lee's 3 year old daughter is suffering vision loss in one eye, which is certainly troubling, but far more troubling is what may be causing that vision loss. Lee will be in my prayers, I would encourage you to do the same.

On a lighter note, Rich Hill and Donald Veal were named Co-2006 Cubs Minor League Players of the Year over the weekend. Speaking of Rich Hill, what a gem he through on Saturday against the Reds, pitching the Cubs' first complete game of the season, allowing no runs, just 2 hits, 1 walk and striking out 10. As we have known here for some time, Hill is a lock for the rotation next year, while Sean Marshall, Juan Mateo, Carlos Marmol, and Angel Guzman will be battling for 1 or maybe two spots.

On Sunday the Cubs played lights out once again, beating the Reds 11-3 behind 6 homers, including 2 by Ryan Theriot, 1 by Matt Murton and another by Carlos Zambrano. With Theriot and Matt Murton as personal favorites of this site, it was a fun game to watch.

Shaver to have surgery

2006-09-15T05:15:00.000-07:00

As always, InsideTheIvy.com has a great article up about Chris Shaver, and his impending surgery to have some bone spurs removed from his elbow.

Shaver went 7-10 with a 2.99 ERA at AA West Tennessee (and a cup of coffee at Daytona to start the season) this season and tallied a workman-like 159 IPs on the year. Shaver's manager for the D-Jaxx, Pat Listach described his arsenal in the following quote:

“He’s got a good fastball, 90 and up, and mixes it in with a slider that he throws into righties. He gets a lot of groundballs. He’s got really good endurance and can keep you in the game for seven or eight innings.”

Shaver's 2006 stats

What Could Have Been? Micah Owings

2006-09-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

Let's take a look back at a player the Cubs went after but let get away in the 2004 draft.

Back in 2004, the Cubs took Micah Owings in the 19th round, as he was coming off of a decent season at Georgia Tech, going 9-3 with an ERA of 3.89 and hit 318/394/549. Eleven rounds earlier, the Cubs took Owings' college teammate, Eric Patterson. The Cubs were unable to sign Owings, but more on that later. The following season Micah Owings returned to college, although not to Georgia Tech as he transferred to Tulane where he went 12-3 and hit 355/470/719.

Owings had been a 2nd round pick back in 2002 by the Colorado Rockies out of high school, but just as he did the Cubs, he spurned the Rockies in lieu of college. Finally, after his junior season in college, Owings signed as a 3rd round pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks. In his professional debut in 2005, Owings went 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 16 games in relief at High A Lancaster.

This season Owings burst onto the prospect scene going 16-2 with an ERA of 3.33 combined between AA and AAA, and that includes going 10-0 after his promotion to AAA Tucson in the PCL, a noted hitters league. Despite focusing on pitching, Owings hitting hasn't fallen off much either, as he hit 356/361/508 in limited action.

Owings is an example of a using a later round selection on a guy that might sign if given a high enough signing bonus. In 2004, Owings wasn't seen as a priority to the Cubs organization once the trifecta of Eric Patterson, Mark Reed, and Mitch Atkins were given signing bonuses combined to about 1.1 million dollars.

Hawaiian Winter League Returns

2006-09-14T05:11:00.000-07:00

After 10 years, the HWL returns to action this winter. The Cubs will be sending one player, reportedly, Scott Koerber. Koerber, 24, who is only 2 years removed from being a position player, went 5-4 with a 3.42 ERA in 38 games for Peoria this season. Koerber projects most likely as a LOOGY where he lefties hit just .148 against him (as opposed to .256 against Right handers).

Cubs Minor League Notes

2006-09-13T04:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the Cubs announced their Instructional League Rosters. Of note are Mark Pawelek, Tyler Colvin, Russ Canzler, Ryan Harvey, Jose Ceda, among many others. Also joining, these names is 16 year old Venezuelan, Larry Suarez, who signed with the Cubs back in July. Play starts on September 22nd, but many players will report later this week.
As mentioned here, Felix Pie will be headed to Arizona as well, but will not be playing in the Instructional League. Pie will work on his bunting in baserunning before heading to the Dominican Republic to play in the winter league.
Last night in the Cubs 9-8 extra-inning win, Jae Kuk Ryu made an appearance in relief going 1.1 IP without giving up a run, while Scott Moore got his 2nd start of the season, this time at third. Moore 1-3 and is now 3-10 with a HR since being called up to the Cubs.
While many Cubs prospects, will be fine tuning their skills this winter, one is getting hit instead of hitting. Jeff Samardzija is playing for the #2 football team in the land, Notre Dame, and currently has 12 catches for 130 yds and a TD for the Fighting Irish in the first 2 games this season.

Q & A with Josh Lansford

2006-09-12T04:51:00.000-07:00

Over at InsideTheIvy.com, they have a Q & A with the Cubs' 6th rounder, Josh Lansford. Among topics discussed are his recent injury, the NWL champs, and instructional league, which starts at the end of this month.

Josh Lansford started out nicely this season, but tailed off at the end of the season, which is not uncommon for collegiate picks. Lansford needs to develop some power, but already has the plate discipline that so many Cubs fans are starting to covet.

Josh Lansford's 2006 stats

A Cast of Rookies

2006-09-11T16:49:00.000-07:00

Baseball America addresses the Cubs' eight rookie pitchers that have taken the mound this season. In this edition of Ask BA, Rich Hill is given the nod, as expected, as the Cub most likely to succeed with Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol closely behind. They also give a mention to Donald Veal, and a possible callup in 2007 if he succeeds in double A early next year.

Minor League Playoff Report

2006-09-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

9/8/06
Beloit 4 Peoria 3 - Jesus Valdez went 2-4 with a double Robinson Chirinos went 1-3 with a RBI, a walk, and 2 runs scored. On the mound, Jesse Estrada went 7 innings, giving up just 2 hits, 2 ERs, 4 walks, and struck out 5. Estrada left with the game tied, and Justin Rayborn (0-1) took the loss in relief. Closer, Matt Avery pitched an inning giving up just a walk. This loss ended Peoria's season, here's a recap from InsideTheIvy.com.

Salem-Keizer 5 Boise 0 - Jose Ceda (0-1) pitched poorly taking the loss, going 4.1 IP, giving up 7 hits, 5 ERs, 1 walk, and striking out 3. For the 19 year old, Ceda, it was only his 2nd start giving up a run since being acquired by the Cubs organization. At the plate, the Hawks managed only 3 hits, 2 of which were by Tyler Colvin, including a double.

9/9/06
Salem-Keizer 2 Boise 1 - Bill Muldowney pitched 5 innings, giving up 5 hits, 1 ER, 2 walks, and struck out 3, and Jason Ruhlman pitched 4.1 shutout innings giving up 3 hits, no walks and striking out 4, but it still wasn't enough for the normally high powered Hawks offense. Matt Camp went 2-4 with a stolen base and a RBI but Colvin, Canzler, Joseph, and Lansford combined to go 1-19 at the plate.

9/10/06
Salem-Keizer 6 Boise 4 - Five Boise Hawks had 2 hits, in their 13 hit attack, but the Hawks could still only manage a 4 run output in the 8th inning. Russ Canzler went 2-4 with 2 RBIs, and Tyler Colvin went 2-4 capping off a postseason where he hit .412. Jacob Renshaw (0-1) went 3 innings, giving up 5 hits, 3 ERs, 3 walks, and striking out 4 in the loss. With the loss, the Boise Hawks season is over, losing the series 4-1.

Minor League Playoff Report

2006-09-08T04:46:00.000-07:00

Peoria 6 Beloit 1 - Ryan Norwood went 3-4 with a RBI and a stolen base, while Valerio Heredia went 3-5 in the leadoff spot. Scott Taylor (1-0) earned the win going 7 innings, giving up 4 hits, 1 run, although it was unearned, and walked 2 while striking out 4. Closer, Matt Avery pitched the ninth and struck out the side. Peoria tied with Beloit 1-1

Boise 5 Salem-Keizer 1 - Russ Canzler went 3-4 with a double and his 1st HR of the playoffs, while Tyler Colvin went 3-4 at the plate as well. Steven Clevenger went 2-4 with a double and 2 RBIs, but the star of the game was on the mound. Mark Pawelek (1-0) pitched 6.2 shutout innings, giving up 3 hits, no runs, 3 walks, and struck out 3. Jeremy Papelbon relieved Pawelek going 2.1 IP without giving up an earned run to pick up the save. Boise down to Salem-Keizer 2-1

Notes: Up in the big leagues yesterday, Scott Moore got his first start, filling in for Derrek Lee, and hit his 1st major league HR.

Minor League Playoff Report

2006-09-07T04:42:00.000-07:00

9/05/06

Tri-City 9 Boise 2 - Deryck Lewis was the only Boise Hawk with more than 1 hit, going 2-4, while Tyler Colvin went 1-4 with a double. Jacob Renshaw (1-3) started and took the loss going 5 innings, giving up 6 hits, 3 ERs, 1 walk, and struck out 6. Italian, Alessandro Maestri pitched in relief as well giving up 3 hits and 2 ERs in an inning of work.

9/06/06

Tri-City 4 Boise 3 - Josh Lansford hit his 5th HR of the year, going 1-4 at the plate while Tyler Colvin, Russ Canzler and Alfred Joseph combined to go 0-9 with 5 Ks. On the mound, Jose Pina started and took a no decision going 6 innings, giving up 6 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned, 2 walks, and struck out 2. Kitt Kopach (2-2) went the final 2 innings, giving up the winning run in the bottom of the 9th.

Beloit 2 Peoria 0 - Mitch Atkins (13-5) took the loss, despite pitching well, as he went 6 innings, giving up 4 hits, 2 ERs, walking 2, and striking out 3. Peoria could muster only 4 hits, with Ryan Norwood went 1-2 at the plate and Kyle Reynolds going 1-3.

Notes: Up in the majors Geovanny Soto, Jae Kuk Ryu, Buck Coats, Scott Moore, and Jose Reyes ended up being the minor league callups for the Cubs this September; Also, a couple days ago, the Cubs acquired Adam Harben from the Twins for Phil Nevin. Harben appears to be a decent prospect, and would most likely be a guy in the 11-20 range now for the Cubs; Jake Fox gets a mention in Baseball America's final Prospect Hot Sheet of the season.

"Sure, he was mad"

2006-09-05T19:03:00.000-07:00

That was a quote directly from Oneri Fleita regarding Felix Pie's response to not being called up to the Cubs this September. Sure, you might think back to Corey Patterson, and his attitude he often displayed, but it was Pie's next question that set him apart from Patterson:

"OK, what do I have to do to get better?"

As a Cubs fan, you have to love that attitude. Some have argued Pie's absence on the major league roster is due to a pending contract situation with Juan Pierre, while others say it was the way the Cubbies putting off starting Pie's arbitration clock. The fact is we'll never know.

That being said, you can bank on Pie coming to spring training hungry, and if you have followed Pie's career, he tends to perform his best when challenged. It will certainly be interesting to see how Pie's career fits with Juan Pierre possibly still in the Cubs future. Here are the questions the Cubs will be facing:

Will the Cubs re-sign Pierre?
Can Pie and Pierre exist together? If so what happens to Murton and/or Jones? Can the Cubs afford to acquire another power hitting outfielder?
Will Pie be traded? If this was the plan, why not bring Pie up to at least see what he can do?

Everyone else has an opinion, so here is one more. Here is the 2007 predictor from Top Cubs Prospects:

Juan Pierre will be re-signed.
An outfielder will be acquired most likely via a trade, and either Murton or Pie will be going the opposite direction. You fill in the blank when it comes to the acquired player.
If Pie is kept in the Cubs organization, he will open up in Iowa next season, but will be called up by June 1st.

Your Turn: Where did I go wrong? If I'm wrong, tell me your prediction.

Minor League Report for 9/5

2006-09-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

These were the final regular season games, although Boise will move on to the NWL playoffs.

Iowa 4 Omaha 3 - Felix Pie went 3-5 ending up with a line of 283/341/451 and an OPS of 792 (for those of you too lazy to add), and added his 17th stolen base of the year in the game. Eric Patterson joined Pie in being one of the top 5 batters in the order that each had 2 hits in this one, as Patterson had a triple and his 2nd HR since joining the Iowa Cubs and his 10th on the season. Seven pitchers took the mound for Iowa, with no pitcher pitching more than 2 innings.

West Tennessee 4 Chattanooga 1 - Brandon Sing went 1-3 with his 11th HR of the year (combined), ending a pretty disappointing season for Sing. Jake Fox went 2-4 with a double, ending his best season as a professional, with a line of 294/350/514 combined between Daytona and West Tennessee. On the mound, JR Mathes pitched a complete game, giving up 6 hits, 1 ER, walking 1, and striking out 4. It was Mathes 3rd complete game of the season, by far the organization's leader in complete games.

Beloit 2 Peoria 0 - Peoria lost in a rain shortened game in which Valerio Heredia and youngster Francisco Tirada singled for the only hits of the game for the Chiefs. Joel Santo (9-10) took the loss going just 4 IPs, giving up 3 hits, 2 runs, 1 ER, 3 walks, and striking out 3.

Boise 8 Tri-City 2 - Jose Ceda started and went 2 shutout innings giving up just a hit and striking out 1, while Jason Ruhlman (3-1) earned the win in relief striking out 6 in 2.2 IP. At the plate, Russ Canzler went 2-3 with a walk and a double, while Tyler Colvin didn't play.

Notes: A couple of big league notes affected the minors recently, with September callups. Surprisingly, Scott Moore was promoted to the big club, and made his major league debut pinch-hitting yesterday as he was hit by a pitch. Possibly as surprising, Felix Pie will not be receiving a callup, despite the final two months where Pie has torn the cover off the ball.

Minor League Report for 9/4

2006-09-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

Today, marks the end of the minor league season!

Iowa 7 Omaha 4 - Felix Pie went 2-3 with his 15th HR of the season, his 8th triple, and 2 walks raising Pie's OPS to 788 on the season. Randy Wells (3-5) pitched well, going 6 innings, giving up 5 hits, 1 ER, 2 walks, and striking out 5. Carlos Marmol pitched in his 2nd game on a rehab assignment, going1 inning and gave up 4 hits and 3 ERs. Also of note, Scott Moore was promoted to Iowa and played short stop for the I-Cubs and went 1-4 with a double at the plate.

West Tennessee 4 Chattanooga 1 - Richard Lewis went 3-4 with 2 doubles and a RBI, while Chris Walker went 1-3 with a walk and 2 stolen bases, giving him 49 on the year. Bobby Brownlie went 4 shutout innings to start the game, although not earning a decision. Brownlie has fallen far off the charts, and it is very possible he will not be given a chance by the Cubs next season.

Daytona 4 Brevard County 1 - Jeremy Williams, who was promoted from the AZL Cubs, hit a HR, going 1-4 at the plate. Chris Robinson went 3-4 with 2 RBIs, with his 24th double of the season, and he now sports a 916 OPS since being acquired by the Cubs. On the mound, Mark Holliman (8-11) earned the win going 6.1 IP, giving up 6 hits, 1 ER, 2 walks, and striking out 3.

Brevard County 4 Daytona 3 - In the 2nd game of the double header, Matt Craig went 2-3 with his 35th double of the season, and Chris Robinson went 1-4 with a RBI, but it wasn't enough for the Daytona Cubs. Carlos Perez (5-8) took the loss in relief going 1.2 IP, giving up 2 hits, 1 ER, 3 walks, and striking out 1.

Peoria 4 Beloit 2 - Ryan Norwood went 1-3 with a walk and his 15th HR of the season, while Robinson Chirinos went 1-2 with 2 walks. Jesse Estrada (7-1), who measures at 6'8", 260 lbs, earned the win going 6 IP, 4 hits, 2 ERs, 1 walk, and struck out 4, lowering his ERA to 3.32. Valerio Heredia, a youngster playing at Peoria at the age of 20, went 1-4 with 2 stolen bases, 6 in 9 games at Peoria.

Tri-City 6 Boise 1 - Tyler Colvin's consecutive game HR streak, finally ended, as Colvin went 0-4, while Mario Mercedes, at the age of 19, went 2-4 with a RBI. Mercedes has an OPS of 730 in 127 at-bats at Boise, a very impressive feat for the 19 year old catcher. Bill Muldowney (1-3) started for Boise, going 5 IPs, giving up 7 hits, 3 ERs, no walks, and striking out 3 in taking the loss. Jeremy Papelbon pitched in relief, going 2 IPs, giving up 4 hits, 2 ERs, striking out 2.

Notes: Here is a great article on Top Cubs Prospects' #1 prospect, Donald Veal; Over at MinorLeagueBall.com, they are discussing what it would take to turn around the Cubs organization.

Quick Saturday Notes

2006-09-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

Felix Pie went 2-4 last night, although he did get caught stealing
Eric Patterson also went 2-4 and added his 45th stolen base on the year
Tyler Colvin had 2 more HRs, that makes 6 in his last 5 games, and 11 on the year
Donald Veal with 6.1 shutout innings, striking out 12, here is a quick writeup by a poster over at MinorLeagueBall.com
Finally, after Ryan Theriot and Matt Murton homer yesterday, Angel Pagan and Freddie "Boom Boom" Bynum get the start today. Dusty, don't let the door hit ya on the bum on the way out! So far, Sean Marshall hasn't missed a beat in his first start after being recalled from the DL, with a HR to Beroid Bonds as his only blemish.
That's all for today, more on Monday.

September: Top 10 Prospects

2006-09-01T05:32:00.000-07:00

Its the 1st of September, so that means its time for the latest and most up to date Cubs Top 10 Prospects. This will be the final top 10 of the season, although the daily updates will keep coming through the Fall and Winter leagues. Back to the list, keep in mind, guys that have made an appearance in the majors are no longer available for this list:

1. Donald Veal LHP
2. Felix Pie CF
3. Sean Gallagher RHP
4. Mark Pawelek LHP
5. Eric Patterson 2B
6. Tyler Colvin OF
7. Scott Moore 3B
8. Jake Fox
9. Ryan Harvey
10. Mitch Atkins

Honorable Mention: Jeff Samardzija, Russ Canzler, Brian Dopirak

July's List
August's List

Notes: The top seven on the list remained unchanged from August, while Jake Fox and Ryan Harvey moved to 8 and 9, respectively, thanks to picking it up lately. Mitch Atkins also jumped back onto the top 10 thanks to his wonderful numbers this season, while Jeff Samardzija and Brian Dopirak's lack of action has dropped them to HM status. Randy Wells, who was #8 on the August list, as dropped completely off the charts while struggling mightily at Iowa. Finally, Russ Canzler moved to HM status with a 9 HRs and 30 RBIs in August.

Your Turn: Who is your September Top 10?

Minor League Report for 9/1

2006-09-01T04:50:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma 7 Iowa 4 - Buck Coats went 2-4 and Luis Montanez went 1-4 with his 7th HR as an Iowa Cub (9th on the season). Felix Pie went 1-4, while Eric Patterson had perhaps his toughest night since being promoted to Iowa, going 0-5. On the mound, Jerome Williams (5-7) took the loss going 6.1 IP, giving up 9 hits, 5 ERs, 4 walks, and struck out 2.

Chattanooga 3 West Tennessee 1 - Sean Gallagher (7-5) pitched well going 7 IP, giving up 5 hits, 2 ERs, 2 walks, and struck out 9, but despite the nice numbers, still took the loss. Aron Weston was perhaps the lone star at the plate, going 2-4 with 2 doubles, while only 3 other players managed a single. Jake Fox went 0-4, but did drive in the D-Jaxx' lone run on a sac fly in the bottom of the 9th.

Brevard County 2 Daytona 0 - Daytona finally played a game, their first in 3 days due to the inclement weather, but their offense simply didn't show up. Nathan Price went 2-3, while Chris Robinson and Jemel Spearman each added a single hit. Ryan Bicondoa (1-3) pitched well again going 8.1 IP, giving up 6 hits, 1 ER, 1 walk, and struck out 6, but took the loss.

Peoria 6 Wisconsin 5 - Todd Blackford (10-9) went 5.2 IP, giving up just 2 hits, 1 ER, 3 walks, and struck out 2 in earning the win for the Chiefs. Ryan Norwood went 2-4 with a RBI, while Jesus Valdez went 1-3 with a triple and a run batted in.

Boise 9 Spokane 0 - Russ Canzler went 2-5 with 2 doubles, while Tyler Colvin went 1-5 and hit his 9th HR of the season, the 4th consecutive game that Colvin homered in. Steven Clevenger went 3-4 with a double, while Alfred Joseph went 2-5, his 8th game in the last 10 that Joseph has had 2 hits in a game. Jacob Renshaw (1-2) earned the win going 6 shutout innings, giving up 3 hits, walking 1, and striking out 5, while Jason Ruhlman and Alex Maestri combined to throw 3 shutout innings in relief.

Notes: Be sure to check back later today, as the final Top 10 Cubs' Prospects of the year will be announced; Keeping with the end of year trend, several leagues have announced their end of season all-stars, particularly the Southern League.

A Wonderful 12 Year Old

2006-08-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

Nope, this 12 year old isn't playing in the Little League World Series, but this kid is trying to change the world through baseball. Over at BleedCubbieBlue.com, there is an article about a girl named Jenna who is trying to raise money for her favorite charities, starting with auctioning off some of her prized autographed baseballs. As you'll read, she is quite the 12 year old.

Minor League Report for 8/31

2006-08-31T04:51:00.000-07:00

Iowa 3 Oklahoma 2 - Eric Patterson went 2-3 with a RBI, a walk, and his 6th stolen base since being promoted to Iowa, while Felix Pie went 1-3 and his 16th stolen base of the season. Pie has now swiped 11 of his last 13 attempts, after starting 5-13. On the mound, Wilton Chavez (6-4) took the win going 6 innings, and giving up 2 ERs while Mac Suzuki, Clay Rapada, and Kerry Ligtenberg locked down the win with 3 innings of shutout relief.

Peoria 8 Wisconsin 7 - Yusuf Carter went 2-5 with a double and 2 RBIs, and added the game winning single in the bottom of the 11th to earn a win for the Peoria Chiefs. Robinson Chirinos went 1-5 with a walk and his 9th HR of the year, a 3 run shot in the 2nd inning. Jesus Valdez went 2-6 while Ryan Norwood went 2-3 and Davy Gregg went 3-5 with a double. Gregg, who had led off for most of the season, hit 8th for Peoria, as his batting average has fallen to .222 on the season. Closer, Matt Avery (4-3), went 3 shutout innings giving up just 1 hit and striking out 5 to earn the win.

Boise 9 Spokane 0 - Jose Ceda (1-0) went 5 shutout innings, giving up just 1 hit, 1 walk, and struck out 6, while Jeremy Papelbon pitched in relief, going 2 shutout innings in relief. At the plate, Tyler Colvin went 1-4 with a grand slam, his 8th HR, in the 5th innings, while Russ Canzler went 1-4 as well with his 16th HR of the year. Matt Matulia went 2-3 with a walk, while Alfred Joseph had 2 hits for the 7th time in his last 9 games, raising his average back up to .313 on the year. Josh Lansford also added 2 hits for the 2nd straight game, going 2-4.

Notes: The AZL Cubs were no-hit again and there are also some notes on 2006 draftee Chris Huseby; The Daytona Cubs and the rest of the Florida State League are having a tough time with weather, and particularly Ernesto.

Minor League Report for 8/30

2006-08-30T05:05:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma 5 Iowa 4 - Jeff Deardorff hit a 3 run HR in the top of the 9th, his 9th of the season, but it wasn't enough for the Iowa Cubs. On a night where Felix Pie went 0-4, Eric Patterson went 0-2 with 2 walks, while Randy Wells (4-5) pitched well going 6 innings, giving up 7 hits, 2 ERs, 2 walks, and striking out 5. It was Wells best performance in over a month, only the 2nd in his last 6 starts where he has given up fewer than 4 ERs.

Mobile 3 West Tennessee 1 - JR Mathes (9-8) went 5 innings, giving up 6 hits 2 ERs, 2 walks, and struck out 2, while taking the loss for the D-Jaxx. Miguel Negron went 3-5 with a double, while Tony Richie went 1-3 with a double. Jake Fox pinch hit and struck out and Brandon Sing went 1-3 with 2 walks.

Wisconsin 3 Peoria 0 - Fabian Jimenez Angulo (6-10) took his 10th loss of the season going 5 innings, giving up 9 hits, 3 ERs, 1 walk, and struck out 2. Valerio Heredia led off once again and went 1-4, and had the Peoria Cheifs' only extra base hit, a double.

Boise 9 Spokane 4 - Tyler Colvin went 1-4 with his 7th HR of the season, bringing him to 44 RBIs on the season. Josh Lansford returned to the lineup, going 2-4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBIs. Russ Canzler went 3-4 with a triple, bringing his line up to 270/327/556, and Alfred Joseph went 0-2, but did walk twice. Bill Muldowney started for Boise, going 5 innings, giving up 6 hits, 3 ERs, 2 walks, and struck out 3. Darin Downs (3-2) took the win going 2 innings, while giving up an earned run, while Alfredo Francisco pitched 2 perfect innings to seal the win for the Hawks.

Notes: Iowa is in the playoff hunt, and just like the Boise Hawks, are batting a number of injuries which are affecting the organization; Sam Fuld is also battling back from an injury and has suffered a setback on his injured hip; Over at InsideTheIvy.com, they sat down with Cubs' rookie, Sean Marshall, for a Question and Answer session.

A Closer Look at Ryan Harvey

2006-08-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

Saying Ryan Harvey has had an odd 2006 season, is like saying Sybil is monotonous. Harvey has put has put a schizophrenic spin on his season, posting an OPS of 585 before the all-star break, and an OPS of 873 after the break.

So, who is the real Ryan Harvey? What can we find within the numbers to indicate which output Harvey is most likely to give us?

Remarkably, Harvey's BB/K rates are identical before and after the break, with a 12/60 ratio before the break, and a 11/61 ratio after the break (although in 10 more games), so we can throw out any adjustment factor that Harvey may have had.

Probably the most important statistic is BABIP, or Batting Average on Balls In Play. BABIP typically gives an indication on how fortunate (aka lucky) a player has been when putting the ball in play. The league average for the Florida State League has been around .308 for 2006. Furthermore, for players like Harvey who strike out quite often, the BABIP should always be significantly higher, as strike outs often skew a BA down, while not affecting the BABIP. So, let's look at Harvey's numbers, thanks to MinorLeagueSplits.com:

	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BABIP
April	78	14	1	0	5	6	24	0.179	0.238	0.385	0.623	0.184
May	90	15	4	0	0	6	21	0.167	0.224	0.211	0.436	0.217
June	101	26	6	1	2	1	27	0.257	0.265	0.396	0.661	0.333
July	95	29	5	0	9	2	29	0.305	0.327	0.642	0.969	0.351
August	89	30	7	0	4	7	18	0.337	0.394	0.551	0.945	0.388

As you can see, in April, Harvey's BABIP and batting average, were nearly identical. This means basically, Harvey was not only not hitting the ball much, but when he did he hit into quite poor luck. In May, Harvey's luck didn't improve much, just obtaining hits in 22% of his balls hit in play. In June, July, and August, Harvey's luck began to turn around, and were all above league average for each month.

So, which Harvey should we expect in 2007 and further into the future? Well, as usual the truth often lies in between extremes. Harvey's current line of 253/293/442 is slightly below his career minor league numbers, so most likely numbers like 260/300/490 are what you can expect from Harvey based upon his career. Harvey will still produce power, and his run production has been exceptional (100 RBIs in 117 games in 2005, 84 RBIs in 118 games in 2006), especially despite his low batting average.

Outside the numbers, scouts are saying Harvey is still struggling with the curveball. Typically a batter can get away with this in A Ball, but the AA transition is often the most difficult, so next year will be big for Harvey.

The Best Case Scenario for Harvey is a Chicago debut in late 2008, as a player like Jeff Franceour, who will never have a high OBP, but will produce runs and will play a good right field.

Minor League Report for 8/29

2006-08-29T04:39:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma 1 Iowa 0 - Luis Montanez had a double and Augie Ojeda had a single for the only two Iowa Cubs' hits on Monday night. Jae Kuk Ryu (7-8) took the hard luck loss, pitching a complete game, going 8 innings, giving up 5 hits, 1 ER, 2 walks, and striking out 7. The only run of the game came on a homerun from former Pirate, Cub, and Tiger, Randall Simon.

Mobile 4 West Tennessee 2 - Chris Walker went 1-2 with 2 walks, and both of the D-Jaxx' runs, and he also added his 46th stolen base of the season, while Jake Fox went 1-4 with a double. Bobby Brownlie (3-11) continued his poor season, giving up 2 run HR in the bottom of the ninth to take the loss. Scott Moore went 0-3 at the plate, but interestingly enough, played shortstop for the first time this season.

Vero Beach 8 Daytona 1 - Ryan Harvey went 1-3, driving the only run of the game in for the Daytona Cubs, while Jemel Spearman and Matt Craig each went 2-4. Justin Berg (7-7) took the loss going 3 innings, giving up 6 hits, 3 runs, 2 ERs, 2 walks, and struck out 3. Grant Johnson, who is headed to the AFL, pitched an inning in relief, giving up just a hit.

Peoria 3 Wisconsin 1 - Twenty-two year old, Jesse Estrada (6-1) took the win going 7 innings, giving up just 2 hits, 1 ER, no walks, and struck out 4. Jesus Valdez went 2-4 at the plate, while Valerio Heredia made his 2nd appearance at Peoria, going 1-4 and stealing his 1st base, after leading off for the AZL Cubs for most of the season.

Notes: Over at InsideTheIvy.com, there is an article discussing the injuries that the Boise Hawks are enduring, including injuries to Josh Lansford, Deryck Lewis, and Elvin Puello.

Weekend Minor League Report

2006-08-28T04:58:00.000-07:00

After a week off theeeyyyy'rreee baaaacccckkkk! Your Monday Morning Bullets...

Felix Pie went 3-11 with 2 doubles and 2 walks over the weekend. For August, Pie has a line of 333/393/604, while for the season his line is 281/341/445.
Ryan Harvey went 3-9 over the weekend with his 20th HR of the year, which also brought him to 83 RBIs on the year. After a month of July where Harvey boasted an OPS of 1000, Harvey hasn't dropped off to much in August where he has an OPS of 921. On top of that Harvey is having by far his best month with regard to his BB/K rate. In August, Harvey has walked a season high 8 times in a month, while striking out a season low 19 times in a month.
Scott Moore went 5-10 this weekend, adding his 22nd HR of the year. Moore is having a great August as well, where he has hit 6 HRs and currently has an OPS of 1056.
Russ Canzler and Tyler Colvin had big Sundays for Boise. Canzler hit his 7th HR of August, a month in which he also has 27 RBIs, while Colvin added his 6th HR of the year. In the same game, Mark Pawelek earned his 3rd win of the season, going 5 innings, giving up 4 hits, 1 ER, 1 walk, and struck out 6.
Here is an update on the Boise Hawks and their playoff race.
Mitch Atkins suffered his 4th loss of the season on Sunday, dropping to 12-4. Atkins went 5 innings, giving up 7 hits, 4 ER, 2 walks, and struck out 3. It was the first start Atkins had given up at least 4 ERs since early July.
Who should start in center next year, Felix Pie or Juan Pierre? Frequent poster, Kyle Johansen answered that question over at CubsHub.com, so check it out!

Minor League Report for 8/25

2006-08-25T04:39:00.000-07:00

Iowa 5 New Orleans 4 - Felix Pie went 2-3 with 2 walks, a double, and his 13th HR of the year. Pie also added his 15th stolen base of the year, which capped of an ideal night at the leadoff spot. Eric Patterson had his first game where he didn't have multiple hits, although he did go 1-4 with a walk, while 4 other Iowa Cubs added 2 hits each. Kerry Ligtenberg (4-4) took the win in relief, while starter, Randy Wells, took a no decision going 5 innings, giving up 9 hits, 4 ER, 2 walks, and striking out 6.

Huntsville 6 West Tennessee 5 - Jake Fox went 2-3 with a double and a walk, while hitting 3rd, and Scott Moore went 1-2 with a walk and his 21st HR of the year, a 2 run shot in the 6th inning. Richard Lewis went 3-4 at the plate, with a double, and Chris Walker went 1-4 with a double and his 42nd stolen base of the year. JR Mathes started and took a no decision, going 6.1 IP, giving up 6 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned, 2 walks, and striking out 7. AFL bound, Lincoln Holdzkom (2-3), took the loss in relief giving up a run in 0.2 IP.

Daytona 2 St. Lucie 1 - Nathan Price went 2-3 with a double and a triple and drove in each of the Daytona Cubs' runs. Ryan Harvey went 0-1 with a walk and his 7th stolen base of the season. Carlos Perez (5-7) earned the win going 6 shutout innings, giving up 8 hits, no walks, and striking out 5.

Peoria 3 Quad Cities 2 - Kyle Reynolds went 1-2 with his 9th HR of the year, a solo shot in the 5th, while Yusuf Carter went 1-3 with a RBI. Ryan Norwood and Ryne Malone each went 1-3 at the plate. Fabian Jimenez Angulo (6-9) went 5 innings, giving up 9 hits, 2 ER, 2 walks, and struck out 2, while Matt Avery saved his 18th game of the year with a perfect 9th.

Boise 8 Spokane 7 - Jose Ceda made his Boise debut, and pitched well, before giving up 4 runs in the 4th inning. Ceda finished up going 4 IP, giving up 3 hits, 4 ER, 1 walk, and struck out 4. Jason Ruhlman (2-1) earned the win in relief while going 2 shutout innings. At the plate, Tyler Colving went 3-5 with a triple, while Russ Canzler went 1-3 with a walk and his 14th HR of the year. Also, Alfred Joseph added another multi-hit game going 2-5 raising his line to 306/362/440.

Some Evening Notes

2006-08-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

MiLB.com has overhauled their player pages. They still have a long way to go, but its much better than before. Here is an example, Felix Pie's page.
John Sickels had one of his famous AQA (All Questions Answered) sessions, and there are quite a few Cubs' questions, including one where Sickels says that Rich Hill needs to get away from the Cubs.
Ed Campusano of the Peoria Chiefs was named to the postseason all-star team, he was the only Chief to receive the honor.
Jae Kuk Ryu pitched a couple scoreless innings for the big club today, a good sign for Ryu, although it means he is unlikely to make the start on Sunday. Sean Marshall, Wade Miller, or Jerome Williams could be in line to make the start.

Minor League Report for 8/24

2006-08-24T04:41:00.000-07:00

Iowa 12 New Orleans 8 - Michael Restovich hit another HR, his 24th of the year, and 2 other Iowa Cubs added HRs as well, Jeff Hoorelbeke (#4) and Casey McGehee (#10). Eric Patterson continues to hit at Iowa, going 3-5 with his 3rd SB in 4 games, and has raised his average at Iowa to .550 (11-20). Felix Pie led off and went 1-4 with a walk and a double, although he did strike out twice. Wade Miller (1-0) went 5 innings, constantly working out of trouble as he gave up 11 hits, 5 ER, 2 walks, and struck out 2. With the I-Cubs run support, Miller managed to still pull out his first win at Iowa. AFL bound, Clay Rapada, pitched a perfect inning (the only Iowa Cub pitcher not to give up a run) in relief.

Huntsville 4 West Tennessee 0 - Chris Walker went 2-4 and Scott Moore, Jake Fox, Brandon Sing, and Miguel Negron all went 1-4, which accounted for all of the D-Jaxx' hits. Defensively, Jake Fox caught once again, and added his 13th passed ball of the year and his 3rd error on a bad throw. Hugo Castellanos (0-1) picked up the hard luck loss going 6 innings, giving up 3 hits, 1 ER, walking 6 and striking out 5.

Jupiter 7 Daytona 4 - Chris Robinson went 1-4 with his 3rd HR of the year, a 3 run shot in the 6th inning, but it wasn't enough for the Daytona Cubs. Mark Holliman (7-11) picked up his 11th loss of the season while going 5 innings, giving up 5 hits, 5 ER, 2 walks, and striking out 5. Grant Johnson pitched well once again in relief, going 2.1 IP, while giving up just 2 hits. Ryan Harvey went 0-2 with a walk, his 21st of the season.

Boise 15 Spokane 1 - Russ Canzler went 4-6 with 3 doubles and 3 RBIs, while Tyler Colvin went 2-6 and added his 12th stolen base of the year. Alfred Joseph went 2-2 with 3 walks and 2 RBIs and Steve Clevenger went 2-5 with a walk. Bill Muldowney (1-2) went 5 shutout innings, giving up 3 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 7. Darin Downs went 3 innings in relief, while giving up 2 hits, 1 ER, 2 walks, and striking out 4.

Notes: As is common here, lets take a look down at Rookie ball and see how some of the Cubs 2006 draftees are doing. Drew Rundle went 2-4 with a walk and a double and 3 RBIs while Cliff Andersen went 2-4 with a triple, both in the AZL Cubs 9-8 loss. Rundle's line is a respectable 245/378/391 in 32 games, while Andersen has a line of 252/356/317; Over at InsideTheIvy.com there are 3 interesting articles, worth a look. First, ITI looks at the AFL position players and pitchers, and also has an article about Brian Dopirak and his second surgery on his foot.

Exciting News about this Site!

2006-08-23T05:45:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to announce that we have added another contributor to this site. Our new writer has posted under the name Romero, over at BleedCubbieBlue.com. Most recently, Romero has written diaries analyzing the Iowa Cubs and the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx. Romero is a skilled writer and a fan of the Cubs and their minor league system, and he will be posting at his convenience here. Here is some of his work over at BCB.

Look forward to Romero's posts coming soon!

Minor League Report for 8/23

2006-08-23T04:50:00.000-07:00

Iowa 5 Oklahoma 3 - Eric Patterson continued his hot streak since his promotion to Iowa, going 3-4 with an RBI and a stolen base. Patterson is hitting .533 since being called up to Iowa and has stolen 2 bases. In Iowa's win, Felix Pie went 1-4, while Michael Restovich continued his power streak going 2-4 with his 23rd HR and 3 more RBIs giving him 74 on the year. On the mound Sean Marshall pitched 6 shutout innings, but only receiving a no decision as Andrew Shipman couldn't hold the lead in the 7th. Brandon Emanuel (1-2) earned the win going a scoreless 1.1 IP, while Kerry Ligtenberg picked up his 13th save.

Huntsville 5 West Tennessee 2 - Jake Fox went 1-2 in a game where he didn't start, but came in to catch. No player for the D-Jaxx had more than 1 hit, and only Brandon Sing had an extra base hit, as he went 1-4 with a double. Isaac Pavlik (1-1) went 5 innings, giving up 7 hits, 5 runs, 4 earned, 2 walks, and struck out 5 picking up the loss.

Daytona 4 Jupiter 2 - Nate Spears went 2-3 with 2 doubles and 2 runs scored, while Matt Ciaramella went 1-3 with his 2nd HR of the year. Ciaramella hit a 2 run HR in the 2nd inning, and the Daytona Cubs led for the rest of the game. Justin Berg (7-6) went 5 innings, giving up 7 hits, 1 ER, no walks, and struck out 1 to pick up the win. Recently acquired player, Chris Robinson, went 1-4 with a RBI batting third once again.

Spokane 7 Boise 3 - Mark Pawelek (2-5) picked up a hard luck loss once again, pitching well, going 5 innings, and giving up 5 hits, 1 ER, 2 walks, and striking out 3. Despite his 2-5 record, Pawelek has an ERA of 2.47 in 51 innings where he has given up just 43 hits, and struck out 41. In the game, Jeremy Papelbon pitched relief and went 2 innings, and gave up 2 ERs. At the plate for Boise, Matt Matulia went 2-3 with a RBI, while Alfred Joseph went 2-4 raising his average back up to .296.

Notes: Two Cubs' prospects showed up on this week's Prospect Hot Sheet over at Baseball America.

Buck Coats gets the call

2006-08-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

With Cesar Izturis heading to the DL, Buck Coats got the call to Chicago today. Coats can swing the stick from the left side and can play anywhere except pitcher and catcher. Coats will be competing with Ryan Theriot and Freddie Bynum as versatile players that will help on the bench next season. If this writer had his way, Ryan Theriot would be penciled in at SS and 2B for the rest of the season, but knowing Dusty Baker's ways Freddie Bynum will share time as well.

Minor League Report for 8/22

2006-08-22T04:39:00.000-07:00

Iowa 7 Oklahoma 3 - Michael Restovich went 1-2 with 2 walks and his 22nd HR of the year and Geovanny Soto went 2-3 with a walk and his 6th HR of the year. Soto, who could very well replace Henry Blanco as the backup catcher in 2007, has a respectable line of 277/354/393. On the mound, Jerome Williams (4-6) picked up the win going 6.1 IP, scattering 9 hits, and giving up 3 ER, no walks, and struck out 1. In his third game at AAA, Eric Patterson went 2-3 with a double and a RBI, while prospect, Felix Pie, went 0-5 at the plate.

West Tennessee 4 Huntsville 2 - Chris Shaver (7-8) went 6 innings, giving up 4 hits, 2 ER, 3 walks, and struck out 4 in picking up the win. Scott Moore went 1-3 with a walk while Jake Fox 1-4 with a double and 2 RBIs. Jake Fox played the outfield for only the 2nd time this season, while Tony Richie went 2-3 and caught.

Daytona 7 Jupiter 2 - Donnie Veal (6-2) was the beneficiary of the Daytona run support once again, as he went 5.2 IP, giving up 4 hits, 2 ER, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts. Chris Robinson, who was acquired from the Tigers on Sunday, made his Daytona debut catching and hitting 3rd in the lineup. Robinson went 3-5 with a double and 3 RBIs, while Alan Rick went 3-5 with his 8th HR of the year. Ryan Harvey 1-5, striking out twice, and defensive specialist, Jonathan Mota added his 1st HR of the year, as he went 1-2 at the plate.

Peoria 6 SW Michigan 0 - Jesus Valdez went 2-4 with a double, as did Ryan Norwood, but Kyle Reynolds added the pop. Reynolds went 1-4 with his 8th HR of the year, a solo shot in the 3rd inning. Joel Santo (9-9) and Justin Rayborn combined to pitch a shutout. Santo went the first 6.2 IP, giving no runs, 5 hits, and walking 3.

Boise 6 Vancouver 5 - Five players had 2 hit games for Boise in a win in which Boise almost gave up. With a 4 run lead going into the bottom of the ninth the Hawks gave up 3 runs, before Michael Cooper shut the door for the win. Leadoff man, Matt Camp, went 2-3 with 2 walks, while Tyler Colvin went 2-4 with a walk. Alfred Joseph, who has struggled quite a bit, since serving an 8 game suspension, went 2-4 with a double.

Notes: The Cubs have announced who will be attending the Arizona Fall League. The seven players, include 4 pitchers, Clay Rapada, Carmen Pignatiello, Grant Johnson, and Lincoln Holdzkom, and 3 position players, Eric Patterson, Jake Fox, and Scott Moore; Over at BleedCubbieBlue.com, Al Yellon posted an interview that he had with Jim Hendry, which touches on the 2006 draft among other things.

Minor League Report for 8/21

2006-08-21T04:40:00.000-07:00

Since Saturday was a pretty boring day in the minors, in lieu of the Monday Morning Bullets, here is a report from yesterday.

Iowa 5 Oklahoma 1 - Les Walrond (10-5) pitched 7.2 IP, giving up just 4 hits, 1 ER, no walks, and struck out 5 to earn his 10th win of the year. Brandon Emanuel pitched the final inning and a third without having a baserunner to pick up his 1st save. At the plate, Eric Patterson went 2-4 with his 1st stolen base since being promoted, while Jesse Hoorelbeke added his 3rd HR, a 2 run shot in the 8th inning. Felix Pie went 1-4 at the plate and struck out twice.

West Tennessee 1 Huntsville 0 - Sean Gallagher (7-3) went 7 shutout innings giving up 3 hits, 4 walks, and struck out 5 lowering his ERA to 2.44. Offensively, Scott Moore went 2-4 with 2 doubles, while Jake Fox went 3-4 raising his line to 267/302/447 since being promoted to the Diamond Jaxx. Back to Gallagher for a second, whose numbers are quite similar at AA, as compared to High A Daytona. While Gallagher's ERA (AA 2.44 A 2.30) is similar, Gallagher's H/9 has gone down (AA 7.45 A 8.61) and BB/9 have more than doubled (AA 6.11 A 2.41).

Palm Beach 6 Daytona 1 - Ryan Harvey went 1-4 with a double, while Matt Craig went 2-4 with a double as the Daytona Cubs couldn't muster enough offense against Palm Beach. Indy League transfer, Todd Bicondoa (1-2), took the loss giving up 5 runs, 3 earned, in 5.2 innings.

SW Michigan 6 Peoria 3 - Kyle Reynolds went 2-4 with a triple and Mark Reed went 2-3 with a walk at the plate. Reed's splits show how he has struggled in July and August, where he hasn't posted an OPS above 408, but he is still young, so hopefully he can turn things around. On the mound, Todd Blackford (9-8) took the loss giving up 3 ERs in 5 IPs.

Vancouver 4 Boise 2 - Alex Maestri (4-3) took the loss giving up 2 runs in an inning of work in the bottom of the 8th. At the plate, Tyler Colvin went 1-4 with his 11th stolen base on the year, while Russ Canzler went 1-4 at the plate with 3 strikeouts. Canzler added his 13th HR of the year over the weekend, but had a rough day against Vancouver.

Notes: Yesterday, the Cubs traded overused Neifi Perez, for a catcher in the Detroit Tigers organization. Here is a scouting report on Chris Robinson, who was the top defensive catcher in the Tigers organization last year and has strong leadership skills. A look at his stats show that Robinson hasn't been particularly great, specifically in the power categories, but he is respectable considering his defensive abilities.

Eric Patterson Update

2006-08-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

I may have missed this last night, but Eric Patterson is in the Iowa Cubs lineup. Patterson is starting and hitting 8th, while playing 2nd for Iowa. This is a little surprising considering Patterson wasn't exactly lighting it up at AA West Tennessee with a line of 263/330/408.

Quick Saturday Notes

2006-08-19T05:50:00.000-07:00

Felix Pie went 4-5 with a double and raised his average to .282.
Ryan Harvey was at it again as well, going 2-4 and raising his average to .259. Harvey is now hitting 259/295/450.
Peoria lost 12-0 yesterday, and was held to no hits by Michael Wlodarczyk.
Tyler Colvin raised his average to .276 as he went 3-4 with a double and 2 RBIs in Boise's 5-1 win.
Bill Muldowney pitched 4 shutout innings in Boise's win. Muldowney now has an ERA of 2.20 at Short Season Boise, and has pitched 28.2 IP, while only giving up 27 hits, 7 walks, and struck out 29.
Jose Ceda, acquired in the Todd Walker trade, pitched 4 shutout innings for the AZL Cubs, and gave up just 2 hits and struck out 6, although he did walk 4. Ceda has a 3.60 ERA this season, but only a 0.75 ERA since being acquired by the Cubs. On the season, Ceda has pitched 35 innings and given up 26 hits, while striking out 52.

Minor League Report for 8/18

2006-08-18T04:47:00.000-07:00

Round Rock 6 Iowa 1 - Felix Pie went 2-4 with a double and an RBI and Geovanny Soto went 2-4 with a double as well, but it wasn't enough against Round Rock. Sean Marshall (0-2) made his 2nd rehab start and went 5.2 IP, giving up 4 hits, 6 ER, 4 walks, and struck out 6. Jerome Williams, who was moved back to relief with Marshall and Wade Miller making rehab starts, pitched a perfect one third of an inning in relief.

Mobile 6 West Tennessee 5 - Brandon Sing went 2-3 with a walk and his 7th HR of the year, and raised his average to .218 on the year. Sing has struggled mightily this year, opening up the season at Iowa hitting just .177 in 33 games, but has started to hit a little better lately. Jake Fox was in the cleanup spot, and went 1-4 with a single while Miguel Negron went 2-4 with a triple and 2 RBIs. Thomas Atlee (2-5) blew the save and took the loss going 1 inning and giving up 3 runs.

Sarasota 5 Daytona 4 - Justin Berg made his first start since coming off the DL and went 3 innings, giving up 1 hits, 2 runs, although neither were earned. Ryan Harvey was the offensive star once again, going 2-3 with a walk, a double, and a RBI. Harvey has an OPS around 950 since the beginning of July, a number no player in the Cubs organization has approached in that time frame.

Peoria 7 Wisconsin 2 - Mitch Atkins (12-3) won again, throwing 6 IP, giving up just 4 hits, 1 ER, 2 walks, and struck out 12, while Atkins ERA dropped to 2.36 on the year. The 20 year old right handed pitcher has found some consistency in his secondary pitches this season, and has taken a huge step forward on the prospect charts. At the plate, Ryan Lilly went 2-5 raising his average to .319 while Alberto Garcia went 1-2 with a walk and his 4th HR of the year. Ryan Norwood went 1-2 with 2 walks, a double, and a RBI.

Boise 7 Vancouver 6 - Boise scored in the top of the 12th to win in extra innings has Matt Matulia led the way going 2-5 with a walk and a triple. Tyler Colvin also tripled, his 5th, going 1-5 at the plate with 2 RBIs. Elvin Puello went 3-4 at the plate, while Josh Lansford went 1-5 with 2 RBIs. Mark Pawelek started and received a no decision going 4.2 IP, giving up 3 hits, 2 runs, 1 ER, on 3 walks, and struck out just one. Jeremy Papelbon relieved Pawelek and went 2 innings, giving up 2 hits, 1 ER, walking 2, and striking out 4. Michael Cooper (2-0) pitched 3 scoreless innings in relief to earn the win and lowered his ERA to 0.86.

Ranking the LHPs in the Minors

2006-08-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

Baseball Prospectus has a list of the top left-handed pitchers in the minors, as Donald Veal shows up at #4 and Mark Pawelek at #11. While they are very high on Veal, they have less than stellar things to say about Pawelek, frankly saying "I just thought he'd be better than this."

Minor League Report for 8/17

2006-08-17T04:50:00.000-07:00

Round Rock 6 Iowa 3 - Felix Pie went 2-5 with a HR and a double and Buck Coats went 2-4 with a double, but it wasn't enough for Iowa. Wade Miller made a rehab start, his first with Iowa, and took a no decision going 6 IP, giving up 7 hits, 3 ER, walking 1, and striking out 7. Freddie Bynum is also rehabbing, and went 0-3, his second straight night without a hit.

West Tennessee 4 Mobile 1 - Chris Shaver (6-8) earned the win going 5 innings, giving up 5 hits, 1 ER, 1 walk, and struck out 3. Richard Lewis went 2-4 with a double, while Brandon Sing went 3-4 with a double (raising his average to .211), and Eric Patterson went 1-4, scoring 2 runs and adding his 38th stolen base of the year. Scott Moore went 1-2 at the plate and drove in 2 RBIs on the year. Moore has a line of 272/353/466 with 18 HRs and 64 RBIs and has had a nice season for the Diamond Jaxx.

Daytona 5 Sarasota 4 - Ryan Harvey hit his 19th HR of the year in the top of the 12th finishing off his 3-5 night at the plate. Harvey also added a walk and now has a line of 254/289/445, which still isn't spectacular, but considering where his numbers have come from, it is downright spectacular. Donald Veal started for Daytona and got a no decision on one of his worst starts since his promotion, going 5.2 IP, giving up 3 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned, walking 3, and striking out 5. Veal's ERA jumped all the way to 1.70 since his promotion. Noteworthy at the plate, Matt Craig went 3-6 while defensive stud, Jonathan Mota went 2-5.

Peoria 9 Wisconsin 5 - Joel Santo (8-9) went 5 innings, scattering 7 hits, giving up 5 ER, 2 walks, and striking out 5 to earn the win. Ryan Lilly went 3-5 with a HR, his 3rd, and his 4th double of the year to lead the way for the Peoria Chiefs at the plate. UVA alum, Matt Avery came in the game to finish it, although not in a save situation. Avery has an ERA of 1.77 with a WHIP just above 1 and 69 K's in 61 IP.

Notes: Ryan Harvey's hot streak in July and August showed up in today's Daily Dish. Also in the Dish, was one of my former players, Jason Neighborgall. Jason has struggled mightily this year and currently has a streak going of 16 consecutive batters without getting an out. You might wonder why Neighborgall is still getting paid to pitch, but with a fastball that can hit triple digits and a sick breaking ball, Neighborgall has the stuff that organizations dream of, unfortunately his control is just a nightmare.

The 2006 John Koronka

2006-08-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

This year's John Koronka made his debut today in the form of Ryan O'Malley. O'Malley made a two hour drive from Round Rock early this morning with the Cubs in desperate need of a starting pitcher. O'Malley got a phone call at 6:30 this morning, made the two hour drive, and showed up for the Cubs game which started at 1 CT.

Quite the busy morning, but once the game started, O'Malley was right at home. O'Malley pitched 8 shutout innings spotting a fastball that sat in the mid to upper 80s, mixing in a nice changeup, and also a cutter and curveball. O'Malley got a way with quite a few mistakes though, and left his changeup up in the zone quite a bit. O'Malley ended up throwing 109 pitches, 60 of which were strikes, and ended up walking 6 batters while only striking out 2.

It will be interesting to see if O'Malley will get another shot after earning the win today. Most likely, Wade Miller and Sean Marshall will surface in the next week or so, which will mean the Cubs will have 6 starters fighting for 5 spots. O'Malley may get one more chance to make a start early next week if neither Miller or Marshall, and if the Cubs stick to the decision to use Angel Guzman in relief. If all of those happen, O'Malley will get one more start, but after that he will be either be moved back to relief to help as a lefty specialist (with Scott Eyre on the DL) or sent back to Iowa.

Minor League Report for 8/16

2006-08-16T04:59:00.000-07:00

Round Rock 8 Iowa 1 - Felix Pie went 1-4 with a triple, and Freddie Bynum, starting a rehab assignment went 2-4 driving in Iowa's only run, but it wasn't enough to beat Round Rock. Les Walrond (9-5) took the loss going 5.2 IP, giving up 7 hits, 7 ER, 5 walks, and he also struck out 5.

West Tennessee 2 Mobile 1 - Sean Gallagher (6-3) pitched 6 innings, giving up 3 hits, 1 ER, 3 walks, and struck out 10 to earn the win. It was Gallagher's 10th win of the season, marking his second consecutive season with double digit wins. At the plate, Jake Fox went 3-4 with a double, while, Eric Patterson went 1-2 with 2 walks, and Chris Walker went 1-4 and added 2 steals to give him 39 on the year.

Sarasota 11 Daytona 4 - Ryan Harvey went 1-3 at the plate and added his 18th HR of the year, a 2 run shot in the 6th inning. Nate Spears, Jemel Spearman, and Matt Craig all went 2-4 with a double, but it wasn't enough as the Daytona pitchers couldn't hold Sarasota in check.

Sarasota 1 Daytona 0 - Rain shortened the 2nd game of the doubleheader, and Sarasota needed only 1 run to earn the win in 6 innings, and held the D-Cubs to just 2 hits. Ryan Bicondoa (1-1) took the loss going 5 innings, giving up 6 hits, and just 1 earned run.

Wisconsin 5 Peoria 2 - Ryan Norwood went 3-4 at the plate raising his average 5 points, back above .300 to .302 on the season. Jesus Valdez went 1-3 with a walk and his 9th stolen base of the year, but Todd Blackford (9-7) couldn't limit Wisconsin as he pitched just 4 innings, and gave up 8 hits, 5 ER, and struck out 3.

Everett 7 Boise 0 - Tyler Colvin went 1-4 at the plate with the Hawks' only extra base hit, a triple, but Boise couldn't even plate Colvin. Mike Billek (2-3) couldn't get out of the first inning, going just 0.1 IP, and giving up 7 hits and 7 ER. Alfredo Francisco pitched 4.2 shutout innings in relief, but Boise just couldn't get their offense going.

Notes: There could be some minor league shakeup as a result of the Cubs' 18 inning win last night (this morning). With today's starter, Rich Hill throwing 29 pitches just hours ago, it is unlikely he will start today, and most likely will be moved back to Sunday, where the Cubs were undecided who will start anyway. Wade Miller is scheduled to pitch for Iowa tonight, so it is possible Miller may be called up to make the start against his former team, the Astros this afternoon.; Back in the minors, here are some updates on injuries throughout the minor league system, including Brian Dopirak, whose season is done.; It apperas Wade Miller may not be the choice for the Cubs today. It appears that Ryan O'Malley may get the spot start. O'Malley has gone 7-7 with an ERA just above 4 for Iowa this season.

Minor League Report for 8/15

2006-08-15T04:54:00.000-07:00

Memphis 5 Iowa 1 - Jae Kuk Ryu (6-7) pitched 5 innings, and gave up 7 hits, 4 ER, 3 walks, and struck out 3, and took the loss for the Iowa Cubs. Ryu didn't get enough run support, as the only run came on an Augie Ojeda HR, his 3rd. Felix Pie went 0-4 with a walk, and struck out twice, while Michael Restovich and Geovanny Soto added 2 hits each. The only extra base hit came from Ryu, who had a double.

Wisconsin 6 Peoria 5 - Jesus Valdez went 4-4 at the plate raising his average 7 points to .312, and Ryan Norwood went 1-3 with a double and 2 RBIs. Scott Taylor (7-8) was the hard luck pitcher, as he pitched 5.1 IP, giving up 8 hits, 5 runs but only 2 earned, 2 walks, and struck out 7.

Boise 7 Everett 6 - Darin Downs (2-2), who is attempting a comeback, pitched his second consecutive scoreless outing, going 2 innings, striking out 2, and giving up just a hit to earn the win. At the plate, Russ Canzler didn't hit a homerun, but did go 2-3 with a walk. Tyler Colvin went 0-4, although he did drive in a run, but also was picked off. Matt Camp led off and went 1-3 with a walk and his 14th stolen base of the year in 23 attempts.

Notes: With the Diamond Jaxx and the AZL Cubs off for the night, the Daytona Cubs rained out, there's not a lot of minor league ball to talk about, so let's discuss the majors briefly. In the Cubs Blog Nation, the discussion lately has centered around Dusty Baker. With this being a minor league blog, you probably already know where my stance lies. Baker has been almost defiant about playing his youth, sometimes in spite of their success. The perfect example is Ryan Theriot who has sat on the bench the last 2 games in lieu of Neifi Perez, despite his early success at the major league level. The fact is, Baker currently has a conflict of interest, in that he is trying to save his job, while Hendry is hoping to look at the talent of "next year". If for no other reason, Hendry should go back on his promise, and show Baker the door. End Rant.; Back to a little Cubs' minor league news, it appears nearly all the teams have a shot at the playoffs.

Minor League Report for 8/14

2006-08-14T05:03:00.000-07:00

Here are your Monday Morning Bullets:

Felix Pie hit his 11th HR of the year on Sunday, but the Iowa Cubs got shelled 11-2, in a game that saw Jerome Williams (3-6) pitch just 3 innings, and give up 10 hits and 6 runs.
At West Tennessee, JR Mathes pitched a 7 inning complete game, giving up just 1 ER and striking out 11 to move to 9-7 on the year. Brian Dopirak is still a no show, in D-Jaxx games which most likely means he is nursing some injury. If you have some info on this, post it in the comments.
Ryan Lilly, who made the jump from Rookie ball to Peoria, had a 2 homer game yesterday in Peoria's 8-6 loss. Lilly is a 22 year old shortstop, who was signed as an undrafted free agent, from the University of San Diego.
Russ Canzler hit his 12th HR of the year for Boise in their 6-4 loss. Canzler was featured over at InsideTheIvy.com, and it is definitely worth checking out.
Alex Maesstri, aka The Italian Stallion, was also featured over the weekend at InsideTheIvy.com as well.
Mitch Atkins earned his 11th win of the year over the weekend, moving to 11-3 and lowering his ERA to 2.41. Atkins is having a breakout year, and is showing the development that the Cubs hoped he would, when he was drafted out of high school 2 years ago.
That's all for now, but check back for updates throughout the day, as time permits.

Minor League Report for 8/11

2006-08-11T05:18:00.000-07:00

Jacksonville 4 West Tennessee 3 - Scott Moore went 3-3 with a walk, and Eric Patterson added 3 hits as well, going 3-4 although getting caught stealing for the 12th time this year, but it wasn't enough for the Diamond Jaxx. Chris Shaver (5-8) took the loss, going 6.1 IP, giving up 8 hits, 3 ER, 1 walk, and struck out 2 raising his ERA to 2.99.

Daytona 8 Tampa 3 - Donald Veal (5-2) was at it again, going 5.1 IP, giving up 3 hits, 2 ER, walking 3, and striking out 3, and actually saw his ERA raise to 1.40. Veal is now 10-5 combined on the year between Daytona and Peoria. At the plate, Nathan Price went 4-4, and the top 3 batters in the order, Nate Spears (2-5), Joe Simokaitis (3-4, HR 3 RBIs), and Jemel Spearman (3-4, 3B) all added multi-hit games. Ryan Harvey went 1-4 with a single and a RBI, without striking out.

Boise 6 Spokane 5 - Matt Matulia went 4-4 and stole his 9th base of the year, and Steven Clevenger went 2-4 and added his 2nd HR of the year. Russ Canzler homered for the 3rd straight game, his 11th of year. Mike Billek started for Boise and took the no decision despite going 5 shutout innings.

AZL Cubs 6 AZL Padres 5 - 2006 draftee, Chris Huseby, made his 2nd appearance as a pro, going 3 shutout innings, giving up 3 hits, 1 walk, and striking out 4. Huseby has now pitched 5 innings without giving up a run in 2 appearances, while striking out 8. Huseby was selected in the 11th round and received a 1.3 million dollar bonus. Darin Downs, who was recently featured as InsideTheIvy.com, pitched after Huseby and threw 2 shutout innings of his own. At the plate, Cliff Andersen went 1-4 with a triple, while Drew Rundle went 2-5 with a double.

Minor League Report for 8/10

2006-08-10T04:51:00.000-07:00

Iowa 5 Portland 1 - Felix Pie went 2-4 with a double and a RBI, while Buck Coats hit 2nd behind Pie and also went 2-4 at the plate to energize the Iowa Cubs offense. While the top two batters combined for 3 of the 5 Iowa runs, Casey McGehee added his 8th HR of the year. Les Walrond (9-4) was the beneficiary of the run support, going 7 innings, giving up 5 hits, 1 ER, 1 walk, and struck out 6.

West Tennessee 7 Jacksonville 3 - The D-Jaxx hit 4 homeruns, including one by relief pitcher, Bobby Brownlie. Gary Cates had the important HR, a 3 run in-the-park homerun in the top of the 11th, after which Bobby Brownlie hit his to add some insurance. Brownlie (3-9) earned the win by going 3 shutout innings and giving up just 2 walks. Sean Gallagher started the game and went 6 innings, giving up 3 hits, and striking out 8, although the walks were a problem again, as he issued 5. Eric Patterson and Brandon Sing also hit HRs for the D-Jaxx, Patterson's 8th and Sing's 5th on the year.

Tampa 5 Daytona 1 - Jonathan Mota went 1-3 with a walk and a double and Jemel Spearman went 1-4 with a double and his 20th stolen base on the year. No other player had an extra base hit, and prospect, Ryan Harvey, went 0-4 and struck out twice. Ben Petrick (1-2) hasn't had much success since making the jump to Daytona from Boise, and took the loss going 5.1 IP giving up 5 ER.

Boise 9 Spokane 3 - Russ Canzler was at it again, hitting his 10th HR of the year, going 2-3 at the plate, also adding a double and a walk. Canzler now has a line of 275/328/555. Matt Matulia also hit a homerun, his 2nd of the year, to go along with Canzler as they both hit 3 run homeruns in a 8 run 3rd inning for Boise. Jose Pina (2-5) earned the win going 5 IP, giving up 5 hits, and 1 ER, while Alessandro Maestri went 3 IP, giving up 6 hits, but just 1 ER in relief.

Notes: Poster JoshinLA over at BleedCubbieBlue.com posted a nice recap of Boise's win that is worth checking out.

Minor League Report for 8/9

2006-08-09T04:41:00.000-07:00

Portland 10 Iowa 7 - After Jerome Williams threw 6 innings, giving up 7 hits, 3 ER, 1 walk, and struck out 4, the Iowa bullpen gave up 7 runs with Kerry Ligtenberg (3-4) blowing the save in the 9th to take the loss. At the plate, Felix Pie went 1-5 with a double and a RBI, while Buck Coats went 3-4 with 2 RBIs and 2 stolen bases, giving him 16 on the year.

Carolina 5 West Tennessee 0 - JR Mathes (8-7) started and pitched 6 innings giving up 9 hits, 4 ER, 1 walk, and struck out 5, taking the loss against the Carolina Mudcats. The offense couldn't score, and only managed 7 hits with 2 each coming from Richard Lewis and Carlos Rojas. Eric Patterson went 1-5 at the plate, while Scott Moore went 1-3 with a walk.

Daytona 3 Tampa 2 - Ryan Harvey went 2-4 at the plate with a RBI and Matt Craig went 1-2 with 2 walks, while Carlos Perez (4-6) earned the win going 5 innings. Perez gave up 4 hits, 2 runs, both earned, 2 walks and struck out 4 in the win.

Kane County 7 Peoria 1 - Kyle Reynolds went 2-3 with a walk and Robinson Chirinos went 2-4, while Ryan Norwood went 1-3 with a double in the Peoria Chiefs' loss. Todd Blackford (9-6) took the loss as he couldn't get out of the 4th inning giving up 10 hits and 7 earned runs. Matt Avery did pitch in relief going one perfect inning, lowering his ERA to 1.72.

Boise 6 Spokane 0 - Fabian Jimenez Angulo (1-0), who was recently acquired in the Scott Williamson trade, pitched 6 shutout innings, giving up 3 hits, 1 walk, and struck out 2 in earning the win. Jeremy Papelbon went the final 3 innings of the game, giving up just 2 hits, to earn his 3rd save of the year and drop his ERA to 1.17. At the plate, Russ Canzler hit his 9th HR of the year, going 2-4 at the plate, adding a double as well. Tyler Colvin went 2-3 at the plate and stole his 9th base of the year.

Notes: In Rookie league action, Jose Ceda threw 3 shutout innings, giving up 2 hits, no walks, and struck out 4. Drew Rundle went 2-3 with a double and a triple at the plate, while Cliff Andersen went 2-2; Baseball America has recently published their tools edition, and it required subscription, but Al Yellon over at BleedCubbieBlue.com, has published which Cubs showed up on each level.

Minor League Report for 8/8

2006-08-08T04:39:00.000-07:00

Iowa 4 Portland 2 - Jae Kuk Ryu pitched 8 innings, earning the win to move to 6-6 on the season. Ryu gave up 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, walking 1, while striking out 7, and saw his ERA drop to 3.54 on the year. While Felix Pie went 0-4 at the plate, Geovanny Soto went 2-2 with his 4th HR of the year, and ended up driving in 3 runs. Micah Hoffpaiur also went 2-2 while Casey McGehee went 2-4 with a double.

Carolina 1 West Tennessee 0 - Federico Baez (2-1), a member of the Puerto Rico team in the WBC, started and threw 7 innings giving up 1 run, but couldn't get the win as the D-Jaxx couldn't score. The top 4 hitters in the order each had a single, which accounted for all of the D-Jaxx' hits. Chris Walker did add his 37th stolen base of the season, while Eric Patterson was picked off counting for his 11th caught stealing on the year.

Tampa 4 Daytona 3 - Mark Holliman (7-9), continued to struggle although pitching better despite taking the loss. Holliman pitched 7 innings giving up 7 hits, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, and struck out 5. At the plate, Ryan Harvey went 1-4 while Jemel Spearman went 1-2 with a walk, a RBI, and his 19th stolen base on the year.

Kane County 4 Peoria 1 - Jesus Valdez went 2-4 with his 5th HR of the year in the first inning, but the Peoria Chiefs couldn't scratch out any more runs. Robinson Chirinos added his 28th double of the year going 1-3 at the plate. Chirinos is hitting .245 on the year, but walks quite a bit and has a line of 245/356/387 while playing second base spot. If Chirinos can raise his batting average, his line would look very nice.

Eugene 3 Boise 1 - Tyler Colvin finally broke his hitless streak, going 1-4, but did strike out 3 times, while stealing his 8th base of the year. Russ Canzler went 1-3 with a walk, and Elvin Puello went 2-3 with a double while DH'ing. Kitt Kopach (0-1) took the loss going 4.1 IP giving up 1 hit, 3 ER, 3 walks, and striking out 1.

Notes: After mentioning two high school draftees a few weeks ago, Cliff Anderson and Drew Rundle, the two players have started to turn the corner in rookie ball and deserve a mention again. Anderson went 2-4 with a double while Rundle hit 3rd and went 1-4 and has a OBP approaching .400 on the year. Heard of the Arizona Fall League, but don't know what its all about? Check out this article on the AFL posted over at The Cub Reporter, which also makes some guesses on which Cubs organization players will be invited to play.

Cubs on the Hot Sheet

2006-08-07T17:15:00.000-07:00

Over on this week's Prospect Hot Sheet, two Cubs get a mention. Italian signee, Alessandro Maestri gets a mention with his nice K/BB rate and Jake Fox's hot streak gets a mention as well.

Weekend Minor League Report

2006-08-07T04:59:00.000-07:00

Finally, back home and ready to get back to your regularly scheduled program! As is such, here are your Monday Morning Bullets:

Felix Pie, Ryan Harvey, and Jake Fox appear to have broken out of their respective slumps. Take a look:

Felix Pie - Pie has his OPS up to 750 with a line of 274/333/417 and has seen his average gradually increase 25 points over the past month and a half. Pie has stolen 7 of his last 8 stolen bases and is 12/22 on the season.
Jake Fox - Fox hit multiple HRs on the weekend and now has 5 in AA, and 21 on the season. Fox is hitting .252 and has an OPS over .800 at AA, and seems to be getting comfortable. Despite his initial struggles at West Tennessee, reports say the Cubs were never worried about Fox's bat.
Ryan Harvey - Maybe the biggest strides in the Cubs' system have come from Ryan Harvey. After hitting around the Mendoza line for most of the season, Harvey has raised his average to .247 on the year and even took 3 walks this weekend. More than anything, this tells me Harvey is starting to figure things out. Harvey has mentioned lately that he is swinging less with his body and letting his hands do the work.

Donald Veal continued his High A dominance this weekend earning a win and raising his numbers to 4-2 at Daytona and lowering his ERA to 1.20 in 52.2 IP. Veal has been labeled the next D-Train over at InsideTheIvy.com.
After Tyler Colvin's 12 game hit streak, Colvin has seen his average drop back to .289 in a recent 0-17 slump.

Notes: Usually showing up in Baseball America's Daily Dish is a good thing, not so much for Eric Patterson, who had a rough night on Friday.

Today's Drive-By

2006-08-03T07:36:00.000-07:00

Watch out for the bullets:

Felix Pie enjoys August it appears, as he went 2-3 with a walk and a double, although he did get picked off.
Angel Guzman pitched just one inning in his start last night, hopefully this isn't bad news. My hope is that he was removed just in case he is needed in Chicago today, since there will be a double header.
Jake Fox hit another HR, his 4th in AA, and 20th on the year, and his numbers are now 220/262/390 at AA, but is showing some signs of turning it around.
Jose Ceda, who was acquired in the Todd Walker deal, pitched 2 shutout innings for the Rookie League team and struck out 4. Ceda is definitely on my watch list after hearing about his stuff.
Also, since this is a minor league site, the big club has two minor leaguers starting today in Carlos Marmol and Juan Mateo. Joking of course, although Mateo does make his major league debut. Because of the lack of WGN at my hotel, I won't get to see Mateo's debut, but anxiously await word on Mateo's stuff. As I posted at BleedCubbieBlue, who thought Marmol and Mateo would be starting a doubleheader for the Cubs this year?

Notes: Well, tomorrow is when I return back home, so posting should return to normal on Monday. Until then, enjoy the bullets!

Over the Hill

2006-08-02T07:22:00.000-07:00

There were a million of phrases to describe Rich Hill finally getting over the hump with his 8 inning performance last night against the D-Backs, but with all of the debate on the lefty, it certainly deserved the title of this post. Well, with my travel, the minor league reports will have to wait till I get back home, but for now here are some bullets:

Felix Pie went 3-4 with a walk, a double, and his 10th HR of the year, continuing his resurgence lately at the plate. Jae Kuk Ryu picked up the win for Iowa to move to 5-6 on the year.
Ryan Harvey continued his hot streak as well going 4-5 at the plate with a double
Mitch Atkins pitched a respectable 5 innings to move to 10-3 on the season.
Eric Patterson hit a pinch hit HR, number 7 on the year in West Tennessee's 4-3 win.
Both Alfred Joseph and Deryck Lewis homered for Boise, as Tyler Colvin's hitting streak ended as he went 0-2, although he did have 3 walks.

August: Top 10 Prospects

2006-08-01T05:01:00.000-07:00

Its the 1st of August, so that means its time for the latest and most up to date Cubs Top 10 Prospects, keeping in mind, guys that have made an appearance in the majors are no longer available for this list:

1. Donald Veal LHP
2. Felix Pie CF
3. Sean Gallagher RHP
4. Mark Pawalek LHP
5. Eric Patterson 2B
6. Tyler Colvin OF
7. Scott Moore 3B
8. Randy Wells RHP
9. Brian Dopirak 1B
10. Jeff Samardzija RHP

Honorable Mention: Jake Fox, Mitch Atkins, Ryan Harvey

July's List

Notes: Juan Mateo might have pushed Samardzija out of the 10 spot, if he hadn't been recalled to pitch relief for the big club; Guys that are moving up are Ryan Harvey, Tyler Colvin, and Felix Pie while Sean Gallagher, Jake Fox, and Brian Dopirak are all sliding.

Your Turn: Who is your August Top 10?

Heating it up in Orlando

2006-07-31T16:47:00.000-07:00

I'm in Orlando right now, and it seems when I'm out of town I come back and the Cubs have made a flurry of moves. It happened last week when Scott Williamson was traded, and it has happened now when Todd Walker and Greg Maddux were dealt.

While Maddux netted the Cubs Cesar Izturis, the Padres returned the Cubs, Jose Ceda, a 19 year old minor leaguer that has been clocked at 99 in a game. If you appreciate minor league potential, Ceda has huge upside.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the Cubs starting rotation now that Maddux departs. It is very possible we will see Jerome Williams, Angel Guzman, or Jae Kuk Ryu once again, or we could see Glendon Rusch again, and we all know we don't want that to happen.

This Week & Bring Out the Broom

2006-07-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow marks an unexpected visit down to Orlando for business, and while posting should be fairly regular, don't be surprised if a post happens a little later than normal.

Just a couple notes on today's games:

Brian Dopirak hit homer #1 on the season and may be turning the corner.
Iowa won a thriller 12-11 in a game that saw the I-Cubs score 11 runs in 5 innings. Felix Pie went 1-6 with an RBI. Michael Restovich went 2-5 with his 18th HR and 5 RBIs, while Casey McGehee went 1-2 with 3 walks (an oddity in this organization).
Randy Wells started the I-Cubs game and took a no decision going 4 innings, giving up 10 hits, and 6 ERs raising his ERA to 5.02.
As the picture shown above indicates, I have to say something about the 4 game sweep the big club put on the Cards this weekend. The team that played this weekend, is unlikely to be the same after Monday, but the team showed what could've been with 4 days of pitching, hitting, and defense that made them look like the top team in the division.

Ryan Harvey blows up! and some Notes

2006-07-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well, going 4-5 with 4 homers and 6 RBIs ain't too shabby is it? Here is the MiLB.com recap, with some promising words about Harvey's improved approach.

Saturday Morning Bullets:

Tyler Colvin raised his average to .331 going 3-4 (all singles)
Felix Pie went 1-3 with a double and a walk, raising his numbers to 272/331/411
As I mentioned Ryan Harvey hit 4 HRs last night, but what I failed to mention was that the 4th won the game. The 4 HRs were off 3 different pitchers, and in looking at the numbers for those pitchers, it wasn't exactly like these guys were chumps.
Jeff Samardzija made his final start before returning to Notre Dame last night, and pitch nicely, going 6 innings, giving up 4 hits, 1 ER, walking 3, and striking out 3.
According to this article on InsideTheIvy.com about Ryan Harvey's 4 homer performance, Billy Petrick will make his Daytona debut today. Petrick had gone 5-0 with a 2.23 ERA for Boise. Petrick struggled in his Daytona debut last season going 1-4 with a 5.59 ERA in 9 games.

Minor League Report for 7/28

2006-07-28T05:26:00.000-07:00

Iowa 6 Tuscon 4 - Casey McGehee went 1-4 and hit his 7th HR of the year, a 3 run shot, in the 8th to push Iowa ahead. Felix Pie, who missed the previous game, didn't start again, but did make an appearance and went 0-1 and played centerfield. Mike Fontenot went 2-4 with a double, while Buck Coats also went 2-4 and scored 2 runs. Jae Kuk Ryu started for Iowa and went 6 innings, gave up 6 hits, 3 ER, 2 walks, and struck out 4, but earned a no decision.

West Tennessee 5 Chattanooga 0 - The D-Jaxx faced one of the top minor league players in Homer Bailey, and couldn't score a run in the 6 innings Bailey pitched. Fortunately, Bailey exited, and the D-Jaxx took advantage of Chattanooga's bullpen. Chris Walker went 2-3 with a double and a walk, while Eric Patterson went 2-5 with a triple. On the mound, the D-Jaxx sent 4 relievers with no one pitching more than 3.1 innings, with Carlos Vasquez (3-3) earning the win.

Clearwater 12 Daytona 6 - Sam Fuld and Alan Rick eached homered in the first game of a double header, but it wasn't enough as Mark Holliman struggled once again. Holliman fell to 7-7 on the year going just 4 innings, giving up 3 hits, 4 ER, 4 walks, and striking out 3. Position player, Nate Sprowl pitched the final 1.1 innings, giving up 3 ER.

Daytona 3 Clearwater 2 - Alan Rick homered once again, his 7th on the year, as he went 1-1 with the homerun, 3 RBIs, and a walk. Matt Craig and Jonathan Mota each went 2-3 at the plate, while Sam Fuld went 1-2 with a double and 2 walks. Ryan Bicondoa (1-0) made his Daytona debut going 5.1 innings, giving up 3 hits, 2 ER, 1 walk, and struck out 7.

West Michigan 6 Peoria 5 - Kyle Reynolds went 1-3 with a double, a walk, and 2 RBIs, while Raul Valdez went 1-4 with a double as well. On the mound, Scott Taylor (6-6) took the loss going 7 innings, giving up 5 hits, 4 ER, 2 walks, and struck out 1. Prospects, Ryan Norwood went 1-3 at the plate, while Robinson Chirinos went 1-2 with a walk.

Boise 13 Spokane 8 - Tyler Colvin went 5-5 with a double and a triple and a walk, raising his numbers to 316/373/544 now on the year, and is due for a promotion, in my eyes. Matt Camp, Russ Canzler, Steven Clevenger, Elvin Puello, and Mario Mercedes eached added 2 hits. Ronald Clipp (2-0) went 3.1 shutout innings, giving up just 1 hit in relief to earn the win.

Notes: Over at InsideTheIvy.com, there is a feature on Bobby Brownlie's horrid struggles this season.

Minor League Report for 7/27

2006-07-27T04:57:00.000-07:00

Tuscon 4 Iowa 3 - Felix Pie didn't play (and I'm assuming he was simply taking a day off), and Iowa was held to no hits or walks for 6+ innings by Tuscon's starter before finally breaking through. For Iowa, Ryan O'Malley threw 7 innings, giving up 4 hits, 2 ER, 1 walk, and struck out none. Both Clay Rapada and Kerry Ligtenberg threw scoreless innings, Rapada, who could be a LOOGY in his future saw his ERA drop to 2.84. At the plate, Micah Hoffpaiur went 2-4 with a walk and the game tying RBI in the top of the 9th.

West Tennessee 6 Chattanooga 4 - Scott Moore went 2-4 with his 15th HR of the year, and Brian Dopirak went 2-3 with a double to lead the D-Jaxx to the win. Richard Lewis also added a HR, his 2nd of the year, and Chris Walker went 2-5 in the leadoff spot, but did strike out 3 times. Juan Mateo started for West Tenn and pitched 6 innings, giving up 4 hits, 3 ER, 2 walks, and struck out 5 but took a no decision. Ed Campusano (1-1) pitched 2 scoreless innings to earn the win.

Peoria 11 West Michigan 4 - Peoria pounded out 16 hits as a team, led by 3 hits by Ryne Malone (3-5 with a double) and Alberto Garcia (3-4 with double, 3rd HR of year, and 5 RBIs) and Olin Wick (3-4, double and 2 RBIs). Robinson Chirinos went 2-5 and added his system leading 24th and 25th doubles of the year, while Ryan Norwood also went 2-5. Joel Santo (7-6), who was just acquired in the the Scott Williamson trade, benefited from the Chiefs powerful offensive attack taking the win. Santo went 6 innings, gave up 6 hits, 2 ER, 2 walks, and struck out 2.

Boise 5 Spokane 4 - Alfred Joseph and Tyler Colvin led Boise once again, which seems to be a nice trend for the Hawks. Joseph went 3-4 with 2 doubles and a RBI raising his numbers to 364/402/521 on the year, while Colvin increased his hitting streak to 9 games going 2-5 with a double and his 5th stolen base of the year. Matt Camp and Steve Clevenger also added 3 hits each, with both players going 3-4 with a walk. Mark Pawalek (1-3) earned his first win of the season, going 5 innings, giving up 5 hits, just 1 ER, 1 walk, and struck out 6 lowering his ERA to 3.00. Jeremy Papelbon got back to his scoreless pitching going 2.2 shutout innings and striking out 5 dropping his ERA to 0.79.

Scout.com Prospect Rankings

2006-07-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

Scout.com has released their prospect rankings, although they seem rather outdated, but nonetheless, here they are:

Overall Top 300
Felix Pie #25
Eric Patterson #49
Angel Guzman #56
Rich Hill #65
Mark Pawalek #108
Jae Kuk Ryu #131
Sean Gallagher #158
Scott Moore #200
Brian Dopirak #220
Donald Veal #252
Randy Wells #286

Outfielders
Felix Pie #10

Third Basemen
Scott Moore #14

Second Basemen
Eric Patterson #2

First Basemen
Brian Dopirak #14

Pitchers
Angel Guzman #19
Rich Hill #25
Mark Pawalek #48
Jae Kuk Ryu #58
Sean Gallagher #72
Donald Veal #118
Randy Wells #130

Minor League Report for 7/26

2006-07-26T04:51:00.000-07:00

Tuscon 10 Iowa 7 - Randy Wells, who this site recently featured, took the loss to drop to 4-3 at AAA Iowa. Wells threw just 4 innings, and gave up 10 hits, 5 runs, all earned, and of the 10 hits, 4 were homeruns. At the plate, Felix Pie continued his hot hand extending his hitting streak to 10, going 3-5, all singles, and didn't strike out raising his average to .272. Casey McGehee also went 3-5 at the plate, hitting in the 3 hole, with a double and 2 RBIs.

Chattanooga 3 West Tennessee 0 - Chris Shaver (5-7) pitched 5 innings, gave up7 hits, 3 ER, and 6 walks in taking the loss as his ERA went to 2.64 on year. At the plate, the D-Jaxx only managed 4 hits as a team, but 2 were by Chris Walker who went 2-4 at the plate. Brian Dopirak went 0-4 at the plate, striking out twice, and saw his average to drop to .243 on the year.

Dunedin 8 Daytona 4 - Donnie Veal started and pitched brilliantly again, but the bullpen couldn't keep in the game in control for Veal to earn the win. Veal threw 5 innings, and gave up 4 hits, 1 ER, 3 walks and struck out 9. Veal's ERA actually increased in this outing, going from 1.03 to 1.12. At the plate, Sam Fuld went 2-4 with 2 doubles as did Matt Craig. Alan Rick went 3-4 with a double and 2 RBIs.

West Michigan 10 Peoria 0 - Five Peoria Chiefs had singles, and that was it at the plate in a game that saw Peoria pitchers combine to give up 10 runs and 14 hits. Matt Avery, who had pitched tremendously all year long, pitched 1 inning and gave up 3 hits and 4 ER. Avery's ERA rose to 1.73 now on the season.

Boise 9 Spokane 4 - Tyler Colvin's hitting streak moved to 8 as the Cubs' 2006 1st round pick went 1-5 at the plate. Josh Lansford showed a little pop in his bat going 2-5 at the plate with his 2nd HR of the year as did Matt Matulia whose first professional HR was a grand slam in the 7th inning. On the mound, Alfredo Francisco moved to 4-0 on the year with 4 shutout innings, giving up 3 hits, walking none, and striking out 5.

Boise Suspensions Served and a Blast From the Past

2006-07-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

In today's daily dish, there is a note on the Boise Hawks suspensions for this past week's brawl. Here is an excerpt:

For their actions in Everett last week, three Boise players will be serving suspensions this week. The Hawks are away at Spokane for a three game series, and take on Salem-Keizer at home from July 28-31. Infielder Elvin Puello started his three-game suspension Monday for his part in the benches-clearing incident at Everett on July 21. Alfred Joseph, who's batting .354, and righthander Jose Pina also have to serve three-game suspensions for separate incidents. On July 21, Joseph was upset about a tag at first, whipped off his helmet and hit AquaSox first baseman Joe White in the head with the helmet. The benches cleared and Joseph was ejected. Pina was ejected and since suspended after plunking outfielder Greg Halman on July 19.

For what it's worth, there is also another Blast From the Past moment in the Daily Dish for me. Joe Gaetti is a guy I faced in high school at Raleigh Millbrook High School.

One story I remember about Gaetti involved my senior year when my high school, Durham Riverside which was 13-0 at the time, and just moved to #1 in the state went to face Millbrook. If memory serves, my school took a 2 run lead into the 7th and sent our closer to the mound. With 2 men on, one Joe Gaetti came to the plate and homered to left center on a walkoff game winner.

Minor League Report for 7/25

2006-07-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

Chattanooga 6 West Tennessee 2 - Eric Patterson doubled in a run and drove in a run on a groundout going 1-4 with 2 RBIs, but that is all that the D-Jaxx could manage in their loss. Sean Gallagher (5-3) took the loss going 5.2 IP, giving up 7 hits, 4 ER, striking out 3, and walking 7, which has become a disturbing trend for Gallagher since being called up to AA. After walking 21 in 78.1 innings for Daytona, Gallagher has walked 33 in 46 innings for West Tennessee, but despite this has an ERA of just 2.93.

Daytona 12 Dunedin 9 - Six Daytona Cubs had 2 hits in the Cubs' 13 hit effort. Ryan Harvey went 2-5 with a double, the only extra base hit for the team, and raised his average to .226 while adding 3 RBIs as well. Sam Fuld (2-5), Joe Simokaitis (2-5), Jonathan Mota (2-4), Nathan Price (2-4), and Matthew Ciaramella (2-4) all added 2 singles a piece.

West Michigan 5 Peoria 3 - Robinson Chirinos added his 6th HR of the year, as he went 2-4 at the plate. Davy Gregg went 3-4, scoring 2 runs in the leadoff position and also adding his 22nd SB of the year, while getting caught for the 15th time. Todd Blackford (8-4) took the loss going 6 innings, giving up 5 hits, 4 runs, 2 earned, 4 walks, and struck out 8.

Yakima 10 Boise 1 - Jose Pina (1-3) gave up 8 ER in just 4 innings to take the loss for Boise, in a game that was never close after a 7 run 2nd inning for Yakima. At the plate, Tyler Colvin now has a 7 game hitting streak as he went 1-4. Alfred Joseph went 1-3 with a triple and the only run of the game for Boise. One of the best names in baseball, Alessandro Maestri, pitched 2 shutout innings and dropped his ERA to 2.14.

Weekend Minor League Report

2006-07-24T04:47:00.000-07:00

Here are your Monday Morning Bullets, with all the latest info from the Cubs Minor League System:

Jeff Samardzija made his Peoria debut and took the loss yesterday. Samardzija went 5 innings, and gave up 2 hits, 3 ER, 3 walks, and only struck out 1. All three runs were given up in the first, and afterwards Samardzija settled down nicely, and reportedly touched 96.
Felix Pie keeps heating it up down at Iowa, going 5-11 with 2 doubles and a HR combined this weekend. Pie has raised his average to .268 now with his numbers at 268/327/408.
On Saturday, Rich Hill, who is likely to get the major league call with Carlos Marmol and Sean Marshall both suffering injuries this weekend, moved to 7-1 by going 7.1 IP and only giving up 1 hit, 1 walk, and struck out 14. Finally Hill will have a chance to prove that he has what it takes to make it in the majors. Hopefully, Hill will get more than 1 or 2 starts to prove he has what it takes.
Scott Williamson was traded to San Diego for 2 minor leaguers that will be placed on the Peoria roster. Here is an excellent writeup on the two pitchers acquired.
With the injuries to the Chicago Cubs pitching staff mentioned above, as well as the Scott Williamson trade, both David Aardsma and Michael Weurtz got called up over the weekend.
Down at Boise, Tyler Colvin has shown that he is probably ready for a promotion where his numbers are now 284/349/516 as he went 2-7 this weekend with a couple doubles.
One of Colvin's teammates, another 2006 draftee Matt Camp, has also turned the corner at Boise and is now hitting .294 in the leadoff spot but needs to improve his stolen base efficiency where he has 6 stolen bases in 11 attempts.

Notes: Baseball America's weekend dish is worth checking out as it discusses Rich Hill's dominance of AAA and his lack of success one level above. Also noted in the dish is a Boise brawl, sparked by Boise outfielder Alfred Joseph. Keeping with the Baseball America and Rich Hill trend, their most recent Ask BA session includes a similar topic. More Cubs and Baseball America info as Today's Daily Dish features mentions of Jeff Samardzija and Tyler Colvin. Also, over at InsideTheIvy.com, there is an article on Mark Pawalek and the reason for his slow start to the 2006 season.

Quick Note

2006-07-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

No in depth coverage of the minors today as I'm off to the lake for the weekend, but here are a couple of notes from last night that should make you feel good:

Tyler Colvin hit HR #4 on the year
Josh Lansford went 0-2 but had another 2 walks, raising his OBP to above .400, an oddity in the Cubs minor league system
Felix Pie combined to go 2-4 with 2 walks and a stolen base (11th)
Jae Kuk Ryu returned from his groin injury to start and win to go to 4-6 on the season
Ryan Harvey went 2-2 with 2 doubles in the 2nd game of Daytona's double header before the game was suspended due to rain.

Minor League Report for 7/21

2006-07-21T04:50:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma 6 Iowa 2 - The Iowa Cubs were outhit 13-8 and only Mike Fontenot managed more than one hit, going 2-4 with 2 singles. Felix Pie went 1-4 with a double, while Casey McGehee added a double with his only hit as well. On the mound, Ryan O'Malley (5-6) took the loss going 4.2 IP, giving up 10 hits, 3 ER, no walks, and striking out 3. David Aardsma pitched an inning, walking two, but didn't give up a run in his effort to be recalled to the majors.

West Tennessee 5 Montgomery 3 - Juan Mateo (7-4) pitched 6 innings, gave up 6 hits, 2 ER, 2 walks, and struck out 6 to take the win. Brian Dopirak continued his resurgence at the plate going 2-3 with a walk, a run, and a RBI. Dopirak has raised his numbers to 256/308/316, but with Dopirak, the power is the last thing you should be concerned about.

Daytona 3 Clearwater 1 - In what was most likely to be scheduled as part of a double header, the Daytona Cubs won a 7 inning game, and Donnie Veal (3-1) continued his High A dominance. Veal pitched 5 hitless, scoreless innings, walking 4 and striking out 9, dropping his ERA to 1.03. Joe Simokaitis led the way at the plate, going 2-4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBIs, while Matt Craig and Jemel Spearman each added doubles.

Peoria 3 Lansing 0 - Mitch Atkins (9-3) pitched 7.1 shutout innings, giving up 7 hits, no walks, and striking out 7. Matt Avery pitched the final 1.2 innings striking out 4 to pick up his 11th save. Mark Reed who has struggled quite a bit lately at the plate went 1-4 and drove in a run, while Yusuf Carter went 2-3 at the plate.

Boise 13 Everett 7 - Tyler Colvin went 3-6 with a double and his 3rd HR of the year which raise Colvin's numbers to 282/340/482 after quite a rough start. Alfred Joseph also had 3 hits, going 3-5 with a double and a triple, and scoring 3 runs. Alessandro Maestri (3-1) pitched 3.1 shutout innings striking out 4 to earn the win.

Player Bio: Randy Wells

2006-07-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

With the success of Randy Wells last season and this season, I figured it was time for another player bio.

Randy Wells is a right-handed pitcher who is 6'4" and around 210 lbs and was drafted out of college (Southwestern Illinois College) initially by the Mets in the 44th round of the 2001 draft. Wells decided to go back to college, and the next year the Cubs drafted Wells in the 38th round of the 2002 draft.

In 2002, Wells who was drafted as a catcher struggled mightily in Rookie ball and in Short Season ball where he combined to hit around .160 with no power.

In 2003, Wells was moved to Low A Lansing, where his struggles continued hitting just .150. At that point, Wells moved to the mound where he made 3 appearances in Rookie ball posting a 3.60 ERA. Wells also went back to Lansing and pitched in relief one inning.

In 2004 as a 21 year old at Lansing, Wells went 6-6 with a 4.43 ERA and split time as a starter making 15 starts and in the bullpen as he had a total of 36 appearances. Wells struck out 121 in 107.2 IP, which was a good sign for his future.

The following season, Wells pitched very well at High A Daytona going 10-2 with a 2.74 ERA where again he split time in the bullpen and the rotation where he made 41 appearances, while making 10 starts. Once again Wells struck out more batters than innings pitched, K'ing 106 in 98.2 IP. At Daytona, Wells improved his ability to throw strikes dropping his BB/9 from 3.34 in 2004 to 2.01 in 2005. Wells was moved to West Tennessee at the end of the 2005 season where he pitched in relief for 6 games and managed a 3.86 ERA.

This season Wells handled West Tennessee going 4-2 with a 1.59 ERA and was promoted to Iowa where he has gone 4-2 with a 3.34 ERA in 5 starts. Combined, Wells has gone 8-4 with an ERA of 2.22, which is quite impressive considering he never pitched a full season at AA, West Tennessee. This season, Wells' K/9 numbers have dipped a little to 7.77, but his BB/9 has dropped even lower to 1.76. Also, Wells has proved to be a ground ball pitcher in looking at his minor league splits, as evident by only allowing 4 HRs in 97.1 IP in 2006.

Randy Wells has burst onto the Cubs' prospect scene in 2006 as he is currently handling Iowa nicely, after dominating at West Tennessee. Wells hasn't yet turned 24, as his birth date is August 28th, so he may have a chance at earning a spot on the Cubs roster as early as next season.

Conclusion: If you like numbers, Wells is your type of prospect as he has good K rates, BB rates, HR rates, and pretty much every other statistical category all at relatively average age compared to the league he has been in.

Minor League Report for 7/20

2006-07-20T04:42:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma 7 Iowa 4 - Randy Wells (4-2) took the loss, but continued to pitch well since his callup to AAA. Wells threw 6.1 IP, giving up just 2 hits, 2 ER, 1 walk, and struck out 6, and now has an ERA of 2.21 combined between two levels and a WHIP under 1. Offensively, Felix Pie went 1-5, but did get picked off, and Casey McGehee went 2-4 with 2 runs batted in.

Montgomery 7 West Tennessee 0 - The Diamond Jaxx were shutout and managed only 2 hits, 1 by Jacob Fox, who went 1-3, and one by Richard Lewis, who also went 1-3 with a double. Chris Shaver (5-6) took the loss going 5 innings, and giving up 6 hits, 4 ER, 4 walks, and striking out only 1. Eric Patterson led off and went 0-4 and made his 11th error of the year missing a catch.

Everett 14 Boise 10 - Tyler Colvin went 3-6 with a double and a triple and 3 RBIs and Josh Lansford went 5-6 with 2 RBIs. Lansford is now hitting 320/417/398 with a nice K/BB ratio of 14/12. As a team, the Boise Hawks had 20 hits, including 2 each by Russ Canzler, Matt Camp, Alfred Joseph, and Steve Clevenger.

AZL Royals 0 AZL Cubs 1 - Most days I won't report on Rookie Ball, but this was worth noting; The AZL Cubs won 1-0 despite having no hits or walks, it appears the only run of the game came when Valerio Heredia reached on an error or a dropped 3rd strike, and then proceeded to steal 2 bases, and score on Carlos Perez's sacrifice fly.

Notes: It appears the injury to Angel Guzman was minor, with the Cubs reporting the forearm cramping he sustained in his last start was due to dehydration.

BA Chat

2006-07-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

John Manuel has a chat currently going over at Baseball America, here is a Cubs excerpt:

Q: greg from florida asks:
What do you think about Sean Gallagher? I think he is in a great organization to move up fast, how long do you think it will take him to climb the ladder?

A:
John Manuel: I think he's really come on as a prospect this year, not so much his performance (he performed last year), but as Chris Kline has detailed, Gallagher's stuff is better this year. His curveball doesn't stand out so significantly from his other pitches anymore, it's better and it's not his only good pitch. He throws harder and has better control. He is in an organization that has had a horrible year, and he's been a bright light. Putting a timetable on him . . . I'd guess he'll get to the majors in his 40-man roster protection year, and that would be next year if he performs well.

Minor League Report for 7/19

2006-07-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma 5 Iowa 4 - After striking out 8 in 3.2 IP and giving up no runs, Angel Guzman left the game with cramps in his forearm. Rocky Cherry, who was just promoted to Iowa, pitched well for most of his outing, before leaving with men on and Kerry Ligtenberg (2-3) took the loss. Offensively, Felix Pie continues his hot bat raising his average to .261, going 3-5 with a run and his 10th SB of the season.

West Tennessee 5 Montgomery 1 - Against my former high school foe, Mike Prochaska, the D-Jaxx were led by Brian Dopirak who went 3-3 with a double and a walk, raising his average to .252 on the year. Scott Moore also added 3 hits, going 3-4, and driving in 2 runs. On the mound, Sean Gallagher (5-2) went 5.2 IP, giving up 5 hits, 1 ER, 3 walks, and striking out 5 to earn the win. Eric Patterson went 0-4, but did steal his 32nd base of the year. Check out the game recap on InsideTheIvy.com.

Peoria 3 South Bend 1 - The Peoria Chiefs only had 4 hits, but all were timely, to lead the Chiefs to a win. Ryan Norwood went 1-2 with a walk and a RBI. On the mound, Jesus Yepez pitched 7 innings, giving up just 4 hits, 1 ER, 3 walks, and striking out 2, but took a no decision. Justin Rayborn (6-1) earned the win in relief going the final 2 innings of the game.

Boise 8 Everett 5 - Tyler Colvin went 2-4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBIs, while fellow 2006 draftee, Steven Clevenger went 3-3 with a walk and his first HR of the year. Ben Petrick (4-0) took the win going 5 IP, giving up 6 hits, 2 ER, 4 walks, and striking out 4. Jeremy Papelbon finally gave up a run going 1 inning, giving up 2 hits, 2 ER, and walking 3. Papelbon's ERA jumped to a still impressive 1.00.

Injury News

2006-07-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

Angel Guzman has left Iowa's game tonight with a wrist/hand injury. Nothing new in a long line of injury issues for Guzman, although hopefully this is nothing serious, possibly just a blister.

Recent callup to Iowa, Rocky Cherry, replaced Guzman in the game.

D-Jaxx Notes

2006-07-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

Over at InsideTheIvy.com, there are 3 great articles on the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx. One article goes through several players with manager Pat Listach, including Sean Gallagher, Jake Fox, Chris Shaver, Scott Moore, among many others. Another article features Miguel Negron, who the Cubs claimed off of waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays and who is excelling for the D-Jaxx. A third article has some notes on Chris Walker and a recent injury as well as some general notes on the team.

Minor League Report for 7/18

2006-07-18T04:44:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma 3 Iowa 1 - Jerome Williams (2-4) got the start and took the loss going 5 innings and giving up 7 hits and 2 ER. Felix Pie went 1-5 at the plate with a single and struck out twice lowering his average to .258. Only Jeff Deardorff managed more than 1 hit, going 3-4.

Daytona 5 Palm Beach 4 - Ryan Harvey continued his resurgence going 2-4 to raise his average to .227 while Alan Rick went 3-3 with 2 doubles and 4 RBIs to lead Daytona to the win. Carlos Perez (3-5) took the win going 6 innings and giving up only 2 ERs, while striking out 6.

Peoria 8 South Bend 6 - Ryan Norwood went 3-4 with his 12th HR of the year and Ryne Malone went 2-4 and continues hit. Norwood is now hitting 320/355/477 for Peoria, but needs to advance a level and continue to hit to earn prospect status. Matt Avery pitched a perfect 9th inning striking out 2 to earn his 10th save of the year and lowering his ERA to 1.09, while Jeff Teasley (2-2) earned the win in relief.

Boise 4 Everett 0 - Jeff Samardzija (1-1) pitched 5 shutout innings to earn his first professional win giving up 3 hits, 2 walks, and striking out 4. Samardzija lowered his ERA to 2.37 and will now move on to Peoria to make 2 starts before going to Notre Dame for his senior season. Offensively, Russ Canzler went 2-4 and added his 7th HR of the year while Deryck Lewis also went 2-4 with his 1st HR of the year. Cubs first rounder, Tyler Colvin, went 0-4 lowering his batting average to .232.

Notes: Cubs' 9th round and 14th round picks are struggling mightily for the AZL Cubs so far. Ninth round pick, Cliff Anderson is hitting .167 with 22 strikeouts in 54 at-bats, while 14th round pick, Drew Rundle now hitting .143 has struck out 14 times in 21 at-bats; With Ryan Harvey tearing the cover off the ball, Harvey made an appearance on Baseball America's Prospect Hot Sheet.

The Brothers' Papelbon

2006-07-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed what the Papelbon kids have been doing?

Of course you know, Jonathan Papelbon, of the Red Sox who recently performed in his first all-star game in his rookie season. Jon has posted 26 saves and an ERA of 0.57 giving up 3 ERs in 47 IPs.

If you're familiar with this site, you know Jeremy Papelbon, who currently has a 17 inning scorless streak for the Boise Hawks.

You may not know Josh Papelbon though, who has a 9.1 inning scoreless streak for the Lowell Spinners.

That's right, one family, with 73.1 IP, 3 ERs and a 0.37 ERA in 2006. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

What has happened since Wednesday?

2006-07-17T04:50:00.000-07:00

I tried to think of a clever title for this post, but in the end I decided to keep it simple. The fact is I haven't posted anything in depth since Wednesday when I left for my mountain vacation. There is quite a lot to be excited about in the Cubs' minor league system, so without further ado, here are your Monday morning bullets:

Ryan Harvey may finally be turning his season around. Yesterday, in a Daytona double-header Harvey went 4-7 with 2 HRs and 8 RBIs, and he is now hitting .223 on the year with 12 HRs and 57 RBIs. Look at the last number there, despite Harvey only hitting .223 and K'ing at an alarming rate, he still has 57 RBIs in only 78 games.
Keeping along the lines of players turning their seasons around, Felix Pie has started to hit the ball since the all-star break. Pie had his average up to .263 before yesterday's 0-8 performance in Iowa's 17 inning win.
After Rich Hill's PCL MVP in the AAA All-Star game, Hill made his first start yesterday, getting the no decision in Iowa's extra inning win. Hill went 8 IP, giving up 7 hits, 3 ER, 1 BB, and striking out 14. After I initially suspected Hill would be recalled after Zambrano's all-star injury and Prior's DL assignment, it now appears that both will be OK for the start of the 2nd half of the season. Look for Hill to get the call when and if Maddux is traded. Otherwise, Hill may rot in the minors until rosters are expanded in September.
It has been annouced, Jeff Samardzija will make only 3 more starts before returning to Notre Dame for practice. Look for Samardzija to make his final start for Boise today, and then two more starts in Peoria.
Tyler Colvin is now turning it on for Boise, and seems to finally be adjusting to the wood bats. Colvin has now raised his numbers to 246/329/369 and has 2 HRs and 11 RBIs in 17 games. He is also 3-3 in stolen bases and a 8/15 BB/K ratio, which is OK.
Just as he or she did for the Iowa Cubs, poster Romero at BleedCubbieBlue has posted an analysis on the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx pitchers and position players, which is worth checking out.

Notes: Sean Gallagher gets a mention in Baseball America's Ask BA this week, here is the question, check out BA for the answer:

Sean Gallagher is 8-2, 2.39 combined between high Class A Daytona and Double-A West Tenn, and he isn't getting much hype. Do you see him developing into a front-of-the-rotation starter, or more of a No. 4 or 5? Justin Montminy Aurora, Ill.

Also, in the same article, BA notes who would have made the Futures Game Rosters if the format was AL vs NL as opposed to the World vs the US, and Sean Gallagher is noted as a pitcher for the NL if the format would have been changed.

Back from Vacation

2006-07-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

Back from a mountain vacation where my grandparents were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary, a very rare accomplishment these days.

In the minors, Rich Hill earned PCL MVP in the AAA All-Star game by pitching 2 innings. Also, I see Ryan Theriot got a callup and the start on Saturday for the big club. That move switched Felix Pie back to the starting lineup for Iowa.

That's all for now, I'm exhausted, but I'll have more on Monday.

The All-Star game

2006-07-12T05:56:00.000-07:00

Nope, not the one you're thinking of, where the NL blew it, thanks in large part to Trevor Hoffman, but the one where I-Cub Rich Hill starts tonight. The PCL all-stars take on the IL all-stars tonight and it will be quite interesting to see how Hill fares, as he starts for the Pacific Coast League. The game will be televised on ESPN2 at 7:05 ET.

Inevitably, Hill will be recalled soon with Prior being injured and now Zambrano getting hit by a fungo last night. Look for Hill to make a start by the weekend for the major league club. Also, if I were Sean Marshall or Greg Maddux, I would find a bubble to stay in to avoid freak injuries. Even then, they couldn't avoid a sneeze to tweak a back or side.

Notes: Over at BleedCubbieBlue.com, a poster named Romero gave a nice writeup of the Iowa Cubs pitchers and position players.

Two Lefties

2006-07-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

Good stuff in Baseball America's Daily Dish today. The dish includes talk about Donald Veal's 1st earned run in last night's start and a mention of Jeremy Papelbon's scoreless streak in the Northwest League.

Minor League Report for 7/11

2006-07-11T04:58:00.000-07:00

Daytona 9 Vero Beach 4 - In breaking news, Donnie Veal actually gave up a run in the FSL for the first time. Despite this, Veal (2-0) earned the win going 5.2 IP, giving up 4 hits, 1 ER, 3 walks, and striking out 4. Veal's ERA jumped to a miniscule 0.37. Ryan Harvey led the way for the D-Cubs going 3-5 with 2 runs, a double, and a RBI, while Jemel Spearman added 3 hits as well going 3-5.

Peoria 3 Beloit 1 - Scott Taylor (5-4) went 8 IP, giving up 7 hits, 1 ER, no walks, and striking out 5 to earn the win, while Matt Avery pitched the 9th to earn his 8th save of the year and dropped his ERA to 1.16. Yusuf Carter added his 7th HR of the year going 2-4, while Robinson Chirinos went 2-4 with a double.

Boise 2 Yakima 1 - Mike Billek started the game going 6 effective innings, but the run support wasn't there until Jeremy Papelbon (2-0) entered the game in the 7th. Papelbon went 2.2 IP, giving up 1 hit, no runs, 1 walk, and struck out 5. On the year, Papelbon has now pitched 14 scoreless innings. At the plate, Josh Lansford seems to be finding a comfort zone going 2-4 with a double raising his average to .271, while Tyler Colvin went 0-3 dropping his average to .174.

Notes: Juan Mateo started in the Southern League All-Star game and took the win going 1 inning and striking out 1. Chris Shaver made an appearance, also for an inning, but did give up an earned run. Rocky Cherry pitched an inning, while Eric Patterson continued his all-star game tour, making an appearance and once again going 0-1. Chris Walker started and went 1-3, but Scott Moore was the star of the game going 3-4 with 2 homeruns. Also appearing for the D-Jaxx was Nic Jackson (0-3) and Miguel Negron (0-2); Ryan Harvey made it two consecutive weeks a Cubs' minor leaguer showed up for their struggles on the Baseball America Prospect Hot Sheet.

The Patterson Boys

2006-07-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

With Eric Patterson playing in the Futures game, and the Cubs recent departure of Corey Patterson, many Cubs fans aren't quite sure what to expect from the future Patterson of the Cub organization.

The good news is that Eric Patterson possesses some of the attributes of his brother, while being a different player altogether. Let's take a look at the similarities and differences between the two.

Similarities

The first and most obvious similarity is they are both left-handed, and really have similar batting stances and swings, with one exception.
They are both extremely fast with plus plus speed, which makes hitting left-handed particularly helpful as they gain a step out of the box.
Defensively, both can excel at their position.

Differences

While both have similar stances, Eric has a better approach at the plate which can be seen by each player's K/BB ratios. Over Eric's college and minor league career Eric has maintained better than a 2/1 K ratio, while Corey tended to be closer to 4/1 or worse.
As noted in point #1, Eric did attend college at Georgia Tech, while Corey was drafted and signed out of high school. While this may seem insignificant, Corey Patterson went from hitting 3rd for high school team, undoubtedly, to a transition to leading off. For Eric, Georgia Tech forced him to become a team player and find his role to earn playing time. Whether directly related or not, Eric has the attributes needed, speed, patience, etc to be a successful major league leadoff batter.
Position wise, Eric obviously does not play outfield, although I'm certain he could make the transition one day if needed, while Corey played outfield in high school and now professionally where he could win a gold glove one day. Eric does have nice range, but has made 10 errors in 88 games for the D-Jaxx this season, so still has some room to improve.
While the two player share similar speed, Eric will never hit for the power that Corey has shown at the major league level. Corey could certainly 25-30 a year, while Eric most likely will never hit more than 10-15 with his approach at the plate.

Conclusion

To those Cubs fans out there, when Eric Patterson makes his debut (most likely in 2007), remember this isn't Corey. As you see above the similarities between the two are purely aesthetic. Eric is a different player altogether who excels with his speed, patience, and gap power, while Corey is more of an all or nothing type of player.

Minor League Report for 7/10

2006-07-10T04:37:00.000-07:00

Iowa 4 Omaha 2 - Randy Wells had a poor start his first outing for Iowa, but has been exceptional the rest of the year, and moved to 3-1 on the season. Wells went 7 IP, giving up 4 hits, 2 ER, 2 walks, and striking out 5 while lowering his ERA to 4.15. Felix Pie continued his hitting streak going 1-4, while Michael Restovich went 2-4 with his 14th HR of the year.

Vero Beach 8 Daytona 7 - Matt Holliman (6-5) had perhaps his worst start of the season, going just 2.2 IP, giving up 9 hits, 6 ER, 2 walks, and striking out 2. Matt Ciaramella hit is 1st HR of the game in an effort to bring the D-Cubs back, while Jemel Spearman and Joe Simokaitis both added 2 hits. Ryan Harvey went 0-3 with a walk, while striking out 3 times, lowering his average to .202 on the year.

Beloit 5 Peoria 2 - One of the highlights of the 2006 draft, 49th round pick Ryne Malone, was moved up to 3rd in the order for Peoria but went 0-3 dropping his average to .333. Mitch (7-3) Atkins started for the Chiefs, but took the loss going 4.2 IP, giving up 4 hits, 4 ER, 4 walks, and striking out 4. At the plate, Ryan Norwood went 1-4 and is now hitting 319/353/471 on the year.

Yakima 9 Boise 2 - Josh Lansford hit his 1st professional HR going 1-4, while Tyler Colvin had a tough day going 0-4 with 3 strikeouts. Bill Muldowney (0-2) took the loss for the Hawks going 5 IP, giving up 4 hits, 2 ER, 1 walk, and striking out 4.

Notes: In the Futures Game, Eric Patterson made an appearance in the late stages of the game going 0-1 with a weak grounder back to the pitcher.

Q:	greg from florida asks: What do you think about Sean Gallagher? I think he is in a great organization to move up fast, how long do you think it will take him to climb the ladder?

A:	John Manuel: I think he's really come on as a prospect this year, not so much his performance (he performed last year), but as Chris Kline has detailed, Gallagher's stuff is better this year. His curveball doesn't stand out so significantly from his other pitches anymore, it's better and it's not his only good pitch. He throws harder and has better control. He is in an organization that has had a horrible year, and he's been a bright light. Putting a timetable on him . . . I'd guess he'll get to the majors in his 40-man roster protection year, and that would be next year if he performs well.