Cubs Hits Of The Week (Monday, 6/16 through Sunday, 6/22)

Jeff Samardzija was promoted to AAA tonight, replacing Sean Marshall who will join the Cubs Tuesday.

...developing...

Comment: They're fastracking Samardzija again(4.86 ERA, 44K 42BB in 16 starts) who really doesn't seem ready-- definitely not as ready as Donnie Veal (2.76 ERA in 16 starts). And I believe Veal would benefit more from the promotion after the confidence draining season he had last year.

Here's a Whittenmyer brief on Marmol's mechanics, Johnson's rumored DL stint, Rich "head case" Hill, Kosuke leading off and Edmonds' hand. High signal to noise ratio.

Article states Hendry has not spoken to Reed about a DL DL stint. No mention of back injection. RJ states he will be working out @ Wrigley today.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/10191...

If that Whittenmeyer article about Marmol is correct, then props to Old and Blue, who pointed out the flaw in his delivery a few days ago.

Rich Hill benefitted a lot from his relationship with minor league pitching coach Alan Dunn, who was hired away from the Cubs by the Orioles last year. Hill credited Dunn with turning his career around, and Dunn is probably is the one person who would be able to help Hill with his mechanics.

Even after Hill became a major leaguer in 2006, he would still see Dunn (who was a ST pitching instructor) every February at Fitch Park to help him get his season started. 2008 was the first time Hill did not see Alan Dunn at Fitch Park.  

And it's no secret that Hill's best friend on the Cubs was Michael Barrett. Barrett is the type of personality who functions as a "Big Brother" to certain younger players who look up to him, and when you take Barrett away, certain personality types are left adrift.

While he certainly has defensive liabilities and a tendency to make dumb mistakes on the bases, one thing Barrett did do was help Hill develop and maintain the confidence and mental toughness he needed to be a consistetly effective MLB pitcher. Barrett was Hill's Big Brother (and Barrett was Murton's Big Brother, too, BTW) 

You might wonder why an intelligent adult major leaguer would need others to help him build and maintain confidence and also to help him stay locked-in mechanically, but some just do. And it just so happens that Hill is one of the more "needful" ones.

With Hill out of minor league options as of next season, I suspect he very well might end up with the Orioles in 2009 (or perhaps even soorner), where he would be reunited with his pitching guru, Alan Dunn. And Orioles Scouting Director John Stockstill is the guy who drafted Hill back when Stockstill was the Cubs scouting director.

If that happens, then I would consider it a failure on the Cub's part, as well as on Hill's. They've spent a heck of a lot of time and care on Hill's development, and to have to throw it all away after waiting on his potential would really be a shame.

Imagine where this team would be if they didn't just give up all the time.

Anyone still want to complain about Aramis "not hustling"?

I don't remember anyone on this site complaining about his performance on the field this year, so your snark is a moot point. Please try again.

The three teams with the best records in the NL as of this morning:

1. Cubs
2. Cardinals
3. Brewers

I am not buying the arguement that without Dunn and Barrett, Rich Hill can't be a major leaguer. Coaches, and players come and go, if your career is dependant on the same constant then you were never meant to be a major leaguer in the first place.

Rich Hill's problems are Rich Hill's problems.

So in the case of Rich Hill's sudden unexpected decline. We as a group Blame Michael Barrett?

seeing that they were SD teammates for 5 minutes, you can certainly blame Barrett for Edmonds' production as a Cub

.311/.358/.581/.939 4 HR, 16 RBI

yeah he's lost 5 steps defensively in the OF over the last 2 years but still, no one thought he could still perform like this.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Mon, 06/23/2008 - 11:13am.

So in the case of Rich Hill's sudden unexpected decline. We as a group Blame Michael Barrett?

=======================

DR AARON B: Of course not. 

Blame Rich Hill.

Look, Rich Hill is a nice guy, but he's also a high risk/high reward/high maintenance fussy prima-donna know-it-all who needs things to be set up a certain way in order for him to feel confident and comfortable. And for whatever reason, Hill was willing and/or able to listen to Alan Dunn and Michael Barrett when he normally tunes everybody else out. And that helped Hill reach the comfort zone he needed in order to be a confident and successful MLB pitcher.

But it's not like Dunn and Barrett are the only two people in the world who can fill that need. Hill jut hasn't found their replacements yet. (Or maybe he just needs to learn to do it himself, except apparently he can't).

In some organizations, a key member of the starting rotation falling apart like Hill has done would have been catastrophic. But Jim Hendry was smart (or lucky) enough to cover himself with several fall-back options (like Gallagher, Marshall, Hart, and Lieber) in case any of the pre-2008 presumed rotation starters had failed, so that the Cubs still somehow have managed to run up the best record in baseball in spite of getting zero contibution from Rich Hill.