Afternoon Delight

Hard to blame a guy who's only going to be in the organization for another four weeks. *fingers crossed*

How's that choice of Josh Vitters over Matt Wieters looking right now? About as bad as we all said it would at the time. Nice.

Mark Pawelek--I take it this guy is done, right? Haven't heard a peep about him. Clearly, scouts think he is a non-prospect bust.

Can Phil tell me what the situation is with Caridad? I'm confused on that one. Does he literally need to be on the 25-man roster all season to keep him?

I'd blame Paul Bako, but I agree with his politics, so it's all good.

Hey! Al Maestri gets the W for Italy 5-1 over Nolasco and the Fish.

Btw, the Cubs drafted after the Orioles iirc, and Weiters was gone already.

Anyway, since Vitters is barely 19, I'd give it a little time hickman, before passing judgement.

Just looked at the lineup for tonight and, predictably, it sucks.

that was a good game, btw...esp. for this early in the year and the wind blowing out at 20mph+ the whole game.

"DH did return to the lineup and went 1-3 with a double."

after which he was immediately removed for a pinch runner.

Bruce Levine's blog updated with info on Ricketts purchase, Comcast vs WGN revenues to the Cubs and his thoughts on Crosby (yuck).

http://stations.espn.go.com/stations/espnradio1000...

The Cubs' and White Sox's match-ups in Vegas March 4th and 5th will gross the Cubs $1 million and net the White Sox $150,000. In reality, both teams are being paid $150,000 for their two-day excursion, but the Cubs and WGN-TV have a tourism deal with the city of Las Vegas that ups to ante for the north siders with a continued connection between Las Vegas tourism and Cubs advertising.

WBC Recap: Japan 450, China 052. Fukudome 4BB, 1R, led off 3 innings (4,6,8) He really looked like the Fuk we all saw in ST last year, make of it what you will.

*Also, Yu Darvish looked very mature on the mound. Went 4IP, 1BB, 0H, 3Ks. Granted it was China, but he did what he needed to do.

The commentators for ESPN, were a lot more forthcoming this go-round with the difference in baseballs (in Asia they use a different hide, whereas in the States we use rawhide). In 2006, they were going on and on about how none of the Pool A teams were used to the ball, and it went on adnausium.

Submitted by Jim Hickmans Bat on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 8:41pm.

Mark Pawelek--I take it this guy is done, right? Haven't heard a peep about him. Clearly, scouts think he is a non-prospect bust.

 Can Phil tell me what the situation is with Caridad? I'm confused on that one. Does he literally need to be on the 25-man roster all season to keep him?

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JIM HICKMAN's BAT: Esmailin Caridad was originally signed by the Hiroshima Carp and attended the Carp Dominican Academy before moving up to a Japanese minor league and (briefly) playing for the Carp.

Caridad became a free-agent on some technicality after the 2007 season, and the Cubs (Oneri Fleita) signed him as a non-drafted free-agent (NDFA) to a Uniform Minor League Player Contract around Christmas 2007, which means he does not have to be added to the Cubs 40-man roster until after the 2011 season, although it could be earlier if the Cubs want to bring him up to the big leagues before that.

As for Mark Pawelek, he has never had any arm problems. His problems were all mechanics, and a lot of that has to do with the Cubs changing his arm slot (making it more conventional), telling him not to throw everyday (which he had done throughout high school), and then making him junk his power slider and mid-90's four-seam fastball and just go with his more-pedestrian (and less-explosive) high 80's two-seamer, curve, and change-up. But it just messed him up. It was like Jon Garland and Donald Veal all over again.

Pawelek's father was his pitching coach going back to Little League, and he's a bit like Mike Marshall. He has some unconventional theories about pitching (like pitchers should throw every day and pitchers should have an extensive arsenal of pitches so that hitters don't see the same stuff too many times the second or third time through the order), and it worked great for Mark (he set all kinds of pitching records in HS).

But the Cubs have a "Do It Our Way or the Hit the Highway" approach to player development, and while that's fine if it is applied to a "blank slate" from Latin America or a position player converting to pitcher, it is sometimes counter-productive when applied to a pitcher who already has had a lot of success prior to signing with the Cubs, and it can cause a unique talent like Garland, Veal, or Pawelek to fall through the cracks. The Cubs just are not capable of adjusting their coaching to an individual player. But I believe Pawelek has finally decided to just do things his own way.

So this is a "make or break" year for Pawelek, and he has to make (at least) the Peoria Opening Day roster, although he wil probably be assigned to the Daytona Group at Minor League Camp because of his age and experience. If he doesn't make the Peoria (or Daytona) Opening Day roster, he will probably get traded or released, and I know there are at least a couple of organizations who are waiting for the Cubs to give up on him.

One thing to remember about Pawelek is that he's only 22, and if he had gone to Arizona State instead of signing with the Cubs in 2005, he would have finished his junior year at ASU last Spring. So if he can start the season at Peoria, he wouldn't be all that far behind where he should be.

BTW, Pawelek absolutely, positively wants to be a starter, but because he can throw everyday day, I think he would (like Donald Veal) advance much faster and have more success if he were to be used as a power-lefty reliever. That way, he can throw every day and stay sharp. (BTW, that approach seems to be working for Donald Veal this Spring with the Pirates).