TCR: No Good Will Come of This

TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 12:27am

Nothing too exciting last night, Rich Harden worked out of a lot of trouble his last three innings, but did strike out 9 in 7 innings without giving up a home run. Milton Bradley went 2/4 with an RBI, a ricochet short of going 3-4. Soto and Fox continue to hit as well and the Marmol/Gregg combo actually did their job. Then we all remember it's the Pirates.

- The Southern League annouced their All-Star rosters and the Tennessee Smokies placed six:  Position players Jim Adduci, Darwin Barney and Blake Lalli will join teammates Casey Coleman, Jay Jackson and Brian Schlitter. 

- Barney will be headed to Triple A though along with a number of other promotions yesterday. Top picks Andrew Cashner and Josh Viiters will each move up a level, Cashner to Double A Tennessee and Vitters to Hi A Daytona. Cub Carpenter will  join Vitters on the ride to Daytona. 1B John Contreras makes the jump from Boise to Daytona, 2b Nathan Samson goes to Tennessee and 1b Ryan Keedy has been released.

-  I stumbled across this old Q&A with Bill James which touches on a wide variety of topics, some Cubs related.

UPDATE: Bill James and Joe Posnanski more recently talked about the age 33 fall-off. Cubs that are 33 this season: Derrek Lee, Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Freel. So is Ted Lilly, but the discussion focuses on offense.

- Milton Bradley is going to get a few days off to work on his left-handed swing with Von Joshua. The Cubs will likely go with Sam Fuld in center and Kosuke Fukudome in right field.

- 57% of Cubs fan agree with Phil Rogers that the Cubs should put Carlos Zambrano on waivers and see if anyone will take his contract off the Cubs hands. Probably the same 57% that applauded Mark DeRosa each time he came up in Wrigley.

- Barring any setbacks, Aramis Ramirez will begin a rehab assignment on Thursday, it's unknown which lucky affiliate will benefit from the added gate receipts.  If all goes well, he could be back in the lineup against Atlanta next Monday.

- A poll of players around MLB conducted by Sports Illustrated came up with Lou Piniella as the manager players would least like to play for...Ozzie Guillen finishing second.

- If you're looking for a write-up on Aaron Miles elbow problems from Dr. Hecht...

I'd do an ortho writeup on Miles hyperextended elbow... but honestly, who cares other than Sam Fuld.

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#1 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by MikeVail on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 10:27am.

Harden looked much better last night. Some of the hits he gave up were cheap, including the pop-up that inexplicably dropped between Soriano, Freel, and Theriot. I figured Soriano must have been jogging to reach that one. Harden seemed to throw more fastballs and with more velocity in the first inning than he had in his past several starts. He also was robbed of a couple of RBIs by LaRoche in the second inning - he hit a shot.

#2 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 10:39am.

Elder LaRoche made a couple of nice plays, he got totally embarrassed at the plated. It was good to see some of our guys hit the ball hard with runners on base, even in one of them was a pitcher.

After Joshua gets Bradley to quit swinging through fastballs from the left side, he can work on Fukudome doing the same thing. Step one with Bradley would get him to quit waiving the bat. It looks like a contrived effort to try to intimidate the pitcher. When you're hitting .200, no one's intimidated.

#3 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 10:44am.

Rosenthal on what the Cubs need to do.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9748082/Forget-...

"Hateable Losers" is the tag line at foxsports.com

#4 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Ryno on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 11:00am.

Brenly just on WSCR giving an interview. Of course they asked him about his "desire to get back into uniform and manage" and his response was since there are no opportunities in front of him right now his desire is very low.

Reading between the lines... if he had no interest in managing a ball team he would have said that, but he didn't. In fact he was surprisingly vague. Very interesting.

#5 Re: some old Bill James

Submitted by navigator on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 11:08am.

How about some NEW Bill James, prominently featuring ALFONSO SORIANO age 33,

Bill Posnanski(Sports Illustrated)Talkin' about the age-33 falloff phenomenon, with Bill James

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_...

Unfortunately, I don't see Alfonso adjusting his see the ball hit the ball approach to a more selective one. Maybe he should try lightening his bat.

#6 Re: some old Bill James

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 11:23am.

whoops I posted that yesterday and forgot to mention it...

#9 Re: some new Bill James

Submitted by navigator on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 11:39am.

It (some new Bill James) sure belongs upstairs in your article.

Speaking of Alfonso, even though he's having a terrible time at the plate he still leads the team in the stat by which all lead-off men are measured -- Runs -- with 47. He's scoring runs at a rate that projects out to 104-110 on the season depending on how you look at it. 104 runs is based on the actual number of games the Cubs have played so far. And if he does score 104 that would be the 4th highest total in his career.

By way of comparison, his predecessor, Juan Pierre, scored only 87 runs in 2006 playing all 162 games with 699 at bats.

#7 That RIdiculous List

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 11:33am.

http://deadspin.com/5304675/why-the-new-alleged-st...

more debunking...

#8 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Cubs Win on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 11:38am.

Good to see a few of the kids progressing. Rob G/Phil - I'm interested in seeing a mid year Prospect update and/or a report card on the preseason prospects. I feel better about a few of the guys after a half season of production. Here is my list:

1. Vitters
2. Cashner
3. Samardizja
4. Jay Jackson
5. Brett Jackson
6. Starlin Castro
7. Jake Fox
8. Tyler Colvin

Also, looks like we may have some serviceable "ball players" who don't have great skills but can play the game in Barney, Aducci, Lalli.

#13 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Raisin101 on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 12:18pm.

Curious why you have Jackson below Cashner and Samardzija.

I go:

1. Josh Vitters
2. Jay Jackson
3. Starlin Castro
4. Andrew Cashner
5. Jeff Samardzija
6. Hak-Ju Lee
7. Chris Carpenter
8. Tony Thomas
9. Dae-Eun Rhee
10. Dan McDaniel (just beating out Brett Jackson and Ryan Searle)

#15 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 12:31pm.

I'm curious why both of you guys have Brett Jackson even sniffing the top 20.

#22 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Raisin101 on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 12:57pm.

Solely because he was unanamiously rated as a top 30-40 prospect going into the draft. I don't like him as a prospect (how's a guy with such contact issues with an aluminum bat going to improve his ability to make contact against better, professional pitchers?) but since I don't go out and see all these guys, I have to make assumptions and listen to scout considerations and supplement them with my thoughts.

#52 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by toonsterwu on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 4:25pm.

interesting that you made a decision on searle/mcdaniel there.

___________

Anyhow, my top 12 would go something like

1. Vitters
2. Jay Jackson
3. Cashner
4. Samardzija
5. Castro
6. McDaniel
7. Lee
8. Colvin
9. Brett Jackson
10. Casey Coleman
11. Dae-Eun Rhee
12. Carpenter

That said, after the top 5 guys, you could order the Cubs system in a number of ways, depending on what criteria you are looking for, and probably make a decent case for it.

#23 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by billybucks on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 1:36pm.

"Jake Fox"?

You mean the guy playing 3B and batting cleanup for the Chicago Cubs?

#10 Off Topic

Submitted by Rob Richardson on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 11:57am.

Bryce Harper

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/highschool/0...

#11 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Cubster on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 12:09pm.

Eric Hinske won't pinch hit to end the game tonight.

To the Yankees for 2 prospects

http://twitter.com/Dejan_Kovacevic/status/2404999378

Kovacevic also rumoring a Nyjer Morgan for Lasting Milledge trade being worked on. Huntington is a busy little guy.

#14 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Ryno on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 12:25pm.

I can't say that I blame him... look at it this way, if he trades everyone on the roster, what does he have?

A: Not the Pittsburgh Pirates.

#25 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 1:50pm.

I might be in the minority here, but I really like the job Neal Huntington is doing in Pittsburgh.

-The Bay,Nady,Marte deals have worked out so far.

-They have spent on Amature talent at a much greater rate

-Getting legit prospects for Hinske and Morgan is +++++

-McLouth was a borderline MLB player before last season. Nice to see a GM sell high on SOMEBODY every once in a while.

#26 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 1:58pm.

1:40pm: Kovacevic says the teams have agreed in principle to exchange Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan for Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett.

#27 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Rob Richardson on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 1:59pm.

"-Getting legit prospects for Hinske and Morgan is +++++"

I guess one man's prospects is another man's "prospects".

"Considering Hinske's negligible salary and the two "prospects" the Yankees sent to Pittsburgh -- neither was ranked among the Yankees' 30 best prospects before this season -- this might qualify as the smartest deal of the month."

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-3-160/Hinsk...

#30 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 2:17pm.

Turning Nyjer Morgan, Eric Hinske, and Sean Burnett into Lastings Milledge, Joel Hanrahan, and any prospects with upside is a good move IMHO.

Hendry turned DeRosa, Wood, Rich Hill, and Felix Pie into less than that Haul combined!

I'd trade Jim Hendry for Neal Huntington right now if it were possible.

#33 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 2:25pm.

You wanted Hendry to trade Wood during July of last year or you wanted him to offer arbitration? Because the first, to me, would have been a bad move and the second would have wound up with Wood still being on the team.

#38 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 2:44pm.

Offer Arbitration.

Worst case: Wood for one year, instead of Kevin Gregg.
Ceda still in Cubs org.

Best case: Cubs get 2 early picks for Woody.

#43 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 2:52pm.

Worst case would have been Wood for a year and 5-6 million less in salary to spread around.

#44 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 3:00pm.

Best Case: Cubs spend $2 million dollars on two more guys who will never see the inside of a MLB dugout.

#46 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 3:03pm.

You can never have enough toolsy athletes who look good in a baseball uniform in your system. How else are you going to aquire those PTBNLers?

#45 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 3:00pm.

Doubtful,

- No way Woody leaves 3/31.5 on the table to go to Arbitration with the Cubs

- Woody make 4.2 last year, Same that Gregg does this year. Doubtful that Woody would have had his salary DOUBLED in Arbitration. Especially since it goes on a 3 year track record. Wood was only healty for 1/2 of the previous 3 years.

#47 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 3:35pm.

Unless I am mistaken Arbitration cases are solely determined by what comparable players are making. Wood would win an award that was appropriate for a 11 year veteran who had whatever, 36 saves and a 12/9 K rate... and the arbitrator just picks the value he thinks is most fair. It's doubtful that the Cubs or Wood would have submitted anything under $8 million.

#34 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Rob Richardson on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 2:29pm.

Sorry not trying to be snarky here, as I really don't have any idea on if these moves are any good, but I just finished reading this before your second post.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-3-161/Bucs-...

#41 Re: TCR Tuesday Notes

Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 2:48pm.

Rob,

This is the type of situation where you buy low on a "bad character" guy. If he screws up, just dump him.

It's not like the Pirates just gave him 3/30 and a No Trade Clause or anything.

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