Cubnut's Archives
Game 47 Thread / Cubs @ Astros (3 of 3)
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SP | Sean Gallagher |
SP |
Shawn Chacon |
1-0, 4.40, 10 K, 7 BB, 14.1 IP | 0-0, 4.14, 35 K, 27 BB, 54.1 IP | ||
SS |
Ryan Theriot | CF |
*Michael Bourn |
RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome |
2B |
#Kaz Matsui |
1B |
Derrek Lee | SS |
Miguel Tejada |
3B |
Aramis Ramirez | 1B |
#Lance Berkman |
LF |
*Micah Hoffpauir | LF |
Carlos Lee |
C |
Geovany Soto | 3B |
#Geoff Blum |
CF |
*Jim Edmonds |
RF |
Hunter Pence |
2B |
Mark DeRosa | C |
J.R. Towles |
P |
Sean Gallagher |
P |
Shawn Chacon |
After going five consecutive series without a series win, the Cubs will snag their fourth series in a row if they can upend the Houstons.
Lineup changes galore this evening--Theriot hits leadoff, Fukudome moves up to second, and Hoffpauir gets his first MLB start (in left, not as a replacement for Lee at first, as we expected).
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Good News and a Mid-Day Buzz-Kill
Tonight when the Braves visit the Mets, former Cub Rick Sutcliffe will be in the ESPN broadcast booth for the first time since he was diagnosed with colon cancer during spring training. Sutcliffe, who has been receiving chemotherapy and radiation, is scheduled for surgery on June 16th, which he hopes will lead to a clean bill of health.
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Game 45 Thread / Cubs @ Astros (1 of 3)
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SP | *Ted Lilly |
SP |
Brian Moehler |
4-4, 5.33, 50 K, 17 BB, 50.2 IP | 1-0, 4.58, 10 K, 4 BB, 17.2 IP | ||
LF |
Alfonso Soriano | CF |
*Michael Bourn |
SS |
Ryan Theriot | 2B |
#Kaz Matsui |
1B |
Derrek Lee | SS |
Miguel Tejada |
3B |
Aramis Ramirez | 1B |
#Lance Berkman |
RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome | LF |
Carlos Lee |
C |
Geovany Soto | RF |
Hunter Pence |
CF |
*Jim Edmonds |
3B |
Ty Wigginton |
2B |
Mark DeRosa | C |
Brad Ausmus |
P |
*Ted Lilly |
P |
Brian Moehler |
The Cubs, winners of eight of ten, all at home, meet the Astros, winners of seven of ten, all on the road.
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Cubs Hits Of The Week (5/12 Through 5/18)
The five hits that did the most to enhance the Cubs' chance of winning during a week that can only be described as Sorianolicious, as measured by FanGraphs' Win Probability Added (WPA):
#5 Big Hit: Wednesday, v. the Padres, 7th inning — The Cubs had knocked Jake Peavy from the game and taken a 4-0 lead before the Padres drew to within a run, thanks to a 3-spot in the top of the fifth. Geovany Soto then smashed a Wil Ledezma pitch for a two-run homer to give the Cubs some breathing room. WPA .143
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Game 44 Thread / Pirates @ Cubs (3 of 3)
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SP | *Phil Dumatrait |
SP |
Jason Marquis |
1-1, 3.96, 26 K, 18 BB, 36.1 IP | 1-3, 5.26, 24 K, 16 BB, 39.1 IP | ||
2B |
Freddy Sancez |
LF |
Alfonso Soriano |
CF |
Nate McLouth | SS |
Ronny Cedeño |
LF |
Jason Bay |
1B |
Derrek Lee |
1B |
*Adam LaRoche |
3B |
Aramis Ramirez |
RF |
Xavier Nady | RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome |
3B |
*Doug Mientkiewicz |
C |
Geovany Soto |
C |
Ronny Paulino |
2B |
Mark DeRosa |
SS |
Brian Bixler |
CF |
Reed Johnson |
P |
Phil Dumatrait |
P |
*Jason Marquis |
On the heels of Saturday's loss to the Bucs and the unexpected appearance by Bad Carlos, the Cubs need a win to take this series from the Pirates and finish the homestand 8-2. Cedeño gets a start at shortstop and The Riot sits.
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Game 41 Thread / Padres @ Cubs (4 of 4)
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SP | Greg Maddux |
SP |
Ryan Dempster |
3-3, 3.60, 26 K, 8 BB, 50 IP | 4-1, 2.76, 36 K, 23 BB, 49 IP | ||
CF |
*Jody Gerut |
LF |
Alfonso Soriano |
2B |
Tadahito Iguchi | SS |
Ryan Theriot |
RF |
*Brian Giles | 1B |
Derrek Lee |
1B |
*Adrian Gonzalez | 3B |
Aramis Ramirez |
3B |
Kevin Kouzmanoff | RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome |
SS |
Khalil Greene |
CF |
*Jim Edmonds |
LF |
*Paul McAnulty | 2B |
Ronny Cedeño |
C |
#Luke Carlin | C |
Henry Blanco |
P |
Greg Maddux |
P |
Ryan Dempster |
If the Cubs can overcome old friend Greg Maddux--perhaps making his last start ever at Wrigley Field--and the negative energy surrounding the addition of our new centerfielder, they'll take three of four from the Padres and improve their record on the homestand to a dandy 6-1, with three against the Pirates yet to go.
This, by the way, would be the first Wrigley Field series the Cubs had captured from San DIego since 1999. I'm sure the Mickey Morandini, Quilvio Veras references will be all over the broadcast.
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An Argument in Support of Signing Jim Edmonds: It's Driving Cardinals Fans Crazy
From Bernie Miklasz, writing in Thursday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
The idea of the greatest center fielder in Cardinals history stumbling in wobbly pursuit of balls hit over his head is depressing. The reality that Jimmy will be teammates with Carlos Zambrano — who plunked him twice in a raucous game at Wrigley back in 2004 — makes no sense...
"He feels like he has something left to give this game," Cardinals outfielder Skip Schumaker said. "I'm happy for him. I still think he can play. I don't think he was ready to hang it up yet."
And then Schumaker said something that stings:
Game 40 Thread / Padres @ Cubs (3 of 4)
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SP | Jake Peavy |
SP |
*Ted Lilly |
4-2, 2.47, 52 K, 18 BB, 54.2 IP | 3-4, 5.24, 39 K, 16 BB, 44.2 IP | ||
CF |
Scott Hairston |
LF |
Alfonso Soriano |
2B |
Tadahito Iguchi | SS |
Ryan Theriot |
RF |
*Brian Giles | 1B |
Derrek Lee |
1B |
*Adrian Gonzalez | 3B |
Aramis Ramirez |
3B |
Kevin Kouzmanoff | RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome |
SS |
Khalil Greene |
C |
Geovany Soto |
LF |
Justin Huber |
2B |
Mark DeRosa |
C |
#Josh Bard | CF |
Reed Johnson |
P |
Jake Peavy |
P |
*Ted Lilly |
Pepsi has merged with Coca-Cola. Batman has given the Joker the passcode to the Bat Cave. The Corleones have entered into a business partnership with Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo.
And the Cubs are going to sign Jim Edmonds.
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Non-Sale-of-Cubs Stories Rapidly Gaining on Non-Acquisition-of-Brian-Roberts Stories
With all of the excitement—and by excitment, I mean disgust—over the likely Cubs signing of Jim Edmonds, there wasn't an opening here yesterday to note the snag in efforts to peddle Wrigley Field to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.
Cubs Hits Of The Week (5/5 Through 5/11)
The five hits that did the most to enhance the Cubs' chance of winning during a week that began with a disappointing series against a team in the throes of a long losing streak, but ended with a sweep of the club with the best record in the National League, as measured by FanGraphs' Win Probability Added (WPA):
#5 Big Hit: Tuesday, v. the Reds, 4th inning — After Geovany Soto whiffs with men at second and third, Ronny Cedeño connects for a two-out, two-run single to extend the Cubs lead to 3-0, which turns out to be more than cushion enough for Carlos Zambrano. Cedeño's hit was far and away the Cubs' biggest one during the three games in Cincinnati. WPA .172
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Game 35 Thread / Diamondbacks @ Cubs (1 of 3)
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SP | Dan Haren |
SP |
*Ted Lilly |
4-1, 3.12, 36 K, 8 BB | 2-4, 5.97, 29 K, 14 BB | ||
LF |
Eric Byrnes |
LF |
Alfonso Soriano |
SS |
*Stephen Drew | SS |
Ryan Theriot |
CF |
Chris Young | 1B |
Derrek Lee |
1B |
Conor Jackson | 3B |
Aramis Ramirez |
RF |
Justin Upton | RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome |
3B |
Mark Reynolds | C |
Geovany Soto |
C |
Chris Snyder | 2B |
Mark DeRosa |
2B |
Chris Burke | CF |
Reed Johnson |
P |
Dan Haren |
P |
*Ted Lilly |
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue."
— Steve McCroskey (Lloyd Bridges) in Airplane
Timing is everything, and for the Cubs to be playing like hell when the 23-12 Diamondbacks show up at their door, well, the timing could be better.
Around The NL Central In Five Sentences; Pie to Minors?
The Cubs get more than enough sentences around here, so here's a look at our divisional brothers:
Game 33 Thread / Cubs @ Reds (2 of 3)
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SP | Carlos Zambrano |
SP |
Aaron Harang |
4-1, 2.11, 35 K, 11 BB | 1-4, 2.98, 41 K, 11 BB | ||
LF |
Alfonso Soriano | CF |
Ryan Freel |
SS |
Ryan Theriot | RF |
*Ken Griffey Jr. |
1B |
Derrek Lee | 2B |
Brandon Phillips |
3B |
Aramis Ramirez | 1B |
*Joey Votto |
RF |
*Kosuke Fukudome | 3B |
Edwin Encarnacion |
C |
Geovany Soto | LF |
*Adam Dunn |
2B |
Ronny Cedeño | SS |
Jeff Keppinger |
CF |
*Felix Pie | C |
*Paul Bako |
P |
#Carlos Zambrano |
P |
Aaron Harang |
Aramis Ramirez returns to the Cub lineup, and Ronny Cedeño gets a start at second base.
In the pitching matchup, Carlos Zambrano, who was one horrendous Kerry Wood inning away from winning his fifth game of the season last time out against Milwaukee, goes up against curveball-flingin' Aaron Harang, Zambrano beat the Reds in the middle contest of their three-game visit to Wrigley Field a few weeks back; Harang started the series opener and got smacked around (6 IP, 8 H, 5 ER) en route to a 9-5 Cubs win.
"Cubs win"...those are two words that haven't been used very often around here lately.
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No, the Gagne is Not Always Greener
Something to distract from tonight's unpleasantness in Cincinnati:
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Doug Melvin has no plans to unseat Eric Gagne as Brewers closer. A quick comparison:
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Cubs Hits Of The Week (4/28 Through 5/4)
The five hits that did the most to enhance the Cubs' chance of winning during the past. not terribly successful week against the teams we'll have to beat if we want to take the division, as measured by FanGraphs' Win Probability Added (WPA):
#5 Big Hit: Tuesday, v. the Brewers, 7th inning — The opener of the Cubs' three-game series with the Brewers is getting out of hand when Mike Fontenot hits a two-out, bases-clearing double that brings the home team to within two runs at 9-7. WPA .133
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Recent comments
Arizona Phil (view)
There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days.
Arizona Phil (view)
18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season.
Arizona Phil (view)
Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.
Arizona Phil (view)
I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect.
Arizona Phil (view)
The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022.
Arizona Phil (view)
Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch.
crunch (view)
cards put j.young on waivers.
they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.
Childersb3 (view)
Seconded!!!
crunch (view)
another awesome spring of pitching reports. thanks a lot, appreciated.
Arizona Phil (view)
Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:
SHOTA IMANAGA:
FB: 90-92
CUT: 87-89
SL: 82-83
SPLIT: 81-84
CV: 73-74
COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes... if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...
JOE NAHAS:
FB: 90-92
SL: 83-85
CV: 80-81
COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...
YENCY ALMONTE:
FB: 89-92
CH: 86
SL: 79
COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...
FRANKIE SCALZO JR:
FB: 94-95
CH: 88
SL: 83
COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning...
MICHAEL ARIAS:
FB: 94-96
CH: 87-89
SL: 82-83
COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...
ZAC LEIGH:
FB: 93-94
CH: 89
SL: 81-83
CV: 78
COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...
JOSE ROMERO:
FB: 93-95
SL: 82-84
COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...