Cubnut's Archives
Game 140 Thread/Cubs @ Pirates (1 of 3)
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Scouting Craig Monroe
By all accounts, Craig Monroe was having an off-season with the Tigers, who asked Monroe to turn in his uniform and his pass to the players' parking lot last Friday, when he was designated for assignment.
Here's what Rotoworld had to say at the time of the move:
The Tigers are cutting a guy with 59 homers and 236 RBI since the start of 2005. He's even a pretty good defender in a corner outfield spot. The big negative is that he carries poor OBPs even when he's swinging well. Still, there are more than a few teams that would like to have him around and some would probably even play him regularly. Expect him to be traded before he can become a free agent.So how far off was Monroe with Detroit this year?
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Picking Up Distress Signals From Milwaukee
In light of the grotesquely ugly 8-3 loss that dropped their heroes behind the Cubs, Milwaukee fans are trying on second place...and the folks don't seem to like the way it looks on them.
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The Race
It pains me to include the St.
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Elsewhere In The NL Central…
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So How Bad Was That?
It was this bad:
The Cubs just scored 5 runs in 3 games (plus an extra inning) against a team that had yielded 67 runs in its previous 7 games.
The Cubs hit one home run in three games against a pitching staff that shared the NL lead with the Phillies in most homers yielded per game.
The Cubs went 2-for-34 with men in scoring position, both of the hits coming in the 8th inning of the series finale, long after the game and the Houston sweep had ceased to be in doubt.
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Game 104 Thread / Phillies @ Cubs (1 of 4)
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Will This Be The Week?
The Cubs—now just a half-game behind the flailing Brewers—open a seven-game homestand Monday night with a four-game series against the Phillies, followed by a three-game set with the Mets. The Brewers will begin a six-game homestand against the same two clubs in reverse order. However, since they don’t open against the Metropolitans until Tuesday night, the Brewers will have no direct control over whether or not they go to bed Monday night in sole possession of first place in the NL Central.
One of baseball’s enduring clichés is the one that says a victory at the beginning of the season is worth just as much as one in the final days of a pennant race. Is it the same with defeats?
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As Cubs Beat Cards, Wood Beats Wizards
While the Cubs were busy dumping the Cardinals Tuesday night, Kerry Wood was earning a victory for the Class ‘A’ Peoria Chiefs over the Fort Wayne Wizards.
Woody entered the game in the 5th inning with the Chiefs already ahead 4-0. He threw 12 pitches, recording two ground outs and a fly out while walking one.
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The Cubs Win A Freak Show
How else to describe scoring nine runs in the first five innings on six singles and a double? (Obviously seven Giant walks to that point contributed.)
Or the Cubs scoring 12 runs without Ramirez or Lee in the lineup and with Soriano only contributing a walk.
Or Carlos Zambrano batting for himself in the last of the 5th, then not taking the mound in the 6th, departing with a 2-hit shutout after throwing only 80 pitches. (The long Cub fifth inning would seem to be the reason.)
Or Koyie Hill collecting 5 RBI, all with two outs.
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Can’t The Astros Stay Here For A Few More Games?
The Cubs’ flashy new lefty-bashing lineup—with Ryan Theriot hitting leadoff and Alfonso Soriano hitting fifth--claimed its first victim Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field, as the red-hot home team recovered from a 5-0 second-inning deficit to beat the Astros, 7-6.
With a sweep of the weekend series--the Cubs' first Wrigley Field sweep of the Astros since 1984--the team is now 47-43, 3 1/2 in back of the Brewers, who beat t
Tough Luck, Ticket-Holding Suckers
If you purchased tickets for any of next week's Cubs/Giants games so your kids could one day say they saw Randy Winn or Mark Sweeney playing leftfield, you may be screwed.
Per the Commissioner by way of Phil Rogers in today's Tribune:
When Aaron was chasing Babe Ruth's record of 714, then-Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ordered the Atlanta Braves to play Aaron during a series in Cincinnati rather than hold him
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Rest Of NL Lets The Cubs Down
In Tuesday night's 78th All-Star Game, the American League beat the National League 5-4, the tenth consecutive ASG victory for the AL.
The Cubs' Alfonso Soriano brought the NL to within a run with a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, but after J.J.
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Ex-Cub(s) Item Of The Day
The bottom three hitters in the Orioles lineup for tonight's game at U.S. Cellular Field were Freddie Bynum, Paul Bako, and Corey Patterson.
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They Sure Talk Funny In Milwaukee
A little something to break up the afternoon before debating how to attack former, almost-Cub Jason Simontacchi...
The following is from the Milwaukee Journal's game story by Tom Haudricourt. See if you can decipher it. I cannot.
The Brewers hit the official halfway mark of the season with a 47-34 record, matching the best in franchise history (1979).
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Recent comments
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...
crunch (view)
pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"
mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit. nice.
he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons. he's not lean, but he looks healthier. good for him.
crunch (view)
dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.
i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.
crunch (view)
sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).
crunch (view)
cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.