Bruce Chen Finds Out Javier Baez Can Do Whatever He Wants
Bruce Chen was torched for five home runs (two by Javier Baez and one each by David DeJesus, Alfonso Soriano, and Alberto Gonzalez) over five innings, as the Cubs cruised to an 8-3 vistory over the Kansas City Royals in Cactus League action this afternoon at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ.
Baez took Chen deep with a solo HR onto the berm beyond the LF fence with two outs in the 1st, and then again with another solo HR (this one a Monster Jam) over the scoreboard and into the parking lot with two outs in the 5th, and has now hit four home runs in his last five plate appearances (he hit home runs in his final two PA versus Team Japan yesterday, including a walk-off two-run HR in the 9th).
LHP Hisanori Takahashi got the start for the Cubs and worked four solid innings (53 pitches - 15 strikes), allowing one run (a Mike Moustakas solo HR over the bullpens in RF) on five hits (three singles, a double, and the HR) and one walk, with one strikeout and a 7/3 GO/FO. He also picked a runner off 1st base.
The Cubs have stretched-out Takahashi as a starter over his past three appearances, and while he seems to be suited for that role, there does not appear to be a spot for Takahashi in the Cubs starting rotation at this time, even if Matt Garza (strained lat) and Scott Baker (TJS rehab) are not ready to start the season. The Cubs might have a "piggy-back" role in mind for Takahashi, where he would follow Scott Baker to the mound if Baker does not have his pitch count up to necessary levels by the end of Spring Training. (Baker would start the game and go as far as he can, and then Takahashi would follow and pitch multiple innings if necessary).
RHRP Michael Bowden took the mound in the 5th and pitched two shutout innings (26 pitches - 18 strikes), allowing two hits (a triple and a single) and no walks. He struck out two (the last two hitters he faced), and got the other four outs on pop ups or fly balls.
Bowden has pitched OK (not great but not bad) so far in Cactus League games, but he has an advantage over most of the other contenders for middle relief jobs in the Cubs bullpen because he is out of minor league options and thus cannot be sent to the minor without being exposed to Outright Assignment Waivers (which are irrevovable), but even if waivers were to be secured, Bowden can refuse an Outright Assignment and elect free-agency because he has been outrighted previously in his career. So the Cubs have to make sure to get a good read on what Bowden has to offer now and in the near future.
Shawn Camp followed Bowden and labored through a 27-pitch (only 12 strikes) 7th. Camp surrendered a single and a walk to start the inning, and eventually allowed a run on a two-out infield single, but at least he was able to get out of the inning without further damage.
Kyuji Fujikawa pitched the 8th inning and allowed a run on two hits (a lead-off double by Brandon Wood, a single, and an 8-6 RBI FC where CF Dave Sappelt just missed making a spectacular diving catch, but still was able to get to his feet in time to make an accurate throw to 2nd base that forced the runner who was on 1st).
Carlos Marmol worked a fast 1-2-3 9th (two deep fly ball outs and an infield pop up).
Six of their eight Cub runs resulted from the five home runs (Soriano hit a two-run dinger, and the other four were solo shots).
The Cubs scored another run in the 3rd, as Alfonso Soriano walked and later scored on a throwing error by the KC second-baseman, and collected their final tally of the day in the 6th on a two-out Justin Bour RBI ground single through the box that followed hits by Rafael Lopez and Christian Villanueva.
The Cubs made several roster moves yesterday, optioning IF-OF Junior Lake to Iowa, 3B Christian Villanueva to Tennessee, and OF Jorge Soler to Daytona, although they can continue to play in MLB Cactus League games (Villanueva and Soler played in the game at HoHoKam Park today, but Lake will be out 4-6 weeks with a rib injury).
The reason those moves had to be made yesterday is that normally an injured player cannot be optioned to the minors, but the one exception is a player who did not accrue any MLB Service Time the previous season, as long as the player is optioned to the minors no later than the 16th day prior to MLB Opening Day (which was yesterday).
By optioning Lake, Villanueva, and Soler to the minors yesterday (and Matt Szczur, Trey McNutt, Logan Watkins, and Rob Whitenack earlier this week), the Cubs covered themselves in case any of the seven (none of whom accrued MLB Service Time last season) are injured prior to being optioned (as happened with Lake) or in an MLB Cactus League Spring Training game.
If the Cubs did not option the seven to the minors by yesterday's deadline, they would be taking a risk that the player could be injured prior to MLB Opening Day. And if that happened, the Cubs would have to place the player on their MLB 15-day or 60-day Disabled List and pay the player at the MLB salary rate (about $2,650 per day), rather than the lesser minor league "split salary" rate (about $430 per day for Lake and Szczur, and about $215 per day for the others), with the player also accruing MLB Service Time for days spent on an MLB DL during the MLB regular season (which could eventually affect when the player would be eligible for salary arbitration and/or free-agency).
But because they were optioned to the minors by yesterday's deadline, any of the seven can be placed on the Disabled List of the minor league club to which the player was optioned. And this is exactly what will happen with Junior Lake. He will be placed on the AAA Iowa DL at the start of the season (and be paid at the minor league "split salary" rate), will probably spend about a month at Extended Spring Training at Fitch Park while getting back into playing shape, and then will be reactivated when he is ready to play.
Recent comments
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Arizona Phil 8 hours 59 min ago (view)
Shendrik Apostel will be first-time Rule 5 Draft eligible post-2021, so he will almost certainly be at AZL in 2021 if not at Lo-A.
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Dolorous Jon Lester 13 hours 18 min ago (view)
Teenagers we've never heard of*
Fixed! -
crunch 13 hours 45 min ago (view)
2027 team gonna be fire.
i can't wait to see what group of teenagers we get for bryant mid-season.
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tim815 14 hours 4 min ago (view)
Underwood to Pittsburgh for a 1B that hasn't played stateside yet. 2 DSL seasons.
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crunch 16 hours 57 min ago (view)
the 2 geese are now together covering left-center
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crunch 17 hours 10 min ago (view)
we now have 2 OF geese.
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crunch 17 hours 41 min ago (view)
game is in goose delay.
arrieta threw 2 innings...not bad, not good, nothing alarming, nothing impressive. it'll be nice to see him work in future outings.
game back again...goose still in CF.
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crunch 18 hours 5 min ago (view)
there is a goose in CF hanging out.
this is goose territory now. this is not up for discussion.
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crunch 19 hours 16 min ago (view)
pedro strop broke COVID protocol and will be even more days away from his spring debut. good job, guy.
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Arizona Phil 1 day 9 hours ago (view)
HAGSAG: I've been watching Michael Hermosillo since his earliest days with the Angels, playing over the years against the Cubs in AZL, Minor League Camp, EXST, and AZ Instructs.
From the outset he showed plus defensive skills, a plus arm, and plus speed, but his hit tool was clearly lacking, and he had well below-average power. I thought AAA was his likely ceiling, and even then only as a 4th OF.
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crunch 1 day 16 hours ago (view)
3/9 with a homer (no walks).
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Cubster 1 day 16 hours ago (view)
How is Almora Jrs spring going?
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crunch 1 day 16 hours ago (view)
maybin 0-9 with 6 Ks so far this spring.
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Hagsag 2 days 2 hours ago (view)
Phil, what are your thoughts on Mike Hermosillo? He is from our area,Ottawa.
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Arizona Phil 2 days 11 hours ago (view)
The fact that the Cubs have not run him through waivers by now tells me they know Duane Underwood Jr is a lock to get claimed and so they are hoping to find a club that would be willing to give the Cubs something more than the $50,000 waiver price in return for Dunderwood (either more $$$ and/or a player).
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Arizona Phil 2 days 11 hours ago (view)
Today's pitchers, most of them the same guys who threw last Tuesday:
Alec Mills:
FB: 89-91
SL: 81
CH: 81-82
CV: 67-70
COMMENT: This just in: Mills heater now sitting at 91!!!!... had two easy innings and looked very good... threw only a handful of his "Bugs Bunny curves" but they are fun to watch because hitters don't know how to deal with it... ...
Craig Kimbrel:
FB: 93-96
CT: 87-88
SL: 82-84
Comments
I know they're projecting
Theo should just respond
A period after the 2014 would
BB America seems bullish
Just saw the game on dvr,
I have the feeling Javy
dude has the mlb logo tattoo
Some teammates razzed him by
In all seriousness, if
If Valbuena goes down down
Az Central.com article on
AZ. Phil,
HAGSAG: Roni Torreyes arrived
HAGSAG: Roni Torreyes arrived yesterday and is with the Tennessee squad.
No sign of the others.
Hey AZ Phil (or anyone really
CA CUB FAN: I don't know why
CA CUB FAN: I don't know why they were released. They both threw "live" BP the same day (AMG versus Iowa and Urban against Daytona), and AMG and Urban (especially Urban) got several swings & misses in their respective outings. It's possible both turned up injured the next day, and the Cubs just didn't want to waste anymore time with them. (Injured players signed to minor league contracts who are released anytime up until the 14th day of the MLB regular season only have to be paid two weeks salary as termination pay).
Also, the AZL Cubs and Boise reserve lists were full going into Minor League Camp, and there are four players (Hodges, Buckner, Rodriguez, and Hill) who were "Signed for Future Service" (signed first contract after July 1st of last season and were not placed on a 2012 minor league active list) who will need to be added to the AZL Cubs or Boise reserve lists by Opening Day. By releasing AMG, Urban, Shepard, and York, the Cubs opened up slots on the AZL Cubs and Boise reserve lists for the four players who were Signed for Future Service.
It's not just a a "numbers game" at the MLB 40-man roster level. It's like that throughout the system.
just watched a recent
I thought Nelson said it,
Stewart going for another MRI
Stewart going for another MRI on quad injury...keep hitting those HR's Baez.
nice to see s.baker on the
bottom 1st...0 out...OAK up
and Texas puts up a 3 spot
s.baker done...1 out, 2 on,
trainer out...r.dollis seems
Dolis audio...
I clicked on the link before
Is anyone else bugged by the
Pepi:
That was pretty much my
m.owings (WAS) .400 (10/25),
Rivero gets $3.1 million to
$3.1m for a 1-pitch, high
great news...
Because the fees for MRI's
"Too bad Gayle Sayers didn't
d.sappelt hits his 3rd homer
Cant wait for the Lilibridge
They should have an Ian
at least he'll only cost $1
I imagine his head will only
the best part was watching
Are we still talking about
technically, yes.
Luckily even though you may
Single-plane back patting.
...and ryan theriot is still
Casey McGehee Redux
Casey McGehee Redux
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said Monday that Blake Lalli is a candidate for the Opening Day roster.
really crap fan showing out
Too bad they can't move it
Milwaukee would be great.
In mid-summer, too. I speak
Nothing some blackout rules
AZ Phil,
nice the Cubs are crushing
nice the Cubs are crushing even the slightest bit of hope right at the start of the season...
Stewart to DL with fluid in quad, Baker's throwing program shutdown
so they should start the season with this rotation that goes 2 deep (maybe 3 if you really like Feldman): Samardzija, Jackson, Feldman, Wood, Villanueva
and then a lineup that will try to score runs wth Valbuena, Barney, Castillo and a pitcher taking up 45% of the Ab's...
I give myself until May 1st to still be interested in the daily outcome of games.
This is the risk with signing
certainly wouldn't surprise
certainly wouldn't surprise me, stupid Astros and possibly Marlins will cost the Cubs a chance at the #1 pick though.
and despite my disappointment on wasting yet another season, I do think they're well on their way to building that perenial winner that we all wish for...
http://www.dailyherald.com
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130318/s...
nice story on Soriano mentoring the kids...wish he worked as hard at getting a lighter bat a few years back.
MLB Owners...still evil
MLB Owners...still evil
http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/90...
"The first attempt to do so
have heard he's good to his
have heard he's good to his employees, except those that put on a uniform :)
He seems to detest the player union...but glad he has some ounce of morality in those rich, old bones of his.
I always thought he should
"but to a guy like Reinsdorf
Ha! Good point!
good look at minor league
good look at minor league park factors...
http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=2013...
FSL hardest league to score runs in over the last 5 years...good luck Baez and Soler.
PCL is very hitting friendly, although Principal Park is near the bottom as a run scoring environment
Southern League is about the middle to slightly conservative, although the Smokies park is the friendliest hitting environment in that league (or least friendly pitching environment depending on your point of view)
FSL very unfriedly as mentioned, although Jackie Robinson skews slightly hitter friendly for the league
Midwest League around the same as Southern League, Chiefs park is near the bottom and Kane County isn't much better
Northwest League is quite hitter friendly, no ballpark factors were listed though.
"Cubs acquired OF Jose Dore
http://www.baseball-reference
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/play...
Cubs traded for 1B/OF Jose Dore from the Padres for a PTBNL or cash
Dore will play his age 21 season this year...8th round pick in 2010 draft.
"hey, ronny cedeno...you just
Can he play 3b? Sigh.
Levine says don't expect
Levine says don't expect Marmol or Soriano traded before the start of the season, particularly because of all the injuries. Cubs looking for utility player that can play both infield and outfield.
better showing for tonight's