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Rusch Job
 | ASTROS 1 CUBS 4 Recap | Box Score | Play-by-play | Game Chart |
Rookies Everywhere!
GAME 42 PREVIEW
HOUSTON ASTROS (15-28) at CHICAGO CUBS (19-22)
Wrigley Field, 7.05pm CT, TV: CSN, Fox Sports SW
They're like buses - you wait ages for one, and then two come along at once. Rookie opposition starters that is. Yesterday the Cubs got Brandon McCarthy, but they didn't manage to actually get to him. In fact, McCarthy was very impressive, striking out the first ever major league batter he faced (Hairston) and pitching a very solid five and a third innings before Guillen very cautiously lifted him. Today the Cubs get Wandy (yes, Wandy) Rodriguez, who starts in place of Andy Pettitte, and hopefully they'll at least give one of these two rookies a major league welcome to make them wish they'd never been promoted. Rodriguez doesn't have the same prospect calibre of McCarthy though, nowhere near - he's a 21, no, 25, er 26 year-old soft-tossing lefty out of Venezuela with a fastball, changeup, curveball arsenal that he throws for strikes, and at best he projects as the lefty out of the 'pen that makes up the numbers. He's going on just three days of rest and will be looking to end a five-game Houston losing streak.
[Update] According to Bruce Levine at least, the Cubs are about to pull off a big trade, but that's all he's saying! Talk about keeping us on tenterhooks! Anyway, speculate away amongst yourselves. All I have to say is that I hope that Corey Patterson, whose name seems to be getting bandied around quite a bit, isn't involved. This is no time to give up on him.
| SP *Glendon Rusch | SP *Wandy Rodriguez |
| CF Willy Taveras | 2B Jerry Hairston |
| LF *Todd Self | SS #Neifi Perez |
| 2B Craig Biggio | 1B Derrek Lee |
| 1B #Lance Berkman | 3B Aramis Ramirez |
| 3B Morgan Ensberg | RF *Jeromy Burnitz |
| RF Jason Lane | LF Jason Dubois |
| SS Adam Everett | CF *Corey Patterson |
| C Brad Ausmus | C Michael Barrett |
| Pitcher's spot | Pitcher's spot |
Behind Enemy Lines
With a quarter of the season in the books, it's time that our foes in the NL Central got the once over.
| Pos | Team | W-L | PCT | GB | RS | RA | Pythg | Home | Away | 1-run | Extra | ||
| 1 | Cardinals | 27-16 | .628 | -- | 228 | 187 | 26-17 | 12-9 | 15-7 | 9-7 | 1-0 | ||
| 2 | Brewers | 20-23 | .465 | 7.0 | 188 | 173 | 23-20 | 11-9 | 9-14 | 7-5 | 1-2 | ||
| 3= | Cubs | 19-22 | .463 | 7.0 | 179 | 178 | 21-20 | 10-10 | 9-12 | 8-9 | 2-2 | ||
| 3= | Pirates | 19-22 | .463 | 7.0 | 161 | 178 | 18-23 | 7-13 | 12-9 | 3-8 | 1-1 | ||
| 5= | Astros | 15-28 | .349 | 12.0 | 159 | 198 | 17-26 | 13-9 | 2-19 | 4-10 | 0-3 | ||
| 5= | Reds | 15-28 | .349 | 12.0 | 190 | 253 | 16-27 | 10-12 | 5-16 | 7-9 | 0-1 |
Ahh…Crud-thers
In doing my research for this weeks organizational report, I came across this small, buried nugget at Inside the Ivy (subscription may be required to access link). Pitcher Dave Crouthers, one of the three prized players we received from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Mr. You-Know-Who, has decided to RETIRE from baseball. Reasons were not given.
Enfranchised!
| WHITE SOX 3 CUBS 4 Recap | Box Score | Play-by-play | Game Chart |
Unoffensive
GAME 41 PREVIEW
CHICAGO WHITE SOX (31-12) at CHICAGO CUBS (18-22)
Wrigley Field, 2.20pm CT, TV: WGN
| SP Mark Prior | SP Brandon McCarthy |
| LF *Scott Podsednik | 2B Jerry Hairston |
| 2B Tadahito Iguchi | SS #Neifi Perez |
| CF Aaron Rowand | 1B Derrek Lee |
| 1B Paul Konerko | RF *Jeromy Burnitz |
| C *AJ Pierzynski | 3B Aramis Ramirez |
| RF Jermaine Dye | CF *Corey Patterson |
Nothing Wrong With Z
 | WHITE SOX 5 CUBS 3 Recap | Box Score | Play-by-play | Game Chart |
Ace
GAME 40 PREVIEW
CHICAGO WHITE SOX (30-12) at CHICAGO CUBS (18-21)
Wrigley Field, 12.15pm CT, TV: FOX (blackout restrictions)
| SP Carlos Zambrano | SP Jose Contreras |
| LF *Scott Podsednik | 2B Jerry Hairston |
| 2B *Willie Harris | SS #Neifi Perez |
| CF Aaron Rowand | 1B Derrek Lee |
| 1B Paul Konerko | RF *Jeromy Burnitz |
| C *AJ Pierzynski | 3B Aramis Ramirez |
| RF *Carl Everett | CF |
TCR Archives: July 30th, 2001
With a day off today, we can all sit back and enjoy the lovely post-McGriff glow. If Baylor actually lets Matt Stairs play left field while Rondell White is hurt, that makes the lineup significantly better than if he decides to keep playing Delino DeShields out there. With The Franchise (finally) being sent down to make room for McGriff, that means one less outfielder out there, which means Stairs might actually get some playing time. He's not much with his glove, but he's the second-best offensive player on the team and he should be playing nearly every day.
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TCR Archives: July 28th, 2001
Finally, the long-awaited position player roundup. Now we can start writing about things like why Baylor bunts so much.
The fact that every first baseman on the market has been mentioned as a possible Cub says something about the success of the Matt Stairs/Ron Coomer/Julio Zuleta troika. They’ve hit a combined .250 with a 745 OPS – hardly what you want to get out of a power position. With Fred McGriff on the way, things should improve here, but up to this point the first basemen get a C-minus.
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Recent comments
crunch 1 day 22 hours ago (view)
cubs sign ex-MIN bullpen arm tyler duffey (RHP) to a minor league deal. he lost velocity and became a bit too hitable last year.
crunch 2 days 19 hours ago (view)
these cubs off-season moves have been neat and all, but why hasn't 3rd base coach willie harris been signed to a 10 year contract extension yet? get the real work done, cubs...
Arizona Phil 2 days 21 hours ago (view)
DJL: Definitely true for Seiya Suzuki, but I was not aware that Nelson Velazquez was technology averse during games. I hadn't heard that before.
Dolorous Jon Lester 3 days 1 hour ago (view)
I thought that story was about Seiya? Or I guess both could operate that way?
Childersb3 3 days 12 hours ago (view)
Well he better hit!!
Because he's got a lot of young and talented OFs coming right behind him!!
Wrigley Rat 3 days 14 hours ago (view)
Childersb3 - I'm stuck on something that was said about Nelson Velazquez during the season last year (I think by Cubs' broadcasters, but can't remember). Nelson doesn't use any of the technology (iPads) during games to analyze his swing, the way he's pitched, etc. He believes more in basing things on feel and instinct. I WOULD be fine with that if he was having success, but as a rookie who was batting near the Mendoza line all season, he should have taken any and all advice offered to him (in my opinion).
Not sure if this is all true, if there's more or less to it, or if he's willing to change this year, but something about that really bothers me and makes me think the Cubs don't value him as much as the players right behind him who want to do everything in their power to improve. Since he still has trade value, he is a player I assume will be on the move to a team who values him more than the Cubs do.
First.Pitch.120 3 days 17 hours ago (view)
Thanks, Phil. Wasn’t sure if MM leaned more “not good” or “just bad”. Helpful context.
George Altman 3 days 20 hours ago (view)
Or maybe, Mervis is a very excellent DH and can be an emergency 1B. And the Cubs sign a Machado, Chapman or trade for a better 3rd Baseman. They've got like $70-80M coming off the 2024 AAV, so it's not there's no money and they have other big spending needs.
Arizona Phil 3 days 20 hours ago (view)
As I have said here before several times, right now Matt Mervis is a DH. He is a true lug if there ever was one. Hopefully he will improve his agility sufficiently to be able to play defense at the MLB level, but I will believe that when I see it. Fortunately, the National League now has the DH, so an N. L. club can actually develop a player to be a DH.
All that said, it is very possible that Mervis will eventually be able to play at least a passable 1B at some point. He certainly has the size you would like in a first-baseman. He provides a really good target. Third-base is probably A Bridge Too Far, however.
The Cubs have an excellent off-season strength & conditioning program for its minor leaguers, and hopefully Mervis will benefit from that. Agility is the issue with Mervis.
Arizona Phil 3 days 21 hours ago (view)
Because they signed Article XX-B FA Dansby Swanson, the Cubs will have $500K subtracted from their International Signing Period (ISP) International Signing Bonus Pool (ISBP) in 2024, so the Swanson signing doesn't affect the Cubs signing international free agents this year, but it will next year.
On a positive note, after a two-year moratorium on trading ISBP Signing Bonus Values (SBV), SBV can once again be traded beginning with the start of the 2023 ISP that began ten days ago, so a penalized club can recover some of its lost ISBP via trade.
ISBP SBV can be traded only in increments of $250K (including multiples of $250K), unless a club is trading the balance of its ISBP in one transaction. A club can trade 100% of its assigned ISBP during the course of the ISP if it so desires. However, a club can only add 60% of its assigned ISBP via trade or trades.
ISBP SBV acquired via a trade or trades can be flipped to a third club, but SBV cannot be sold for cash and cannot be substituted for a PTBNL.
ISBP SBV can only be traded during the ISP (January 15th through December 15th), and SBV acquired via a trade or trades cannot be used in the next ISP. With one exception, any potion of a club's ISBP not spent goes away at the end of the ISP.
The one exception is that a club can carry-over ISBP space from one ISP to the next ISP if a player's contract is voided as the result of the player failing his physical or being unable to obtain a visa to the U. S., or if an investigation by the MLB Commissioner determines the player falsified his age and/or identity prior to signing the contract. It does not apply to contracts voided by the MLB Commissioner as a result of a rules violation by the club.
Bonuses of $10,000 or less do not count against a club's ISBP.