Archive - Sep 2013

Gustavo Cabrera singled twice, doubled, and drove-in two runs, Jarrett Parker, Angel Villalona, and Tyler Horan contributed RBI singles to a four-run 3rd, and Giants hitters collectively belted out 17 hits, en route to a 9-7 victory over the Cubs in Arizona Instructional League action this afternoon at Indian School Park Field #1 in Scottsdale.

In a move that everyone should have expected, Dale Sveum was removed of his duties as the Cubs lineup filler-outer. Some new lucky schlub will now get that honor with a very nice paycheck, posssibly $3M or more if their name is Joe Girardi.

Today was last day of the 2013 MLB regular season, so starting tomorrow and continuing for several weeks, there are a number of roster issues that will need to be addressed:  

Tyler Roberts blasted a solo HR over the LF fence and onto 8th Street to ignite a two-run 9th inning, as the Brewers scored two in the 8th and two in the 9th to overcome a 3-0 deficit and edge the Cubs 4-3 in Arizona Instructional League action this afternoon at Fitch Park Field #4 in Mesa. 

- Dale Sveum's ass must be pretty chapped from the hot seat he's been sitting in over the last week. Although he hasn't been fired yet, rumors earlier in the week had the Cubs targeting Joe Girardi and now another catcher is in the fold. Peter Gammons is saying that Brad Ausmus would be a person of interest if the Cubs do indeed decide to go another direction.

The Cubs have been playing out the string since about May...maybe June, but they can 'eff with the Pirates and Cardinals playoff jockeying this week. More importantly though, they're trying to at the very least maintain the 4th pick in the draft. The Astros clinched the #1 spot for the third year running yesterday and Miami and the White Sox should wrap up the #2 spot here by mid-week with a 4.5 game lead over the White Sox, who are 3.5 ahead of the Cubs. The Cubs could very well drop to the 5th spot in the draft as they own just a half game lead over the Twins, although the Cubs do own the tiebreaker against both the Twins and White Sox. Mathematically they could drop farther than the 5th spot, but that seems unlikely at this point (full draft pick standings in the left sidebar).

Remaining schedules for the candidates after the break...

10/2 UPDATE: LHP Rob Zastryzny (Cubs 2013 2nd round draft pick) has been added to the Cubs AZ Instructional League roster.

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9/19 UPDATE: Carrie Muskat posted the updated 2013 Cubs AZ Instructional League roster yesterday at MLBBlogs Network, and that roster shows that RHP C. J. Edwards and OF Kevin Encarnacion have been deleted from last week's AZIL preliminary roster, and 16-year old OF Eloy Jimenez (the top-rated international prospect from 2013) has been added. 

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Here is the preliminary 2013 Cubs Arizona Instructional League (AZIL) roster (subject to change):