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Bryan Serra
Cubs Blow Lead Then Rally to Edge A's at Sloan Park
Moises Ballesteros smacked an RBI double into the right-centerfield alley and scored and David Bote hammered an RBI triple into the LF corner and scored to highlight a three-run Cub 1st inning, Reivaj Garcia belted a two-run HR into the RF bullpen to plate two runs for the Cubs in the 2nd, and then after Hansen Lopez (RBI single), Jose Escorche (two-run single), and Darlyn Montero (two-run double) contributed run scoring hits in a five-run A's 5th that tied the game, Cristian More drilled an RBI single in the 6th and Bryan Serra laced an RBI single in the 7th, as the Cubs blew an early 5-0 lead and then came-back to edge the Athletics 7-6 in Cactus League Extended Spring Training game action Saturday morning at Sloan Park in Mesa, AZ.
In addition, Jose Bonilla singled twice and scored twice and Angel Arevalo walked twice, lined an RBI single, and scored a run for the A's.
Moises Ballesteros ended up collecting two doubles for the Cubs in the game as well as throwing out a runner trying to steal, while Frank Hernandez singled, doubled and scored, and drove-in a run with a sacrifice fly.
Signed by the Cubs for a $1.5M bonus as a 16-year old out of Venezuela in 2021 the same day the Cubs signed Christian Hernandez, Moises Ballesteros has thrown out 67% (6 of 9) of baserunners atempting steal against him in Cactus League EXST games, as well as picking a runner off 2nd base. In 46 Cactus League EXST plate appearances, he is hitting 216/348/297, with a 17% BB-rate and a 17% K-rate.
A native of Cuba who migrated with his twin brother Omar to Spain where they played together on the Team Spain 18U squad, Frank Hernandez is a high-contact hitter, with a 14% K-rate but only a 3% walk-rate. He is hitting 303/333/394, and leads the team in RBI and AVG (minimum 30 PA). He was a two-way player (RHP / OF) in Spain prior to signing with the Cubs in December 2019, and you can see he has a pitcher's arm when he uncorks throws from the outfield. Twin brother Omar is a catcher, and he was signed by the Kansas City Royals in 2018. Omar is presently playing in Lo-A.
Cubs RHRP Angel Gonzalez continues to impress, mixing his high-octane 96-98 MPH FB with an 87-89 MPH SL. His command isn't necessarily quite where it needs to be yet, but it's a lot better than it was.
Although the game was played in Sloan Park, the A's played as the home team because the Cubs did not have enough pitchers available to cover more than seven innings. As a resuilt, the game was called after 7-1/2 innings of play.
In EXST Cubs roster news, 1B Felix Stevens has completed his rehab and he has rejoined Myrtle Beach.
Here is the abridged box score for the game (Cubs players only):
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Serra Walks It Off at Sloan Park
Bryan Serra belted a walk-off two-run HR halfway up the RF berm, as the Cubs "Blue" squad came from behind to edge the Cubs "Red" squad 2-1 in a three-inning Cactus League Extended Spring Training intrasquad game played at Sloan Park on Wednesday afternoon.
Felix Stevens, Bryan Serra, and Carlos Morfa played for both squads.
Pedro Ramirez was hit on the helmet by an Anthony Martinez fastball leading off the bottom of the first inning. He laid motionless on the ground for about a minute as Cubs trainers attended to him and was eventually helped off the field, but he was unable to remain in the game. I would think he will probably be in concussion protocol for a while.
Here is the box score from the game:
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Recent comments
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
Walker was a complimentary piece who was well past his prime. Edmonds, Holliday, Ozzie Smith and a few others were good trades. Notably, they have almost always been quiet in the free agent market. But the fundamental workings of the organization were always based primarily upon the constant output of a well oiled minor league organization. That organization has ground to a halt. And when did that hard stop start to happen? Right at the beginning of the Goldschmidt/Arenado era, perpetuated by the Contreras signing, followed by the rotation purchases during the last offseason. The timing is undeniable and, in my mind, not coincidental.
Again, we are all saying that player development became deemphasized. I’m just linking it directly to the recent trades and involvement in the free agent market. I don’t see how the two concepts can be decoupled.
Charlie (view)
The Cards also traded for both Jim Edmonds and Larry Walker. It's the developing part that has fallen off. Of course, it could also be the case that there are no more Matt Carpenters left to pull out of the hat.
Childersb3 (view)
Cubs sign 28 yr old RHRP Daniel Missaki. He was in MiLB from his 17yr old to 19yr old years and did pretty well.
He's been in Mexico and Japan the last four years and has done well also.
He's supposedly Japanese and Brazilian.
Interesting sign. We obviously need to RP in the system
Injuries are mounting everywhere!!
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
Sure, they made generally short term trades for established players to enhance what they already had or traded for players early enough in their careers that they were essentially Cardinals from the start. What they never did was to try to use the more established players as foundational cornerstones.
Essentially we’re saying the same thing. They have given up on player development to the point that even their prospects that make it to the bigs flop so that they have to do things like buy most of their rotation and hope for the best.
Dolorous Jon Lester (view)
I don’t buy that. They had been doing that for years.
They did it with Matt Holliday. They did it with John Lackey. They did it with Mark Mulder. They did it with Jason Heyward, who had a great year for them. I’m sure there’s more but those come to mind immediately.
I attribute it more to a breakdown in what they’re doing in terms of development than a culture thing.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
They won those trades and sacrificed their culture. That’s exactly their problem.
Dolorous Jon Lester (view)
The other part that’s kind of crazy is they made two very high profile trades, one for Goldschmidt and one for Arenado, and they very clearly won those trades. They just haven’t been able to develop players the last handful of years the way they usually do.
I guess the moral there is it’s hard to stay on top of your game and be good at what you do in perpetuity.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
Marmol was extended at the beginning of the year. Two years I believe.
crunch (view)
Jesse Rogers @JesseRogersESPN
Craig Counsell doesn’t have a timetable for Cody Bellinger who technically has two cracked ribs on his right side. CT scan showed it today.
Dolorous Jon Lester (view)
Thought it might have been David Peralta given the open 40 man spot and how PCA has played so far.