Cub Power and Wood Arm Fry Padres
Alfonso Soriano laced a two-out line-drive two-run double down the LF line and Dioner Navarro followed with a towering two-run HR over the RF bullpens to rally the Cubs to a 4-2 lead in the 6th, and then Jorge Soler slugged a solo home run to the top of the berm over the LF fence and Christian Villanueva drilled two-run HR over the left-center fence to key a five-run 8th, as the Cubs defeated the San Diego Padres 9-3 in Cactus League action this afternoon at Dwight Paterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ.
LHP Travis Wood contributed with both his arm and his bat, throwing four innings of one-hit shutout ball with six strikeouts, and roping a line-drive lead-off single and then scoring on the Soriano double to ignite the four-run 6th. On the negative side, Wood did walk three over the course of the 4.0 IP (63 pitches - 35 strikes).
RHP Scott Feldman got the start for the Cubs and worked three innings (51 pitches - 33 strikes), allowing two runs on four hits (including a Mark Kotsay two-run line-drive double into the RF Corner) with three strikeouts. He was aided by two nearly identical outstanding defensive plays by SS Alberto Gonzalez, as the veteran utility infielder made two diving stops to his right and then righted himself and make a pinpoint throw to 1st base to retire the batters. Before you get too excited, Gonzalez also booted a routine grounder for an E-6 that should have been turned into a 6-4-3 DP.
In addition to Gonzalez's two highlight-reel stops & throws, catcher Dioner Navarro picked a runner off 2nd base and nailed another runner trying to steal 2nd.
Down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the 6th, the Cubs rallied for four runs off SD RHP Tim Stauffer.
Travis Wood ripped a line-drive single to left and David DeJewsus lined a single to RF to start the inning, Then with two outs, Alfonso Soriano laced a line-drive double into the LF corner to drive-in Wood and DeJesus, and Dioner Navarro followed immediately with his two-run HR over the bullpens in RF.
The Cubs added some insurance, putting-up a five-spot in the 8th against Padres RHRP Dale Thayer.
Jorge Soler slugged a one-out solo HR to the top of the berm in left, and then Dave Sappelt lined a single into left-center and Logan Watkins walked. J. C. Boscan roped an opposite-field line-drive RBI single to RF to score Sappelt, and Steve Clavenger lifted a sacrifice fly to left to plate Watkins. Christian Villanueva then completed the Cubs scoring with a two-run HR over the left-centerfield fence, his team-leading third HR of the Spring.
Carlos Marmol and Michael Bowden followed Feldman and Wood to the mound, each throwing one inning. Marmol had an easy 1-2-3 8th (F-8, 4-3, 6-3), but Bowden allowed a run on two hits in the 9th (one a bloop double that fell between Sappelt, Villanueva, and Edwin Maysonet near the foul line in short left, and the other a line-drive RBI single that glanced off the glove of second-baseman Logan Watkins).
Recent comments
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Hagsag 5 hours 52 min ago (view)
$$$$ for trump's defense fund.
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Dolorous Jon Lester 5 hours 55 min ago (view)
But they got $600 a few months back. Each! That was an unexpected windfall.
Can't wait to see us acquire a 17 year old, 16 year old, 11 year old (all in the 15-30 range of Blue Jays prospects) and one of the shitty Jays surplus OFs. Randal Grichuk jerseys will be the new hot item among Cubs fans.
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crunch 6 hours 47 min ago (view)
things are a little tight, we have to be patient with the ricketts family finances.
when TD Ameritrade was fully/completely sold in october they expected to get 26 billion dollars of value on the transaction, but it only got 22 billion dollars. the massive slew of millions that didn't fully come to realization on the ricketts side of that sale stings.
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Dolorous Jon Lester 7 hours 4 min ago (view)
Trade Hendricks? Cant be true. We're "going to be competitive this year."
Sell the team, Ricketts family.
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crunch 7 hours 20 min ago (view)
"Scott Mitchell of TSN reports that the Blue Jays have discussed a potential trade with the Cubs involving Kris Bryant and Kyle Hendricks.
Mitchell was responding to a question on Twitter asking whether there was any truth to the rumor that the Jays had talked with the Cubs about a deal for both players, and he answered in the affirmative."
this timeline sucks.
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bradsbeard 1 day 11 hours ago (view)
International Scouting Director Louie Eljaua was just on The Score and he mentioned that COVID is causing issues with completing physicals and officially signing guys, but he said they have 24 guys unufficially signed right now.
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KingKongvsGodzilla 1 day 12 hours ago (view)
These guys are a year apart in age and Miller's easily had the stronger career to date. While I'm not big on Miller, much prefer his more standard injury (TJ) than whatever it is that sapped Foltynewicz's velocity. Folty without velocity just isn't interesting and is likely a much bigger injury risk
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Cubster 1 day 12 hours ago (view)
from an mlb.com article by Jordan Bastian...excerpt on Cubs free agent starting pitching options:
"Still, the Cubs need some more experienced Major League innings.
Given the way the offseason has played out for the North Siders, free-agent possibilities could include Chris Archer. Archer missed all of 2020 due to thoracic outlet syndrome, but he hopes to be ready to go by Spring Training. Free agents Mike Foltynewicz, Carlos Rodón, Rick Porcello and Trevor Williams are coming off forgettable '20 seasons but might benefit from the Cubs' analytics team.
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Charlie 2 days 6 hours ago (view)
At this rate, they will need 11 starters in 2021 but like 6 of them will be more or less Alec Mills. The defense will get plenty of practice, at least.
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crunch 2 days 10 hours ago (view)
i wouldn't be surprised to see jake arrieta come on board since no one else seems to want him and he'll probably have to take a 1yr deal...
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crunch 2 days 10 hours ago (view)
cubs get their backup catcher...hopefully not their main catcher...
austin romine 1yr/1.5m
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Dolorous Jon Lester 2 days 10 hours ago (view)
Look no further than Shelby Miller!
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crunch 2 days 11 hours ago (view)
hank aaron has died. passed away in his sleep.
we've lost a lot of HOF'rs and other notables in the past many months.
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Hagsag 2 days 16 hours ago (view)
The Cubs are now the "Little Sisters of the Poor".
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crunch 3 days 2 min ago (view)
given what little we're supposed to expect out of this offseason that would have been a nice gamble.
at this point i wonder if they're going to snag someone to put in between the 2 current staff aces that throw 88mph on a good day, or if they're just gonna toss one of the kids in there to break up the slow-tossers.
i mean, there's gotta be something more than hendricks/davies/mills/alzolay/???...i hope.
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springs 3 days 14 min ago (view)
That sucks...I wanted to sign Q to a one year deal and see if he could right the ship. At a minimum I hoped we'd get a draft pick when he left as a free agent and thought we could roll the dice to try and get that. That trade....man.
Comments
Today is the first day that
Today is the first day that Draft-Excluded players can be sent to the minors (a Draft-Excluded player is any player on a minor league reserve list eligible for selection in the 2012 Rule 5 Draft whose contract was selected & who was added to an MLB 40-man roster between last August 15th and the December 2012 Rule 5 Draft), and it's also the first day that a Rule 5 player can be sent to the minors (or reclaimed by the organization from which the player was drafted), so look for lots & lots of transaction activity around MLB today.
BTW, the Cubs Draft-Excluded players are Chris Rusin, Trey McNutt, Christian Villanueva, Logan Watkins, and Rob Whitenack, which is why McNutt, Villanueva, Watkins, and Whitenack have lasted in Big League Camp this long. (Rusin has pitched very well so far, so he could be one of the last cuts).
Then next Friday is the last day that an injured player who did not accrue any MLB Service Time in 2012 can be sent to the minors, so Junior Lake (sore shoulder) has to be optioned by that date or else the Cubs would be stuck having to place him on their MLB DL (and pay him at the MLB rate) if he is not ready to play by MLB Opening Day.
Next Friday is also the deadline to release a player who is signed to a non-guaranteed contract and pay the player 1/6 of his 2013 salary as termination pay. (If a player signed to a non-guarateed contract is released 15 or fewer days prior to Opening Day, he gets 1/4 of his salary as termination pay). This would apply to Ian Stewart, who is signed to a $2M non-guaranteed contract. However. if an injured player is released he must be paid 100% of his salary, so the Cubs would have to wait until Stewart is cleared to play in a game (and probably not until he actually does play in a game) before they can release him (presuming they are inclined to do so). Which is why Stewart would be smart to string the injury out as long as possible, if he thinks he might be a release candidate.
FanGraphs Top 100
http://www.csnchicago.com
http://www.csnchicago.com/blog/cubs-talk/cubs...
McNutt, Raley, Watkins, Whitenack, Struck and Cabrera sent down...camp at 53.
Alberto Cabrera was at Minor
Alberto Cabrera was at Minor League Camp today, but the other five had not yet arrived.
Several pitchers threw "live" BP at Minor League Camp today, including Jose Arias, Paul Blackburn, Esmailin Caridad, Lendy Castillo, Corbin Hoffner, Pierce Johnson, Su-Min Jung, Austin Kirk, Ryan McNeil, A. J. Morris, Loiger Padron, Jasvir Rakkar, and Austin Urban.
Urban threw the ball very well, and this was actually the first time I've ever seen him throw to hitters. He's been on the DL for his entire Cub career prior to this season with a back injury (he was drafted out of an Iowa JC in 2011 and got an "overslot" bonus to sign), and has yet to pitch in a game of any kind.
And Dillon Maples is hurt again. It's either his elbow or his shoulder.
For all you Daury Torrez fans out there (and I know you are there), he has arrived, he is in uniform, and he has been assigned to the Daytona Squad (at least temporarily). Some of you may be aware that Torrez was the only Cub prospect rated in the Baseball America Top 20 DSL/VSL prospects list last month.
BTW, Torrez, RHP Erick Leal (acquired from AZ in the Tony Campana deal), and catcher Erick Castillo are the only DSL players in camp (so far) who have not previously been in the U. S.
Venezuelan 3B (ex-C) Mark Malave is also in camp, but he was at Instructs post-2011 and at Extended Spring Training last year. (Malave is notewoirthy because he received a $1.6M signing bonus from the Cubs as a 16-year old in 2011).
And FWIW, Dan Vogelbach is assigned to the Kane County squad, and has been taking grounders at 3rd base.
Daury is the man or maybe the
smell the desperation...
smell the desperation...
Yanks reaching out to Chipper Jones' agent and have asked about Derrek Lee.
Garza passed some tests, may start throwing on Wednesday and hoping to get at least one Cactus League start in...
Also called Rolen.
"Indians purchased the
"Ian Stewart (quad) is
josh booty (ARZ) in a b-game
Jim D. steps into the booth
Monday was a big day for Mark
wow...they got him in tent
Gracie has the same bunk that
He plays baseball all day
With the possibility of being
Injury updates
Italia! Italia!
Italia goes up 4-0 in first over D.R. on a 3-run HR by some dude named Colabello. Rizzo walked and scored a run.
Colabello is a Massachusetts
Rebuilding sucks.
i'm just glad most of the
Yeah, rebuilding is a
i'm about sick of it...this
So, basically, our front
that's a bit extreme.
Sticking to my guns. This
the jim hendry shit sandwich,
I'm with you, Crunch. I
I'll take the train in with
I just moved to Naperville
I know we keep repeating
It's important to home-grow
I didn't want any of the top
i understand them walking
Rizzo 0/3 with a a BB, K and
Rizzo 0/3 with a a BB, K and run through 7.2 IP, just popped up off Casilla to leadoff 8th inning and Italia down one.
Has anyone used unblock or