Bleed Cubbie Blue

Don't have as much time tonight

Part of the reason why I put a short take on today’s Tennessee game in the thread for yesterday.

On Carrillo, Outshined_One indicated that he was hurt. I’d imagine he would be sent to either Daytona or Tennessee when he gets healthy.

Tennessee – (extending from my note)

Finishing off their series, the Smokies struggled to get much going. Casey Lambert had an excellent start, though, only giving up 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk in 5 innings. Noticeably, no K’s. Unless he can get his third pitch going (one he hasn’t needed for awhile as a pen arm), he won’t be able to dominate with the excellent breaking pitch as much as he did at lower levels. For the most part, Lambert was good at getting ahead of the hitter. Love the 11/3 GO/FO ratio. Lambert walked the first guy after getting ahead 0-2. Gotta put him away. That led to trouble, as a single, groundout, sac fly led to a run. He gave up a single in the 2nd after getting ahead 0-2 on Torres, but that didn’t cause problems. In the 3rd, a leadoff single didn’t lead to problems, as he stranded a runner on 3rd with 3 ground outs. In the 5th, a leadoff single led to the 2nd run, as the Suns played small ball with a sac bunt that moved the runner to 2nd, which allowed a single to score him. Vince Perkins, John Gaub, and Blake Parker were all very effective.

Offensively, Thomas went 0/4 with 4 K’s. On the surface, awful. That said, producing and developing don’t always go hand in hand. I can live with an 0-4 day with 4 K’s form Thomas if he battles. Today, he did, outside of one AB. Matt Camp moved around again, playing 3rd today, going 0/4, but had a couple solid AB’s early. Ty Wright went 0/4, dropping to 3/20 to start the year. Lalli went 1/3 with a HBP and a SB. I know some folks on this board somewhat dismissed him due to ARL, but I think his bat plays for the upper minors, and considering it’s his 3rd year in pro ball, give him a chance first. His ARL isn’t that bad. All for nothing Robnett went 0/3 with a walk and 2 K’s. Just don’t have any expectations with Robnett, in all honesty. Clevenger had a good 2-4 day, battling in the other two AB’s. He has a good stick. Power is a question, but overall a good stick. The issue is whether or not his glove has improved. Gotta wait to hear on that. Guyer went 0/3 with a walk. He’s in a rut. Struggles should’ve been the expectation, so let’s see if he can get out of it. Barney went 1/3, and Reynolds went 0/1 in a PH appearance.
Let’s look at Brandon Guyer as we’ve looked enough at Thomas. He worked a 7 pitch walk in the 2nd. Took two balls to start, worked the count in his favor. In the 5th, he fouled the first ball off before chasing another pitch and flying out. In the 7th, he took a high pitch for a strike, then fouled one off before grounding into a DP. In the 9th, he took a ball before popping out to RF to end the game. Seems like they were attacking him high and inside, and that he had some problems with it.

Daytona -

Dolis is a nice power arm. Raw, but live fastball. Some weight issues. I’m a bit surprised he’s starting, as I’m not sure he’s a long run starter. I wonder if the intent of this move was to get him more work on his secondary options, akin to the Ceda plan last year. I didn’t have huge expectations, so the fact that he gave up only 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk, to go with 2 K’s (and 2 WP’s) in 4 seems alright to me. Like Dolis, Williamson, the arm we got from Baltimore in the Pie deal, is a live arm. Don’t think he has Dolis’ juice on the fastball, but runs it in the low-mid 90’s with a curve, I think. 2 walks is 2 too many for 1 inning. Gave up 2 runs (walks, hit, and a WP), but he did get 2 K’s. I’ve been meaning to study up on Alburquerque, but haven’t had the chance. I know he’s got a live mid-90’s fastball. In 1.2, got 2 K’s, gave up 3 hits, one a solo shot. Luke Sommer pitched a scoreless 1.1, getting a K and giving up 2 hits. Cales pitched 2 scoreless, getting a K, giving up 2 hits and an intentional walk. With Cales, think, say, Maestri, IMO (probably poor man’s version). Good enough juice on the fastball and a good slider.

Samson went 1/4 with a walk. What was nice to see was that double. I think he’s got a tiny bit more pop than he showed last year. Doesn’t sound like much when phrased that way, but a tiny bit could make a difference, considering, as he moves up, he’s more of a 2nd baseman that can spot at short. I keep saying watch Marwin Gonzalez, but even I didn’t expect this solid of a start to the year. Now, with Rosa injured, he may get the LF job and not move around, which might be a good thing (although it definitely sucks that Rosa got hurt). He’s a versatile talent, not sure he has the glove for the MI, not sure he has the pop for the corner IF, so OF may be the place to go (even then, not sure he has the pop for corner OF). That said, there definitely are tools.

Colvin definitely had a solid day. 1/2 with 3 walks is solid, considering his history. Here’s hoping he keeps it up. I do wonder if the Cubs will require him getting on the field for defensive work before they bump him up. With Rosa out, Russ Canzler got the start at first. Here’s his chance to say, I deserve to be at AA. 1/4, but what was nice was the walk. If some of those AA bats don’t pick it up, maybe Canzler gets his shot. Johnston is a nice thing to see. People forget that he’s rather young – he’s just been around for a long time. Marquez Smith went 1/4 with a walk. If he can perform, he has a shot of moving up as the 3rd base options in the upper levels are iffy. Reed was 1/4 with a walk and a passed ball. With our catcher depth, I just don’t have much expectations here. Wyatt’s 2/4 with a walk is a nice sight considering his slow start. He’ll have to hit to stick around, which is odd for me since he nearly made AA out of spring last year supposedly. Castro went 1/5, but that was a clutch hit. Again, struggles should be expected. He had a nice start, but considering the jump up, if he struggles, don’t get too worried. If he makes it up, it’ll be more due to his glove first. I also won’t be surprised if he swaps with Flaherty in a month or so.

Iowa -

Shark had a solid outing, 4 scoreless with 4 K’s, giving up 2 hits and a walk. Let’s take a look. The first batter, Maza, got 2 balls, but Shark battled back. Worked it to a full count before getting him to ground out on the 7th pitch. After falling behind 1-0 on Dee Brown (remember when he was considered a solid young talent?), he got the count to 1-2 before giving up a single. Shark got two quick strikes on Repko, but Repko battled before popping out in foul territory on the 7th pitch on a 2-2 count. He got Pascucci out to strand Brown. He had a quick 2nd, with a K to start before 2 ground outs. A quick fly out in the 3rd was nearly followed by trouble, as he fell behind Estes 2-0. Shark came back and struck him out before a ground ball ended the inning. He worked a quick 4th, with 2 K’s sandwiched by a pop out. Shark started the fifth, fell behind the first batter 3-0, worked it fall, then walked him. Shark threw a WP, and then Hu came up and battled for 7 pitches before slapping a single and then Shark was pulled. He had a WP and a 5/3 GO/FO ratio. Overall, looks solid. What was noticeable was that, he settled into a groove and from the 2nd-4th, he was getting ahead of batters. Probably just tired in the 5th.

JR Mathes is the guy you root for, but the guy that you are realistic on. He’s a system arm with average stuff, but can fill roles in the minors. He got a DP ball and a ground out to end the 5th. He worked a quick 6th, with ground outs and then a pop out. In the 7th, he ran into trouble, giving up 3 runs. Repko led off with a solo shot after Mathes fell behind 2-0. He got behind Pascucci 1-0, then gave up a triple on a 2-2 count on the 7th pitch. He fell behind Jones 1-0, then gave up a single on a 1-1 count to end his night, giving up the 2nd run. Stevens relieved with a man on first. The Isotopes had Hu play small ball to bunt him over, then after Stevens fell behind 1-0 to Luna, Luna rapped a single to lead to the 3rd run off Mathes. Stevens ended the inning with 2 ground balls, and then after a leadoff single in the 8th and a pop out, they snared the runner on 3rd in a run down on a ground ball. A final ground ball ended the night for the pitching. Stevens did his best to limit the damage in the 7th, but our offense was stymied anyways. Jeff did pick up an error.

Sam Fuld went 1/4 with a single, the hit coming in the 8th leading off after he battled the pitcher for 7 pitches. Taguchi went 0/3 with a walk and a CS. Scales went 1/4 with a K and playing first. Fox was in RF today, going 1/2 with a walk. I love that they are moving him around, as I think Fox is next man up if a bench bat is needed, so getting him reps here and there is nice. He took a 6 pitch walk in the first. In the 4th, he was hit by a pitch on the 3rd pitch in a 1-1 count. He grounded out in the 6th on the first pitch. In the 9th, leading off, he took a strike, fell behind 1-2, but then rapped a single. Overall, a solid day. You want Fox to swing, and considering his history, I’m not expecting elite level discipline, so the effort looks good. Rivas was at 2nd today, going 1/3 with a walk. Chris Robinson was 1/4 with 5 left on. Nate Spears manned third today, going 1/3 and getting the RBI. I was mildly interested that they dropped Spears down to 7th, but that was probably just early season lineup toying. He had an error. Blanco went 0/4 with 3 left on.

My thought:

Today, it’s got nothing to do with anything that happened today. I hope Jovan Rosa isn’t seriously hurt. I haven’t heard. If someone knows, I’d be curious. I am really hopeful on Rosa’s gap power developing into some more home runs.

Prospect of the Day: Jeff Samardzija.

No question, it has to be Shark today. He had a solid outing and a nice little groove in the middle frames. Let’s hope he gets better, as it’d be nice to look internally for pitching help first before looking externally. If we don’t need SP help, Shark could prove to be a useful asset down the stretch in the pen. Either way, get it going Shark! We could use you.

Three Up/Three Down (realize there was a typo on this yesterday when I decided to do four down):

Up

Jeff Samardzija

Casey Lambert – I still think his future is in the pen. Casey had a solid start today, and considering out lefty pen situation, any lefty doing well is a good thing.
.
Tyler Colvin – Gotta love the walks.

Down

Ty Wright – Ugh. Not a good start to the year, to say the least.

Brandon Guyer – I can live with the struggles, but I’d like a little more discipline.

Hank Williamson – Two walks in an inning is two walks too many.

toonsterwu - April 14, 2009 reply

Well, the makeup game for Peoria just finished

Peoria beats Dayton 5-4 in 7, 2nd game coming up later.

A 7 inning affair (I don’t remember exactly how that rule came into effect). Jeff Beliveau, he of the good curveball, average fastball, had 2 K’s in 3 innings, giving up 6 hits and a walk, leading to 4 runs, 1 unearned. Odd numbers to me. Mike Perconte came in for 3 scoreless, getting 1 K and the win. Erik Hamren threw 1 scoreless for the save.

Tony Campana, in CF, led off, going 3/4 with 2 steals. Josh Harrison was back at DH again and went 0/3. Rebel Ridling was at first, going 1/2 with a RBI and a walk. Nelson Perez was in LF today (mildly interesting that they swapped him and Burke around) and went 1/3 with a 2 run blast and an error. Josh Vitters was back at 3rd, going 1/3 with a CS and an error. Kyler Burke was in RF and he went 1/3. Junior Lake was at short, going 0/2 with a walk and an error. Ryan Flaherty went 2/2 with a double, a walk, and a CS. Jesus Flores went 0/2 with a walk.

Three thoughts:

1. Love the walks. Love it.
2. Interesting lineup order, with Flaherty being dropped. Just early season toying, in all likelihood, particularly considering a 2nd game on the docket, but interesting nonetheless.

3. Interesting swaps today. I imagine the Burke/Perez swap is simply to work them on both sides. Both have plus arms to handle RF. The Lake/Flaherty swap (with Flaherty going to 2nd) is one that I expected that they would try once in awhile. I’m a fan of the move, as I’m still not a believer that Flaherty is a shortstop, and would rather him start working on another position as early as possible, at least, once in awhile. I’m not sure Lake is either, but I think Lake has a better shot to stick. Flaherty at 2nd could move faster. Also, I’ve been thinking/wondering if they will swap Castro for Flaherty at some point.

toonsterwu - April 14, 2009 reply

More notes

Clevenger in some publications is thought to be a good backup to Soto in the next two years and some think he catches the ball better than Castillo. With that said power doesnt mean alot in Clevengers case. Wouldnt worry about Ty Wright, he will figure it out, remember he was hitting 270 something in mid July last yr and finished at 300 in his 1st full year of pro ball in the Florida State league.

Slamdog - April 14, 2009 reply