Iowa Cubs
The Iowa Cubs topped the Nashville Sounds, 5-4.
Mitch Atkins got the start today and lasted six innings, allowing three runs on five hits. Atkins walked one and struck out five.
Greg Reinhard vultured the win by allowing a run in the eighth inning on a walk and a hit. He also struck out one.
Blake Parker notched his 11th save with a scoreless ninth. He allowed one hit, but didn't walk or strike out anyone.
Third baseman Aaron Miles was 1 for 5 with a double.
Tennessee Smokies
The Smokies were outshined by the Jacksonville Suns, 7-5.
Starter Casey Coleman's control abandoned him today as he walked six Suns in his four-inning start. Combined with five hits, Coleman allowed four runs. Coleman struck out four.
Marcos Mateo got the loss in relief. Mateo allowed three runs on two hits over 1.1 innings, although only one of the three runs was earned. He didn't walk a batter although he hit one and struck out one.
First baseman Blake Lalli hit a three-run home run in the first inning. It was his fourth blast of the season. Lalli was 1 for 3 with a walk.
Right fielder Tyler Colvin was 2 for 5 with two runs scored. Catcher Welington Castillo went 2 for 4 with a double.
Daytona Cubs
The D-Cubs beat the St. Lucie Mets, 3-2 in a game that ended in the seventh inning because of rain.
James Leverton got the win by allowing two runs in his five-inning start. He gave up five hits. Leverton walked two and struck out five. One of the two runs he allowed was unearned.
Jose Pina threw a hitless sixth inning and that ended up getting him his first save. He walked one and struck out one.
DH Robinson Chirinos provide all the Cubs offense with a three-run home run, his eleventh on the year. Chirinos was 1 for 2 with a walk.
Peoria Chiefs
The Chiefs usurped the Clinton Lumber Kings, 6-5.
Starting pitcher Jeffry Beliveau had a rough outing today. Beliveau was rocked for five runs on four hits and three walks in only 4.1 innings. Beliveau fanned four.
Marcus Hatley got the win in relief with a perfect inning of relief. He struck out two of the three batters.
Chris Huseby got his 12th save with three scoreless innings of relief to close out the game. He gave up one hit and one walk while striking out three.
Left fielder Nelson Perez went 2 for 4 with a bases-loaded double that cleared the bases for three RBI.
Shortstop Ryan Flaherty was 3 for 5 with a double and a run scored. Third baseman Jovan Rosa went 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. Right fielder Kyler Burke went 2 for 5 and scored once.
Boise Hawks
The Hawks were consumed by the lava of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, 3-2.
Robert Whitenack threw the first four innings and allowed one run on a solo home run. He gave up four hits total. Whitenack walked one and struck out three.
Joe Simokaitis took the loss by allowing a run in two innings of relief.
Shortstop Hak-Ju Lee was 2 for 5 with an RBI and his 12th stolen base. Third baseman Greg Rohan was 2 for 4. First baseman Justin Bour was 2 for 3 with a walk.
Quick Brett Jackson note. Jackson didn't start today but came in as a pinch-hitter and walked. For all the talk of his strikeouts coming out of Berkeley, he has now walked 14 times in the Northwest League compared to 12 strikeouts in 64 trips to the plate. Two of those walks were intentional, but I have to say that this wasn't what we were expecting out of Jackson, and that's a good thing.
AZL Cubs
0 recs | 52 comments
why does he only do this when in rehab
jesus christos - July 20, 2009
maybe b/c Triple A is where he should be
Madison Cub Fan - July 20, 2009
1-for-5 is a .200 average.
Miles is hitting .203 in the major leagues this year. Sounds about right to me.
Al Yellon - July 20, 2009
Exactamundo.
To be honest, my heart sunk when I noticed his name start to appear in Josh’s posts a few days ago.
daver - July 20, 2009
It's conceivable...
… that when his rehab assignment ends — and I don’t know how long he can stay there — he might be DFA’d. No inside info, just a hunch.
Al Yellon - July 20, 2009
Only problem with that
is that the Cubs still owe him $2.7 million for next year, in Hendry’s insanity. Tom Ricketts would probably have to agree to cut him—which maybe is OK with him. We don’t know how he’s going to be as an owner.
But at this point. there are only 6 weeks until the rosters expand and then they can hold onto him until the end of the season and deal him for someone who actually might eat a little more the league minimum.
Josh Timmers - July 20, 2009
At this point, might as well just eat the money.
Al Yellon - July 20, 2009
You get 20 games right?
Then something has to be done. Perhaps they could lose him at the airport after a road trip.
nji232 - July 20, 2009
Yes
and after 20 games then it’s only three weeks to roster expansion.
Josh Timmers - July 20, 2009
+1
Lets just leave him there all season
nji232 - July 20, 2009
Btw, "sleeper" notice
I was solidly high on James Leverton entering the year. Solid athleticism and enough of a report on his ability to have some hope. He was pushed to Daytona, and he struggled out of the gate. That said, in 5 out of his last 6 starts (made a relief appearance last time out), he’s posted solid enough starts (I don’t think the quality start stat works well for the minors, due to age, development, pitch count, and what not), so I go by my loose measure of 5+ ip, 2 runs or less (and in those 5 he only gave up 1 run)). If everything goes well, Leverton probably profiles as an end of the rotation lefty … but we are seriously lacking in lefty starting potential, and he’s got some more room for development. Just someone to keep an eye on from an intriguing (keyword) Daytona rotation of McDaniel, Carpenter, Searle, Leverton, and Dolis.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
There was an ASG today
there was! The DSL had their ASG, and DSL Cubs1 and 2 each sent a guy: Smailey Borgues (Cubs2) and Xavier Batista (Cubs1) (well, two guys got in the game). Borgues I expected. Batista? Not so much, but then again, I’m just reading boxscores. Borgues is also old, 25.
Also, Wes Darvill went 4/5 in the AZL game, with 3 RBI’s, 1 K, 1 SB. On paper, the AZL squad seems rather lean right now. I was intrigued with Jesus Morelli after tracking his year in DSL, and he’s been alright. Some college bats there that you would expect could rake, so the numbers may look good, but on a gut instinct look, not a great squad in terms of potential, but then again, it’s AZL. Darvill, though, probably tops that list as our 5th round pick this year. He recently finished his Canadian team commitments. I’m really fascinated by the kid, from the little I’ve seen. He seems like, on “talent”, a more athletic Ryan Flaherty. Doesn’t have the pop yet, but you imagine with a kid that young, he might develop it, although along with that would be concerns as to whether or not he might outgrow short. The swing, from this fan’s view, looks smooth for his age. Shortstop from High A on Down is rather exciting (Starlin Castro, Junior Lake, Ryan Flaherty, Hak-ju Lee, Wes Darvill).
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
another arm that has shown some improvement
Aaron Shafer. 3rd straight solid outing today, 4th consecutive decent outing. Still don’t expect too much … but it’s a positive sign.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
blake parker
roster filler or potential trading chip?
tim815 - July 20, 2009
hunch
not really either, depending on what you mean by both. Parker has the potential to be a setup guy, with good stuff, and his ability to attack, so I wouldn’t necessarily call him filler. Potential trading chip, perhaps, but he won’t be a key asset in any deal, in all likelihood. Has some ironing out to do on the control front, but he’s a bit underhyped, imo.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
thanx as always
i wasn’t expecting much from him, as his name wasn’t familiar. but anyone that can close at AAA can at least be the third prospect in a trade.
tim815 - July 20, 2009
former catcher
that they turned to pitching. Was a power hitting catcher, but the future wasn’t that bright, so the move was made early, I think (off the top right now).
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
we like
position changes. works better if it works earlier.
drafted a few more tweeners in ’09 iirc.
tim815 - July 20, 2009
well
under wilken, we’ve taken some 2-way guys, particularly on the pitching side (Jackson, Leverton, Raley (if he signs and pitches) and a few others). In the case of guys like Parker and Marmol, both had been fulltime catchers before joining us, I think.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
Seems like the Cubs have done a good job...
…at converting catchers to pitchers – Marmol and Wells being the two obvious examples. Or do all teams regularly do this?
daver - July 20, 2009
I think all teams do stuff like this, to varying degrees of success...
Guys that have a “live arm” but can’t hit in the minors sometimes are given a go at pitching to see if they can do that instead.
Now, I don’t know how many of those guys are successful, but it happens. For example, Trevor Hoffman was a minor league shortstop who made the transition fairly successfully.
SouthernCub - July 20, 2009
Wow, didn't know that about Hoffman.
Hard to picture him as a SS.
daver - July 20, 2009
Yeah, me either...
apparently, he spent a couple of years struggling to hit in the low-minors before his A ball coach tried it out.
SouthernCub - July 20, 2009
Troy Percival
was a catcher as well. It was one of those “The ball is going back to the mound faster than it’s getting to the plate” stories.
All teams do position changes, but the Cubs do have a move that’s pretty unique and that’s taking a middle-infielder who has average speed and high baseball IQ and making a catcher out of them. Steve Clevenger, Robinson Chirinos and Matt Cerda are three examples of this. I’m sure other organizations have done this, but it is kind of a signature Cub move.
Josh Timmers - July 20, 2009
A lot of organizations do that
Jorge Posada come to mind. There’s others.
For those that wonder, the reason behind the Cubs shifting guys to catcher is often due to Oneri Fleita. As the esteemed AzPhil has noted on TCR before, Fleita was a former catcher and has a great eye for the move that way and he has Hendry’s ear on these types of moves since he’s known him since Creighton days. AzPhil has indicated, to a certain extent, that they weren’t that interested in Jae-Hoon Ha working as a catcher, focusing on developing him as an OF, which one has to assume ties in with Fleita’s thought process. I’m not sure anyone has singularly been noted for the move the opposite direction (catcher to pitcher – another guy in the system that made the move was Jake Muyco, sort of a Blake Parker-lite, similar attacking mode, stuff not as good yet, though).
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
Pat Borders
Pat Borders, Kevin Cash and Adam Melhuse, I dont think its a mistake what we’re doing with the converted players to catchers and its got some link to it.
Slamdog - July 20, 2009
I forgot all about Borders
wow … slamdog bringing a name from the past. I used to be a fan of his … for reasons I can’t explain. I mean, I could explain my Tim Teufel love as a kid (one of my first baseball cards). Just seemed like the gritty leader type (though I’ve never read articles or anything to verify that).
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
Love Tim Teufel
Once wrote an essay in German class about him facing Jim Gott. My professor read it to the whole class, he liked it so much.
Josh Timmers - July 20, 2009
More Teufel
Dont know if you can find it in the archives, but the Mets and Reds had a fight and Teufel punched Dibble right in the face and I think he drew blood. Teufel probably gave up at least 50 pounds
Slamdog - July 20, 2009
hey slam
anyway to get in touch with you? Wanted to get your take on something minors-related but not sure it’s at a posting stage yet (or if I’ll even post it, just wanted some feedback). I know, pretty awkward to ask in public like this, but not sure you post anywhere else to get in touch. Or you can ask Al for one of my emails.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
Sure
but three of them in the organization at the same time? The Cubs are pretty aggressive on this move.
I’m sure you’re right that Fleita has a lot to do with it—Fleita has a lot to do with everything that goes on in the minors and I believe he has a taste for moving people around. I also believe that he doesn’t like to release players if there’s a chance they could help us elsewhere. I’m not sure that’s always good. Having seen Joe Simokaitis pitch makes me wonder how anyone thought he could be a pitcher.
Still, putting up with one Simokaitis is easily worth it if it brings us a Wells or a Clevenger.
Josh Timmers - July 20, 2009
Um
I’m a bit confused by that comment.
You do realize that Simokaitis was released by us right? Was with Seattle, failed to hook up, then tried to dabble in pitching, and had an excellent tryout with the Cubs and hence why they signed him. Likely not going to amount to much, though.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
No
I didn’t realize they’d released him and resigned him.
Josh Timmers - July 20, 2009
Or more accurately
I forgot, but the point still stands—he’s awful.
Of course, some guys in the minors are just there to be good teammates to the real prospects.
Josh Timmers - July 20, 2009
sorry
I got that wrong in the afternoon. Dunno what I was thinking. Cubs traded him to Seattle, Seattle wanted to demote him (I think), Simokaitis asked for his release, they granted, work on pitching a bit, got a tryout, and Fleita and Co. sent him to Boise.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
Fleita
Hate to burst your bubble guys! Fleita was a former left handed 1st baseman who pitched as an amateur and was drafted by Wilken twice in the 80’s. I think he played in the Orioles organization after playing for Hendry. Wilken drafted him at Dade North cc and maybe Key West high school.
Slamdog - July 20, 2009
hmm
I know AzPhil has noted that Fleita is the guy with the eye for turning guys to catcher, so maybe I probably just lockstepped that into Fleita as a former catcher.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
a quote from AzPhil
On Fleita
“Player Personnel Director Fleita is a bilingual Cuban-American from Miami who was an All-MVC catcher at Creighton in the 1980’s, where he played for Coach Jim Hendry. "
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
fleita 2
check baseball cube. Its lists fleita as 1st baseman and that he was drafted in 85 by the Blue Jays in the Jan draft. It says his highest level of playing was high A. It doesnt list his height and weight, but I did see him in Tennessee once and he was every bit of 6’4 or 6’5. I believe he played in Baltimore’s org after not signing from Dade North and going to Creighton and was undrafted player with Baltimore.
Slamdog - July 20, 2009
I think
from the little I gathered this afternoon, not that this is a really significant discussion … but I think Fleita went to Creighton as a catcher. But with Scott Servais there, he became a catcher/DH/1st guy. It’s interesting how many records Fleita still has in the Creighton books.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
fleita 3
Fleita was actually drafted in the same year twice by Toronto in 1985. The year(1984) before he was drafted in 19th round by Montreal as lp out of Key West hs. In 85 with the Jays he was drafted in January in the secondary phase in the 1st round and then in June they redrafted him in the secondary phase in the 7th round. This was from Baseball America Almanac which was put on in 2003. Both times Fleita was drafted by Toronto was as a left handed pitcher.
Slamdog - July 20, 2009
Others
Other catchers either amateur or professional switching to the mound. Vuckovich, Dave Stewart, Tim Crabtree, Jason Motte, Mike Moore, Henry Owens, Edgar Martinez, Earl Wilson, and our Rule 5 draft from a few years ago Tim Lahey to mention a few.
Slamdog - July 20, 2009
you know what bugged me about that Rule 5 year
I loved the fact we went after a top pick … but it was sort of like, why. I mean, give up Wells in the Rule 5 (who no one expected this from, and we must be eternally grateful to Arnsberg (is that the right name, too lazy to google right now) and Blue Jays) for Lahey seemed like swapping two fairly similar guys at that point in time.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
I haven't seen Brett Jackson play...
but I read somewhere he reminds scouts of a young Jim Edmounds. Has anyone here seen anything like that from him? If that is true we might actually have a ligitimate outfield prospect.
wfree0104 - July 20, 2009
Edmounds!
hehehehehe
StevenABQ - July 20, 2009
♪ ♫ Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't ♪ ♫
daver - July 20, 2009
I've heard that comment before
I think he’s more toolsy than Edmonds at the same stage, and I think Edmonds was more polished. As I’ve noted on Jackson before, while I’m excited that he’s taking walks in Boise, I wouldn’t read much into his stats until Daytona, unless he flounders early. He’s probably a top 8 prospect right now for us, but that’s more on upside than anything. Actually, he compares relatively well to Brandon Guyer, a bit more athletic, not as much power, but somewhat similar. Of course, he compares well with Colvin as well.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
When I saw him play
unfortunately nothing was hit to him, so I can’t say anything about his defense like Edmonds. But I can say that for a guy his size, he’s got great speed, so he should be able to cover a lot of ground in CF.
I can see the Edmonds comparison, but I hate to compare a guy who’s played a month in the NWL to a hall-of-famer, especially one who didn’t exactly dominate amateur ball. (OK, Edmonds probably isn’t going to Cooperstown, but that’s only because the voters are morons.) Having seen both him and Colvin play for Boise, I’d say Jackson is faster and has more lift in his swing, which should mean more power, although we haven’t seen that yet.
Josh Timmers - July 20, 2009
but can Jackson hesitate on a routine fly ball
and make it look like the greatest catch ever?
nji232 - July 20, 2009
ha
love that … makes me think of Eric Byrnes as well, the human highlight reel whose glove got overhyped and made all the splashy plays because he often worked himself into bad positions. I remember A’s fans laughing at the Byrnes glove love.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
Guys like Byrnes
and to and extent Edmonds (though he was actually a good fielder despite his antics) are exactly why I value the guy who makes all the plays without much flair (Fukudome in RF, Rasmus in CF as off the top of my head examples) over somebody who is always ending up on the ground diving for balls.
nji232 - July 20, 2009
what made the byrnes love even worse, imo
was that he was often in the corner OF. I can understand a certain measure of flair/tools needed for CF. I mean, sometimes, you make a bad read and if you are the centerfielder, that often requires adjustment (I’m stretching there). But too lazy to check the breakdown right now, but Byrnes, I’m pretty sure, played a heavy amount of corner OF while in Oakland.
toonsterwu - July 20, 2009
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