Well, that was unpleasant, as far as Spring Training games go.
- Apparently there were Tigers scouts at the game today, which may be entirely meaningless, given that teams scout tons of players, for tons of reasons, and today’s scouting session very likely had absolutely nothing to do with Carlos Marmol. Or maybe I’m just trying to reassure myself after Marmol walked two and threw a wild pitch in his 0.2 innings of work.
- Starter Carlos Villanueva worked out of jams today, but he still gave up six hits in over his four innings of work (and two earned runs). At least he was in the zone the whole outing.
- Pitching prospect Barret Loux was pounded for five earned runs (including two homers) in his 1.1 innings of work.
- Zach Putnam, whom Dale Sveum has mentioned as a possibility for the bullpen, and who came to the Cubs with a nice pedigree, threw another scoreless outing. He has yet to give up an earned run this Spring.
- The Cubs’ bats were largely quiet until a 9th inning rally when the game was already out of reach. Christian Villanueva hit a two-run homer, and Javier Baez added a double in the frame.
- Jorge Soler took another walk in his lone plate appearance. He sees a lot of pitches.
Villanueva really needed that homer- had a tough spring at the plate thus far. And Baez continues to impress- if he could find a way to hit at AA this year I think it’s entirely conceivable that he makes the Cub squad in 2014. If Watkins and Lake continued to progress as well that would leave us with quite the glut of infield talent next year
Cubs have signed Cuban pitcher Armando Rivero.
See earlier post for a little more on that.
Rizzo puts team Italy ahead in the top of the 9th with a 2 run double!
By default. Dropped fly ball.
He still would have driven in the tying run.
Is it me or does it seem like every other time Baez is up you hear the something along the lines of “That was a hard hit ball that the infielder was lucky to knock down”
BABIP man, they’ll fall at some point. Well, BABIP and selective memory.
I was referring more to the fact that when he makes contact he hits the ball hard. Not worried about the BABIP.
Why does Sveum seem out managed? Why do Cubs seem outplayed? Why do hitters seem overmatched? These are questions Theo and co. need to be finding answers for very soon
“Why does Sveum seem out managed? Why do Cubs seem outplayed? Why do hitters seem overmatched?”
You sound like an advertisement for an anti-depressant medication.
Well ,the Cubs play and perform as they are a depressant. yawn/sigh .
Are you serious? It’s March 7th. Maybe you are joking I hope you are joking.
Here’s the point—before spring training everyone got bent out of shape when I said Sveum should announce that all positions up for grabs ….. Now people are saying nothing is set.. Can’t have it both ways…. I would prefer all open to light a fire under Castro and Soriano
I bet I could win 62 games in my first season as GM.
I bet you could in every subsequent season, too.
This GM is a lock for at least 68 games
Crap. Now I’m gonna have nightmares…
We are everywhere… EVERYWHERE
That’s not MichiganGoat, there’s no beer in the picture.
Beer is good
Now that GM is good for 90+.
Die Hard bein’ Die Hard, y’all.
Kinda like ebola bein’ ebola…
The best satire on BleacherNation the absolute best
Meh, it’s like will Farrell. Gets really old really quickly, especially when you encourage him.
Hey.
ha.
Yea man no one cares about these games. There’s no stragey really in these games. It is to see who is going to make the club and get some players at bats and glove work. Not really sure what you are talking about
Chill.
It’s early spring, and the entire starting lineup hasn’t been on the field yet.
Do we know who will be final 25?
Not sure what starting line up has to due with the final 25. The bench bats are still to be determined but we already know most of the starters besides 3rd base.
No but we do know 7 of the eight position players.
Cool it. Just first cut’s tomorrow and they won’t be cuts. Just reassignments.
This time of year is for working on things. Not competing.
The purpose of spring training is to find out who can play and who can’t.
Thought all set before spring training and no competition
That’s how it should be, and what the front office would prefer. However at this point the end of bullpen and bench talet is so marginal that it doesn’t really hurt to go with the hot hand, assuming its not a guy with Joe Mather’s history of suckiness.
Castro, Soriano, Rizzo, and Barney are probably the only ones set
If our front office doesn’t already know who can play and who can’t, then they aren’t good at their jobs.
The purpose of spring training is to get players into playing shape.
Its also the time for fans to go crazy and fall in love with the Joe Mather
Kind of funny how some people are already losing their minds over a couple of meaningless Spring Training games. At this rate by May half the posters will commit ritual suicide.
Beware of the sacrificial goat to the gods.
My 2 cents. Im not Jed or Theo but my guess for the 13 batters:
C-W.Castillo
1B-A.Rizzo
2B-D.Barney
3B- L.Valbuena
SS-S.Castro
LF-A.Soriano
CF-D.DeJesus
RF-N.Schierholtz
Bench
OF-S.Hairston
OF-B.Bogusevic
UT-B.Lillibridge
C/IF-S.Clevenger
C-D.Navarro
-Doubt Stewart will show enough to show up on the 25 man unless he as a great final 2 weeks of ABs.
-Clevenger (I know its a surprise) Catcher, 1st, 3rd and I thought i saw something of him playing a little OF too.
-Sappelt hasn’t showed much of anything so far this spring and we all know how well Bogusevic is playing, so each day it feels more like this is going to happen. Plus McDonald hasn’t showed much since his quick start to the spring.
I am curious though since Junior Lake has seen a lot of ABs so far and I’ve noticed him playing 3rd a lot (and i know its a long shot) but what’s the chance Lake starts the year at 3rd? Ive seen crazier things.
Lake might get a September call-up this year. He is not going to come up before then.
He needs serious development time. His approach and hitting in general improved quite a bit last year, but he is still very raw for a guy heading to triple-A.
Unless he shows a lot more polish and improvement…especially defensively, I would probably let him spend more time in triple-A in 2014.
He did well in Spring Training last year, too. But Spring Training is Spring Training.
Best case scenario, he improves his defense and plate approach this year in Triple-A, has a good year, and competes for a spot in 2014.
I’m planning to enjoy my baseball in Kane County this year.
The purpose of spring training is to train in the spring.
^this
No, the purpose of Spring Training is to hit .450 and make the team even though you only have 50 ABs above single-A ball.
Said in my best Allen Iverson voice….. “Come on man, we’re talking about practice here…practice man…..PRACTICE….”
If you look back in time, you will see that some of the worse Cub spring training seasons turned out to be some of the best regular seasons. Champ Summers hit 8 home runs one spring. Everybody knows who he is, right? Fans shouldn’t get too worked up about spring stats good or bad.
I love what epstein said last week, either we make the playoffs or we tank bad enough to get a high protected draft pick. Obviously we will have to get better year to year in order to eventually be a contender again, but winning 78 or 80 games means nothing, I would rather win only 65 whatever and at least get something out of it. 2004 was a failure and a shitty year in the end, missed the playoffs after being good most of the season, and I love how sox fans boast, yeah you had a winning record the last 3 years but ultimately choked it away in the last month in each of those years. Unless you make the playoffs, who cares?
Insane.