Cubs Minor League Daily: Get Ready For #Hugwatch

It is that time of year again, folks. We are officially into the baseball trading season, and that means eyes will be glued to the dugout in every minor league stadium from now until the trade deadline hits on July 31. Every prospect removal, every scratch of a player, every handshake in the dugout, and especially every single solitary hug, will be scrutinized for signs that a trade is in the works.

For the first time in a long time, the Cubs may well not feature prominently on the Hugwatch. They don’t have any players in the majors they are likely to trade for prospects, and they don’t have the prospects to make any major trades. Deals the size of the Jose Quintana trade are flatly impossible without tapping into the Major League roster. Deals the size of the Justin Wilson trade will be difficult – there is arguably no prospect in the farm system today as valuable in a trade as Jeimer Candelario was this time last year – but not entirely out of the question.

I think the Cubs will be shopping in the Mike Montgomery trade tier, and that’s not a bad thing. Teams can find plenty of good players dealing in that price range. Take, for example, Mike Montgomery.

Complicating things this year is that the Cubs are so frequently linked to Manny Machado. I understand the appeal, but unless Baltimore just falls in love with some Cubs’ prospects I don’t see a fit. Be prepared for plenty of false alarms on that front.

As for who the Cubs might deal from the farm system this month? Take your pick. There really isn’t any untouchable player in the right deal, and any deal substantive enough to be felt in the majors will likely have to include some of the Cubs’ very best prospects.

On the pitching side, keep an eye on the Tennessee and Myrtle Beach rotation. Most of the most viable to trade pitching prospects are on that list. On the hitting side, there aren’t many guys that would really interest a rebuilding team. Keep an eye on Myrtle Beach in particular, but this year we may have to include Eugene in our Hugwatch if any trade rumors get serious.

Triple A: Iowa Cubs
Iowa 6, Nashville 2
Cubs pitching held Nashville scoreless for the final eight innings.

Alec Mills: 6 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 5 K

Carl Edwards Jr.: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K

Alberto Baldonado: 1.1 IP, 2 BB, 2 K

Dakota Mekkes: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K

Chesny Young: 3 for 5

Jason Vosler: 1 for 5, HR

Jacob Hannemann: 2 for 3, BB

Double A: Tennessee Smokies
Jackson 9, Tennessee 8 in twelve innings.
Despite the awful extra innings rule said to shorten games and spare pitchers, the Smokies had to put an outfielder on the mound in the the final two innings.

Michael Rucker: 4 IP, 2 R (0 ER), 6 H, 3 BB, 5 K

Jake Stinnett: 3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K

Jeffrey Baez (OF): 1 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 3 H, 2 BB, 1 K

Charcer Burks: 1 for 3, 2 BB

Ian Rice: 1 for 4, BB

Jeffrey Baez: 1 for 5, HR

Zack Short: 0 for 1, BB

High A: Myrtle Beach Pelicans
Buies Creek 4, Myrtle Beach 3
The Pelicans led until they gave up three runs in the bottom of the ninth.

Erick Leal: 5 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K

Manuel Rondon: 2 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 2 K

Casey Bloomquist: 1.2 IP, 4 R, 5 H, 3 BB, 1 K

D.J. Wilson: 1 for 3, BB

P.J. Higgins: 2 for 4, 2B

Low A: South Bend Cubs
Bowling Green 5, South Bend 2
The Cubs just didn’t have much of an offense in this one.

Brendan King: 4 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 K

Enrique De Los Rios: 3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 2 K

Michael Cruz: 1 for 4, 2B

Christian Donahue: 1 for 3, 2B

Short Season A: Eugene Emeralds
Boise 11, Eugene 2
At least they weren’t shut out.

Eury Ramos: 3 IP, 7 R, 7 H, 3 BB, 1 K

Eugenio Palma: 3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K

Sean Barry: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K

Luis Diaz: 2 for 5

Luis Vazquez: 1 for 4, 2B

Kwang-Min Kwon: 2 for 4

Brennon Kaleiwahea: 1 for 3, BB

Rookie: AZL Cubs 1

Cubs One had the day off.

Rookie: AZL Cubs 2
Cubs Two 8, D-backs 6
The two teams combined for twenty five total hits.

Eduarniel Nunez: 2.2 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 2 H, 4 BB, 3 K

Jonathan Bruzual: 2.2 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 K

Nathan Sweeney: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 1 BB

Grant Fennell: 1 for 2, 2B, 2 BB

Tyler Alamo: 2 for 4

Carlos Pancheco: 3 for 4

Fidel Mejia: 4 for 4, 2B

Raymond Pena: 2 for 5

Other Notes

This was probably the best rehab outing so far for Carl Edwards Jr., but if we judge by results it wasn’t his best work. He threw 20 pitches and struck out one, but only 7 of those pitches were strikes. He’s clearly still working out the kinks.

Jason Vosler went 0 for 4 on his first day in Triple A. Since then he has a nine game hitting streak going during which he has homered three times.

After his five innings of one hit baseball, Erick Leal has lowered his High A ERA to just 1.03. He still doesn’t strike out a lot of players, but he is very stingy with the runs. He’s pitched in ten games this season, and a batter has crossed the plate against him in just two of those games.

The Smokies’ game might be the best example yet of the sheer pointlessness of the rule that puts a runner on second in extra innings. Despite the positive sounding goals of that rule, it didn’t shorten a game that stretched over four hours, it didn’t end the twelve inning contest quickly, and it certainly didn’t make life easier on the bullpens given that the Smokies went to a position player pitching for the final two innings. If the rule completely and utterly fails at the stated goals, why keep it? Let’s just kill the experiment now and pretend it never happened.