Recent comments

crunch 1 week 2 days ago (view)

PCA pulled in the 3rd in iowa with "right elbow soreness" (non-throwing) yesterday

crunch 1 week 2 days ago (view)

truth.  i hope steele's return is quick when it's his turn to rehab.

Arizona Phil 1 week 2 days ago (view)

CRUNCH: The good thing is that as a one-inning reliever, Merryweather won't have to build up his pitch count or innings. He will just need to get his FB and SL back to where they were before the injury. 

crunch 1 week 2 days ago (view)

that stings.  4+ weeks and almost certain to need to rehab work in the minors before rejoining.

Childersb3 1 week 2 days ago (view)

Merryweather diagnosed with rib stress fracture in his back. Shut down for four weeks. 

So, a 60IL stint might be coming, but only if Jed wants to add Brewer, Edwards or someone from outside the org.

AZ Phil said Brewer would be the first RP to be added. This probably happens. No nostalgia pick for Carl, please. He has to be the best option.

I wonder if Ben Brown gets the nod to the Bullpen when Tallion returns? 

Dolorous Jon Lester 1 week 2 days ago (view)

The Reds are sneaky good at developing hitters. Over the last 10-15 years they’ve produced a bunch of hitters who have gone on to solid careers. Pitching development has killed them.

Guys like Ashcraft and Lodolo might change that narrative over the next handful of years.

crunch 1 week 2 days ago (view)

morel in the lineup and playing 3rd...looks like the foul he took off his shin while batting (hard enough to dislodge the shin guard) didn't show up as hobbling him the next day.  phew.

TarzanJoeWallis 1 week 2 days ago (view)

Been watching the Reds/ Brewers game while awaiting the start of the Cubs. Several takeaways:

1. The Reds are a good, young hustling team. Definitely a candidate for the division.
2. Graham Ashcraft is a nasty good pitcher. Hits 100 and everything moves. Making good Brewers hitters look silly.
3. Rhys Hoskins is not just bad at first base but terrible! Game changing terrible. Fourth inning and he’s missed at least four plays a better first baseman could have made. Cubs dodged the bullet on this one.

crunch 1 week 2 days ago (view)

one thing that's been a constant for counsell is he's yet to be "early" posting a lineup.  almost every game this season he's been the last manager to make his lineup public before game time.

also, taillon's next rehab start will be at AAA.

Dolorous Jon Lester 1 week 2 days ago (view)

To kind of echo what others have said, I think it makes sense to view it through the lens of the player involved. Devers is a misfit toy, basically a somewhat unheralded guy who they don’t currently have a spot for. Hudson is a guy waiting for a injury because he’s positional depth. If you see someone you know is a prospect, like Christian Franklin, or I feel like Brennen Davis and Jordan Nwogu a few years back got put on that list, guys like that are definitely working on something specific. Or a pitcher who loses his mechanics midseason but is a legit prospect. Those types are definitely there for pure development.

TarzanJoeWallis 1 week 2 days ago (view)

Well it’s good to hear some players find a way to make the most of it. I suppose the Development List represents one more cog in the weeding out process. Only the “strong character” guys as Slaughter and Franklin were described to be stand to survive the “misfit toy” treatment.

Arizona Phil 1 week 2 days ago (view)

The best example of a player getting left behind at Extended Spring Training and using the opportunity to better himself was Jake Slaughter a couple of years ago. 

While he initially might have wanted his release or maybe even considered retiring from baseball, Slaughter did not pout or sulk. Instead, he took it as a "wake up call" and worked his tail off in pre-game and Camp Day BP, fielding practice, and base running drills, and played with passion and energy in EXST games. 

And then an opportunity suddenly came about at South Bend, Slaughter got the call-up and was ready for it and he played great there, got moved up to Tennessee and played very well there, and now he is in AAA. 

Some players can handle disappointment and adversity, and some can't. It's a character thing. 

While Jake Slaughter might not ever play for the Cubs in Chicago, he should get some interest from other MLB organizations (or from NPB or the KBO) once he becomes a free-agent post-2024.

Childersb3 1 week 2 days ago (view)

AZ Phil:

Rujano over Hambley for MB ?

Arizona Phil 1 week 2 days ago (view)

Of the ten players placed on the Development List last week, there are the two catchers (Hudson and Knight) who are remaining with their teams to serve as bullpen catchers while they wait for one of the other catchers to get hurt or get moved-up, Beesley, McKeon, and Stevens were left behind at EXST to get playing time in games while waiting for a position player injury, move-up, or release at South Bend, Tennessee, or Iowa, there was no room on the pitching staff at Tennessee for M. Thompson or Weiman (although M. Thompson got moved-up to AAA Iowa on Sunday to replace Palencia), likewise for Devers at South Bend and for Rujano and Paredes at Myrtle Beach (Devers, Rujano, and Paredes have been throwing "live" BP at EXST). So most of them are "misfit toys" stuck in the roster "twilight zone," where they are not injured, but the Cubs don't necessarily want to release them, either, because there could be a place for them at Myrtle Beach, South Bend, Tennessee, or Iowa eventually. Of the ten, I would say only Luis Rujano might actually be on the list for development purposes, but I'm not even sure about him.

bradsbeard 1 week 2 days ago (view)

I imagine there are different DL experiences for different players. Joe Hudson and Caleb Knight are probably not getting a lot of extra individual attention. But when higher thought of guy like Christian Franklin gets pulled from his full season assignment for a DL stint there is probably a little more going on. Or maybe he just took it on himself to max out that down time somehow. One way or another it really seemed to jumpstart him last year. 

Sonicwind75 1 week 2 days ago (view)

Indeed, especially with a delayed flight and no day off to start a road trip in San Diego.  Covering 3 innings and giving a little extra rest to bullpen is doubly valuable.  

TarzanJoeWallis 1 week 3 days ago (view)

Too bad the same magic didn’t happen yesterday early in the game with the bases loaded and two outs rather than when they had a 7-0 lead and nobody on late today.

TarzanJoeWallis 1 week 3 days ago (view)

Well there’s an exploded myth! I had envisioned the Development List as a path to a magical place where higher potential / lower performing guys (think Bryce Ball, Christian Hernandez, Anderson Espinoza, Malcolm Quintero types) would go to be individually coached, have their swings / pitching motions / mental approach examined to all ends of the Earth, have adjustments made, and let them loose to tear up the minors on their way to a brilliant MLB career.

Turns out it’s more of a sentence to being a spare part whereby a player waits for someone else to get hurt so he can  stand in only to be totally overmatched because nothing has been done to foster improvement over the performance that landed the player there in the first place. Seems like a depressing and demoralizing place to be as a player and a wasted opportunity for the team. Very disappointing to hear that the reality doesn’t add up to the implied moniker.

azbobbop 1 week 3 days ago (view)

Nice work by Palencia

crunch 1 week 3 days ago (view)

2 outs, 0 on, cubs up by 7.

bellinger steps to the plate, fans chant his name like it's bases loaded in the bottom 9th down by 3.

he hits a homer and the crowd loses it's shit.

bellinger has an insane amount of love in chicago simply existing as a member of the team no matter the situation.