With two lefties ahead in the Pirates series, it would seem almost certain that Felix Pie will get a start today, right?  

Assuming Soriano will be in left field all three games, here's what I suspect will happen in centerfield and rightfield.

5/8
CF: Pie
RF: Jones

5/9
CF: Pie
RF: Murton

5/10
CF: Jones
RF: Murton

This would give Pie some at-bats consecutively and would give Jones a day off against a lefty.  

This whole outfield thing has to be extremely difficult for Lou to manage, but getting Pie some consistent ABs is a must.  I think it is almost a given that Pie will be in the lineup today.

So, I have a layover in Phoenix on Friday next week, and I'm pretty sure the Spring Training facilities are pretty close to the Phoenix airport.

Anyone know how the public transport is?  Should I opt for a cab?  I'll be getting in around 9 AM local time and should be in the area for 3 or 4 hours, will there be much to see then?  Should I go to Fitch park? or somewhere else?

Any info you might have would be extremely helpful!

InsideTheIvy.com says Mateo will get the call to pitch in relief with the departure of Greg Maddux.  

This would lead me to believe that Glendon Rusch is back in the rotation, right?  It was my hope we'd see Jerome Williams, Angel Guzman, or Jae Kuk Ryu back in the rotation, but it appears this isn't the case.

As I posted on my site, Ryan Harvey had a fabulous game tonight.  Going 4-5 with 4 HRs and 6 RBIs ain't too bad is it?  It's a good way to give a boost to your numbers.  Harvey is still just hitting .234 but now has 16 HRs with 66 RBIs on the season now.

Here's the box score

I hate reading fillers, but this has to be posted as a new diary...

With OBP and OPS the new trend in valuing players, Jeff Francoeur is quite an interesting player to discuss.  Francoeur is now hitting 261/283/441 with an OPS of 724, which is down from the 884 from last season.  This season is probably closer to what you will actually get from Francoeur, but it is interesting to notice that his OBP is pretty putrid.  So, my question to you, without taking into account his age (and further player development), would you want a player in right field hitting 261/283/441 with 17 HRs and 64 RBIs at this point in the season.  

The reason I ask is that Ryan Harvey, now at Daytona, may one day end up being that player.  Harvey struggled early in the season, but is now starting to hit, but he doesn't walk, strikes out a ton, but does produce HRs and RBIs.

Discuss.

Check out my Cubs Minor League Website, Top Cubs Prospects!

As some of you know from my blog, with the season going on like it is, I look at the minors as a diversion.  

A prospect that some have overlooked is Donald Veal, who I recently rated the Cubs top prospect in my July top 10.  Veal has pitched 18 2/3 scoreless innings after his callup to Daytona.  

Typically there is a learning curve when being promoted, but Veal has jumped the curve.  Veal was taken in the 2nd round of the 2005 draft and was rated the 2nd best prospect in the Northwest League last season by the managers there.  

Anyway, when the Chicago Cubs get hard to watch, don't forget there a guys down in the minors that are working their tails off (for the most part) trying to get a taste of the big leagues.  

Rich Hill had another stellar performance for Iowa last night going 7 shutout innings in which he gave up just 1 hit, walked 2, and struck out 9.  This drops his ERA to 1.91 at Iowa and he has a WHIP of around .8 which is pretty much stellar.

I believe I'm in the minority in regards to Rich Hill, in the thinking he should be given another chance as a starter, but I have posted some thoughts over at my Cubs Minor League Blog.

Let me know what you think.

According to Baseball America, Sean Gallagher has been promoted to AA West Tennessee.  Gallagher was 4-0 with a 2.30 ERA for Daytona in 78 innings this year.  

Interesting to see if Gallagher has continued success in AA.  If so, Gallagher's ETA may be moved up dramatically to possibly contending for a starting spot in the rotation as early as mid-next year.

BA has a Q & A with Gallagher which notes that he has picked up some velocity where he reports that he now sits in the 90-93 range as opposed to 89-91 that he was at last season.  

Here is the Q & A with BA...
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/261701.html

According to BA, Josh Hamilton is back and going to make another attempt at playing baseball again.  He will be reporting to extended spring training for the Devil Rays.

I hope Hamilton can still put his talent to good use, and wrote an article about him over at my site:

Top Cubs Prospects

So what do you project he will do this year?  As with his career thus far, I truely have no idea what to expect.

Forgive me if I don't talk about Gaius or Monty Python for a moment, but I started my own blog today, so check it out:

http://www.topcubsprospects.blogspot.com

The blog is about the Cubs minor league system which I follow very closely and most likely with a little about my life mixed in.  

So check it out, and enjoy.

John, with Cole Hamels getting the callup, it sparked the thought of who is the next projected "top prospect" to reach the majors?

Obviously the term top prospect can be defined as whatever you want (top 100 would probably make the most sense).

This could be a top 10 that you could do weekly/monthly/etc and would forecast from 10 to 1 which players are the next top prospects to be called up.

I could be missing it, but I don't think this is something I've seen before, so it might be an interesting feature.

Well, Felix Pie won another game with a walkoff homerun for the Iowa Cubs last night.  It was Pie's second HR of the game:

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060512&content_id=70109&vkey=n ews_milb&fext=.jsp

Pie has hit a few walkoff homeruns in the past two year, and with the recent splits database of minor leaguers, I found it interesting to see Pie's splits.

http://www.angelfire.com/nb/jms/milb/IowPCL.html#Felix+Pie

Notice Pie's OPS without men on base and with men on base:

Without:  .615
With:    1.128

Further with runners in scoring position his OPS goes to 1.286.

John Sickels recently had an article comparing Pie to another prospect in the A's system and mentioned focus being an issue with Pie, saying:

He has already developed a reputation for playing well in the clutch, although he's also shown some tendency to coast in non-clutch situations, relying a bit too much on his natural talent. This is a normal thing for players his age and is not expected to be a long-term issue

Just thought others might find this interesting.

Pie is off to a wonderful start for the Iowa Cubs.  

The Iowa Cubs stats can be seen here

I'm curious if Pie could keep up a similar pace what kind of timeframe a callup would be.  

Also of note are the 4 pitchers who were attempting to make the major league roster; Ryu, Aardsma, Hill, and Guzman have combined to pitch 20 innings and given up 2 earned runs, 11 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 22.

MinorLeagueBaseball.com has the I-Cubs game on GameDay today.  Not only that, all AAA games are able to be tracked via GameDay.  

Not sure if this is a season long thing, but it is really cool.  Hopefully, before too long this will hold true for all minor league games.

Anwyay, Pie is leading off and Ryu is starting.  Renyel Pinto will be facing the Cubbies.

TCR is reporting that Bynum was acquired in a 3 team deal.  Here is the link to the TCR site which links another news site with the info...

http://www.all-baseball.com/cubreporter/

The Cubs gave up John Koronka who is likely to be inserted into the starting rotation immediately for the Rangers.  Good for John, and it looks like Bynum will be #25 with Theriot being optioned back to AAA.

Matt Murton is included in the latest section of Baseball America's Ask BA segment.  Here's the link and the question asked...

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/columnists/askba.html

Matt Murton has really impressed me during his short stint with the Cubs. Does he have the potential to develop into a Paul O'Neill type of corner outfielder? He gets on base, he's steady and while he won't hit a lot of homers, he'll drive in enough runs with his line-drive stroke. He has sneaky speed and plays decent defense. Is this just wishful thinking, or does Murton have a chance?

Kurt Volkman
Chicago, Ill.

Just thought it was interesting to see two Cubs will play for Team USA starting Friday.

The two Cubs are Talley Haines and Jordan Gerk.  Talley had a great season for The DJaxx and for the ICubs.  Both Haines and Gerk were relievers this year, and will do the same for Team USA.

Here is a link from Baseball America with the roster:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/050829worldcup.html

Is it finally time for Matt Murton to go to AAA to get some at-bats.  Unless Matt does something against the lefty tonight, it would seem likely he would get a 2 week stay in Iowa until the September callups happen.  

Possible DFA/Demotions would be:

Murton
Jose F! Macias (we can all hope)
Send down the 12th pitcher (Wellemeyer?)
Patterson

What does everyone think?

Just heard on Fantasy Focus on XM Ch 175 (at noon ET), that John Sickels will be on the show on Wednesday.  

Just wanted to say I'm looking forward to this John.  Thought I'd let everyone else know about it as well!

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The rumors floating around online are saying Felix Pie is due back off the DL today.  Speculation is that if he can stay healthy for the remainder of August he will be called up September 1st when rosters are expanded.  

I just found this piece which seems to back up this idea (scroll down)...

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-050807cubsbits,1,6968963.story?coll= cs-home-headlines

So, you're Jim Hendry.  He asks John Hart (is that the Rangers GM) for Alfonso Soriano, and Hart's reply is give me Hill and Pie.  Do you do it?

Rich Hill has been solid so far in his major league experience, with a QS yesterday against the DBacks.  

For what it's worth, Hendry's response was laughter and a phone click.

What do you think?

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So, here's my question.  Corey has been tried as a leadoff for the big club and failed miserably.  He now gets demoted to Iowa to "work a few things out", so where in the lineup does he hit?  Do they use him in the 3-hole to be the slugger he wants to be, or leadoff, or somewhere else?

Thoughts?

Personally, I see Corey hitting in the 2 hole, while obviously this isn't the most ideal position for a guy with a sub .300 OBP, he'll get more at bats without the added pressure of being a leadoff.  I truely hope he puts it all together.

Buck Martinez on Baseball this Morning on XM Radio this morning said Sheffield's name has been linked with Corey Patterson in trade talks evidently.  

Not much more information than that, but that is quite interesting to say the least.

Obviously, the Yankees are prepared to shake it up, and sending Sheffield to play left for the Cubs would shake it up.  That would obviously leave a big a hole in CF for the Cubs.  Who fills that hole?  Also, what else besides Patterson would it take to acquire Sheff?

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/roster_active.jsp?c_id=chc

Rich Hill now shows on the active roster on the Cubs website.

He has been placed on 40 man roster as well of course, just not sure who he replaced.  Anyone know? The obvious choices are Bartosh, Rohlicek, Dave Crouthers (my personal choice, since he did retire and all)