Game 49 Thread - Stults vs. Samardzija

The Cubs break the losing streak yesterday thanks to Jeff Suppan and a stiff wind out and look to start a streak the other way with Samardzija on the mound.

Padres Cubs
*Venable, CF
*DeJesus, RF
Denorfia, RF
Castro, SS
*Alonso, 1B
Mather, 3B
Quentin, LF
Soriano, LF
#Headley, 3B
Baker, 1B
*Baker, C
Johnson, 8
#Cabrera, SS
Barney, 2B
*Amarista, 2B
#Hill, C
*Stults, P
Samardzija, P

Steve Clevenger has been activated and Blake Lalli sent down...still Koyie Hill starts. Sveum says Casey Coleman would have still finished the game yesterday even if the score dictated a "save" situation, so add him to the closer-by-committee mix.

A group of animal haters took it upon themselves to hike from Arizona to Chicago with a goat in some delusional curse-breaking publicity stunt. I'm no fan of cruelty of animals (who is?), so leave the goat out of it, but if the 5 dudes get jumped in the bathroom stall for dragging that goat cross-country, I'll look the other way.

Part of their little publicity stunt was to drum up money for cancer research, apparently about $20K so far, so I guess they can't be too bad. But still, WTF?

Return to Homepage


To be clear, this is a talent ranking based on numerous conversations with a wide variety of scouts and team officials. This is not a mock draft; this is simply how I would line up the magnets on the board based on what I know. I don't think this will be the order in which the players will be selected, as bonus demands, risk (or safety) and obviously a team's own scouting reports will certainly change everything, and the biggest wild card is still how the new rules will affect how picks come off the board.

can't give away the scouting reports, but here's the list of the top 15

1. C. Correa, HS SS
2. L. Giolito, HS RHP
3. B. Buxton, HS OF
4. M. Appel, College RHP
5. K. Zimmer, College RHP
6. A. Amora, HS OF
7. K. Gausman, College RHP
8. M. Zunino, College C
9. C. Hawkins, HS OF
10. L. McCullers, HS RHP
11. M. Fried, HS LHP
12. D. Merrero, College SS
13. R. Shaffer, College 3B
14. M. Stroman, College RHP
15. D. Dahl, HS OF

Although not a mock draft, seems to suggest that one of the college pitchers will make it to Cubs.

m.ziunino 8th...okay. interesting.

i guess, like most every C prospect known to man, he's expected to end up in RF/LF or wieters.

Zunino was being discussed as a possible No. 1 overall pick after a tremendous start to the season, but the conference play brought him back down to earth. His greatest strength is that he has no apparent weakness; while he lacks elite tools, he projects as a solid defensive catcher who can hit .270 to .280 with 18-20 home runs annually, and every aspect of his game plays up due to outstanding baseball intelligence.

Draft skinny: Positional scarcity will help Zunino, as will the general sense that he's the safest bet among position players. That might push him higher than this ranking, maybe coming off the board within the first five picks.

yeah, i'd be shocked to see him last past top-5 and i wouldn't be surprised at all to see him top-3.

they've definitely been talking to scouts if they have appel knocked down a few notches...for a guy with his stuff, he's a bit vulnerable rather than dominating.

Sullivan wrote a story about this..then took to Twitter to bash the Cubs over it.

carlos quentin is back...1-0 SD, top 5

TIE GAME! bottom 5th.

broken bat single by ninja for the lead. just got owned (1/2 walking steal of 3rd, never saw it).

i blame the lack of facial hair.

...and he gets himself out of it with a 2 out K.'re hurting, but you're giving what you got.

nice DP.

lulz...bobby scales is hitting .339 (.459 ob%) through 135pa in mets AAA.


He was! He was released to play in Japan about a week ago (maybe less than that).

oh yeah.

無料 Bobby Scales!

sori homer!

late may has been very very good to sori.

7hr in the last 13 games.

1-3, cubs, bot 6th.

Trade him asap!

I get that LaHair is slumping but what good does it do if he doesn't play against LH to see if he can figure it out.

We know Jeff Baker is not part of project Theo.

evidently i.stewart is no longer playing vs lefties, too.

...and campy, but that's not surprising.

I'm glad someone has brought this up. We're not in true "win now" mode. So, why are we playing righty lefty every game. See if LaHair is more than a .100 hitter against lefties. Same for Stewart (even though I think Stewart can't hit a lefty at all). Baker has no place on this team. He only plays 1B, and LF. I'd rather see Vitters up in Chicago to do that. Mather should take Johnson's spot, Vitters for Baker, and Bring up BJax and let him play. When we can move Sori, try LaHair in LF. If he fails, put let BJax play LF, DeJesus in RF and Campy in CF. I don't mind Campana in the lineup everyday, if it's everyday. Speed is only useful if it's there constantly. Speed can't find a grove off the bench.

i'm still getting over mather...the #3 hitter...bunting in the 1st inning with castro on 2nd a few games ago.

that's small-ball as hell...1st inning...

While I agree on Baker and LaHair, I would rather see Vitters play every day in Iowa than one a week in Chicago.

Your probably right, but deep down I wish the Theo would just call up the I-Cubs / Smokies and let them play. The Cubs never do that. Like now, we're trying this roster of some vets, some 28 year old haven't played well but talented guys and 25 year olds. Why can't the Cubs just do what the Marlins and Rays (and Orioles) have done: play the young ones, lose a lot, weed out the weak, keep the two or three strong ones. And the answer is: Season Ticket Sales!

Well with grammar school ending this week, Campana will probably be able to start every day now.

1 point to jacos

The Gameday "Scout" feature generating some contradictory statements in today's game --

"Eric Stults may be running out of gas after 77 pitches; his fastball has dropped from a high of 91 to as low as 84."

Then, 3 pitches later:

"Eric Stults has thrown 80 pitches but has plenty left in the tank, with his fastball sitting at 87 over the past 10 pitches."

Paul Sullivan ‏@PWSullivan
Chef Duff to @LenKasper after performing 7th inning stretch: "I know nothing about baseball." Could be the next Cubs exec.

a guy from Baltimore singing the 7th in Chicago that knows nothing about baseball.

sweet. (no pun)

Shawn Camp...relief ace!

Did anyone else think this was going to be about Zambrano?

the pictures are horrifying (not in that article, fwiw)...he really did eat homeboy's

yeah, bath salts are helluva a drug.

Florida leads the league in weird. Chicago better change their dumb ass gun laws if there are going to be fucking zombies running around eating face.

The radical reformers didn't say anything about killing the undead, but Jesus did say "resist not evil". I'm torn...

  • Sign in with Twitter