Official Minor League News Thread

[Posey H8er]

Chicago Cubs Top 20 Prospects for 2008

Rated by John Sickels Here

# Josh Vitters, 3B, Grade B+ (tough call, see commentary below)
# Geovany Soto, C, Grade B+ (tough call, see commentary below)
# Sean Gallagher, RHP, Grade B
# Eric Patterson, 2B-OF, Grade B (I dropped him from B+ due to defense)
# Tyler Colvin, OF, Grade B
# Josh Donaldson, C, Grade B
# Donald Veal, LHP, Grade B-
# Jeff Samardzija, RHP, Grade B-
# Jose Ceda, RHP, Grade B-
# Tony Thomas, 2B, Grade B-
# Billy Petrick, RHP, Grade C+
# Sam Fuld, OF, Grade C+
# Jake Fox, C-1B, Grade C+
# Allesandro Maestri, RHP, Grade C+
# Steve Clevenger, C, Grade C+
# Mitch Atkins, RHP, Grade C
# Mark Holliman, RHP, Grade C
# Matt Craig, 3B, Grade C
# Larry Suarez, RHP, Grade C
# Ryan Acosta, RHP, Grade C

[SportsWorld]

Ugh at Jeff Samardzija being rated so high. He showed nothing last year.

[GYBE]

I'm interested to see how BP ranks our prospects, I trust them the most.

[The Sheik]

So I guess Mark Paw..whatever is offically a bust, well thats to bad.

[Posey H8er]

Here is Baseball America's take on our prospects-
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/pr ... 65209.html

[Posey H8er]

I read somewhere that Pie has been on a hot streak lately, hitting about 8-20 and getting his .200 average to about .250.

[Posey H8er]

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/articl ... p&c_id=chc

Felix Pie was batting .239 in 31 games for Licey in the Dominican Republic Winter League. Pie has two homers, eight doubles, one triple, 13 RBIs and six stolen bases. He's also batting .250 (9-for-36) against left-handed pitchers, compared to .233 (17-for-73) against right-handers.

Ronny Cedeno was batting .324 with 13 doubles in 44 games for Aragua in Venezuela. He's playing shortstop and center field, and has been leading off and batting third for the Tigres.

Henry Blanco, who missed most of last season because of a herniated disc in his neck, was hitting .216 in 33 games for Caracas in Venezuela.

Ronny lit up the competition last year if I remember correctly. He is hot as Pie and Blanco are fighting for the lead benchwarmer award.

[GYBE]

Cedeno tears it up when he's not in the majors. Check out his minor league numbers, they're really good. That's why I think he'll be better than Theriot, I keep waiting for this to translate in Chicago.

[RyGuy24]

Ugh at Jeff Samardzija being rated so high. He showed nothing last year.

A 3.41 ERA in AA for a 22 year old is nothing to scoff at, considering he's been focusing on throwing ALOT more offspeed pitches than fastballs. He may have found something at the end of the season, I remember he had a great 7 or 8 game stretch (guessing at the amount of starts) to end the season on a good note. I know he's also shown his faults but he still has more potential than people give him credit for.

[GYBE]

I really hope Samardzija becomes an asset at the major league level, but I am a big ND fan.

[treyZz]

Ronny is playing a little CF now.. Could be a decent utility guy with his tools.

(Although I do think he still might be our best option for SS)

[hermes]

Iowa Cubs(triple-A) fan fest is coming up
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/fans/page.jsp?ymd=20071016&content_id=310939&vkey=fans_t451&fext=.jsp&sid=t451

anyone going?
i'm from iowa but i live 3 hours from des moines so i won't be there

[SportsWorld]

Do you guys think Jeff Samardzija is going to play in the Major Leagues this year as a late call-up?

[The Sheik]

Do you guys think Jeff Samardzija is going to play in the Major Leagues this year as a late call-up?

I think he will be a call up regardless, whether he pitches is soley on game situations (blowouts).

I think this years call ups will be:

Colvin
Gallagher
Samardzija
E-Patt or Tony Thomas

and then of course a bunch of Cub call up mainstays.

[RyGuy24]

Do you guys think Jeff Samardzija is going to play in the Major Leagues this year as a late call-up?

He's added a splitter to his repetoir FWIW.

[Posey H8er]

Nice article on Donald Veal at Cubs.com.
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/articl ... p&c_id=chc

I'd like to see good things from him and a rebound year, he seems like a great kid.

[SportsWorld]

The Iowa Cubs opened their season today and Sean Marshall went 3 scoreless innings striking out 6 batters.
Eric Patterson went 1-4
Matt Murton went 1-4
Andres Torres went 1-4 with a home run
Bobby Scales went 1-1 with a pinch hit home run

The Iowa Cubs lost 4-2

[Posey H8er]

**** you Murton go 4-4 with 4 homers so we can trade you for Hanley Ramirez.

...or do better to increase your trade value.

[Posey H8er]

Gallagher got the win today for Iowa.

5 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 5 K, 1 BB, 1 HR, 75 pitches

[SportsWorld]

Jake Fox hit a home run in game 1 of a double header.

The Cubs lost 16-8 in game 2 of a doubleheader but Eric Patterson went deep and Jake Fox went 3-5. Murton is batting .364 in the minors so far.