Recent Signings and their Implications for the Cubs

Recent Signings and their Implications for the Cubs

The Cubbies just recently signed two veteran hitters to minor league contracts this week. I believe these signings will have crucial implications on the current 25 man roster for the Cubs. The Cubs signed outfielder Ryan Sweeney and utility player Donnie Murphy. Ryan Sweeney has played for the White Sox, the Red Sox and the A’s. Donnie Murphy has played for the Brewers and the Marlins. I like both signings and believe that both signings will have an impact on the Cubs, especially the Sweeney signing.

Ryan Sweeney is a veteran corner outfielder who bats left-handed and is a good fielder and contact hitter. I think the Cubs signed Ryan Sweeney to a minor league contract to replace Alfonso Soriano if they can find a trade for him. If I was the GM of the Cubs I would trade Soriano to Baltimore because they need a right-handed power hitter and also because the Orioles have depth in pitching prospects which the Cubs need. I believe that Sweeney can be Soriano’s replacement because Sweeney could be a better defender than Soriano and Sweeney could offer better batting presences against RHPs than Soriano can.

The signing of Donnie Murphy offers the Cubs a backup player if Brent Lillibridge or Alberto Gonzalez struggle in the majors. Murphy is originally a second baseman, but he can play shortstop or third base. I believe Murphy was signed because Lillibridge had a difficult time at the plate in the series against the Pirates and had an error as well.

Preview for the Game on April 5th

Preview for the Game on April 5^th

Chicago Cubs (2-1) at Atlanta Braves (2-1)

The Chicago Cubs will be heading to Atlanta for a three game series against the Braves at Turner Field. The game will be at 7:30pm eastern time. Tomorrow’s game will be first time that we get to see the right-handed pitcher Scott Feldman as a Cubbie. Feldman face the difficult task of stopping a red hot Braves lineup. The Braves hitters had a total of six homers in their series against the Phillies, despite the great pitching of the Phillies pitching staff. I believe the ex-Texas Ranger will compete against the Braves if he can keep his sinker, his best pitch, down in the strike zone. Feldman also has some solid other pitches to go with his sinker, he has a cutter that he will use against left-handed hitters, a slider that is his best breaking pitch, a curveball that can be effective when he commands it well and a changeup.

The pitcher that will face Scott Feldman is the left-handed pitcher Mike Minor. Minor is coming off a solid year and in which he got better as the season went along. Minor is a fly ball pitcher and mostly uses three pitches, a low to mid 90s fastball, a slider that he throws often and a 12-6 curve that is his strikeout pitch. There are times that he throws a changeup, but he hasn’t mastered that pitch yet.

The Cubs lineup will need to hit tomorrow if they want to come up with a win because the Braves will certainly being hitting tomorrow, especially since they got shut out today by the Phillies. Scott Hairston, Welington Castillo and Alberto Gonzalez should be back in the lineup since there will be a LHP on the mound. The Cubbies should fare well against Mike Minor because he is mostly a fastball pitcher and if the Cubs have patience at the plate and wait for the fastball then they can take advantage of it. The Cubs hitters need to jump on Mike Minor as early as they can because the Atlanta Braves have one of the best bullpens in the league, especially their closer Craig Kimbel, who is arguably the best closer in the majors.

My prediction for the game is that the Cubs coming out with a surprising a victory with a score of 5 to 3. I strongly believe the Cubbies hitters will have a great game against Minor and hit him hard. My predicted player of the game is Starlin Castro. I think Castro can wait on Minor’s pitches and will be able to use that to his benefit. I predict that Soriano will do well in tomorrow’s game because he hasn’t done much of anything yet. I have a feeling he will hit a homer tomorrow because he was robbed from a homer in today’s game because of the dimensions at PNC Park. I have a feeling that Feldman is going to do well enough against the Upton brothers and Jayson Heyward to pull out the win. Also, if the Cubs need a save tomorrow I see them going with Kyuji Fujikawa instead of Carlos Marmol because of Marmol’s struggles and pitch total in the last game.

April 4th Game’s Results and Analysis

April 4^th Game’s Results and Analysis
Chicago Cubs 3 - Pittsburgh Pirates 2

Winning Pitcher: Wood (1-0) Losing Pitcher: McDonald (0-1)

Save by Marmol (1)

Player of the Game: Nate Schierholtz

The Chicago Cubs won the rubber match in today’s game against the Pirates, but it was an eventful game to say the least. Travis Wood pitched a great game today and only gave up one hit to the Pirates hitters, but Wood wouldn’t have got the win if it wasn’t for Nate Schierholtz. Schierholtz put in a great performance, not only at batting but he also made a great diving catch that stole a base hit away from Neil Walker. Schierholtz was crucial to the Cubbies win because he hit a two run homerun in the top of the 8^th which was the winning hit. It was the winning hit for the Cubs because closer Carlos Marmol struggled again in the 9^th; Marmol had a three run lead heading into the ninth, but finished with only a one run lead.

Impressive: There were a couple things that impressed me in today’s game which were how Travis Wood and Nate Schierholtz played. Schierholtz impressed me the most, not just because of his homerun but also because of his fielding, even though his homerun was impressive because he hit it to deep center and the walls in that location of PNC Park are quite tall. What Schierholtz has shown me in this opening series is that he can field his position well and is an underrated hitter because he has great plate discipline, which he showed by getting two walks in this series and also he can really hit right-handed pitchers. Travis Wood was also impressive in today’s game; Wood went 6 scoreless innings, had only 4 strikeouts and only gave up one hit and 2 walks in the game. Wood nabbed himself his first win of the year and his first quality start by changing pitches, changing speed and keeping them down in the strike zone.

Surprising: Two things in today’s game and series with Pittsburgh that caught me off guard were Anthony Rizzo’s and Starlin Castro’s play. Rizzo surprised me by how patient he can be when he bats because he had two walks this series and also his stolen base in today’s game was surprising because if he can steal a base or two in a series that means the Cubs can create runs without having to use their bats. The thing that was surprising about Castro in this series was Castro struck out in every game and I was a little disappointed in the way he approached those at-bats. However, Castro did get two hits in this series when he had two strikes on the count, one of which came today when there was a runner in scoring position which was the first hit with a man in scoring position for the Cubbies. Therefore, there is some give and take with him, but I still believe he is the best Cubs hitter and is the franchise player and if Castro is going to be MVP caliber, which I believe he can be, he just needs a little better plate discipline.

Concerning: Two things have me concerned about the Cubs this early in the season, one being Marmol as the closer and the other is the Cubs lack of hits in this series. Although Marmol got the save, he struggled again in the ninth giving up two earned runs on three hits and one walk. I strongly believe that Carlos Marmol shouldn’t be the closer for the Cubbies, but the Cubs need Marmol as the closer in order to maintain his trade value. The best outcome I can think of for the Cubbies is either make Marmol pitch his fastball more or change his pitching technique. If Marmol can’t do either of these suggestions, then the best thing for the Cubs to do would be to trade him for some prospects. The last thing that concerned me was the lack of hitting the Cubs had this series, but I’m going to blame the weather for the struggles with the Cubs bats. I believe the Cubs will get on track next series because the weather will be warmer and the Cubs batters are actually showing good plate discipline right now.

Preview for the next game: The next Cubs game is on April 5^th and is against the Atlanta Braves.  I will be previewing that game right after the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies finish their game tonight.

Preview for April 4th Game

Preview for April 4^th’s Game

Chicago Cubs (1-1) at Pittsburgh Pirates (1-1)

The Chicago Cubs will be finishing their series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday, April 4th. The game will be starting at 12:35pm eastern time at the beautiful PNC Park.  The game will be an early start on Thursday because the Cubbies will need to leave Pittsburgh early tomorrow to travel to Atlanta to face the Braves in a three game series. The projected starting pitcher for the Cubs tomorrow will be the left-handed pitcher Travis Wood. Wood had a very solid season for the Cubbies last year because he put together some great pitching gems, but when Wood struggled he struggled mightily. Therefore, Wood needs to take that next step as a pitcher and prevent those bad outings from happening in order to compete competitively. Wood has some good stuff; his pitches are especially effective against hitters if he keeps his them down. Wood’s pitches include a low-90s fastball, an effective cutter that he uses against right-handed batters, a solid slider and a curveball that has the traditional break to it.

The probable pitcher for the opposing team will be the young, talented James McDonald. McDonald had his best season in the majors last year and there is no reason to expect him to regress this year. James McDonald has a great pitching repertoire; the pitches are a four seam fastball that is in the low mid-90s, a two seam fastball in the low-90s, a nasty slider that hitters tend to whiff on, a curve in the high-70s and a changeup that he uses effectively. When McDonald is on, he is on and can be slightly unhittable, but sometimes he can struggle with his command.

The hitters of the Cubs will be facing a tough foe in tomorrow’s game and need to bring their A game if they want a win. I believe we should see Dioner Navarro get his first start as a Cubbie because Castillo will have such short rest due to the late game on Wednesday. Nate Schierholtz will probably get the start at right field, Valbuena should start at third base and I think Alberto Gonzalez will start at second in tomorrow’s game because of the struggles Lillibridge has been having lately at the plate. The Cubs franchise players, Castro and Rizzo, both need to put in good performances in tomorrow’s game to give them confidence for their next series against the Atlanta Braves.

prediction for the game tomorrow is that the Cubs bats will struggle again and that will cause them to lose with a score of 4 to 1. This means that the Cubs will lose their opening series against the Pirates. My prediction on the player of the game will be James McDonald, who will just shut down the Cubbies and cruise to a victory. I predict that Wood will put in a solid performance, but will have a difficult time against Andrew McCutchen, who has had a good series, but a quiet one at that. I truly hope I predict this one wrong because I will be rooting for a Cubbies win and great performances by the hitters.

I will be posting a blog tomorrow detailing the minor league signing of veteran outfielder Ryan Sweeny tomorrow and how it can affect the Cubs.

April 3rd's Game Results and Analysis

April 3rd’s Game Results and Analysis

Pittsburgh Pirates 3 to Chicago Cubs 1

Winning Pitcher: Rodriguez (1-0) Losing Pitcher: Jackson (0-1)

Save by Grilli (1)

Player of the Game: Wandy Rodriguez

The second game of the year was a difficult one for the Cubs, in which they struggled against the left-handed pitcher Wandy Rodriguez. The Chicago Cubs hitters tend to have a hard time against LHPs and today’s game showed it. Rodriguez went 6.2 innings with 6 Ks and only gave up two hits in the game, but he did walk one and had two hit batsman. Wandy pitched effectively against the Cubbies and was the player of the game in my mind because he showed that he can still dominate a lineup without really having any overpowering pitches. Edwin Jackson made his debut as a Cub and did well, but struggled with control at times which caused his pitch total to increase and cause him to leave after the 5^th inning. Jackson gave up two earned runs on 3 hits and one walk in a total of 5 innings.

Impressive: There wasn’t a lot that impressed me in today’s game for the Cubbies, but the one player that did impress me was Welington Castillo. Castillo really didn’t do that much in today’s game; he went 0 for 2 with a strikeout and got hit by a pitch. The reasons why Castillo impressed me were the way his at bats went and how he played behind the plate in tonight’s game. Castillo’s first at bat took 9 pitches from Wandy Rodriguez to get him out and then Castillo’s next at bat took 6 pitches, but eventually Castillo was called out on strikes. Castillo’s performance behind the plate was impressive because he blocked a lot of balls that were in the dirt and threw out Starling Marte, who is very fast and he should have thrown out Andrew McCutchen stealing second, but Alberto Gonzalez dropped the ball on the tag.

Surprising: What surprised me in the game was the difficulty that Starlin Castro had against Wandy Rodriguez. Yes, coming into the game Castro didn’t have the best batting record against Rodriguez, but Wandy is a left-handed pitcher and Castro usually does fairly well against LHPs. Tonight’s game wasn’t the best for Castro; he went 0 for 4 with a strikeout and had an error in the game, although I thought it should have been ruled an infield single. I think Castro will make up for his performance in today’s game in tomorrow’s game against the Pirates.

Concerning: What I found most concerning about tonight’s game is the Cubs lineup against lefties. I have some doubts about the lineup having enough pop in it to make a splash against LHPs. I know it was the first game of year against a lefty, but there are better LHPs than Wandy Rodriguez and if the Cubs can’t hit Rodriguez then they might struggle against lefties all year long. I’m also concerned about Anthony Rizzo; Rizzo took a nasty pitch off his head today. Initially I was extremely worried when I saw it, but since he stayed in the game I’m not as concerned as I thought I would be. My last concern about the Cubbies, is Brent Lillibridge. I thought Lillibridge was going to be a difference maker for the Cubs because he can play almost every position and bring some pop to the lineup, but he hasn’t showed it yet this year. I was disappointed in Lillibridge’s performance in today’s game because he was up with the bases loaded in the 7^th inning with only one out and struck out, when all the Cubs needed was a hit to tie the game. Lillibridge also struggled in the opening day game with 3 strikeouts. He just looks lost at plate in this opening series and I hope he can overcome this funk in the next few games.

Preview for the next game: The Cubs next game will be tomorrow, April 4^th. I will be posting a preview for that game shortly after I post this one.

Preview of the Game on April 3

Preview for the Game on April, 3

Chicago Cubs (1-0) at Pittsburgh Pirates (0-1)

The second game of the series will be played at PNC Park at 7:05pm eastern time. The probable pitcher for the Cubbies will be Edwin Jackson and will be Jackson’s debut as a Cub. Edwin Jackson is a solid and consistent pitcher, which allows him to be a reliable pitcher for the Cubs and he will likely take the mound every five days. Jackson is an experienced pitcher that has a mid-90s mph four-seam fastball, a mid-90s mph two-seam fastball that I consider to be his best pitch, a solid slider in the mid to high 80s mph and an above average curve that is in the low-80s. Edwin has pitched in some big games in his career therefore he should be able to handle whatever lineup the Pirates will come up with against him. Jackson needs to do one thing in order to beat Pittsburgh, which is to keep the baseball in the park. He has the tendency to give up the long ball and the Pirates lineup has some big named power hitters like Pedro Alarvez and Garret Jones.

The pitcher that is projected to pitch against Edwin Jackson is the veteran left-handed pitcher Wandy Rodriguez. Rodriguez is no stranger to the Chicago Cubs because the Cubs are the team that he has faced the most in his career. Wandy Rodriguez would not be classified as a powerful pitcher by any means, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t an effective pitcher. Rodriguez is an effective pitcher because he offers a crafty repertoire of pitches; his pitching repertoire is crafty because he can change location and speed of all his pitches. The way Rodriguez pitches can challenge inexperienced batters and since there are couple of hitters in the Chicago Cubs lineup that are a little inexperienced it could be a problem for the Cubs.

The second game of the season will offer a challenge to the Cubbies because last year they tended to do poorly against left-handed pitchers and they have to face a LHP that is experienced enough to get the ugly wins. Tomorrow’s game should be the debut of Scott Hairston as a Cub at right field. I would be surprised if he doesn’t debut because if manager Dale Sveum wants to utilize Hairston as a pinch hitter this year, Sveum will need to put Hairston in the lineup early so that Hairston can get his swing were it needs to be in order to have a successful year.

My prediction of the game is that the Chicago Cubs will win over the Pirates with a score of 5 to 4. I predict that Edwin Jackson will have a strong showing in his debut as Cubbie and will get the win by going 7 innings with 8 strikeouts and giving up 3 earned runs. I’m predicting that Welington Castillo will be the player of the game because he will have a great hitting performance against the LHP Wandy Rodriquez by hitting his first homerun of the year and getting a total of 3 RBIs in the game. I’m also predicting that Scott Hairston will go yard in his debut as a Cub and that Marmol will struggle again in the ninth causing Kyuji Fujikawa to have to come in to get his second save of the year. 

Opening Day Results/Analysis

Opening Day Game Analysis

Chicago Cubs 3-Pittsburgh Pirates 1

Winning Pitcher Samardzija (1-0) Losing Pitcher Burnett (0-1)

Save by Fujikawa (1)

Player of the Game: Jeff Samardzija

Opening Day started off great for the Cubs, especially for their starting pitcher, Jeff Samardzija. Cubs got their first win in their first chance this season with a score of 3 to 1. The Cubbies won because of Anthony Rizzo’s bat and Jeff Samardzija’s arm. In the top of the first inning Rizzo belted a two run homerun to right field, which would end up being the winning hit for the Cubbies. Samardzija went for eight scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and giving up just two hits and one walk to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Kyuji Fujikawa should be thanking Carlos Marmol for his struggles in the ninth because that led to Fujikawa’s Major League debut, which he only had to throw two pitches to get his first save as a Cub.

Impressive: What impressed me in today’s game was Jeff Samardzija’s outing. I predicted that Samardzija would have a quality start with nine strikeouts and it turns out I got the right amount of strikeouts, but I underestimated the quality start. Samardzija just didn’t put in a quality performance, he put in a fantastic performance and probably the best performance of this opening week. What was really impressive about his start was how he overcame adversity in the first inning; Samardzija had to throw over 20 pitches to get of the first inning because of the walk that he gave up to Starling Marte and because of error made by second baseman Brent Lillibridge. After the first inning, Samardzija calmed down and dominated the Pirates lineup by giving up a total of two hits and one walk in eight innings.

Surprising: What surprised me were Welington Castillo’s and Nate Schierholtz’s performances in the game. Castillo had a great game today, going 2 for 4 with two doubles and a RBI. I find this to be surprising because Castillo usually struggles against righties, but today he hit two deep hits against the RHP A.J. Burnett.  Nate Schierholtz’s performance was not as surprising as Castillo’s, but Schierholtz put in a great game in his debut as a Chicago Cub. Schierholtz started in right and reached base in all of his plate appearances today with a walk, a single, a hit by pitch and reach on base due to an error. I also found the news about Darwin Barney going on the DL today surprising because I initially thought that his injured knee would just keep him out of today’s game, but it’s going to keep him out longer. Now with Barney on the DL, the Cubbies will keep journeyman Alberto Gonzalez on their 25 man roster and start Brent Lillibridge at second.

Concerning: There were three things that I found concerning about today’s game, they were the amount of strikeouts the Cubs batters had today, the defensive play at second base and Carlos Marmol’s struggles in the 9^th inning. The Chicago Cubs hitters had a total of 15 strikeouts in the game, while the Cubs hitters got enough runs to beat the Pirates in today’s game, their plate discipline needs to be better in order for the Cubbies to have success this season. The defensive play at second base is a concern of mine because of the injury to last year’s gold glove winner, Darwin Barney. With Barney being on the DL, the Cubs will have to rely on Lillibridge. Brent Lillibridge brings a little more pop to the lineup than Barney did, but Lillibridge’s fielding is not as superb as Barney’s; for example, Lillibridge committed the first error of the season for the Cubbies in today's game. The last thing that I’m concerned about is Carlos Marmol being the closer for the Cubs. Marmol came into the ninth inning with a chance for a save, but left in the 9^th with only getting one out and gave up a run by hitting Andrew McCutchen with a pitch, which led to a RBI hit by Pedro Alvarez and then he issued a walk to Gaby Sanchez. The Cubs had to use James Russell and Kyuji Fujikawa to finish the game and to get the save and victory.

Preview for the next Cubs game: The Cubbies are off on Tuesday, April 02, 2013 and play next on Wednesday, April 3; therefore I will be previewing that game on the 2.