2015 Chicago Cubs --- Road to a Dynasty

[Bluejaysfan65]

Imagine if you could pick up both Chapman and Cueto...

[Getty51]

Montero Injured, Schwarber Promoted
Chicago (AP)-

"The arrival of a top Chicago Cubs youngster is an event to be celebrated (COOKIES!), and, the first time Kyle Schwarber came up to the Cubs, it was. Then again, it was a limited call-up, specifically delineated to correspond to a short AL stretch where the Cubs could use Schwarber as a DH. It was exciting, but it wasn’t quite the normal prospect party. Schwarber was up for those AL games, and then he was immediately sent to AAA Iowa to keep on catching

Were it not for an untimely Miguel Montero injury, that would have certainly continued. But injuries happen, tough decisions are made, and now Schwarber’s coming back. Once again, it’s not quite a prospect party, even as it’ll be exciting to see Schwarber in the bigs (especially behind the plate – I can’t wait to see how he looks over a long-ish stretch).

But, nevertheless, it’s Kyle Schwarber Day, Part Two. I’m still pretty into it.

It sounds like Schwarber won’t be the “everyday catcher,” but, even if he were replacing Montero’s spot on a game-for-game basis, it still wouldn’t make him the everyday catcher, since Montero was sitting against lefties and David Ross was catching Jon Lester regularly. Of the Cubs’ first 87 games, Montero started just 55. If Schwarber catches non-Lester starts against righties, and gets a little time in left field, he’ll draw plenty of starts. I’m not sure he’ll actually be catching quite that much, but we’ll see. Long-term, only occasional catching might be the plan for him anyway.


As for Montero, that’s the bad part of this story. The Cubs haven’t confirmed the six-week recovery timeline originally reported for his thumb injury (Cubs.com), and here’s hoping Montero’s meeting with the hand specialist today goes well. Even as Montero’s bat slumped, he was inarguably excellent behind the plate, and my concern is that he has been a big part of the Cubs’ pitching success. Best case scenario here? Montero’s out, say, a month, which is enough time for some of the Cubs’ pitchers to become comfortable with Schwarber, and the Cubs can then work with three catchers for the rest of the year, even after Montero returns. The options for Joe Maddon at that point – defensively, offensively, match-ups, substitutions – would be excellent, and maybe, this will all have been a blessing in disguise."

Official Roster Move
Miguel Montero to 15 Day DL
Kyle Scwarber Recalled from Triple A Iowa

[Getty51]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bluejaysfan65

Imagine if you could pick up both Chapman and Cueto...

I think it could be done, the only issue would be I would be making the Reds Uber competitive in the near future. One of those tricky parts about the deadline. Who can I live with getting better prospects vs who can I not.

[Getty51]

Cubs Chop Braves

Starlin Castro slides into third with the first of his two triples in the game.

Chicago (AP)-

Jake Arrieta dazzled again as he remains spectacular on the season, in fact he did not allow a single hit until a Chris Johnson 3-1 count double to left field. Alberto Callaspo followed with a double of his own. Callaspo was the only Brave that seemed to figure out Arrieta and he also followed with a solo homer in the 8th inning off of Arrieta to keep the Braves in the game.

The Braves have had a rough season and start Donnie Veal, the former Cubs 2nd round pick and top pitching prospect, was chased from the game after just two and two third innings. The Cubs were led offensively by their middle infield. Starlin Castro took great offense to not being selected to the All Star game and went 5-5 on the game with 3 singles and 2 triples. He also drove in two more runs to bring his RBI total over 50 for the season. Fellow middle infielder Addison Russell went 4 for 5 on the game with his own double, RBI and added a stolen base.

Call up Kyle Schwarber did not get a start since the team was facing a left handed starter, but he did get a pinch hit opportunity in a two run game with a runner on third base. The Braves chose to walk the slugging youngster instead of chance him driving in a run. The run would score anyway off of a Jonathan Herrera sacrifice fly and the Cubs would tack on more runs following the at bat.


News from Around the League:
No News of Note

Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves
Jul 17, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago (51-39)	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	7	15	0
Atlanta (36-53)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	2	5	2
W: Arrieta (9-6) L: Veal (0-1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			CHC	ATL
CHC	1	Castro Triples, Rizzo and Bryant score	2	0
CHC	2	Fowler grounds out to 2nd, Ross scores, Russell to 3rd	3	0
ATL	5	Callaspo doubles, Johnson scores	3	1
CHC	8	Fowler Sac Fly, Arrieta scores	4	1
ATL	8	Callaspo homers	4	2
CHC	9	Herrera Sac Fly, Castro scores	5	2
CHC	9	Russell doubles, Schwarber scores	6	2
CHC	9	Fowler singles, Russell scores, Fowler out at 2nd	7	2

Chicago Cubs
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
Fowler	5	0	1	3	0	1	.291
Rizzo	5	1	1	0	0	1	.301
Bryant	3	1	0	0	2	1	.257
Soler	5	0	1	0	0	0	.270
Castro	5	1	5	2	0	0	.302
Denorfia	4	0	1	0	0	0	.292
Coghlan (In 9th for Denorfia)	1	0	0	0	0	0	.277
Ross	2	1	1	0	2	0	.271
Schwarber (In 9th for Ross)	0	1	0	0	1	0	.333
Arrieta	3	1	1	0	0	1	.103
Herrera (In 9th for Arrieta)	0	0	0	1	0	0	.269
Russell	5	1	4	1	0	0	.267
BATTING 2B: Arrieta (2), Russell (11) 3B: Castro 2 (6) RBI: Fowler 3 (43), Castro 2 (51), Herrera (13), Russell (23) SF: Fowler, Herrera SAC: Arrieta GIDP: Denorfia
BASERUNNING SB: Russell (23)

Chicago Cubs
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Arrieta (W, 9-6)	8.0	3	2	2	0	7	2.87
Grimm	1.0	2	0	0	0	1	6.66

Atlanta Braves
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
Young Jr.	4	0	0	0	0	1	.242
Markakis	4	0	0	0	0	1	.252
Freman	4	0	1	0	0	1	.309
Gomes	4	0	1	0	0	1	.253
Johnson	4	1	1	0	0	1	.295
Simmons	3	0	0	0	0	0	.223
Callaspo	3	1	2	2	0	1	.229
Kennelly	3	0	0	0	0	1	.169
Veal	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Martin	1	0	0	0	0	1	.333
Peterson (In 6th for McKirahan)	1	0	0	0	0	0	.229
Maybin (IN 8th for Jaime)	1	0	0	0	0	0	.233
BATTING 2B: Johnson (13), Callaspo (10) HR: Callaspo (3) RBI: Callaspo 2 (19)
FIELDING E: Cunniff (1), Callaspo (9)

Atlanta Braves
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Veal (L, 0-1)	2.2	5	3	3	2	1	4.50
Martin	2.1	3	0	0	1	1	3.86
McKirahan	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	2.76
Cunniff	1.0	3	1	1	0	0	4.70
Jaime	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	3.88
Johnson	0.2	1	2	2	1	0	2.84
Avilan	0.1	2	1	1	0	0	4.44
PITCHING WP: Veal (1), Jaime (1)

[Getty51]

Errors doom Cubs

Rookie Kyle Schwarber rounds the bases after his first career Major League home run.

Chicago (AP)-

The Cubs and the Braves have seen better days. Granted the Braves better days haven't come often this season. Neither starting pitcher was able to make it through 5 innings pitched. In fact both pitchers wouldn't even factor in the decision. Jason Hammel gave up 10 hits while Julio Teheran gave up 8. Both will look to bounce back in their next start.

The game was then given to the bullpens and the Braves were able to come out on top, they were helped by 16 hits in the game, 10 given up by Hammel within the first few innings of the game. And they benefited from 5 Cubs errors.

"You really could make it 6 errors since Chris (Coghlan) misplayed a ball that allowed a runner to advance from 2nd to 3rd in the bottom of the 7th. Whaddaya know, that guy forces us to bring the infield in to cut him down. Then the next batter hits into a taylormade double play ball had we been at regular depth. I would say that error was the most costly and didn't even go down as an error."

The game was not without bright spots for the Cubs as rookie Kyle Schwarber hit his first career home run in the third inning of the game. The Cubs showed fight and battled back from an early 4-0 hole to tie the game and then battled again when they fell down 5-4 and tied it again. In the end they came up short against the back half of the Braves bullpen which has been quite good this season despite their terrible team record.

Schwarber's day was not without problems as he committed two of the five team errors on the game and was robbed of extra bases to end the game on a hard line drive to deep Center field.

The teams look to regroup and take the field Sunday with the series very much in the air.

Around the League:
No News of Note:

Cubs News:
Cubs have announced that they have resigned 1B Chris Valaika to a minor league contract.

Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves
Jul 18, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chicago (52-39)	0	0	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	5	9	5
Atlanta (36-54)	2	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	6	16	1
W: Jaime (3-4) L: Motte (1-5) S: Grilli (23)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			CHC	ATL
ATL	1	Markakis doubles, Young Jr. scores	0	1
ATL	1	Johnson doubles, Markakis scoures	0	2
ATL	2	Bethancourt homers	0	3
ATL	2	Markakis grounds into fielders choice, Young Jr. out at 2nd, Tehran scores	0	4
CHC	3	Fowler singles, Russell scores	1	4
CHC	3	Schwarber homers, Fowler scores	3	4
CHC	4	Tehran Pickoff Attempt, out of Play, Russell to 2nd, Coghlan scores	4	4
ATL	4	Freeman singles, Young Jr. to 2nd, Tehran scores	4	5
CHC	5	Castro singles, Rizzo scores, Bryant to 2nd	5	5
ATL	7	Bethancourt singles, Simmons scores, Callaspo to 2nd	5	6

Chicago Cubs
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
Fowler	5	1	1	1	0	1	.290
Schwarber	5	1	2	2	0	1	.348
Rizzo	4	1	1	0	0	1	.300
Bryant	3	0	0	0	1	2	.254
Soler	4	0	2	0	0	1	.276
Castro	4	0	1	1	0	0	.301
Coghlan	2	1	0	0	2	1	.275
Hammel	1	0	0	0	0	0	.138
Teagarden (in 5th for Jackson)	1	0	0	0	0	1	.333
Herrera (In 8th for Medina)	1	0	0	0	0	0	.267
Russell	3	1	2	0	1	1	.272
BATTING 2B: Rizzo (19) HR: Schwarber (1) RBI: Fowler (44), Castro (52), Schwarber 2 (6) SAC: Hammel GIDP: Castro
BASERUNNING SB: Russell (24)
FIELDING E: Hammel (1), Castro (8), Schwarber 2 (2), Bryant (16)

Chicago Cubs
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Hammel	3.1	10	5	4	0	1	3.53
Jackson	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	3.46
Grimm	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	6.41
Russell	0.1	2	0	0	0	1	4.97
Motte (L, 1-5)	0.2	3	1	1	0	1	6.14
Medina	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	2.93
Ramirez	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	2.08

Atlanta Braves
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
Young Jr.	5	1	3	0	0	0	.248
Markakis	5	1	2	2	0	1	.254
Freeman	5	0	1	1	0	1	.308
Gomes	5	0	0	0	0	2	.248
Johnson	5	0	2	1	0	0	.297
Simmons	5	1	2	0	0	0	.226
Callaspo	4	0	2	0	0	0	.233
Bethancourt	4	1	2	2	0	0	.195
Teheran	2	2	2	0	0	0	.229
Peterson (In 5th for McKirahan)	1	0	0	0	0	0	.226
Maybin (In 7th for Jaime)	1	0	0	0	0	0	.232
BATTING 2B: Teheran (1), Markakis (16), Johnson (14), Callaspo (11) HR: Bethancourt (2) RBI: Markakis 2 (31), Freeman (47), Johnson (49), Bethancourt 2 (16)
FIELDING E: Teheran (1)

Atlanta Braves
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Teheran	4.1	8	5	5	4	5	3.83
McKirahan	0.2	0	0	0	0	2	2.72
Cunniff	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	4.60
Jaime (W, 3-4)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	3.80
Johnson (H, 13)	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	2.76
Grilli (S, 23)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	3.04

[Getty51]

Quick question for the readers.

In an effort to keep some realism in the game for future seasons, I have run into a dilemma in between games.

Concerning draft picks: Should I rename the draft picks that have signed (Oddly nearly every team has picks that did not sign a contract at this point. Some of them with 85 or higher Potential which seems like a real oops moment.) to the actually draft picks that each team made?

Or just let them stay as is?

[Getty51]

Anthony Rizzo admires his solo homer in the 1st inning.
Rizzo shines!

Chicago (AP)- The Cubs and the Braves needed more than just 9 innings to decide the winner of the series between the two. Kyle Hendricks who has been spectacular for the Cubs this season went 6 innings giving up just one run while Alex Wood for the Braves also gave up 1 run over 6 and 2/3 innings pitched. There were only two extra base hits in the entire game and they were both from Cubs slugger Anthony Rizzo.

Rizzo started the game off with a bang, a solo home run to right field with a 3-2 count on the 10th pitch of the at bat. Rizzo drove the ball into the bleachers and knocked over his 13th home run of the season and his 44th RBI. The Braves struck back in the bottom of the fourth inning when Andrelton Simmons hit a sac fly to Right field that just narrowly missed being a double play after a spectacular throw from right fielder Jorge Soler.


Jorge Soler's throw came this close to nailing Nick Markakis at the plate.

The game would turn into a bullpen duel after both pitchers were pulled from the game. The Cubs bullpen would be lead by Neil Ramirez, Pedro Strop, Hector Rondon, James Russell, and Yoervis Medina who all recorded outs in the game. The Cubs got a boost in the 14th inning from Anthony Rizzo who hit his 2nd extra base hit of the game with an RBI double that drove in Dexter Fowler in the top of the 14th inning to give the Cubs the lead.

The Cubs trotted Yoervis Medina to get his second inning of work against the Braves and, despite having rough inning he was able to finish off the Braves for the win in the game and the series for the Cubs.

"This will probably be Medina's last real game with us since Jon (Lester) is coming off the DL and Rafael (Soriano) will be getting called up, there will be a cluster on the roster and Medina could use more regular work in Triple A so this was good for him to get out and get some extended work."

Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves
Jul 19, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Extras	R	H	E
Chicago (52-40)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0,0,0,0,1	2	9	0
Atlanta (37-54)	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0,0,0,0,0	1	10	0
W: Medina (1-1) L: Jaime (3-5)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			CHC	ATL
CHC	1	Rizzo homers	1	0
ATL	4	Simmons sac Fly, Markakis scores	1	1
CHC	14	Rizzo doubles, Fowler scores	2	1

Chicago Cubs
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
Fowler	6	1	2	0	0	1	.291
Rizzo	6	1	3	2	0	1	.303
Bryant	5	0	0	0	1	1	.250
Soler	5	0	0	0	1	2	.268
Castro	6	0	0	0	0	1	.296
Coghlan	5	0	2	0	0	1	.277
Teagarden	2	0	0	0	1	0	.250
Schwarber (In 10th for Teagarden)	2	0	0	0	0	1	.320
Hendricks	2	0	1	0	0	0	.139
Denorfia (In 7th for Hendricks)	0	0	0	0	1	0	.292
Herrera (In 10th for Strop)	1	0	0	0	0	1	.264
Ross (In 13th for Mote)	1	0	0	0	0	0	.268
Russell	5	0	1	0	0	1	.271
BATTING 2B: Rizzo (20) HR: Rizzo (13) RBI: Rizzo 2 (45) GIDP: Fowler, Castro, Soler, Bryant

Chicago Cubs
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Hendricks	6.0	6	1	1	0	6	2.97
Ramirez	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	1.86
Russell	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	4.73
Strop	1.1	0	0	0	0	0	0.98
Rondon	2.0	2	0	0	0	0	3.55
Motte	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	5.87
Medina (W, 1-1)	2.0	1	0	0	0	1	2.73

Atlanta Braves
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
Young Jr.	6	0	0	0	0	1	.243
Markakis	6	1	4	0	0	1	.261
Freeman	6	0	1	0	0	0	.305
Gomes	6	0	0	0	0	1	.243
Johnson	3	0	1	0	0	1	.297
Johnson (For Pinch Runner Maybin)	2	0	1	0	0	0	.255
Simmons	5	0	0	1	0	1	.222
Callaspo	6	0	2	0	0	1	.235
Bethancourt	5	0	0	0	0	2	.190
Wood	1	0	0	0	0	0	.083
Peterson (In 7th for Avilan)	1	0	1	0	0	0	.234
Gosselin (In 10th for Cunniff)	1	0	0	0	0	0	.204
Kennelly (In 12th for McKirahan)	1	0	0	0	0	1	.167
BATTING RBI: Simmons (31) HBP: Johnson SF: Simmons SAC: Wood GIDP: Simmons

Atlanta Braves
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Wood	6.2	6	1	1	3	5	2.96
Avilan	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	4.39
Cunniff	3.0	0	0	0	1	2	4.32
McKirahan	2.0	0	0	0	0	0	2.61
Jaime (L, 3-5)	1.0	2	1	1	0	1	3.91
Martin	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	3.76

[Getty51]

Jackson DFA'd, Soriano activated

Chicago (AP)- Edwin Jackson will be officially Designated for Assignment to make room for Rafael Soriano in the Cubs bullpen. Jackson will be remembered by Cubs fans and Cubs players in two different ways. Cubs fans will remember Jackson for his clear troubles after signing a significant contract years ago. Jackson will always be remembered for his no hitter while in Arizona but that is long ago.

A look at Jackson's previous year as a starter in 2014, he went 6-15 with a whopping 6.33 era. Not too impressive. But, the Cubs players and members of the organization have come out in huge support for the past few months as Jackson has struggled with his control. He has been lauded as one of the best members of the clubhouse and one of the hardest working members of the team.

The pure difference in reactions on social media last night when the news broke is the exact different between the fans and the teammates. From the fans, Jackson got an outpouring of people happy to see him go, which to Jackson's credit he has admitted that he was brought in to be a starter and hasn't had the success needed to justify his contract. But teammates came out in overwhelming support of Jackson. Anthony Rizzo, Jason Motte and Jason Hammel were among the players that took to social media to point out just what a great guy and hard worker Jackson has been over his time in Chicago.

Jackson isn't completely "gone" just yet. He will be on waivers for 10 days, at which point he may potentially even sign a minor league deal with the Cubs and elect to work on some kinks in Triple A Iowa. To his credit, the 10 year vet went 3-1, with 1 save, 37k's and a 3.46era over his time this season in the bullpen.

The good news for Cubs fans is that they will be adding Rafael Soriano who has recently been signed and working in both AA Tennessee and AAA Iowa. The former closer lost his job in Washington and will be hoping to work in the middle to potentially late innings depending on the Cubs bullpen and how things shake out. Fans should keep their expectations low though as Soriano is not the same player he was even three years ago when his dominance was evident. Soriano has a career 637 strikeouts with 207 recorded save with a 2.85 career ERA.


News from around the League:
White Sox activate SP Hector Noesi from the DL and option SP Kyle Drabek to Triple A