Talkin’ Cubs Live – Cubs vs. Giants – 06/28/11

June 28, 2011 By 44 Comments

Game Eighty: Cubs (32-47) vs. Giants (45-34)
Game Time – 7:05pm CDT
Coverage – TV: Comcast SportsNet – Radio: 720 WGN, XM Radio Channel 187
Location – Wrigley Field, Chicago

Rodrigo Lopez (0-1, 6.59/1.76) vs. Barry Zito (0-1, 6.23/1.54)

The Cubs lost game one Tuesday afternoon 13-7. Doug Davis gave up 10 runs on 12 hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. The Giants scored a season-high 13 runs and recorded a season-high 18 hits.

Carlos Pena hit his 17th homer (1-for-4 with a home run, walk, two RBI), Koyie Hill hit his second longball of the year and Blake DeWitt drove in three of the Cubs’ seven runs with a 2-for-4 day at the plate. Starlin Castro’s hitting streak came to an end with a 0-for-5 effort in game one.

The Cubs optioned D.J. LeMahieu down to Triple-A Iowa shortly after game one and recalled Marcos Mateo from Triple-A Iowa.

Game Two – Mike Quade said Monday that he was unsure of what Rodrigo Lopez would be able to give him tonight, that is the reason Quade decided to start Doug Davis in game one. The Cubs need innings out of Lopez more than anything tonight. If he struggles, Darwin Barney could have company on the plane from Des Moines.

With Barry Zito on the hill for the Giants tonight, look for Quade to run out his right-handed lineup.

Game two all starts with Rodrigo Lopez … Rodrigo Lopez will make his second start of the season tonight … and the Cubs do not know how long he will be able to go. Lopez has not thrown more than 45 pitches in weeks and if Quade can get five outings out of Lopez he should consider himself lucky.

Lopez’s only start came against the Astros in his Cubs’ debut on May 30. Lopez looked serviceable early but faded quickly. Houston slammed Lopez to the tune of six runs on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings. Lopez did not walk a batter and stuck out four in a 12-7 loss to the ‘Stros.

In a season full of bad ideas for the Chicago Cubs, add this one to the list. For as poorly as Lopez has pitched this season, he’s been even worse at Wrigley (no record in four games, one start, with a 10.57 ERA and a 2.22 WHIP).

Rodrigo Lopez has never beaten the Giants and tonight will be his first game against San Francisco this season. Lopez is 0-3 in six career starts versus the Giants with a 6.97 ERA and a 1.77 WHIP.

Giants Career Numbers against Rodrigo Lopez

  • Pat Burrell – 1-for-3
  • Bill Hall – 0-for-1
  • Aubrey Huff – 13-for-48 with 3 doubles, 2 home runs and 5 walks
  • Cody Ross – 1-for-5 with a double
  • Aaron Rowand – 5-for-17 with 3 doubles
  • Pablo Sandoval – 6-for-12 with 4 doubles, a home run and a walk
  • Nate Schierholtz – 1-for-4
  • Miguel Tejada – 11-for-23 with 3 doubles, a home run and 3 walks
  • Andres Torres – 7-for-16 with a double, a triple and a home run
  • Eli Whiteside – 2-for-2 with a double

Barry Zito will make his first start tonight since April after spending the last 10 weeks on the DL with a sprained right foot. The first trip to the DL of Zito’s career opened up a chance for Ryan Vogelsong … and the right-hander has not looked back.

Zito completed four rehab starts on his way back to the big leagues. Zito was 4-0 with a 2.30 ERA (two for Class-A San Jose and two for Triple-A Fresno) and should not have a pitch count tonight.

The Cubs need to make Zito work and don’t walk to the plate swinging.

Barry Zito is 1-3 in six career starts versus the Cubs with a 4.84 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP, at Wrigley 1-1 in two starts with a 3.75 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP.

Cubs Career Numbers against Barry Zito

  • Jeff Baker – 2-for-11 with a home run and a walk
  • Starlin Castro – 2-for-3
  • Blake DeWitt – 2-for-8
  • Kosuke Fukudome – 1-for-3
  • Reed Johnson – 6-for-23 with 2 doubles and a walk
  • Carlos Pena – 6-for-19 with 2 home runs and 3 walks
  • Aramis Ramirez – 4-for-10 with a double, a home run and a walk
  • Alfonso Soriano – 6-for-41 with a double and 5 walks
  • Geovany Soto – 2-for-4 with a double and a walk
  • Carlos Zambrano – 0-for-3

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Let’s Talk Cubs Baseball …


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  • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

    The Cubs optioned D.J. LeMahieu down to Triple-A Iowa shortly after game one and recalled Marcos Mateo from Triple-A Iowa.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Hood/100000706523521 Richard Hood

      Well he didn’t last until Barney got back. Lets see who is going back down tomorrow. Probably Lopez.

      • Ripsnorter1

        Matao would be my guess. Let him pitch in this game and flush him down like they did Coleman.

  • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

    Game two lineup:

    Johnson – CF
    Castro – SS
    Ramirez – 3B
    Pena – 1B
    Soto – C
    Baker – 2B
    Soriano – LF
    Montanez – RF
    Lopez – P

  • gocubs

    When Barney and Byrd come back, which should be very soon, lineup should be…

    Fukudome
    Castro
    Ramirez
    Pena
    Soto
    Soriano
    Byrd
    Barney

    Thats pretty solid.  If they stay healthy, they could make a run still if the pitching can get healthy and get on a role.  

    • JW

      When asked about the Cubs struggles, Quade replied, “It’s that darn injury bug, once we get Barn, Cash, and Woody back, we easily should be expected to contend.”

      • GaryLeeT

        I know it’s Quade’s job to say such things, but that is just beyond laughable, and headed towards moronic.

      • paulcatanese

        Totaly and utterly ridiculous=Quade,,period.

      • Aaron

        Please tell me that’s a joke, and you just made that quote up. If true, that’d be a fire-able offense in my opinion, because the ONLY one that’s missed significant time is Cashner.

        Wood and Barney have missed time, that’s for sure, but the Cubs were already out of contention at that point, so what’s Quade’s excuse there?

    • paulcatanese

      If you think the master,Quade is going to keep Byrd in the seven spot, well,I really don’t how to reply as it’s youre opinion and I respect that. I take it one game at a time and have 0 visions about the Cubs getting on a roll, as Quade will take care of any pitching as he has in the past, destroy them.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R65T7II7FYX7HGQW2XLHDDWJRQ Agustin

      Your passion is insurmountable, you have a gift my friend! 

    • diehardcubfan

      Sorry my friend but this team just stinks.  Fukudome is in his typical summer slump, ARAM hasn’t shown up all year, Soto has been mediocre, Pena has been inconsistent and Soriano is just plain overpaid. 

      This lineup is just getting us closer to 20 games below .500.  That is becoming more obtainable everyday thanks to our terrible starting pitching. 

      The bad thing is that no one is being held accountable.  To make things even worse the Cubs leadership keeps blaming injuries though only as Aaron has noted only Cashner has missed any significant time.

      The Cubs leadership just keeps living in denial.  Mr.Ricketts it is time to act and stop living in fantasy land.

  • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

    Hey, the Giants didn’t score in the first inning …

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Hood/100000706523521 Richard Hood

      That is just what I was getting on here to say. We have a starting pitcher that starts a game by keeping them even. Congrats

  • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

    Shawon
    Dunston says his son Shawon Jr., is still trying to decide between school
    & baseball http://t.co/9lf6vOr

  • GaryLeeT

    Davis and Lopez starting for the same team, on the same day? Selig should launch an investigation targeting the Cubs for impersonating a MLB team.

  • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

    Montanez with a two-run homer!

    First as a Cub

  • paulcatanese

    I have never seen a manager actualy plan to lose, but Quade is a first. He is un-real with his capacity to handle a pitching staff. How in the world can he run out Davis and Lopez with the hope of winning a ballgame?
    He might just as well put a high school pitcher out there, as the talent would be
    better, but then why do that to a young guy? How can Quade sleep at night?
    Better yet, how can he collect a check? I would call that stealing.

  • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

    Lopez looks hurt

  • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

    Soto dropped the ball …

  • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

    What a bad turn of events … then John Grabow

    • diehardcubfan

      It is just time to release Grabow.  He has no value whatsoever and he can’t get anyone out anyway.

  • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

    Beyond pathetic …

  • SteveGu

    This is the only team I know that can take the feel good game yesterday and crap all over them with a disastrous double header. Davis and Lopez? REALLY!? 13 runs given up in the first game, now 6 after leading 2-1? This makes me sick. Grabow is getting paid to SUCK, Davis is getting paid to SUCK, and that infuriates me more than anything. Oh and Quade couldn’t manage his way out of a paper bag.

  • Baron_S

    nice… Grabow!!! what a stud

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R65T7II7FYX7HGQW2XLHDDWJRQ Agustin

    John “batting practice” Grabow showing off his poise!  I bet we can’t get a bag Cheetos for him at the trade deadline even if we threw in Castro.  What a great contributor to this club.  Grabow=Gregg

    • Aaron

      Glad you mentioned Grabow=Gregg, and we’ll examine how those acquisitions worked out for the Cubs:

      Gregg-4.72 ERA, 1.311 WHIP 30 walks vs 71 K’s in 68 IP with Cubs in 2009…
      *traded for Ceda, who was injured after the trade, but had a 2.01 ERA and 1.140 WHIP 21 walks vs 50 K’s in 40 IP in 2010 , and has followed that up with with 0.89 ERA and 1.055 WHIP 10 walks vs 40 K’s in 30 IP in 2011….oh, and he throws 100 mph….oh, and he’s still just 24 years old

      Grabow-3.24 ERA, 1.240 WHIP 12 walks vs 16 K’s, 25 IP in 2009, then got a ridiculous 2 yr, $7.5 million extension based on that, and has produced a pathetic 7.36 ERA, 1.870 WHIP 13 walks vs 20 K’s, 25 IP in 2010, and has followed that up with a 5.51 ERA, 1.436 WHIP 11 walks vs 16 K’s, 31 IP this year
      *along with Gorzelanny, he was traded for Hart, Ascanio, and Harrison
      Gorzelanny fared pretty well with the Cubs with a 5.63 ERA, 1.357 WHIP, 13 walks vs 40 K’s, 38 IP in 2009, then 4.09 ERA, 1.496 WHIP, 68 walks vs 119 K’s, 136 IP in 2010, then got traded to the Nationals and has since gone 4.18 ERA, 1.299 WHIP, 22 walks vs 56 K’s, 64 IP….and was traded for:
      Burgess-.194/.294/.372, 14 doubles, 1 triple, 9 hr, 40 RBI, 35 walks vs 74 K’s
      Hicks-1-3, 4.32 ERA, 1.380 WHIP, 18 walks vs 34 K’s in 50 IP…and it’s his second straight year repeating low-A, granted he’s still just 21 yrs old, but he was drafted in 2008 (meaning he has to be protected in the Rule 5 next year)
      AJ Morris-injured

      I mean….is Hendry really the guy that should be trading anyone? Not to mention, the “ace-caliber” pitcher he acquired this offseason has been anything BUT that….
      Garza-4-6, 4.07 ERA, 1.333 WHIP, 30 walks vs 88 K’s, 84 IP
      Rosscup-4-2, 2.54 ERA, 1.248 WHIP, 19 walks vs 50 K’s, 49 IP in high-A Daytona

      ….and now for what the Cubs gave up:
      Archer-3-3, 4.98 ERA, 1.648 WHIP, 39 walks vs 74 K’s, 77 IP
      Guyer-.314/.384/.518, 20 doubles, 1 triple, 10 hr, 44 RBI, 12 SB, 21 walks vs 58 K’s (1-3, 1 hr, 2 RBI at MLB level)
      Chirinos-.263/.338/.346, 9 doubles, 1 triple, 2 hr, 13 RBI, 19 walks vs 52 K’s
      Lee-.333/.405/.454, 10 doubles, 7 triples, 2 hr, 15 RBI, 20 SB, 27 walks vs 42 K’s
      Fuld-.238/.293/.359, 14 doubles, 2 triples, 3 hr, 23 RBI, 16 SB, 18 walks vs 31 K’s (all at MLB level)

      Sorry, but I wouldn’t want Hendry anywhere near a rebuilding effort….or even a building effort for that matter.

  • Ripsnorter1

    DJ LeMahieu–37 AB, 0 BB, 10 K, 1 2B, .243 0 HR, 1 RBI. Potential is there IF he can hit with some power. 

    Campana–not a ML OF. NO POWER at all. He has one identifiable ML skill: speed. But it takes at least two to make it. I don’t think so. 

    Byrd: 3 HR, 11 RBI in 172 AB. And it is quite worrisome that he keeps getting HBP. What’s wrong with him? Is he really okay, or is he a serious injury waiting to happen? He worries me for his health. 

    This is 2006 all over again. Lousy starting pitching, a weak bullpen, and an awful offense with just a very few bright lights. This year its Barney as the light. In 2006 it was Theriot and Barrett. Like 2006 the big FA acquisitions started so slowly that it wrecked the Cubs chances for any success that year, and things snow balled into a complete avalanche of disaster when the GM “patches” the holes with used up vets. In 2006 D. Lee goes down, and the patch, John Mabry, hit .205. This year Cashner/Wells go down, and we get Doug Davis and ChiChi Lopez. And of course in 2006 there was a plethora of AAA starters brought up to see what they could do, and they all failed, just like this year and at the end of last year. And don’t forget the slow start of Juan Pierre in 2006. Compare that with Mr. .196. Pierre turned it around, but it was too late for the Cubs. Pena is actually doing okay in May and June, but April was such a disaster that he lost a lot of games for us. And of course we had bad managers both years.

    So sorry to see Scales gone. He was aging, but he produced while he played MLB. Good luck in Japan.

  • BosephHeyden

    So…Joe Borowski was given a much shorter leash, and he actually had previous success to justify keeping him longer than they did, as well as injuries to blame for his low performances in 2004 and 2005, and the Cubs canned him.

    Grabow was very average when we got him, bad last year, and horrendous this year.  How is he still a Cub?

    • Ripsnorter1

      Simply his contract. That’s it. Paid the big bucks, and he’s untradeable, and uncuttable, too, because they won’t flush dough away. 

      Quade will be back in 2012

    • diehardcubfan

      That remains the million dollar question.

  • GaryLeeT

    Len Casper had me rolling, when he called the top of the 5th “devastating”. Isn’t that reserved for team on a high then is laid low?

  • paulcatanese

    Why waste the Shark  tonight? they will definatly need him tommorow. then again they will have to score a run. I am so discusted with these guys.

    • GaryLeeT

      Not, that it matters at this point, but you are referring to strategy. That is used by teams that can create, and execute it.

  • Jim_Tinley_Park

    From the Tribune community blog.
    Take it for what it is worth.
     I talked to some good sources the other night regarding the Cubs. 
    One is close with Tom Ricketts, and the other was a high level Sam Zell guy that is no longer involved at the Tribune. The consensus is there is very little chance Jim Hendry is back. In fact the former Zell Trib associate says that if they had held onto the club any longer, they would have made the change themselves. 
    When it comes to Hendry it sounds like Ricketts doesn’t see much of a reason to do anything as of now. The end of the season will give them the opportunity to start fresh. The name mentioned when asked about a potential replacement was White Sox Assistant GM Rick Hahn.It’s only one opinion, but it could be a good one. Hahn apparently does value the newer metrics of baseball, as opposed to Hendry’s staff that I was told “scoffed at them”. 
    On the subject of the trade deadline it sounds like the Cubs will push hard to deal Kosuke Fukudome and that Tom Ricketts will indeed be willing to eat some of the money necessary to make Alfonso Soriano disappear. 
    The Cubs have little interest in moving Carlos Zambrano, whether it would be because of the market, eating money, or simply feeling he has some value. 
    Take what you want from this info, but the sources are good, and the momentum is rolling towards a new regime at Clark and Addison.

    • diehardcubfan

      Please make it so.

    • Aaron

      Jim,

      Thanks for the info…I looked it up here:
      http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/cubs-insider/2011/06/sources-say-expect-change-at-gm-for-cubs.html

      The guy is just like any of us, speculating. I have friends in baseball, including scouts, that have told me things are certain to happen, and they never come to fruition for a variety of reasons.

      I hope it’s true, but I just can’t see this happening, at least not with what we’ve seen from Ricketts thus far…it just doesn’t add up.

      With how glowingly they spoke of him upon taking control of the team, to defending his ridiculous excuses for the team’s poor play, and then ultimately giving him a vote of confidence, I just don’t see any of this happening.

      And if the Cubs stick with Hendry until the end of the season, about the only guys I could even see traded would be guys in the last years of their deals: Pena, Baker, Johnson, ARAM, Fukudome, and Grabow (if someone is drunk enough to take him)

      The Cubs might ultimately cut ties with Lopez and Davis….though with Hendry at the helm, it’s likely he’d just hang onto them, because of their “veteran presence”…..LMAO!!!!!!!!!! But it’s so true

  • Aaron

    Tom, 

    I don’t know if you’re around tonight, but you posted something in the previous thread I thought I’d comment on:

    ********************************************************************************************
    In what may be a developing story, the organization moved 3B Travis Garcia and C Rafael Lopez from the AZL Cubs to Boise. Boise has promoted  C Chad Noble and IF Dustin Harrington to Daytona. 

    The prelude to things to come? Stay tuned!
    ********************************************************************************************

    Harrington, I guess was injured a bit this year early on at Daytona, and struggled mightily with his swing. It’s actually shocking to me that they allowed him to bypass Peoria yet again when he’s clearly not ready for high-A pitching. My guess is both Noble and Harrington just went down to Boise to get a few more AB’s. 

    Neither are more than roster filler, just like all of the Cuban players (which totally blows my mind why Silva and Cabezas were given as much money as they were…but whatever) seem to be. Harrington was likely brought up so they could relegate Valdes to the bench, and Noble was likely recalled back up to Daytona to replace Mercedes.

    And Garcia and Lopez merely replace Harrington and Noble at Boise as they play the same positions.

    That’s not to say moves aren’t on the horizon (as I thought last night with Hoilman out of the lineup), but the Cubs have NO movement on the amateur draft signing front, and they have absolutely NO intentions of trades at this point. Once again, I take them at face value with what they say…which Ricketts, Hendry, and Quade have all recently, within the last month, come out and said that injuries have caused them to be this bad….unfortunately, they’re using revisionist history, but that’s a topic for another day. 

    Therefore, “injuries are the cause for the piss poor record”=no major trades prior to the deadline, if at all this year

    In fact, unless the Cubs are 20 games under and 20 games out around the deadline, I don’t see any major trades being made, unless it happens at the end of August well after the non-waiver deadline.

    In order to have movement in the minor league system, there needs to be movement at the MLB level, and there just isn’t anything going on.

    Right now, the Cubs have Cashner (likely out for the season), Byrd, Barney, and Wood on the DL, with Byrd, Barney, and Wood all set to come off the DL soon. 

    What will likely happen is Mateo goes down when Barney is recalled (likely tomorrow). Campana or Montanez go down when Byrd returns, and Carpenter goes when Wood returns.

    I’ll admit, that every single time I see a move like Hoilman out of the lineup, or a call-up like Harrington and Noble to Daytona, I immediately think the Cubs are up to something…..

    But what in the world has given me….or the rest of us on the site any reason whatsoever to think the Cubs are actually “up to something”.

    Additionally, if we look at Hendry’s recent history with trading veterans at the deadline in salary dump moves, he’s FAR more likely to wait until after the deadline to even do so, as he thinks the Cubs are perpetually “in it”.

    That’s PRECISELY why I wanted him fired long ago. To make matters worse, I just read an article today, I think on mlbtraderumors, that Hendry won’t get good value in any trade he makes, because rival teams believe he’s on the way out, and they can absolutely take the Cubs to the cleaners in any trade.

    The situation with Hendry is why most organizations fire their employees on Fridays, in order to mitigate the damage they could potentially cause at the beginning of the business week.

    The Cubs (specifically the Ricketts) are in a GREAT position right now to do a number of different things, but they must make some bold, but logical decisions first. Furthermore, the public and Cubs fans would be entirely on their side. Here’s a few of the changes with reasoning:

    1) Fire Hendry: #1- he’s made just about every excuse in the book, while making it look like he takes ownership for his own shortcomings. #2- he sticks to his “guns”, driving the organization into the ground, because he refuses to admit failure and correct his mistakes. Instead, he’ll hang onto players received via trade for his own players no matter what their production level is, because he wants to prove to the world he was right……actually I could go on for about 1,000 reasons….bottom line is, Hendry is NOT the guy you want leading a rebuilding effort, because he couldn’t even build a consistent winner to begin with. How hard is that for the Ricketts to effing understand?!?!?
    2) Fire Quade: Every time the guy opens his mouth, you just want to throw something through your tv set. He’s got to be one of the dumbest managers in the game right now, and perhaps the dumbest managers in Cubs history….which is an incredibly difficult feat to top, as they’ve had a dubious distinction of hiring a lot of terrible ones. From listening to his reasoning for certain decisions on the field in the post-game interview, to listening to his excuses in the media for the poor play on the field, to sitting young players when they mess up, or chewing them out in the dugout while he turns a blind eye to the veterans….the list goes on.  There’s really nothing positive to say about Quade, and I mean that sincerely. He’s a HORRIBLE field manager. He’s incredibly hypocritical, and you can bet the younger players have noticed this.
    3) Trade all veterans, except for Garza, Wood (because he’s cheap and wants to stay), and Marshall…..and I mean EVERY veteran besides them. In fact, with Dempster, Zambrano, Soriano, Byrd, Fukudome, Pena, Soto, Marmol, and ARAM, there might not be a better time to trade any of them, especially Soriano, as plenty of teams are looking for power, and might even be willing to absorb more of his contract than any of us imagined before. Additionally, with several big spending teams in contention right now with significant holes that Cubs veterans could fill….quite obviously, the Cubs would be stupid not to start purging veterans right NOW!!! Right now, there’s a lack of depth, specifically with power numbers from 3B throughout the league, and with ARAM heating up, he could be in demand. Fukudome is an OBP-machine, even though he’s in his annual post-April slide. Pena is on fire right now with his power numbers, and Marmol would be the best closer option available in my opinion. But again, with Hendry at the helm, it’d be in the Cubs’ best interest to make a change there, as teams would definitely take advantage of a likely out-going GM (it’s happened in the past with other teams with the Pirates-Littlefield, Mets-Duquette, and Padres-Towers coming to mind)

    • Tom U

      Aaron, I just got back in after taking care of some family matters the past two days. 

      There was more movement this evening, with C Luis Flores and IF-C David Macias promoted from Daytona to Tennessee. Tennessee SS Matt Camp was suspended, but there wasn’t any details. 

      From where I sit, it looks as if the organization is ready to shake things up at the minor league level. If you had a Double-A team with the best record in their league, and were about to promote some of their best players, wouldn’t you like to send a few veteran minor-leaguers down to ease the transition?

      Like I said, Stay Tuned!

      • Aaron

        Flores was moved up when Noble got added to Daytona. Macias is the “organizational player”, moving all over the place. His “promotion” isn’t really one at all. He will likely be a player/coach within the organization in the not-too-distant future.

        Camp being suspended is news to me. I met him once, and he didn’t strike me as anywhere close to a trouble-maker type. It doesn’t really matter, as he wasn’t very good at AAA, and with his age, he likely isn’t going to be in the organization next year anyhow.

        In theory, your point is valid about the veteran minor leaguers being sent down to ease the transition. With LeMahieu getting a “promotion” after a demotion from the MLB squad (which he might be better served not being involved in that debacle), and Gonzalez getting promoted as well after Marquez Smith was injured, someone at Iowa had to go. First was Camp, and now, it was Scales. 

        Again, as I’ve stated before, if the Cubs ACTUALLY HAD an organizational plan, all of these moves would make a lot more sense. But let’s be honest…..they do NOT have one.

        You’d think moves like this would mean the Cubs were planning on promoting several young prospects both up the chain and to the big league club.

        And these would be a list of guys that probably need to be a league above where they’re currently at right now:

        Mesa-Geiger, Durrence, Pugliese
        Boise-Chen, Darvil, Zapenas, Hoilman, Wang, Cruz, Thomas
        Peoria-Gibbs, Rohan, Szczur, Jones, Kirk, Suarez
        Daytona-Crawford, Bour, Cerda, Ha, Kurcz, Rosscup, Batista, Antigua
        Tennessee-Flaherty, Clevenger, Ridling, Spencer, Beliveau, Dolis, Rhoderick, McNutt, Struck, Gonzalez and LeMahieu (both recently promoted to Iowa, but they should be in Chicago)
        Iowa-LaHair, Snyder, Wright, Gaub, Maine, Parker, Castillo

        But here’s the problem with moving any of them up…The Chicago National League Ballclub actually has to eliminate players from their own roster for guys to move up……..PLUS, the Cubs actually have to sign some of their draft picks from this year, otherwise, there’s nobody to take the spots of guys in Mesa-Peoria (Peoria usually being the highest guys advance to after the draft).

        I don’t know what’s going to happen, and between now and the end of the season, there will be PLENTY of rumors…

        One thing we know for sure, is Ricketts is in WAY over his head not just with the team, but with the stadium, finances, and the league as a whole. We already know he’s reluctant to pay to get rid of any problem contracts. We also know that the Ricketts family as a whole is very fond of Hendry, and believe he’s done a fantastic job, which is why Ricketts “vote of confidence” was EXACTLY that, and NOT what it’d be with the rest of the league (as a prelude to a firing). We also know that the Ricketts family (both Tom and his siblings and their father) think Cubs fans are dumb, and should keep paying to see a losing team, as Tom’s comments would indicate. Therefore, it’d appear they have absolutely no plans to start over, because they think they have an excellent product to begin with. In fact, they’ve gone out of their way to make excuses for both Hendry and Quade, saying the team hasn’t been competitive due to injuries, and once they get everyone back, they should be competitive again, blah blah blah

        It’s one of the most overused cliches in the world, but with regard to any possible changes in the organization….I’ll believe it when I see it. I have absolutely no faith in ownership, and for that matter, management, to right this ship, and get it back to a respectable franchise.

         

  • paulcatanese

    Quade was not sure what Lopez could give him tonight and thats why he started Davis in game one? I would like to know what he would have done otherwise.
    Quade is totaly clueless when it comes to pitching. Why would he even consider either of these two? Why dosent he just take the All Star break and come back afterwards? Give Cub fans a break from the headaches he causes daily with his moves. Between the two of them he could have tired the Giants out on the bases and we would have had a chance in the nite-cap.

  • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

    Cubs lost 6-3 to Giants, swept in DH – Ramirez: HR; Montanez:
    2R HR; Lopez: 4R, 8H, 2BB, K, 4.2 IP; Grabow: 2R, 3H, BB (2 inherited runs), .1
    IP

  • paulcatanese

    The Giants and Barry Zito thank the Cubs for an easy victory.  Zito beat the Cubs?
    That has to be one of the most embarassing losses for the year. Quade, hold another meeting, you are really getting across.

  • Baron_S

    John Grabow makes $4.8 million dollars… that is so freaking hilarious!!