Two players that began the season on the disabled list are set to make their 2013 debuts, Matt Garza and Albert Almora. While one will be on a big league mound on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh and the other one will be patrolling the outfield in Single-A ballpark, having both players back on the field is important for the Chicago Cubs. Matt Garza has not pitched in a Major League game in exactly 10 months. The last time Garza threw a pitch in a regular season game, he threw a fastball past Matt … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 05/20/13
As we near the Memorial Day sign post, Kane County, Daytona, and Tennessee have improved their records to around .500, with only Iowa lagging behind. Rock Shoulders and Bijan Rademacher continue to be the compelling forces for the Cougars, while Matt Szczur, Christian Villanueva, and Rafael Lopez have stepped up their games for the Smokies. Iowa can’t seem to get the right combination of pitching and hitting, and serving notice in Daytona were Dustin Geiger and Jorge Soler. To find out more, … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 05/16/13
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 05/16/13 The lows seemed to outnumber the highs to start the week, as both Kane County and Daytona could not manage a win between them. Iowa wasn’t much better, taking only one out of three from Reno. Tennessee was the only Cubs’ affiliate to show some life as the Smokies won four in a row thanks to Rafael Lopez and Christian Villanueva. These stories, along with the opening of the Venezuelan Summer League, are inside Down on the Farm. … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 05/09/13
It was not a great start to the week as Daytona ran into a buzz-saw named the St. Lucie Mets and saw their winning streak come to an end. The seemingly orphaned Tennessee Smokies went 27 innings without scoring a run. And then, there is Iowa, who seemingly never know which players will show up, or even if they have shown up, when they are physically there. The only team making some noise is Kane County, riding the “too hot to handle” Bijan Rademacher. These, and other stories, inside Down on the … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 05/06/13
Streaks are now the news in the minors as Daytona has won six straight thanks to the hot hitting of John Andreoli and Ben Carhart. Kane County has reeled off four straight wins on pitching gems by Pierce Johnson and Felix Pena, and a red-hot Bijan Rademacher. However, a back injury to Jae-Hoon Ha has the Tennessee offense scuffling, despite a near no-hitter from Dallas Beeler. Meanwhile, the bad spring weather forced Iowa to cancel three games. To find out how they all did, take a look inside of … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 05/02/13
Matt Garza completed his first rehab start Wednesday with the Smokies. While Tennessee lost the rain-shortened game, Garza threw 42 pitches, 25 strikes, in 2.2 IP. Garza walked two batters and gave up a hit and run in his first game action since last July. Garza is expected to make his second rehab start on Monday in an Iowa Cubs’ uniform. While there was plenty of offense at times, pitching was at the forefront to start this week. Daytona’s Zach Cates and Tennessee’s Kyle Hendricks flirted … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 04/29/13
In what can be considered an inconsistent end to this past week, highlighting the consistencies seems to put a positive foot forward. Kane County has been able to rely on players like Rock Shoulders and Bijan Rademacher. Outfielder John Andreoli and infielder Dustin Geiger have been rocks in the line-up for Daytona. Jae-Hoon Ha and Rubi Silva have been the go-to performers for Tennessee, while Brian Bogusevic and Ryan Sweeney have been persistent threats for Iowa. To find out how they all did, … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 04/25/13
Iowa and Daytona continued their season long struggles this week in Memphis and against Dunedin respectively. But both teams saw glimmers of hope from pitcher Brooks Raley and infielder Tim Saunders. Kane County evened their record by splitting a pair with Peoria. Pin-Cheih Chen started to heat up and Dan Vogelbach has remained steady. However, Tennessee was stung a couple of times as some of their top rated talent failed to produce. All this, and more, in today’s addition of Down on the Farm. … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 10/01/12
Meet the Mesa Solar Sox: The Pitchers This is the first of two articles highlighting the players from the Cubs organization who will be taking part in the 2012 Arizona Fall League, which starts on October 9. Today, the CCO will be looking at the pitchers the Cubs have assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox. … [Read more...]
Cubs Down on the Farm Report – 09/24/12
The Devil You Don't Know The famous quote reads: "The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know" In what seems like forever to many Cubs' fans, this quote appeared to be near and dear to the heart of top brass within the organization as they approached the off-season. But in an unusual twist, the front office would consider players from own system as the later rather than the former, openly embracing fringe and discarded players simply because of their Major League experience. … [Read more...]