BOISE—Despite the uncooperative actions of the Treasure Valley weather gods, summer is among us and the 2010 Northwest League season is just two days away. Media Day has come and gone from Memorial Stadium, marking the return of the Boise Hawks and the renewal of minor league relationships.
Though the Chicago Cubs placed 26 players on the Hawks’ 2010 roster—15 of which have previously played for Boise—only two were selected by the club in this year’s First-Year Players Draft just nine days ago.
Jeff Vigurs and Joseph Zeller were both inducted into the life of professional baseball when they were selected in ...
Day one of the MLB First-Year Players Draft began with the most predictable draft pick in baseball history, when the Washington Nationals selected 17-year-old phenom Bryce Harper.
The Chicago Cubs, however, made one of the more shocking picks of the first round, when they selected the unknown Southern Arkansas right-hander, Hayden Simpson, with the 16th pick. Despite the lack of name recognition, many analysts have jumped on the Cubs scouting director, Tim Wilken, who also selected rising star, Tyler Colvin, in 2006, and have deemed Simpson as one of the safest picks in the draft thus far.
Surprisingly, the Draft did ...
Just 13 days before the start of the Class-A Minor League season, the Chicago Cubs selected right-handed pitcher, Hayden Simpson, with the 16th pick—much to the surprise of draft analysts.
Simpson was absent from the majority of first-round projections, mainly due to his lack of exposure while playing for the Division II, Southern Arkansas Muleriders.
Despite being overlooked in the Draft, the Mangolia, Ark. product posted a 13-1 record, with a 1.81 ERA—ranked 10th among D-ll pitchers—and 131 strikeouts in 15 starts in only his junior season for the Muleriders.
In those 15 starts, Simpson held a 42.2 inning scoreless-innings streak—according to the Cubs' ...
As the Chicago Cubs—though still premature—close in on their first losing season season since 2006, one thing may be able to relinquish an utterly disappointing season.
Currently, numerous mock-draft web sites have the Cubs taking yet another pitching prospect, ranging from Alex Wimmers and Asher Wojciechowski, to Stetson Allie and Drew Pomeranz.
As seen with Chicago pitcher-prospects Jeff Samardizija and Jay Jackson, developement of young pitchers can be time consuming, and possibly result in career minor league pitchers.
So the question should be asked: Does the Chicago Cubs front office have the patience to wait for another mediocre hurler to earn his stripes? And the question can ...
On a gloomy Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley, Cubs' right-hander Carlos Silva improved to 4-0 in his seventh start of the season. With a 4-3 win over the visiting Florida Marlins, Silva is off to his best start since 2004, where he began the season 5-0 for the Twins.
Sports fans and analysts alike were skeptical when Chicago General Manager Jim Hendry announced that the Cubs, after finishing the 2009 season 86-76, had acquired Silva for clubhouse virus Milton Bradley, and cash, from the Seattle Mariners.
Bradley has struggled again this season. He's since been placed on the inactive list after asking the Mariners front ...
Finally, it appears that the Chicago Cubs are willing to show some backbone in the dugout after the promotion of Class AA shortstop Starlin Castro to the Major League roster. Castro made his highly anticipated MLB debut on Friday—after a series sweep by the Pirates left the rotation gasping for run support.
For the first time in four years, Ryan Theriot was moved over to second base to supplement the promotion of Castro.
In his first at bat as a major leaguer, Castro hit a three-run home run in the away half of the second inning and finished the game two hits ...
In the 2010 season, the Chicago Cubs rotation has been as dependable as a Toyota— especially since the recent move by Lou Piniella of Carlos Zambrano to the bullpen, and complete domination by recently acquired starter Carlos Silva.
Silva— who on Wednesday threw six complete innings, giving up only two hits and one earned run to go with his four strikeouts - has two wins in his three starts, after only winning five games in 34 starts for the Seattle Mariners in two years.
Is this cause for excitement for staggering Cubs fans?
Not quite.
With Seattle, Silva struggled to command pitches and sported ...
After a matchup between two relatively awful teams left Cubs fans with high hopes Monday, deeper problems still plague the mind of seasoned manager Lou Piniella.
Piniella may have made his best decision so far in the young season when he decided to start 24-year-old Tyler Colvin in replace of the struggling Alfonso Soriano on April 8. The result? Colvin belted his first career home run in his first at-bat of the season.
With Ryan Theriot struggling, to say the least—Theriot is 7-for-27 with five hits and a .185 batting average—another quick change may be in the works for a Chicago team ...
Must I say I told you so?
Thursday, Tyler Colvin, 24, made his first start of the 2010 season at Turner Field for the Cubs after slow starts from Alfonso Soriano, Kosuke Fukudome, and the entire Chicago offense for that matter.
Colvin faced numerous skeptics after demolishing opponents in spring training—the outfielder hit .468 while slugging .753 and driving in 18 RBI’s in 77 plate appearances—but few of those doubters still remain.
In his first at bat, Colvin belted a deep home run to right field off Atlanta right-hander Tommy Hanson in the top of the second inning.
Colvin finished the game 1-3, with ...
On a night when three of the worst teams in baseball kept their respective powerhouse opponents at bay -the Pirates played the Dodgers, the Reds faced the Cardinals and the Nationals battled the Phillies– even the Chicago Cubs saw a glimpse of offense as they led the Atlanta Braves, just as the apocalypse seemed to be setting in on Wednesday night.
Unfortunately, the stars couldn’t quite align. Chicago once again played too much like the Cubs and fell to the Braves after an eighth inning homerun by Chipper Jones, while only the Pirates, Indians and Blue Jays were able to edge ...
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