8-24 Down on the Farm Report

The Cubs playoff hopes may be bleak, but many of the Cubs' minor league clubs are right in the thick of things in their leagues. Today on the Farm Report, let's take a look at the teams and where they are in the standings.

AAA Iowa Cubs
The I-Cubs are in 3rd place in the PCL American North going into play tonight, but they are just 3.5 games back of first place Memphis. Iowa is looking to make it to the Pacific Coast League playoffs for the second year in a row. The rest of their season:
2 games VS NEW
5 games VS OKL
4 games @OMA
4 games VS ALB

The regular season ends for the PCL on September 7th.

AA Tennessee Smokies
The Smokies are tied for first with West Tenn going into play tonight in the SOU North. Chattanooga is also right there, just a game back. Huntsville, the 4th place team, won the first half. Here is the rest of the schedule for Sandberg's boys:
@ CAR, 4 games series stared yesterday, so 3 left
VS MOB 5 games
@WTN 5 games
Those last 5 games are going to be big ones between the two teams at the top!

High Class A Daytona Cubs
Daytona is the only Cub affiliate who's have no hope of making it to the postseason. The D-Cubs are 24-31, in 5th place in the FSL North, 16.5 games out of first.

Class A Peoria Chiefs
Going into play tonight, the Chiefs are in first in the MID Western, 4.5 games ahead of second place Cedar Rapids! Here is the schedule for the rest of the regular season:
VS QC 4 games
@ CR 4 games
VS KC 3 games
@ CLI 3 games

Class A Short Season Boise Hawks
The Hawks are currently in second place in the NOR East, 6 back of Tri-City. The still hope for Boise, here's what they have the rest of the way:
@SPO 5 more starting tonight
@TC 3 games
VS SPO 3 games
VS TC 3 games

Mesa Cubs (R)
The Arizona League Cubs are 27-25, 3rd place in the AZL East, 10.5 games out. They are not in the playoff hunt.

For Part II of our report, let's speculate about potential September call-ups.
First, let's get an idea of how many call ups will be mayed. Here is the amount of callups in the recent years for the Cubs:
2008- 4 callups + 2 DL activations to put roster at 31.
2007- 5 call ups + 1 activation to put roster at 31
2006- 1 call up + 3 activations to put roster at 29

This year, I'd expect to see the roster at 32 after the roster expands. First the Cubs are expected to bring 3 guys off the DL:
David Patton- There's a chance he won't be activated, we'll see.
Andres Blanco
Reed Johnson- Coming off the DL on or a little after September 1.

Second, the Cubs can make 4-5 callups. Here are some candidates:
Esmalin Caridad, P- With the Cubs now, but most likely will be sent down when Zambrano comes off the DL tomorrow.
Chris Robinson, C- Hitting .329 at AAA this season
Brad Snyder, OF- Has been red hot since coming off the DL, .287 AVG this season with Iowa.
John-Ford Griffin, OF- Midseason I-Cubs pickup, putting together a solid year.
Bobby Scales, 2B- hitting .283 with a .386 OBP for AAA. I think Cubs fans would love to see him back up.
Micah Hoffpauir, 1B- Has hit just .218 since being sent down for work.
J.R. Mathes, P- 12-6 with a 3.36 ERA for Iowa
Jeff Samardzija, P- Has been a little off in his stints with the Cubs this season, still could get a call up.
Vince Perkins- 2.79 ERA in 71 innings of work for the I-Cubs!
Jeff Stevens- Has proven himself in his short time with the big league clubs this year.

Bold= Guys I think will get called up.

You can get minor league updates each and every day on my Twitter. I'll update here on the blog about the farm clubs' stretch runs as they fight for the postseason and have plenty more about September Call-ups. The next Off Day is September 10, and that day I will focus on the Former Cubs Updates.

That does it for our look at the Future Cubs!