Singing the Cubbie Blues

The Cubs woes have continued this week with a dreadful sweep at the hands of the last place Pirates. The Cubs appear to be headed for the basement in the NL Central themselves, after going 1-5 in a six game home stretch against two of the other worst teams in the league. On the injury front, things have continued to get worse. Let's check in on some news and notes.

• Matt Garza threw 30 pitches in the side session today. If he does not suffer a setback, he could come off the DL and pitch against the Astros next Monday.


• Aramis Ramirez was hit in the lip today with a ground ball and left the game. He will need stitches for his lip but at least the injury was not more serious.


• Alfonso Soriano is the latest Cubs outfield to be placed on the disabled list. Tyler Colvin was called back up yesterday to try to help an outfield that currently has three of the four regulars disabled.


• Bruce Miles reports that Marlon Byrd chatted with reports today. Byrd says he is waiting for his fractures to heal and he plans to return in 4-6 weeks.


• Mike Quade has no plans of using a six man rotation, so either Doug Davis or Rodrigo Lopez will be removed when Garza returns.


• Tom Ricketts quickly walked away from a group of reports today when someone asked what was wrong with his team.


• According to Baseball Prospectus, the Cubs chances of making the playoffs are 1.1%.


• The Cubs have the ninth overall pick in the First Year Player Draft, which takes place next week.

The Late Rounds Are on the Way!

Now, it's time for the late rounds of the 2010 Major Leauge Baseball First Year Player Draft. Today's final day of drafting starts at 11:00am CT. Today rounds 31-50 will take place.

For full details on what has happened in the draft the past two days, click here.

Let's take a look at some late round Cubs draft picks that went on to have solid careers.

• Ryne Sandberg, 20th round, 1978
• Randy Wells, 38th round, 2002
• Micah Hoffpauir, 13th round, 2002
• Tim Lincecum, 48th round, 2003- did not sign with the Cubs
• Sam Fuld, 24th round, 2003- did not sign until he was drafted by the Cubs again in '04
• Micah Owings, 19th round, 2004
• Michael Brenly, 43rd round, 2005- another guy that did not sign until the second time he was drafted. He's not in the bigs yet, but he's still worth noting.

Will the Cubs find a hidden gem today? Follow all the action on www.twitter.com/cubsfarmupdates and on mlb.com!

Draft Recap: Cubs Select Simpson

The Chicago Cubs surprised everyone with their first pick (16th overall) in the 2010 MLB First Year Player Draft. Tim Wilken and company selected Hayden Simpson, a right handed pitcher out of a Division 2 school. Simpson pitched for Southern Arkansas this season as a junior and posted a 13-1 record with an ERA of 1.81.

He was the runner up for the Division 2 Player of the Year this season. Reports say that Hayden's velocity falls after about four innings of work. Perhaps he is best suited as a reliever in the professional ranks.

Wilken told Cubs.com that this pick "just made sense". Simpson wasn't expected to go until sometime between the second and fifth rounds. Most highly regarded publications ranked this guy at the back end of their top 200 list.

In high school, Simpson was the starting quarterback at Magnolia (Ark.) and also pitched for the baseball team. It was a shock for him for him to be selected in the first round, even though he new the Cubs had interest in him.

Here are some notes on the rest of the Cubs top five draft choices as the draft picked up where it left on with the second round getting underway this morning.

Reggie Golden

• Cubs 2nd round pick
• #65 overall selection
• Centerfielder
• Wetumpka (Ala.) High School
• A lot of power, good speed
• 5'10'', 210 lbs
• Click for SB Nation's Profile
• Baseball Rumor Mill Bio

Micah Gibbs

• Cubs 3rd round pick
• #97 overall selection
• Catcher
• LSU
• Switch Hitter
• Just finished his junior year.
• Good defensive backstop.
• Profile on LSUsports.net

Hunter Ackerman

• Cubs 4th round pick
• #130 overall selection
• LHP
• Louisburg (Va.) College
• Went 8-1 with a 1.40 ERA this year as a Freshman in college.
• Last week he joined the West Virginia Miners baseball club of a college summer league.

Matthew Szczur

• Cubs 5th round pick
• #160 overall selection
• Outfielder
• Villanova University
• Also played football as a WR in college
• Has great speed and can his for average and power to all fields.
• Just finished his junior year.
• Villanova Athletics Bio

Picks 6-20

• 6. Ivan De Jesus (no relation to the Cubs' coach), OF, Cupeyville (PR) High School
• 7. Benjamin Wells, RHP, Bryant (Ark.) HS
• 8. Cameron Greathouse, LHP, Gulf Coast Community College
• 9. Kevin Rhoderick, RHP, Oregon State
• 10. Aaron Kurcz, RHP, College of Southern Nevada
• 11. Eric Jokisch, LHP, Northwestern University
• 12. Austin Reed, RHP, Rancho Cucamonga (Cal.) HS
• 13. Pierre LePage, 2B, University of Connecticut
• 14. Colin Richardson, RHP, Winter Haven (Fla.) HS
• 15. Elliot Soto, SS, Creighton University
• 16. Ryan Hartman, RHP, Mt. Zion (IL) HS
• 17. Steven Brooks, CF, Wake Forest
• 18. Ronald Pinckard, RHP, Baylor
• 19. Dustin Fitzgerald, RHP, Hill Jr. College
• 20. Ryan Cueno, 1B, University of Delaware

The draft is still going on today and it will finish tomorrow (strarting at 11am CT once again). For updates on the draft all night check out our Cubs Farm Updates Twitter.

Cubs 2010 First Year Player Draft Preview

Coverage & Times
Tonight the 2010 Major League Baseball first year player draft will get underway at 7:00pm CT. The first round will take place tonight televised on the MLB Network. The draft will resume tomorrow at 11am and finish on Wednesday.

This year, the Cubs have the 16th overall pick, which is the highest they've picked in the first round since 2007. All week I will provide you with full reports and updates on the draft on www.twitter.com/cubsfarmupdates!

Recent Top Picks
Here is the list of the Cubs' first round selections from the last ten years and where they are now!

2000: Luis Montanez (SS, #3 overall pick)- finally broke into the big leagues with Baltimore in 2008. He never panned out in his seven seasons in the Cubs' organization. Left the Cubs as a minor league free agent after the 2006 season.

2001: Mark Prior (P, #2 overall pick)- I don't think I need to update you on him. Prior was a good pitcher before all the injuries. Mark hasn't pitched in a big league game since 2006 despite several tries to come back in the Padres organization.

2002: Bobby Brownlie (P, 21st overall pick)- Has a career ERA over four in seven pro seasons. Brownlie pitched in the Cubs' organization until 2007, when he signed a minor league contract with the Nationals. Last season he pitched in 14 games with the Braves' AAA team and 11 Independent League games for Newark.

2003: Ryan Harvey (CF, 6th overall)- Now Harvey's playing in the Rockies organization. He hit .246 for AA-Tulsa last year. The Cubs finally gave up on him after the 2008 season.

2004: The Cubs did not have a first round pick, so their first selection was Grant Johnson, a pitcher out of Notre Dame, who was the 66th overall pick.

2005: Mark Pawelek (LHP, 20th overall)- left the organization at the end of the 2008 season. Currently, he's pitching in the Reds' chain.

2006: Tyler Colvin (OF, 13th overall)- Colvin became the first Cubs' top draft choice since Mark Prior to play in the bigs with the Cubs when he made his debut last September. So far Tyler is having a great season as the Cubs' extra outfielder.

2007: Josh Vitters (3B, 3rd overall)- Vitters was recently promoted to Double-A Tennessee,where he is hitting just .219 in 23 games. Josh is still adjusting to the pitching after his call-up from the Florida State League.

2008- Andrew Cashner (RHP, 19th overall)- Just got called up from AAA to join the Chicago bullpen. He made his big league debut last Monday against the Pirates. So far Cashner has not allowed a run in 3 innings of work.

2009- Brett Jackson (OF, 31st overall)- Enjoying a great season at Class-A Daytona, where he's hitting .274 with a .394 OBP.

What Are They Looking For?
As you can see, the Cubs have started to do a lot better in the department of drafting and developing young players over the last four years. Tim Wilken is reportedly focused on drafting the best athletes that are available. The Cubs are expected to look for some pitching depth. They also will look at the high school crowd a lot this year.

Prediction Time
Most experts think the Cubs will use their first round draft choice on a pitcher. Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com predicts that the Cubs will take RHP Asher Wojciechowski from The Citadel. Wojciechowski, who most writers think will make a big league reliever, is also the guy that www.mymlbdraft.com expects the Cubs to take. Baseball America thinks the Cubs will pick Karsten Whiteson out of Chipley High School in Florida. Whiteson has a lively fastball to go along with his nasty slider and solid change-up.

Rounds 2-50 will have coverage only on MLB.com, starting Tuesday at 11 (Rounds 2-30) and continuing Wednesday (Rounds 31-50).

I'll will have full coverage of the draft all week right here on Everything Cubs Blog!

Catching Up Quick Hits: Cashner Called Up, A Possible Trade, & More

First of all, sorry for the lack of posting this week! It's been a crazy week, so I was forced to take some time off from the blog. I assure you that daily posting will resume!

Let's catch up on all the news and notes in the Cubs word this week:

• David Kaplan and other sources have reported that the Cubs may be involved in trade talks that could send Derrek Lee to the Angels.
• Gordon Wittenmyer tweets that L.A. is instead targeting Xavier Nady.
• Carrie Muskat chimed in today and said that there is no truth to these rumors. Muskat says that the Cubs still feel they're in the race in the NL Central.
• Carlos Zambrano has moved back into the rotation. He was scheduled to start on Wednesday, but the Cubs game in Pittsburgh was rained out.
• Z will start tomorrow instead of Carlos Silva. The rest of the rotation for the weekend in Houston is still TBA.
• The makeup game against the Pirates will be tacked onto this road trip. The game will start at 11:35 next Monday.
• The Cubs called up top pitching prospect Andrew Cashner. John Grabow was placed on the 15-day DL to make room for the 2008 top drafted choice on the roster.
• Speaking of the first year player draft, it starts next Monday! The Cubs could be focussed on adding an arm to the organization with their 16th overall pick.
• The city of Mesa has announced a new financing plan to try to keep Cubs' Spring Training there.
• Ron Santo returned to Chicago yesterday and is feeling better after spending Monday and Tuesday in a Pittsburgh hospital. The heat in the booth got to Ronny on Monday. Dave Otto will sit in on the radio broadcasts in Houston this weekend.
• Xavier Nady is starting to swing the bat much better. He went 4-4 with a 2-run homer in Tuesday's loss.
• Piniella will toss Cashner into low-pressure spots to start out.
• Mike Fontenot was inserted in the lineup at second for a few games in place of the slump Theriot. It looks like The Riot is set to return to the starting nine.
• Former Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas thinks instant replay would be perfect for Major League Baseball.

That's it for now, but I'll keep you posted on Everything Cubs as always!