Bleacher Bums Forum

In case you missed it, earlier today Brailyn Marquez had his longest and most effective outing in over 4 years pitching 3 innings with a 5/1 K/W and 0 H allowed.  Hopefully, that'll earn him a minor league contract next year with someone. 

Bases upon what we have seen up to this point, I would not be surprised to see Shaw start out the season at Iowa.

As far as his getting to the majors next year as the Cubs third baseman, I would think that if the Cubs were seriously thinking about that, they would have had him play a lot more at third base already this year.  Of course, things could change.

The cubs have enough uncertainties next year (third base, first base, DH) that there is no reason not to try to sign Candelario, if the money is reasonable, assuming that there are no better players options available.

But I think that the main thrust of the off season should be trying to upgrade the pitching staff, even if for some reason, Stroman should remain.

Horton 5-3–0-0-1-7

LHRP Daniel Brown [2023-16, Campbell $150K] Rob Wegley: On Tap Sports: “If you thought Ty Johnson was a pitcher with iffy command that the Cubs think they can figure out, just wait until you read about Daniel Brown. Brown's stat line is hilarious. In 2022, he had an ERA of infinite. He gave up 4 runs on 4 walks, 2 BB, and 5 wild pitches over two appearances without recording an out. To be fair, he also did not give up a hit. So, you know, there's that. In 2023, Brown improved his ERA substantially to just 54.00. In 4 games (1.0 IP), Brown had 4 wild pitches, 9 walks, and 3 strikeouts while giving up 6 earned runs. Again, he did not give up a single hit... because no one ever really needed to swing against him. So why was Brown drafted? He throws 101.”  Daniel debuted in Fall 2023 Instructionals, Arizona Phil’s writeup of his first appearance. “D. Brown was REALLY wild (walked three of the four batters he faced, uncorked three wild pitches, and threw only one strike -- turned into the 4-3 GO -- among his 14 pitches, most of which ended up sailing over the catcher's head or behind the batter, or were spiked five feet in front of home plate).”

.. but did he touch 100?

6 Ks in 2.1 IP for Estrada today.

He seems to have totally lost his splitter, which was the pitch that really made him effective (especially against lefties).

Meghan Montemurro
@M_Montemurro

The Cubs have named catcher Moises Ballesteros their minor-league Player of the Year and right-hander Cade Horton their minor-league Pitcher of the Year.

Well, they got the pitcher right…

More notable perhaps than whether they got it "right" is the thinking of the organization internally about who they want to single out publicly for this. Ballesteros is also the guy that Carter Hawkins mentioned on the tv broadcast several weeks ago when asked about a prospect that he might want to point out.

So, think fair to conclude that Cubs really like Ballesteros.