Arizona Update: AFL in Full Swing, GM Meetings in Scottsdale, Hot Stove Heating Up
After nearly a month of bouncing around the country following the Cubs on their way to the World Series Championship – and not to mention that amazing parade – I’m finally back home in Phoenix, Arizona. Part of me forgot how nice it is back here, I mean it’s 85 and perfectly clear today, so no, I don’t miss Cleveland. All this also means that the hot stove is heating up, slowly but surely. Here’s a breakdown of some news coming out of Arizona today.
- It remains to be seen how active teams will be prior to a new agreement being in place for the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which expires on December 1, 2016. Generally speaking, deals usually get started at the General Managers meetings and not finished there. With the CBA outstanding, that’s likely to be even more true this off-season than normal so don’t expect to hear many, if any, surprising deals getting done within the next few days.
- The Arizona Fall League has been underway since October 11 but we stepped away from AFL news, with the exception of when Kyle Schwarber started in his first and second games prior to joining the Cubs’ World Series roster, to cover and attend the World Series. So the real question is, how are the Cubs players doing so far?
- The Cubs have three position players in the AFL this year. Ian Happ (2B) is slashing .233/.327/.326 which, by all measures, is underperforming. Victor Caratini (C) is slashing .163/.260/.209 and that too is underwhelming. While Eloy Jimenez (LF) is slashing .277/.358/.532 which are monster numbers and that includes three home runs. Jimenez has been showing a lot of upside potential this year, moving from Single A South Bend to Advanced A Myrtle Beach in September after slashing .329/.369/.532 with 14 home runs over 432 at-bats (MiLB.com). I hope we get to see Eloy play a more prominent role come spring training.
- Let’s not forget about the pitcher’s playing in the AFL from the Cubs organization. Here are the four – James Farris, Ryan McNeil, Stephen Perakslis, and Duane Underwood (Jr.). None of these guys have logged too many innings but here’s their stats:
- James Farris – 6.0IP, 0ER, 3H, 2BB, 7Ks
- Ryan McNeil – 7.0IP, 10ER, 9H, 5BB, 6Ks
- Stephen Perakslis – 3.2IP, 0ER, 1H, 1BB, 4Ks
- Duane Underwood, Jr. – 6.0IP, 6ER, 8H, 2BB, 5Ks
- In addition, Cubs Kingdom has just entered into a partnership with Fanatics.com. If you enjoy what we do, and you need some new gear, please consider buying through the links on our page. If you do, it helps to support us so we can continue to provide you with great content and it’s also is a great way to get quality, authentic gear at great prices. They have a ton of World Series Champions gear too, which, of course, is a must-have. I was lucky enough to get some when I was in Chicago over the weekend.