By: Jacob Zanolla
Fans watched on Saturday as the Cubs scraped out another win, with Jorge Lopez closing out a series win against the Toronto Blue Jays. Craig Counsell’s offense only put up 3 runs, but more stellar pitching helped make it all they needed. Sunday was about the same, except the offense only got four hits in a 1-0 loss. As of Sunday night, the Cubs are five games out of the wild card, with the next two weeks being against opponents who are below .500. Finishing the season above the .500 mark is definitely possible, however finishing 82-80 doesn’t matter if you don’t make the playoffs. With the trade deadline passed, how can Jed Hoyer improve this team to make one final playoff push?
The Iowa Cubs currently have six top 100 prospects on their roster, the most of any minor league team. If the Cubs want to bolster their talent, at least five of these players need to be promoted when September rolls around.
The first player that deserves a promotion is Matt Shaw. Sure, he hasn’t spent very long in Iowa, but once September hits, he’ll have had a month to prove himself once again. Nico Hoerner skipped Iowa and is now a successful major leaguer, and that’s just one example of someone jumping right up to the major leagues. Shaw has a .853 OPS in Triple-A so far, although it has only been 11 games. He is continuously having multi-hit nights, and is playing good defense as well.
Corresponding move: Demote David Bote
Bote isn’t getting any playing time in the majors right now, and I would rather have Shaw’s at available off the bench, plus being able to see what he can provide at the big league level before we head into next season
Second we have Moises Ballesteros, someone who has quickly worked his way up the top prospect lists. His bat has been explosive whether he’s in Tennessee or Iowa, and would pretty easily provide more value than someone like Christian Bethancourt, who is currently the backup catcher to Miguel Amaya. This season, Ballesteros has 17 home runs with 63 runs batted in, with a .287 average and .843 OPS. The current defense at home plate is already subpar, so even if Ballesteros isn’t great behind the plate, his bat can make up for that loss in defense.
Corresponding move: DFA Christian Bethancourt
Bethancourt has been solid ok, getting a hit in four of the five games he’s appeared in with the Cubs. However, he is not a long term solution, and based on what the front office has said, any Cubs appearance past September would truly shock me.
Owen Caissie will most likely get promoted (per Matt Speigel) once September hits, so not much time is needed on him, but he can really hit. Having his bat in the lineup occasionally, or even just off the bench, would be a huge asset for this team.
Corresponding move: None, September call-up
The first pitcher that could help this club is Brandon Birdsell, someone who has really impressed people as of late. MLB Pipeline has him as the 24th best prospect in the Cubs system, which feels quite low. Lance Brodzdowski, who I encourage you to follow on Twitter for excellent prospect coverage, placed him as the tenth best, which seems to be more accurate for where he should be. Birdsell is a starter in Triple-A Iowa, but would most likely be in the bullpen to help out in September as Counsell’s team tries to mount a comeback into the playoffs.
Corresponding move: None, September call-up
Jack Neely was acquired from the Yankees in July for Mark Leiter Jr., and has been fabulous with the Iowa Cubs thus far. Neely has a 17.47 K/9 and 0.15 FIP in 5.2 innings, but overall the numbers are still pretty similar. Season wise, Neely has a 14.15 K/9 and 1.96 FIP in 48.1 innings. He has a two-pitch arsenal, featuring a four-seam fastball and a slider, with the fastball topping out at 98.1 miles per hour.
Corresponding move: Demote Ethan Roberts
Roberts was down for 19 days, appearing on Sunday for the first time since the day of the trade deadline, July 30th. The ideal move would be getting rid of Hector Neris, but the likelihood of that happening is very slim.
Ivy League Cubs 
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