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Cubs vs. Rockies: So, who wants the No. 2 pick in next year's draft?

The main players to watch in this completely meaningless series will actually be playing college baseball come February.

David Banks - Getty Images

The Chicago Cubs make their annual trip to Coors Field this week to take on the Colorado Rockies. Both teams enter the series with identical 59-94 records, which is tied for second-worst in baseball.

This series will be key in deciding who gets the second overall pick in the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft. So, the difference between Arkansas RHP Ryne Stanek and Stanford OF Austin Wilson (according to Keith Law's early rankings) will be whoever decides to stick to their usual brand of sucking for three more days.

I don't really care if the Rockies get the second pick or third pick in the upcoming draft, so I'll stay with rooting for them to win. In order to do my part to help ensure that's the case, I'm not going to say anything bad about the Cubs in this preview. Last time I did that, the Cubs took two out of three from Colorado at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs feature the best offense in the universe*, led by this guy, who is the front-runner for NL MVP**.


Alfonso Soriano

#12 / Left Field / Chicago Cubs

6-1

195

R

R

Jan 07, 1976


AVG OBP SLG
2012 - Alfonso Soriano .263 .317 .504


Soriano has posted a 119 OPS+, while hitting 31 homers and drive in over 100 runs. Anthony Rizzo, who is an intriguing young player, destroyed the Pacific Coast League while at Iowa, and his success has carried over to the big-league level. He has a 117 OPS+ in 333 plate appearances, while going yard 14 times.

*No, they're not. Their collective 84 OPS+ is horrible. They'd be better off with Jerome Walton and Rick Wilkins in their lineup.

**Maybe, if MVP awards were given to notorious out machines.

Meanwhile, on the pitching side of things, their stellar rotation to start the year* has recently given way to a whole bunch of superstar-level** pitchers. Sure, nobody in the original rotation finished with an ERA higher than Travis Wood's 4.23, but these young guys are so much better. Brooks Raley! Chris Rusin! Jason Berken! Bort Jefferies! Rod Steveguy!*** Those guys are going to be really, really good. Tons of upside there.

*Their initial rotation actually was pretty damn good.

**Maybe not, but really, who are WE to judge?

***Those last two names may or may not be made up. You decide.

The bullpen is anchored by on-again/off-again closer Carlos Marmol, who is unhittable for the most part, and has impeccable control.* Shawn Camp and James Russell have done a pretty good job out of the bullpen, as well. As for the rest of they guys, they're all up-and-comers who should dominate for years to come.**

*Marmol walks everybody ever.

**Yeah right! Their names might as well be Base Onballs, Walks McGee, Walker Ballfour, Bob Walk Jr., Dave, Jonathan Sanchez and World B. Free(pass).

Shit. This is going to be bad, isn't it?

Probable Starters

Game 1 -- Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 6:40 p.m. MT

Chris Rusin (1-2, 6.00 ERA) vs. Jorge De La Rosa (0-1, 12.27 ERA)

Game 2 -- Wednesday, Sept. 26 at 6:40 p.m. MT

Jason Berken (0-1, 1.80) vs. Drew Pomeranz (1-9, 5.30)

Game 3 -- Thursday, Sept. 27 at 1:10 p.m. ET

Chris Volstad (3-10, 6.22) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (2-5, 4.73)


Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
Casey Coleman 17 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .333 .333 .333
Reed Johnson 76 169 23 51 9 3 3 16 10 43 2 1 .302 .355 .444
Anthony Rizzo 79 307 40 89 12 0 14 45 22 54 3 2 .290 .342 .466
Starlin Castro 153 613 74 174 26 12 13 76 33 95 25 13 .284 .322 .429
Welington Castillo 45 149 16 42 10 0 5 21 16 44 0 0 .282 .357 .450
Jeff Baker 54 134 16 36 10 1 4 20 8 28 4 1 .269 .306 .448
David DeJesus 142 482 72 128 27 8 8 49 58 87 7 8 .266 .353 .405
Darwin Barney 148 520 71 137 26 4 7 43 32 51 6 1 .263 .309 .369
Alfonso Soriano 143 536 64 141 32 2 31 105 37 148 6 2 .263 .317 .504
Tony Campana 86 169 26 44 6 0 0 5 11 43 29 3 .260 .306 .296
Bryan LaHair 122 329 41 84 17 0 15 35 39 121 4 2 .255 .333 .444
Chris Rusin 5 8 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 .250 .250 .500
Randy Wells 12 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 .250 .250 .250
Dave Sappelt 18 45 4 11 4 0 0 4 6 7 0 0 .244 .346 .333
Luis Valbuena 84 244 25 54 19 0 4 28 35 48 0 2 .221 .317 .348
Joe Mather 99 217 17 45 9 0 5 19 13 44 5 2 .207 .253 .318
Steve Clevenger 66 194 16 40 12 0 1 16 16 39 0 1 .206 .267 .284
Adrian Cardenas 41 54 5 11 6 0 0 2 4 11 0 0 .204 .259 .315
Ian Stewart 55 179 16 36 5 2 5 17 21 46 0 3 .201 .292 .335
Anthony Recker 5 10 1 2 1 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 .200 .200 .600
Brooks Raley 5 10 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .200 .200 .200
Geovany Soto 52 176 26 35 6 1 6 14 19 35 0 0 .199 .284 .347
Travis Wood 26 48 5 9 3 0 1 2 0 17 0 0 .188 .188 .313
Chris Volstad 19 27 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 .185 .185 .185
Koyie Hill 11 39 3 7 1 0 0 1 0 7 0 0 .179 .179 .205
Brett Jackson 38 107 13 18 6 1 4 8 19 54 0 2 .168 .294 .355
Blake DeWitt 18 29 1 4 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 .138 .133 .172
Blake Lalli 6 15 1 2 0 0 0 2 1 3 0 0 .133 .188 .133
Josh Vitters 31 88 6 10 2 0 2 5 4 30 1 0 .114 .160 .205
Jeff Samardzija 31 50 0 5 0 0 0 3 3 16 0 0 .100 .167 .100
Ryan Dempster 16 32 1 3 0 1 0 1 0 9 0 0 .094 .094 .156
Paul Maholm 21 39 1 3 0 0 1 3 2 22 0 0 .077 .122 .154
Marlon Byrd 13 43 1 3 0 0 0 2 3 10 0 1 .070 .149 .070
Matt Garza 18 30 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 23 0 0 .067 .067 .100
Justin Germano 12 17 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 10 0 0 .059 .111 .059
Jason Berken 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Michael Bowden 27 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Scott Maine 21 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Kerry Wood 10 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Manuel Corpas 46 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000
James Russell 74 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Miguel Socolovich 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Jaye Chapman 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Rafael Dolis 31 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Alex Hinshaw 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Alberto Cabrera 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Jeff Beliveau 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Carlos Marmol 58 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Shawn Camp 77 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Blake Parker 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Jairo Asencio 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Rodrigo Lopez 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Lendy Castillo 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000

Pitching

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
Joe Mather 0-0 99 0 0 0 0 0 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 3.00
Jason Berken 0-1 2 2 0 0 0 0 10.0 10 6 2 1 3 7 1.80 1.30
Jaye Chapman 0-1 10 0 0 0 0 0 9.1 5 2 2 0 8 10 1.93 1.39
Ryan Dempster 5-5 16 16 0 0 0 0 104.0 81 28 26 9 27 83 2.25 1.04
Jairo Asencio 0-0 12 0 0 0 0 0 14.2 12 6 5 1 11 8 3.07 1.57
Michael Bowden 0-0 27 0 0 0 0 1 32.2 28 12 12 4 15 23 3.31 1.32
Shawn Camp 3-6 77 0 0 0 2 3 74.2 74 28 28 6 20 52 3.38 1.26
James Russell 7-1 74 0 0 0 2 2 65.1 65 28 25 5 23 53 3.44 1.35
Carlos Marmol 2-3 58 0 0 0 20 3 52.1 38 24 21 4 44 67 3.61 1.57
Paul Maholm 9-6 21 20 0 0 0 0 120.1 115 51 50 12 34 81 3.74 1.24
Jeff Samardzija 9-13 31 28 1 0 0 0 174.2 157 79 74 20 56 180 3.81 1.22
Matt Garza 5-7 18 18 0 0 0 0 103.2 90 48 45 15 32 96 3.91 1.18
Travis Wood 6-12 26 24 0 0 0 0 144.2 125 74 68 23 46 113 4.23 1.18
Jeff Beliveau 1-0 19 0 0 0 0 0 16.0 18 8 8 5 11 14 4.50 1.81
Miguel Socolovich 0-0 6 0 0 0 0 0 6.0 4 3 3 1 3 6 4.50 1.17
Scott Maine 1-1 21 0 0 0 0 1 20.2 17 11 11 2 12 26 4.79 1.40
Manuel Corpas 0-2 46 0 0 0 0 3 44.2 47 26 25 7 16 26 5.04 1.41
Randy Wells 1-2 12 4 0 0 0 1 28.2 35 18 17 1 24 14 5.34 2.06
Rodrigo Lopez 0-1 4 0 0 0 0 0 6.1 8 6 4 0 5 2 5.68 2.05
Blake Parker 0-0 7 0 0 0 0 0 6.0 10 7 4 3 5 6 6.00 2.50
Chris Rusin 1-2 5 5 0 0 0 0 21.0 28 14 14 3 8 17 6.00 1.71
Alberto Cabrera 1-1 23 0 0 0 0 0 19.1 15 14 13 1 16 25 6.05 1.60
Justin Germano 2-9 12 11 0 0 0 0 59.2 71 45 41 6 18 40 6.18 1.49
Chris Volstad 3-10 19 19 0 0 0 0 101.1 122 72 70 13 43 55 6.22 1.63
Rafael Dolis 2-4 31 0 0 0 4 2 33.1 32 26 24 4 22 20 6.48 1.62
Casey Coleman 0-2 17 1 0 0 0 1 24.1 37 20 20 5 12 16 7.40 2.01
Brooks Raley 1-2 5 5 0 0 0 0 24.1 33 23 22 7 11 16 8.14 1.81
Kerry Wood 0-2 10 0 0 0 0 2 8.2 8 8 8 1 11 6 8.31 2.19
Lendy Castillo 0-1 11 0 0 0 0 0 12.1 23 16 14 2 9 12 10.22 2.59
Alex Hinshaw 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.1 4 5 5 3 1 0 135.00 15.00


Chicago Cubs Injuries

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player Injury Type Injury Date
Matt Garza elbow 07/22/2012
Ian Stewart wrist 06/13/2012
Marcos Mateo elbow 04/05/2012
Blake Parker elbow 09/06/2012
Arodys Vizcaino elbow 03/26/2012