Completely untested but you could possibly try an output modifier.
http://rtfm.modx.com/display/revolution20/Input+and+Output+Filters+(Output+Modifiers)
You could edit your Articles template to contain a comparison operator like:
[[+articles:isequalto=``:then=`There are currently no articles`:else=`[[+articles]]`]]
IE - check if articles is empty, if so return the text string else return the Articles placeholder.
NOTE this will rely on articles being 'empty' if there are none published.
You could also try another place holder paging / or latest_post or whatever as well.
Just an idea and like I said completely untested.
