Convention "Down on the Farm" Session?

[Laura]

There's also a thorough writeup of the Down on the Farm session in a diary at Al Yellon's Bleed Cubbie Blue site.

[don_kessinger_was_good]

Regarding the suggestion above on Pie--I agree, starting him in AA with a move-up if the numbers warrant it seems like the best plan. He needs to get his confidence up, and the Cubs don't need him at the big league level in 06 anyway, so there's absolutely NO reason to rush. AAA outfield has plenty of guys to cover the spots anyways, with Greenberg, Bacon, Restovich and likely, Brandon Sing fighting for the three starting jobs. I figure the Cubs will try one of Matt Craig or Casey McGahee at 1B, Hoffpauir has no future and while Sing does, it would be in the OF, not at 1B.

 

Here's another interesting question for you all regarding placement: Brian Dopirak. Do you move him to Jackson, or make him repeat Daytona? I vote for the latter.

[don_kessinger_was_good]

After reading the link Serena provided to Al Yellon's blog, the poster provided a terrific recap of Down on the Farm, very informative. A couple of things I found interesting, maybe some want to discuss them?

 

1. My question on 2B has been answered by Fleita--Patterson gets the AA job, Spears goes to Daytona. That being the case, Hendry REALLY settled for peanuts in dealing Corey, wouldn't you agree? I mean, I know Corey had little trade value this year, and I supported moving him, but you really should have been able to do better than a high-A Judy hitting 2B. Ouch.

 

2. The Cubs are high on Sing and McGahee, so I'd expect them to have prominent roles in Iowa this year. But no mention of Matt Craig. Are his past personal problems sending him down the Andy Sisco Memorial Highway of Exile? Craig just keeps on hitting at every level, I'd hate to dump him for nothing.

 

3. Yet again this year, Peoria will have some excellent starting pitching. Fleita is sky high on Pawelek of course, no surprise there, but Donald Veal is getting a lot of love too. I don't know much about him--is he a genuine prospect?

 

4. And no mention of Grant Johnson. Do the Cubs regret that pick now?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

There's also a thorough writeup of the Down on the Farm session in a diary at Al Yellon's Bleed Cubbie Blue site.

 

Wow, that was a wonderful read.

 

Injuries:

 

Righty Billy Petrick, recovering from a shoulder operation, should return by June.

 

Righty Chadd Blasko, who missed last season after a shoulder operation, should break from camp with a team.

 

Righty Alberto Albuquerque has recovered "100%" from Tommy John surgery and should make the Boise staff this June.

 

Asked about players who could possibly help this year's big league club, Fleita rattled off Carlos Marmol (righty), Jose Reyes (catcher), Ryan Theriot (shortstop/second baseman), Casey McGehee (third baseman), and Brandon Sing (first baseman/outfielder).

 

Fleita talked about Marmol as a closer in the making: throwing in relief instead of starting, he adds about 5 mph to his low 90s FB without losing its late life.

 

Sean Gallagher has started working on his slider again and Oneri gave Von Joshua love for helping Ronny Cedeno out.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Here's another interesting question for you all regarding placement: Brian Dopirak. Do you move him to Jackson, or make him repeat Daytona? I vote for the latter.

 

Sounds like Oneri wants Brian to be promoted to West Tenn, I don't think that's too bad a decision. Get him out of his home state.

 

3. Yet again this year, Peoria will have some excellent starting pitching. Fleita is sky high on Pawelek of course, no surprise there, but Donald Veal is getting a lot of love too. I don't know much about him--is he a genuine prospect?

 

Yeah, I think Veal is. He was on the verge of cracking BA's top 10 list after just a few innings. Hopefully he can get his FB up to how hard he was throwing at Pima, it was down to the low 90s in Mesa and Boise.

 

4. And no mention of Grant Johnson. Do the Cubs regret that pick now?

 

I think it's way too early to say that. Hopefully he can be healthy this season though.

[Coach C]

EPatt doesn't K a lot? Okay....

 

I noted that as bs as well...(from whomever said that at the convention..not you, Deuce).

 

Also, Felix Pie having a tough time in winter ball isn't good news no matter how you spin it.

 

Here's to hoping that Pawelek has another great year...where will he be pitching this season? high A?

 

I'd guess low A Peoria.

 

Andy Sisco did not really have that bad a season in his last year in the Cubs system. Interesting justification for not protecting him. Anyone hear of Andy causing problems in KC?

 

Thanks, Deuce!

 

I haven't heard much about Sisco during this past off-season in the KC area, so I suppose that's a good thing. *shrug*

 

Have no idea how Sisco is taking care of his body on the off-season, so I guess I couldn't answer that question.

 

Edited: I was wrong. I looked through http://www.kcroyals.com and there is a tibit about Sisco here.

 

http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060117&content_id=1297109&vkey=news_kc&fext=.jsp&c_id=kc

 

Basically, dropped his weight from 275 to 260.

[anemic offense]

Thanks much, deuce. Anybody else who was there or had gotten reports from elsewhere, would be great to get more info. Was the new draft boss Wilken there, and did he sound smart or have anything interesting to say?

 

Of those comments, probably the most interesting to me are:

*Pie up to 200

*Plan for Sing to work in outfield. (With Jacque Jones as a LH RF, there's a chance that an opportunity for a power-hitting platoon partner might arise in the next year or two, if Sing advanced well...)

*Positive Guzman stuff

*Weird idea that EPatt isn't a K-king, which is contrary to his 2005 season. (K'ing over 100 times in the shortened minor-league season, 22% K-rate against mostly low-A pitching, that's liability, not asset).

 

I think Pie getting up to 200 means the Cubs will look to re-sign Pierre, with the belief that Felix can play a corner (most likely RF with his arm). I'd still like Pie to be the CF in 2007. I would like to see him get some ABs in the 2-hole next season. I'd start him at AA again, and call him up to AAA about midseason.

 

Starting him at AA may end up being the best option, but I wouldn't draw any definitive conclusions until he gets through spring training. In fact, his subpar winter ball outing should have somewhat been expected being he had little to no playing time the last 3 months of the season.

 

If he can regain his hitting stroke by end of spring training I think it does little good to put him back in a league he had considerable success in for the 05 season. However, if he struggles throughout most of March they could always send him back for West Tenn for a couple months. Its not like he figures to play much this year anyway (unless he blows up AAA), that is until they expand the rosters late in the season (in which case he'd still pry rot on the bench).

[Quakers]

There's also a thorough writeup of the Down on the Farm session in a diary at Al Yellon's Bleed Cubbie Blue site.

 

I found this information interesting.

 

Fleita also said Jonathan Mota, a shortstop signed out of Latin America who played for the Boise Hawks last year, is a good candidate to play in Peoria.

 

I saw Mota play second for Boise last year. He was a bit overmatched at the plate, but he handled himself well on the field. Doing that while you are 18 in a league where most of the players are a couple of years older than you qualifies you as a darkhorse candidate as a prospect. I thought he would repeat at Boise, but if he can succeed at Peoria, he may be worth watching.

[craig]

 

I saw Mota play second for Boise last year. He was a bit overmatched at the plate, but he handled himself well on the field. Doing that while you are 18 in a league where most of the players are a couple of years older than you qualifies you as a darkhorse candidate as a prospect. I thought he would repeat at Boise, but if he can succeed at Peoria, he may be worth watching.

 

I also found the Mota stuff interesting. To have been skipped up to Boise so young so fast was unexpected last year. To again be advanced up to full-season, again interesting. Not the normal handling for a roster-fill guy. Mota is also not your ordinary 5'9" Latin SS. I think he lists at 6'0" or 6'1", so who knows whether when he's 26 instead of 18 whether he might possibly have some decent power.

 

I imagine he's basically a guy they like defensively, and who knows what might happen with his hitting in due time. If he learns to hit ala Cedeno, maybe he'll end up being a very significant middle-infield prospect. If his hitting never exceeds the Augie Ojeda/Carlos Rojas level.

 

Sometimes physical maturation works both ways, of course. Guy grows and grows into more power. But often as he grows into more power his range and flexibility for playing shortstop can diminish. At any rate, if Mota can be at least fairly decent as a hitter this summer, he'll remain a guy to keep an eye on.