Neal Cotts for David Aardsma

[CaliforniaRaisin]

I may be missing something, but if Rapada was this close to being ready why did we see Marshal and Walrond? I am not as in touch with the minor leagues as alot of others,but last season would have been easy to see if he was actally ready.

 

Rapada is a LOOGY, not necessarily even a one-inning guy while these guys are starters/long-relievers. Also, Sean Marshall came up to start the season; part of the reason Rapada might be ready is his success in the AFL which obviously came after the season.

[VanceJergins]

I may be missing something, but if Rapada was this close to being ready why did we see Marshal and Walrond? I am not as in touch with the minor leagues as alot of others,but last season would have been easy to see if he was actally ready.

 

Rapada is a LOOGY, not necessarily even a one-inning guy while these guys are starters/long-relievers. Also, Sean Marshall came up to start the season; part of the reason Rapada might be ready is his success in the AFL which obviously came after the season.

 

How can Kevin not be included in your sig pic? Or Creed? Thats an outrage.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

I may be missing something, but if Rapada was this close to being ready why did we see Marshal and Walrond? I am not as in touch with the minor leagues as alot of others,but last season would have been easy to see if he was actally ready.

 

Rapada is a LOOGY, not necessarily even a one-inning guy while these guys are starters/long-relievers. Also, Sean Marshall came up to start the season; part of the reason Rapada might be ready is his success in the AFL which obviously came after the season.

 

How can Kevin not be included in your sig pic? Or Creed? Thats an outrage.

 

I personally want Karen included.

[craig]

... the Cubs are sold on having two lefties, and whatever posters might say, Rapada and Pigs are not in the picture for this year. ....

.

 

why not? rapada is obviously ready and even if pignatello starts off the year in iowa, whose to say he wont get a call to the bigs sometime in 07? they also have campusano as a lefty bullpen guy.

 

Why not? Big market teams that are trying to contend don't often plan their team around AA prospects who don't have exceptional arms and who haven't proven themselves in AAA yet. The Cubs are no different, and they most certainly are *not* counting on these guys as being big-league ready.

 

"Rapada is obviously ready..." Obvious to who? His AAA coach said he has potential, but suggested that his location was far from optimal or what it might be future. Perhaps that pitching coach (and now the coordinator of their minor league pitching) can't see the obious, and perhaps having watched him pitch for amonth or two has clouded the obvious.

 

Rapada's WHIP in AAA was 1.8. That's not all that obviously good. It's pretty shaky, in fact.

 

Seems to me the Cubs are not acting any differently from what every org does: for prospects with unexceptional stuff, a guy often needs to produce in AAA for a while before his window of opportunity opens. Might it happen? Sure. But trading Ohman and writing Rapada into the big-league roster, that seems undesirable at this point.

 

Pigs? He pitched all of 6 innings in AAA this year, with a WHIP of 1.4. The year before that, he pitched 47 innings in AAA, with a 5.51 ERA and a WHIP over 1.5.

 

Is there a shot that these guys will be ready, perhaps sometimes this season, perhaps even right from the start? Possible. But assuming as much when they haven't done anything at AAA yet, most teams don't assume that, and I don't blame the Cubs for taking that approach.

 

I do like Rapada quite a bit, and I think his sidearm stuff is unusual enough that it will probably be tough on big-league hitters too... if he can control it. But I think it makes sense to ask him to show he can locate it consistently in AAA for a while before the big shot.

[mg420]

... the Cubs are sold on having two lefties, and whatever posters might say, Rapada and Pigs are not in the picture for this year. ....

.

 

why not? rapada is obviously ready and even if pignatello starts off the year in iowa, whose to say he wont get a call to the bigs sometime in 07? they also have campusano as a lefty bullpen guy.

 

Why not? Big market teams that are trying to contend don't often plan their team around AA prospects who don't have exceptional arms and who haven't proven themselves in AAA yet. The Cubs are no different, and they most certainly are *not* counting on these guys as being big-league ready.

 

"Rapada is obviously ready..." Obvious to who? His AAA coach said he has potential, but suggested that his location was far from optimal or what it might be future. Perhaps that pitching coach (and now the coordinator of their minor league pitching) can't see the obious, and perhaps having watched him pitch for amonth or two has clouded the obvious.

 

Rapada's WHIP in AAA was 1.8. That's not all that obviously good. It's pretty shaky, in fact.

 

Seems to me the Cubs are not acting any differently from what every org does: for prospects with unexceptional stuff, a guy often needs to produce in AAA for a while before his window of opportunity opens. Might it happen? Sure. But trading Ohman and writing Rapada into the big-league roster, that seems undesirable at this point.

 

Pigs? He pitched all of 6 innings in AAA this year, with a WHIP of 1.4. The year before that, he pitched 47 innings in AAA, with a 5.51 ERA and a WHIP over 1.5.

 

Is there a shot that these guys will be ready, perhaps sometimes this season, perhaps even right from the start? Possible. But assuming as much when they haven't done anything at AAA yet, most teams don't assume that, and I don't blame the Cubs for taking that approach.

 

I do like Rapada quite a bit, and I think his sidearm stuff is unusual enough that it will probably be tough on big-league hitters too... if he can control it. But I think it makes sense to ask him to show he can locate it consistently in AAA for a while before the big shot.

 

so the cubs are "planning their team" around a loogy now huh? if ohman is traded, the cubs still have cotts & eyre from the left side. somehow i dont think that having rapada in a mike meyer's type role instead of ohman would make or break the season.

[craig]

so the cubs are "planning their team" around a loogy now huh? if ohman is traded, the cubs still have cotts & eyre from the left side. somehow i dont think that having rapada in a mike meyer's type role instead of ohman would make or break the season.

 

mg, I don't follow where you are coming from. Yesterday, I noted that:

1. Rapada and Pigs weren't in the plans for this year. Thus it would be a problem to trade Ohman or Eyre.

2. By adding Cotts, it opened the option to trade Ohman, who has value and might help us get something useful. I thought this was an advantage of the Cotts pickup.

 

Then, you wrote and implied that was dopey because Rapada was obviously ready and Pigs might be soon.

 

So, I responded that Rapada and Pigs are very unlikely to be ready, and that the Cubs certainly don't assume that they are.

 

Prior to adding Cotts, a trade of Ohman would have been a problem and would not have been considered very seriously, since doing so would make Rapada the 2nd lefty and Hendry wouldn't like that.

 

So, I think you and I are in the same place now. Having acquired Cotts, we have three big-league lefties. Hendry can trade one of them, no problem. When we had two, Hendry couldn't trade one of them, it would have been a problem.

 

But I think Rapada is a non-factor in this. He would not have been considered satisfactory as the 2nd lefty. As the 4th lefty, hanging out at Iowa, or in the event of a trade if he becomes the 3rd lefty, again hanging out at Iowa, that's just fine.

 

Hopefully he'll do really well at Iowa. If Ohman does get traded, Rapada will then be an injury away from getting called up. Hopefully he'll rock at Iowa, and when his window of opportunity does open, whenever that might be, he'll be ready.