Cub prospects in the news

[toonsterwu]

Definitely wouldn't be surprising if some of the older and/or fringy arms were trimmed from the group he's working with.

[davell]

Law is at Fitch Park today. Mentioned that Vogelbach "drake'd" a ball out to RF. Also mentioned Whitenack is sitting 85-87. Petition to drop him 10+ spots on our list.

[Cubswin11]

Law is at Fitch Park today. Mentioned that Vogelbach "drake'd" a ball out to RF. Also mentioned Whitenack is sitting 85-87. Petition to drop him 10+ spots on our list.

How far removed from TJS surgery is Whitenack?

[Guest]

Law is at Fitch Park today. Mentioned that Vogelbach "drake'd" a ball out to RF. Also mentioned Whitenack is sitting 85-87. Petition to drop him 10+ spots on our list.

How far removed from TJS surgery is Whitenack?

He had the surgery in the summer of 2011.

[Cubswin11]

Law is at Fitch Park today. Mentioned that Vogelbach "drake'd" a ball out to RF. Also mentioned Whitenack is sitting 85-87. Petition to drop him 10+ spots on our list.

How far removed from TJS surgery is Whitenack?

He had the surgery in the summer of 2011.

So that's not a legit excuse anymore for his velo to be so low. Hopefully it's just some early season working into shape/dead arm or something, but that isn't good to hear in his long term regards as a prospect.

[craig]

.... Mentioned that Vogelbach "drake'd" a ball out to RF. ....

 

I'm not very hip. What does that mean?

[davell]

.... Mentioned that Vogelbach "drake'd" a ball out to RF. ....

 

I'm not very hip. What does that mean?

I'm trying to figure it out too. My guess is its in response to Amanda Bynes(troubled former Disney actress) saying last week she wanted Drake(a rapper) to murder her vagina.

[Warpticon]

.... Mentioned that Vogelbach "drake'd" a ball out to RF. ....

 

I'm not very hip. What does that mean?

I'm trying to figure it out too. My guess is its in response to Amanda Bynes(troubled former Disney actress) saying last week she wanted Drake(a rapper) to murder her vagina.

 

Much better than my guess, which was that his swing started from the bottom

[Guest]

@billazbbphotog: Javier Baez smokes a double high off CF batters eye in #Cubs Double-A game. #batspeed

[toonsterwu]

Any news on who was cut? Only thing I see is Baseball America's transaction sheet showing Ryan Hartman and Su-Min Jung getting cut - neither guy really being surprises.

[Hrubes20]

Any news on who was cut? Only thing I see is Baseball America's transaction sheet showing Ryan Hartman and Su-Min Jung getting cut - neither guy really being surprises.

 

AZPhil mentioned that Dustin Harrington was one of them (another non-shocker) and it appears that Harrington's twitter account confirms it. He said he was going to keep the rest of the names he suspects were cut a secret, so that any family members would not find out from him. Or something to that effect.

 

I also noticed this on Harrington's twitter:

 

Andrew McKirahan (tweeted on March 22: "Trust God's plan. 1 day at a time"

 

He may have been cut as well. Another likely casualty.

[davell]

McKirahan is extremely religious though. Possible it was just a passage from him. But yeah, its what I'm thinking as well.

[Guest]

That'd be a shame. He looked like a James Russell-type reliever who could move quickly before his arm injury.

[Guest]

• The two Cubs arms of note on Sunday came in at opposite ends of the spectrum. Starling Peralta, who was selected by Arizona in the Rule 5 draft this winter but quickly returned to the Cubs, touched 97 and sat around 94 with an inconsistent slider, slurvy at 75 mph, but with real bite at 81 in on a left-handed hitter's hands. There's some effort there but I can see why a team would at least pay $25,000 -- per Rule 5 guidelines -- for an extra look. Robert Whitenack, however, looked awful in his comeback from 2010 Tommy John surgery, sitting 85-87, way below what he was pre-surgery. He's a cautionary tale for every one of us (myself included) who looks at that operation as risk-free. Most guys come all the way back, but maybe one in 10 don't.

 

• I didn't see most of the Cubs' main hitting prospects, even the lower-tier guys, but did catch a few swings from second baseman Gioskar Amaya. He showed a compact stroke and the ability, maybe even the tendency, to try to keep his hands inside the ball rather than getting around it to drive the ball to the gaps. Jeimer Candelario didn't play; Dan Vogelbach homered to deep right and struck out twice. Their recent Cuban signee, pitcher Armando Rivero, probably won't get into game action until mid-April, when he'll start in extended spring training.

[wvcbxl]

Not looking good for Whitenack. Bummer.

[Guest]

Theo with some comments on prospects/the farm:

 

 

Epstein said first baseman Daniel Vogelbach "has a really special bat and I think he's going to have a huge year." He also mentioned a "deep group" of infielders, naming third baseman Jeimer Candelario, second baseman Gioskar Amaya, and shortstops Marco Hernandez and Carlos Penalver.

 

"They are a long ways away, but of that group, one or two is going to take a step forward and join the group of potential impact guys," he said. "(Starter) Pierce Johnson is off to a really good start in his first full spring training, and (right-hander) Paul Blackburn, a high school kid.

 

"Those guys are a long ways away, and they really haven't proven themselves yet. But Branch Rickey's idea in creating a farm system was creating quality through quantity, and that's what we're trying to do — add as many talented guys as we can, knowing some of them will emerge. And then with the No. 2 overall pick, and a chance to do some damage internationally — we hope to add some more impact guys this year."

 

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0326-cubs-spring-training-chicago-20130326,0,4838950.story

[imb]

Keith Law really busts his ass covering the minors. I used to really despise him, but he does a pretty solid job THOUGH I'LL NEVER READ HIS DAMN FOOD BLOG.

[Guest]

Keith Law really busts his ass covering the minors. I used to really despise him, but he does a pretty solid job THOUGH I'LL NEVER READ HIS DAMN FOOD BLOG.

 

What about his board game blog?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Keith Law really busts his ass covering the minors. I used to really despise him, but he does a pretty solid job THOUGH I'LL NEVER READ HIS DAMN FOOD BLOG.

 

What about his board game blog?

 

Is that a real thing? Because I would read that.

[imb]

[expletive] off, loser

[craig]

Epstein said first baseman Daniel Vogelbach "has a really special bat and I think he's going to have a huge year." He also mentioned a "deep group" of infielders, naming third baseman Jeimer Candelario, second baseman Gioskar Amaya, and shortstops Marco Hernandez and Carlos Penalver.

 

"They are a long ways away, but of that group, one or two is going to take a step forward and join the group of potential impact guys," he said. "(Starter) Pierce Johnson is off to a really good start in his first full spring training, and (right-hander) Paul Blackburn, a high school kid.

 

"Those guys are a long ways away, and they really haven't proven themselves yet. But Branch Rickey's idea in creating a farm system was creating quality through quantity, and that's what we're trying to do — add as many talented guys as we can, knowing some of them will emerge. And then with the No. 2 overall pick, and a chance to do some damage internationally — we hope to add some more impact guys this year."

 

Nice, thanks. Kind of fun to see some different names pop up. Penalver maybe cracked our top 40? Would be nice if he started to emerge as a genuine guy. Amaya, he seems to be getting increasing notice. Just as there were Amaya/Marco discussions in our top-20 discussion, they again get listed together here by Theo.

 

While he was a sandwich pick, Blackburn has not tended to get much buzz. He struggled last summer, and Az Phil gave him some pretty low velocity evaluation. This seems to be at least the second comment this camp that he's looked good, so that's encouraging.

Edited March 26, 2013 by craig

[Guest]

[expletive] off, loser

hahahahaha

[VVMattVV]

[expletive] off, loser

 

Can we imitate real life here and have da bum replace him?

[toonsterwu]

So I missed the first comment from this post http://www.thecubreporter.com/03262013/ha-gets-last-laugh-fitch-park#more by AzPhil on possible cuts

 

As far as I can determine, the following players were released last weekend:

 

INF Dustin Harrington, RHP Ty'Relle Harris, 1B Paul Hoilman, RHP Jay Jackson, and OF Nelson Perez

 

These five have disappeared and probably were released:

 

RHP Jason Berken, OF Eliecer Bonne, RHP Carlos Martinez, LHP Matt Spencer, and RHP Scott Weismann

 

It is possible that Bonne and/or C. Martinez might have been loaned to a team in the Mexican League. The Cubs have done that with Cuban defectors in the past.

 

Three interesting names stand out.

 

Jay Jackson - I expect organizations will come calling and he'll get a high minors shot. I wonder if another organization can find a better, more consistent breaking ball. He did show some flashes out of the pen last year. That said, at age 25, and not extraordinary out of the pen, it's an understandable cut with all the downward push of pen arms.

 

Paul Hoilman - Okay, Hoilman's stands out for two reasons. One, he had that hot stretch last year and there were certainly some Cubs fans that talked about him as someone to watch, which befuddled me a bit. Two ... our 2nd base depth chart is really thin. It's not something we talk about, but ... does cutting Hoilman increase Vogelbach's chances at starting in Daytona? I think Vogelbach probably still starts in Kane County, but ... I wonder. Bour or someone like Nelson will likely man 1st at AAA on a semi-regular basis. There's a big question mark in AA, which Geiger could fill, but even if Geiger gets pushed down, he's not that intriguing of a name to hold off Vogelbach if they deem Vogelbach ready.

 

Carlos Martinez - Only because Phil Rogers had that ridiculously glowing write-up on him a year ago. Guess not ...

 

Edit: Just noticed that this was being discussed in transactions. My bad.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

BA organizational rankings

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2013-organizational-talent-rankings-list/

 

1. Cardinals

7. Pirates

12. Cubs

15. Reds

23. Brewers