Cub prospects in the news

[NCCubFan]

mildly surprised that callis took aaron miller over jay jackson.

He didn't.

[toonsterwu]

mildly surprised that callis took aaron miller over jay jackson.

He didn't.

 

typo on my part. meant to say mildly surprised he took jackson over miller.

______________

 

Not sure if there's going to be another Rule 5 thread ...

 

So, in Jon Mayo's Rule 5 preview, http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091209&content_id=7783398&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb, he notes Clevenger as a likely Cub to be taken, and notes that the Cubs were preparing to be hit a few times. I believe BA has mentioned Chirinos as someone that could be plucked. Matt Camp could be a possibility for a team looking for a depth guy. Thomas Diamond and Alessandro Maestri seem like two more guys that could be plucked. I wonder about Robert Hernandez, although I would guess no right now. Mathes, Muyco, Papelbon, Reinhard, Perkins, Ruhlman, and Robinson are all guys that could potentially get nabbed.

 

I haven't really contemplated names of guys that are available. Tbh, I'm not expecting us to exercise our pick. That said, maybe there's a power arm out there that they like, which I wouldn't be against. Corey Wimberly mildly catches my eye as someone that could compete for the backup OF job with Fuld perhaps. That said, I'm not real sure how well he can handle the OF.

[Guancous]

Fangraphs has their top 10 Cubs prospects up:

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/chicago-cubs-top-10-prospects

 

2009 draftees are not eligible.

 

1. Cashner

2. Castro

3. Vitters

4. H-J. Lee

5. J. Jackson

6. Carpenter

7. Flaherty

8. Rhee

9. Watkins

10. Gaub

[Sever82]

Law actually answered my question pretty quick in his chat:

 

Enrique (Chicago)

 

 

How about a Cubs question? Does Stalin Castro crack your top 100, if so where does he fit, Top 50, Top 25? How about same question for Vitters and Cashner.

 

Klaw (1:46 PM)

 

 

Castro's going to be pretty high as well. I buy it. Vitters on there but a little lower than last year. Cashner probably but low - love the arm, probably still a reliever, and I've consistently kept relievers in the back reaches of the list.

[toonsterwu]

Someone said over on Sickels that, in a recent chat, Callis put Castro as the 13th best prospect in the minors. If so ... wow. 13th? .... geesh ... wow ...

 

Anyhow, I don't know if we've discussed the Derek Helenihi signing yet. Feels like Hendry doing a favor for Maineri in all honesty (nothing personal). Unless Helenihi can play 2nd ... but even if he can, we're loaded there. I don't think Helenihi's bat will make it up the ladder far as a corner If/corner OF.

 

That said, I guess we should start expecting a LSU train of some sort coming our way, which is good, considering it is LSU, a premier program. This has me pondering the idea of Anthony Ranaudo in next year's draft. Sure feels like a strong possibility in the mid-first. I wouldn't mind it, particularly if he shows improvement this year on his change-up.

[Sever82]

Someone said over on Sickels that, in a recent chat, Callis put Castro as the 13th best prospect in the minors. If so ... wow. 13th? .... geesh ... wow ...

 

Anyhow, I don't know if we've discussed the Derek Helenihi signing yet. Feels like Hendry doing a favor for Maineri in all honesty (nothing personal). Unless Helenihi can play 2nd ... but even if he can, we're loaded there. I don't think Helenihi's bat will make it up the ladder far as a corner If/corner OF.

 

That said, I guess we should start expecting a LSU train of some sort coming our way, which is good, considering it is LSU, a premier program. This has me pondering the idea of Anthony Ranaudo in next year's draft. Sure feels like a strong possibility in the mid-first. I wouldn't mind it, particularly if he shows improvement this year on his change-up.

 

It was on Jim Callis' chat yesterday on espn.com. He said he ranked Castro 13th on this list and that Vitters and Brett Jackson would be ranked in the 51-75 range.

[davell]

Someone said over on Sickels that, in a recent chat, Callis put Castro as the 13th best prospect in the minors. If so ... wow. 13th? .... geesh ... wow ...

 

Anyhow, I don't know if we've discussed the Derek Helenihi signing yet. Feels like Hendry doing a favor for Maineri in all honesty (nothing personal). Unless Helenihi can play 2nd ... but even if he can, we're loaded there. I don't think Helenihi's bat will make it up the ladder far as a corner If/corner OF.

 

That said, I guess we should start expecting a LSU train of some sort coming our way, which is good, considering it is LSU, a premier program. This has me pondering the idea of Anthony Ranaudo in next year's draft. Sure feels like a strong possibility in the mid-first. I wouldn't mind it, particularly if he shows improvement this year on his change-up.

 

It was on Jim Callis' chat yesterday on espn.com. He said he ranked Castro 13th on this list and that Vitters and Brett Jackson would be ranked in the 51-75 range.

 

I wonder if that means he didn't have Jay Jackson, Cashner, and Lee in his top 100? Or if he just brought up the 3 highest?

[Serge]

Someone said over on Sickels that, in a recent chat, Callis put Castro as the 13th best prospect in the minors. If so ... wow. 13th? .... geesh ... wow ...

 

Anyhow, I don't know if we've discussed the Derek Helenihi signing yet. Feels like Hendry doing a favor for Maineri in all honesty (nothing personal). Unless Helenihi can play 2nd ... but even if he can, we're loaded there. I don't think Helenihi's bat will make it up the ladder far as a corner If/corner OF.

 

That said, I guess we should start expecting a LSU train of some sort coming our way, which is good, considering it is LSU, a premier program. This has me pondering the idea of Anthony Ranaudo in next year's draft. Sure feels like a strong possibility in the mid-first. I wouldn't mind it, particularly if he shows improvement this year on his change-up.

 

It was on Jim Callis' chat yesterday on espn.com. He said he ranked Castro 13th on this list and that Vitters and Brett Jackson would be ranked in the 51-75 range.

 

I wonder if that means he didn't have Jay Jackson, Cashner, and Lee in his top 100? Or if he just brought up the 3 highest?

 

Cashner has to be on any top 100. Even if he's just a reliever he's going to be just sick. And I'd imagine Jay Jackson will be too. When BA did their NL Central podcast, one of the guys, Badler if I remember right, was real big on Jackson. And Lee I think has to make it on, although probably towards the very back end. The fact that he's so far away hurts him.

[CubsWin]

Scouting the Cubs Korean Contingent

 

Pretty standard write up. Doesn't seem like there's anything we didn't already know. Unless you count that Rhee is a "tall, projectable lefty". That would be news...if it were true. Rhee bats from the left side, but throws righty. And I wouldn't call 6'2" tall for a pitcher. It's somewhat tall for a Korean, but...

[toonsterwu]

not exactly earth-shattering news, but BA lists the Cubs having signed Jeff Kennard. Looks like a potentially decent AA/AAA pen arm.

[Wrigley Rat]

The Florida Marlins signed OF Jeff Pruitt. The Cubs signed Pruitt on June 15 as their 23rd-round pick, but they voided the contract shortly thereafter, making him a free agent. This is the first we've heard of him since.

 

- BA

[JGalt73]

From Keith Law's chat 1/14:

 

Mr. SKIA (Mr. Sports Know-It-All)

Not to turn this into the Jay Jackson hour, but what does he project as? #2?

Klaw (1:53 PM)

2 or 3. Or an ace reliever.

 

Steve (Chicago)

A. Escobar Or S. Castro

Klaw(1:55 PM)

Castro.

 

Brian (Madison)

Not liking Escobar's bat?

Klaw(1:57 PM)

He doesn't walk and isn't going to hit for power. Castro's bat is special.

[toonsterwu]

From Keith Law's chat 1/14:

 

Mr. SKIA (Mr. Sports Know-It-All)

Not to turn this into the Jay Jackson hour, but what does he project as? #2?

Klaw (1:53 PM)

2 or 3. Or an ace reliever.

 

Steve (Chicago)

A. Escobar Or S. Castro

Klaw(1:55 PM)

Castro.

 

Brian (Madison)

Not liking Escobar's bat?

Klaw(1:57 PM)

He doesn't walk and isn't going to hit for power. Castro's bat is special.

 

I don't think that gets emphasized enough. That's part of the reason why I still rank Jay ahead of Andrew. Now, the main reason is that I buy Jay's starting potential and am not sold on Cash. That said, a lot of people argue Cashner ahead as an elite pen arm, but Jay could end up being a stud pen arm as well. Those two factors combined keeps him fairly easily ahead of CAshner for me, even though Cashner has the most upside of any of our arms.

[toonsterwu]

I'll probably ask this every few months until I get an answer, but I was perusing AzPhil's stuff over at TCR (depth chart, rule 5 eligible and what not) and noticed that Jordan Latham was getting listed again. I never did find out what happened last year - was it personal issues? He was a really promising pen arm. I always wanted to see him tried as a starter, but I remember thinking 2 years ago that I thought Jordan was close to Blake in ability as a pen arm.

[Sever82]

Wes (Wrigleyville)

 

 

Is Starlin Castro the top SS prospect in the minors? top 3?

 

Jim Callis (2:13 PM)

 

 

For me, yes. My top three are Castro, Alcides Escobar and Dee Gordon, with Grant Green right behind Gordon.

[CubsWin]

More on Castro from BA.

Virgil Dahl (Waterloo, Iowa): Castro/Gordon. With Jim Callis's latest chat I believe he had Dee Gordon ranked third and Starlin Castro ranked first among prospects at short. Why rank Castro ahead of Gordon? I believe the analyst that chatted about Gordon (sorry, forgot his name) was asked if Gordon could be compared to Reyes...with the response being "that is a fair comparison" A little more insight would be much appreciated. thanks

 

J.J. Cooper: Not trying to speak for Jim but Castro is relatively refined product. He's shown he can hit in high Class A and Double-A and has shown plus defense although he needs to cut down on errors like most young shortstops. Gordon's ceiling is higher than Castro's, but there also is a whole lot of unknowns with him. He's got the speed to lead the majors in steals, but he has to learn how to read pitchers better. He could be a plus defender, but he doesn't yet fully understand all the nuances of play shortstop. He needs to gain weight, but hasn't yet shown that he can add lbs to his frame. So what he's saying is that the sky is the limit for Gordon, but there also is a lot more that could go wrong compared to Castro.

[CubsWin]

Castro stays a hot topic in the BA all day prospect chat...

Derrick (Cheverly, MD): Purely based on their peak offensive abilities (completely ignoring defensive prowess) which of these potential middle infielders would you want and what type of slash (BA/OBP/SLG) numbers and Steals do you see them posting? Starlin Castro, Dee Gordon, Brett Lawrie, Dustin Ackley, and Grant Green

 

John Manuel: Hi everybody, John Manuel checking in here . . . Derrick, I'm leaving Ackley out of this. He played shortstop in high school but that's been a long time. I don't know if he's got the arm action to make strong, accurate throws from 2B on a double play, and if he can't turn two then he can't play 2B. So he just doesn't apply here, for me. Lawrie's the best offensive player of that bunch for me but it's iffy whether or not he stays in the infield. Castro and Green, I could see them having fairly similar careers. I'm a fan of Castro's swing and see him as the best of this group of actual middle infielders; he's a .300/.350/.400 guy in the minors, and it wouldn't shock me if his peak wasn't a bit north of that in the majors, in the .280/.350/.450 range. I think he has more power coming. I don't see steals being a major part of his game down the line; Gordon, among the true infielders, is the only one I see being a real basestealer.

[sneakypower]

apropos of little, i was reading ESPN the Magazine in the waiting room the other day and they cited a scout who called Hak-Ju Lee "the Korean Jose Reyes", an obvious rave of his speed

[bubblesdachimp]

From BA's ask BA Feb 15th.

 

Out of Aroldis Chapman (Reds), Neftali Feliz (Rangers) and Stephen Strasburg (Nationals), who has the best fastball? Are there any other pitching prospects who have a fastball that ranks ahead of or along with these dynamic heaters?

 

Mike Marinaro

Tampa

Chapman, Feliz and Strasburg all can reach triple digits with their fastballs, and the consensus is that they have the best heat in the minors—legitimate 8 fastballs on the 2-8 scouting scale. Andrew Cashner (Cubs) and Tanner Scheppers (Rangers) would be at the top of the second tier of fastballers.

 

Nice. Like it.

[davell]

Now if we could just get Cashner to miss a few more bats, we'll be in business......But, I'm kind of thinking like someone else said earlier that he COULD surprise and make the team out of spring training in a relief role. Although, I'd much rather still see him in AAA for 2010, working on his stamina to where he can become a starter for us......

[inari]

Is the general consensus among experts that Casher doesn't project well as a starter?

[Guest]

Is the general consensus among experts that Casher doesn't project well as a starter?

 

It may just be phrasing, but I believe the consensus is that his stuff plays up as a reliever(i.e. increased velocity on his fastball), and the jury is still out as to whether he'll be as effective as a starter. Or put another way, Cashner has very good stuff with unsure results thus far as a starter, but great stuff and great (limited) results as a reliever.

[Clem Fandango]

Is the general consensus among experts that Casher doesn't project well as a starter?

 

This is pretty old, and I don't recall if a bunch of people were aware of it or not, but when I was working for the BayBears this past season doing video work I bogarted some video from when they played the Smokies. Cashner started, and was actually pretty impressive, though he was facing a weak offense... and also I think he walked like 5, but he only allowed 1 (iirc). The Mobile offense was REALLY bad. Obviously one start isn't indicative of an entire career, but I'd say he's definitely got potential a a starter. Here's the file with all of his appearances in the game if anyone is interested. As I put it then...

 

Here is Andrew Cashner's day from 7.29.09. It is his full day, each pitch and even his AB's. Sorry I couldn't label them properly, they are in the form of 98 small .mov files, one for each pitch thrown on the mount and each pitch taken at the plate in his AB's. I tried exporting the entire playlist as one movie but it would just stall out and crash, this was the best I could do for ya. There are no pitch speeds indicated but just know that the Fastballs early on were hitting anywhere between 97 and 99 regularly

 

http://rapidshare.com/files/262604644/Cash7-29-09.rar

[toonsterwu]

I don't think this has been posted, but if it has, I apologize. Saw this on TCR.

 

http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2010/02/21/an-infield-coachs-first-glimpse-of-iglesias/

 

Short of it is, we were supposedly the high bidder on Jose Iglesias. Interesting to hear us as the high bidder there. Would've been awesome to have a system with shortstops Darwin Barney/Starlin Castro/Jose Iglesias/Hak-ju Lee (not to mention the guys that have/will likely move off (Flaherty/LeMahieu), or someone like Lake).

 

Anyhow, I found it fascinating that we were the top bidder. I didn't know we were even all that seriously involved, or at least, I don't recall reading about it much.

[Guest]

BP last year said the Cubs had made Iglesias their primary target of the big 3 defectors and that they rated him higher than most other organizations. The Cubs were supposedly legit competition to the Yankees and Red Sox and it looks like this bears that out.