Matt Szczur Forgoes NFL to Remain With Cubs

[Sabermetrician]

TonyPauline Tony Pauline

Sources told us Matt Szczur/WR/Villanova has decided to forego a career in the NFL. The Cubs tripled their offer to Szczur. More later

[davell]

Awesome. So he's getting 1.5 mill now? I guess that shows the Cubs think VERY highly of him anyway.

[Cubs Fan Dan]

Oh man, I hope this is true!

[sweetpeteman]

Awesome. So he's getting 1.5 mill now? I guess that shows the Cubs think VERY highly of him anyway.

 

 

I am perfectly okay with this.

[Guest]

Awesome. So he's getting 1.5 mill now? I guess that shows the Cubs think VERY highly of him anyway.

 

Well, so did BA. Great news.

[mookie]

This guy is gonna be better than the Shark right?

[Radar3454]

great news

[Tryptamine]

Absolutely thrilled. I was really worried about the state of the farm if they lost Szczur after trading Archer/Lee. This goes a long way in easing those concerns.

[Outshined_One]

Works for me. Glad the Cubs upped their offer for him; he seems like he'll be worth it.

 

Callis

 

I have confirmed: Matt Szczur has verbally agreed to $1.5 million, giving up NFL possibilities to stick with #Cubs. More to come.

[Guancous]

Correct me if I'm wrong but he's automatically the Cubs top power prospect, no?

[Guest]

Correct me if I'm wrong but he's automatically the Cubs top power prospect, no?

 

No, Sczur's game is based on speed. There's been reports he has the ability to hit for a bit of power, but not on the level of someone like Reggie Golden or even Brett Jackson.

[Rob]

Correct me if I'm wrong but he's automatically the Cubs top power prospect, no?

 

No, Sczur's game is based on speed. There's been reports he has the ability to hit for a bit of power, but not on the level of someone like Reggie Golden or even Brett Jackson.

 

Yeah, the recent reports suggest he might develop Carl Crawford power if we're lucky. There's quite a few guys in the system who project at that or better.

 

As far as I know though, the only guy we've got with a real plus power ceiling is Reggie Golden. I've liked the Kevin Mitchell comps I've heard.

[CubsWin]

If it's true, then YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

 

Some people on this board, myself included, were looking to see if the Ricketts family meant it when they said they wanted to invest in the minor league system. With this move, they've put some money where their mouths are. Thank you Ricketts and Hendry, whose call it is to allocate the funds.

[CubsWin]

Here are some links to articles confirming Szczur's signing.

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=3060

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110118&content_id=16458346&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

[Splendid Splinter]

Looks like Ricketts did spend more money on the farm system... hahaha

[CubsWin]

Jim Callis thinks that Szczur could easily have been a 1st round pick in the upcoming draft had he been eligible. Nice.

[TruffleShuffle]

This guy is gonna be better than the Shark right?

 

even if he's not, it's a defensible investment. they're paying $1.5 million for a guy who's probably a borderline first round talent. samardzija was a borderline first round talent and they gave him the type of deal that elite college talents like prior, teixeira and jd drew get. the samardzija deal is one of the greatest examples of cub mismanagement in the last decade.

[seanhopper]

Have any of the sites, i.e. BP, BA, revised the Cubs top #10 after the Gorzo trade? I wonder if any of the 3 prospects will make it in to the top 10 and I would like to see where they now put Matt Szczur?

[CubsWin]

Have any of the sites, i.e. BP, BA, revised the Cubs top #10 after the Gorzo trade? I wonder if any of the 3 prospects will make it in to the top 10 and I would like to see where they now put Matt Szczur?

Considering that they ranked him 7th in the organization before the Garza trade and Archer and Lee were both ahead of him, I assume they have Szczur ranked 5th. I highly doubt any of the players that came back in the Gorzelanny trade would be ahead of him. It is also unlikely that any of them would make the Cubs top ten.

[CubsWin]

BA's top five for the Cubs should now read:

 

1. Brett Jackson

2. Trey McNutt

3. Josh Vitters

4. Chris Carpenter

5. Matt Szczur

[PrimeTime]

So they're comparing him to a Shane Victorino eh? I don't know much about the guy and I'm not as knowledgeable on a lot of the minor league guys as most of you, but what's the deal with this prospect? Speedy, little bit of pop? Great move though since he seems to be highly touted and replenishes our farm system a bit for what we just gave up in the Garza trade.

[CubsWin]

So they're comparing him to a Shane Victorino eh? I don't know much about the guy and I'm not as knowledgeable on a lot of the minor league guys as most of you, but what's the deal with this prospect? Speedy, little bit of pop? Great move though since he seems to be highly touted and replenishes our farm system a bit for what we just gave up in the Garza trade.

He's the best pure athlete in the system. He can hit for average and because of his ability to consistently get the barrel of the bat on the ball, he should be able to hit for decent power. He has plus speed, will steal bases, should have good OBP, and is a solid defender who will stick in CF. In a brief 25 game stint he hit .347/.414/.465 last season. It will be interesting to see what he can do at the higher levels.

[Guest]

I don't think Shane Victorino is a good comp for Szczur.

[TruffleShuffle]

i'd be thrilled to death if he ended up as good as shane victorino.

[Outshined_One]

As far as I know though, the only guy we've got with a real plus power ceiling is Reggie Golden. I've liked the Kevin Mitchell comps I've heard.

 

Burgess and Vitters, imo.