News from Fitch

[Guest]

Iowa vs Tennessee box score: http://www.thecubreporter.com/2011/03/24/iowa-cubs-edge-tennessee-smokies-fitch-park

 

DJ LeMahieu still with Iowa, Jae-Hoon Ha still with Tennessee. Kevin Rhoderick and Frank Batista pitched for Tennessee but they are right now assigned to Daytona. Looks like Chris Carpenter will be relieving at Iowa this season.

[pitchcs]

Don't know if this belongs here, but in a Tribune article about Hendry by David Haugh there is this line:

 

 

"He(ndry) also dropped hints that a couple of Double-A pitchers, Trey McNutt and Alberto Cabrera, might be ready by mid-summer."

 

Whatever, "might" is nothing earth shattering, but I'm bored.

[toonsterwu]

I could see Cabrera up at midseason if things go well. I mean, not as a starter, but as a pen arm, I could see them bringing him up to add a fireballing righty to the mix. Of course, that would mean the middle relief is messy again (because if he's having a stellar year as a starter, it'd probably push him off as a late season call-up type move).

 

I know Frank Batista is undersized, but he sure packs some punch, and if his slider is still sharp, he could move fast as a pen arm, or be developed in the way guys like Marcos Mateo and Alberto Cabrera were.

[toonsterwu]

In his latest update, AzPhil notes that Kyler Burke is being transitioned to pitching. I'm quite intrigued by this, and we have until the end of 2012 to decide if he needs to be protected. Shame he couldn't make it as a positional player, but he's still young enough that he has a shot to develop as a potential pen arm if he works hard and can find his old pitching rhythm.

 

As a side note, didn't his brother use to post here, or someone close to him?

[davell]

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2011/03/28/grizzlies-marmolade-lunch

 

Lots of news from AZPhil this evening......

 

With Castillo getting moved down to Iowa, Clevenger gets stuck in Tennessee for the 3rd year in a row.

 

Marwin Gonzalez gets moved down to Tennesse as well. Conversely, this moves Junior Lake back to Daytona for a repeat there.

 

Ben Wells was moved down to Boise/EXST as well.

 

Last piece of news is Kyler Burke is headed back to EXST as well, to convert to pitching.

 

 

Other names mentioned in the article as well, just nothing most of us didn't expect.

[Outshined_One]

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2011/03/28/grizzlies-marmolade-lunch

 

Lots of news from AZPhil this evening......

 

With Castillo getting moved down to Iowa, Clevenger gets stuck in Tennessee for the 3rd year in a row.

 

Marwin Gonzalez gets moved down to Tennesse as well. Conversely, this moves Junior Lake back to Daytona for a repeat there.

 

Ben Wells was moved down to Boise/EXST as well.

 

Last piece of news is Kyler Burke is headed back to EXST as well, to convert to pitching.

 

 

Other names mentioned in the article as well, just nothing most of us didn't expect.

 

From the comments:

 

CHILDERS: As of right now, Jae-Hoon Ha looks like he will open the season at AA Tennessee. However, because there are so many outfielders at Iowa, it's possible that a couple of them could get dropped down to AA just so the Cubs can keep them around (probably Matt Spencer for one, and maybe Jim Adduci, too), and if thaty happens, Ha could get a late cut to Daytona.

 

Other guys who have skipped levels? Right now Micah Gibbs looks like he might get a slot at Daytona (he's still there and playing very well), although by the end of the week Mario Mercedes could be moved down to Daytona, so that the D-Cubs would go with Flores and Mercedes, with Micah Gibbs and Chad Noble moving down to Peoria.

 

There are several pitchers at Daytona who were signed out of the 2010 draft. RHP Aaron Kurcz will probably be the D-Cubs #1 starter (or closer), and RHPs Kevin Rhoderick and Dustin Fitzgerald and LHPs Eric Jokisch and Brent Ebinger are still assigned to Daytona, although those four would almost certainly be relievers (or maybe "piggyback" with a starter) if they open the season at Daytona.

 

Rob Whitenack is one of the starters at AA Tennessee, although there are six, so Whitenack could be a late cut to Daytona. But Whitenack has been outstanding so far, so he might stay at Tennessee no matter what.

 

2B Pin-Chieh Chen and OF Kyung-Min Na are still with Peoria. I would have have predicted that they would have been at EXST by now, and they still might end up there, but as of right now they are hanging in there with the Peoria squad.

[NCCubFan]

In his latest update, AzPhil notes that Kyler Burke is being transitioned to pitching. I'm quite intrigued by this, and we have until the end of 2012 to decide if he needs to be protected. Shame he couldn't make it as a positional player, but he's still young enough that he has a shot to develop as a potential pen arm if he works hard and can find his old pitching rhythm.

 

As a side note, didn't his brother use to post here, or someone close to him?

His brother posted as chattbaseball.

[toonsterwu]

I am a bit surprised that some of the 2010 arms (besides Kurcz) are still hanging in at Daytona. That said, considering some of the arms from 2010 Peoria didn't get the bump to Daytona, there are some openings. Curious why those two lefties are up there and not Greathouse, though.

 

Assuming the Cubs still have positive plans for Luis Flores, I might prefer Gibbs down at Peoria anyways, so he could get more work. Barring a surprise, guys like Mercedes and Noble are on those squads as the backups. If the Cubs don't have positive views of Luis Flores and believe that he can work his way up the ladder in a semi-meaningful role, then I wouldn't mind Gibbs.

[Guest]

As intriguing as Gibbs at Daytona is Burruel at Peoria.

 

I suspect with so many OFers who can be demoted, Ha will eventually find himself at Daytona but that is pretty exciting.

[TruffleShuffle]

i'd like to see ha develop some secondary skills before being pushed to AA, but i was wrong about castro being "rushed", so maybe it's the right move... who knows.

[chattbaseball]

In his latest update, AzPhil notes that Kyler Burke is being transitioned to pitching. I'm quite intrigued by this, and we have until the end of 2012 to decide if he needs to be protected. Shame he couldn't make it as a positional player, but he's still young enough that he has a shot to develop as a potential pen arm if he works hard and can find his old pitching rhythm.

 

As a side note, didn't his brother use to post here, or someone close to him?

His brother posted as chattbaseball.

 

I am here! Actually, I never went anywhere, just haven't really had much time to read every post and reply accordingly. Got married, have a kid, another on the way, and own a sporting goods and apparel business (shameless plug if any of you need custom apparel or team uniforms!).

[toonsterwu]

Any insight on how your brother is taking this move, or any insight on what your brother has in the tank (velo, breaking balls. etcetera). Just curious.

 

Oh, and congratulations on the marriage and kid, along with your business. Sorry, no apparel needs on my end right now.

[chattbaseball]

Any insight on how your brother is taking this move, or any insight on what your brother has in the tank (velo, breaking balls. etcetera). Just curious.

 

Oh, and congratulations on the marriage and kid, along with your business. Sorry, no apparel needs on my end right now.

 

Well, I could probably write an article, but I'll sum up my answer in a few sentences.

 

As for how he's taking the move, he is very positive. As stated in an article I read yesterday, at least half of the big league teams liked him as a pitcher out of high school. In high school he had a good frame at 6'3" 190 and sat around 91mph with his fastball from the left side. He hit 93 a couple of times that I saw on the guns. Fast forward a few years and he's put on about 30 pounds of solid muscle. The key for him will be to take it slow and build up the stamina in his arm. As long as they take it easy with him, I think the velocity will be there - maybe even higher. His mechanics were smooth and relatively polished. He threw a breaking ball and a changeup, but he relied mostly on his fastball in high school. There's no need to throw anything else in Southeast TN with a 92mph fastball.

 

To summarize, he's looking forward to getting back to the pitching mentality. Of course I'm sure he'll miss hitting occasionally, but I think he realizes there's a great opportunity for a lefty with good velocity that can throw strikes. Plus, being in the National League, he'll get to hit again! ;)

 

Does that help?

[davearm2]

That's awesome to hear your insider take.

 

I have to confess that when I heard this was happening, my first reaction was, "I guess we can close the book on Kyler Burke's career". It seems these transitions are rarely successful.

 

I sure hope your brother turns out to be the exception to the rule. We'll be pulling for him (still).

[TruffleShuffle]

they're unsuccessful more often than not, but considering that one of our starting pitchers and our best relief pitcher are converted position players, he's probably in a good organization to give this a shot.

[Cubswin11]

they're unsuccessful more often than not, but considering that one of our starting pitchers and our best relief pitcher are converted position players, he's probably in a good organization to give this a shot.

That and the first thing noted on most scouting reports/prospect rankings about Burke is his arm strength. I think this move makes a good amount of sense.

[Rob]

This is like Ryan Harvey redux... if Ryan Harvey hadn't waited so long that he didn't have a realistic shot anymore.

[TruffleShuffle]

This is like Ryan Harvey redux... if Ryan Harvey hadn't waited so long that he didn't have a realistic shot anymore.

 

and kyler burke seems to have figured it out a lot more quickly than harvey. apparently harvey needed to spend 10 years not being able to hit a half-decent curveball before he realized that the whole "hitting" thing wasn't going to work out.

[Guest]

When talking about positional converts to pitchers, there's another one on the 40-man roster to remember: Rafael Dolis, who started out as a shortstop in the Cubs system.

 

Hopefully Nelson Perez will convert before his ship has sailed.

[CubColtPacer]

When talking about positional converts to pitchers, there's another one on the 40-man roster to remember: Rafael Dolis, who started out as a shortstop in the Cubs system.

 

Hopefully Nelson Perez will convert before his ship has sailed.

 

And he didn't convert as a Cub but Coello as well now.

[craig]

As intriguing as Gibbs at Daytona is Burruel at Peoria.

 

I suspect with so many OFers who can be demoted, Ha will eventually find himself at Daytona but that is pretty exciting.

 

The Ha thing is pretty interesting. But I agree, I'll still be shocked big-time if he starts at Tenn. Almost certain to be on the drop-down-at-the-end shuttle.

 

 

 

I am a bit surprised that some of the 2010 arms (besides Kurcz) are still hanging in at Daytona. That said, considering some of the arms from 2010 Peoria didn't get the bump to Daytona, there are some openings. Curious why those two lefties are up there and not Greathouse, though.

 

Assuming the Cubs still have positive plans for Luis Flores, I might prefer Gibbs down at Peoria anyways, so he could get more work. Barring a surprise, guys like Mercedes and Noble are on those squads as the backups. If the Cubs don't have positive views of Luis Flores and believe that he can work his way up the ladder in a semi-meaningful role, then I wouldn't mind Gibbs.

 

I was surprised by the pitchers, too. "RHPs Kevin Rhoderick and Dustin Fitzgerald and LHPs Eric Jokisch and Brent Ebinger..." But I think Greathouse is a very different story, in that he's a much higher class, more important prospect, and he's a rotation prospect. Relievers, it's a different deal. If Daytona's staff is short, and Peoria's is kind of deep on who-knows-what-they'll-be piggy-backers and arms, it might make sense to push some guys up to Daytona just to fill out Daytona's bullpen and to clear some Peoria logjam. With the college experience that Rhoderick and Jokisch have, it probably makes sense to challenge them in relief at Daytona and if they fail, write them off pretty quick.

 

toonster, on Gibbs I don't think the Flores factor is real big. I don't have much hope for flores, so maybe I'm jaded. But Flores regardless, I think Fleita rarely has guys catch much more than half the games. Even if they liked both Flores and Gibbs a lot, I think it would still be pretty Cub-normal to give them each half of the starts. Gibbs is almost 23, so I'd think he ought to be able to handle Daytona.

 

On Burke, I'm really glad he switched, It's a shame that he had the good year at Peoria two seasons ago because I think that cost him two years of development as a pitcher, I'd hoped he'd switch a long time ago. Hopefully he'll make it. When you switch at 23 or whatever, I think relief is the hope. To have a stronger crack to become a rotation guy, I'd think you'd need to switch sooner.

[davell]

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2011/03/31/d-cubs-chiefs-deal-tourists-and-nuts-fitch-park

 

Lots of news from AZPhil today.

 

Released-Chris Huseby and Aaron Shafer

 

Iowa to Tennessee- Chris Carpenter, Matt Spencer

 

Tennessee to Daytona-Brenly, Burgess, Ha, and Whitenack

 

Daytona to Peoria- Gibbs

 

Peoria to EXST- Chen

 

More were demoted and cut, just listed the ones that are noteworthy, for the most part.

[toonsterwu]

whoa. Always a cut or two that really surprises me at the end of each spring training (last year, Dan McDaniel caught me by surprise), and even though I wasn't as high on Shafer as others were, that one really surprised me considering the solid campaign he had just put together. Not surprised with Huseby. It was time to cut the cord there once he couldn't pitch. I actually liked Perconte, but he's 25 already, so that one doesn't really surprise either. Shafer, though, is surprising.

 

As for the demotions, some people had to go down, but still a bit surprised that Carpenter/Spencer have to head back to Tennessee. Don't think you send Carpenter down to Tennessee unless you plan on him still staying as a starter, otherwise he could work in the pen in AAA, so there is that positive, I guess. Still like Spencer a little bit and think he could put up big numbers in Iowa.

 

the only other mild disappointment for me was Luis Liria heading back to XST, but maybe there's some reasoning behind it. Had been hoping that he'd start the year in Peoria.

[Guest]

Wow. Shafer is a pretty big surprise.

[Guest]

Looks like 30 non-DL guys on Iowa's roster right now and they can have 24:

 

Arizona Phil[/url]"]PITCHERS:

Justin Berg

Austin Bibens-Dirkx

* Ryan Buchter

Esmailin Caridad

Hung-Wen Chen

Robert Coello

Casey Coleman

Thomas Diamond

* John Gaub

Angel Guzman (DL - shoulder surgery rehab)

Jay Jackson

* Scott Maine

* J. R. Mathes

Jake Muyco

Blake Parker

Jeff Stevens

* Polin Trinidad

Todd Wellemeyer (DL - hip)

 

CATCHERS:

Welington Castillo

Max Ramirez

Chris Robinson

 

INFIELDERS:

* Matt Camp

* Bryan Lahair

* Scott Moore

Jonathan Mota

# Augie Ojeda (DL - back)

# Bobby Scales

Marquez Smith

 

OUTFIELDERS:

* Tony Campana

Lou Montanez

# Fernando Perez

* Brad Snyder (DL - oblique)

* Brandon Watson

Ty Wright