2011 Cubs picks and signings thread

[Outshined_One]

how can he do that? a kid wants to sign for a certain amount, the team agrees, they sign. if he doesn't approve them, can't both sides just sue MLB?

 

It's never happened before, if I remember correctly. The closest MLB has ever come to successfully blocking a signing was back in 2003 with Drew Stubbs and the Astros.

 

Back in 2003, the Astros took him in the third round of the draft out of Atlanta High School after agreeing to meet his $900,000 asking price.

 

“Yeah, I thought this was where I'd be,” he said.

 

That deal was never made. Major League Baseball scolded McLane for paying more than the preset slotting price, and McLane ordered his personnel department to kill the deal.

 

MLB can stamp its feet and whine. However, unless something happened in secret, MLB has never actually blocked a team from signing a player.

[TruffleShuffle]

yeah that's what i didn't understand about scotti's use of the term "balk", as well as the phrase "try to get an awful lot of signings through the Commish's office." that seems to imply that selig or whoever has the power to actually prevent these signings from occurring. i know they'll delay approval, but if everyone has agreed before the deadline then i'm pretty sure there's not a damn thing that the commissioner's office can do to stop them. as long as ricketts and hendry don't mind getting mean text messages from uncle bud, they can do whatever they want.

[dbeider]

yeah that's what i didn't understand about scotti's use of the term "balk", as well as the phrase "try to get an awful lot of signings through the Commish's office." that seems to imply that selig or whoever has the power to actually prevent these signings from occurring. i know they'll delay approval, but if everyone has agreed before the deadline then i'm pretty sure there's not a damn thing that the commissioner's office can do to stop them. as long as ricketts and hendry don't mind getting mean text messages from uncle bud, they can do whatever they want.

 

Thats my understanding, and with Uncle Bud scheduled to retire from the post in 2012, why not now and potentially next year to go overslot to boost the farm with those young players with upside who are being paid well to forego college, just like all the first round talent that require huge signing bonus'. Go Cubs! (and go Cuns farm).

[hwmudgett]

Side note: Ridiculous system that forces kids who want to play, and organizations that want to pay delay the start of the kids professional career to *potentially* save other teams a little money.

 

Well, now that MLB has successfully reigned in team payroll discrepancies so that no one is spending $60M more than everyone else, the logical next step for them is to focus their efforts on reigning in draft expenditures that could wildly fluctuate by as much as $1M-$2M.

[Outshined_One]

12th rounder Jacob Lindgren announced he will be attending Mississippi State in the fall.

 

Link

[Guest]

12th rounder Jacob Lindgren announced he will be attending Mississippi State in the fall.

 

Link

 

That's disappointing. He looked very interesting - raw but with good potential.

 

Also disappointing that Dugas is returning to Alabama because you hate to not sign a top 10 pick but he was certainly the least interesting of their top 10 rounders. If they only don't sign one of them, I'd prefer it be Dugas.

[craig]

I thought both Lindgren and Dugas sounded pretty interesting. Obviously Dugas didn't have superstar tools, but he's got a good shot to be a major league contributor.

 

That's one of the things about this draft: to me, it looks like pretty much everybody is interesting, other than a few of the college picks. I like them all, I think, so anybody they do sign is interesting, and anybody they don't is something of a disappointment.

 

But we'll see. Maybe dugas will still change his mind, who knows. The next ten days will be pretty interesting.

 

I remain somewhat curious to see how quickly what signings occur on the 15th get public quickly. With tweeting dunston, and with a guy as high profile as Maples, if they sign it won't stay secret for long. But if George Asmas signs, I'm not sure Callis is going to be knowing that or posting that right away.

 

My memory may be wrong, but I don't recall being immediately aware of either the Struck signing two Augusts ago, or for that matter Roderick last August.

[questionmarkgrace]

Does anyone know if there's a list of all the first round signings from this year somewhere?

 

BA

 

Marra's a good signing. The Cubs have had a decent haul at catcher in this draft so far.

 

the real question is did we need so much depth at catcher so early in the draft? I know the cubs preached up the best available approach but clearly pitching is an organizational need while catcher is not with guys like gibbs, clevenger, and castillo hanging around. I think the cubs have done a really good job developing catchers with a minimum of expenditure so why 'waste' a draft pick when there are clearly other areas of need?

[TruffleShuffle]

Does anyone know if there's a list of all the first round signings from this year somewhere?

 

BA

 

Marra's a good signing. The Cubs have had a decent haul at catcher in this draft so far.

 

the real question is did we need so much depth at catcher so early in the draft? I know the cubs preached up the best available approach but clearly pitching is an organizational need while catcher is not with guys like gibbs, clevenger, and castillo hanging around. I think the cubs have done a really good job developing catchers with a minimum of expenditure so why 'waste' a draft pick when there are clearly other areas of need?

 

these guys aren't all guaranteed to continue playing catcher.

[Outshined_One]

Does anyone know if there's a list of all the first round signings from this year somewhere?

 

BA

 

Marra's a good signing. The Cubs have had a decent haul at catcher in this draft so far.

 

the real question is did we need so much depth at catcher so early in the draft? I know the cubs preached up the best available approach but clearly pitching is an organizational need while catcher is not with guys like gibbs, clevenger, and castillo hanging around. I think the cubs have done a really good job developing catchers with a minimum of expenditure so why 'waste' a draft pick when there are clearly other areas of need?

 

these guys aren't all guaranteed to continue playing catcher.

 

That, and even if these guys develop into major league players at catcher, they'll have value in the trade market. Having talented depth at a position where talent is scarce in the majors is a good thing.

[toonsterwu]

I would argue that catcher was a need in the system. Now, this much? Perhaps not. That said, Clevenger/Castillo were both in the upper levels. After that? Things are rather questionable. The best of the lot is ... Luis Flores? If so, I'm taking a wait and see on the bat. Micah Gibbs bat is still a huge question. Brenly, Burruel, Noble, and others don't look that enticing right now. Clevenger and Castillo will move on at some point, so getting guys to fill the lower levels now was a smart move.

 

Did I expect all the draft picks and international signees? No. But it isn't bad thing. Furthermore, you note pitching, and yet, at the lower levels, there's a decent amount of good talent competing for PT. Certainly, you can never have enough intriguing arms, but it's not like we are thin in the lower levels, which is where most of the draft picks would go.

[Guest]

Besides Welington Castillo and Steve Clevenger, I don't think the Cubs have any real catching prospects. Cabezas has been a massive disappointment with the bat. Micah Gibbs? 23-year old 3-year SEC starters should be able to slug more than .300 at Peoria.

 

We don't know how raw Justin Marra and Neftali Rosario are as prep catchers drafted on day 3. I'm guessing Alberto Mineo is also pretty raw (coming from Italy and all) and will be locked in at Mesa next year. Mark Malave is no guarantee to even show up in the States till 2013. And we'll see how much of a prospect Rafael Lopez really is.

 

I'd guess Rosario will be at Boise and Marra and Mineo will split time at Mesa while Malave is in the DSL next year.

[jumbo]

Read on another site that Shoulders will sign.

[TruffleShuffle]

Besides Welington Castillo and Steve Clevenger, I don't think the Cubs have any real catching prospects. Cabezas has been a massive disappointment with the bat. Micah Gibbs? 23-year old 3-year SEC starters should be able to slug more than .300 at Peoria.

 

gibbs has been a huge disappointment. i mean, you don't expect a third round guy to be a star right away, but you expect a guy being drafted pretty early out of LSU to be able to hit. now it's looking like he's a longshot to make it as a weak-hitting, good defensive backup.

[Guest]

Read on another site that Shoulders will sign.

 

 

I really like Shoulders, but I wonder what that would say about Vogelbach.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Read on another site that Shoulders will sign.

 

 

I really like Shoulders, but I wonder what that would say about Vogelbach.

 

Are you suggesting that Vogebach might be getting away so they're giving that money to Shoulders? That wouldn't make me happy. Missing out on some late round gems is one thing, but a 2nd rounder is another, but I guess that's a risk you take when you draft that many high schoolers in the early rounds.

Edited August 7, 2011 by Little Slide Rooter

[toonsterwu]

I think I'd be quite surprised if the Cubs could splurge on Shoulders, and I have my doubts that they won't sign Vogelbach.

 

I wonder if the Cubs go with, say, 30-35 signess instead of the usual 25-30 or whatever the average number was.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I think I'd be quite surprised if the Cubs could splurge on Shoulders, and I have my doubts that they won't sign Vogelbach.

 

I wonder if the Cubs go with, say, 30-35 signess instead of the usual 25-30 or whatever the average number was.

 

I'd much prefer the 25-30 guys with a lot of quality over a filler laden 30-35.

[questionmarkgrace]

Besides Welington Castillo and Steve Clevenger, I don't think the Cubs have any real catching prospects. Cabezas has been a massive disappointment with the bat. Micah Gibbs? 23-year old 3-year SEC starters should be able to slug more than .300 at Peoria.

 

gibbs has been a huge disappointment. i mean, you don't expect a third round guy to be a star right away, but you expect a guy being drafted pretty early out of LSU to be able to hit. now it's looking like he's a longshot to make it as a weak-hitting, good defensive backup.

 

IIRC, Gibbs was drafted with the hope his bat would eventually catch up with his defense so his offensive deficiencies were to be expected even though he hit .300 his last year at LSU. But I'm not sure if they thought he would be this bad. to me it just seems like we do a pretty good job at finding catchers for cheap or converting guys to catch. I'm ok with that approach because it allows the cubs to allocate funds elsewhere, which is why I was surprised by the draft. 3 catchers in the top 15 seems like overkill especially because we only drafted 4 pitchers in that same span of picks. Yes, I realize that our pitching is not so thin at the bottom levels but I still think a couple extra pitchers in the top 15 picks could be a nice thing to have.

[jumbo]

I think I'd be quite surprised if the Cubs could splurge on Shoulders, and I have my doubts that they won't sign Vogelbach.

 

I wonder if the Cubs go with, say, 30-35 signess instead of the usual 25-30 or whatever the average number was.

 

 

I'm hoping that this disappointing season has convinced Ricketts to jump-start the development side of the equation. If he tried to get twice as many impact players in the draft w/overslots I wouldn't be surprised given their public statements about developing players.

[Guest]

Gretzky not official:

 

@jimcallisBA: Told SDState weeks ago he's not coming, but signing still not official. @bmix22: Gretzky came off #Cubs signing list on BA. #mlbdraft

[Guest]

@Greg Auman

Things not looking good for USF baseball with signee Rock Shoulders, who has in-home visit with Cubs on Monday night. No decision yet.

[SouthSideRyan]

How did I miss this guy's name earlier? [expletive] you Rebel Ridling.

[imb]

ROCK SHOULDERS? Are we gonna sign 11th-rounder Big McLargeHuge, too?

[thefranchise]

AZPhil

 

Word is that Cubs 2011 7th round pick 1B-OF Trevor Gretzky's contract was either voided by the Cubs or was rejected by MLB. The signing was officially reported by the Cubs via the MLB eBis system on July 22, but then the Cubs did not place him on a minor league Reserve List within 15 days, as would be required if everything was OK.

 

Whether the contract was voided because of a pre-existing medical condition (like his torn labrum) or rejected by MLB because of the way it was structured, I don't know, but he is back in California and is now considered "unsigned."

 

The Cubs apparently have now turned their attention toward signing 1B Rock Shoulders (25th round draft pick out of Florida State JC/Manatee CC, who supposedly wants 4th or 5th round money to sign), with the signing of 2nd round pick 1B Dan Vogelbach (with an over-slot bonus) expected to be delayed until the deadline (8/15).