Where do guys start the season? Pitching Edition

[XZero771679666304]

It was my understanding that Maples was being held in XST primarily because they are overhauling his mechanics.

[craig]

Even if Maples was 100% healthy and they weren't tinkering with his mechanics, I never expected to see him in any box scores till short-season. It would have been a shock if he'd opened with Peoria.

 

There was every indication that the Cubs pursued him with the understanding that he was wild and inconsistent and that they'd want/need to rework his delivery. Now is the time, and arizona is the place.

 

The wrinkle is to what degree the "minor arm issue" is impacting. In the BA article, they mentioned the delivery first and the injury second. So hopefully the injury really is insignificant and will have no impact down the road.

 

I love the farm box scores, so as a fan I love to see guys get to full season. But objectively, I totally think that XST makes much more sense for most of the younger kids. With Peoria, you play for three hours, but there is one single hitting coach and one single pitching coach, you're trying to find your way to the hotel, you're unpacking your stuff, you're trying to find where a Burger King is in Beloit, a day or two later you're spending hours getting ready for a bus and riding for hours to Grand Rapids. I don't think there's that much time for coaching and teaching. I don't know, but I'd guess most guys don't do any extended coached batting practice more than once a week, other than a few hacks before the game.

 

In XST, the dorms are right near the fields. Multiple coaches. Classrooms set up for instruction. All the workout equipment, rehab stuff, medicals, nutritionist, etc.. I'd guess you can get tons more practice and instruction in XST than at Peoria.

 

We can mock "Cubs way". But if "Cubs way" means that you practice and learn and spend hours on baseball every day and get lots of batting practice and coaching and fielding practice, instead of just going out and practicing all of your bad habits for 4 AB a day so that they become uncorrectable, mark me a big fan.

[Guest]

Who mocks the Cubs way? Whoever does is stupid.

 

Having a uniform, structured approach (a smart one, at that) to the way the game is coached, taught, played, etc. throughout our system is one of the greatest things to come about through this regime change (in other words, I agree with you).

[toonsterwu]

Just to be clear, I wasn't mocking the "Cubs Way". If anything, I was mocking (and I wasn't really mocking anything, more unsure what people are defining as the Cubs Way) the idea by some that the "Cubs Way" is unique and different from what other organizations do (that sentiment does seem prevalent, particularly on another site).

[toonsterwu]

Massive roster update from AzPhil in the comments section of http://www.thecubreporter.com/2012/03/30/gordon-triple-ignites-dodgers-hohokam.

 

Nothing too stunning - some of the more notable moves are Beeler to AA (which I think most of us expected).

 

Some minor personal disappointments (but nothing that surprising) are Burke/Francescon to Daytona (although this may bode well for their chances at being developed as starters for now), and Charles Thomas to XST.

[davell]

3 more pitching moves today. Struck and Cabrera down to Tennessee and Simpson's starting in EXST. Yuck.

[toonsterwu]

In a response to my comment in the previous post, AzPhil noted some interesting moves today, particularly on the pitching side.

 

Alberto Cabrera to AA - Wonder if this is a bullpen move to get him work at a lower level?

Nick Struck to AA - I'm okay with this, assuming he is still in the rotation. He battled in AAA, but he was definitely pushed hard and fast. This gives him a better chance.

 

Tony Zych to Daytona (and possibly Peoria) - Not surprising. Probably best thing for a guy that needs work.

McKirahan to Peoria - um ... ok

 

Harman to AA to replace McKirahan in the pen.

Simpson in XST - oy.

[javy knows my name]

Hahaha I love Struck to AA. They just demoted a guy who was too aggressively promoted and didn't even struggle that much while he was up. He might as well have called the Hendry regime an [expletive].

[craig]

Massive roster update from AzPhil in the comments section of http://www.thecubreporter.com/2012/03/30/gordon-triple-ignites-dodgers-hohokam.

 

Nothing too stunning - ....

 

Maybe this had been noted previously, but I was disappointed that not only is Maples injured, but our best new Latin pitching prospect Jose Arias is also injured.

 

I'd gotten the sense that he was clearly a level above any of the other DSL guys. He's the huge 6'5" guy who had the 50K/8 BB split in 43 innings, with a 2.28 ERA.

[craig]

Massive roster update from AzPhil in the comments section of http://www.thecubreporter.com/2012/03/30/gordon-triple-ignites-dodgers-hohokam.

 

Nothing too stunning - ....

 

Maybe this had been noted previously, but I was disappointed that not only is Maples injured, but our best new Latin pitching prospect Jose Arias is also injured.

 

I'd gotten the sense that he was clearly a level above any of the other DSL guys. He's the huge 6'5" guy who had the 50K/8 BB split in 43 innings, with a 2.28 ERA.

[Guest]

Massive roster update from AzPhil in the comments section of http://www.thecubreporter.com/2012/03/30/gordon-triple-ignites-dodgers-hohokam.

 

Nothing too stunning - ....

 

Maybe this had been noted previously, but I was disappointed that not only is Maples injured, but our best new Latin pitching prospect Jose Arias is also injured.

 

I'd gotten the sense that he was clearly a level above any of the other DSL guys. He's the huge 6'5" guy who had the 50K/8 BB split in 43 innings, with a 2.28 ERA.

 

Yeah, Arias' injury is disappointing. With a guy like him (and Maples), even if they are in ExST and not playing in real live games, the reps and innings they get down there are invaluable.