Re: Minor League Assignments

[Guest]

Figured this deserves its own thread.

 

Generally, rosters are announced by Monday or Tuesday. The minor league season starts Thursday.

 

Based on tweets, Bruno, Carhart, and Geiger are starting in Daytona. Sounds like everyone's getting their assignments today. If I'm picking an upset, I'll say Vogelbach starts at Daytona.

[toonsterwu]

If Geiger is at Daytona, while he won't block Vogelbach if Vogelbach is ready, my guess is that they'll start Vogelbach in Peoria, with Geiger at 1st in Daytona.

 

Wonder who ends up nabbing first at Tennessee? Probably a demotion of someone from Iowa, but there isn't a real big need for any of the older corner guys there to go to AA.

[davell]

No surprise, Zych is in Tennessee. Not sure what position Geiger or Bruno play in Daytona. Honestly, if everyone got their assignments already, Vogelbach likely would have been excited and broke it on Twitter.

[craig]

Geiger is obviously Daytona 1b. Bruno I presume is either 2nd or 3rd, depending on whether Torreyes is at Daytona or Tennessee. Torreyes has been still with the Tennessee group as of latest Phil report, and I can't think of any serious 2B at Tenn. So maybe they're just moving him up, and giving Bruno 2B at Daytona.

[davell]

DeVoss will be in Daytona, in all likelihood. While I hope its not the case, part of me wonders if Bruno is already in a utikity role. I'm sure he'll get tons of at bats, but I want him at a specific position for now. If Geiger is at 1B, Bruno shhould be at 3B.

[craig]

DeVoss will be in Daytona, in all likelihood. While I hope its not the case, part of me wonders if Bruno is already in a utikity role. I'm sure he'll get tons of at bats, but I want him at a specific position for now. If Geiger is at 1B, Bruno shhould be at 3B.

 

Devoss is in Daytona's outfield.

[CubsInNC]

Giansanti to Tennessee per twitter.

[toonsterwu]

DeVoss will be in Daytona, in all likelihood. While I hope its not the case, part of me wonders if Bruno is already in a utikity role. I'm sure he'll get tons of at bats, but I want him at a specific position for now. If Geiger is at 1B, Bruno shhould be at 3B.

 

Devoss is in Daytona's outfield.

 

My guess on the Daytona IF would be something like

 

1st - Geiger

 

2nd - Saunders/Bruno perhaps

 

SS - Baez

 

3rd - Bruno/Carhart perhaps

 

Darvill, if he's around, could perhaps fight for time at 2nd.

 

That would leave Tennessee as Torreyes/Alcantara up the middle, with Villanueva at 3rd and who knows what at first (honestly, no clue ... Lopez? )

[craig]

Devoss is in Daytona's outfield.

 

My guess on the Daytona IF would be something like 1st - Geiger 2nd - Saunders/Bruno perhaps SS - Baez 3rd - Bruno/Carhart perhaps Darvill, if he's around, could perhaps fight for time at 2nd.

 

That would leave Tennessee as Torreyes/Alcantara up the middle, with Villanueva at 3rd and who knows what at first (honestly, no clue ... Lopez? )

 

Those sound like pretty good guesses. I'm really very interested in only two questions here:

a. Will Torreyes go to AA (at this point I'm assuming yes, although I'm still hoping no...), or repeat at Daytona?

b. Assuming he's not at Daytona, and assuming Bruno and Saunders are both at Daytona, which plays more 2B and which more 3B?

 

It may well be that somebody like Carhart or Darvill, neither of whom were guys who got even a mention for our top-50, will end up playing a lot. Maybe Carhart will hit better than any of the other names, who knows. But I'd think the choice of who gets 2B might reflect management thinking, and might be the one viewed as the best prospect with the best chance to become a regular starting 2B in the majors.

 

Will be interesting to review this in May or mid-June, and see how the reality shakes out as compared to the speculation, both in terms of usage and actual production.

[craig]

Happy Easter, everybody!

[Guest]

DeVoss will be in Daytona, in all likelihood. While I hope its not the case, part of me wonders if Bruno is already in a utikity role. I'm sure he'll get tons of at bats, but I want him at a specific position for now. If Geiger is at 1B, Bruno shhould be at 3B.

 

Devoss is in Daytona's outfield.

 

My guess on the Daytona IF would be something like

 

1st - Geiger

 

2nd - Saunders/Bruno perhaps

 

SS - Baez

 

3rd - Bruno/Carhart perhaps

 

Darvill, if he's around, could perhaps fight for time at 2nd.

 

That would leave Tennessee as Torreyes/Alcantara up the middle, with Villanueva at 3rd and who knows what at first (honestly, no clue ... Lopez? )

 

Looks like Justin Bour repeating at Tennessee per Arizona Phil: http://www.thecubreporter.com/03302013/b-jax-watkins-and-rusin-lead-cubs-victory-fitch-park

[CubsInNC]

 

That would leave Tennessee as Torreyes/Alcantara up the middle, with Villanueva at 3rd and who knows what at first (honestly, no clue ... Lopez? )

 

Guessing Giansanti is going to relegated to OF/super sub if the plan really is for Mota to player/coach.

[davell]

Baez and Soler placed with Daytona in AZPhils'article. June 12th is the date to keep in mind with Brett, for getting the extra controlled year. Damn, I'll miss AZPhils' reports after this season.

[wekim81]

Baez and Soler placed with Daytona in AZPhils'article. June 12th is the date to keep in mind with Brett, for getting the extra controlled year. Damn, I'll miss AZPhils' reports after this season.

What's changing with AZ Phil?

[davell]

Baez and Soler placed with Daytona in AZPhils'article. June 12th is the date to keep in mind with Brett, for getting the extra controlled year. Damn, I'll miss AZPhils' reports after this season.

What's changing with AZ Phil?

I may be mistaken on AZPhil. Wasn't there some stuff on him still going to Fitch and covering the A's though, at some point?

[toonsterwu]

Sucks for Bour. He did well enough to get to AAA. He should hit well in AA (granted ... based off his 2011, Ridling should've been decent last year, and that didn't happen, so who knows). That said, eh, not that important.

[toonsterwu]

Well, AzPhil gave us a new update on the A ball squads (well, he gave us a game recap and talked about the rosters in the comments section).

 

http://www.thecubreporter.com/03312013/feldman-gets-back-track-fitch-park#more

 

Torreyes is down in Daytona. DeVoss looks like he got CF in Daytona ahead of Chen, who was moved to Kane County, along with Vogelbach.

[davell]

Well that sucks, in my opinion. But, my guess is they think Baez makes it to Tennessee fairly early. Which moves Alcantara to 2B as it is. Not going to get enough game action at 2B for either Bruno or Torreyes though, one will be DH'ing quite often.

[toonsterwu]

I've got a tough time buying that the Torreyes placement is .. a sign of belief that Baez will be up in Tennessee soon. It's just hard for me to buy that any organizational leadership will think like that, particularly since they put Marco Hernandez at Peoria to start last year ahead of Baez (I guess one could argue something along the lines of wanting to teach the "Cubs Way").

 

At the end of the day, sometimes I think the easiest answer is often the right answer. I've ... loosely championed Pin-Chieh Chen as a guy who could, offensively, do better in FSL, but he looks to repeat the MWL againl (and get stuck in a CF logjam, instead of being a step ahead) ... which shouldn't be all that shocking considering he had a fairly pedestrian line in MWL and isn't that old. Ronald Torreyes didn't exactly light it up in Daytona last year, so having him repeat it, considering his age, isn't the worst thing.

 

I'm a big fan of Bruno and have an obvious bias as a UVA fan ... but you also draft a guy like Bruno knowing that his versatility is something you'll take advantage of as he moves his way up (off the top, I think they even said something along those lines about why they drafted him). If he hits enough to project as a starter, they'll make a place for him, or deal him off to a team that will value it. My guess is Bruno will go get most of the time at 3rd (he might be more "natural" at 3rd than 2nd, as he played that at UVA when Chris Taylor won the SS job after Bruno got hurt), with spot time at 2nd/OF (and maybe even a dash of shortstop), with Torreyes at 2nd/Baez at short, and some combination of Carhart/Geiger likely manning first.

 

As a side note, AzPhil seems fairly harsh on Torreyes' defense in his comment, saying he has below average defensive skills and isn't particularly athletic.

[craig]

I think it's good. Torreyes has a chance to be a very interesting offensive player, and he's very young. I think repeating Daytona makes good sense. If he struggles, that's not good. If he hits .300/.365/.800, then that reaffirms his interest. Great. Agree, for a guy who's young and who I've assumed might be pretty interesting, the negativity on his defense is discouraging.

 

Agree with toonster, I'd like to see guys perform well for a somewhat sustained period at a level before promoting them. Chen wasn't that good at Peoria, let him repeat and see if he can be good at that level at least this year. If he is, then give him a shot at Daytona. Torreyes showed flashes but wasn't that good at Daytona, let him repeat and see if he can be good at that level.

 

AS for the clutter, that leaves Torreyes, Bruno, and Saunders, with 2B and 3B to share. That seems OK to me. With DH, they can get their AB's. Bruno and perhaps Saunders also can play some OF (the Daytona OF looks pretty thin.) They can DH. Not a real problem.

[craig]

DeVoss in CF, that was his spot in college, right? Or did he play corner OF in college? I don't think his offense is enough to be very interesting (no power, too many K's, and low average makes for a kind of bad recipe for success. But, that was one year, fair enough to give him one more to see if he can hit somewhat better. His 82 walks certainly gives him some interest.

[craig]

One assignment that isn't too encouraging is that 2nd-round pick, BA's #31 guy Reggie Golden couldn't make Kane.

 

When the outfielders are Chen, Zapata, and Trey Martin, that isn't an overwhelming cast of guys to compete with for playing time. Doesn't bode well for Golden's future.

[CubsWin]

One assignment that isn't too encouraging is that 2nd-round pick, BA's #31 guy Reggie Golden couldn't make Kane.

 

When the outfielders are Chen, Zapata, and Trey Martin, that isn't an overwhelming cast of guys to compete with for playing time. Doesn't bode well for Golden's future.

AZPhil cited rust offensively. Makes sense. EXST might not be the worst thing for him. Could make Kane by May. I'm not high on him though. He's a "has a shot" guy due to his athleticism only at this point.

[CubsWin]

I was really hoping to see Maples in KC to start the season. He's had some apparent foot problems. Hopefully, he's not too far away.

 

Besides the top prospects, my most interesting follows currently are:

 

AAA - Rusin, McNutt and Watkins.

 

AA - Cabrera, Alcantara, Villanueva and Szczur.

 

High A - Torreyes, Bruno, Saunders, and a lot of pitchers P. Johnson, Peralta, Wells, Jensen, Rosario, Reed and likely Paniagua (after some EXST) if he ever gets his visa.

 

A - Obviously Amaya, Candelario and Hernandez. After that, Martin, Arias and Scott.

 

Can't wait to see who surprises. Prospect watching is back!

[davell]

I was really hoping to see Maples in KC to start the season. He's had some apparent foot problems. Hopefully, he's not too far away.

 

Besides the top prospects, my most interesting follows currently are:

 

AAA - Rusin, McNutt and Watkins.

 

AA - Cabrera, Alcantara, Villanueva and Szczur.

 

High A - Torreyes, Bruno, Saunders, and a lot of pitchers P. Johnson, Peralta, Wells, Jensen, Rosario, Reed and likely Paniagua (after some EXST) if he ever gets his visa.

 

A - Obviously Amaya, Candelario and Hernandez. After that, Martin, Arias and Scott.

 

Can't wait to see who surprises. Prospect watching is back!

Johnson hasn't been confirmed yet at Daytona, unless I'm mistaken. In fact, I'm not sure very many pitchers at all have been, have they? I'm a bit surprised/disappointed Ha is back in Tennessee and is keeping Andreoli down in Daytona. Neither is a big deal, but I did expect them both up a level.