Re: Minor League Assignments

[craig]

Iowa Opening Day Roster

 

... Wes Darvill (for some reason) is also at Iowa.

 

Barney. Darvill fills in for the guy who fills in for Barney.

[wekim81]

Hilarious that our Rule 5 pick from last year in down in Lo-A this year.

 

It's surprising, and yet it isn't. You don't want a Rule 5 guy there obviously, but he's the raw type of arm that really should've been in A+ ball last year developing. That said, A ball is a bit odd. I wonder if they are trying to stretch him out.

 

One other possibility is that they want Lendy in A ball instead of A+/AA so they can better keep track of him instead of going to XST. I doubt it, but something to keep in mind this year with some movement, considering the proximity of Kane County to Chicago.

I can't buy the second reason. I mean he's not even one of our top 30 prospects, why would they want to keep an eye on him vs. any other prospect? Castillo pitched at Lo-A in 2011, even though it could be argued 2012 was a "lost year" developmentally since he only pitched 20 innings in minor league games, he's still a year older, and a year more mature. I expected Castillo to open up at AA, but if not, at least Hi-A. The lack of quality arms starting in Daytona means he could have easily had room to start there. Something's not stirring the kool-aid here. Maybe the Cubs really just don't value him anymore?

[toonsterwu]

To be clear, I don't really buy the 2nd reason either. I was just tossing out an idea.

 

The best guess I can fathom is that they want to try stretching him out and it's easier to do that as a piggyback guy in MWL than it is to squeeze him into full-load rotation work in Daytona/Tennessee. One other possibility, which sort of goes along with the idea of stretching him out, is that they might want him to get work on his slider against weaker bats.

[Guest]

Could be a lot of things. They may just feel like he has a better connection with the KC pitching coach.

[Guest]

Hilarious that our Rule 5 pick from last year in down in Lo-A this year.

 

It's surprising, and yet it isn't. You don't want a Rule 5 guy there obviously, but he's the raw type of arm that really should've been in A+ ball last year developing. That said, A ball is a bit odd. I wonder if they are trying to stretch him out.

 

One other possibility is that they want Lendy in A ball instead of A+/AA so they can better keep track of him instead of going to XST. I doubt it, but something to keep in mind this year with some movement, considering the proximity of Kane County to Chicago.

I can't buy the second reason. I mean he's not even one of our top 30 prospects, why would they want to keep an eye on him vs. any other prospect? Castillo pitched at Lo-A in 2011, even though it could be argued 2012 was a "lost year" developmentally since he only pitched 20 innings in minor league games, he's still a year older, and a year more mature. I expected Castillo to open up at AA, but if not, at least Hi-A. The lack of quality arms starting in Daytona means he could have easily had room to start there. Something's not stirring the kool-aid here. Maybe the Cubs really just don't value him anymore?

 

Actually, BA ranked him in the Cubs top 30 prospects.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Who the hell is Tim Torres?

[toonsterwu]

Who the hell is Tim Torres?

 

2nd/3rd (I think) guy we picked up. Was with the Rockies last year. Basically upper level filler at this point in his career.

[Little Slide Rooter]

A few more guys I can't help but notice are not on any roster; Marcus Hatley, Carlos Guitierrez (guy we claimed from the Twins) Greg Rohan (filler, but at least he was our filler).

[wekim81]

 

Actually, BA ranked him in the Cubs top 30 prospects.

Fair enough. I don't think he's one of our top 30 prospects, and he wasn't in the NSBB list of top 30 guys (although maybe we excluded him). But yeah, good catch. Still my point stands. Very interesting choice to demote him all the way down to Lo-A. We'll see what happens.

[Guest]

Pretty sure we excluded him because of service time.

[toonsterwu]

A few more guys I can't help but notice are not on any roster; Marcus Hatley, Carlos Guitierrez (guy we claimed from the Twins) Greg Rohan (filler, but at least he was our filler).

 

Isn't Rohan injured?

[Guest]

Pretty sure we excluded him because of service time.

 

Correct. He technically exhausted his rookie eligibility but BA doesn't exclude prospects due to service time.

[craig]

A few more guys I can't help but notice are not on any roster; Marcus Hatley, Carlos Guitierrez (guy we claimed from the Twins) Greg Rohan (filler, but at least he was our filler).

 

Rohan hurt. Gutierrez had surgery last summer, so presumably is either working in Mesa or else released. Hatley is presumably with tennessee, whose roster hasn't yet been released, I don't think.

 

Tennessee's rotation is a little different than I would have predicted a month ago. I'm assuming it might now be:

Cabrera (I assumed he'd be Iowa)

Jensen (I assumed he'd be Daytona)

Lokisch (I assumed he'd be Iowa)

Loosen

Hendricks

 

Am I missing anybody obvious? I would have expected Jensen at Daytona and Kirk at Tenn, instead of the apparent reverse. I imagine Jokisch already gave Tenn one lefty, and by keeping Kirk at Daytona that gives them one lefty also? Doesn't seem like having a token lefty should be much of a motivator for minor-league assignments, though. I'm just thinking here, dumb thought.

 

Cabrera would seem to be the one starter at AA whose velocity and "stuff" have seemed to exceed their production. Jensen/Lokisch/Hendricks seem to be guys whose actual performance has perhaps been more impressive than their reputed stuff. Hopefully that they will continue to produce well, vindicate their stuff, and perhaps we'll get some reports on their stuff that are more favorable than we'd expected.

 

Or maybe one or more of them is disabled, who knows.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Cabrera in Tennessee is indeed a surprise to me.

 

It almost looks as though Iowa is fully stocked with spare parts for the big league club aside from Vitters, Jackson, and maybe Watkins; who I'd personally have likes to see get a look at 2nd on the big league club while Barney's out. The only other exception is Loux, who I expect is only there to keep a spot warm before he ultimately ends up in Kane County.

 

One more man without a country is Dallas Beeler. Was he injured?

[craig]

...

One more man without a country is Dallas Beeler. Was he injured?

 

Forgot about Beeler. He must also be at Tennessee, unless he got released or injured. He'd obviously be another rotation candidate.

[CubsInNC]

...

One more man without a country is Dallas Beeler. Was he injured?

 

Forgot about Beeler. He must also be at Tennessee, unless he got released or injured. He'd obviously be another rotation candidate.

 

According to his twitter, he is in Tennessee.

[Guest]

And the Smokies are the last to announce ther roster: http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=553&stn=true&sid=t553

 

Jensen must be hurt/staying in extended spring training.

[Guest]

Is it just me or is Alcantara listed by both Daytona and Tenn?

[Guest]

Is it just me or is Alcantara listed by both Daytona and Tenn?

 

Here is the Smokies' official release: http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130402&content_id=43705686&vkey=pr_t553&fext=.jsp&sid=t553&tcid=tw_share

 

Alcantara is in Tennessee based off that.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Tenn has updated the actual roster page on their site, but Daytona hasn't. That's why Alcantara is on both.

[Guest]

Tenn has updated the actual roster page on their site, but Daytona hasn't. That's why Alcantara is on both.

Daytona's is at least somewhat updated as it has guys there that didn't end last season at Daytona.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Hah, like 10 minutes ago Alcantara was still on Daytona's roster on their site, now he's gone. It's like they read this thread.

[Guest]

Hah, like 10 minutes ago Alcantara was still on Daytona's roster on their site, now he's gone. It's like they read this thread.

lol - they now seem a bit short on IF's on that page.

[toonsterwu]

AzPhil's latest update, not that it should be a surprise, still has Torreyes with Extended ST. So it's not some sort of injury.

 

I'll be the first to say I haven't been on this Torreyes wagon ... but it still seems strange that he got demoted to XST. I mean, if it's a defensive issue (since AzPhil was so harsh on his defense) ... well, then cut him (if he really can't hack it at 2nd ... ). Very odd ... wonder if they might be trying to rework his swing a bit?

 

On a positive note, he does have Jose Rosario throwing 3 innings. That's a fair amount of work, so it feels like Rosario should be with a full-season squad as soon as he logs enough work in.

[davell]

Josh Conway throwing 92-94 evidently and almost made KC's rotation. Thats great news. Toonster: Cutting Torreyes? Really? Maybe he's working on his D or whatever, but cutting a 20 year old that has had success in High A+ ball is just an odd comment to make. The fact he showed up to ST very late probably isvplaying into this decision, as someone on TCR pointed out.