Minor League Discussion & Boxes 8-16-13

[Brian]

Javy is too cool for us

[XZero771679666304]

I've tried to temper my enthusiasm over Baez, but it's getting more difficult by the day. His adjustment period to AA was extremely short compared to the one to A+, and he's young for the league he is tearing up (and he's taking some walks, thank you very much Keith Law). You try not to expect a prospect to become a major league star, but it's getting to that point.

[Guest]

i wish he was my real dad

[Guest]

HE DID THE [expletive] JORDAN POSE

[CUBZ99]

At this point you have to wonder where the front office sees Baez fitting into the major league roster. With Bryant moving through the system and looking legit, I hope they just leave Baez at SS.

[Guest]

At this point you have to wonder where the front office sees Baez fitting into the major league roster. With Bryant moving through the system and looking legit, I hope they just leave Baez at SS.

 

At this time next year, Starlin Castro will be BLOCKING Javy Baez. That's...amazing.

[XZero771679666304]

At this point you have to wonder where the front office sees Baez fitting into the major league roster. With Bryant moving through the system and looking legit, I hope they just leave Baez at SS.

 

I think Bryant ends up in the OF.

[pitchcs]

A 2015 opening day lineup of Ellsbury, Castro, Rizzo, Baez, Bryant, Soler, Alcantara, Castillo (or whoever, who cares) sounds pretty good to me.

 

Not sure Bryant opens 2015 in the bigs though the hope is he makes a strong contribution that season.

 

I would hope he's up by the start of 2015 the way he's hitting. I think half season AA/half season AAA should be plenty.

[Guest]

At this point you have to wonder where the front office sees Baez fitting into the major league roster. With Bryant moving through the system and looking legit, I hope they just leave Baez at SS.

 

Well, that certainly begs a question. Castro's value is as a shortstop, he could move to second, but there will likely be a better option there soon, too.

 

Trade him.

[davell]

I think best case scenario may be to trade Castro during next season, if he's playing well. Obviously bringing Javy up at that point.

[XZero771679666304]

At this point you have to wonder where the front office sees Baez fitting into the major league roster. With Bryant moving through the system and looking legit, I hope they just leave Baez at SS.

 

Well, that certainly begs a question. Castro's value is as a shortstop, he could move to second, but there will likely be a better option there soon, too.

 

Trade him.

 

Unless Castro is worse next season (unlikely), his value is about as low as it is going to get, and the Cubs wouldn't get much in return. I don't see a trade happening, at least not anytime soon.

 

I still see a 3B-Baez, SS-Castro 2B-Alcantara infield alignment as being the likely scenario. I'm also not nearly prepared to dismiss the possibility of Olt being the 3B, perhaps as early as the second half of next year. I really think Bryant's future is in the OF.

[XZero771679666304]

I think best case scenario may be to trade Castro during next season, if he's playing well. Obviously bringing Javy up at that point.

 

He'd have to be playing really well to make it worth it, I think.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I think best case scenario may be to trade Castro during next season, if he's playing well. Obviously bringing Javy up at that point.

 

That feels like the kind of trade a team makes in the offseason. Potential trade partners aren't going to want to tear up their team mid-season for Castro, and I certainly want more than just prospects for him.

 

I trust the other GMs to be able to understand regression to the mean and price Castro fairly accordingly. In theory, we shouldn't gain anything on average by waiting to trade him, if that's what we wanted to do.

[imb]

every time i think about baez at third, im like, well when bryant comes up, you can't shift a guy back UP the defensive spectrum unless he's machado-good, right? (i also think about all those "bobby hill is our second basemen for the next decade" so hush)

 

i really think castro gets traded

[XZero771679666304]

I think best case scenario may be to trade Castro during next season, if he's playing well. Obviously bringing Javy up at that point.

 

That feels like the kind of trade a team makes in the offseason. Potential trade partners aren't going to want to tear up their team mid-season for Castro, and I certainly want more than just prospects for him.

 

I trust the other GMs to be able to understand regression to the mean and price Castro fairly accordingly. In theory, we shouldn't gain anything on average by waiting to trade him, if that's what we wanted to do.

 

To a point yes, but I think it's naive to think they would not use his poor performance this year as leverage in a trade negotiation. I'd prefer to wait and see if he rebounds next year and then trade him in the 2014-15 offseason. It'd be a gamble, sure, but I just don't think we'd get nearly as much as we should this offseason.

[TruffleShuffle]

I think best case scenario may be to trade Castro during next season, if he's playing well. Obviously bringing Javy up at that point.

 

the best case scenario is for castro to go back to being good at baseball and baez destroying mlb at 3b.

[davell]

Now Zach Cates is looking like another intriguing relief option. Went 3, gave up a hit and a walk, K'ing 6. Hitting 96 now that he's coming out of the pen.

[Guest]

Just put Castro at 2B if things continue (things other than Castro being complete dog [expletive] at the plate, that is) the way they're going. Castro would prob gain some value defensively at 2B with all of his physical ability anyway.

 

Not all of those guys are going to pan out and the ideal would be if Bryant could handle 3B for at least a good chunk of his career. I'm still most skeptical on Alcantara of all of these guys.

 

If you got some ridiculous scenario where they all panned out, which isn't going to happen, then Bryant can go to the OF.

[XZero771679666304]

 

If you got some ridiculous scenario where they all panned out, which isn't going to happen, then Bryant can go to the OF.

 

All it's going to take to create a scenario where Bryant ends up in the OF is for two of Baez, Alcantara, Villanueva or Olt to pan out, and I think there's a decent chance of that happening. Of course trades/attrition can and likely will thin the ranks a bit, but it's not hard to envision scenarios where Bryant is forced off of the IF (which is what some have been predicting regardless).

[Guest]

 

If you got some ridiculous scenario where they all panned out, which isn't going to happen, then Bryant can go to the OF.

 

All it's going to take to create a scenario where Bryant ends up in the OF is for two of Baez, Alcantara, Villanueva or Olt to pan out, and I think there's a decent chance of that happening. Of course trades/attrition can and likely will thin the ranks a bit, but it's not hard to envision scenarios where Bryant is forced off of the IF (which is what some have been predicting regardless).

 

I guess I'd just rather have Bryant at 3B if he can handle it competently. If we have excess infielders, trade them and get more value in return.

 

If Bryant isn't good enough to handle 3B and has to go to the OF, that's a different story.

[CubsWin]

Hahahaha, watch the 3b on the other team.

I missed that. That's freaking hilarious. Immediately starting walking off the field before he even looked back. I'm watching that again...

[CubsWin]

Haha. Love Dallas Beeler and Carlos Gutierrez bringing the Gatorade cooler to home plate for a shower.

And then Gutierrez just tosses the cooler aside. When I saw that I was like, oh no please nobody break an ankle. Sure enough, Rafael Lopez almost took a tumble.

[Guest]

You don't shift Bryant to a new position because of Alcantara. Let's hope everyone pans out and we get the ridiculous IF of Rizzo, Castro, Baez & Bryant.

 

We could always put Alcantara in CF if need be.

[toonsterwu]

A month ago, what I would've liked to see is Baez starting 2014 in AA at shortstop ... with the Cubs giving Alcantara one final look at shortstop in AAA. If he even gets off to a remotely good start in AAA, Alcantara could become a ridiculously good trade chip by himself. If he struggles defensively at short in AA, you could still move him back to 2nd whenever you shifted Baez up.

 

That said, with the way he's torn it up in AA, I don't know if they start Baez at AA to start 2014. It's not the biggest deal, but you want to reward a guy for ridiculous performance, and it's still a promotion.

 

Anyhow, didn't McLeod say a little while back that they'll consider other positions for Baez this offseason, if only to gain experience? We'll find out some idea of what they are thinking sooner than later.

[rawaction]

Everyone keeps saying "all these guys won't pan out", but I think is a little overblown. The guys we are talking about are pretty high profile guys. Baez, Bryant and Almora were all top 10 draft picks. Soler was a priority FA. To me, if a guy can rake like Baez in AA....that's a step away from the majors. Bryant is like 8 months from doing the same. Almora is obviously further away but is considered to have the best approach of all of them. Soler still has some questions with the injury and still needs to take that next step.

 

But I think all have shown the ability and have the pedigree. But they also don't have some of the issues/struggles that guys like Pie and Patterson had (long swings, refusal to walk). That's not to say they won't ever struggle, but all 4 of these guys will be major leaguers at some point. And I think there is a good chance that at least 2 of them are really solid building blocks at worst.