Minor League Discussion & Boxes 4-12-14

[craig]

Duane Underwood up to Kane County. Will start tomorrow.

 

This would be Tseng's 5-day turn.

 

I wonder if he's going to piggy-back; if he's going to be used on a longer rotation regularly; or if his cut thumb isn't ready?

 

I'm guessing it's the thumb. If he does rejoin the rotation soon, it will be interesting to see what they do. Piggy-back, shift Torres to relief, or promote Skulina might all be good options.

[scarey]

Is it possible the Cubs found a #3 in Wada? He's on year two of recovering from TJS, and when he initially came over to the States he was touted as a mid rotation type.

[Guest]

Duane Underwood up to Kane County. Will start tomorrow.

 

This would be Tseng's 5-day turn.

 

I wonder if he's going to piggy-back; if he's going to be used on a longer rotation regularly; or if his cut thumb isn't ready?

 

I'm guessing it's the thumb. If he does rejoin the rotation soon, it will be interesting to see what they do. Piggy-back, shift Torres to relief, or promote Skulina might all be good options.

 

Tseng was pushed back to Monday.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Are Josh Vitters early success and Brett Jackson's eminent demise considered noteworthy anymore?

 

Either you have no idea what eminent means or you just answered the second half of your own question.

 

And no, none of it is noteworthy. No one is going to pay any mind to Vitters unless he shows that he can field at all and hit at the next level (except for Kyle), and Jackson has been residing in the toilet for a while.

 

With Vitters, his primary issue last was injury more than hitting and even fielding.

 

With Jackson, it must have been an I-Phone autocorrect fail for inevitable, the question being if everyone has completely moved on from him.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Vitters' problem is going to be that at some point, the MLB roster is going to need to configure itself in such a way that it needs a backup or super-fringey starter who hits RH and only plays 1b and LF, and that doesn't happen a whole lot and he'll be one of a bunch of guys available who can do that.

[Tryptamine]

Is it possible the Cubs found a #3 in Wada? He's on year two of recovering from TJS, and when he initially came over to the States he was touted as a mid rotation type.

 

I really really doubt it. When I saw him pitch in Japan he was more of a limited velocity guy with fantastic control and huge repertoire of pitches. Back of the rotation is about as good as it's going to get with him in my opinion.

[Guest]

I was one of Wada's biggest fans when we signed him, so I'm really stoked to see him do well after a crummy ST. I don't like speaking in "#X Starter" terms, but if he continues this pace at Iowa, there's reason to believe he's a league average SP, which is definitely a nice find. The way the rotation shakes out now I don't see a quick way for him to become a part of that rotation, but that's not terrible either. If Samardzija and/or Villanueva are sent by the deadline, there will be starts that need to be taken, and Wada would be a good option, especially if you're like me and don't think Rusin should be getting MLB starts. The complicating factor is that he's not on the 40 man and there's a similar upside play in Hendricks that's a lot younger, but Wada will be more ready in July and both are under team control for a long while so he may have a leg up.

[wekim81]

If the need arises and we give Wada the starts over Hendricks, i'm going to be furious.

[Guest]

If the need arises and we give Wada the starts over Hendricks, i'm going to be furious.

 

Hendricks has 8 starts at Iowa. Giving him a full season to prove himself isn't going to hurt anything. Plus, if I'm understanding the contract situation correctly, the Cubs control Wada like a pre-arb player, so if he turns into something useful he'd be valuable as an end of rotation player himself, or as a trade commodity.

[wekim81]

If the need arises and we give Wada the starts over Hendricks, i'm going to be furious.

 

Hendricks has 8 starts at Iowa. Giving him a full season to prove himself isn't going to hurt anything. Plus, if I'm understanding the contract situation correctly, the Cubs control Wada like a pre-arb player, so if he turns into something useful he'd be valuable as an end of rotation player himself, or as a trade commodity.

Again. If the need arises mid-season and Hendricks (then with 20 starts) doesn't get the call, and Wada does, i'm gonna be pissed.

 

We know what Wada is and that's a back-end guy. It's likely Hendricks is that too, but he should get the opportunity first. Just one man's opinion.

[jersey cubs fan]

If the need arises and we give Wada the starts over Hendricks, i'm going to be furious.

 

Hendricks has 8 starts at Iowa. Giving him a full season to prove himself isn't going to hurt anything. Plus, if I'm understanding the contract situation correctly, the Cubs control Wada like a pre-arb player, so if he turns into something useful he'd be valuable as an end of rotation player himself, or as a trade commodity.

Again. If the need arises mid-season and Hendricks (then with 20 starts) doesn't get the call, and Wada does, i'm gonna be pissed.

 

We know what Wada is and that's a back-end guy. It's likely Hendricks is that too, but he should get the opportunity first. Just one man's opinion.

 

Seems like something minor to be moderately annoyed with, not pissed. There's a lot more about this team worth being pissed at.

[Guest]

If the need arises and we give Wada the starts over Hendricks, i'm going to be furious.

 

Hendricks has 8 starts at Iowa. Giving him a full season to prove himself isn't going to hurt anything. Plus, if I'm understanding the contract situation correctly, the Cubs control Wada like a pre-arb player, so if he turns into something useful he'd be valuable as an end of rotation player himself, or as a trade commodity.

Again. If the need arises mid-season and Hendricks (then with 20 starts) doesn't get the call, and Wada does, i'm gonna be pissed.

 

We know what Wada is and that's a back-end guy. It's likely Hendricks is that too, but he should get the opportunity first. Just one man's opinion.

 

I don't think we have any more certainty about Wada than we do with Hendricks. Wada has < 120 innings in the states, the vast majority of which came as part of or immediately after TJS rehab. Sure the overwhelming likelihood is that he's a back of rotation pitcher, but the same goes for Hendricks too. Might as well vet the older guy first so you can move quickly in keeping/dumping him. Hendricks' timeline isn't really impacted if he gets a handful of MLB starts this year or not. Moreover, the whole assumption here is that their respective AAA performance continues until that time. If Wada is still pitching way better than Hendricks come June/July, the decision is even easier.

[Cubswin11]

Yeah, I'm not going to get too upset if Hendricks gets passed over for someone else coming up this year when his ceiling is probably something like Randy Wells

[sneakypower]

or Doug Fister, but same difference

[KingCubsFan]

Yeah, I'm not going to get too upset if Hendricks gets passed over for someone else coming up this year when his ceiling is probably something like Randy Wells

So better than Matt Garza?