Weekly BA Prospect Hot Sheet

[rawaction]

Was Alcantara below average at SS? Or did the presence of Castro and Baez move him off the position?

 

And with his ability to play 2B and CF, there's no reason to trade him. I can't see anyone giving up anything worth getting rid of him.

[rawaction]

Was Alcantara below average at SS? Or did the presence of Castro and Baez move him off the position?

 

And with his ability to play 2B and CF, there's no reason to trade him. I can't see anyone giving up anything worth getting rid of him.

[Cubswin11]

I think he's at least passable at SS, but am not sure, and I am 99% in the camp of keeping him and at the very least turning him into a Zobrist/DeRosa type "super-sub."

 

I also agree that he probably has more value to us than for whatever he'd bring back, but you never know, maybe there is a team(s) that would value him a lot (like a strong 2nd piece in a Stanton trade). I personally doubt he's valued that high, however.

[Guest]

Yeah, I don't think it was anything Alcantara had done to that point, the combo of other prospects and some thinking his arm played better at 2nd led to the move.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I was under the impression Alcantara probably wasn't going to be an MLB SS most likely even without Castro or Baez.

[davell]

Not as strong of an arm and inconsistent, but everything still pointed to him being ABLE to stick at SS. If he were in just about any other org, he'd still be there. Most don't happen to have an All Star 24 year old and a top 10 prospect in AAA already on their depth charts.

 

Not advocating it, as I'm very excited about his progress, but it's likely he's at his highest value right now. Teams looking at him as a SS still adds value, great season in AAA.....BP is going to have him in their top 30, I doubt they're far off from how he's being perceived.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

i was under the impression alcantara's arm was the best out of the three, it's just the everything else that was worse.

[davell]

I thought he had the most range of the 3, but the arm was a bit less.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

lol so basically everybody remembers different things. Minor league defense in a nutshell.

[rawaction]

From what ive seen, no way does he have as good an arm as Baez or Castro. I could buy that he has more range though.

[dawson1989]

None the three are great defensively and never will be. My guess is with no one really distancing themselves Castro will stay because that is his norm. They'll move Baez and Alcantara.

[Guest]

Jorge Soler made the team photo this week:

 

Jorge Soler, rf, Cubs. The Cubs would obviously prefer that Soler be healthy and effective, but even with two prolonged disabled-list stints, he’s been remarkably productive at Double-A Tennessee. In nine games since his return to the Southern League, the 22-year-old has gone 13-for-27 (.481) with five homers, two doubles and 12 RBIs. He has rapped 15 extra-base hits in 17 games for the Smokies this season.

[mul21]

Jorge Soler made the team photo this week:

 

Jorge Soler, rf, Cubs. The Cubs would obviously prefer that Soler be healthy and effective, but even with two prolonged disabled-list stints, he’s been remarkably productive at Double-A Tennessee. In nine games since his return to the Southern League, the 22-year-old has gone 13-for-27 (.481) with five homers, two doubles and 12 RBIs. He has rapped 15 extra-base hits in 17 games for the Smokies this season.

 

I was amused by this phrasing after the discussion earlier this week.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

that's some BS right there. should of at least made the regular list.

[illiniguy]

that's some BS right there. should of at least made the regular list.

He takes so many days off and BA is pretty consistent with holding that against guys.

[Guest]

lol so basically everybody remembers different things. Minor league defense in a nutshell.

 

or bunch of random dudes with varying levels of knowledge on a message board in a nutshell

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

I think my saying he had the best arm of the three came from one of those surveys BA does of the coaches in the different leagues. Alcantara was voted best arm in the FSL in 2012.

[toonsterwu]

Alcantara's arm, to the best of my recollection from those days, was above average, perhaps plus, but it certainly wasn't the caliber of Baez's arm. I think there is probably a debatable case between Alcantara or Castro, but I would probably lean towards Castro having the stronger arm. The arm was a bit scattershot, though (to be fair, though, what strong-armed shortstop isn't labeled scattershot at some point in their youth? ... I really can't think of any guy off the top). Alcantara had solid lateral range, maybe plus, but it's been awhile so I'm hesitant to label it. The issues were with footwork.

 

Short of it is, he was a guy who had the range and arm strength to stay at short. I wouldn't say he had elite defensive potential (there was a reason someone like Marco Hernandez was hyped up by more than myself back in the day ... he had more natural shortstop defensive ability). He might never have developed the instincts/reactions/footwork, but we'll never really know now. The interesting debate on the future comes down to who they bet on, as you can slide guys around to slot in places as the bats are all potentially good enough.

[Guest]

Baez was in this week's team photo: http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/prospect-hot-sheet-july-25-glasnow-retains-top-spot/

 

Javier Baez, 2b/ss, Cubs: The Cubs’ decision to add Manny Ramirez to Triple-A Iowa as a player/coach appears to be paying off. Since Ramirez arrived, Baez is hitting .310 and is showing much more consistency. Before Manny, Baez had 10 three-strikeout games. With Manny, he has none. He’s hitting .299/.356/.623 with 13 extra-base hits in 20 games this month.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Baez was in this week's team photo

 

Clear sign of impending callup.

[EhDubya]

God, I want a MLB staff including Mueller, Bosio and Manny so bad.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Manny and Mueller played together, right? Hopefully they were buddies.

[bhogg]

Manny over smilin ricky for manager!

[Gmoney08]

Manny and Mueller played together, right? Hopefully they were buddies.

 

Won a WS together IIRC..

[imb]

Manny and Mueller played together, right? Hopefully they were buddies.

 

no chance manny knows bill mueller's name