2014 Cubs Pick Discussion

[craig]

Agree there, Dave. That's how I see it too.

 

We've got around $1.2 in overslot, and if we spend it all on Cease we can get up to $1.5. But if we don't spend it on Cease, the only reduction in discretionary is 5% of Cease's slot, less than $15K.

 

So we can spend up to $1.5 on Cease; up to $1.3 on Gilliam.

 

Good middle-of-the-order hitters who are just plain good hitters and who have good power besides are the rarest and most valuable commodity in the game. Not likely that Gilliam is that or will become that, of course. But if Cease said no and forced you to settle for Gilliam, and in the unlikely event that Gilliam worked out, that might be one of those hugely lucky breaks that sets up championships. (Heh, perhaps kind of like wanting Appel but getting Bryant?)

 

(I think of Cardinals with Pujols, Red Sox with Mo Vaughan, Texas with Josh Hamilton, Packers getting Aaron Rodgers after nobody called them to offer a decent trade for that pick, all of these are kinda lucky breaks that made huge impact.)

 

It says something about how much the Cubs like Cease, though, that they want to focus so much money on him even while expecting him to need TJ. A healthy back-of-first-round guy still gets "only" around $1.5. If they liked him so well to schedule that kind of an offer for him, that clearly suggests they like his healthy stuff as top-half-of-first-round quality.

[Guest]

@jimcallisMLB: 8th-rder Tommy Thorpe signs w/@Cubs for $135k (pick 229 value = $161,800). Oregon LHP, 3 pitches for strikes, CH is his best. @MLBDraft

[davell]

Ryan Williams signed for a grand evidently. Poor bastard, hope someone buys him food.

[Guest]

Ryan Williams signed for a grand evidently. Poor bastard, hope someone buys him food.

 

Shrug. That's what a lot of seniors get.

[davell]

Ryan Williams signed for a grand evidently. Poor bastard, hope someone buys him food.

 

Shrug. That's what a lot of seniors get.

 

I thought 10K was more along the lines of the minimum for some reason.

[Guest]

James Farris got $3,000.

 

That leaves Cease $1,198,200 without touching the 5% tax. $1,615,810 including the tax.

[Guest]

James Farris got $3,000.

 

That leaves Cease $1,198,200 without touching the 5% tax. $1,615,810 including the tax.

I really hope they can get him at around 1.1M. I think they could get one of the overslot guys to blink at $500K.

[davell]

Cubs announce they've signed 21 of top 22 picks. Only Cease remains.

[Guest]

Cubs announce they've signed 21 of top 22 picks. Only Cease remains.

Press Release

[Guest]

Kevonte Mitchell got $200,000 so subtract $100,000 from the pool for Cease.

[craig]

Kevonte Mitchell got $200,000 so subtract $100,000 from the pool for Cease.

Interesting. The money for Mitchell who is not significantly rated by baseball America, versus the money spent on, say, the 11th rounder, speaks to how unreliable the rankings are. The same goes for Norwood who is ranked top 80.

 

But really interesting that they like Michel that much.

 

I wonder whether Willis also got some over slot? He talked about the negotiation being complicated, or something like that, which might imply more than just a standard fixed 100 K plus college.

[Guest]

When is the deadline for signing Cease? I don't like the missed development time.

[Guest]

When is the deadline for signing Cease? I don't like the missed development time.

July 15th.

 

Cease won't pitch this year anyway, given his injury.

[Guest]

When is the deadline for signing Cease? I don't like the missed development time.

July 15th.

 

Cease won't pitch this year anyway, given his injury.

I forgot about that. I remember reading that he was going to use platelet therapy instead of TJ to see if it could rehab his arm. I think Bundy did the same thing and it didn't work.

 

If I were him, I'd take the money and get the best care I could get. Then again, Vanderbilt has a world class hospital attached to it and is only a few hours from Birmingham.

[Guest]

When is the deadline for signing Cease? I don't like the missed development time.

July 15th.

 

Cease won't pitch this year anyway, given his injury.

 

July 18th this year.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

he hasn't had surgery yet, right? at this rate he won't pitch next year either.

[Guest]

@VandySportscom: @ncole6 Cease will sign tomorrow.

 

@VandySportscom: @ncole6 yeah hearing it'll be around 1.5

[LeftCoastCubFan]

So all in all, a good draft?

[davell]

So all in all, a good draft?

 

Loaded question honestly. They did an excellent job with what was available. The negative is that there didn't appear to be a true stud available at 4. Schwarber, being an advanced college bat made sense and plenty of upside pitching followed.

 

Wish a consensus guy was there at 4, but the early returns on Schwarber are obviously promising. And I loved the pitching we added. Given the situation, it's an excellent draft. Wish it had been a slightly different situation though.

[craig]

@VandySportscom: @ncole6 Cease will sign tomorrow.

 

@VandySportscom: @ncole6 yeah hearing it'll be around 1.5

 

VandySportscom's tomorrow is now yesterday. Either VandySports was wrong, or the signing has been kept surprisingly quiet.

[Guest]

@VandySportscom: @ncole6 Cease will sign tomorrow.

 

@VandySportscom: @ncole6 yeah hearing it'll be around 1.5

 

VandySportscom's tomorrow is now yesterday. Either VandySports was wrong, or the signing has been kept surprisingly quiet.

 

Well, I wasn't sure how accurate this Twitter handle was even when I posted those tweets but Cease tweeted he signed just a few minutes ago:

 

@NewDylancease7 · 13m

 

Officially signed with the Chicago Cubs organization! So honored! Thank you to my family, friends, coaches and supporters!

[Guest]

Awesome. Now let's hurry up and get his elbow under a knife.

[davell]

Yeah, they were right. Callis says he's having TJS on July 22nd.

[Guest]

Yeah, they were right. Callis says he's having TJS on July 22nd.

 

FASTER

[Guest]

Officially $1.5 million bonus.