Minor League Musings

[Hrubes20]

Tom, I still haven’t seen confirmation that Estrada had surgery.

 

If he did have surgery on the elbow, it wasn't TJS. He's participating down in Mesa right now, and I think he was throwing on the backfields as late as June last year before being shut down (perhaps later, but that's the latest I can confirm). I know the down time seems to get shorter and shorter on TJS recovery, but 8 months likely isn't possible.

[Brian]

@CubsProspects is replacing Luke Blaize at BN, which is fantastic. He unmasked himself too.

 

 

 

Power of the cat.

 

[tweet]

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[Hrubes20]

Kyler Murray chooses football (or at least is making a public show of it). A's really effed that one up.

[Regular Show]

Kyler Murray chooses football (or at least is making a public show of it). A's really effed that one up.

 

We all knew they messed up. It was super high-risk/high-reward and they got burned.

 

I think you could defend the selection at the end of the 1st round, but not with the #9 pick in last year's MLB draft.

 

This will probably lead to MLB creating a special exception/rule that will allow teams to offer major league contracts to special 2-sport prospects now. At least something good will come out of it (at the A's expense).

[Hrubes20]

Kyler Murray chooses football (or at least is making a public show of it). A's really effed that one up.

 

We all knew they messed up. It was super high-risk/high-reward and they got burned.

 

I think you could defend the selection at the end of the 1st round, but not with the #9 pick in last year's MLB draft.

 

This will probably lead to MLB creating a special exception/rule that will allow teams to offer major league contracts to special 2-sport prospects now. At least something good will come out of it (at the A's expense).

 

I can't even say it was high-reward. If it would have been a pick outside of their 1st, I could get on board with it as potentially high reward based on draft selection. But at 9 overall, there are other players available with the upside of Murray (which wasn't even that great for me).

 

But I 100% agree with you on the second part. The rule change will go a long way towards keeping better athletes in baseball going forward.

[Tim]

Isn't the rule change basically going back to the way it was done before? I could swear I remember a bunch of two sport athletes getting mlb contracts in the past.

[Regular Show]

Isn't the rule change basically going back to the way it was done before? I could swear I remember a bunch of two sport athletes getting mlb contracts in the past.

 

Yeah, so major league contracts were common for the top prospects (and Scott Boras clients) in the draft going back a few years before MLB banned them (for draft prospects). I'm pretty sure Mark Prior signed a major league contract with the Cubs back in 2001 for like $10.5 million. The Cubs also gave one to Jeff Samardzija.

 

So I guess the plan is that MLB is kinda bringing them back, but there will be some stipulations and probably a cap on the signing bonus/total amount a team could offer. It would look bad if a top 2-sport talent (who is selected further back in the 1st/2nd round) got considerably more than the #1 pick in the same draft.

Edited February 11, 2019 by Regular Show

[Hrubes20]

Isn't the rule change basically going back to the way it was done before? I could swear I remember a bunch of two sport athletes getting mlb contracts in the past.

 

Not only 2 sport guys, but draft prospects in general started getting mlb contracts right out of the chute. They best ones were demanding and receiving them. I remember Dylan Bundy getting an MLB contract as a one sport prep RHP. The owners didn't like how expensive things were getting, so they got rid of permitting MLB contracts to draft picks.

[Brian]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/baileyclark36/status/1096551089053167616[/tweet]

 

Noticed this interaction on twitter and decided I'd click through to Bailey's page since he seemed like he could be fun ....

 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/baileyclark36/status/1096551089053167616[/tweet]

 

Noticed this interaction on twitter and decided I'd click through to Bailey's page since he seemed like he could be fun ....

 

 

You warned me and I still had this reaction immediately when the page loaded.

 

[Aaron_Kennelly]

New Face of the Franchise.

[CyHawk_Cub]

Future Ricketts family email buddy.

[Regular Show]

New Face of the Franchise.

 

You know Tom still probably loves the guy because he went to horsefeathering Duke.

[CubsWin]

Welp, here we go again. Oscar De La Cruz looked (sounded) impressive on the radio broadcast of the Cubs first spring training game receiving praise from Len Kasper and the color guy (I think it was Coomer). He sat 96 with movement while hitting the corners with it. He induced weak contact on two of his outs and struckout the first guy he faced for a perfect 9th.

 

Obviously it's just the first data point, and I'll have to (once again) remain patient to find out the answer I've been waiting now several years to find out. Just who is Oscar De La Cruz and can he live up to his years long hype?

 

Clearly I want him to succeed, but is it weird that I'd rather he completely flame out than remain an enigma...?

[Regular Show]

Welp, here we go again. Oscar De La Cruz looked (sounded) impressive on the radio broadcast of the Cubs first spring training game receiving praise from Len Kasper and the color guy (I think it was Coomer). He sat 96 with movement while hitting the corners with it. He induced weak contact on two of his outs and struckout the first guy he faced for a perfect 9th.

 

Obviously it's just the first data point, and I'll have to (once again) remain patient to find out the answer I've been waiting now several years to find out. Just who is Oscar De La Cruz and can he live up to his years long hype?

 

Clearly I want him to succeed, but is it weird that I'd rather he completely flame out than remain an enigma...?

You always want prospects to succeed, but I have concerns. If I were Theo (or Jed) and Oscar de la Cruz is having a good year I'd have no problem including him in a trade for a reliever. Seriously doubt you'll get burned trading him. You'd probably have to include another good prospect(s) to get a deal done for a good reliever.

[Regular Show]

From the latest Longenhagen chat on Fangraphs:

TD: All being very similar in your grades (and all dual threats), who do you see with the most offensive potential of Connor Scott, Cole Roederer, and Jordyn Adams?

 

Eric A Longenhagen: Adams but Roederer is the safest bet of the three.

That's pretty weird to read because we were pretty high on Connor Scott leading up to last year's MLB draft. The weird part being that Roederer is now the safest out of those three. I'm assuming by offensive upside it would go Adams, Scott and then Roederer.

 

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/why-not-both-the-board-scouting-stats/

 

Updated THE BOARD! feature so it includes more options now:

 

Revamped Minor League Leaderboards

• Added the ability to select multiple seasons
  Added the ability to filter by organization
  Added three new league filters: Upper (AAA/AA), Mid (A+/A), and Low Levels (A-/R)

They explain all the changes and options in the link above.

[CubsWin]

Of the myriad of minor league reliever options, Allen Webster has looked really good thus far in spring training action. Here's AZ Phil's report of his 1st outing...

 

ALLEN WEBSTER:

FB: 94-97 T-98

SL: 89-91

CH: 88-90

NOTE: Just - Wow! - ... Absolutely electric... power slider combined with high-velocity FB and an occasional CH... FB was hitting 97 consistently and slider was filthy... some command issues during the inning but not uncommon given the quality of the stuff

Now they're just early spring training stats, but so far he's pitched 3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K which in and of itself would be meaningless if not for the glowing report above.

 

I don't know if he has a clause where he can elect free agency if he's not placed on the 25-man or 40-man roster by a certain date, but he's currently not on the 40-man and is out of options which means he can start in AAA but, if the Cubs bring him up, he can't be sent down without passing through waivers and (I believe) getting Webster's permission to do so. So, basically, once he's up, he's up unless he gets placed on the DL, I'm sorry... IL.

 

It's an incredibly crowded bullpen picture right now and the Cubs ideally would like to break camp with at least one guy with options who can be sent down when Morrow comes back, but with the Cubs emphasis on urgency, if Webster keeps pitching like this, he's got a shot at not only breaking camp with the team, but becoming a meaningful part of the Cubs bullpen.

[Tim]

Of the myriad of minor league reliever options, Allen Webster has looked really good thus far in spring training action. Here's AZ Phil's report of his 1st outing...

 

ALLEN WEBSTER:

FB: 94-97 T-98

SL: 89-91

CH: 88-90

NOTE: Just - Wow! - ... Absolutely electric... power slider combined with high-velocity FB and an occasional CH... FB was hitting 97 consistently and slider was filthy... some command issues during the inning but not uncommon given the quality of the stuff

Now they're just early spring training stats, but so far he's pitched 3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K which in and of itself would be meaningless if not for the glowing report above.

 

I don't know if he has a clause where he can elect free agency if he's not placed on the 25-man or 40-man roster by a certain date, but he's currently not on the 40-man and is out of options which means he can start in AAA but, if the Cubs bring him up, he can't be sent down without passing through waivers and (I believe) getting Webster's permission to do so. So, basically, once he's up, he's up unless he gets placed on the DL, I'm sorry... IL.

 

It's an incredibly crowded bullpen picture right now and the Cubs ideally would like to break camp with at least one guy with options who can be sent down when Morrow comes back, but with the Cubs emphasis on urgency, if Webster keeps pitching like this, he's got a shot at not only breaking camp with the team, but becoming a meaningful part of the Cubs bullpen.

He's only got 170 days of service time, so if he becomes something he is under control for a full six years, too.

[CubsWin]

Of the myriad of minor league reliever options, Allen Webster has looked really good thus far in spring training action. Here's AZ Phil's report of his 1st outing...

 

ALLEN WEBSTER:

FB: 94-97 T-98

SL: 89-91

CH: 88-90

NOTE: Just - Wow! - ... Absolutely electric... power slider combined with high-velocity FB and an occasional CH... FB was hitting 97 consistently and slider was filthy... some command issues during the inning but not uncommon given the quality of the stuff

Now they're just early spring training stats, but so far he's pitched 3 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K which in and of itself would be meaningless if not for the glowing report above.

 

I don't know if he has a clause where he can elect free agency if he's not placed on the 25-man or 40-man roster by a certain date, but he's currently not on the 40-man and is out of options which means he can start in AAA but, if the Cubs bring him up, he can't be sent down without passing through waivers and (I believe) getting Webster's permission to do so. So, basically, once he's up, he's up unless he gets placed on the DL, I'm sorry... IL.

 

It's an incredibly crowded bullpen picture right now and the Cubs ideally would like to break camp with at least one guy with options who can be sent down when Morrow comes back, but with the Cubs emphasis on urgency, if Webster keeps pitching like this, he's got a shot at not only breaking camp with the team, but becoming a meaningful part of the Cubs bullpen.

He's only got 170 days of service time, so if he becomes something he is under control for a full six years, too.

Nice! I'll take that.

[Bear Cub]

Jared Young has made an impression in a few AB's so far. Hope he can prove an option for the OF in the future.

[Brian]

[tweet]

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[Regular Show]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/1107304229461520384[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/1107305576256733184[/tweet]

 

I think this situation will improve for minor league players with the new CBA. It's shameful that the Player's Union doesn't fight harder for minor league players and their compensation. Yes, I know they aren't a part of the Union, but these players help support the game and some eventually do make it. Hopefully, the new CBA finally addresses this problem.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Per Arizona Phil: https://www.thecubreporter.com/03172019/cubs-release-seven-minor-league-camp-while-hoerner-ademan-move-down-level

 

RELEASED:

OF Chris Carrier (2017 9th round draft pick - U. of Memphis)

C Benny Kaleiwahea (2018 NDFA - Tennessee Tech)

OF Kwangmin Kwon (2015 IFA - South Korea - $1.2M signing bonus)

RHP Brady Miller (2017 23rd round draft pick - Western Oregon)

RHP Nathan Sweeney (2016 32nd round draft pick - Cherry Creek HS - Greenwood Village, CO - $100K signing bonus)

1B-C Franklin Tineo (2014 IFA - Dominican Republic)

1B Kevin Zamudio (2015 IFA - Mexico - $150K signing bonus)

[Regular Show]

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26310197/mlb-lifts-restrictions-ariz-fall-league-players

 

Major League Baseball is lifting restrictions on which players can be sent to the Arizona Fall League and moving up the season by nearly a month.

 

The commissioner's office said Tuesday that a team can send any player to the AFL. Previously, a player had to be at Double-A or Triple-A by Aug. 1, with one player from a lower level allowed per organization. In addition, players with one year of major league service as of Aug. 31 were excluded, with the exception of one player per organization who had been selected in the most recent winter meeting draft of unprotected players. There also was a limit on foreign players.

 

This year's season will run from mid-September through Oct. 27. Last year's season started Oct. 9 and ended Nov. 17.

 

Good change and I'm glad they're moving up the AFL.

[CubsWin]

Here's another piece on the Cubs system this time from MiLB.com. No real new news in it, but they do make an interesting prediction towards the bottom of the page.

 

Most strikeouts: Michael Rucker

MiLB Cubs Prospect Primer