Minor League Musings

[Bertz]

Wait wait wait, Cam Sanders can touch 98? I thought he was just some generic dude. The numbers still leave a lot to be desired but good to know that there's something there worth paying attention to.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Wait wait wait, Cam Sanders can touch 98? I thought he was just some generic dude. The numbers still leave a lot to be desired but good to know that there's something there worth paying attention to.

 

Oh yeah. He was consistently hitting 96 today. He's definitely something.

[Bertz]

Fun with Arbitrary Endpoints:

 

Ian Happ since June 26th: .302/.412/.558, 15.7% BB. 21.6% K

 

Even though in a perfect world I'd probably want another few weeks of this before bringing him back up, I'd like him to rejoin the team coming out of the ASB. The bench very clearly needs to be addressed at the deadline, and so I'd like to see a few weeks of Robel and New Happ to better understand what exactly needs to be added.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

[Tryptamine]

So sick of the Nolan Gorman hype. An all bat guy who is likely headed for 1B and hasn't hit in damn near a year but he's talked about among the elite prospects in the game.

 

Since his promotion from rookie league

 

438PA .224/.317/.411 with 15HR and a 30.4K%

[Regular Show]

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[CaliforniaRaisin]

So sick of the Nolan Gorman hype. An all bat guy who is likely headed for 1B and hasn't hit in damn near a year but he's talked about among the elite prospects in the game.

 

Since his promotion from rookie league

 

438PA .224/.317/.411 with 15HR and a 30.4K%

 

You'd think the BA types would learn about K-rates by now. Gorman strikes out waaaaaaaay too much, even in today's game.

[Regular Show]

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[Hrubes20]

No worries. Little and his 5+ ERA in his second attempt at Single A South Bend is on the mound tonight to make you forget about Pearson.

[Bertz]

[Regular Show]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/07/minor-mlb-transactions-cubs-release-jacob-hannemann.html

 

The Cubs released outfielder Jacob Hannemann and infielder Cristhian Adames from their Triple-A club, per the Pacific Coast League’s transactions log. Hannemann, 28, got a late start to the season after opening the year in extended Spring Training. He was hitting .248/.333/.453 with five homers and eight steals through 136 plate appearances. The 2013 third-rounder briefly appeared in the big leagues with the 2017 Mariners but totaled only 20 plate appearances. Adames, 28 later this month, has been limited to 73 plate appearances due to injury. He’d been rehabbing with the Cubs’ Rookie-level affiliate prior to his release. Adames hit .256/.375/.462 in 48 PAs at the Triple-A level and has generally posted respectable offensive numbers in parts of five Triple-A seasons. However, in parts of four MLB campaigns with the Rockies, he’s logged an unsightly .206/.283/.278 slash in 343 trips to the plate.

 

[We Got The Whole 9]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/07/minor-mlb-transactions-cubs-release-jacob-hannemann.html

 

The Cubs released outfielder Jacob Hannemann and infielder Cristhian Adames from their Triple-A club, per the Pacific Coast League’s transactions log. Hannemann, 28, got a late start to the season after opening the year in extended Spring Training. He was hitting .248/.333/.453 with five homers and eight steals through 136 plate appearances. The 2013 third-rounder briefly appeared in the big leagues with the 2017 Mariners but totaled only 20 plate appearances. Adames, 28 later this month, has been limited to 73 plate appearances due to injury. He’d been rehabbing with the Cubs’ Rookie-level affiliate prior to his release. Adames hit .256/.375/.462 in 48 PAs at the Triple-A level and has generally posted respectable offensive numbers in parts of five Triple-A seasons. However, in parts of four MLB campaigns with the Rockies, he’s logged an unsightly .206/.283/.278 slash in 343 trips to the plate.

 

Hated the Hannemann pick because of how old he was, his cost, and his lack of experience (due to missionary work or whatever it was). No way you spend a mil on a guy like that, IMO.

[Hrubes20]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/07/minor-mlb-transactions-cubs-release-jacob-hannemann.html

 

The Cubs released outfielder Jacob Hannemann and infielder Cristhian Adames from their Triple-A club, per the Pacific Coast League’s transactions log. Hannemann, 28, got a late start to the season after opening the year in extended Spring Training. He was hitting .248/.333/.453 with five homers and eight steals through 136 plate appearances. The 2013 third-rounder briefly appeared in the big leagues with the 2017 Mariners but totaled only 20 plate appearances. Adames, 28 later this month, has been limited to 73 plate appearances due to injury. He’d been rehabbing with the Cubs’ Rookie-level affiliate prior to his release. Adames hit .256/.375/.462 in 48 PAs at the Triple-A level and has generally posted respectable offensive numbers in parts of five Triple-A seasons. However, in parts of four MLB campaigns with the Rockies, he’s logged an unsightly .206/.283/.278 slash in 343 trips to the plate.

 

Hated the Hannemann pick because of how old he was, his cost, and his lack of experience (due to missionary work or whatever it was). No way you spend a mil on a guy like that, IMO.

 

Same here. I remember being floored when I saw that they gave Hannemann a 7 figure overslot deal. To be fair though, none of the guys I wanted at that pick have amounted to anything either.

[Hrubes20]

 

He's also been blistering at the plate for over a month now. Since June 2nd (123 PAs) - .345/.369/.593, 21.1% K rate, 170 wRC+

 

That will definitely play as a 19/20 year old in full season ball. The talent that got the rave reviews in AZ is finally starting to show.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Paul Richan made the BA Hot Sheet:

 

15. Paul Richan, RHP, Cubs

Team: High Class A Myrtle Beach (Carolina)

Age: 22

Why He’s Here: 1-1, 2.08, 13 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 14 SO

 

The scoop: One of the most polished pitching prospects in the Cubs system, Richan has shown future plus control this year despite subpar results. He doesn’t have knockout stuff, but he will command all his pitches throughout the strike zone. (JN)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

DSL All-Stars are out:

 

IF Flemin Bautista

OF Yohendrick Piñango

RHP José Gomez

RHP Edward Vásquez

 

 

Surprised to see no Rafael Morel.

[We Got The Whole 9]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/07/minor-mlb-transactions-cubs-release-jacob-hannemann.html

 

 

 

Hated the Hannemann pick because of how old he was, his cost, and his lack of experience (due to missionary work or whatever it was). No way you spend a mil on a guy like that, IMO.

 

Same here. I remember being floored when I saw that they gave Hannemann a 7 figure overslot deal. To be fair though, none of the guys I wanted at that pick have amounted to anything either.

We talk a lot about their pitchers picks in the first few years being brutal but aside from the pre-packaged KB and the wart-filled Schwarber and Happ top 10 picks, their offensive picks were mostly really bad as well.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

We talk a lot about their pitchers picks in the first few years being brutal but aside from the pre-packaged KB and the wart-filled Schwarber and Happ top 10 picks, their offensive picks were mostly really bad as well.

 

They have had a basically unprecedented hit rate(which absolutely includes Schwarber, Happ, and Almora) with first round picks, if you're expecting better you're expecting fantasy. Draft picks fail, as a rule. Even those at the very top of the draft. To draft 4 consecutive major leaguers who have had some level of sustained success there is incredible. Those 4 drafts also turned out Bote, Godley, and Cease. Especially in a world with draft pools, you aren't going to see aggregate results any better, it's a matter now of seeing if their last few drafts will pan out to lower ceiling/more depth once they lost a bunch of pool money/1st round position in 2016+.

[David]

We talk a lot about their pitchers picks in the first few years being brutal but aside from the pre-packaged KB and the wart-filled Schwarber and Happ top 10 picks, their offensive picks were mostly really bad as well.

 

They have had a basically unprecedented hit rate(which absolutely includes Schwarber, Happ, and Almora) with first round picks, if you're expecting better you're expecting fantasy. Draft picks fail, as a rule. Even those at the very top of the draft. To draft 4 consecutive major leaguers who have had some level of sustained success there is incredible. Those 4 drafts also turned out Bote, Godley, and Cease. Especially in a world with draft pools, you aren't going to see aggregate results any better, it's a matter now of seeing if their last few drafts will pan out to lower ceiling/more depth once they lost a bunch of pool money/1st round position in 2016+.

 

And even though they were IFAs, Eloy and Gleyber are only further a testament to their ability to identify and develop position players.

 

You'd think the people complaining here didn't watch the Cubs go like 25 years without producing a decent position player while also frequently being bad and drafting high. Their biggest success story in that span was when CPatt was kinda good for 2 years. Yeah, a lot of that was just incompetence by previous FOs, but it also kinda attests to how you can't really do what this FO did in that 4 year span by accident.

[Regular Show]

We talk a lot about their pitchers picks in the first few years being brutal but aside from the pre-packaged KB and the wart-filled Schwarber and Happ top 10 picks, their offensive picks were mostly really bad as well.

 

They have had a basically unprecedented hit rate(which absolutely includes Schwarber, Happ, and Almora) with first round picks, if you're expecting better you're expecting fantasy. Draft picks fail, as a rule. Even those at the very top of the draft. To draft 4 consecutive major leaguers who have had some level of sustained success there is incredible. Those 4 drafts also turned out Bote, Godley, and Cease. Especially in a world with draft pools, you aren't going to see aggregate results any better, it's a matter now of seeing if their last few drafts will pan out to lower ceiling/more depth once they lost a bunch of pool money/1st round position in 2016+.

 

I'm not complaining about the performance of this Cubs FO, in terms, of hitting on 1st round draft picks even with Almora and Happ being somewhat disappointing. They've done a phenomenal job drafting at the top from '12-15. I wanted Carlos Correa in '12 and probably would've taken Almora too (I liked Giolito a lot even though he needed TJS), KB all the way in '13, I probably would've taken Conforto but I could be convinced to go with Schwarber (especially with the savings in pool money) in '14, wanted Benintendi really badly in '15 and would've taken Happ easily...

 

I complain about McLeod and how they've performed in the later rounds (supplemental 1st and later) and especially in 2017. They're not great at identifying/developing pitchers and they've admitted as much. Hopefully, the new Pitch Lab and willingness to draft pitchers that don't fit the classic prototype will help improve that rate.

 

The Hannemann pick was a bad choice, in retrospect. I remember thinking it was weird, but at least it's underslot because he's so old and kinda raw. That did not happen. They keep banking on these relatively raw athletic players in the draft, but I think they're doing a better job with Brennen Davis. I wasn't high on the pick (I hated it actually), but they rebuilt his swing and he's added good muscle and strength. Apparently, has a great work ethic and takes instruction really well. He still might flameout in the high minors, but he looks good so far.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

We talk a lot about their pitchers picks in the first few years being brutal but aside from the pre-packaged KB and the wart-filled Schwarber and Happ top 10 picks, their offensive picks were mostly really bad as well.

 

They have had a basically unprecedented hit rate(which absolutely includes Schwarber, Happ, and Almora) with first round picks, if you're expecting better you're expecting fantasy. Draft picks fail, as a rule. Even those at the very top of the draft. To draft 4 consecutive major leaguers who have had some level of sustained success there is incredible. Those 4 drafts also turned out Bote, Godley, and Cease. Especially in a world with draft pools, you aren't going to see aggregate results any better, it's a matter now of seeing if their last few drafts will pan out to lower ceiling/more depth once they lost a bunch of pool money/1st round position in 2016+.

 

I'm not complaining about the performance of this Cubs FO, in terms, of hitting on 1st round draft picks even with Almora and Happ being somewhat disappointing. They've done a phenomenal job drafting at the top from '12-15. I wanted Carlos Correa in '12 and probably would've taken Almora too (I liked Giolito a lot even though he needed TJS), KB all the way in '13, I probably would've taken Conforto but I could be convinced to go with Schwarber (especially with the savings in pool money) in '14, wanted Benintendi really badly in '15 and would've taken Happ easily...

 

I complain about McLeod and how they've performed in the later rounds (supplemental 1st and later) and especially in 2017. They're not great at identifying/developing pitchers and they've admitted as much. Hopefully, the new Pitch Lab and willingness to draft pitchers that don't fit the classic prototype will help improve that rate.

 

The Hannemann pick was a bad choice, in retrospect. I remember thinking it was weird, but at least it's underslot because he's so old and kinda raw. That did not happen. They keep banking on these relatively raw athletic players in the draft, but I think they're doing a better job with Brennen Davis. I wasn't high on the pick (I hated it actually), but they rebuilt his swing and he's added good muscle and strength. Apparently, has a great work ethic and takes instruction really well. He still might flameout in the high minors, but he looks good so far.

 

With the bonus pool arrangement, you can't simply compartmentalize the first round as its own thing, there's a relationship between the first 10 rounds and any other overslots that impacts the amount of ceiling you can add, especially once they started drafting at the end of the rounds instead of the beginning. With the 2017 draft it's still entirely too early to tell how well their plan for that fell out, with few exceptions(RIP Austin Filiere's career). If anything, it's the inverse of the above complaint where the top picks don't look super promising for now, but there's interesting depth that didn't come to fruition in previous classes. Which is what you'd expect from a team with the smallest draft pool that has picks 27 and 30.

[Regular Show]

 

They have had a basically unprecedented hit rate(which absolutely includes Schwarber, Happ, and Almora) with first round picks, if you're expecting better you're expecting fantasy. Draft picks fail, as a rule. Even those at the very top of the draft. To draft 4 consecutive major leaguers who have had some level of sustained success there is incredible. Those 4 drafts also turned out Bote, Godley, and Cease. Especially in a world with draft pools, you aren't going to see aggregate results any better, it's a matter now of seeing if their last few drafts will pan out to lower ceiling/more depth once they lost a bunch of pool money/1st round position in 2016+.

 

I'm not complaining about the performance of this Cubs FO, in terms, of hitting on 1st round draft picks even with Almora and Happ being somewhat disappointing. They've done a phenomenal job drafting at the top from '12-15. I wanted Carlos Correa in '12 and probably would've taken Almora too (I liked Giolito a lot even though he needed TJS), KB all the way in '13, I probably would've taken Conforto but I could be convinced to go with Schwarber (especially with the savings in pool money) in '14, wanted Benintendi really badly in '15 and would've taken Happ easily...

 

I complain about McLeod and how they've performed in the later rounds (supplemental 1st and later) and especially in 2017. They're not great at identifying/developing pitchers and they've admitted as much. Hopefully, the new Pitch Lab and willingness to draft pitchers that don't fit the classic prototype will help improve that rate.

 

The Hannemann pick was a bad choice, in retrospect. I remember thinking it was weird, but at least it's underslot because he's so old and kinda raw. That did not happen. They keep banking on these relatively raw athletic players in the draft, but I think they're doing a better job with Brennen Davis. I wasn't high on the pick (I hated it actually), but they rebuilt his swing and he's added good muscle and strength. Apparently, has a great work ethic and takes instruction really well. He still might flameout in the high minors, but he looks good so far.

 

With the bonus pool arrangement, you can't simply compartmentalize the first round as its own thing, there's a relationship between the first 10 rounds and any other overslots that impacts the amount of ceiling you can add, especially once they started drafting at the end of the rounds instead of the beginning. With the 2017 draft it's still entirely too early to tell how well their plan for that fell out, with few exceptions(RIP Austin Filiere's career). If anything, it's the inverse of the above complaint where the top picks don't look super promising for now, but there's interesting depth that didn't come to fruition in previous classes. Which is what you'd expect from a team with the smallest draft pool that has picks 27 and 30.

 

Yeah, I get that regarding the relationship between the 1st round pick and later picks in terms of draft pool money and going overslot. I still think there was talent available even in the later rounds (at slot), but the Cubs' scouts just weren't good at identifying it for whatever reason. If you go back and study the draft history for other teams you'll see them find a good reliever in the later rounds and you can certainly spend money on a HS pitcher/player in the later rounds if you decide to go underslot at the top.

 

Regarding the 2017 draft I'm not happy with how it's progressing so far. I wanted Nate Pearson at 27, but I did like Little a lot and I can't deny that. I had no interest in Lange, and would've taken a position player at 30 after taking Pearson. We'll see what happens in the next couple years. Maybe Jeremiah Estrada breaks out and becomes a top prospect? He's only 20 (turns 21 in November). I'm not optimistic, but there is still time for this draft class.

 

Also, I believe there was a mandate from Theo to focus primarily on pitching that year. So some of the blame falls on him.

[Bertz]

 

He's also been blistering at the plate for over a month now. Since June 2nd (123 PAs) - .345/.369/.593, 21.1% K rate, 170 wRC+

 

That will definitely play as a 19/20 year old in full season ball. The talent that got the rave reviews in AZ is finally starting to show.

 

Between him, Davis, and Roederer I'm loving South Bend right now. Add in Nelson Velazquez hopefully coming off the IL soon and Strumpf probably a few weeks from joining them, and that's a heck of a cohort of guys at the same development level.

[Regular Show]

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I hate that take so damn much (abolish the draft system). I don't love the current system, but just outright getting rid of the draft would create all kinds of chaos. If you hard capped it like how teams spend on IFAs right now then the top players would get the majority of the money with whatever scraps are left going to the rest of the players. It would still result in the best prospects going to the big market teams. A top prospect like Adley Rutschman would probably never end up with a team like the Orioles. If you didn't hard cap (and let teams spend as much as they want) then madness would ensue.

 

The Cubs would do really well in a system where the draft was abolished, but that doesn't make it fair to the small market teams. It would be terrible for parity in this sport IMO.

[We Got The Whole 9]

We talk a lot about their pitchers picks in the first few years being brutal but aside from the pre-packaged KB and the wart-filled Schwarber and Happ top 10 picks, their offensive picks were mostly really bad as well.

 

They have had a basically unprecedented hit rate(which absolutely includes Schwarber, Happ, and Almora) with first round picks, if you're expecting better you're expecting fantasy. Draft picks fail, as a rule. Even those at the very top of the draft. To draft 4 consecutive major leaguers who have had some level of sustained success there is incredible. Those 4 drafts also turned out Bote, Godley, and Cease. Especially in a world with draft pools, you aren't going to see aggregate results any better, it's a matter now of seeing if their last few drafts will pan out to lower ceiling/more depth once they lost a bunch of pool money/1st round position in 2016+.

 

And even though they were IFAs, Eloy and Gleyber are only further a testament to their ability to identify and develop position players.

 

You'd think the people complaining here didn't watch the Cubs go like 25 years without producing a decent position player while also frequently being bad and drafting high. Their biggest success story in that span was when CPatt was kinda good for 2 years. Yeah, a lot of that was just incompetence by previous FOs, but it also kinda attests to how you can't really do what this FO did in that 4 year span by accident.

 

I'm not really complaining. I'm really not. I was just commenting. I just feel like it is truth. So in 4 years beyond their top 10 picks which I already credited them for (although I omitted Almora), they got Bote and... Zagunis?

 

So about 180 picks, or something, beyond those 4,, and they maybe grabbed a couple bench players, a viable SP, and a reliever or 2.

 

Is that really par for the course?