Minor League Musings

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CubinNY]

4 hours ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

 

That was really a minor incident. Is this a team suspension or league suspension, I wonder.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

On 6/26/2023 at 12:20 PM, CubinNY said:

Promotion?

Lol. This was the announcement:

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Brailyn Márquez to Myrtle Beach on an rehab assignment.

[CubinNY]

Cubs released Bryce Ball. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[PackLandVA]

Not certain if this is correct forum for this type of question, but what the hell.

Francisco Alvarez was the MLB and the Mets top prospect last season. This season, he’s the Mets starting catcher with a 303/534/837 slash.

This year Kevin Parada, another catcher, is the Mets top ranked prospect and #40 overal per MLB.

 

Is there an equitable match with the Cubs as a far as a prospect for prospect(s) trade goes? And if so, what might the Cubs need to give up?  The Mets don’t have many highly ranked OF prospects, And the Cubs seem to have several.  Wouldn’t want to deal PCA back, but could Alcantara, Canaria, Davis or Caissie be a starting point with another lesser/lottery pick(s) as a sweetne?

[JD94]

31 minutes ago, PackLandVA said:

Not certain if this is correct forum for this type of question, but what the hell.

Francisco Alvarez was the MLB and the Mets top prospect last season. This season, he’s the Mets starting catcher with a 303/534/837 slash.

This year Kevin Parada, another catcher, is the Mets top ranked prospect and #40 overal per MLB.

 

Is there an equitable match with the Cubs as a far as a prospect for prospect(s) trade goes? And if so, what might the Cubs need to give up?  The Mets don’t have many highly ranked OF prospects, And the Cubs seem to have several.  Wouldn’t want to deal PCA back, but could Alcantara, Canaria, Davis or Caissie be a starting point with another lesser/lottery pick(s) as a sweetne?

I’m not so sure the Mets are committed to selling yet. If they decide to buy, Parada could be a trade chip for a big leaguer at the deadline. 
 

Hypothetically if this scenario happened, I’d imagine they’d want one of our top pitching prospects. Likely Ben Brown. They need pitching and don’t have a whole lot in the farm that’s either very good, or very close if they do have upside. 
 

I’m not opposed at all to a prospect for prospect trade, but I also believe in Amaya. So trading a top prospect for a catcher wouldn’t be my first choice. I think Parada will be very good, but I’m not sure he’s the fit I’d be looking for in that type of trade. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

The Mets buyer's remorsed themselves all the way into a wild card loss last year and still decided to spend a zillion dollars on geriatric pitchers instead of trading any prospects, so even setting aside the buy/sell decision they aren't going to take decisive action on a hypothetical catching surplus with Parada still in A ball.

[jersey cubs fan]

On 7/19/2023 at 9:29 PM, PackLandVA said:

 

Francisco Alvarez was the MLB and the Mets top prospect last season. This season, he’s the Mets starting catcher with a 303/534/837 slash.

.

 

[CubinNY]

1 hour ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Fun thing Tom “Flash” Gordon told a young-er Max Scherzer…saw it in Laurila’s latest for FanGraphs:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/sunday-notes-max-scherzer-expects-spencer-strider-to-get-better-assuming-he-stays-healthy/

Feels relevant for an org in which perceived Upside for pitchers is determined by who can strike out the most A ballers in 3 innings…Scherzer himself didn’t have particular hype even after being widely acknowledged as the top college arm of his class, fell in the draft even 

You’re rewriting history 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

2 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Scherzer himself didn’t have particular hype even after being widely acknowledged as the top college arm of his class, fell in the draft even 

His stock dropped a little bit because he was less dominant as a junior than he was as a sophomore, especially at missing bats.  Feels like there's a takeaway there for some of this year's draftees in particular.

[CubinNY]

3 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

You know you’re allowed more than 3-4 words a post, right? I don’t know what you’re trying to say! 

Max went 1-11. Was widely considered the best pitcher in the minors and pitched in the big league after 1 year. Did he need to learn some things? Yes. Was he also dominant at pretty much every level? Yes also. Has he been dominant since he first came up? Yes. Is he going to the HOF? Yes, also. Whatever point you are trying to make isn’t made with him. 

[CubinNY]

6 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

He opened 2008 as BP's 90th prospect and BA's 66th prospect. He was traded by 25. He was good, durable starter prior but wouldn't make the leap until 28 (his 7th year as a pro). Perhaps, as smooth as it looks now that we know he's a future HoFer, it wasn't?

My point is the usual: great pitchers only come from getting into the games, logging the innings, staying healthy, and making the adjustments over time that your health and tools allow. Scherzer takes great pride in Ks so I get the focus, but also strikeouts were much harder to pick up 15+ years ago throughout college and pro ball

Considering he didn’t start pitching in the majors full time until he was 25? 
 

I think your overall point is valid. You just have a lot of stuff in there that distracts. The most important of which is that the player you choose has shoved since he put on a professional uniform.

a better example, and I may be dating myself, is Rick Reuschel. He came up at roughly the same age as Max. He was not a strikeout artist, but he learned to pitch in the big leagues and had an incredibly long career. 

[CubinNY]

Wrong thread

Edited July 24, 2023 by CubinNY

[Jason Ross]

The Rockies just had 3 of their top-5 SP prospects drop with TJS.  Anthony Sentzela, of their MLB rotation also will have TJS.  The other two top-5 prospects are Chase Dollander (who hasn't thrown a pitch for the Rockies) and the 4th...is currently recovering from TJS.  

 

I know some have some reservations on how the Cubs handle their MiLB pitching prospects with relative "kid gloves" but the Cubs have done a great job of avoiding these types of injuries.  They've really not suffered many TJS injuries (except for just drafted prospects) in their prospect ranks, or their MLB roster.  

[CaliforniaRaisin]

BA's Hot Sheet for the week (20 hottest prospects in the minors):

Quote

20. Ben Brown, RHP, Cubs
Team: Triple-A Iowa (International)
Age: 23

Why He’s Here: 1-0, 0.00, 1 GS, 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 SO.

The Scoop: Brown’s last start before the all-star break was a truly awful way to head into his break. He had to stew on the second-worst start of his seven-year pro career, which came just two outings after the worst outing of his pro career. When he struggles, Brown’s delivery can get out of sync and he loses the strike zone. Last week, he rediscovered his delivery, and the results were extremely impressive. With a two-pitch (fastball-slider) approach, Brown completely wore out the strike zone with his slider. He went from throwing strikes on 38% of his sliders in his previous outing to 85% of his sliders last week. When he’s forcing hitters to offer at his powerful mid-80s slider, it makes his fastball even better. There are still concerns that Brown’s approach may work better as a reliever than a starter, but it’s hard not to see a pitcher who can help the Cubs before too long in his work last week. (JC)

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Health updates on Kevin Alcántara and Brennen Davis: https://www.marqueesportsnetwork.com/cubs-prospect-notebook-injury-timetable-for-top-prospects-plus-pca-at-triple-a/

Alcántara:

Quote

Alcántara was back in Mesa, Ariz. at the Cubs’ complex to have the injury checked out and should be “down a couple of weeks” with a small “lower [left] leg strain,” per Cubs vice president of player development Jared Banner.

“Should be fine,” Banner said. “Nothing major. Just being safe about it. But he should be back soon.”

Davis:

Quote

“We’re still going one day at a time with Brennen,” Banner said. “He’s doing baseball activities. So, it’s just a matter of time. Ramping him up.”

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

Quote

8. Luis Devers, RHP, Cubs
Team: High-A South Bend (Midwest) 
Age: 23 

Why He’s Here: 2-0, 0.00, 10 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 14 SO, 0 HR

The Scoop: In his two starts against Wisconsin last week, Devers was nearly unhittable. He stifled the Timber Rattlers on Tuesday and again on Sunday, tossing two scoreless five-inning starts to begin and end the series against the Brewers’ High-A affiliate. In Tuesday’s start Devers struck out six, allowing just a single hit for the outing. On Sunday he struck out eight while allowing two hits and a walk. Devers mixes four pitches and won’t overwhelm you with his stuff or pitch shapes, but he has a high level of pitchability. He’ll mix a changeup, two-seam fastball, slider and curveball, but the changeup and two-seam see a majority of his usage. (GP) 

 

[Post Count Padder]

We lost Ryan Jensen on waivers to the Mariners. Womp womp. 

Our 2019 draft isn't looking too hot.

[CubinNY]

1 hour ago, Post Count Padder said:

We lost Ryan Jensen on waivers to the Mariners. Womp womp. 

Our 2019 draft isn't looking too hot.

to say the least. It wasn't looking to hot before the waiver claim. Jensen was less interesting as a reliever. They're a dime a dozen.

Still hope for Hearn, lol.

Edited August 8, 2023 by CubinNY

[JBears79]

8 minutes ago, Post Count Padder said:

We lost Ryan Jensen on waivers to the Mariners. Womp womp. 

Our 2019 draft isn't looking too hot.

Meh. Hated that pick from the beginning. 

[Tryptamine]

13 minutes ago, JBears79 said:

Meh. Hated that pick from the beginning. 

I was on the Michael Busch train for that draft.