Minor League Musings

[mul21]

Did we ever hear for sure where Shaw is landing after the break?

[Bertz]

1 hour ago, mul21 said:

Did we ever hear for sure where Shaw is landing after the break?

I don't think so.  He did wear an Iowa Cubs hat during the futures game, but paired with his Smokies batting helmet that seemed to be poking fun at the website snafu a few weeks ago.

I do think with some of the roster cleanup the last few days we're going to see some movement ahead of tonight's slate and Shaw to Iowa is one of the most likely options.

[Bertz]

Celestino is purely just a warm body.  This is probably just Canario backfill, but given the timing you do wonder if there's implication for bigger roster moves.

 

[Post Count Padder]

4 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

AZPhil confirmed that Gallardo left his rehab outing in the ACL early with an injury. I’m much more about avoiding the TJ than pitching this year so fingers crossed

Man that's a bummer. I've been high on him for awhile, hoped he could turn into a decent 4th or 5th starter. Still possible but this has been a lost year.

[Donzo]

Any updates on Horton?

Last I saw he started throwing about three weeks ago.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

16 minutes ago, Donzo said:

Any updates on Horton?

Last I saw he started throwing about three weeks ago.

I saw a tweet in the last day or two say he was throwing in Arizona, per the club.

[Jason Ross]

24 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

I saw a tweet in the last day or two say he was throwing in Arizona, per the club.

Yep! Tommy Birch, beat writer for Iowa, confirmed that.

[We Got The Whole 9]

I've pretty much written him off for the season. Probably makes a couple Iowa starts in a few weeks and they will shut him down.

[Donzo]

Do we know what type of throwing? Is it long toss, off a mound or even batting practice?

The last update I saw was three weeks ago when Hoyer said Horton was in the early stages of a throwing program. I was hoping he’d be getting in those AZ complex games by now.

With AAA now going into late September, he has time to get 5+ starts in to finish the season. I’d like to see him end the year with a couple quality starts. That would put him in a good spot going into next year.

Edited July 30, 2024 by Donzo
SVG error

[Bertz]

Are we thinking next Tuesday will be moving day?  Have the college guys get into ACL games this weekend and head off to MB/SB next Tuesday, and then move up the Shaw's of the world accordingly?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

5 hours ago, Bertz said:

Are we thinking next Tuesday will be moving day?  Have the college guys get into ACL games this weekend and head off to MB/SB next Tuesday, and then move up the Shaw's of the world accordingly?

The ACL season ended last week.

[Bertz]

Looking to avoid doing work, I'm looking at the 40 man roster situation and it's actually a lot better than I thought it was.

- Right now there are 39 spots filled

- 7 guys are on the 60 day IL: Almonte, Alzolay, Brewer, Brown, Kilian, Little, and Wicks.  This means the roster is effectively at 46 for the offseason

- 3 pending FAs (Hendricks, Lopez, and Smyly) plus two guys unlikely to have their options picked up in Neris and Bote.  Bellinger can also leave obviously. Roster is at 40 or 41

- I count 10 guys who could be cut or included in minor trades without too many tears, whether that be for performance (Brewer, Nido, Betancourt, Mastro) or injury (Almonte, Davis, Madrigal) or roster crunch (Canario, Wisdom, Mervis).  I don't expect all 10 to be dumped, for instance one of the crappy catchers will be rostered until the position is addressed, and someone like Almonte is a sure keeper if his medicals are decent.  But 6 or 7 seems likely.  Roster around 35

- 3 prospects absolutely need to be added to the roster in Caissie, Cowles, and Neely.  Christian Franklin and BJ Murray each have some argument as well.  No one else is really that pressing unless internal evals on one of the lesser Iowa relievers are higher than I expect.  Roster back up in the 38-40 range

That 38 to 40 range where beyond that you have to start making cuts that hurt is basically right in the sweet spot you want to be.  You want some room to add but you don't want it to be easy to make room because that implies your depth is poor.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

30 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Looking to avoid doing work, I'm looking at the 40 man roster situation and it's actually a lot better than I thought it was.

- Right now there are 39 spots filled

- 7 guys are on the 60 day IL: Almonte, Alzolay, Brewer, Brown, Kilian, Little, and Wicks.  This means the roster is effectively at 46 for the offseason

- 3 pending FAs (Hendricks, Lopez, and Smyly) plus two guys unlikely to have their options picked up in Neris and Bote.  Bellinger can also leave obviously. Roster is at 40 or 41

- I count 10 guys who could be cut or included in minor trades without too many tears, whether that be for performance (Brewer, Nido, Betancourt, Mastro) or injury (Almonte, Davis, Madrigal) or roster crunch (Canario, Wisdom, Mervis).  I don't expect all 10 to be dumped, for instance one of the crappy catchers will be rostered until the position is addressed, and someone like Almonte is a sure keeper if his medicals are decent.  But 6 or 7 seems likely.  Roster around 35

- 3 prospects absolutely need to be added to the roster in Caissie, Cowles, and Neely.  Christian Franklin and BJ Murray each have some argument as well.  No one else is really that pressing unless internal evals on one of the lesser Iowa relievers are higher than I expect.  Roster back up in the 38-40 range

That 38 to 40 range where beyond that you have to start making cuts that hurt is basically right in the sweet spot you want to be.  You want some room to add but you don't want it to be easy to make room because that implies your depth is poor.

Neris’ team option becomes a player option if he hits 60 appearances this season.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'd add that there's almost always shuffling at the end of the RP depth chart too.  Brewer and Thompson stand out for being out of options after this year and not having seized enough of a role to get the benefit of the doubt.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Quote

Astros: Anderson Brito, RHP (No. 9)

The Astros excel at finding quality pitchers on the international market and landed Brito for just $10,000 out of Venezuela in November. His 94-99 mph fastball and low-80s slider have been unhittable at three levels this month, resulting in a 0.56 ERA, .105 average-against and 31/2 K/BB ratio in 16 innings

Ain't that some horsefeathers. 10K.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Freilyn Silverio was released. Bryce Windham retired.

[Donzo]

"Horton is still continuing to work through a throwing program in Arizona and getting closer to bullpen sessions. The Cubs plan on maintaining a conservative approach with the right-hander. The 22-year-old Horton was diagnosed with a right lat strain on June 4 and was shut down from throwing for roughly a month." (Updated: Aug. 4)

[craig]

Tom, your guy Trice is now up to 6 games at catcher at Myrtle.  In those Myrtle games caught:

1.  6 games
2.  2 errors
3.  3 passed balls
4. 17 SB 
5. 3 CS.

It's a development thing, so perhaps in a couple of years he'll show a lot of improvement.  But the early results don't indicate a defensive prodigy.  And the fact that they only catch him one a week makes me wonder if there interest in him as a big-league catcher isn't perhaps kinda modest?  Seems kinda like 3rd-catcher status.  

[Transmogrified Tiger]

There's a bit of a gap between 'not Yadier Molina right away' and 'on a per game basis yielding 3 SB & 1 misplay'.  That said, for me the issue with Trice's defensive progress at catcher is less the stats and more that he is not playing catcher in games.  I'm sure he's doing off field work at the position, but as a convert the game reps are especially important for the soft skills and the fact they haven't felt he was ready to catch more than once a week is probably not an especially good signal itself.

[allen6510w]

1 hour ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

There's a bit of a gap between 'not Yadier Molina right away' and 'on a per game basis yielding 3 SB & 1 misplay'.  That said, for me the issue with Trice's defensive progress at catcher is less the stats and more that he is not playing catcher in games.  I'm sure he's doing off field work at the position, but as a convert the game reps are especially important for the soft skills and the fact they haven't felt he was ready to catch more than once a week is probably not an especially good signal itself.

Yes, he was in the C conversion program last year as opposed to this spring - so not a good sign. 

Carter is hitting well enough that he might be a better 1B option in low-A next year than the older Edgar Alvarez.  However, it is difficult to see him getting an opportunity to move Cole Mathis aside in high-A.   So ... it would be much more exciting to seem him competing with the powerless  Frank Hernandez for a backup C position in high-A.  If he needs more seasoning behind the plate he could become part of a number crunch as Low-A has several options including Ariel Armas, Adan Sanchez, Owen Ayers, and possibly Jairo Diaz. 

Edited August 6, 2024 by allen6510w

[craig]

As Tiger mentioned, that the Cubs only catch Trice as a 3rd catcher once a week is the yellow flag. 

 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

55 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

What’s the downside here rn? That the 12th round pick is hitting with plenty of bells and whistles but may not be a ML catcher? Oh nooo….The offensive season is one of the more interesting on the farm this year, guy’s an easy top 20 prospect in the org rn 

Yes!  He's having a perfectly cromulent offensive season, but a college draftee 1B(maybe 3B or 2B) with a 119 wRC+ in Low A is not all that exciting.  They just drafted several guys who we'd expect to do the same, one was just announced as skipping A- entirely.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/10-mlb-hitting-prospects-with-standout-data-in-2024/
 

 

[craig]

Like those Melendez notes.  Hope he develops and that K's don't kill.  

[JBears79]

1 hour ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/10-mlb-hitting-prospects-with-standout-data-in-2024/
 

 

Was wondering what was going on with him.