Minor League Musings

[Bertz]

Quote

Sunday, Horton threw around 25 pitches, and his four-seamer sat 95-97, certainly good news for a live BP session in late February.

From Sharma

[Stratos]

On 1/21/2025 at 10:56 AM, Bertz said:

Jonny Long practicing at 3B

Looked it up, in his minors career so far Long has started 75 games at 1B, 30 at 3B, and 14 in LF.  Not surprised if he keeps working on 3B this year.  I assume BJ Murray is our projected Iowa 3B at the moment if Shaw starts in the MLB.  Cowles would play everywhere in the INF i assume.

[Bertz]

Great article from Sharma about Kevin Alcantara this AM.  Lots of good stuff but this stood out.

Quote

Counsell said Alcántara needs stretches this season where he’ll have to play every day purely for his development. Unless there’s an injury to one of the outfielders or the DH spot opens up, those regular at-bats are going to have to come at Triple A. Still, Counsell said that likely won’t be the case for the entire season. At times, he could come up and help the big-league team, even if it meant sporadic playing time for bits and pieces of the year.

Expect some stretches where Alcantara (and presumably at other times the other prospects?) are up basically just to hang out and get used to the big leagues.

[allen6510w]

LHRP Daniel Brown 6’3” 200 Lbs (200210) [2023-16, Campbell $150K] In 2022, Daniel gave up 4 runs on 0 hits, 4 walks, 2 BB, and 5 wild pitches over two appearances without recording an out. In 2023, in 4 games (1.0 IP), Brown had 4 wild pitches, 9 walks, and 3 strikeouts while giving up 6 earned runs. Again, he did not give up a single hit... because no one ever really needed to swing against him. So why was Brown drafted? He touched 100 in an outing against Marshall.  Daniel did not pitch for the Cubs in 2023.  In 2024, he did not debut until the ACL Continuation Camp in mid-August when in his first appearance, he allowed three walks, one HBP, and five WP all while not recording an out; his FB topped out at 94.  Daniel was released on March 3 of 2025 before appearing in an official Cub minor league game. 

[CubinNY]

20 hours ago, allen6510w said:

 

LHRP Daniel Brown 6’3” 200 Lbs (200210) [2023-16, Campbell $150K] In 2022, Daniel gave up 4 runs on 0 hits, 4 walks, 2 BB, and 5 wild pitches over two appearances without recording an out. In 2023, in 4 games (1.0 IP), Brown had 4 wild pitches, 9 walks, and 3 strikeouts while giving up 6 earned runs. Again, he did not give up a single hit... because no one ever really needed to swing against him. So why was Brown drafted? He touched 100 in an outing against Marshall.  Daniel did not pitch for the Cubs in 2023.  In 2024, he did not debut until the ACL Continuation Camp in mid-August when in his first appearance, he allowed three walks, one HBP, and five WP all while not recording an out; his FB topped out at 94.  Daniel was released on March 3 of 2025 before appearing in an official Cub minor league game. 

lol

[squally1313]

On 3/2/2025 at 10:18 AM, Bertz said:

Great article from Sharma about Kevin Alcantara this AM.  Lots of good stuff but this stood out.

Expect some stretches where Alcantara (and presumably at other times the other prospects?) are up basically just to hang out and get used to the big leagues.

It's a fun concept but I wonder how that works in actual practice. Turner and Kelly aren't going anywhere, feels like they have too much committed in Berti to cut him so that a AAA guy can get a cup of coffee, Workman, as of now, can't go down. Maybe Brujan wins the last spot and then that becomes somewhat of a revolving door? Obviously there are going to be injuries, but you'd think any injury requiring an IL stint would more lead to someone like Alcantara/Caissie just getting daily MLB starts more than the 'sporadic' PT Counsell mentions. 

[Bertz]

8 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

It's a fun concept but I wonder how that works in actual practice. Turner and Kelly aren't going anywhere, feels like they have too much committed in Berti to cut him so that a AAA guy can get a cup of coffee, Workman, as of now, can't go down. Maybe Brujan wins the last spot and then that becomes somewhat of a revolving door? Obviously there are going to be injuries, but you'd think any injury requiring an IL stint would more lead to someone like Alcantara/Caissie just getting daily MLB starts more than the 'sporadic' PT Counsell mentions. 

I don't know how much of this is a league thing and how much is a Cubs thing, but this team just does not use that 4th bench spot.  Like did you realize Luis Vazquez spent 47 days on the roster last year?  He only got into 11 games and got 14 PAs, but he spent more than a quarter of the season on the roster.  The year before Edwin Rios was a Cub for 2 months and only got 31 PAs!

So I took Counsell's comment as Alcantara will likely get that treatment for a spell or two this season.  So like even if say Nico goes on the IL, they might call up Alcantara to warm the bench and just leave Berti/Workman to cover Nico's lost playing time.

I would imagine that it would be a week or two tops at a time and not a full Vazquez situation. 

[craig]

That's a great observation, Bertz. 

I wonder if that might not depend a little bit about the caliber of that last bench guy?  Vasquez was an auto-out, .083 average, K'd half his AB.  We've had some really bad bench production.  OBP's Vasquez-Wisdom-Mervis-Madrigal-Mastrobuoni .143-.237-.148-.280-.245 OBP.  Some really easy-out bench guys to start with, and then when injury necessitates calling up somebody who's even worse like Vasquez, no surprise that a manager trying to win games doesn't play them much.  

I'm kinda hoping that this year the bench depth will be of a higher caliber, and maybe the last guy can still give competitive AB's and have anti-awful OBP/OPS?  Whether that be guys at start of season, or injury-necessitated callups?  What if Workman is able to keep his OBP up over .310 and his OPS up near .700?  Brujan is a career .531 OPS, .622 last year.  Even that worthlessness is still better than Madrigal/Mastrobuoni/Vasquez, and maybe he's ready to step it up a little bit, and be a >.650-OPS type guy?  Wouldn't it be nice if, when they do need to call somebody up, Alcantara/Caissie/Cowles/Triantos/Moises are ready to give competitive big-league AB, and look variably anti-awful maybe-even-good if/when needed?  

Obviously guys can look great in Mesa, getting lots of AB's, and facing mostly minor-league pitchers.  Maybe Workman will get blown away by major-league pitchers in 50-degree Wrigley, when he's not getting many AB, and when life without a hit in the last week (or more) is messing with his head.  Brujan might be just another Madrigal.  Alcantara might make Wisdom look like a contact-hitter.  But man, given how many PA usually end up going to non-starters, it could make a huge impact on the offense if non-starters aren't auto-outs.  Hoping hoping hoping.  

[Bertz]

3 hours ago, craig said:

That's a great observation, Bertz. 

I wonder if that might not depend a little bit about the caliber of that last bench guy?  Vasquez was an auto-out, .083 average, K'd half his AB.  We've had some really bad bench production.  OBP's Vasquez-Wisdom-Mervis-Madrigal-Mastrobuoni .143-.237-.148-.280-.245 OBP.  Some really easy-out bench guys to start with, and then when injury necessitates calling up somebody who's even worse like Vasquez, no surprise that a manager trying to win games doesn't play them much.  

I'm kinda hoping that this year the bench depth will be of a higher caliber, and maybe the last guy can still give competitive AB's and have anti-awful OBP/OPS?  Whether that be guys at start of season, or injury-necessitated callups?  What if Workman is able to keep his OBP up over .310 and his OPS up near .700?  Brujan is a career .531 OPS, .622 last year.  Even that worthlessness is still better than Madrigal/Mastrobuoni/Vasquez, and maybe he's ready to step it up a little bit, and be a >.650-OPS type guy?  Wouldn't it be nice if, when they do need to call somebody up, Alcantara/Caissie/Cowles/Triantos/Moises are ready to give competitive big-league AB, and look variably anti-awful maybe-even-good if/when needed?  

Obviously guys can look great in Mesa, getting lots of AB's, and facing mostly minor-league pitchers.  Maybe Workman will get blown away by major-league pitchers in 50-degree Wrigley, when he's not getting many AB, and when life without a hit in the last week (or more) is messing with his head.  Brujan might be just another Madrigal.  Alcantara might make Wisdom look like a contact-hitter.  But man, given how many PA usually end up going to non-starters, it could make a huge impact on the offense if non-starters aren't auto-outs.  Hoping hoping hoping.  

I would guess our weak bench certainly hasn't helped things, but I think some of it is just life with the DH.  There's a reason teams prioritized a 9th reliever over a 4th bench guy.  And for the Cubs specifically Swanson's durability + the existence of Hoerner means they don't have to carry a dedicated backup shortstop.

I am hoping for better bench play.  Turner would make me nervous as a starter but still feels very qualified for bench work.  Workman seems really fun, and Berti/Kelly are boring but I mean that as a compliment.  Add in that our injury replacement at most positions is a Top 100 prospect and this *should* be a really deep team.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[JunkyardWalrus]

Yeah, I have a good feeling about C. Hernandez this year. 

And have there been any Rojas sightings yet?

[Jason Ross]

14 minutes ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

Yeah, I have a good feeling about C. Hernandez this year. 

And have there been any Rojas sightings yet?

Nothing yet. My hope is that he's been in the MiLB camp and the Cubs didn't invite him to MLB camp for (X reason). But it could be an injury that we haven't heard about too.

[Bertz]

Feels very likely Rojas is hurt, especially him not being in that box score above.  I'm hoping because it's so quiet it's a sign that it's just bumps and bruises.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Cade 95-97 is most excellent:

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

On 3/7/2025 at 10:13 AM, Bertz said:

Feels very likely Rojas is hurt, especially him not being in that box score above.  I'm hoping because it's so quiet it's a sign that it's just bumps and bruises.

Rojas update:

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[Rex Buckingham]

On 3/11/2025 at 11:01 AM, TomtheBombadil said:

NorthsideBound is over. No hobbies in hell, folks! What a future being built! Here’s to all our descendants pissing on our graves, cowards we are, after wildly successful revolutions 

 

good grief Tom, the guys over there just don't have enough time/energy/whatever to keep running the site at the level they think it deserves. They're all still doing their thing, just not as frequently and in separate locations around the web. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

On 3/11/2025 at 9:01 AM, TomtheBombadil said:

NorthsideBound is over. No hobbies in hell, folks! What a future being built! Here’s to all our descendants pissing on our graves, cowards we are, after wildly successful revolutions 

 

They're actually doing the stuff they care about, i.e. their hobbies. The Gregs and Bryan Smith will continue their fantastic podcast and Greg Z will still write about the draft. They will not do the other, more daily and weekly writing that took up a lot of time in running a website like theirs. Makes sense they don't want to do that when they have or are expecting kids and wanting to spend time with their kids. 

But you'd have to have read their writing to know that.

[Bertz]

Things that are apparently fascism:

- Wanting to be paid for the hours you spend researching and writing about sports

- Spending more time with your kids

[Stratos]

On 3/11/2025 at 12:01 PM, TomtheBombadil said:

NorthsideBound is over. No hobbies in hell, folks! What a future being built! Here’s to all our descendants pissing on our graves, cowards we are, after wildly successful revolutions 

 

The only thing worse than capitalist exploitation is reading your takes about it every freaking day on a baseball message board.

[imb]

lmao what a horsefeathers dork

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Horton and Wiggins looked really good tonight 

Guessing the Alexey Lumpuy breakout talk makes sense because you don’t expect to see a guy who played in the DSL last year to jump in the Prospect Breakout game.

Alcántara, Ballesteros and Cristian Hernández all looked good too:

 

[Bertz]

11 hours ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Horton and Wiggins looked really good tonight 

Guessing the Alexey Lumpuy breakout talk makes sense because you don’t expect to see a guy who played in the DSL last year to jump in the Prospect Breakout game.

Alcántara, Ballesteros and Cristian Hernández all looked good too:

 

Do we think Lumpuy starts at Myrtle?

And that Wiggons inning, wowza

[craig]

Yeah, how fun would that be if Wiggins turned out to be really good.  

yeah, I'd assume Lumpuy for Myrtle.  See what he can do.  

 

[craig]

Would be really fun if Yander Maria worked out.