2017 Spring Training Game Thread

[David]

 

Cubs hitting coach saying "it's about time we had a rookie of the year." People calling him Kevin Orbit. My first favorite prospect.

 

that wasn't actually his rookie year tho. he had an ok year in 1997.

 

and how was that your first favorite prospect? did you have no idea kerry wood existed?

 

Huh. For some reason I was thinking he pre-dated Wood by a couple of years. You said '98, but I was thinking this all happened in 96. Fog of decades and all.

 

My introduction to Wood was buying one of those pre-season MLB preview maganizes and they had a top-100 prospects list. The two Cubs were Wood at No. 4 and Pat Cline at 80-something. I started making sure to check both their stat lines when the Tribune would print the minor league team stats in the agate on Sundays.

 

i have a similar story, except mine was one of those cubs quarterly magazines at a game in like 1996 and it was the cubs top 10 prospect list. kieschnick was #1, but i was most excited about wood's scouting report. pat cline and robin jennings were two other names i remember on there too. maybe courtney duncan as well.

[David]

 

Cubs hitting coach saying "it's about time we had a rookie of the year." People calling him Kevin Orbit. My first favorite prospect.

 

that wasn't actually his rookie year tho. he had an ok year in 1997.

 

and how was that your first favorite prospect? did you have no idea kerry wood existed?

Orie was drafted two years before Wood. To the extent there was talk of prospects back then, he was being hyped before Wood was even in the organization.

 

but was orie ever really nationally highly regarded or was he just a good cubs "prospect?"

 

my recollection is the latter, but i didn't even start following the big league team til 1995.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Was it 1997 or spring 1998 that there were lots of Piazza to the Cubs rumors, but it would have had to have involved Wood most likely?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Have yourself a spring, Almora. Sheesh

[David]

Was it 1997 or spring 1998 that there were lots of Piazza to the Cubs rumors, but it would have had to have involved Wood most likely?

 

i don't know about those, but there was famously a trade pretty much set to happen that didn't involve wood in 1998 with the marlins. then the mets topped our offer. the story was that piazza's agent told him he was going to the cubs right before he got into the shower, and when he got out, he was headed to NY.

 

i feel like that would've been a much better use of garland/noel/cline or whatever trade chips we were using.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

 

that wasn't actually his rookie year tho. he had an ok year in 1997.

 

and how was that your first favorite prospect? did you have no idea kerry wood existed?

Orie was drafted two years before Wood. To the extent there was talk of prospects back then, he was being hyped before Wood was even in the organization.

 

but was orie ever really nationally highly regarded or was he just a good cubs "prospect?"

 

my recollection is the latter, but i didn't even start following the big league team til 1995.

 

 

He was a late first-round pick and was ranked no. 42 by Baseball America after 1996 season. He was better than a Gary Scott type, but a feeble token that would melt in the white-hot radiance of our current standards.

[David]

Have yourself a spring, Almora. Sheesh

 

[jersey cubs fan]

but was orie ever really nationally highly regarded or was he just a good cubs "prospect?"

 

my recollection is the latter, but i didn't even start following the big league team til 1995.

I have no idea, probably not, but the question was how he could be your favorite prospect when Wood existed and the answer was he was a prospect for 2 years before Wood was a Cubs prospect. I distinctly remember being psyched about him. And back then I know I only heard of one or two prospects in any year.

 

I also remember seeing him in those throwback unis against the White Sox in one of the first interleague games.

[David]

Was it 1997 or spring 1998 that there were lots of Piazza to the Cubs rumors, but it would have had to have involved Wood most likely?

 

i don't know about those, but there was famously a trade pretty much set to happen that didn't involve wood in 1998 with the marlins. then the mets topped our offer. the story was that piazza's agent told him he was going to the cubs right before he got into the shower, and when he got out, he was headed to NY.

 

i feel like that would've been a much better use of garland/noel/cline or whatever trade chips we were using.

 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-05-23/sports/9805230081_1_piazza-marlins-geoff-goetz

[David]

but was orie ever really nationally highly regarded or was he just a good cubs "prospect?"

 

my recollection is the latter, but i didn't even start following the big league team til 1995.

I have no idea, probably not, but the question was how he could be your favorite prospect when Wood existed and the answer was he was a prospect for 2 years before Wood was a Cubs prospect. I distinctly remember being psyched about him. And back then I know I only heard of one or two prospects in any year.

 

I also remember seeing him in those throwback unis against the White Sox in one of the first interleague games.

 

fair enough...i was just thinking that when he said that he was thinking of orie when he was a rookie in ST, not before that.

[David]

willson bomb

[Aaron_Kennelly]

willson bomb

 

We are going to win 130 162 games.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Have yourself a spring, Almora. Sheesh

 

 

I mean, I know this will change once you have pitchers gameplanning for the lineup and it's not in Arizona, but the left fielder didn't even bother with that bomb.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Yeah, yeah, Spring Training stats don't matter. But our probable 5, 6, and 8 hitters -- who are all 24 or younger -- have slugged for a combined .745 this spring.

[jersey cubs fan]

Yeah, yeah, Spring Training stats don't matter. But our probable 5, 6, and 8 hitters -- who are all 24 or younger -- have slugged for a combined .745 this spring.

divided by 3 that's just .248 each.

 

yikes

[David]

Yeah, yeah, Spring Training stats don't matter. But our probable 5, 6, and 8 hitters -- who are all 24 or younger -- have slugged for a combined .745 this spring.

 

oh and then we have another guy who can't even make the roster who is 22 and slugging .812 himself

[Aaron_Kennelly]

If we released all of our pitchers and had to choose between our own minor league pitching prospects and any AAA pitchers on minor league deals in other systems (so not actual prospects) to form our pitching staff, how many games would we win?

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Yeah, yeah, Spring Training stats don't matter. But our probable 5, 6, and 8 hitters -- who are all 24 or younger -- have slugged for a combined .745 this spring.

divided by 3 that's just .248 each.

 

yikes

 

That post wasn't put together very well. Almora also will be hitting 9th. Wrong on all counts, Duke.

[Tim]

If we released all of our pitchers and had to choose between our own minor league pitching prospects and any AAA pitchers on minor league deals in other systems (so not actual prospects) to form our pitching staff, how many games would we win?

So...literally replacement level pitching?

 

We still win 85 games. Which may be enough to take the central this year.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

If we released all of our pitchers and had to choose between our own minor league pitching prospects and any AAA pitchers on minor league deals in other systems (so not actual prospects) to form our pitching staff, how many games would we win?

 

If you believe ZiPS, about 75.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

If we released all of our pitchers and had to choose between our own minor league pitching prospects and any AAA pitchers on minor league deals in other systems (so not actual prospects) to form our pitching staff, how many games would we win?

 

85

[Hairyducked Idiot]

And several of those tomato can pitchers would use their win totals and defense-prettied ERAs to leverage multi-year deals with other teams in the offseason.

[David]

how truly bad would pitching have to be to grade out as replacement level with this defense

[David]

so schwarber just did the dong thing again

[David]

STEPHEN BRUNO SIGHTING