2023-24 Offseason Prospect Lists

[PackLandVA]

On 2/22/2024 at 7:34 AM, CubinNY said:

When I was a little kid the Cubs had a catcher for a while named Barry Foote who fit that description. 

I remember when Barry Foote was a Cub and I didn't recall him being short or stout.  Looked it up in BR and he was 6'3", 205.  Hardly fire pluggish.

 

Side note: I remember he hit a HR onto Waveland and it bounced and broke a window on one of the upper-floor apartments across the street.  

Edited March 4, 2024 by PackLandVA

[CubinNY]

Cubs are starting to get crowded in the upper minors. Should be an interesting few years watching how things get sorted out. 

[CubinNY]

20 hours ago, PackLandVA said:

I remember when Barry Foote was a Cub and I didn't recall him being short or stout.  Looked it up in BR and he was 6'3", 205.  Hardly fire pluggish.

 

Side note: I remember he hit a HR onto Waveland and it bounced and broke a window on one of the upper-floor apartments across the street.  

if he was 6.3 205 so am I

https://www.sportsmemorabilia.com/mlb-memorabilia/chicago-cubs/barry-foote-chicago-cubs-action-signed-8x10/o-3476+t-47555333+p-457043030259+z-9-1720659855

[Tim]

4 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

if he was 6.3 205 so am I

https://www.sportsmemorabilia.com/mlb-memorabilia/chicago-cubs/barry-foote-chicago-cubs-action-signed-8x10/o-3476+t-47555333+p-457043030259+z-9-1720659855

He definitely enjoyed the post-game buffets. But he was not a short dude at all, which is part of what I think of with "fire hydrant" build.

[Bertz]

 

 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

That seems to bring Fangraphs into alignment with the consensus for the most part, or at least it corrects for the biggest outliers I recall from their last full list(bearish/hesitant on Horton, bullish on Triantos).

[CaliforniaRaisin]

On 3/13/2024 at 7:20 AM, Bertz said:

 

 

Interesting that Fangraphs has acknowledged the slowness of some of their prospect lists by splitting them in half like this. I personally like getting it piecemeal like this because, as Eric acknowledges, some of this info will be out-of-date when they get the whole list ready by the summer.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Palencia's fastball seems too straight to be an 80 grade since high 90s as a reliever isn't unicorn territory anymore, is there any other context why, like ride or something about deception/tunneling?

[Bertz]

19 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Palencia's fastball seems too straight to be an 80 grade since high 90s as a reliever isn't unicorn territory anymore, is there any other context why, like ride or something about deception/tunneling?

Looks like by Stuff+ it's #8 amongst pitchers with at least 20 IP last year. That said most of the guys above him are *significantly* above him.  PitchingBot rates his fastball at #27.  So yeah I think it's more of a 70 grade pitch.

The funny thing is that Cuas is #7 by both graders.  Shows how impactful extreme levels of funk can be.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Rojas cracks BA’s too 100 at 99.

20. PCA
23. Horton
30. Shaw
44. Busch (he’s graduated though)
47. Caissie
99, Rojas

[CaliforniaRaisin]

BA had their first significant update to their top 100:

20. Pete Crow-Armstrong
22. Cade Horton
28. Matt Shaw
40. Owen Caissie
47. Jefferson Rojas (!)
91. Kevin Alcántara
93. Moisés Ballesteros

[Tim]

Just now, CaliforniaRaisin said:

BA had their first significant update to their top 100:

20. Pete Crow-Armstrong
22. Cade Horton
28. Matt Shaw
40. Owen Caissie
47. Jefferson Rojas (!)
91. Kevin Alcántara
93. Moisés Ballesteros

Whoa on that jump for Rojas

[JBears79]

Massive jump for Rojas. Was expecting top 100 but not that high 

[muntjack]

10% of the top 50 are Cubs.  I'll take it.  

[Hrubes20]

On 5/2/2024 at 9:38 AM, CaliforniaRaisin said:

BA had their first significant update to their top 100:

20. Pete Crow-Armstrong
22. Cade Horton
28. Matt Shaw
40. Owen Caissie
47. Jefferson Rojas (!)
91. Kevin Alcántara
93. Moisés Ballesteros

Eff it.  See if Oakland would take their choice of 2 from the Alcantara/Ballesteros/Triantos group as the main return for Mason Miller.  

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[profisme]

Re: trade for Miller. I would part with pretty much anyone not named PCA, Horton or Ballesteros. If it took Triantos, Alcantara and Rojas I would swallow that bitter pill and be ok. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Fangraphs released their Cubs top 47 prospects this morning: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/chicago-cubs-top-47-prospects-2024/

Nice to get it this early this year.

[Bertz]

5 hours ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Fangraphs released their Cubs top 47 prospects this morning: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/chicago-cubs-top-47-prospects-2024/

Nice to get it this early this year.

This is a really really great list.  Lot's of extremely current info, e.g. Porter Hodge toying with a splitter.  Last year it was clear 90% the blurbs were written in March/April and Eric just needed to get the list out prior to the draft.

[Rcal10]

On 5/12/2024 at 5:55 PM, profisme said:

Re: trade for Miller. I would part with pretty much anyone not named PCA, Horton or Ballesteros. If it took Triantos, Alcantara and Rojas I would swallow that bitter pill and be ok. 

And there would be a good chance in 4 years people would be complaining about how much the  ins gave up for a pen arm. No way would I give up all 3 of those guys. 

[profisme]

3 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

And there would be a good chance in 4 years people would be complaining about how much the  ins gave up for a pen arm. No way would I give up all 3 of those guys. 

That would be a hefty price, no doubt.  For that, I would obviously try to pry another bullpen arm from them.  Miller has as much upside as any bullpen arm in MLB with minimal salary as well as a lot of team control.  That package would be less painful to me than the Quintana package.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Kinda interesting to me that Fangraphs was the high eval on Triantos last year(50), and this year dropped him to a 45, but the commentary is basically the same?  Maybe you could see a little more bearishness on the defense or power potential, but splitting hairs for the magnitude of the drop.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

10 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

- Yahil Melendez a surprise at 23. Could swap he and Valdez (44!), esp since the knock on 2023 Valdez is the 40+% K rate and Melendez was near 50%. They note the 6’3” frame with a shot at SS and a compact LH swing. 

???

Melendez had a 41% K-rate last season, not “near 50.” Valdez also had a 41% K rate last season. Both are the same age and Melendez was a level higher last season. So far this year, Melendez is at 17% and Valdez is at 33%.. 

[Rcal10]

Is it wrong to start to get a little excited about Davis again? I mean he is hitting the ball hard at AAA. He is still only 24. If an outfielder went down now, would he come up over Canario? I can’t help but pull for him. He has had so much bad luck. It would be awesome if he actually made it all the way back. 

[CubinNY]

2 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Is it wrong to start to get a little excited about Davis again? I mean he is hitting the ball hard at AAA. He is still only 24. If an outfielder went down now, would he come up over Canario? I can’t help but pull for him. He has had so much bad luck. It would be awesome if he actually made it all the way back. 

if it's wrong, I don't want to be right, baby.