Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 9-21-24

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Game (Central Time):

Iowa at Rochester, 5:05 pm

Probable Starter:

Iowa: RHP Brandon Birdsell (54.1 IP, 4.80 ERA, 3.40 FIP, 59 K, 17 BB)

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[Bertz]

Here's a question I'd love to hear Jed's answer to: Pretend everyone is healthy and 40 man considerations don't exist, how many starters currently in the org do you start in a must win game over Brandon Birdsell?

Steele, Shota, and Taillon are locks.  Assad's a pretty safe assumption as well.  Brown was a monster pre-injury so even with his lack of experience he's probably not far behind Assad.

That leaves Wesneski, Wicks, Horton, and Kilian.  I'd probably take those four in that order, and slot Birdsell just ahead of Horton?  But it feels like you could argue Brandon ahead of any of them without too much mental gymnastics.

[Donzo]

10 hours ago, Bertz said:

Here's a question I'd love to hear Jed's answer to: Pretend everyone is healthy and 40 man considerations don't exist, how many starters currently in the org do you start in a must win game over Brandon Birdsell?

Good question. First, great to see Birdsell end the season on a great game. He deserved that.

As it now stands, he's a dark horse contender for the 5th spot. The Cubs have a clear top 4 in place:

• Imanaga
• Steele
• Tailon
• Assad

Then Wicks and Brown are the top candidates for the 5th spot with Birdsell and Wesneski also in contention.

Birsell doesn't have the MLB experience the others do, but has all the tools to be the 5th starter. The best thing he has going for him is he's already established the rare ability as a 6/7 inning guy in the minors. which is big. 

 

[CubinNY]

3 hours ago, Donzo said:

Good question. First, great to see Birdsell end the season on a great game. He deserved that.

As it now stands, he's a dark horse contender for the 5th spot. The Cubs have a clear top 4 in place:

• Imanaga
• Steele
• Tailon
• Assad

Then Wicks and Brown are the top candidates for the 5th spot with Birdsell and Wesneski also in contention.

Birsell doesn't have the MLB experience the others do, but has all the tools to be the 5th starter. The best thing he has going for him is he's already established the rare ability as a 6/7 inning guy in the minors. which is big. 

 

Any context that has Wesneski starting games for the Cubs means bad things have happened. He’s awful. 

[Rcal10]

4 hours ago, Donzo said:

Good question. First, great to see Birdsell end the season on a great game. He deserved that.

As it now stands, he's a dark horse contender for the 5th spot. The Cubs have a clear top 4 in place:

• Imanaga
• Steele
• Tailon
• Assad

Then Wicks and Brown are the top candidates for the 5th spot with Birdsell and Wesneski also in contention.

Birsell doesn't have the MLB experience the others do, but has all the tools to be the 5th starter. The best thing he has going for him is he's already established the rare ability as a 6/7 inning guy in the minors. which is big. 

 

I’m not so sure they have a clear top 4 in place. My guess is they would love for someone to slot into a place ahead of Taillon (maybe even the top spot) and have him as 4.  I am also not so sure they want Assad to be counted on as a 5. Sure he would probably still get 20+ starts even if they had 5 above him, but I don’t think it is wise to comfortably slot him into the #5 slot, let alone #4, where you have him now. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

https://www.thecubreporter.com/slade-caldwell-snake-has-feet-will-travel

Quote

Adan Sanchez belted a solo HR and Yahil Melendez singled twice, walked, stole a base, and scored a run for the Cubs. 

With Adan Sanchez and Jairo Diaz both likely to move-up from the ACL to Myrtle Beach in 2025, the Pelicans should have the Cubs #3 (J. Diaz) and #4 (A. Sanchez) catching prospects as their primary receivers, with probably either Owen Ayers or Michael Carico as the #3 catcher (whichever one isn't at South Bend with Ariel Armas).