Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 6-16-26

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Games (Central Time):

Iowa vs. Indianapolis, 6:38 pm
Knoxville vs. Chattanooga, 6:00 pm
South Bend at Fort Wayne, 6:05 pm
Myrtle Beach at Delmarva, 6:05 pm
ACL Cubs at ACL A's, 8:00 pm
DSL Cubs Blue at DSL Arizona Black, 5:00 pm
DSL Cubs Red vs. DSL Blue Jays Blue, 10:00 am

Probable Starters:

Iowa: LHP Jordan Wicks (34 IP, 6.09 ERA, 6.66 FIP, 26 K, 17 BB)
Knoxville: RHP Connor Schultz (14.2 IP, 6.14 ERA, 3.79 FIP, 21 K, 6 BB)
South Bend: RHP Kevin Valdez (41.1 IP, 4.14 ERA, .99 FIP, 40 K, 17 BB)
Myrtle Beach: RHP Braylon Myers (33.1 IP, 2.43 ERA, 2.81 FIP, 41 K, 13 BB)

[Butch Gernant]

How long are we going to have to put up with J. Wicks?

[JunkyardWalrus]

Until he stops being the second 1st round bust in a row by Jed etm? (Or, never in other words)

[Jason Ross]

3 hours ago, Butch Gernant said:

How long are we going to have to put up with J. Wicks?

Someone has to pitch in Iowa. Why are we complaining that a former 1st round pick is pitching in Iowa? It's this or the corpse of Kenta Maeda. Even the best pitching organizations have guys like Wicks in their Triple-A affiliates. 

Sure he hasn't worked out at the MLB level through a combination of injuries and development, but we don't need to whine that the Cubs have a Jordan Wicks type in Iowa. 

[mul21]

1 hour ago, JunkyardWalrus said:

Until he stops being the second 1st round bust in a row by Jed etm? (Or, never in other words)

Holding the 2020 draft against any GM is just silly.  The whole first round was a dumpster fire and like 12 of the 37 first/competitive balance round picks have even gotten to MLB, one of them being PCA.

[Bertz]

I know no one's interested in a nuanced conversation about Wicks but I'll throw these out there:

- The International League is insanely hitter friendly, with a 4.84 ERA.  And then Iowa is a hitters' park even within the context of that league.  Legitimately an average ERA at Iowa should probably be considered a little north of 5

- Wicks was really good at Iowa last year, ERA and peripherals all in the mid 3's

- Jordan Wicks missed spring training with a minor injury, and when healthy did his buildup/progression directly at Iowa

- Jordan's stuff is largely flat year over year

- Wicks' peripherals have been fine to good in MLB the last year and a half in a tiny sample.  The .447 BABIP in 20 innings is doing most of the heavy lifting on that inflated ERA

[mul21]

3 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I know no one's interested in a nuanced conversation about Wicks but I'll throw these out there:

- The International League is insanely hitter friendly, with a 4.84 ERA.  And then Iowa is a hitters' park even within the context of that league.  Legitimately an average ERA at Iowa should probably be considered a little north of 5

- Wicks was really good at Iowa last year, ERA and peripherals all in the mid 3's

- Jordan Wicks missed spring training with a minor injury, and when healthy did his buildup/progression directly at Iowa

- Jordan's stuff is largely flat year over year

- Wicks' peripherals have been fine to good in MLB the last year and a half in a tiny sample.  The .447 BABIP in 20 innings is doing most of the heavy lifting on that inflated ERA

The fact that he probably should have gotten an additional couple of starts at Iowa before even being considered for the MLB roster has to be taken into account too.  Unfortunately, injury timing didn't allow that to happen.  I'm not done with him, but the likelihood of him even being a viable back end of the rotation guy is dwindling quickly.

[squally1313]

While I appreciate the Wicks discussion I'd just like to request that they send Hartshorn and/or Rojas to Arizona on Mondays so I don't have to go a day without seeing what they're doing. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

8 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

While I appreciate the Wicks discussion I'd just like to request that they send Hartshorn and/or Rojas to Arizona on Mondays so I don't have to go a day without seeing what they're doing. 

[Outshined_One]

I go back to a discussion from last year where some of us kicked around the idea of implementing player rentals, where guys like Wicks/Alcantara would have benefited from going to another team for 2026 where they'd have guaranteed playing time in the majors, take their lumps, and then get sent back for 2027.

I have zero idea how that could be structured or implemented, but it always drives me nuts to see AAAA guys wasting away in Iowa.

[craig]

I don't really see that, Outshined.  It's hardly like Wicks is too good for Iowa, and Wicks is bored and un-challenged.  The strike zone is the same size and distance in AAA as in majors, so zero reason he can't practice his fringy control there, (17BB/34IP).  Or work on his stuff (his K-rate and K/BB rate stinks there too.). Or work on his HR-factory there.  (8HR in 34 innings?). 24K/17BB/8HR/1.8 WHIP, the minor leagues are the place to work on getting better.  If we think he's got potential to be a big-league pitcher, let him work at Iowa and see if he can optimize into at least an anti-awful back-of-rotation AAA pitcher.  He's got the opportunity, do some proving.  

Same for Alcantara.  Nobody's making him hit sub-.250 with >1/3 of AB's being strikeouts.  It's hardly like AAA isn't challenging him plenty, and he isn't facing plenty of pitches that he can't hit.  He's got his opportunity to get better.  Let him sustain some hitting and sustain success, and earn an opportunity.  

AAA is exactly where those two guys belong until/unless they earn another shot.  They've got their opportunity, let them seize the opportunity and earn a big-league shot.  But yeah, it's not at all the case that they aren't being more than challenged by the competition they face there.  

 

[craig]

Speaking of AAA type guys.  Owen Caissie isn't in AAA anymore.  He's hanging with a -0.6 WAR for Miami, with a .269 OBP, .209 BA, and 79/193 K/AB.  

[Bertz]

3 hours ago, Outshined_One said:

I go back to a discussion from last year where some of us kicked around the idea of implementing player rentals, where guys like Wicks/Alcantara would have benefited from going to another team for 2026 where they'd have guaranteed playing time in the majors, take their lumps, and then get sent back for 2027.

I have zero idea how that could be structured or implemented, but it always drives me nuts to see AAAA guys wasting away in Iowa.

I think with pitchers the simple solution is long relief.  There's a delicate balancing act of making sure you have bodies available at AAA ready to go 5 innings, which is why I suspect despite my protests we have not had both Wicks and Assad on the MLB roster at the same time, but there's always garbage time innings to go around. 

I think especially with Craig, it seems like he likes having two long guys.  One he can give some leverage to one more for pure garbage time.  If I had my way in two weeks when Boyd's back I'd have Assad as SP 5, Rea as the more leveragey LRP, AND Wicks as the garbage time guy.

Edited 20 hours ago by Bertz
Clarity

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Johan Geraldo went 2/3 with a triple and walk. 1.161 OPS, 13% K%.

Jhosued Marcano gave up his first pro ER: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. ERA is 1.00 and he has 15 K/4 BB in 9 innings.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

at the end of Jed's media avail he said Conrad might be able to start playing games towards the end of the month

[profisme]

10 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

at the end of Jed's media avail he said Conrad might be able to start playing games towards the end of the month

But which month? Did he specify a year?

[Bertz]

Looking at game logs apparently it started late last week but I'm just noticing Lepley is finally back in CF

Feels like Tenn as soon as he gets hot again should be more of an expectation now?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Brody McCullough starting for the ACL Cubs

[Bertz]

Man Jose Escobar just keeps hitting

I wonder if the thought is he's stuck in the Yonathan Perlaza zone?  The bat would be fun if he was actually going to stick as an infielder but no chance as a LF?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[allen6510w]

Brody's first game in 26 months but despite that has remained in Baseball America's pre-season top 30: 2024 BA-29, 2025 Cubs BA-16, 2026 CubsBA-28.

Hopefully, only a minor set back for Eli -- but his healthy stretches seem few and far between.  Hopefully, he can still tie his shoes when he's 30. 

Yes, Escobar doesn't seem to have the power to man LF - we'll see.