How Can the Cubs Shore Up Their Rotation Down the Stretch?

Omgoodness we’re still funneling free credits to Kohl Franklin? Does any prospect in this org get more credibilities for doing less?

His current AA line - as a true SP prospect no less - includes a 59:32 K/BB in 64 IP with 14 HRs 

I’d love to see Richard Gallardo get healthy and make it a competition with Horton, who is probably the only potentially serious option here rn (I like Wicks overall but if I could add one skill or trait to the rotation it’s velo). Improving the bullpen would help the rotation too, Luke Little’s been throwing well in the upper minors this summer, Brown’s probably more suited for it anyway, Kilian’s got velo 

3 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Omgoodness we’re still funneling free credits to Kohl Franklin? Does any prospect in this org get more credibilities for doing less?

His current AA line - as a true SP prospect no less - includes a 59:32 K/BB in 64 IP with 14 HRs 

I’d love to see Richard Gallardo get healthy and make it a competition with Horton, who is probably the only potentially serious option here rn (I like Wicks overall but if I could add one skill or trait to the rotation it’s velo). Improving the bullpen would help the rotation too, Luke Little’s been throwing well in the upper minors this summer, Brown’s probably more suited for it anyway, Kilian’s got velo 

"...But he’s only listed here because he’s Rule 5 eligible after the season and will need to be put on the 40-man roster anyways over the offseason to be protected (if the Cubs feel the need to protect him, of course)."

Franklin is far from a finished product, and I would never advocate for him to be in the majors this year, but he's a legitimate prospect. Obviously you want the results to be there for all prospects, but a lot of the time these guys in the minors are working on tweaks to their pitch shapes/deliveries/pitch mixes/etc. that get in the way of direct results. It's a developmental curve for a reason - it's not a linear path to becoming an MLB-caliber player. 

1 hour ago, Brandon Glick said:

"...But he’s only listed here because he’s Rule 5 eligible after the season and will need to be put on the 40-man roster anyways over the offseason to be protected (if the Cubs feel the need to protect him, of course)."

Franklin is far from a finished product, and I would never advocate for him to be in the majors this year, but he's a legitimate prospect. Obviously you want the results to be there for all prospects, but a lot of the time these guys in the minors are working on tweaks to their pitch shapes/deliveries/pitch mixes/etc. that get in the way of direct results. It's a developmental curve for a reason - it's not a linear path to becoming an MLB-caliber player. 

I'm maybe less caught up in Franklin being mentioned as an option for this year (though he is the 4th specific name mentioned in an article asking how Cubs can help out the 2023 rotation) and more that he's like *still* considered a true and legitimate SP prospect no matter what he does. Everything you've said in this post applies to all players, but I rarely see this approach taken with a non-Franklin in the org. Heck, even moreso other players since Franklin's likely both older and had access to processes and resources longer

The context I'm coming from is that I've been hearing about Franklin's big SP ceiling since he hit 100 in a Spring bullpen session to open 2021. He's popular with all the Cubs prospect guys online, likely in part because he's one of the most available players, and so his name's been bouncing around the echo chamber for 4-5 years now as like this Top Prospect with TOR Potential yada yada. Meanwhile he's about to turn 24 next month, last pitched like a low level SP prospect way back in 2019 in a friendly NWL, and is at a career high 83.1 IP as a true SP prospect who entered the org summer 2018 (he also missed his HS senior season to a hamstring issue). Seems as if in his case every struggle is just Development happening, every success a sign that he's turned the corner. Even with the mindset that pretty much any pro pitcher can turn it around for a little with some health and a tweak or add, he seems like a longshot to be an effective pitcher of any kind anytime soon

Honestly a pretty turdly set of options.  Assad is the only one I have any hope for. Wesneski or Wick *might* be able to give you some replacement level starts.  Otherwise just do bullpen games.

1 hour ago, TomtheBombadil said:

I'm maybe less caught up in Franklin being mentioned as an option for this year (though he is the 4th specific name mentioned in an article asking how Cubs can help out the 2023 rotation) and more that he's like *still* considered a true and legitimate SP prospect no matter what he does. Everything you've said in this post applies to all players, but I rarely see this approach taken with a non-Franklin in the org. Heck, even moreso other players since Franklin's likely both older and had access to processes and resources longer

The context I'm coming from is that I've been hearing about Franklin's big SP ceiling since he hit 100 in a Spring bullpen session to open 2021. He's popular with all the Cubs prospect guys online, likely in part because he's one of the most available players, and so his name's been bouncing around the echo chamber for 4-5 years now as like this Top Prospect with TOR Potential yada yada. Meanwhile he's about to turn 24 next month, last pitched like a low level SP prospect way back in 2019 in a friendly NWL, and is at a career high 83.1 IP as a true SP prospect who entered the org summer 2018 (he also missed his HS senior season to a hamstring issue). Seems as if in his case every struggle is just Development happening, every success a sign that he's turned the corner. Even with the mindset that pretty much any pro pitcher can turn it around for a little with some health and a tweak or add, he seems like a longshot to be an effective pitcher of any kind anytime soon

 

 

Oh I can certainly understand the prospect fatigue with him (and any prospect in general who takes a long time to figure their stuff out, if they ever do). 

I can't speak for other Cubs' prospect people, though from what I can surmise the reason he's well liked is because the Cubs FO really loves him (and anyone with any sort of inside connection who hears that would obviously be inclined to feel similarly). 

For me personally, I think Franklin has some of the best, call it "pitchability", in the system. He's a high IQ pitcher. He can work his way in and out of jams that most SP prospects don't have the composure for. It's his command that betrays him (which of course, is absolutely a huge red flag and something he needs to reign in over the next 16 months to remain on the radar). His changeup is so high floor that he can be a split-neutral guy from the get-go (which is extremely valuable for a pitcher who would theoretically go through an order two+ times every outing). 

There's no doubt his curve has been bumpier than most. But that's the prospecting game. Most of these guys bust and drop off the radar forever. It's not about perfectly identifying a guy, it's about finding the ones who seem likeliest to overcome all the hurdles on the way to becoming a big league-caliber player. Franklin's experience with struggling at every level should help him as he makes his way to Triple A, but he definitely has to speed up his process and growing pains. 

57 minutes ago, Hairyducked Idiot said:

Honestly a pretty turdly set of options.  Assad is the only one I have any hope for. Wesneski or Wick *might* be able to give you some replacement level starts.  Otherwise just do bullpen games.

Yea, not great. REALLY wish the Cubs would've added a back-end guy at the deadline. Alas, they'll have to make due. 

Unfortunately, the team will be HEAVILY relying on Stroman to come back completely healthy if it wants to make any noise. That's a lot to put on a 32 year-old groundball pitcher. 

1 hour ago, Brandon Glick said:

For me personally, I think Franklin has some of the best, call it "pitchability", in the system. He's a high IQ pitcher. He can work his way in and out of jams that most SP prospects don't have the composure for. It's his command that betrays him (which of course, is absolutely a huge red flag and something he needs to reign in over the next 16 months to remain on the radar). His changeup is so high floor that he can be a split-neutral guy from the get-go (which is extremely valuable for a pitcher who would theoretically go through an order two+ times every outing). 

 

There's no doubt his curve has been bumpier than most. But that's the prospecting game. Most of these guys bust and drop off the radar forever. It's not about perfectly identifying a guy, it's about finding the ones who seem likeliest to overcome all the hurdles on the way to becoming a big league-caliber player. Franklin's experience with struggling at every level should help him as he makes his way to Triple A, but he definitely has to speed up his process and growing pains. 

Funny enough, I've been saying he's the total opposite here for 4 years now here. I see this guy as a very low aptitude pitcher. He's someone the Cubs don't really let get into and out of trouble, hence the low workloads, and even with that benefit still gets walloped.  He and the Cubs added some velo and shape to his pitches during and since the pandemic, he really had no breaking ball of any kind before and still it's just one often loopy curve, but unfortunately he has no idea what to do with that most of the time. TBH most of of why I even consider him a prospect at all is because a healthy pitcher's always got a shot to have some success in pro ball and being someone's nephew is a pretty surefire way to find opp. He's definitely had some early career bumps with the pandemic and the oblique knocking out 2021 right after, but that doesn't necessarily help the case as a serious ML SP prospect. The last time he performed like even a low level SP prospect was 2019 in a very, very friendly NWL. I have serious doubts the changeup could do so much damage because his fastball's meat for ML hitters

I'm all about the bumpy road for prospecting, especially post-pandemic! There's just so many pitchers with a variety of ceilings in this org showing more aptitude in games than Franklin's shown especially since 2019. Heck, if it came down to either right now among currently healthy Smokies arms - thank goodness no - I'd say throw Porter Hodge out there or stick him on the 40 before Franklin