craig

He's walked like 7 guys in his last 3 innings, I think?

Kepley OBP at .500 in AA.

Anhuar Garcia, I don't know anything about him. But has popped form AZ to Myrtle to South Bend, and had a good start at South Bend today. 22, Mexico, only 6'0". 0.88 WHIP on the season. 43/9/36 K/BB/IP.

We know Florentino isn't a power pitcher. But do you guys have info on where he's at now? You mention Ober/Perez as under-90 guys. Is it our understanding that Florentino is still sub-90? Also, do we actually know what his injury was this spring? I ask, because if a guy needs a velo-bump, perhaps being injured all winter interfereds with Zombro's velo optimization training. So, like, maybe that got stalled for this winter past, but might have a fresh opportunity for full focus this upcoming winter?

Cabada a couple more hits today. Heh heh, Kepley steals a base and scores TWO runs in the first, with a walk and a HBP.

$1.5M bonus.

Ayers has hit the slump. For August, he's slugging .235. Just 1 HR in 21 games at Iowa Rolling a 20K/1HR ratio at Iowa isn't beautiful. On season, he's at 100K/345 AB, so may have some Owen Caissie syndrome? Hope he bounces back and gets a little hotter before the season ends.

Thanks, helpful. This kinda captures why I don't want to see him lose any games next spring. Spring training starts for catchers in February. World Series end of October. 8.5 months for a catcher to optimize his craft. On lockout I agree that the whole season isn't likely to be lost, for the reasons you gave. But there's a long continuum between 8.5 months and 0 days. If the over-under was April 30, 2.5 months from start of spring training, but <1 months of big-league games, I'd guess that it will go longer than that. You're figuring "a few games", so I'm guessing you're taking well "under" relative to April 30. We'll see! Even that would still be 2.5 months of catcher-development time for Ayers that's lost. And I kinda think the Cubs do a LOT of their skills training in camp, and in those January prospect-camps and stuff. So even if the lockout ends April 30, I still feel like that's some wasted developmental time. That's kinda dumb logic, though, I realize as I write! Assuming lockout he'll lose February either way, because minor-league camp doesn't until March even if he isn't on 40. So, an April-30 cba would really only cost him 6-7 weeks if he's on 40. I do think it's entirely plausible that the lockout might progress well beyond April 30, though? We'll see over the next month whether Cubs 40 him, and we'll see next spring/summer how long the cba lasts!

Just to extend this discussion. (Discussion, not "argument"). With some questions. I'm not in the least concerned about losing two weeks of Iowa action in September. I'm more concerned about the months of spring training and minor-league baseball next season that might be lost to the lockout. Guessing Trajekt is great for hitting. I'll defer on whether it's as useful as facing a daily variety of AAA-pitchers next spring. Do you think it's maybe better than PCL pitching? Beats me. Maybe minor-league baseball isn't even needed for player development anymore, if Traject is actually better! :):) Jason, developmentally, do you think Ayers is further away on the catching side, or on the hitting side? I'm asking this sincerely. My presumption has been that he hasn't caught for that many years. So that getting more reps and calling more pitch sequences and receiving more sliders and recognizing more when-to-challenge pitches is more of a need for him than practicing his hitting. Am I maybe wrong, and in terms of big-league readiness, his bat needs more work than his defense? During lockout, is a guy allowed to go to team facilities and use team Trajekt stuff? Or would he need to connect up with some private source? Like, could he move to Mesa and get full access, or is he locked out? (I'd guess locked out). Maybe move somewhere with Tread or Driveline that has Trajekt? Google says Traject costs only like $15-20/month. Can Cubs cover those costs for a prospect during a lockout, or would he need to be paying those out of his own budget, if he wanted his own Trajekt at home? It's not that bad, really; for him to spend that during lockout, that's a small investment compared to a minimum-wage big-league contract. So yeah, maybe he will do whatever it takes to ensure full access. I wonder how many prospects do just pay for their own? Is there a good Traject-type system for practicing catching and receiving?

I appreciate the soft-skills approach, and calling guys up for a while before you're actually going to use them. Caissie, Alcantara, Triantos, those all seemed appropriate. I think it's smart, given that we don't use 26th man much anyway. I just think the balance of values in Ayers case, the developmental costs and the 40-man costs outweigh the gains given the circumstances. But I'm not the boss, Hoyer and Hawkins will balance their values and make their decision.

Yeah, lots of space for different opinions. Mine is that he's not going to gain as much from seven September AB's, as the AB's he'll lose from missing spring training, and from missing whatever portion of April/May/June/July does get lost. I just figure getting a full minor-league season next year (until such point as a callup makes sense) is more valuable than a handful of September AB's. Most of the learning by being up with the big-league team could be learned by being invited up to experience the team life, but without needing to actually be rostered.

I think that's a **very** bad idea, until/unless there is Kelly/Amaya injury. There's going to be a lockout next year, perhaps a long, very long, one. I'd like to see Ayers keep developing. Keep practicing his defense. Confirm that he can hit next year against AAA pitching. Bringing him up for September, just to watch life in the majors and how professional the big-leaguers are, that will lock him out of the minors next season. Not worth it. I have no argument with bringing him in a non-roster capacity. Hang out in the clubhouse, watch and hang with Bregman and Hoerner, see how Kelly and Amaya prepare and do their meetings, etc.. But don't put him on active roster that costs him the lockout.

Birdsell is there at 24. It seems a long time for him. Has anybody heard any updates on his rehab? Like, he's been seen throwing in Mesa, all is well? Or has he maybe had some setbacks?

Happy to have Kepley stacking a couple of games, playing CF, and getting a couple of SB. I infer that he must be reasonably healthy, including his legs. Also great to see his fast start at Knoxville. Hope he can get hot and stay hot for a while. Putting up good offense in AA will strengthen his trade value. And power-wise, 39% of his hits have been for XB, with a decent dose of HR's and triples. I know the board hasn't been too keen on Kepley. Natural pushback to some fans who have been perhaps excessively optimistic;, perhaps pushback against over-glamorizing grit; perhaps natural suspicion why the Cubs didn't promote him sooner. But at age 22, I'm thinking an .865-OPS guy with 50+ steals and good defense could be a justifiable value prospect, if he can kinda sustain his production in AA. Hope he can over a longer sample than 3 games! :):)

Cal or others, what do you know about Kevin Valdez and his stuff? He's more than doubled his K/BB ratio this season, and has favorable groundball profile. You mentioned 40-man for him, does that mean he's got legit stuff? I'm recalling 94-96 velocity and a slider, so perfectly reasonable for big-league arm?