Fleita is super positive about everything. But I'm an optimist and I was happy about a lot of the responses: 1) Favorable Guzman health report. Particularly that he'll have no limitations this spring training. 2) Blasko and Wylie the only guys he named who wouldn't be ready for spring. I'm sure there are other perhaps lesser guys he didn't mention, and other guys who will show up to camp and not be good. But given so many arm problems in recent years, it would be really awesome if it came to be April and we'd find hardly anybody beyond Blasko and wylie with a problem. 3) Same line, I was pleased that he didn't seem to expect problems for Santana (shut down with arm stuff) or Ransom (shut down early) or Brownlie or Ryu. The note that Ryu was clocked at 95 in AFL was encouraging. He's always been projected to throw hard, but I don't think he's ever done it much with the cubs. 4) The notion that Hunton might someday be middle/upper 90's was kind of entertaining. 5) ***ONE OF MY FAVORITES*** His response to the Latin guys. He again mentioned speedster *Wilson*, who he'd also mentioned at convention. He mentioned SS *Mota*, said he should be at Boise! To skip a level is a big surprise. Interestingly, in last InfoGuide his bday is listed as June, 1987. Assuming that wasn't a falsie, he'll barely turn 18 before the short-season begins. To be in Boise at barely 18 is pretty young. Caveat: Fleita notices individual tools. So his defense is most likely the thing that is obviously outstanding. He may be the best fielder in the organization, who knows, but whether he has any more hitting potential than Carlos Rojas, not to be assumed. Having mentioned Mota and Wilson in both this chat as well as at convention, that confirms they seem like guys to remember. (Although again, one eye-catching tool might make for more memory, even if accompanied by 4 anti-tools, over a player who's well-rounded above-average in all 5 but eye-catching exceptional in none?) Most pleasing to me was that *ALBERTO ALBUQUERQUE* got mentioned, he hadn't been mentioned in the Convention chat, and he got mentioned as a fast-mover who'd likely skip Mesa. InfoGuide lists him with a 6/86 birthday. To be skipping up to Boise when he's barely 19 is also unusual, and speaks very favorably. I was especially happy to hear Albuquerque mentioned because his DSL numbers were the most impressive relative to his age. If he was posting jazzy numbers in the DSL when he started the DSL year at age 17, and if the scouts like him besides, that's a very attractive combo. 6) Tim asked a neat question about seasonal goals/objectives for players. I very much liked Fleita's answer. 7) I was pretty pleased by his catcher answers. On Soto, that he wants all-star but expects starter. (I've wondered whether he projected better than a backup...) On Reed, that he projects power. (I've wondered whether he was a contact guy, but might not project enough power to ever consider as more than a #7/#8 type hitter). And on Fox, that Fleita doesn't see his defense as necessarily being deadly bad, that with improvement he could become a reasonably rounded player and that if he hits enough, his defense might be good enough that nobody will fault his defense! 8) I also liked his Lewis answer, that he likes him a lot, again the driven/smart kind of stuff, and the notion that he doesn't believe the K-thing is a permanent, irreversible, terminal problem. Time will tell, and he may well be wrong, but we'll see. 9) I liked the reference to Ohman as a "power arm"! I know they think he's got a plus slider. But I haven't really thought about him as a power arm. That's cool, if true. 10) The enthusiasm for Marshall, as perhaps comparable to Petrick for top 5, and with already having enough stuff and already having enough fastball, was pretty cool. 11) A couple of questions I wasn't that pleased about the info. He didn't seem too buzzed about Pinto, not including him in that list of top-6 names, and almost acting as if he's relatively interchangeable with Koronka/Valdez types. I'd also hoped that he thought Hoffpauir might add a little more HR power. I'd hoped he'd be more interested in grooming Hoffpauir for a flexible bench role; while it's true that there is a place for a Grace-like hitter at 1B, I'm not sure there's a place with the Cubs. And I'm not sure it's very easy to win a bench-role behind durable Derrek if the manager doesn't think of you as a multi-position guy. Hoffpauir might become a pretty good player someday, but it's hard to see how he's going to become very valuable to the Cubs, directly or in trade. While I was pleased that he seemed to assume Ransom would be physically fine and could move fast, I was a little disappointed with the "pretty good stuff" eval, which given Fleita positivism seems lukewarm. Anyway, a lot of good stuff, awesome.
