craig

Signing Gallen as yet another SP would be interesting. It's been a long time since Cubs actually had real surplus at any spot. Last year, I kinda thought our depth might not be bad, and there might be some contingency guys. For 5-11, I'd probably have had Brown 5; Rea/Assad as 6/7; Horton/Birdsell at 8/9; Pearson/Keller as 10/11. Hard to remember talk about Pearson as being an upside-rotation possibility! :):) Obviously Assad/Birdsell camp-injured; Steele/Shota spring injured; Pearson bad; Keller never considered; Brown disappointed. Lucky that Horton proved so unexpectedly good so quickly! And that Boyd, expected to be the most injury-risky of them all, was healthy. Heh heh, I was younger and dumber then. Back in 2016, I thought having both Hendricks and the worthless Warren that Theo liked as possible starter from Castro trade, I thought that constituted unusual-for-Cubs rotation depth! (Not to tangent, but while Theo was smart in many ways, I think he was kinda poor as an actual base-ball-talent scout!). 2016 (pre-DH), also thought outfield was a rare surprus: Heyward, Schwarber, Soler, plus Zobrist. Before Fowler unexpectedly came back, I recall thinking Heyward might play center. Obviously Fowler did come back, which made the surplus more pronounced; but then Schwarber got injured in the first week. Obviously with Heyward bad, Soler disappointed, and Scharber out, that ended up no true surplus after all. Still, enough to trade Soler for one year of a rental closer. If Gallen, I think that would reflect Cubs scouting and pitching infrastructure and all that. If they actually do pursue and sign him, I think it would reflect that Hottovy and Zombro and their analysts think they see upside there. If so, I think it would be fun, and I'd love to give them that opportunity to see what they could pull out of him in terms of bounceback or improvement. Plus as always, with our defense, anybody is going to look better and get significant ERA-depression with both our defense and wrigley HR-suppression. Gallen has been a solid K-guy, and something of a groundball guy, so might be a good fit. he might have enough upside to, if everything clicked, hypothetically make the 3-man playoff rotation? 6-man rotation versus 6-day rotation is different. A lot of off-days and some rainout-days in spring. On a true 6-man rotation it would often be like college or Japan, with a once-a-week start. Hottovy kinda spoke against that this weekend. But I'd be totally OK with running some version of 6-man rotation for a while. Heh heh, would never happen if Cubs are winning and wanting to keep every decent pitcher, but would be kinda fun to actually have a surplus, and to be both a contender and a trade-seller. Given the price-inflation at deadline, what if you traded Steele to help restock the thin farm, or something? Never would happen, but kinda fun to dream! :):) I'm a believer that while there are some differences between starting and relief, that probably majority of good starters can become good relievers. Usually better, with more adrenaline, no pacing, higher velo, and less need to mix lesser pitches. So I'm actually totally fine with pushing good pitchers back into the bullpen. Short relief, long, mediuam, I think guys like Rea or Assad might be very effective in any of those roles.

Agree. As is, Moises, Amaya, and Shaw are three locks. That leaves two spots. 1. If they were to hypothetically add Andujar, there wouldn't be room for all three of Andujar, Alcantara, and Austin. No problem. Alcantara can get optioned, get full load of AB's for developmental purposes, and be available if/when injury happens. Developmentally that might be good for him. He's never really optimized his pull-in-air-for-HR power, and he'd not get a lot of big-league AB's. Last year he was playing for a while with the hernia. Probably he's not going to develop much further, and he is what he is, which isn't a starting big-leaguer. But *IF* he showed some power development, maybe he emerges as a starter-caliber prospect. Really valuable trade piece this summer or next winter; or maybe a guy to factor into replacing Happ or Seiya next year, assuming you don't want to extend both. Shaw woudl then be short-term CF backup. CF is the easiest outfield position to learn. In the few games where PCA would sit. *IF* PCA went to DL, you can call up Alcantara then, if you don't love Shaw in center. Or, if you don't want to option Alcantara, no problem to waive Austin. Not sure his contract is actually guaranteed, if you waive him early enough. If it is guaranteed, perhaps somebody else will claim him, and the contract. Or if he clears, he'd like prefer keeping the salary at Iowa over giving up the contract and signing elsewhere. Contract is so small, would be fine to carry as depth at Iowa.

I'd assume F Cruz will stay in Az. Over half his AB's were K's last year. Guessing developmentally, working in AZ will be best for him. So many developmental resources there, and having already worked there last summer, I'm guessing that having a chance to stay in the same environment for a change might have developmental advantages. Know the weight room. Know the nutrition context. Know some of the coaches. Know the analytics and tech environment. If he stays as bad as last year, you know he's not developing much, and you can assess progress or lack thereof. If he just gets rushed up to Myrtle, we'll just excuse struggles with the usual "big promotion; young for league; Myrtle is a pitcher's park" usual excuses. (Heh heh, obviously if he does go to Myrtle, and he does improve, drops K's under 30%, hits some HR's, and hits .250, then we'd obviously know he'd improved a lot.).

Nice that Franklin is healthy and back throwing. Would be so cool to have a 14th-round-available $200K-available due-to-injury guys end up emerging as a good prospect. Would be so fun. I know he had TJ so upper-body buildup is a priority. But man, in his picture his left ankle looks like a twig.

Allen, it might be more fun to have a group of guys of semi-similar bonus range with a chance to compete with each other. Maybe competing with each other helps drive guys to get better? Maybe win a couple of games, too? Cubs have spent on big-tickets like Cruz who have been bad, their DSL teams have usually been last-place types. Even at that level, perhaps winning some games is kind of fun and motivating? Glad Ciriacao really did get signed, that would add a bat-first guy with some power potential. He wasn't even referred to as a SS, I don't think! Munoz isn't short, but in the picture he didn't look that small or skinny to me. Looks reasonably square-shouldered to me, just from picture glance. Hopefully he'll be strong enough for some power in due time.

A lot of short, wiry, game-acumen, contact guys. Not a lot with big power projection, although Geraldo and Serrano maybe. Sometimes 16-year-olds grow another inch, and interestingly none of the Cubs regular non-catchers list above 6-feet tall. So not sure that being 5'10" necessarily precludes having some HR-power, maybe we've got some Altuva/Acuna/Lindor guys. (Shaw is also only 5'10".). Or could be a lot of utility guys who never get past A+, who knows! But yeah, would be fun if it's a group of twitchy, athletic, smart, contact-hitting guys who are just good baseball players, and who mature into a playable number of HR's.

Strike this/delete this if this is too much info and copywrite problem.

Are we confident that the Bryant Ciriako signing ever got finished? I assume so, but I never recall seeing it posted anywhere official. Must have been, though....

Japanese kid is 22, 6'0", has some power, lived in New York for a while, came through one of top academic universities in Japan, and had a Goldman Sachs job offer in New York I think, so is probably smart. But was not drafted in Japanese-league draft, so must not be all that good at baseball. Apparently has some power and exit-velocity.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2026-mlb-international-signings-tracker/

https://www.mlb.com/cubs/news/chicago-cubs-2026-international-signings?t=cubs-pipeline-coverage Not much info in here, but has some scouting info on martinez, if in fact Jesse Borek author who I've never actually heard of before actually has true-info source. Triple-digit velocity on occasion is helpful for thinking there might be some power.

Cal, the link in previous post isn't showing. Which 2025 signing got reported? The Bryant Ciriaco signing, maybe? If so, will his signing be under the 2025 signing period, or part of the 2026 cap?

Who cares now. But I wanted to remember: Soler was pre-cap. $30M deal. Gleyber and Eloy were under first-version of cap, but the cap was very different then. Cubs blew way past it to sign them. Consequence then was the following year they couldn't sign anybody above $250K. So the strategy was to super-spend one year, then get restricted the next. But yeah, kinda totally different cap rules than now.

Thanks for all the info, Cal! Geraldo sounds interesting, who knows? Heh heh, I sometimes have the sense that Dansby's contract lasts forever. But he's got only 4-more seasons. A kid signing today, if he's 16 or 17, would still only be 20 or 21 the year Dansby is gone. Would take some super-success stud prodigy to be good enough to directly succeed Dansby. Interesting too that the bWar study lists Cubs as 8th. Obviously a lot of that is long ago, in a different world. Soler, Eloy, and Torres, all gone in 2017, and they were all added before the IFA cap. So in some ways, better studies in future will begin with the cap rules in place. Still, a semi-common view is that the Cubs have been awful in IFA, and this suggests maybe lots of teams don't do any better than we do. But yeah, man it would help if Moises ends up generating a bunch of value, and if somehow Rojas progresses, or if Jostin Florentino would somehow stay healthy, mature into another 3-4 mph, and turn out to be a serious big-leaguer. Hope today's group develops and gives us some value. I admit I'm a teensy bit disappointed there aren't any pitchers in that feature list. Nobody spends much on IFA pitchers, *IF* you hypothetically thought you could ID pitching prospects, don't think they'd cost a zillion to outbid for them.

Biggest surprise to me is Pedro Ramirez ahead of Rojas and Triantos. I don't really understand why? If Conrad/Harshorn/Wing are upranked based on hypothetical upside, what upside does Pedro have? No SS, no slug. 107 singles to only 33 XBH, Nic Madrigal wannabe? As a no-slug/no-SS bench guy, why is he ahead of Triantos and Rojas? Or Long or Wing or Kepley?

I love that some reputable scouting loves Conrad, Hartshorn, Wing, and Keppler. Obviously doesn't mean anything, it's just a ranking. Guessing Conrad ahead of Mo reflects higher ceiling: favorable scouting on his positional defense (maybe even CF), and perception of potentially superior HR power? Like, if you see the potential for Conrad to be a 30-HR guy with plus RF defense, but think Mo is probably a <20HR DH, the WAR ceiling for the good-defense HR guy is way higher? But yeah, new guys can get upranked on potential, when nobody has seen their limitations exposed against actual pro pitching. That can change fast when the performance is exposed. There may also be some intrinsic respect for Cub scouting? Cubs saw enough in Wing and Hartshorn to seriously super-slot them at $1.6 and $2.0. Maybe some other scouts see the same potential? I just hope those 2025 draft picks really work out. We really need some new serious talent in the system. Having several of those guys turn out good, many would that make a difference in extending the contention window.

Great! Lower-body injury in June would seem unlikely be interfere with either offseason training/tinkering, or with being 100% for camp and season. I'm pretty interested in him as a stuff guy who might eventually make it work for the Cubs. 2024, >4:1 K/BB. 79K/18BB/50IP/4HR. 2023, >4:1 K/BB. 74/17/47/4. Those were some excellent K/BB rates, without problematic HR. 2025, <1.5:1 K/BB. 39/27 K/BB at Iowa (30IP), K's still solid but walks went crazy up. Who knows why? Working on something? Impacted by lower-body stuff well before IL? Just randomly out of whack? Cubs coached some adjustments that made him worse? My recall is that velocity reports were down last year, for whatever reason. Beats me. But hoping with a winter to work on things, Tread or wherever, that he'll both have his velocity and life back, but also be able to recover his location from 24/23, and perhaps make it better. Zombro, please get him fixed! Agree, Palancia may regress, and agree that Little, Hodge, and Neely aren't dead. Some obvious practicals: young guys have options. You can see if healthy and throwing strikes at this moment at Iowa, before pulling them up. That wasn't comparably true for Merryweather or Pressly or Neris. Veterans on guaranteed contracts get big-league spots and get to succeed or fail in big-league innings. If they are NOT healthy, or are NOT throwing strikes, those failures hurt the big-league eam. Relievers only pitch 5-12 spring-training innings, right? Too small a sample to be sure that Neris is cooked, versus just kind working himself into shape. I like the reality that we could have Little, Hodge, Neely, Brown, Wicks, and the Biochemist all getting innings at Iowa, optimizing their control, and being available. If some of the guaranteed-contract guys age-decline, or don't show the control they had previously that made them big-league useful, you've got a schlew of options. Non-roster stuff pickups are fun to take shots on, and every once in a while you hit on a Keller who adds a bunch of velo. But, there is more to pitching than stuff or velocity. Many healthy high-velo "stuff" non-rosters are available because they lack adequate location. Pearson very fast, very little control, zero command. A healthy non-roster stuff guy is probably non-roster available because he's been bad, probably due to location. If Tyler Beede could locate consistently, he'd not be non-roster available. Maybe Zombro and Hottovy can make it click for him. Corbin Martin has some stuff, and hopefully he'll emerge; but he's non-roster available because he's always been variably bad, and he's always been variably bad because he's always been variably wild. Maybe Zombro and Hottovy can make it click for him, but odds aren't super favorable. this is partly where Keller was different: he'd always been a pretty good control guy, it was his stuff that had lacked. But suddenly he shows up with the decent control he'd always had, but suddenly his velo was way up. Great pickup! I kinda love non-roster take-a-shot guys who are kinda coming back from injury. Sometimes if they prove fully recovered, both stuff and control can win. I also like non-roster take-a-shot guys who don't have a free-agency option. Some have option for FA at end of camp, if not rostered; or have an option in May if not rostered. I like guys who look healthy and stuffy in camp, but who can get sent to Iowa, show whether they can throw enough strikes there, and then call them up when opportunity knocks. But yeah, with cats like Beede or Martin or Snider, I'd like them able to go to Iowa and stick there for a while, and see if they can sustain success, and can out-pitch our Hodge-Brown-Little-Neely-Martin guys.

Add-on note. Cubs ended up with an excellent bullpen last year, with the mix-and-match 1-year vets. They are going again with 5 vet FA's, four new, and most short-term. (Harvey-Maton-Webb-Milner-Thielbar) So start that process again next year. It would be super nice if the Cubs could internally develop some of their own young guys. Have them cheap instead of spending $30M on free agents, of considerable age and variably iffy reliability. Last year internal Palencia converting from wildman to a good, effective guy was huge. Would be SO helpful if they could develop some guys from within the Hodge, Brown, Assad, Little, Wicks, Martin, Neely, Rollison, Robert, Hollowell crowd who'd end up being actually pretty good. With enough stuff, control, consistency and composure to be good and throw enough strikes. You could hypothetically literally save enough $$ to cover a Hoerner-sized raise, for example. And kinda knowing your guys, and not entering an offseason with no idea how the bullpen market will shape up and how much it will cost to patch something together. Lets go, pitchers and HOttovy and Zombro and infrastructure! Get better, get good, let's go!

Hi, guys. I'm thinking Neely got injured around last June. Did we ever get info why? Any surgery? Maybe back, and 100% healthy this spring? Or maybe a 60-day DL type guy who won't even count against the 40-man? *IF* he magically has full health and magically improves his command somewhat, he might be a deep depth option. 40-man is almost full, and a guy can't be placed on 60-man till camp starts. So *if* there are waiver claims they want to make that can't wait for camp, or if they sign a FA outfielder or something prior to camp, he might be a de-roster candidate, too, if they want a 40-man spot sooner than camp? Guessing that if Neely is healthy, and they do end up needing to de-roster somebody, I'd rather de-roster one of Dean, Hollowell, Rolison, or Roberts. Seemed like his stuff, velocity, K-stuff was pretty nice after the Leiter trade. But didn't seem as fast or as K-excellent last season. Not sure if he was pitching hurt the whole time, or if the Cubs infrastructure had suggested adjustments that ended up degrading his stuff? But yeah, the original stuff/velocity seemed pretty good, just not enough command. Would love to see Zombro and Cubs staff help him recover the velocity and life, but somehow help his control to bump up a little bit? One of those drop-arm-slot-6-degrees or something type tweaks? Who knows.

Not to belabor, but we've got a lot of vet contracts now; very few close-to-majors good prospects or highly ranked prospects. And we've got a lot of youngish players who are going to be inflating up the arbitration path over the upcoming years, so we should have a LOT of built-in inflation just to keep our own guys, much less add good players from outside. So going to be super critical that D+D is going to be effective. Last year's draft class, and this upcoming draft class and IFA guys. PCA, Caissie, Alcantara, Brown, those were acquired by trade. Just got to hit on some of our draft and IFA guys so that the upcoming contending window doesn't get abbreviated by inflation, and by the total-failure D+D process under Theo's leadership.

Interesting, cal, that they are trying to rank by bonus, yet Francy's bonus values differ. Our guys in the 80-85 range, listing is $400-500. Jaims I thought was reported for $900, but is not on BA's list. Maybe a reminder that info on bonuses, and on scouting accuracy on player evals, is variably iffy for international kids. Will be interesting to see what info we get next week. Either way, sure would be great if the Cubs could hit on some volume of these guys.

This is BA's ranking based on their valuation of the players? Or based on anticipated signing bonuses? I ask in part because I'm trying to figure Jaims Martinez, the Cuban kid. I thought he was aligned to Cubs at $800K; so if that's true, he should have been in BA's top-100. But his name is *not* included in your BA list, which maybe suggests they are trying to do their own valuation? (Duh, obviously, otherwise #85 at $500K wouldn't be behind $400K #81.). If Jaims is not included in BA's top-100, it might mean Cubs over-rate him (we've stunk in IFA, so having faulty valuation would not be unusual....); or that BA underrates him (how can they know very well, after all?); or else that since he kinda agreed with Cubs a year ago, he's probably not appearing in showcases, and other scouts probably aren't talking about him because he's old news...

X link had said he was CF?

Cal, I can't quite read that last one. Is that talking about Cubs signing Cuban pitcher Naikys Piedra? If so, I thought other sources had reported him signing with the Cubs last July, actually? He was already 23 as of last summer, so not super young/projectible. Google AI has us having signed him in July, and references the 96 fastball and hypothetically good curve and change. Wondering if that actually happened then? Or if kind of like Jaims Martinez, an agreement was kinda made, but the actual signing is this January rather than when the agreement was announced?

Interesting to add $250 with only two weeks left in signing period. Also interesting the Houston would have left that much unspent, and with nobody targeted to spent it on. I think we'd be kinda mad if cubs wasted that much in unspent cash. Hopefully Cubs have their eyes on one or more interesting prospects left with the $283 now available. Pitchers rarely sign for more than that. So might hypothetically land one or two pitchers with some projection upside?