davell

BA's Monday morning mock. And WOW, at how many teams are cutting deals. Has us with Schmidt at 27 and Allen at 30. Implying a slight discount on Schmidt and over slotting Allen a bit. I'd take Schmidt and Allen and be ecstatic.

http://www.thecubreporter.com/06122017/2017-cubs-extended-spring-training-final-stats Uh, so here's Amaya's final EXST stats..... 94PA, 30-80, 52B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 19 RBI, 18 RS, 9 BB(10%), 2 K's!!!!!!!(2%) 3 HBP(never horsefeathering touch him again) .375/.447/.613 15-38 CS So yeah.....You can change your pants now.

Both mocks have some odd things going on, which is actually more apt to happen, than the typical chalk mocks we've seen mostly.... Mayo has us with Allen/Carlson, Callis has us with Houck/Rasmussen.

Yeah, that's crossed my mind too. It'd be a letdown(maybe unfairly), if Allen WAS the guy we over slotted.

No idea. But, I saw a quote somewhere from McLeod that made me think we were going to take a chance on college closers and turn them into starters. Its probably a throwaway line that I read into too much, but its in the back of my mind, especially on Day 2.

I'm still in favor of finding an under slot guy at 27, if you're confident at what you're going to have available at 30, or later on. Seeing Rasmussen from Law is intriguing. Not because of the pitcher himself(who is fine) but because of what taking him at 27 means. Surely, you'd get him for 1.5 or maybe even less. I'd prefer Jake Thompson or Morgan Cooper, if we do that myself. But, it maybe allows us to spend pretty big on Carlson, Rogers, or maybe take a few high upside HS kids in 2-4..... No idea what they've got planned, but its great to see tons of different scenarios for the way they spend the entire budget.

I doubt you're getting Romero at a savings. I'm sure there's teams that are going to be saving money in the 1st, that are drafting higher than us, that'll have extra money to throw at him with their second pick. Plus, I think he's a Boras guy. You're getting a top 15 talent to begin with. Even with his issues, he's already cost himself 1.2 mill from being drafted at 15, if he takes slot at 27. With the lack of talent in this draft, I really don't think he's got to take a sub slot deal at 27 or 30. Someone will ante up and give him 2 mill, at least, is my honest guess.

Rucker goes 4.2 2 1 1 3 5, on 77 pitches, with them still stretching him out. He got the first 2 guys in the 5th, but gave up a single and a walk and was taken out. As a starter, he now has a line of 9.2 3 1 1 4 11. This after dominating as a reliever. In MB as a reliever he had gone 10.1 10 3 3 2 16. In SB, it was 12.2 7 2 2 0 22. He's an unexpected surprise, as an 11th rounder last year, with a small over slot. In context, I was shocked Hatch started the year at MB.....Says what confidence the FO has in him. Pierce Johnson was the college pitcher we've taken the highest, and he didn't start the year in High A..... At any rate, for our 11th rounder to be in MB AND be converting into a starter at this point.....This is very cool. Maybe we're getting lucky with a pitcher.....

Yeah, the run scored off a pair of wild pitches. 20/28 strikes is an excellent return. The injury probably just helped spread his innings around.

Law seems convinced we're under slotting the hell out of our first pick.

Don't think its ever been disclosed. He's just recently been seen down at EXST, but I don't think he was working out.

Absolutely, its OK to talk to them. Probably best to hit them up between innings and see what transpires. Some will talk your head off, others will still be nice, but less outgoing. But, scouts are definitely approachable, just he respectful and they'll answer some questions for you, maybe more than you thought possible.

He definitely did. But, he came back and pitched once or twice after that and I'm not sure I ever heard if it was the same injury or not.

CTRL-F m-e-k SHUN THE NONBELIEVER Ha, I swear I had it written out as "starting pitching prospects". Mainly because I didn't know where to put him lol. Gun to my head, I'd have him 6th. I'd possibly have Maples and Torrez listed in the same range as the guys I've listed 12-16.

My ranking of Cubs pitching prospects at this exact moment. High Honorable Mention-Javier Assad- He's gained a little velo, lost a little weight, and has been excellent in EXST 10.Michael Rucker- Just one start obviously, but it was excellent and he was flat out dominant out of the pen. With a plus FB, his other stuff may play decently, as a starter. 9. Erling Moreno- Since coming back, he's been excellent and if he actually IS sitting 95ish, he's moving way up soon. Especially with his plus curve. 8.Bryan Hudson- Still not sure what to really think, but the grounders are excellent and he's got upside. Breakout guy next year? Still would love to see an actual report. 6.(tie) Justin Steele- An athletic lefty throwing 90-94 and gaining command is going to be something to start truly paying attention to. 6.(tie) Duncan Robinson- Possibly way too high. But, he's been excellent and needs to be challenged. Knows how to pitch and was considered a top senior sign last year, so he's here for now, until he proves he shouldn't be. 5. Jose Albertos- Has struggled with control in EXST, but has great stuff and we'll know in less than two weeks if it was just him working on things in EXST. Probably not staying here, could move quickly either direction. 4. Thomas Hatch- If the walks are under control, he's started his ascension. Needs to be a bit more economical, but there's a hell of a lot to like. Still moving upward. 3. Adbert Alzolay- Throwing harder than last year, is commanding it better, which is why he's trying to break out. The fact Passan is mentioning him as a breakout guy says some things about his season. Doubt he moves much more, but he's already moved a ton. 2.Trevor Clifton- Proximity helps land him at 2 for me. Hope he lowers the walk rate a bit. But, he's got a real chance of starting some major league games for us in 2018. Pretty stable ranking, meaning he's not falling outside the top 5, short of a catastphrophe. 1. Dylan Cease- Dominant stuff, not concerned with an ankle injury. Looking forward to his second half and seeing him log some innings in MB. He's our clear cut best pitching prospect, unless a guy we take at 27 or 30 moves past him. Doubt we land a guy that can do that though. de la Cruz is 3-5 probably, IF he's pitching again fairly soon. But, since we have no idea what his injury is, he's off my board currently. Alec Mills COULD be in the 7-10 range if he were pitching, or at least knew what his injury was too. 12 thru 16, in some order....A decent drop off from 11 to me currently. Jen Ho Tseng- Still just 22, ready for AAA. Stuff seems fringy, but haven't seen a report this year. Looking forward to seeing him move to Iowa soon. Not exciting, but I'm curious which of him or Hedges gets protected this off season. Ranking likely stable, unless he struggles. Ryan Kellogg- Outside of one horrible start, he's been very good. Stuff is fringy though, so its still a question if it plays the further he moves. Doubt his ranking changes much, but I suspect he'd be OK in AA right now. Like Tseng, if he struggles, he drops. Zack Hedges- Has been good, outside of one horrible start. Nice sinkerballer that I honestly believe has a major league run as a starter in him. Won't be for us, won't be of any value in trade either. But, he's going to carve out a career, in my opinion. Probably pisses us off at some point. Honestly won't move the needle much in his ranking. Brailyn Marquez- Really hoping he's going to Eugene. He's got plenty of upside, if he struggles there at his age, I'm not concerned. He is a guy I'm expecting to become an important follow for us. I kind of suspect him to struggle, I just want innings out of him this year, the rest is gravy. Bailey Clark- Sucks he's a responsible student. Cost him a spot in SB probably. But, my guess is he'll move there pretty quickly once he works the rust off. He supposedly had the control of a starter last summer, if he keeps that, he'll dominate the lower levels, with his stuff. If he loses the control, I'd open him up for an inning at a time, where he'd be super interesting. Volatile, his ranking changes quickly most likely. I've dropped Underwood, Paulino, and Rondon into "need to be in the pen" at this stage. I just don't see them being successful as a starter, probably not out of the pen either. All 3 were firmly in my top 15(pitchers) prior to the season. Without looking too hard at other systems, I'd say we're top half, when it comes to pitching prospects. Nothing great, but far from barren too. We should really start seeing gains here too, not even accounting for whatever we draft.

Doesn't seem like it, but he's still just 20. I really want a new report on him. 3K's, 7/1 GO/FO, on just 58 pitches. Guess they're piggybacking Tyson Miller to him, who comes in and gives up a pair of runs immediately.

Steele goes 6 3 1 1 2 8, on 92 pitches. 4/2 GO/FO. At this point, I'm taking him off the "still remotely interesting" pile and upgrading him to "interesting". The stuff is solid, he's cutting back on the walks, and he's not getting hit hard. Lots to like, if he keeps this up all year, he's going to generate some conversation.

Paredes with a 2B, OPS has hit .700. He's definitely hit a groove. I'd like to see him in the .750ish area at the end of the year.

I wouldn't count on Oscar. But, getting Alzolay or Hatch would still be very cool. Hell, Rucker may be too.

We've got to be close to the part in the movie where Ricky and Willie just beat the horsefeathers out of each other in the dugout and the team starts playing good because of it, right?

Butler has had games of 3, 4.1, 5, 5, 5.2, and 6 innings pitched at this point.....Its not great, its not awful. Its too soon to declare anything. 2 good or 2 bad starts in a row at this stage can still skew things a ton. Hell, one will. He passes the eye test, he's got good stuff. I don't think we can conclude anything yet on him at all.

There's nothing wrong with either Butler or Montgomery as a 5th starter. The problem is we need a front line guy to go with whichever one ends up in the rotation.

BAH GAWD ITS A DAMN GOOD MEKKES WATCH TODAY

So, with the talk of us trying to grab a top 15 talent.....I've convinced myself we're taking Schmidt. He was a top 15 guy and we won't even have to over slot him. We don't let our drafted pitching do much after they sign anyway. He had the injury in April. I'm guessing he had surgery in May. There's a pretty decent chance he could be game ready by May of next year. That's not much missed time. I get that its not 100% and all that. But, the upside outweighs the downside for me. Pair him with a position player or with another college pitcher. I'd be pretty damn happy.

Clifton is our first "legitimate" home grown pitching prospect, since the new FO has taken over. Meaning he's got a true shot at eventually making a future rotation of ours. But, he does have a true wart forming too. He's got to limit the walks. Last year, he had shown improvement on that end. He's back up near 4 per 9 currently. Can you survive at that? Yeah. But, his K rate would be better served to go back up. Its a bit under 8 per 9 now. He's backed off of throwing harder for more control supposedly. He needed to do that. But, he's got to improve it a bit more. A lot of guys say High A to AA is the big talent jump. That's where stats start to matter a bit more. Its looking like the case here. I was kind of hopeful for a potential mid rotation guy, after last year honestly. Now, I'm thinking he's a back end guy. And a frustrating one at that. Hopefully his second half shows a bit of improvement though. He's not tooooo far off from being someone to be genuinely excited about, as the first potential guy to climb thru the system and join the rotation.