toonsterwu

Things set up nicely for UVA to get to the CWS. They'll be able to run Tyler Wilson out there tomorrow, and they should advance to supers. I have high doubts UCLA can make it out, and even then, I think they are beatable. But ... no Cole or Bauer tomorrow. Gonna be tough for UCLA.

I'm almost certain that hultzen won't fall to 7. He's rumored to be in the Nats top 3, the other two being Cole and Bauer. If Mariners go Lindor, my hunch is that Arizona sticks pitcher (Bauer/Hultzen/bundy), Baltimore is the one that will debate Rendon and I think they pull the trigger. I think Starling has a shot to fall to us, and I'll be happy with that gamble if they go that route.

i liked Loosen back in college. ceiling isn't high, but 4 solid pitches and good understanding of how to attack. Struggled some his last year, was better earlier in his career in college, iirc.

one guy i don't want, and i doubt he's actually linked to us as i haven't seen anything, is cory spangenberg. if there's a guy rumored high that i would be very disappointed with, he's probably it.

Skimming over BA's June 3 mock, and I'm a bit surprised they went back to Hultzen and the Pirates. That's going to end up setting the tone for the draft, so everything's probably up in the air until then, although it sure feels like they are looking at Cole or Hultzen. Looks like Archie Bradley is being heavily connected to the Cubs, as this is another mock that has that pick. Surprisingly, it sure feels like the chances are quite high that we are leaning the prep route and perhaps going for upside. I'd really love to see the Cubs spend in the 2nd round on someone like Derek Fisher, but I have my doubts that the Cubs will fork over the money necessary to make that move. Edit: Well, Dejan Kovecevic seems awfully certain that the Pirates are going Cole, and I'll take his word on Pirates news. Sure feels like 5 of the top 6 picks are pretty well known, with the only question being whether Bauer goes 5th or 6th. If he goes 5, Starling probably goes 6th, but wouldn't surprise me if the Nats went the college pitcher route and picked say, Jed Bradley or Matt Barnes (gut feeling somehow thinks that Rizzo might not be that in on Sonny Gray, but I could be off on Rizzo there, and Rizzo is, by all indications, heavily involved in the Nats process). If the Royals/Nats pass on Starling, I think he makes it to us, as I don't know if I can see the Indians doing a Starling pick, and I doubt the Diamondbacks would. I think my top 3 preferences, assuming the assumed 5 of Hultzen/Cole/Rendon/Bauer/Bundy are off, and assuming Starling gets picked, would be Sonny Gray (I believe in the changeup's ability to be average or notch better than average), Taylor Guerrieri, and Archie Bradley, probably in that order. I doubt the Cubs go this route, but if the Cubs went Javier Baez as a guy they viewed as a 3rd baseman long term (but could keep him at short the first year or two) ... I think I would be quietly intrigued. Not sure if I'd love it, as one of those three arms should be available and I think I really like everything out there about those three arms. That'd be my top tier.

I'm assuming Penalver is on DSL2 because Francisco Sanchez is on DSL1, otherwise don't see why such a highly touted kid is down on the B-squad. That said, the B-squad seems to have some high priced talent to start, with Penalver, Candelario, and Antonio Gonzalez there. Unless I'm mixing up which one is the B-squad?

if that's a barb about Simpson being a reach, it does need to be pointed out again that, while a reach, it was a Colvin-like reach, a half-round to a round at most, not the dramatic 3-4 rounds that some folks claimed. The Angels and Rays were in on Simpson and were looking at him supplemental or 2nd, according to subsequent reporting.

With Scott Maine and James Russell ahead of him right now, I think if Beliveau gets called up, it'd probably be a September nod. That said, if he keeps rolling, who knows. The Casey Harman I recall from Clemson was a mid-upper 80's fastball guy who got some sink on the pitch. I remember mixed reports on his secondary stuff, but the general feeling was a solid changeup, decent breaking ball (wasn't exactly a pure slider back then). Still a bit disappointed that the Cubs didn't ponder him as a starter. Maybe they'll ponder it next year, but I doubt it. He could move fast as a pen arm, at least, through the A ball ranks. I'd be surprised if he isn't in FSL by year's end. Ty'Relle Harris' control is a bit bothersome, but the rest of the pen looks good. I still have some questions as to whether or not Dolis is a true late inning arm at the next level, or more of a power middle reliever. My hunch on the Silva call up was that Szczur was off at graduation and was a bit banged up, and someone had to go up. mlp made a point over at Bruce Miles blog, though, that Silva looked, in practice, to be the most polished relative to his skillset (or something along those lines).

Solid defensively, but there was never any high expectations with the bat. Off the top, I seem to remember the Cubs pondering him as a catcher a couple years ago, but I don't recall too many reports on that, so I'm assuming that didn't take well. I think he's an upper level utility infielder type if he sticks around, a guy who, if the stars align, could perhaps get a brief look in the bigs at some point, so a Blanco comparison may be fair.

Did Jed Bradley die? I'd probably pop Jed Bradley in my top 10, but this draft is talented enough that it's not unreasonable to have him outside the top 10. I mean, if you buy Lindor eventually having some pop, then he deserves to be up there, and Bauer might be the best arm in college. Gray's 1-2 punch is as good as anyone not named Bundy or Cole, and Bradley has a ton of projection. I'm not a huge Jungmann fan, though.

Watkins bat has been a bit better over the last 10. I never really anticipated much power, although I know some did, and there were reports that he showed some pop in practice. Let's see if he can keep this up.

I get the feeling that the Cubs think he could put it together at some point as well, considering the number of AB's he gets each year. I mean, 360-400+ AB's each year is a fair amount, regardless of positional depth charts and issues for the Cubs. And a toolsy 22 year old kid in AA who has hit well (albeit, statistically, seems like some luck involved), shows good discipline/approach is intriguing. Like you, though, I think I've had my far off dreams dashed with him enough. Add in that he doesn't quite have Flaherty's power to shift to a corner role, and he seems like a man without a positional home, as I don't recall being too impressed with him when I saw him at 2nd (granted, more PT/work there maybe rectifies that). 2nd seems like his best spot, but the system has enough 2nd base options to sift through that he's probably on a deep backburner.

Sure feels like Starling may be our Plan A if he's there. I haven't heard this much pre-draft support for a first rounder under Wilken since the Vitters year (I don't recall Cashner and B. Jackson as overwhelming, this is the guy we are going after, feelings, and same goes, obviously, for Hayden). Much as I am worried about Starling's bust factor, I think it's worth the risk to roll on upside if he's there. I have my doubts he'll make it that far though. I think there's a good chance the Nationals pluck him if their top pitching options are off the board, assuming he gets there.

My guess is that ... well, not much will change. Lake sort of replaces LeMahieu (although it's more likely Lake will man short on a more regular basis, which means the Marwin may see a bit more time at 2nd than short now, at least relative to before the moves). I've always been intrigued if Marwin could put it together, as he's a toolsy kid with some good raw ability. His approach isn't bad either, and he's had a power surge since leaving Daytona. Haven't heard if there's anything substantially different with his offensive ability, so my first assumption is that it may have to do with shifting from FSL to SL. That said, defensively, he doesn't really have a home. The best spot for him is probably 2nd, but we have a lot of guys fighting for 2nd base time. I think he's a minor league version of say, a Wilson Betemit.

After an awful start in April, Robinson Chirinos has been on a roll. He hit .333/.380/.424 in May, and in the last 10, he's gone .395/.439/.553, with a 14 game hit streak. Since he wasn't part of the trade, he doesn't get that much discussion as it relates to former Cubs that went to the Rays, but Russ Canzler is hitting .313/.434/.528 while playing a lot of 3rd. Reports on his work at 3rd are still mixed. That said, I still wonder (and I thought this when he was with us last year), if he might be a guy who, if the situation presents it self, becomes a corner IF/OF backup type with some pop off the bench. After his torrid start, Hak-Ju Lee has cooled down a lot. Still performing well, but his May line of .307/.378/.412 is much more in line with expectations.

My hunch would be mid-season. Around the ASB times for the leagues would be my guess (which is the 18th in June for FSL) . I think it's going to happen sooner than later, though. He's already working into the 6th with relative consistency while having good performances. The rotation in Daytona looks like Rhee, Rosscup, Kurcz, Lorick, and Wallach right now, but we have to see what happens when the arms in AA get healthy (will Struck get moved back down - if he performs, I doubt it). Lorick and Kurcz could be moved out of the rotation for different reasons - the former because he's struggled as a starter, and the latter because his future might be/should be in the pen. Anyhow, MiLB had an article on Bour "Boar" (not sure how people might pronounce that as burr ... as Justin notes in the article). Nothing too in depth. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110531&content_id=19815964&vkey=news_l123&fext=.jsp&sid=l123

While Huntsville isn't the most impressive squad (to say the least), it still was a nice start for Struck in AA. Especially love the fact that he threw 95 pitches (haven't been checking his pitch count in A+, but I gotta imagine this was one of his heavier workloads of the year?). Larry Suarez's 3 shutout looks intriguing enough, but my expectations for him haven't been high in a long time. Easy to forget, though, that he's only 21 and this is only his 2nd extended look at full season.

When you factor in that he's doing this at no where near his normal velocity (even if you think he's more of a low 90's guy, that's still a marked difference from some of the mid-upper 80's reports out there), I think there's enough to be pleased about with his first season.

I am very curious about Dae-Eun Rhee today. He's had two very solid outings in a row, being effective in getting ground balls.

probably for the best in regards to Chen. He had reached his ceiling in the organization is a AA/AAA versatile arm that gets moved around. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if he heads back to Asia soon. He had openly talked about the desire to head to Japan if his ceiling was reached in the Cubs organization. As a side comment on Alberto, I still imagine this was a "we need a guy so you go up because it's your turn" move, and if/when Coello is back with us, Alberto might move down, but it has crossed my mind if this might be a "sink or swim" move as it relates to Alberto as a SP.

Mixed feelings on some of the Cubs recent moves. I'm not a huge fan of pushing LeMahieu up to the bigs all of a sudden. He should get regular PT, but it's hard to imagine him getting that in the majors right now. I would've been fine with the move to AAA, although I preferred Flaherty to get the move (I half wonder if the Cubs sort of have Ryan on a "2nd tier" list, behind LeMahieu, in regards to guys that they have high expectations for, particularly after Ryan's struggles his first go-around in AA last year). I'm not too enthused about Lake going to AA right now, even though he was performing well (and even though I had hoped to see him start the year there). I would've preferred to see him a bit longer in A+. As much as I am big on Struck ... I almost would've preferred to see Rosscup go up. Granted, that would've been a third lefty in Tennessee's rotation and Struck is the better prospect, so I'm not too worked up over this move. That said, he's had two "eh" starts in his last 4 outings. I would've preferred to see a longer measure of consistency of positive starts.

Mildly curious why Snyder got the bump. I half wonder if Brett Jackson gets hot that they would call him up soon and just let him run with it.

I sort of don't see a point in demoting Jay to Tennessee. I feel like the next move for him is to the pen in Iowa first, but that's me. A lot of his flaws could probably be hidden coming out of the pen.

Surprising. Not sure what else to say about it. I'm too lazy to check rotation schedules right now, but this feels like a timing issue off the top (that is, his turn in the rotation).

probably. I don't mind it. Buchter was an interesting lefty, but there were better options in the system already. The rotation's a mess in AAA, and not much help is ready to go up from Tennessee anytime soon. Wonder who goes down/cut.