toonsterwu

Is it certain that Ebinger isn't in the rotation? I wouldn't mind seeing him in the rotation there. I don't know how his breaking ball is right now, as the reviews were mixed last year, but a lefty with a solid fastball/changeup combination is mildly intriguing (makes me somewhat think of James Russell right out of Texas). He has solid control, is fairly efficient. I understand Lake in A+. Sort of a, prove it again type move, and I'm fine with that. Jordan Latham - sure feels like it has to be make or break for him. I thought he might be in the last cuts, because after the demotion last year, it sure didn't look good. Still ... maybe he puts it together. If the slider is sharp, he could put together a solid year. Shame Maestri never put it together. There were moments when he looked quite promising, but he's getting old now, so it's time to move on. Mildly surprised Siegfried got cut, but there's enough pen lefties in the system. A bit surprised Rosscup is in A+. Must have had a good spring. The lineup looks bad, but it was somewhat expected, as the lower levels, in terms of positional talent, is a bit shaky right now. 2012 draft has to fill some holes there, or some kids have to emerge.

I'm not a huge fan of college arms throwing that many pitches (Hultzen will occasionally run it up in the 120's as well), but most people seem to suggest that it's okay. As a side note, Sonny Gray's control doesn't seem to be that sharp this year.

Nate - Curious if you have any take on the players that are getting slotted for Peoria?

In terms of velocity, someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but Carpenter, to the best of my recollection, was always a guy who could hit mid-90's as a starter. Thus, I'm not sure the velocity spike in the pen is anything that unusual, as most guys that go there can get that spike. One issue that I did bring up in the fall was that, in the pen, he seems to go with the 4-seamer more, and what made his fastball so good was the sink he got on it. As for command, he has had issues with the breaking ball at times (was a guy who went with the curve in the past, switched to the slider in our system). I don't recall any significant issues with his fastball command - he got nasty movement on it, but I don't recall him ever being too wild off the fastball.

There was a poster over at TCR who claimed that information from Fitch was that Carpenter was going to be in Iowa's pen. We'll have to wait and see. If Carpenter is in the pen, I don't see any reason for him to be in AA, IMO. IMO, if he's in AA, it's to work on his changeup some more. Otherwise, his fastball/slider is close enough to being big league ready for pen duty, IMO.

didn't realize this until now, but did David Cales get sent back to AA Tennessee? In my mind, Muyco should be cut from that Iowa squad, and maybe a guy that's just released overall, but I have a hard time seeing that happen and reconciling that with the fact that he got a AFL spot. Sure seems like they will keep him around.

whoa. Always a cut or two that really surprises me at the end of each spring training (last year, Dan McDaniel caught me by surprise), and even though I wasn't as high on Shafer as others were, that one really surprised me considering the solid campaign he had just put together. Not surprised with Huseby. It was time to cut the cord there once he couldn't pitch. I actually liked Perconte, but he's 25 already, so that one doesn't really surprise either. Shafer, though, is surprising. As for the demotions, some people had to go down, but still a bit surprised that Carpenter/Spencer have to head back to Tennessee. Don't think you send Carpenter down to Tennessee unless you plan on him still staying as a starter, otherwise he could work in the pen in AAA, so there is that positive, I guess. Still like Spencer a little bit and think he could put up big numbers in Iowa. the only other mild disappointment for me was Luis Liria heading back to XST, but maybe there's some reasoning behind it. Had been hoping that he'd start the year in Peoria.

Any insight on how your brother is taking this move, or any insight on what your brother has in the tank (velo, breaking balls. etcetera). Just curious. Oh, and congratulations on the marriage and kid, along with your business. Sorry, no apparel needs on my end right now.

davell - I love Hultzen, but I don't think I'd go so far as to say the kid had "ace" capability. I don't know the other arms as well as I follow Hultzen, but I feel like his ceiling is more of a very good "2". That said, different perceptions of what defines "ace" capability may be the issue here.

I am a bit surprised that some of the 2010 arms (besides Kurcz) are still hanging in at Daytona. That said, considering some of the arms from 2010 Peoria didn't get the bump to Daytona, there are some openings. Curious why those two lefties are up there and not Greathouse, though. Assuming the Cubs still have positive plans for Luis Flores, I might prefer Gibbs down at Peoria anyways, so he could get more work. Barring a surprise, guys like Mercedes and Noble are on those squads as the backups. If the Cubs don't have positive views of Luis Flores and believe that he can work his way up the ladder in a semi-meaningful role, then I wouldn't mind Gibbs.

In his latest update, AzPhil notes that Kyler Burke is being transitioned to pitching. I'm quite intrigued by this, and we have until the end of 2012 to decide if he needs to be protected. Shame he couldn't make it as a positional player, but he's still young enough that he has a shot to develop as a potential pen arm if he works hard and can find his old pitching rhythm. As a side note, didn't his brother use to post here, or someone close to him?

I could see Cabrera up at midseason if things go well. I mean, not as a starter, but as a pen arm, I could see them bringing him up to add a fireballing righty to the mix. Of course, that would mean the middle relief is messy again (because if he's having a stellar year as a starter, it'd probably push him off as a late season call-up type move). I know Frank Batista is undersized, but he sure packs some punch, and if his slider is still sharp, he could move fast as a pen arm, or be developed in the way guys like Marcos Mateo and Alberto Cabrera were.

I'm fine with Lopez and Szczur in Peoria. Unless they made huge strides in the winter, both guys are fairly raw, despite their upsides. I'm fine taking it slow with them. A bit surprised that Antigua is with Peoria. Not sure how the Daytona roster currently shakes out, but I thought he'd have a shot there.

They did draft him out of HS, IIRC, but Hultzen was dead set on UVA (and IIRC, I think they offered solid money as well).

just to be clear, and this is to the best of my recollection right now, but i think he was topping out low 90's, working more say, 88-91ish. A bit hazy, so don't quote me on that. Of course, 88-91 on a 2-seamer is fine if there's enough movement, and all the reports suggest that he does get good movement on his fastball.

IIRC, when I saw Whitenack last year, he was topping out low 90's. One big caveat is that, unless I'm mistaken, I'm pretty sure he goes with the 2-seamer a lot more than a 4-seamer, so I'm not certain what he could ramp it up to if he had to.

I'm a bit biased, but with the way Danny Hultzen is tearing things up (another strong start against a very good FSU offense), I really wouldn't mind taking him in the first. Ideally, we'd use this draft to address concerns on the positional side, but there's always room for a top arm. For all the talk about his limited ceiling, his velocity has been better this year. Of course, the big issue has been how his body handles the workload as the season progresses.

I don't think Smith is much of a factor. Guys who are viewed as significant starter-material tend to get 40-man rostered, especially when there was as much space and as many expendibles as we had this winter. And guys who are viewed as significant starter-material tend to get valued by at least one of the 30-teams in the majors. But not a single one picked him in Rule 5. A contact is pretty connected with a bunch of the AA people. He was told that the Cubs were going to cut Smith last spring, but he survived the cuts because somebody got hurt. Keith Law on Marquez Smith: >I've received a lot of questions about Cubs infielder Marquez Smith, who was Rule 5 eligible but went unselected despite his .314/.374/.584 line in about 300 plate appearances in Class AAA last year. It's just one game, but I can guess why he didn't garner much interest or a 40-man spot from Chicago. He took some awful hacks against breaking balls, including one on a 72 mph Little League curveball for a strikeout in his first at bat. He's a below-average runner, and struggled to make a throw from third base on a soft grounder. That's not to say he has zero value, but it's a long list of flaws to steer teams away from him.<< If a guy hits enough and with enough power, he can be below average in the other three tools and still get a career. Hopefully that will be Smith. But I suspect that he's pretty low on the Cubs internal ladder, and that there is little consideration for him as a long-term solution to the 3B situation. That was my original assumption as well, but the way Bruce Miles has worded it in his blogs, it lends one to think that the Cubs are higher on Marquez than perhaps we are, as fans. Two notes - a) Bruce noted that the Cubs were very disappointed in Marquez last spring because he was out of shape, but by year's end, they were very pleased with him. b) I wasn't suggesting that I think Bruce was implying that Marquez was a long term solution. The way that Bruce phrased it, though, makes it sound like he could be a short term solution (say, for a year). I've queried Bruce a few times in the past about Marquez, but this was the most recent exchange from his blog on 2/19/2011: I fully acknowledge that I may be reading a tad much into it, but the implication that the Cubs feel that Smith could be McGehee, along with how pleased they were with him last year ... that strikes me as ... something that catches attention. ___ I've said this elsewhere, but while I think Marquez might be a tad underrated by Cubs fans, I'm also not sure he's that much better than Scott Moore. Moore's only 1.5 years older, is a bit more versatile/athletic, has a bit more raw power, and like Marquez, has shown a decent approach in the minors. (as a total side note, I hope Wes Darvill ends up better than Moore ... but I could see him develop along those lines, as Moore was a former prep shortstop as well).

Vitters has been very consistent throughout the minors, he struggles immediately after getting promoted and then mashes. Based on every other season he has been in the minors he will start in AA until he starts hitting well and then will finish the rest of the year in AAA. I hope that he follows that pattern again this year and the Cubs continue to promote him. With Ramirez having another option year, Vitters has two years to show them that he is the 3b of the future. I get the feeling that, if Aramis doesn't have a monster season to justify the option and moves on, and Vitters isn't ready, that the Cubs might plug Marquez Smith in there for a year or two anyways. Nothing to base it off of, other than Bruce Miles saying that the Cubs view him as being somewhat similar to Casey McGehee.

I was very happy with the Geiger pick, and it's good to hear Wilken opine that Geiger can handle 3rd base, considering the pre-draft concerns about him having to move to the OF or 1st eventually. If he can, we might just have ourselves a semi-legitimate corner player, as there's definitely power in that body. I've liked Darvill since we got him, but I'm still not sure what he is. The BA thing makes it seem like he's destined for 3rd, although Wilken's comparison to Brignac, which has been oft-used, still gives me hope that he can somehow stick up the middle. Here's hoping he doesn't physically mature the way Flaherty has, and can stick in the middle infield.

That was one of my bigger disappointments in recent years (along with a personal favorite, Jovan Rosa). With Rosa, at least I could sort of expect it, as he was a kid where you had to project some power development, and it just never came around. He started forcing the issue and got his swing out of whack. With McDaniel, that one caught me out of the blue, which was why I was so tentative to jump on the McNutt bandwagon for awhile. I mean, it's easy to forget that at Boise, this was a big bodied kid who was touching mid-90's, could get sink on his fastball, had a solid curve, decent slider, decent change (to the best of my recollection). His stuff was just not as good at the upper levels, and IIRC, reports suggested that he was only touching low 90's with a 4-seamer. That said, what was so disappointing was that McDaniel got off to a good start at Daytona before his back problems. Anyhow, he was with Oakland last year and back in the NWL, but wasn't much. Decent K rate, but control was pretty bad. Anyone know what happened to catcher Carlos Perez? He was a mildly promising low level kid, was cut. Don't recall if he was picked up by anyone. Had a decent approach at the plate. Was surprised when he was cut.

I'm okay with the Miller slotting. I would've preferred to see him down a few more spots (say 5-10), but I can understand the argument for the high placement, and I'm somewhat nitpicking. As for the Cubs (and ex-Cubs), the pitchers came in slightly higher than I expected. I like Archer ... but 27th? Wow. I was thinking top 50, maybe top 40. I like McNutt too, but I still am a bit curious how his stuff plays at higher levels over extended periods, and thus, was hoping more for a top 60-65 ranking. I figured Brett Jackson would come in around the mid-30's. I'd put him up a few spots higher, but I understand the argument against. I still am not huge on Hak-ju Lee making the back end of the top 100, but it's understandable and defensible.

Well, our Australian academy is, from what I understand, relatively solid. Could be wrong, but right now, my impression is that it's a fairly solid facility. Someone remind me where the European kids go to again when they sign. I can't think of it right now.

I mildly remember a time when I was intrigued with Hernandez, as he always posted decent-good DSL numbers. That said, IIRC, minimal power potential for a corner guy, so eh.

If they spend big money on building a big facility down there, I wonder if that will impact the Cubs approach in LA a tiny bit in regards to going after some of the higher ticket guys (not saying they should or shouldn't, just wonder if that will lead to an impact in approach).