toonsterwu

As noted, I actually don't have a big problem with this, if they do call him up. Ideally, Jay would be in the rotation, Blake or someone would be throwing strikes and called up, and Atkins or Mathes would be in the pen. I would have a problem if they suddenly changed course, or promoted, say, Cashner. That said, the idea of giving him a couple weeks to get used to pen usage isn't bad, and it does set him up for an early June call-up. I've even talked myself into thinking that there could be a benefit from the pen work. The talk seems to be that he's focused so much on his control that his slider and curve aren't as sharp as before. Maybe in going to the pen, he'll find it (okay, I'm stretching for extra positives). Anyhow, seems quite clear that he'll be brought up to try to be the righty late inning arm. I still think Cashner gets a call-up late June/early July if the Cubs are hanging around. They'll hope Cash/Marsh/Jay can handle the 7th/8th inning duties (that's my guess), but if not, that would give them a month to find a pen arm (if they are hanging around).

Apologies, but I'm going to sort of use this thread for things that I can't find places to put and don't feel like it's worth starting a thread over. If there's a better place, let me know. I won't do any guy in the system, only guys that stick out (or maybe i'll just have Chirinos and be done with it). So ... that Robinson Chirinos guy. Late bloomer with the bat? Even if we assume some of the bat is the benefit of experience (particularly the power), there does seem to be a big jump from what he was several years back. He's showing good discipline. Add that onto the reported solid receiving ability ... Where do you place him and what's your outlook on him?

guilty as charged in doubting him ... but i'm very glad i'm wrong. of course, the story isn't done yet, so who knows what happens. so far so good.

Maybe the injury was a factor for Rusin early on ...

I question how much the Ricketts will significantly rock the boat with MLB's slotting system this early in their tenure. I expect an increase, but I'm not sure I'd expect anything drastic. If Cashner/Castro/J. Jackson don't qualify, then the only other guys, not counting draft picks, that, as of now, might have top 100 shots on some lists (besides Vitters/B.Jax) would probably be Carpenter and McNutt. Carpenter probably needs a clean season health wise from here on out, along with good performance, to make that move. A long way to go, though.

Brett Jackson's lack of power is certainly a big ? at this point in time. It isn't for a lack of natural ability, as he clearly has said raw power. It doesn't seem like an issue of pitch recognition either. Anyhow, I'd plop Castro 1 and Colvin 8 or 9 if I added them. Admittedly, forgot about Colvin earlier.

Maybe this should go somewhere else, but O_O responded to a post of mine over on Sickels, so I thought it'd be worth discussing somewhere. What would you put as our top 10 prospects right now, at this point in time? Certainly, a month is SSS overall, but there's enough to make some judgments overall. Anyhow, I'd roughly have it as (I'm removing Castro, who otherwise would be 1 for me, I have a hard time seeing him maintaining rookie eligibility for next year) Top tier 1. Cashner. 2. B. Jackson 3. J. Vitters 4. J. Jackson - I'm not willing to put him in the top tier, but I also would put him a notch ahead of the other two, so I left a space there. 2nd tier 5. C. Carpenter 6. HJ Lee. I think many of us can agree on that top 6 (if you include Castro, then that top 7). Pretty much the same group of guys since last offseason. Cashner gets a deserved jump, as he's showing everything he had to to buy him as a starter, while B. Jackson and Vitters are still close for me. 7-10 is pretty rough to sort through right now. A fair case can be made for a lot of folks, but I go with these two next 7. Trey McNutt. Upside/stuff/performance. 8. Dae-Eun Rhee. I'm willing to overlook the low K's for now and focus on his control. 9 and 10 is a mess to sort through. Arm-wise, I'm not as down on Dolis as others (he doesn't have a starter's arsenal, so I can understand the low K rate), but then again, I'm not high on Dolis either. Cabrera is a brief thought. TBH, I really don't feel like I know enough to have a good grasp on whether or not top 10 is fair for him. Who else? Raley? Would be more of an upside nod considering good Raley vs. bad Raley. Antigua? Don't feel comfortable enough with that nod as of right now. Coleman? Upside seems too low to like him as a top 10. Archer? Hasn't had a strong enough start to overcome early concerns that he won't be headed to the pen sooner than later, so it's hard for me to push him top 10 when I didn't have him there in the winter. Positional player wise, I'd definitely have Burke/Flaherty in the mix. That said, with the former, his struggles sure makes you wonder about the old concerns about his ability to hit at upper levels. With Flaherty, I'm not bothered with the slow start as much as I was bothered by his lack of pop in AA. Sure, maybe he should've been in A+ to start, but that says something in it's own right. LeMahieu's complete lack of power is disappointing right now, and just not top 10 material for me. Who else? Watkins is worth a thought. Still don't love him as a top 10, but perhaps. Guyer? Taking a wait and see on how the bat plays. Spencer? Not real sure how much "playable power" he has. Chirinos was a brief thought for me. Right now, I'd probably plop Flaherty/Burke, in that order, reversed from winter because I feel more confident in Flaherty's ability to make it up and have a role in the bigs than I do with Burke, but really, I could go so many different ways and feel okay with it.

I think it's headed that route. I know they used the "he needed work" excuse for the other pen outing, but I don't really buy that. I think they want to see what he can bring out of the pen. As noted before, don't like it, but if this means Cashner gets an extra month before getting the call-up, then okay. I like Jackson a lot as a starter, and I feel confident enough that he can probably go to the pen and go back to the rotation if a spot opens up. As an aside, I found it mildly interesting that Oneri wants Bour to be more aggressive. Bour seems like a combo of Ryan Keedy and Rebel Ridling offensively. Wonder if he can go play in the OF a bit. Too bad he can't be like his brother and play some catcher. Definitely has done enough in the early goings to catch some attention. Now, it's an issue of whether or not that raw power can be put to use.

O_O, not that it makes a huge difference, but I've been under the impression that McNutt is a power curve guy rather than a slider guy. Anyhow, it's quite nice to see how well he's doing early in the year, and the best part seems to be that his stuff is holding into the middle innings. The problem with fitting Chad Tracy into the roster is ... well how do you do it? The only swap that makes sense for me is Mike Fontenot, but I'm not sure Fontenot has options left. If you move Baker down, then you have Tracy/Colvin/Fontenot off the bench, leaving you a bit shorthanded on righty bench bats. I'm actually not against Fontenot going down, I'm just not sure I see the Cubs doing that. Something has to budge at some point. Tyler Colvin really needs regular ABs and should be the one to go down, but then they would need a backup CF in the bigs (unless they opt for Kosuke as the backup CF, and start utilizing Baker some in the OF, at least until Nady is ready).

Hmm ... sandberg got half of the transaction right (didn't he say Valdez to Daytona last night). Makes me wonder if they are simply waiting for Brett to get healthy before bumping him up.

or ... we could just do it without including the draftees.

I'd put him at about the same level as Gray, but ahead of Berg and Russell. Blake attacks with a good fastball/slider combo, and he challenges hitters by most accounts, but as noted, his control is a bit erratic. I think both Parker and Gray are largely middle relievers that, on a good year, may be capable setup guys (whereas I view Berg/Russell as strictly middle relief guys).

I'm half-curious if folks would be interested in doing something like this for mid-season. It's just a passing thought as I finish up some other work late at night.

That'd be interesting news. Hey, what's your take on some of the struggling Daytona guys down there this year, like Burke and LeMahieu?

and the Blue Jays have a solid offensive squad there. Real impressed, and he got through 6 with 89 pitches.

During one of the chats last year with a BA or BP guy, I remember the person rating Jackson's ceiling as either a middle of the rotation starter, or dominant reliever. I don't remember if it was Callis or Sickels or someone else. I'm pretty sure it was Keith Law, or at least, I'm pretty sure Law said something like that.

Truffle - Just to be clear, I am a big believer that Jay Jackson can make it as a starter. I think the speculation doesn't relate to whether or not Jay can make it as a starter, but whether or not the Cubs will shift him to the BP to fill their immediate needs this year. Again, I'm not gung-ho about shifting good starting prospects to the pen. Jay still needs some more work. From the little I have heard, it sounds like the delivery is a bit better. The secondary pitches still need more consistency. The ability and package is there. Ideally, he continues working on that as a starter in the minors. That's preferred route 1. But in a make or break season for Cubs leadership, you can expect them to throw the kitchen sink at things. Let's look at a possible way the Cubs brass may see things (not saying I believe it) - a) Offense - I think most of us anticipate Lee/Ramirez will keep it going. At some point, the production of Byrd/Sorinao/Fukudome/Theriot/Soto may slide down a tiny bit. But, if they believe that those 5 guys can continue to be solid, and Lee/Ram will rebound, then the offense looks solid. b) SP - They could view this as relatively solid. Dempster is fine, Wells is fine as a mid-end of the rotation guy, and they likely expect Lilly to get back to form. Even if Gorz/Silva slide down a bit, one figures that Z will get a shot at the rotation again, and overall, it should be decent-solid. c) The pen - the closer is set, Marshall/Russell give you two solid lefties. They could very well feel that this team is a solid setup man away from making a push. Much as a guy like Blake Parker could prove useful, he's no where near ready for setup duty barring a surprise, and there really aren't any other options without going the Cashner route to address the setup role. Trying Jackson there does make some sense. It's not ideal for Jay's development, but development probably isn't the main priority right now for the Cubs brass. At the end of the day, I simply don't want to see Cashner get called up anytime soon. If that means pushing Jay as a starter, fine. He has the stuff to be a late inning arm. He can ditch a couple secondary pitches, which may actually help, and his fastball can be ratcheted up another notch. Considering his track record, I feel much more comfortable with the idea that Jay can fill in the pen right now, and be pondered as a future SP guy next year.

Injury? Dead arm? No arms available in the bullpen? If he's injured or has a dead arm, one would think that the Cubs would be a bit more careful. And there were certainly arms available in the pen based on recent usage. I'm not agreeing with the move, but it seems very likely that they want to see what Jay can bring out of the pen to ponder calling him up. As you well know, I'm a fan of Jay as a starter and I think he can succeed in this role, but if this protects Cashner from getting called up right now, then I can live with the move (if it's one or the other).

gonna be interesting to see alberto handles that AA leap. With the Cubs moving Jay Jackson to the pen, I'd like to think that means Cashner will get a couple more starts in AAA. Why shift Jay to the pen unless you are planning on bringing him up for pen duty?

I figured Jim Callis would have written that one, but he wasn't listed as one of the contributors. meant to respond to this awhile back, but forgot, but Ben Badler, IIRC, is perhaps the biggest Jay Jackson guy over at BA, so I wouldn't be surprised if that line was Badler's.

oy, clinton is putting a hurting on our arms in Peoria, particularly Whitenack and Antigua.

I don't think that's accurate (Wainwright more Atkins than Cashner). Actually, I think you could make a case that Wainwright was thought of, at the same stage, as a equal, if not better, prospect than Cashner, but they are fairly close. Wainwright was a well-though of arm in the Braves system with a plus fastball that got to the mid-90's. He also had a good curveball, a potential plus pitch coming up that was inconsistent, and in AA, he had a solid changeup. The control slipped a bit when he went to the Cardinals, but I don't recall if there was a specific issue. He was the Braves top prospect in 2003, the Cardinals number 2 prospect in 2004.

You forgot 'lack of a third pitch'. I think he is much more of a relief prospect and a mediocre SP prospect You're reading an old scouting report. If by reading you mean remembering, then you are correct. So, is it the changeup that he developed? Early reports on the circle-change are very positive. Granted, it's still early so let's see it hold up, but at the very least, the potential is there for it to be a solid pitch, which is all he needs to stick as a starter.

Most reports/indications last year suggested that Castro was far bigger than the 160 number that he weighed when he signed. I had heard 180 last year, so it's good to see that he's growing and not struggling defensively.

I think that was the corresponding move when Beliveau was bumped up to Daytona. A bit surprising, but with Rusin off the DL and a lot of arms needing extended work, sending him to Peoria isn't the worst thing if they don't think he's remotely close to being ready for Tennessee. He wasn't doing that badly, though, and I imagine he'll be at Daytona again at some point this summer.