toonsterwu

Had a quick q for folks - where is this stuff that Valdez is the fastest guy in the system coming from? I know he's fast, but if he's the fastest guy in the system, we're talking ... hell, we're talking olympic speed almost considering some of the speed we have in the system (exaggerating a tiny bit). Tbh, I thought Valdez was fast overall, but that his baseball speed was better than his straight line speed (relative to what is considered good for each type) and hence why he got the fastest baserunner nod from BA's Top 10 list. Maybe I missed something, though. If so, I'm very curious to know. Granted, fastest overall straight line guy doesn't matter THAT much in baseball, but it's just something that catches my eye this time of year, considering the NFL draft is coming up. Furthermore, it may be an issue of semantics, as I read "fastest guy" and think straight line speed (partly due to NFL draft).

That's my big concern with Rhee - does he actually have the frame to hold up as a starter? I know AzPhil questioned this several years ago when he first saw him stateside.

Tennessee's official rotation: RHP Andrew Cashner, LHP Jeremy Papelbon, RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx, RHP Hung-Wen Chen and RHP Craig Muschko. Very happy Flaherty is getting 2nd base time, but a bit curious why he's batting 8th. Tennessee sure looks relatively ... pedestrian. That said, with Castro there, they'll have a lot of eyes on them. I still think the Cubs should just put Jeremy Papelbon in the pen. I know he takes time to warm up and isn't really suited to fill a short role out of the pen, but that's his likely future, IMO.

I believe Muschko is low 90's, decent slider, decent change. He works fast, and attacks hitters, and obviously has control Will be interesting to see how his stuff plays at Tenn.

I'm fascinated and excited about the roster. There certainly are bigger names on other rosters, but I'm very happy with this roster. I was a big fan of Rosa, hoping that he would tap into that power potential as he developed. He clearly had issues last year with finding that, but if he can stick behind the plate, and there were those positive reports from AzPhil, then as long as he maintains his current power, he becomes very intriguing. Watkins/Lee is certainly an intriguing up-the-middle combination, and along with Jose Valdez, the Chiefs certainly have boatloads of speed. Will be curious if any show power development of any sort. Will be curious if any of the big bats mature enough to ponder as a serious threat (Bour/Rohan/Jones) to move up the system as a guy to watch. I've been intrigued with Jesus Morelli for quite awhile now. Easy to forget he's only 20 this year. By all accounts, decent approach at the plate, and there's some power potential in that frame. Nate, could you tell us what his weight is? He was a skinny kid, IIRC, the reports from 2 years ago and last year. But his frame was supposed to be able to carry some more. The pitching intrigues me. AzPhil gave McNutt some mighty high praise a few days back, saying he'd be the 4th best pitching prospect in our system right now (after the big 3). Considering he was working with Daytona, if he's that good, he could move up sooner than later. Antigua obviously holds a lot of intrigue, due to his age, performance upside, and our dearth of lefty starters. I was fascinated with Latham 2 years ago. Leaving aside his personal issue from last year, if he shows the low-mid 90's fb and slider he had 2 years ago, I could see him move fast. I remember thinking 2 seasons ago that the difference between Latham and Blake Parker wasn't much. I was excited about the Jake Fox trade partly due to the Ronny Morla addition. 3 pitch arsenal, can work in the low-mid 90's. Looks like he made some improvements last year, but the A's didn't move him up. Certainly, he needs a big year, because IIRC, he's Rule 5 eligible after 2010. Corey Martin has a big fastball, IIRC (93/94). Beliveau holds fancy since, if he can't stick as a starter, he could move fast as a LOOGY. I gotta think part of the reason he's in Peoria is because the chances of him getting enough pitching time in Daytona might've been limited. I sort of think Nagel is getting overlooked a bit, but certainly, he has to show more. Hard not to be intrigued with a big hoss like that who has a good, hard sinker. Whitenack/Grife/Jung all intrigue. Does anyone know if Grife is starting or in the pen? Good fb/cb iirc. Struck might be the one that fascinates me the most. Good athlete (played up the middle). 4 pitch arsenal that gets into the low 90's. Feels like some of the arms from the 2008 draft. I'm quite excited about this club. In terms of how it's put together, it feels like a good club with top of the order capability, some guys who should be good minor league middle of the order guys at least. Should be fairly sound defensively, and there's a good collection of arms to rotate in different roles until we figure out what guys do well.

Some interesting moves reported by AzPhil today: To AAA - Marquez Smith, Jonathan Mota To AA: Steve Clevenger, Nate Samson, Tony Thomas, Alessandro Maestri, Blake Lalli Looks like Iowa is close to what it's roster will look like to start 2010. That puts them at 28, so a few more cuts to go. He notes Marquez going up to man 3rd, with Mota as the emergency catcher. I'm a bit surprised that Clevenger's being asked to go to Tennessee again, but considering it's Chirinos/Flores/Reed there right now, Clevenger will probably get more AB's than in Iowa, competing with Castillo and Robinson. And getting the playing time is probably more important than level. Samson/Thomas/Maestri down to AA isn't surprising, although the side effect of the two MI's coming down, and Smith going up is that Flaherty will likely see a lot of time at 3rd. AA's bloated right now, sitting at 34. I could see a few more decent upper level guys getting cut rather than getting moved down a level.

Seems a bit unlikely for him to move up now, though. I sort of agree - was looking forward to Dolis in AA. I wonder if it's sort of like the Ceda plan from a couple of years ago - get him working as a starter in Daytona to get his pitches in shape. Overall, doesn't look like there will be as many surprise/aggressive placements like last year (Guyer/Jackson/Coleman in AA, McDaniel/Searle/Castro in A+). If Rusin sticks at AA, that would be a bit of a surprise, but some more downshifting will occur, and I could see Rusin end up down in Daytona. Hmm ... doesn't look like there's any surprises. Certainly, it reflects a bit upon a stronger overall system than entering 2009.

Well, no more harping on when Robert Hernandez will turn the corner from me. That said, he wasn't that good for me to get worked over. Just an intriguing arm. A tad disappointed in the loss of Hank Williamson, but not something to get too worked up over either. The logjam of pen arms in the upper levels made it likely that we'd lose some decent arms. I could see Greg Reinhard getting to the bigs as a middle reliever someday. Soto and Williams both seemed intriguing, but eh.

I'm not seeing this roster. Are you referring to one he posted on 3/14, http://www.thecubreporter.com/2010/03/14/minor-league-camp-roster-update or has he posted a newer one somewhere? At that time, they still had over 50 guys in big-league camp. When about 25 of them go down, that's basically a full team worth, so most guys can shift down a level after that. Or has he posted another one since Sunday? Perhaps so, since in his Sunday roster he had Huseby on Daytona, but CUBZ99 makes reference to Huseby being listed on Tenn... As cal notes, these things always change, a lot. as i noted, things will change. i was just referencing the game lineups from a few days back. found it interesting that kyler was at aa as i hadn't followed the spring all that closely.

anyone take a note of AzPhil's rosters for AA/AAA today? Granted, a lot of work to do, but what stood out, besides Brett and Josh in AA, was Kyler on the AA roster, along with Marquez Smith and Kevin Soto (and Luis Flores). Granted, a lot of time to go.

not sure if it's been mentioned, but i found the most recent ask ba to be mildly interesting. they listed the top guys who were left off, ranked by number of ballots they were on, and they added the highest ranking on said ballot. As we know from Glassey's comments, Conor and Callis had Lee on, and the highest rank for Lee was 75th (too high IMO). I found it interesting that Carpenter got two votes (highest was 120) and Logan Watkins got one (149th).

eh, I much prefer BA's order of our guys than Goldstein's. While I don't think Lee is a top 100 prospect ... I can see reasons for him to be there, but man ... at 63, that's just really high for a far, far away kid whose bat has a ton of work. I say this as a very hopeful Lee fan, but that just seems high. Goldstein's lists this year took some heat, and justifiably so. Adjusting his star rankings .. not the best idea.

i seriously hope vitters isn't headed towards a dui. More seriously, I'm coming around to the idea of bumping Vitters to AA to start. I still prefer him starting at A+, but ... if they believe in his work ethic and believe that he wouldn't get crushed mentally if he struggled, things that I can't answer, then maybe he does need to get challenged by tougher pitching.

as a random aside from this conversation (somewhat my fault, as the Latham issue had been bugging me for awhile) I just read up on Dancy's Smokies press conference from a few weeks back. Sure seems like Vitters is headed there. His comments make it seem as if he knows something. Granted, I could be reading too much into it.

The 20+ish HR potential has been thrown out there before. I'm not sure if I can buy it either, but it's built upon scouting reports regarding his bat. I imagine Lee will be at Peoria for a good chunk of the year. Maybe a mid-late season call-up to Daytona (if he performs well).

if you google jordan latham and dui, there's a mugshot of him online (and some articles from the boise papers). that's about as far as I'll go into prying into his life. It just bothered the heck out of me that I never read anything on why he disappeared outside of personal issues. If his stuff is there, he'll be a nice addition back into the system. There's still a part of me that wishes the Cubs try him as a starter, but that's probably wishful thinking.

maybe other folks knew about this before, but i finally got the answer to my jordan latham question for this past year. AzPhil gave a response in his latest TCR thread about what happened to Latham in the comments section of his latest thread:

I don't think this has been posted, but if it has, I apologize. Saw this on TCR. http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2010/02/21/an-infield-coachs-first-glimpse-of-iglesias/ Short of it is, we were supposedly the high bidder on Jose Iglesias. Interesting to hear us as the high bidder there. Would've been awesome to have a system with shortstops Darwin Barney/Starlin Castro/Jose Iglesias/Hak-ju Lee (not to mention the guys that have/will likely move off (Flaherty/LeMahieu), or someone like Lake). Anyhow, I found it fascinating that we were the top bidder. I didn't know we were even all that seriously involved, or at least, I don't recall reading about it much.

In Darnell's case, I think it's an issue where his floor is quite high, but some debate how high his ceiling is. For PP, though, a site that declares how much they value the floor, he's the type that can go higher. Decker is an issue of performance vs. tools, in all likelihood. He's a good hitter, but scouts don't love his tools, so he doesn't get rated as highly as his bat plays.

Only reason I bring up Wright is that he might not get regular time in AAA depending on what happens above. Colvin should nab on corner spot, and there's a lot of options for the other. Going down to AA to take time from someone might not be that appealing. That said, agreed. He'd be a surprise cut if he was cut.

I wonder who gets cut. I could see guys like Russ Canzler/Ty Wright perhaps get squeezed out depending on what happens with some roster spots in the bigs.

Couple things I found mildly interesting: Brett Jackson and Josh Vitters both had 65 power grades. Jay Jackson's fastball was rated as his best tool. Hak-ju Lee made the back end of the top 100 for Conor Glassey and Jim Callis, but failed to make the top 150 for John Manuel and Will Lingo (and thus, missed their overall top 100)

in terms of cubs, i think they are all placed roughly where i had them in my mind. I would've had both Jacksons a few slots higher, but small quibbles. I too was mildly surprised that Lee didn't sneak in there, but it isn't that shocking. Overall, seems fair for the Cubs.

Side note, I think performance has mattered in Castro's rankings, but that the scouting reports are what is pushing him forward as a solid top 50 prospect, with several top 30 rankings and a few top 20 rankings. For example, the difference in performance between Ruben Tejeda and Starlin Castro isn't much, but Tejeda isn't considered in the same class as Castro. This only speaks to perceived value, but it also is one way to show how the scouting reports are playing a big factor in Castro's rankings.

There's a difference between range and speed. I haven't seen many people critique his range - he has very good lateral movement. The criticism has largely been about his speed, as his C-1st time is slow, despite the fact that his raw speed is considered anywhere from average to plus (there was one report that suggested plus speed).