CubsWin

The Astros will still be very, very bad next season. Also we will (assuming health/no trades) have Samardzija and Garza for most, if not all, of the year next year. So that's our 1-2 punch. A loss today I think pretty much secures the #2 pick for us considering we own the tiebreaker with the Rockies for the #2 pick if we end with the same record. Yep, with the tiebreaker, the Cubs would be 4 games up on Colorado with 6 games left to play, IF, they lose this game today. It's far from over. A 4 run deficit with 3 innings to play is nothing in Coors.

With 7 games to play: Cubs 59-96 -- Rockies 61-94 2.0 (with tiebreaker 3.0) Twins 65-91 5.5 Indians 65-91 5.5 (with tiebreaker 6.5) Magic number is now 5. For the Indians it is down to 1.

For the 2nd overall pick with 8 games left to play: Cubs 59-95 -- Rockies 60-94 1.0 Indians 64-91 4.5 Twins 65-90 5.5 Marlins 66-88 7.0 Should the Rockies and Cubs finish the season tied, the Cubs hold the tiebreaker (whoever had the worse record from the previous season), so essentially the Cubs hold a 2 game lead on the Rockies after tonight's loss. Thus, the magic number is 7. The Cubs hold the tiebreaker against everyone listed except the Twins. The magic number for the Marlins to be eliminated from the 2nd pick is 1.

The Cubs will enter a 3-game set in Coors Field on Tuesday night that could go a long way to deciding which team gets the 2nd overall pick in next years draft. The good news is Travis Wood won't be pitching in this series. Instead, Chris Rusin will face the recently rehabbed lefty Jorge De La Rosa in the first game. Before his injury, De La Rosa was a power lefty, strikeout per inning pitcher. He didn't fare too well in his first game back, however, giving up 5 earned in 3.2 innings, and his velocity was down. Game 2 features Jason Berken, who is coming off of 6 innings of 2-hit shutout ball against the Reds, versus top prospect Drew Pomeranz who has an ERA over 6 in September. Chris Volstad and Jhoulys Chacin face off in the finale Thursday afternoon. The Cubs will enter the series either tied with the Rockies or one game back in the race for the higher draft pick depending on if the Rockies beat the D-Backs Monday night. Unfortunately, I will be more interested in the outcome of these three games than I have been about any Cubs game in a long time. Luckily, with the recent victories for the Twins and Indians, dropping to the 4th or 5th pick in the upcoming draft seems less and less likely. After sweeping a double header from the Tigers, the Twins are now 5 games back of the Cubs while the Indians are 4 back with just 9 to play.

I never thought I would have a reason to want the DH in the National League...

Shoot, forgot to look at the month of October. Can the Cubs come up with some phantom injury to sit Wood the rest of the season?

Totally agree. I definitely want the 2nd pick over the 3rd and am openly rooting for the Cubs to lose but have certain players play well. It is a clear advantage having the 2nd pick over the 3rd monetarily and talent-wise, but I don't think that the guy the Cubs will get at 3 will be that much less likely to be in the top 100 than the guy that they would get at 2. The talent level may be less or it may not especially when you consider that the guy they want could still fall to them. The money is another advantage, but like the Cubs did this season, they can draft some easy sign college seniors and mitigate some of the lost advantage if they were to wind up with the 3rd pick. The difference between the 2nd pick and the 5th pick is a big deal to me. I'm not scared they will wind up there, but it's still possible. That said, I am equally as excited at the state of the Cubs farm system going forward. Like you said, the Cubs will have 3 clear cut top 100 prospects and possibly 4 if Vizcaino doesn't lose prospect status going into the 2013 draft. Add the 1st round pick and just one or two of a large pool of 20 and under high ceiling guys along with Paniagua, and what was once a bottom third system could soon be a top five organization.

All important 3 game series against the Rockies in Denver coming up next week. As much as it pains me to say it, hopefully the Cubs can drop 5 out of 6 to the Reds and Cardinals and have a bit of breathing room going into Colorado. If they can come out of there still in line for the 2nd pick, there are only 3 games remaining in the season, all on the road versus the D-Backs. With the Cubs FO and ability to evaluate talent, I don't think it's a huge deal to get the 2nd pick over the 3rd, but it is an advantage and definitely an advantage having the 2nd over the 5th especially when you consider the higher slot money they can spend.

I don't consider Shoulders or Contreras prospects that much. For me they are guys not to give up on. I guess when I hear prospect, I hear a player with a good chance (50/50 maybe) of contributing at some meaningful level (average bench player) and top prospect have a chance at being average or better starters in the bigs. Given those parameters, which of those guys would you still consider prospects? Maybe I'm underestimating some of these guys...

Pretty much, yeah. I can see calling Justin Marra a prospect at catcher. He's 19 and OPS'd .947 with average to above average defensive tools. Clearly the infield was filled with them. Vogelbach (19) killed NWL pitching. Candelario (18) and Amaya (19) are clearly deserving. Stephen Bruno (21) is a year old for this league but he hit like he belonged in a Low-A so you can call him a prospect and Marco, who turned 20 at season's end, still retains prospect status, though it waned a bit this year. But unless you consider Rock Shoulders (20) a true LFer, I'd say Theo was one position short. Almora (18) and Trey Martin (19) are the only guys I'd consider prospects in Boise's outfield at the end of the year. How many consider Shoulders a true prospect at 1B after hitting .250/.342/.447/.789 while at an age appropriate level? I guess he's certainly at least a borderline one and too young to count out. And does anybody have any info on Rock's ability to play LF? Thanks. I believe Bruno was playing RF at the end of the season. Ah, that makes sense. In that case, if you consider Marco a prospect, then yes, they did have one at every position.

Pretty much, yeah. I can see calling Justin Marra a prospect at catcher. He's 19 and OPS'd .947 with average to above average defensive tools. Clearly the infield was filled with them. Vogelbach (19) killed NWL pitching. Candelario (18) and Amaya (19) are clearly deserving. Stephen Bruno (21) is a year old for this league but he hit like he belonged in a Low-A so you can call him a prospect and Marco, who turned 20 at season's end, still retains prospect status, though it waned a bit this year. But unless you consider Rock Shoulders (20) a true LFer, I'd say Theo was one position short. Almora (18) and Trey Martin (19) are the only guys I'd consider prospects in Boise's outfield at the end of the year. How many consider Shoulders a true prospect at 1B after hitting .250/.342/.447/.789 while at an age appropriate level? I guess he's certainly at least a borderline one and too young to count out. And does anybody have any info on Rock's ability to play LF? Thanks.

Cubs now 4 1/2 ahead of the Twins and 5 1/2 ahead of the Rockies for the 2nd pick with 27 left to play.

Little information out there. Here's his draft scouting report from BA, which is obviously a year old now: That sounds promising. He's got plenty of time to improve and refine his skills. The bat certainly is there at the moment. It just a start, but its a good one.

I loved that Paniagua's debut came against the D-Backs, one of the teams that had signed him only to have the contract voided.

So Ben Wells and JCP both pitched in the last two days after I said they weren't pitching until next year. Whoops. You're from NorCal, it's to be expected...

Juan Carlos Paniagua made his AZ debut so apparently he didn't sign a 2013 contract. Interestingly enough, milb.com still has him listed by his "old" name on his player page.

Justin Marra is off to a good start. I know he was an overslot from last year's draft. He's 19. How's his defense?

why is it more and more likely that we'll draft after Colorado when we are building a "lead" on them over the past couple weeks? Sorry for any confusion. Probably writing "at least 3rd" would have been clearer. Now it's a 3 game lead over the Rockies, 3 1/2 over the Twins. Given the proximity of the Twins, there is a fair chance the Cubs could slip to 4th in the end, but with the Shark's innings likely being limited, Garza out, the rookies in and the expanded rosters coming in a little over a week, I'm more hopeful than ever the Cubs could be drafting 2nd next June.

Cubs up 2 1/2 games on the Rockies for the 2nd pick. Trail the Astros by 8 1/2. Its far from over, but it's getting more and more likely that the lowest the Cubs will finish is 3rd.

He's not much of a prospect because of other limitations, but Justin Bour is having a ridiculous year driving in runs. It seems like every time I check, he's got another RBI. In 126 games, he's driven 108 runs. With runners in scoring position, dude's hitting .335.

Is there anyway the Cubs could move both the Low A and High A affiliates to Kane County... :roll:

Ha! Whatever...

Per ESPN

One of the more interesting pitching days in a while.

Baez is also the 2nd youngest in all the High-A leagues, again trailing Yankees catching prospect Gary Sanchez by one day.