CubsWin

It probably is just meaningless variance (he couldn't have figured something out this quickly, could he?), but the last two outings for Straily have been, well, excellent...

That's what it says to me, too. Plus the 18 Ks against 1 walk in 57 PAs...

Olt doubles in Bryant (walk) and Watkins (single). If only Olt could even out his horrific K/BB ratio...

TT may have misremembered this. My recollection of McLeod's quote was that he would be limited to 15-20 innings due to his heavy workload in college.

This from BA may add some perspective as to what they think of Caratini. http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/ranking-trade-deadline-prospects/ They rank all of the prospects that got traded this July season. Russell and McKinney rank 1st and 2nd. Caratini comes in 8th behind James Ramsey and ahead of Taylor Lindsey and Edwin Escobar.

Well, Hoyer sees him as a catcher, so...

From a service-time perspective, that'd be the worst time to do it. Why? I thought service time was service time. The more time he has up in the majors this year, the less he would be able to have next season (assuming the Cubs were even playing the clock). I'm pretty sure that he's saying that if you're going to burn the extra year anyway, the sooner you do it, the better. I get the whole idea of if you are going to bring him up now and to stay for good, then you should do it right away, but, again, Kyle was speaking specifically from a service time perspective. And how do you "burn" a year? I thought you could bring someone up in September for a few weeks and then just keep him down the following season a little longer to where those few weeks won't give him a full year of service time. There's no burning in baseball. No Burning!

From a service-time perspective, that'd be the worst time to do it. Why? I thought service time was service time. The more time he has up in the majors this year, the less he would be able to have next season (assuming the Cubs were even playing the clock). If service time is their main concern with Baez and plan on starting him in Iowa next year, then he shouldn't be up at all. Otherwise, the sooner he's brought up, the more time you get with him during this season. Right, but Kyle said "from a service-time perspective". I'm certainly not expecting you to try to explain Kyle's words...

Wow. I respect your opinion more than most on this site when it comes to prospects. What makes you so high on Caratini? Have you seen him a lot? Hearing things from other scouts? Just curious...

Mos def.

Can you elaborate further for those of us who do not have time to hunt for this wonderful news? The fact that 1.3 years of David Price just got acquired for Austin Jackson and Drew Smyly That's not actually the deal. The Rays got Smyly, Franklin and 18-year-old, highly touted SS Willy Adames. Addison Russell is still easily the best player among those three but let's talk about what we're talking about here... Even factoring in Adames, our return is far better. Adames just makes it slightly less lopsided. Agreed.

Can you elaborate further for those of us who do not have time to hunt for this wonderful news? The fact that 1.3 years of David Price just got acquired for Austin Jackson and Drew Smyly That's not actually the deal. The Rays got Smyly, Franklin and 18-year-old, highly touted SS Willy Adames. Addison Russell is still easily the best player among those three but let's talk about what we're talking about here... The Tigers gave up those two players (and, fine, Willy Adames) and got David Price. That's what I'm talking about. It was confusing because if we're comparing it to what Theo got, then we should be looking at what the Rays got not what one of the teams in a three team deal gave up.

Can you elaborate further for those of us who do not have time to hunt for this wonderful news? The fact that 1.3 years of David Price just got acquired for Austin Jackson and Drew Smyly That's not actually the deal. The Rays got Smyly, Franklin and 18-year-old, highly touted SS Willy Adames. Addison Russell is still easily the best player among those three but let's talk about what we're talking about here...

seems like an odd take to me I look at it like this. The Cubs took two guys with marginal major league value who didn't figure into their plans going forward and turned them into an extra 2nd round pick in 2013, ranked 7th in the Braves org., who is a 20-year-old switch-hitting catcher. If you look at it in terms of competitive window, Russell and Bonifacio have more value to the Braves right now and a lottery ticket catcher fills a need for the Cubs future. It's two nothings/easily replaceables for one might be at a position of need. It's not a huge deal but it makes sense for both sides.

Nice pick-up for the Cubs in Victor Caratini for two rather expendable pieces. I like it. 20-year-old switch-hitting catcher with good approach and decent hit tool along with some pop. Young for his league. Good future piece to try to develop for two guys that didn't figure into the plans in any meaningful way going forward.

From a service-time perspective, that'd be the worst time to do it. Why? I thought service time was service time. The more time he has up in the majors this year, the less he would be able to have next season (assuming the Cubs were even playing the clock).

Bonifacio too Javy time? Maybe, but I personally don't see Baez coming up, if at all, until after the Iowa season is done.

Bonifacio too Nice. No word on the return yet...

Russell to the Braves.

Spec...ulation is that a 3rd team might be involved.

So Scherzer hitting the open market just got more likely.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

Thanks much, CubsWin. Very helpful summary/compilation. Rodriguez was the only one of the those four non-bonus pitchers that I've been tracking. As you say, a weird case. As a short Dominican righty, not pitching pro till his turn-20 summer doesn't suggest a very big arm, and nothing great during his first 40 innings. But 32K/1BB over his last 19 innings, that's a weird turnaround, kind of interesting. Hadn't been especially watching Morel, but hadn't realized he's 6'6", so perhaps there's some big-arm projection in there. Morel was straight rotation other than one relief inning after a terrible start. De Le Cruz has been rotation all season. Usually the guys with more favorable physical projection, or simply the guys who look stronger velocity-wise, they have them starting. Rodriguez by contrast has 7 of 12 appearances in relief. So my guess is that he doesn't have the same kind of arm projection, but simply pitched well enough to get himself into the rotation. Delarosa has made some nice progress, in my view. Last year, I thought he had bust written. 20K/39AB in DSL, and he was just as bad in US in instructional league play, I didn't anticipate that the gift of contact was a matter of a year's experience. And while he started well this summer, then I thought he was struggling again. But overall his stats now look like they no longer have any red flags. 19/42 XBH/H, that's OK. 27K/13BB/169AB, nothing notably great but no real problems there, either, even if the walk-rate is kinda low for the wild-man DSL. But seems like the doubles are coming more frequently lately. Hopefully his step up from last year is the first step up, and he'll keep improving steadily. Matos, he's had a remarkably good season. For a 17-year-old in a league with 40 teams or whatever to be a top-10 guy in most of the key offensive stats, that's totally unexpected. Jeimer Candelario and Felix Pie are the only guys that come to my memory who were immediately really excellent as 17-year-old pro hitters. I suppose their subsequent decline confirms that Matos isn't safe to actually hit at later, but I'm hoping. Castro and Lake are two others, although neither were remotely as good as Matos (both were .750-OPS types versus Matos .950....). Heh, I wish Matos had been more of a "bonus baby". With inflation, his $280K or whatever probably isn't all that much more than Castro's $45. Why didn't he get more? My fear is that he got <$300K because he's got no defensive tools, and is really a DH/1B type. My hope is that scouts undervalued him for any of several reasons: 1. Maybe he just didn't play that much in places where scouts could see him? I suppose even in Dominican that may be possible. 2. Maybe he just got connected with a crummy buscone. A new guy who doesn't get you set up with the right showcases? A new guy who doesn't negotiate, or realize what you're worth? 3. scouts like runners with athletic builds and positional flexibility? Chunky catcher-only guys, maybe undervalued? 4. Maybe he was just a slow 1B/3B/LF guy, with no defensive aptitude for those, but the Cubs scouts had the eyes to see that he could convert well to catching? 5. Hitting is hard to scout, when guys don't play in games. Maybe there are 20 other kids who scout about the same hitting wise, but he's the rare one who can actually hit in competitive games. Scouts couldn't have really known he'd be .950 rather than .650 at this point? 6. Maybe he's just improved a ton? Catching is hard, and hitting is hard. We'll see if he can carry either one on up. Thanks, Craig. Good thoughts. I agree on Delarosa's progression at the plate. And all this after surviving that horrific car crash... Along with Matos, Galindo has also put up top ten numbers (in the VSL) as a 17-year-old, though he's been slumping/injured lately. Gotta love 17-year-olds who can hit. I imagine both Matos and Galindo will be brought north for ExST and given a chance to play at Mesa next season (with a strong likelihood of making it). Do top DSL/VSL guys usually attend fall instructs? I know nothing about Monasterio other than he didn't get a large enough bonus to be noticed. But he is the youngest player on the team, born in May of '97. He's got a decent frame at 6'0", 170 lbs. He's a switch-hitting shortstop who started slow but has been on a tear of late (.337/.386/.402 in July) and apparently has good speed having stolen 10 bases without getting caught. The fact that he's performing the way he is after turning 17 just two months ago makes him worth following in my opinion. Oh, and Matos hit his 6th HR tonight. He's now hitting .319/.416/.560.

I was browsing the VSL/DSL rosters the other day and came up with 6 guys to keep an eye on based on stat scouting and DOB: Alfredo Colorado Erling Moreno (well, this one was kind of obvious) Eugenio Palma Luis Hidalgo Wladimir Galindo Yohan Matos I pay attention to those guys plus Frandy de la Rosa who got a big bonus two years ago. I wouldn't say no one else cares about Yohan Matos, Truffle. :wink: Pedigree/Bonus Baby Delarosa (18), Moreno (17), Galindo (17) and Matos (17). Based on their signing bonuses alone, we have reason to believe they have decent tools. And all are performing reasonably well, especially considering their ages. Non-Bonus Position Players OF Luis Hidalgo - VSL (18) .318/.370/.430 SS Andruw Monasterio - VSL (17) .292/.363/.350, 10 SB (highest number in the VSL without being caught) With pitchers, I'm willing to go a little older especially if they have good size and stats. Pedro Araujo, now in Mesa, had performed well in the DSL the last two seasons and was called up shortly before his 21st birthday this year. He's not anyone I would call a prospect, but he's stateside which is more than most DSL/VSL guys can say. Non-Bonus Pitchers RHP Oscar De La Cruz - DSL (19) 6'4", 200 lbs. RHP Santiago Rodriguez - DSL (20) 6'0", 185 lbs. LHP Eugenio Palma - VSL (17) 5'11", 170 lbs. RHP Jose Morel - DSL (19), 6'6", 204 lbs. De La Cruz has prototypical size and this is essentially his first full go around in the DSL despite being 19 (he pitched 11 innings last year). DSL hitters are averaging .181 against him. At 20, it's surprising that Rodriguez is in his first season at any professional level. He started out well, not allowing an earned run in May/June. More importantly he only allowed 3 unearned runs in 32 innings (defense is so sloppy at this level that ERAs don't mean all that much) and he held opponents to a .190 avg. in June. But his peripherals were unremarkable and he was 20, so I didn't think much of him. But all of a sudden, he's become a strikeout machine. In his last three starts, he's struckout 9 with no walks, 9 with 1 walk and 14 with no walks. He's K'd 42 against 4 walks in 28.2 IP in July with good numbers overall on the season. So, for me, he's worth a follow. Palma is 17 and is putting up good numbers. He's a small lefty (almost exactly the same size as Carlos A. Rodriguez) and is most likely another soft-tosser, but who knows what his actual scouting report is. Morel is only intriguing to me because of his size, he's K'ing almost a batter per inning and he hasn't sucked. I wish I knew more... Alfredo Colorado is 18, but only pitched in 2 games (June 16th and 19th). His numbers weren't all that good, and it's just not enough for me to go on. He's not one that I follow, but what do I know... Most of these guys, bonus baby or not, will never make it, but they're fun to track and dream on. The Starlin Castros of the world that sign for $45,000 and come out of nowhere always keep me coming back and checking the box scores every night. FYI, De la Cruz got an $85k bonus and Morel got an $80k bonus in 2012-13. Araujo got $100k in 2011. Thanks, Raisin. What I meant by non-bonus is that they didn't fall into the same category as the bonus babies previously listed. I guess, non big bonus would have been clearer but sounded too stupid to actually use.

From mlive.com, April 2014: Sounds like a Derek Johnson guy. Decent FB with ready command. Needs to work on his supplementals. This is the profile for a lot of the Cubs recent draft picks. Get a guy with the best FB available and DJ will teach him the rest.