CubsWin

Vizcaino 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 3 K today. On the year, 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K.

Baez with two 5 pitch outs so far. I can't tell if that's progress for him or not...

That would be great if he could. I'd definitely take that.

When you consider the injuries they had to Hagerty, Clanton, Brownlie, Blasko, Pawelek and Simpson, the guys they traded away (Donaldson/Cashner), the 5 picks from 2011 that haven't progressed to the majors yet and the fact they had a stone age scouting and development system until 2012, that's about right. Here's to a brighter future...

Probably best defensive SS in the system. Has a chance to hit. He's been around .260-.270 with solid OBP in his career so far. Still young, 19. Has shown very good approach, discipline at the plate with well above average K/BB ratios especially for a teenager. Went 3-for-3, all singles, and a walk yesterday in his first Low-A ballgame. So clearly he's going to hit 1.000 this year. I would've voted for him after Balaguert had he been on the list of choices.

I'm assuming when you say they cut Rusin, you mean send him down. the other two will definitely be cut, so I wasn't sure...

Great song, but I always think of this video when I hear it. Haha, yeah, I remember seeing that on here a few years ago. That video's hilarious. I searched for the actual lyrics and all of them are different and ultimately off base. Can't blame them due to the mumbling. The wiki page on the song is quite revealing though... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Ledbetter

Per Jesse Rogers via Twitter, Arrieta threw 30-35 pitches to hitters this morning. 90-92 FB, 85-87 Slider.

Hannemann, Tseng and Paniagua. Even though they haven't played much if at all as professionals, if the Cubs front office saw fit to spend a 3rd pick on Hannemann, $1.625 million on Tseng and $1.5 million on Paniagua, then by my twisted logic and lack of any other pertinent information, they should be the three best prospects left on the board. Cabrera hasn't shown anything above AA. Szczur may be close to contributing and Geiger may have put up decent numbers while young for his level, but Hannemann, Tseng and Paniagua, until proven otherwise, have higher ceilings. Unlike Masek who was taken in the 5th round, Frazier's got a shot at being a starter still but Theo & Co. felt comfortable waiting on him until the 6th round. We've got a good idea what Jokisch's ceiling is, and at this point on prospect lists, I'm comfortable weighting ceiling above other factors. Torrez's stuff is a little better than Leal's, but neither of them have better raw stuff than Tseng and Paniagua. Of all the guys left, these three of the best chance at making an impact on a major league ballclub.

For those who are nostalgic and a bit masochistic among us, this is what spring training looked like 44 years ago. Some classic WGN coverage of the snakebit '69 season. Jack Brickhouse fans will enjoy this. Click ahead to 4 minutes and 30 seconds to avoid a minute of color bars and tone and a boring opening montage of newspaper clippings over "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyIaFuFlVJ0

Zastryzny is closer but I don't consider him a safer bet than Blackburn. Blackburn's ceiling is higher and his athleticism and pitchability tell me he's got a good shot and making it.

Your memory is correct, Badler had Moreno 16th and Tseng 23rd. I'm voting Tseng ahead because I think Badler may have underestimated him. The Cubs seem really high on Tseng, they spent a lot of time and a lot of scouts on him. I think Badler had him down because his velocity dipped, but the Cubs think that was temporary. I think the dollars maybe reflect that. Moreno got $650; Tseng $1.63. As always the Cub scouts may be wrong; but they are pretty gush on Tseng. That and he's further along in his development than Moreno. Tseng is 19 and will start in Mesa and could see Boise. Moreno turned 17 a month ago and will very likely be in the DSL.

Man, this is where it gets tough. I'm a sucker for upside so...Black, Underwood, Tseng.

That's great news. Hope he can stay that way...

Does he have a higher ceiling than somebody like Underwood? I mean, he's a lot closer to it, but as for it being higher... When they were draft side-by-side in 2012, Underwood was described as being erratic with the ability to throw a 98 mph FB when it was on but it would also dip down into the low 90s and even 80s when he was off with it. Same with the curve. The change up was more consistent than the curve but still developing. Blackburn was the more steady and unspectacular of the two. The word since joining the Cubs is that his Underwood's FB is sitting 91-94. Blackburn's FB seems to have surpassed Underwood's since being drafted. His control seems to be way better than Underwood's. The reports on these guys and the chatter have Blackburn progressing to the point where he now may have the higher ceiling. But ceiling is such a subjective thing that I'm sure an equally good argument could be made for Underwood.

Blackburn. You have to look deeper than just his season long stats last year... 1. He was a supplemental 1st round pick, 56th overall. Good draft pedigree. 2. He was 19 last season and just turned 20 a month and a half ago. 3. He started the year off great. In his first 5 starts, he had a WHIP of 1.00, struckout 24, walked 8 and posted a 1.17 ERA in 23 IP. Then he went through what a Cubs executive called a dead arm period and struggled mightily. I don't know if he was working on new pitches as well, but his solid control went bye-bye. I would've been down on him, but the moment the playoffs arrived for Boise, he was the same guy he was at the start of the season. Either his dead arm period ended with perfect timing or he was working on new pitches and scrapped them when the playoffs came around. In his two playoff starts, he pitched 12 innings, gave up 5 hits, 1 run (earned), walked 1 and struckout 17. 4. The scouting report on him is very...very encouraging. FB hits 95 with some regularity. Good curve was sitting at 80 which is a milestone scouts look for. An 80 mph curve denotes top end arm speed. 5. He reportedly added 15 pounds of muscle last season and still has about 15 more pounds to add before fully filling out his frame. 6. He has the athleticism to repeat his delivery and has lots of pitchability (i.e understands setting up hitters, high baseball IQ, instincts for the position, etc.) 7. Of the remaining prospects, he has the highest ceiling next to Vizcaino without the injury history. He's the only guy I voted for.

Whereas there are good arguments for both trading Samardzija and extending him, determining which path to take doesn't seem all that difficult. It all comes down to the type of return the Cubs would get. The main reason to trade him is to have the incoming player (assuming he's good enough) align with the Cubs competitive window. If the D-Backs or Blue Jays feel there window is now, you field the offers and go from there.

Bradley posted at 1.97 ERA with a solid 1.23 WHIP and almost a K per inning at AA last season as a 20-year-old after completely dominating High-A. I consider AA a high level and I'd call that excelling.

I'm the 2nd weirdo who voted for Blackburn. I lean towards upside in my rankings and of those that are left Candelario, Vizcaino and Blackburn have the most upside in my opinion.

First off, ouch. Not getting Tanaka was a blow that took me days to recover from. I'm still not completely out of the funk. I think while it is accurate to say the 2015 FA pitching list is pretty good right now, it is yet to be seen what it will look like when the 2014 off-season arrives. All of this would have been so much easier if the Yankees had chosen to stay under the luxury tax limit. I'm still not over it. Whereas the Cubs have not been interested in signing players in their 30s in the first two years of the rebuild, that will likely change as the team progresses. Or if the team progresses. That's why 2014 is such a big year. If top prospects show they are ready and key major league assets progress in their development (Castro, Arrieta, Samardzija, Rizzo, Castillo even Olt & Lake), the rebuild will likely be at the stage where adding such a player will make sense. Of course, adding the best FA pitcher you can get to a staff with Tanaka, Samardzija and Wood already on it would've been ideal, but...yeah. The key is the Cubs need an ace. Or at least as close to an ace as possible. The likelihood of signing one isn't great but it exists. I think the Cubs best chance of getting such a player is in a trade. That's the whole point of drafting the safer hitting prospects in the first place. Take the asset that has the best chance of reaching their ceiling to maximize value and fix the imbalance on the roster later. It might be time to wrap our heads around trading a top prospect at some point. With a Castro bounceback and continued to development of Edwards or Johnson, it might be possible to create a package without trading Baez or Bryant. But the Cubs are going to need elite frontline pitching if they're going to win a championship.

I believe he's been moved back to catcher. He was announced as making the move late last season along with a bunch of others, one of which was Gioskar Amaya who never made the move. He played catcher in his second to last game and then played there during instructs. Only had 9 PA in 4 games, went 4/8 with a walk and a K. I think it's his pedigree as a top prospect signing in 2011 (1.6 million) but more so his performance in rookie ball (.270/.381/.339) that opened some eyes. Yes, he's struckout 80 times without hitting a HR, but he did so as a 17 and 18 year old. He's also walked 54 times in 402 PA, good for a 13.4% walk rate resulting in that very good OBP last season. At 6'3, 185 lbs., the power potential is there. I assume he's got some tools given his large contract. He has an advanced eye at the plate for his age, and is a switch-hitting catcher. He's on my radar.

Me neither. Man, if Rizzo and Castro, mostly Castro, don't improve and Olt doesn't hit enough to stick, it's going to be a long season.

Here is the latest from PSD poster ABTY7 who some people think has some inside source somewhere...

Boy I hope her source his highly placed. Come on, Cubs...