CubsWin

I'd love to see the Cubs stick to their guns with his development plan. I wonder what the specific benchmarks are (outside of the obvious) that he will have to meet before they bring him up? There is going to be a lot of pressure to do so as quickly as possible. Pretty much from all outside the organization though, which whether you like it or not, the FO has shown they don't give a [expletive] what those forces think/want and aren't going to make decisions based on what they want if those wants don't align with their decision making plans. I agree. And we can only hope that its all from outside the organization. Ticket sales and ratings are pretty important right now. Just sayin'...

In all seriousness, what incentive would he have to come here compared to other markets (assuming bidding is similar)? I must've missed the Fukudome mania minus some racist shirts and bandanas. No pressure to win? Being a part of the team that ended the longest championship drought in sports history?

Tim Collins of the Royals is also listed at 5'7". Ah, thanks, good catch. Going thru all 30 teams 40-man rosters I was bound to miss somebody...

Racist? No. Prejudiced? Yes.

I think some families in Sicily might take issue with this statement...

I don't think that's changed. It wasn't necessarily spending money on relievers as much as it was giving them multi-year deals at millions per year. The ideal, of course, is to have your organization produce most, if not all, of your bullpen. The market reality is that if your organization can't do that, you're going to have to trade for or sign somebody to fill those gaps to give you the necessary depth to succeed. Depth is the key. Because most relief pitchers, not all, are inconsistent from year to year, teams must have minor league depth to cover themselves. The Cubs have done a good job of that since Theo & Co. came aboard in my opinion.

There is an interesting study on correlations between a pitcher's height and his effectiveness and durability from sabr.org back in 2010. http://sabr.org/research/does-pitcher-s-height-matter The author's conclusions (I have no idea how sound they are) are as follows: Market inefficiency? Maybe, but Anthopoulus' unwillingness to part with Stroman in a trade for the 6'5" Samardzija and the Cubs desire to obtain him would indicate that, at least in Toronto and the northside of Chicago, there is no inefficiency to exploit. As far as your direct question, would Stroman be the shortest starter in the majors were he to make it? As of right now, the answer is yes. But he wouldn't be the shortest pitcher in the game. Of the players currently on 40-man rosters that have pitched in a major league game, the Rangers Joe Ortiz holds that distinction at 5'7" tall. There are three pitchers, all relievers, that are 5'9", Eury De La Rosa, Danny Farquhar and Jason Frasor. There are three current players that have started major league games that are 5'10". Wandy Rodriguez, Pedro Hernandez and Chad Gaudin, and ten that are 5'11", Johnny Cueto, Yordano Ventura, Travis Wood, Marco Estrada, Bartolo Colon, Vidal Nuno, Sonny Gray, Robbie Erlin, Tim Lincecum and Erasmo Ramirez. You may notice that an unusually large percentage of those guys are left-handed. This supports the conclusion in the above study. The rarity of left-handed pitchers causes GMs to have to think outside the box. They don't have the luxury to discriminate on the basis of height and instead must set aside that notion in order to find pitchers talented enough to cut it in the major leagues. Talent is talent, and in the case of lefties, the fallacy that height is a good thing falls by the wayside. If it is true for left-handed pitchers, logic suggests that the same would hold true for righties as well. All of that only solidly proves one thing, however. I clearly have way too much time on my hands...

I'd love to see the Cubs stick to their guns with his development plan. I wonder what the specific benchmarks are (outside of the obvious) that he will have to meet before they bring him up? There is going to be a lot of pressure to do so as quickly as possible.

I wanted an arm last year real bad, but with how Bryant has turned out, I think the Cubs made the best choice. This year, I want an arm even more than I did last season. When am I going to learn? All I know is the Cubs need pitchers and possible aces at that. So I guess I irrationally want them to take the best available arm even when I know better...or should. The good news is there appears to be really good depth this year so there could be a really good pitching prospect (prep or college, but mostly likely prep from the sound of things) waiting for them in the 2nd round.

Ben Badler at BA has been the go to guy on IFAs for a while now. Speculation is that the top two signings, OF Eloy Jimenez and SS Gleyber Torres, despite being just 17 have a shot at playing for the Cubs rookie league team in Mesa as early as this season. They'll have to earn it this spring. Many prospect gurus are listing them in the teens on their top 30 Cubs prospect lists which is saying something for an organization this deep. RHP Jen-Ho Tseng, 19, will likely start stateside. The fact that he's Asian would likely preclude him from going to the Dominican Summer League. RHP Jefferson Mejia is Dominican but was one year older than most signees. He's currently 19 and pitched briefly in the DSL last season, so he has a shot to pitch in the Arizona Rookie League in 2014. Other top IFA signings like RHP Erling Moreno (who will turn 17 in January) and C Johan Matos will almost certainly play in the DSL next summer.

Yeah, I see Seattle as the front runner as well. But if there ever was a guy that could get this Cubs FO to forget their principles, it's Tanaka.

Yeah, I saw that. Welp, there likely goes that... On the other hand, with Mark Ellis signing with the Cardinals, the Dodgers bench is woefully bereft of middle infielders at the moment. Right now, they've got Dee Gordon, Alex Guerrero (who hasn't played a game in the US), Juan Uribe (who will likely play 3B), Justin Sellers and Hanley Ramirez as the lone middle infielders on their 40-man. Barney would fit well as a defensive specialist and place holder for Guerrero. Depending on how desperate they get, targeting someone like Ross Stripling would be nice even it took adding something else to get him. Relief prospects Yimi Garcia or Jose Dominguez are exciting too.

speaking of "aka, please" i would also like a thesaurus for christmas so i can learn new words to use when being politte You can often find a thesaurus in tandem with a dictionary. That way you'll know when you spell polite wrong... actually, i was setting myself up for "speaking of politte, let's sign tanaka because he's going to be even better than cliff" follow-up, but then a co-worker came in and i had to look busy and talk to her about work. it was terrible. That is terrible. Terrible news indeed. Maybe a coffee break is in order.

speaking of "aka, please" i would also like a thesaurus for christmas so i can learn new words to use when being politte You can often find a thesaurus in tandem with a dictionary. That way you'll know when you spell polite wrong...

GET HIM!!! (Spoken in an eastern european bad guy accent who is frustrated after dealing with a cocky Bruce Willis and watching him get away...)

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/masahiro-tanaka-gets-consent-japan-posted-mlb-leagues-223106293--mlb.html

The Cubs are reportedly interested in signing Jonathan Sanchez and would use him as a reliever. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-cubs-jonathan-sanchez-20131215,0,2678965.story If they succeed in getting him, or even the mere fact that they are going after another lefty, could mean there is serious interest in James Russell. Perhaps a package of Barney and Russell to the Yankees?

Between Olt, Vitters, Lake and Arodys Vizcaino, spring training should be fun to watch. If any of them break with the team, it will be a plus. I agree Lake's bat is not as good as it looked last season, and that much of his value at this point comes from the possibility of improved OF defense coupled with a decent, but not good bat. We would be wise to expect lower production this season if he doesn't continue to improve. If Vitters hits like he did in AAA last season (and stays healthy), he could force himself on the roster. Reports on Vizcaino was that he was looking great during instructs. But the biggie is Olt. His defense should be a plus. If he is hitting during ST, wins the starting job and performs decently during the first half, the complexion of the team going forward certainly changes for the better. I can't wait to get my tickets...

Honestly? I'd rather just keep Barney. There's got to be a limit to how many of these AAA fringey pitchers we can make adequate use of. Given the choice, Ramirez seems like he has a bit more upside. Both of those guys are already on the Yankees 40 man roster. I'd prefer someone who the Cubs didn't have to instantly put on the 40. With upside of course. Perhaps like the Campana trade. Are the Yankees hungry enough to win now that they would give up P Luis Severino for Barney? SS Abiatal Avelino? 3B Miguel Andujar? C Luis Torrens?

Honestly? I'd rather just keep Barney. There's got to be a limit to how many of these AAA fringey pitchers we can make adequate use of. Given the choice, Ramirez seems like he has a bit more upside. Ramirez reminds me a lot of Alberto Cabrera. He's a year younger, but their repertoire is very similar. At this point, given the Cubs other options, I would trade Barney for him. But I also think there's no pressing need to trade him now.

Eh, sort of. Except the guys I'm describing have been having 3-4 really good years, and Sabo pretty much had one that was on par with the Cardinals players. Also, Sabo was a younger college player and was drafted in the 2nd round. I was gonna say Paul Lo Duca thread, but I forgot what an amazing outlier that one season was. But, man, did he put up some good minor league numbers.

Eh, sort of. Except the guys I'm describing have been having 3-4 really good years, and Sabo pretty much had one that was on par with the Cardinals players. Also, Sabo was a younger college player and was drafted in the 2nd round.

The difference the guys the Cardinals developed out of college (Freese, Craig, Carpenter, etc.) were not "just ok". They don't fit my previously limited vision of good prospects, but they became well above average major leaguers. Slash lines of .300/.380/.460 at the major league level are very good pieces to winning championships. And if they enter the bigs when they are 26 and never make the top 100 prospects lists but contribute that kind of production, they ought to be tracked, followed and valued as important prospects. Maybe not potential 8-10 year starters who can become all-stars (Baez, Bryant, Almora, etc.), but way more valuable that I had been considering them. And the other point is previous regimes never really were able to produce them. Theo & Co. have only had two drafts and needed to devote those middle rounds almost exclusively to pitchers to fill the huge void left to them. But they have managed to bring in guys like Hannemann and Bruno which I think fit the bill. I eager to see who else they draft who may fit this profile in rounds 4-16 in the coming years.

Yeah, that's not what Theo said. It sucks that they're not, but that's not what he said. What a [expletive] hack. Actually, the quote is exact. Theo did say the words "dictating all those big moves" in that exact order. Of course, Gordon also knows that he was referring to the future because Theo preceded that quote with the words "there will be a day real soon". Wittenmyer is either a [expletive] hack and a moron or an intentional dick. Possibly both...

Unfortunately, even his guys don't fit the profile.