CubsWin

I'm talking specifically about college guys taken in the mid-rounds that develop into very good regulars at the major league level reaching the bigs around 25-27 years of age. That's takes scouting, development and patience that I have yet to see from the Cubs in my lifetime. But it might be coming under Theo. Wouldn't Theriot and Barney pretty much be that? I wouldn't put Theriot or Barney in the very good regulars category. The Cardinals are getting .300ish/.380ish/.460ish out of the guys I mentioned. Barney and Theriot have never approached that kind of production.

I'm talking specifically about college guys taken in the mid-rounds that develop into very good regulars at the major league level reaching the bigs around 25-27 years of age. That's takes scouting, development and patience that I have yet to see from the Cubs in my lifetime. But it might be coming under Theo.

All of those guys fit the profile. Andreoli and DeVoss lack the power. Rademacher could develop into that kind of player. He put up those kinds of numbers in Kane County. I'd love to see Shoulders develop into a Matt Adams type guy. Cubs' instructors have their work cut out for them.

Yes. Taken a little higher, but yes.

True, though not drafted and developed by the Cubs.

It's Gausman's control, ground outs and K/BB ratio that I like. Plus he fits in better with the Cubs timeline as well. Straight up would be a last resort for me, but still doable. Given the O's win now mode you'd think the Cubs might be able to get more. McLouth is gone but with Urrutia on the horizon, I don't know how much interest they'd have in Schierholtz. They need depth in the OF and DH isn't exactly a strength for them, so maybe. There isn't much to get excited about in the Orioles system after Rodriguez, though. Mike Wright? Josh Hader? Parker Bridwell? All maybes.

Make it so, number one.

I tend to think of hitting prospects that are likely to help the team win a championship as the guys who'll be up by the time they're 22 and be long-term (9-10 year) starters. The future all-stars. But teams like the Cardinals are producing a different type of prospect. He generally is entering the bigs at age 26 or 27 and has displayed well above-average OBP skills and will be a starter for 3-5 years. Guys like Allan Craig, Matt Carpenter and David Freese. They're college draftees often 22 or 23 in their first pro season and taken in rounds 4-14 or along those lines. Theo and company have only had two drafts and have focused heavily on pitching during those rounds, but one guy who fits that profile is Stephen Bruno who unfortunately got injured early last year. Prior to the injury, however, he was producing similar numbers at similar ages/levels as Craig, Carpenter, Freese, etc. I've often completely disregarded any minor leaguer above the age of 23 at the lower levels, instead dreaming big on the Candelarios of the world. But it seems I need to expand my horizons.

I don't really disagree, but without a major shift in how this organization spends in and approaches free agency, it seems like a lot would have to go very right (not just "not wrong") for this team not to be bad in 2015 just from within and minor FA pickups in some bad FA markets. Trades are always the wild card, of course, if we ever decide to go after an impact player. Agree that trades are the wild card. Disagree that there needs to be a major shift in how the team spends. I think the Cubs are just at a stage in their rebuild where spending big on a lot of players just doesn't make sense. As the team fills out, spending big on the holes that are left becomes much more likely because it will line-up with their window for winning. The policy won't change, but the circumstances of the rebuild will. Also, how the players they already have improve will play a big factor in how good the team will be in 2015. The Cubs have several key players in their prime or pre-prime. It is likely they will improve as they go. Wood, Arrieta and Castillo are in their prime ages with Rondon and Grimm on the edge of theirs. Castro, Rizzo and Lake are still pre-prime for another year or so. There is reason to believe that performances from these guys will continue to get better in the coming years. When you add in players like Baez, Bryant, Alcantara, Vizcaino, Hendricks, Villanueva and Olt who all have a very good shot of joining the big league club by 2015, an argument can be made just as easily for the Cubs being above .500 in 2015 as below.

I haven't heard Drew Hutchison, coming off of injury, be mentioned as someone who the Cubs would want in return for Shark. What do people think of him. His performance before injury was very good. He pitched well in the AFL. Stuff?

I was thinking Gibson, Meyer, and a fringe major league prospect or lower level guy would be pretty close. I'm biased though because I think Minnesota's weirdoball pitching philosophy has hidden some K's that another organization could get out of Gibson. Who would you want more, Gibson or Trevor May? Curious.

The Cubs are said to be looking for a top 25 type prospect. Meyer is borderline that and would certainly have to be included in the deal. I think it would take more than that to get it done however. The Twins have some other interesting prospects. Jose Berrios would be an excellent second piece. Trevor May seems to fit what the Cubs have been seeking to acquire lately. He's got a solid mid-90s fastball with sink that can be maintained deep into games, but needs work on his breaking stuff which Bosio seemed to have success teaching to current Cubs pitchers. He's got different stuff than Travis Wood but a similar career track. He's 24 and won't turn 25 until next September. The Cubs have made it clear they're looking to add power arms to their bullpen and 2nd round pick in 2012 Mason Melotakis has an upper-90s fastball but everything else is fringy at this point. He could rise quickly, though, if moved to the pen full time.

As I look over the potential Cubs 2014 roster, the thing that excites me the most (outside of the potential trades/signings this off-season) is that there are still players that could establish themselves as long term pieces already in the fold. I was pleased with how the Cubs had players move into "core" player status over the last two seasons. They started with just Castro. In 2012, Samardzija and Rizzo entered that category. Last season it was Wood and Castillo. But with the Cubs doing as poorly as they did last season and the poor performances from Castro and some others, it seemed like the Cubs rebuild had stalled, or worse, derailed. I had momentarily forgotten that the Cubs have a shot at adding one or two more players to that list without making one move this off-season. I'm not saying it's a done deal that these players take the next step, but then again, it wasn't a sure thing that Wood and Castillo would have had the seasons they did this year either. Jake Arrieta, Pedro Strop, Junior Lake and Mike Olt all have a shot at taking that next step in 2014. There might actually be a reason to watch Cubs baseball before Bryant and Baez arrive after all...

Well that's positive. I guess that should open up another spot on the 40-man roster. Decisions on who they will protect are due Wednesday. If they cut Bard, they will have 4 open spots.

Who else do they have besides Buxton, Sano, and Meyer? I never really hear about anyone else. Kohl Stewart is a top 50 guy. 4th pick in the draft this year. Parks loves upside, so he likely has a crush on Lewis Thorpe, a very young Australian lefty. Berrios is a solid pitching prospect. I guess he's high on Edwin Rosario? I don't see them as being all that deep myself. Maybe I'm forgetting someone, but I think I listed anyone with a shot at being a top 100 type. I think the Cubs will likely have more top 100 guys this season, but the Twins have depth. Beyond the players you mentioned, they have guys like Ryan Eades, Travis Harrison, Stephen Gonsalves and Felix Jorge. They also have Stuart Turner at catcher who would easily be the Cubs best catching prospect. Those are 5 guys I had my eye on wanting the Cubs to draft/sign.

Regardless if they knew what was in the new CBA or not, the Ricketts family still saw the benefit in spending the money, investing in the minor leagues and approved it. Criticize them for not spending enough, for signing a bad contract with Zell or whatever you want, but the budget is what the budget is, they hired the guys that are spending it for them and those guys are fulfilling the Ricketts desire to build a long-term, consistent winning franchise. That's the Ricketts vision that Theo and Co are carrying out. They are open for criticism, no doubt. I'm just interested in giving credit where it is due, as well.

I agree with you for the most part, but you're missing the point here. It's still Ricketts money. And none of it gets spent without him agreeing to spend it. If Cubs fans are allowed to criticize Ricketts for not spending more, then they can't say that the credit for the money that has been spent belongs to Theo.

Ricketts has yet to to do ANYTHING of note, outside of hiring a very capable FO, that MAY eventually be able to operate a winning team with extremely little help from him. For that, he was smart. Outside of that, he's been ridiculously awful..... I count the spending on amateur talent and the spending on infrastructure (past and planned) to be things of note. The spending on amateur talent is DEFINITELY Theo, not Ricketts. If anything, I BLAME Ricketts for not opening it up for an epic IFA binge this year, when we went over spending by a couple mill. If we truly had any money left over, it would have been used there. It was basically the point where any doubt I had about Theo maybe not wanting to spend turned to Theo definitely can't spend. We can't say that for sure, Dave. Theo is still about value and there are other teams involved. As you know, latin american prospects often have a favorite team. Either it's the one that has done the best job recruiting them or, Eloy Jimenez, it's the team their favorite player played for (Sammy Sosa). Money doesn't always call the shots. And even if it did, Theo and Co. are more about spending money on the right player without straying too far from a reasonable price. In other words, they are all about value. Signing 16-year-olds is already a risky enough proposition without wildly over-paying to land one. The Ricketts family deserves it's fair share of blame for the current state of the major league team, but to credit Theo for spending well over $40 million on the likes of Soler, Concepcion, Jimenez, Torres, Mejia, Moreno and Tseng in just two seasons seems patently misplaced. Theo can't spend what he doesn't have. And that doesn't take into account opening the Dominican Academy, the new spring training complex and the proposed $500 million dollars investment in Wrigley and the surrounding area. These things were left off your previous post. I was simply filling out the resume in an attempt for accuracy and fairness. Not necessarily refuting your point.

Ricketts has yet to to do ANYTHING of note, outside of hiring a very capable FO, that MAY eventually be able to operate a winning team with extremely little help from him. For that, he was smart. Outside of that, he's been ridiculously awful..... I count the spending on amateur talent and the spending on infrastructure (past and planned) to be things of note.

I think this idea is getting harder and harder to justify every passing year where we have to go through "But we lost 97 games last year, no point in adding anyone good" and another 300k fewer tickets are bought at Wrigley Field. Not to mention what it's going to do to TV ratings and the media deals. Um, they are adding good players...

I had to spare Baez. I just couldn't bring myself to have him die too...

Translation: no Price, no Carlos Gonzalez, no Stanton, unless they just give them away to us Or...no Price, no Stanton, maybe Carlos Gonzalez and maybe some other guys not mentioned. Translation: We look forward to making a due-diligence bid with no real chance of landing Tanaka. Or...there are some major players out there, but we're going all-in on Tanaka. I know how Cubs fans can get so I don't want to say what our chances are. All I can say is we are going to do everything we can to get our guy.

According to scouts, the thing about Almora that sets him apart is his apparent ability to fulfill his best case scenario. Now, of course, he just has to do it. Easier said...

Quite possibly. If a guy can play GG defense at a premium position and put up an .800 OPS, that'd be pretty tough to top.

Me too. Mostly because of his track record and the fact that he's doing it at such a young age. Combine that with his work ethic and thats a good recipe for maintaining production as one moves up. It remains to be seen whether he can do it, but it was Almora's make-up and ability to reach his ceiling or at least get the most out of his talent that caused him to be taken 6th over more talented or equally talented prospects.