jumbo

Love this organizational depth at CF

Hey - that's me!!!

What are some opinions on Carpenter? I love that he can light it up, but he doesn't seem to have had a lot of recent success. I imagine that him being up with the Cubs is to see what he's got before the decision on him sticking on the 40 man. Any thoughts on him? He's kind of struggled ever since the Cubs put him in the pen, but I think it was the right move for him. He certainly can amp up the velo more now and seeing him for a much shorter period also helps out some with his command issues. For him to become an elite bullpen arm, that's going to be the hurdle he needs to jump. That said, I'm not all that worried about what his numbers looked like down in the minors this year. For all we know, the Cubs had told him to work on certain things, results be damned. The eye test tells me that he's not overmatched at the highest level though and we need all the help we can get. I think it's mainly just him getting comfortable in this role and then he'll be fine. I think he could wind up as a very nice setup guy for us longterm. Thanks I think if he can fill the role that Cashner was slotted for last year as the 7th inning righty ahead of Marshall and Marmol that could be a great 7/8/9 pen. However, Cashner may be there next year, too. Does anyone think that the Cubs will continue to try him as a starter or will he immediately be relegated to pen duty following his injury? Obviously it all depends on how his rehab goes, but just wondering what thoughts are now

What are some opinions on Carpenter? I love that he can light it up, but he doesn't seem to have had a lot of recent success. I imagine that him being up with the Cubs is to see what he's got before the decision on him sticking on the 40 man. Any thoughts on him?

I just read this earlier today. Made me think that Vitters needs to spend all this season in AA and at least another year in the minors so he can focus on pitch selection. I wouldn't mind if he never walks a lot, but he needs to focus on swinging at hitter's pitches instead of anything he can get his bat on. I'm sure this has been said before, but it is nice to see someone in the scouting profession believe at least somewhat in Vitters. It's hard to be patient waiting for these young guys to develop when the big league team is so hard to watch.

I think that is a very good point. The top run scoring lineups (other than the Yankees and Red Sox) don't have a lot of great offensive players. They typically have 1 great bat and the rest of the team is filled out with minimal bad hitters getting tons of ABs. Cincy has Votto as the great bat, with Jay Bruce having an argument...but none of the other guys with over 125 ABs have lower than a .722 OPS. And the guys with the .722 OPS for the Reds are Rolen and Phillips who are outstanding defensive players. Arizona is up there in runs scored. They have Upton as the great bat, with only Kelly Johnson of the regulars under .730 OPS. I'd like Vitters to be an .850 OPS type player at any of the corners of the IF or OF. But if all he's going to be a is a .750 OPS guy, then they key is to have 5-6 regulars that are better hitters than he is, and 1-2 others who aren't significantly worse than that. I could see him being like a Martin Prado or a Hunter Pence with a little less power. I'd be fine with that. I like looking at a prospect from the perspective of can he be a piece of a winning team and what would have to be around him in order for him to be a good fit. Smart take. Never looked at it like that. That's similar to what I was thinking about the Cubs system. The typical take is lots of depth, but no clear cut stars. My thinking is that if the Cubs can fill out 5-6 position spots with good production at reasonable cost, then they should be able to afford to go buy a couple solid bats. Similar thinking on the rotation. If the farm system can produce #2, 3, 4, then we should be able to go buy a #1. A fifth starter will come along through the minors or a cheap FA.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batting/split/79/sort/OPS/order/true OPS by position. Half of the teams in mlb have left-field OPS of less than .710. Only two have LF OPS over .817 (Milwaukee and Cardinals, of course). Only five teams other than the Cubs have LF OPS above .790. Sixteen big-league teams have 1B-OPS of less than .780. Only nine teams have 1B-OPS higher than .832. I think it's within the range of plausibility that Vitters will improve his power or production so that he become an asset hitter relative to LF, perhaps even relative to 1B. Other positional notes: 2B: Only 5 teams with OPS over .760. 3B: Only 4 teams have ten 3B HR's. Only two have 3B OPS over .780. 21 Teams have 3B OPS below .720! 19 Teams have 5 or fewer 3B HR's. Given the poverty of 3B hitting and power, I think it's with the range of plausibility that Lemahieu could become an asset hitter relative to 3B, even if his HR power never evolves past 8-10 per year. Obviously what's plausible and what actually happens gor Vitters and Lemahieu may differ. But I don't think their hitting potential is unsuited to LF and 3B. According to BR, there are 79 players with career OPS of 780 or above (min 3000 PA), by position: 1B: 20 2B: 5 3B: 11 SS: 4 LF: 8 CF: 9 RF: 13 C: 5 DH: 4 I'm not sure how relevant you'll find this, but the last post made me curious As a follow up to this, here are the Cubs players who have an OPS higher than 780 (this season): 1.086 - Reed Johnson 0.837 - Jeff Baker 0.829 - Alfonso Soriano 0.822 - Carlos Zambrano 0.810 - Kosuke Fukudome 0.781 - Starlin Castro Just Missed: 0.765 - Marlon Byrd 0.763 - Carlos Pena 0.728 - Aramis Ramirez

What OPS would Vitters have to maintain as a major league player to make him a success? Feel free to answer by position if that makes it easier.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batting/split/79/sort/OPS/order/true OPS by position. Half of the teams in mlb have left-field OPS of less than .710. Only two have LF OPS over .817 (Milwaukee and Cardinals, of course). Only five teams other than the Cubs have LF OPS above .790. Sixteen big-league teams have 1B-OPS of less than .780. Only nine teams have 1B-OPS higher than .832. I think it's within the range of plausibility that Vitters will improve his power or production so that he become an asset hitter relative to LF, perhaps even relative to 1B. Other positional notes: 2B: Only 5 teams with OPS over .760. 3B: Only 4 teams have ten 3B HR's. Only two have 3B OPS over .780. 21 Teams have 3B OPS below .720! 19 Teams have 5 or fewer 3B HR's. Given the poverty of 3B hitting and power, I think it's with the range of plausibility that Lemahieu could become an asset hitter relative to 3B, even if his HR power never evolves past 8-10 per year. Obviously what's plausible and what actually happens gor Vitters and Lemahieu may differ. But I don't think their hitting potential is unsuited to LF and 3B. According to BR, there are 79 players with career OPS of 780 or above (min 3000 PA), by position: 1B: 20 2B: 5 3B: 11 SS: 4 LF: 8 CF: 9 RF: 13 C: 5 DH: 4 I'm not sure how relevant you'll find this, but the last post made me curious

In no particular order, these are the guys that seem to me like they will at least be decent major leaguers someday... Brett Jackson Josh Vitters Matt Szczur Trey McNutt DJ LeMaheiu Ryan Flaherty Jae-Hoon Ha Jeffrey Beliveau These guys could be major leaguers, but have more to show before truly receiving that grade... Justin Bour Austin Kirk Dallas Beeler Nick Struck Robert Whitenack Micah Gibbs Kevin Rhoderick Wellington Castillo Steve Clevenger And then there's a bunch with the potential, but are too far away... Evan Crawford Junior Lake Kyung Min-Na Arismendy Alcantara Ben Wells Reggie Golden Austin Reed Hayden Simpson ...and many more. It's a deep system right now. But it is sorely lacking sure things and studs. Who am I leaving out or over/under rating? I have been reading here often - and enjoying it. A lot of times I see projected dates of callups to the majors. Care to speculate on some of the top names above? Thanks in advance