Named After Maddux

Good stuff here @Jason Ross. I'd echo the other thoughts it feels like Miller there is some optimism in him taking a late inning role for next year, but also can't feel too comfy with injury history. Personally I think there's one clearcut MLB roster add. Just sitting here right now I'd guess a small trade for Garrett Cleavinger. Will still bet on a bunch of MiLB signings and optional relievers via waivers and signings. But a pen entering spring training with something like: High Leverage: Palencia, Zef, Brown, Miller Matchup arms: LHP - Rolison (LHP), Cleavinger (Velo/LHP) RHP - Webb (vs LHP), Maton (vs RHP CT/sweep) Long relief options: one of Assad, Garrett, Wiggins(?) Nine players for 8 spots gives you a pretty solid group to start with some wiggle room. With Wiggins I'd keep him starting but it's a possibility he breaks into the bigs in this type of role at some point. And for Brown I'm just not positive he can handle starting but I understand having him at least prepare this winter to start. It gives him an easier path to be a two inning guy early in the year. Maton was a complete flop this year. If it continues I think they move on early, but I'm strangely somewhat optimistic on him after finally addressing that knee with surgery. Just get a solid arm that can bury hitters who struggle with low angle cut/sweep.

It’s a pretty silly level of cherry picking when the Cubs are also 3rd in Team wRC+ at 110. Sure the Cubs look great on position player WAR because of defense but the offense looks just fine. It’s obviously not perfect, but come on. There’s plenty of concerns about the team overall. The injuries on the pitching side makes it tricky to address all the holes, but the offense is good enough to justify using resources as the Cubs sit with the sixth best record in baseball and with a clear WC position.

They obviously value Tyler Zombro and if you promoted him to keep him from going to another club then you needed to see if a Zombro-focused draft would produce results. No half measures. No “is this a DK guy or a TZ guy?” They went all in with pitchers Zombro believes they can develop. Especially the arms in the first 12 rounds. Toss in Marton and a smattering of later round picks, they put in the effort to give Zombro a class to oversee development. Obviously it’s now on his team to get results but it’s encouraging that scouting and player development were in complete lockstep. We’ve been asking for that for years.

Sounds like Ariston Veasey is the $300k guy. Makes that Hernandez pick pretty impressive.

It sounds like Hernandez will be a $300k bonus. I had heard there was a $200k and a $300k overslot in 11-20 so that's my guess now that Marton took the $200k. Really like how DK structures these. Picking this late still felt like they could maneuver around decently well.

Blomker coming in around $900k (I thought they were saying $900k overslot) is really nice

That’s the hope it sounds like. There isn’t an obvious insurance player they’re holding back like Barnett and Blatter

Sorrell and Blomker over. Hernandez over. Believe there are a couple small overslots 11-20. Blomker getting the biggest overslot

Sounds like all three are overslots. Blomker should get a sizable amount there (about $900k over). A lot of the class signed last night so we should get. Formal announcement soon. They got the majority of the overslots done it sounds like.

I believe the vast majority of the first 12 rounds of Cubs drafted pitchers fall into that larger bucket. It’s not perfect to bin guys strictly in pronation/supination from a far (without biomechanics analysis) but it’s decent. Basically all of the first 12 rounds of arms have larger arsenals and high spin capacity. Even Chase Meyer who is probably the most pure-reliever they took has FB, Curveball, Slider, and he’s thrown a changeup before. Big spin, deep arsenals. Usually when you see that mix it’s often from someone with a supination bias. Not always. I’m painting with a broad brush but pretty solid.

The joke I made with a scout a few months back on Jasa and think I brought it back up on the podcast is the team is going to lock Carson in the Sloan weight room with a stair climber when he gets down to AZ. He’s gonna come out with Mark Prior calves and throw 102. Concerning some of these fastballs, there’s a lot they could do, but also they’re making a bet on supination and spin. Big deep arsenals but the trade off on that is side spin meaning those fastballs often don’t pop on the metrics as often. There’s still work to be done with them and usage is critical. The fastball often acts as what some player’s cutters are - bridge pitches and barrel suppressors. Then you beat guys with harder cutters that can be gyro sliders, hard curveballs, sweepers, and an arm-side offering like a changeup or split. Try to get as many of these pitchers with three fastballs (cut, 4s, sinker), multiple breaking balls, and one arm-side changeup or split.

This is where I'm at with it. Basically can the Cubs allocate one COF spot with Shaw and PRam and the other serving as the tenth man? That's my preferred route. KA could make sense as a backup OF as well, but he's in a tricky spot. He doesn't seem to generate much trade interest so it could just make sense to hold and let him hit LHP next year and in good match ups.

Believe the Cubs have been in on Dylan Carlson for a couple years now. He’s dealt with some injuries and there’s some talk that he might have turned a corner there. I’d be pretty skeptical there but sometimes you get a good season from someone if they have a lucky healthy season

The health risk is likely what shifted things so substantially. Caissie, Rojas, couple more guys in the mix in the top ten in the system. Big ask Cubs did extremely well on this deal but im going to be watching Cabrera’s health status because I think that’ll factor in heavily here.

I thought David Kelton was going to rake