Named After Maddux

Shark strikes out the side in the 5th. His current line is 5ip, 2 H, 0R, 5 K, 1 BB And as I'm writing this he TRIPLES leading off the bottom of the 5th! Kyle beat me too it. Exciting nonetheless.

Eh I was worried we were going to get a message like this. Here's hoping it's something minor. Something to consider, even Spring Trainings for more experienced plays can cause you to tweak something by trying a bit too hard too fast. Wishful thinking, but I really hope it's not anything arm/elbow/shoulder related.

He wasn't a target I really wanted the Bears to spend much time pursing, but I was kinda hoping he would be on the market a little longer, if for no other reason than to have another WR on the market to distract other teams a tad. Overall though, I completely expected he'd return to the Saints.

Ok that sounds like when all is said and done he will have a good shot at ending up in Daytona when camp breaks. Also likely considering the similar climate in Daytona verses Peoria come April.

I actually think Noah and Howard together reaches the point of diminishing returns. Too much paint clogging to let Rose operate. I'd rather have a stretch 4 playing alongside Dwight. Anyway, the theoretical cap space that would be made available if Dwight left is only worth spending on Dwight and I guess Eric Gordon. Deron is the other big FA fish and obviously not a fit. I'd love Gordon to play off of Rose but a Rose, Gordon, Noah core isn't getting it done, IMO. I wouldn't be too excited about Rose, Gordon, Noah as a core for next year, but speaking of a stretch 4: hopefully Mirotic will be able to come over either next year or the one after.

The thought of Williams and Peppers on the outside and rotating Melton, Okoye and Paea in the middle would be pretty amazing. That would effectively limit any chance to double cover Peppers on the outside, which is awesome by itself. Man, just being able to rush our front four everytime with a rotation like that is just drool worthy.

That's really exciting to hear! And on a side note Cabrera has long since been a project that always seemed to be just a little bit away from really clicking (in rotation or more likely the bullpen). I'll be intrigued to see his results along with the other pitchers in camp.

Especially after Wilken highlighted lefty SP as a weakness of the system that they want to address in the draft, it wouldn't surprise me if they went that way early (1st/Sup/2nd round). I agree you take BPA, but I would be very happy if we could find a high upside lefty SP early.

I love this deal. I think the key take away point is we added a quality prospect at a need "position" (Wilken said the area we needed to improve the most was young left-handed pitching). The price hasn't been officially announced and if it is as high as mentioned then I appreciate Ricketts spending the money to add a prospect in the last open off season for IFA. Regardless of the exact price it appears to be a quality addition to our farm.

Especially with the jokes about moving to Vegas, can we just name them the Houston Craps? It fits in both cities!

I want no part of Marrero. I know it's not a fair comparison (AZ st verses HS, more talent etc), but whenever I think of Marrero I have "I'm Matt F--g Bush!!" pop in my head". For the 6th pick I would much rather go the other way. There's too much talent there, for me, to get a no-power but good hit tool SS at 6.

What I like about our pitching is the amount of intriguing arms we have this year. I was bored waiting for a session to start at the Convention so I started jotting down quick ideas about potential rotations at the different levels of the minors. It seems like everyday there's going to be someone interesting to follow. There's not TOR littered everywhere or anything but like I said "intriguing" arms to follow. I like that and it seems like a huge focus of our management to get some added star pitching next year (from the conversation with Wilken). Sorry no added scouting reports, just some random thoughts at 6am.

Oh I definitely think 3rd is future for Baez instead of 2nd, especially considering the glut of MI prospects and we added Torreyes this off season. He has the skill set to be a strong offensive/ good defensive 3rd baseman (small sample size of errors at SS in 2011 not withstanding). It is good that they haven't already decided he needs to move, even if he does in 2012.

Unfortunately not a lot of comments about specific players was brought up. Most of the questions weren't geared towards players. Szczur and Rizzo were addressed multiple times about their strong make-up. Dave Otto was on kind of an Open Mic night and got off track a little. I'll look through my notes and I'll see if there's anything I missed.

So my original post took too long and I had to retype it! Lost the info about our IFAs. Wilken spoke specifically about Malave, Hernandez, and Candelario. Not scouting info just that he was really excited about them in particular. Spoke about how impressed he was watching down in Instructs. He said that really changed his mind about what to expect in 2012. No mention about where they'd start, but again was impressed. In particular, thought it was extremely exciting Malave and Candelario could be hitting middle of the order and succeeding against much older teams at instructs.

I'll be giving a report for the Down on the Farm meeting and my interview with Tim Wilken. Feel free to message me and ask if you have a specific question. Down on the Farm: Rhee was mentioned as being back to full strength (93-95 fb and breaking pitches more consistent last year-obligatory Fleita gushing warning). They didn't talk about which breaking pitches he'd be throwing just that they had tightened up. In addition he was projected to start in the AA rotation. Whitenack is expected to be ready to start the 2012 season in Daytona at the end of spring training. I didn't think he'd be ready by then and was shocked, but it was great to hear. Jeff Beliveau has made substantial strides since he's been drafted on his control, which was apparently spotty in school. They now feel he can be a back-end of the bullpen guy (didn't specify closer or set-up, just using the term Wilken and Fleita mentioned). In addition, he was, according to Wilken, to have a bit of poor conditioning when drafted. He now has 6.5% body fat at the last time he was measured by the Cubs! The panel (in particular Wilken and Brett Jackson) was jokingly trying to get him to take his shirt off for the crowd, but he wasn't having any of it. A bit of an aside, Brett Jackson is hilarious and so at ease with the crowd. He looked very "Hollywood". Brett answered the questions well and took pressure off several of the other players, especially Junior Lake, who was very nervous. Brett was asked to translate for Junior Lake after a question about what he learned about living in the US. Here's his "translation": "Brett Jackson is the best player I've ever played with... he is also my best friend". Everyone laughed, even Lake, who can understand and speak English, but was nervous. Jackson was very confident, not in a cocky "better than everyone here" attitude, just confident in being there. They paired him with Anthony Rizzo the whole weekend, which was great because Rizzo was a little overwhelmed and they will probably be playing with each other in AAA and Chicago (hopefully soon :beg: ) Management has added a new system in which players in the minors can watch film of players throughout the minor leagues including themselves on their mobile devices. McLeod was really proud of this and discussed how it gives the players with the strongest work ethic the ability to really study up and prepare themselves for the big leagues. Javier Baez will be given a chance to play SS next year and beyond. No decision has been made and it was said that "his bat can play anywhere", although likely 2nd or 3rd if not SS. Scouts will watch two-sport players in their other sport. Wilken watched Matt Szczur play in a football game against Penn. Tim Wilken interview: Tim was nice enough to sit down and answer a few of my questions. In particular he spoke about how he and the Team hadn't found any loopholes in the new CBA (but let's be honest, would he tell me if they had?). He spoke about the only advantage would be to immensely increase the amount of exposure the scouting staff had to amateur players. In addition, I was unaware that he was the only Scouting Director strictly in charge of the Amateur and Professional side of the game. He said it put a huge strain on him and he was actually excited to just focus on what appears to be his "baby", the amateur draft. I was wondering if he bristled at McLeod being brought in. But he mentioned that he can focus on what he really loves to do. Maybe a PC answer, but it seemed genuine. Finally, the 2012 draft will be very heavy in favor of positional players. He said that management is very aware of the holes in the system, namely SP, but it won't be easy to correct in the 2012 draft. He did say that LH SP in high school appears to be quite strong and it will be an area the team will target.

Hey haven't posted in awhile. Finishing up my pharmacy degree by working in an ICU in Chicago so I've been insanely busy, but I'll have a report when I get back home in an hour or so. I also got to talk to Tim Wilken on the side. He gave me a little bit of info on 2012 draft strengths and weaknesses and what the Cubs would be looking at.

The more and more I listen to or read material Doug Glanville writes, the more impressed with him I become. I knew he was well educated of course, but I really feel like he is just so underrated, as far as analysts go. That will be an interesting read.

Great season everyone! Thanks O_O and Raisin (and everyone else). The depth and quality of minor league info you bring up for discussion is why I first started reading this forum and why I joined. Look forward to some interesting topics in the future (and some more home grown talent on the ML team of course!)

And Del Valle finishes with 6 innings 2 hits, 0 R, 8 K and a walk. Also Szczur currently 3/3 with a double and 2 SB.

Smokies close it out, winning 10-4. Martinez (5 K's, no walks, 3 innings), Rhoderick, Berlind, and Hatley throw 7 shutout innings with only 2 hits in relief of Searle. I guess the Smokies have an MO this year in the playoffs. Here's hoping they can close it out tomorrow night in Chattanooga.

The thing I like best about Beliveau is his combination of strikeouts with control. He had a 5.3 K/BB ratio in about 60 innings in Tennessee this year and greater than a 3 K/BB at every level since the beginning of 2010. Couple that with the fact that he's had a >10 K/9 at every level in the minors, he still is 24, and he has a smattering of closing experience, I would be a very big proponent on making him a key person to add to the 40 man.

Hopefully Searle can continue his really solid run since returning as a starter this year (11 starts, 3.08 ERA, 2.13 GO/FO, .238 BAA). It's weird thinking that he's just 22 this year. I remember when he was pushed to Daytona when he was 19 in 2009. It'll be interesting to see whether he ends up starting next season in Tennessee or Iowa or going back to his relief role where he was very good in Daytona. I hope they give him a shot to start again next year. It always seemed like his issue was on the mental aspects of the game. Maybe he's grown up a bit.

Which is too bad because it also could eliminate any possibility of seeing Ben Wells in another big game this year. I'm so interested in seeing what he will do next year. His record might not seem gaudy, but for a 18 year old (19 on 9/10) in shortseason, I'll take 4-4 4.66 ERA and a roughly 3 GO/AO any day.

Good point on Beeler earlier. I got to the game a little early today and actually got to talk to Dallas as he was sitting in the bullpen. I asked him how his arm was feeling and he said that it felt great. He was on a 4 inning or 60pitch max yesterday (which ever came first) and he only threw 36 pitches through 4 yesterday before being taken out. We talked (ironically that you brought up the change) about what he liked to throw and what his repertoire was. He loves his 2-seam fastball. He's comfortable with the Curve and likes how that pitch is progressing. He did say that when talking to the organization, they told him he needs to make serious effort with the change and he'll be throwing that a lot more next year just to get the feel of the pitch. He did say he threw a couple yesterday, but next year will start using it more often. As far as Silva, he surprised me with how the ball really jumps off his bat. Not that he has a ton of power, per se, but he did strike the ball really well at times. I didn't get to see him in bp so I'm not sure. It'll be interesting to see if he can improve the plate discipline, because as you brought up, that's an issue. He had some swings that were not pretty today (and 2 more K's). Wallach transitioning to a power reliever would be intriguing. Basically anything we could get out of him would be nice. Hopefully he can focus just on the fastball/curve, improve the command, and develop some consistency.