don_kessinger_was_good

I disagree with some in this thread; what a case like Dopirak shows is that performance in the low minors has poor predictive ability regarding the true upside of a prospect. Until they can move up to at least AA and post good numbers, it's all a crapshoot. There are just too many non-prospects at the A level to draw any firm conclusions about these kids--half the time a guy like Dope went to bat in 04, he was facing pitchers with barely more talent than your everyday community college team's pitcher. I wish him well, but the chances are, well, slim.

Um, I don't follow tennis much--well, at all--so I don't know; who's the babe in your avatar? Holy smokes.

1. Holdzkom has been put on the DL; don't know the nature of his injury. 2. Petrick is heading to the bullpen. 3. Haven't heard a peep regarding Hagerty. 4. I'll be charitable and say that determining the placement of Johnson is not regarded as a priority by the Cubs. Worst high-level pick since Cunningham?

Trade Zambrano for A-Rod, please. Z can't throw strikes. I'll take the HOF-er at SS and take my chances with a different starting pitcher.

All over the news now; Zell wins the bid, Cubs are to be sold after the 2007 season. Does this affect the Zambrano negotiations???

When was Hagerty released? I never read that he was, but I did read that he was in minor league camp. Unless I'm mistaken, Hagerty was a 2nd round, and not 1st round, pick.

i agree 100%. i think cherry will be up pretty soon anyway as guzman's control might be an issue in the pen. if cotts gets rocked as he has in spring training, i think rapada will get the call from iowa. if dempster can do his job and return to his 2005 form, the pen will be a major strength for the cubs in 2007. The sample size was admittedly small, but Rapada did not impress in Arizona. I think it unlikely he'll play a role in 2007 given the presence of three lefties ahead of him in Eyre, Ohman and Cotts.

I disagree that the pen is weaker. Novoa is no loss. Wood is out, but few expected much from him anyway. On the other hand, Arizona saw the emergence of Rocky Cherry, this kid is terrific and ready to pitch in the big leagues right now. He has good command, a strong fastball, and a plus-plus slider. All he needed to do is get healthy, and he's taken the ball and run with it. Hendry and Fleita look like geniuses for protecting Cherry over Campusano, I am very impressed. The only mistake I think the Cubs are making is that Cherry should be with Chicago, and Guzman should be in Iowa where he can start every 5th day and be ready to step into the rotation if/when Miller falters.

prior has probably given the cubs their $20 mil worth, by the way. his 2003 alone was probably worth that much. obviously, the rest of your argument sucks, but that part was especially bothering me, and it was one of the few parts of your rant that hadn't already been torn down. Obviously.

ends with this... :lol: Wow, I feel so humbled. A "lol" from a "Superstar", whew. Those 16,000 posts sure mean my POV is irrelevant, yep.

If he has shoulder problems--as has been rumored by Will Carrol amongst others for three YEARS now--why the heck didn't he have surgery to get well? I think the answer that many suspect is related to the whole pampering/softness argument. Meanwhile, as some choose to make apologies for Prior, I take the view that this guy has $20MM of the Cubs' money, and put his team in limbo for three full years. NOW he wants to cry about not getting any respect. Screw that. I'm a Cubs fan, not a Mark Prior fan. So sue me.

Rather than jump all over the new guy poster for his "soft" comment on Prior, the facts seem to be that Prior is not mentally tough--or do you discount the many whispers to that effect from ball players and executives around the league? I think they have a better feel for it than posters on NSBB. As for Prior's latest--surprising that it came from him, and not his Daddy--the contrast with Kerry Wood couldn't be any more stark. Prior is being demoted because he looks to be finished. Maybe he comes back strong again, but the history suggests this rarely happens with pitchers. The odds say the fork in Prior's back is large and permastuck there. So what chaps MY hide on Prior is that the Cubs have paid this guy $20MM now for what amounts to one great season--4 long years ago. The Cubs made him a bonus baby, they've handled him with kid gloves since the very beginning. They avoided the temptation to trade him two years ago when fans cried loudly, despite the fact it would have been a brilliant trade after the fact (Prior for Tejada were the principals). Don't the Cubs deserve a bit more respect from Poor Widdle Mark than his "I'm just an employee" crapola? I mean seriously...you're a shell of your former self, you were 1-6 with a skyhigh ERA last year, and the Cubs are paying you over $3.5MM again this year. How about you go to Iowa, shut the heck up, and show whether you have anything left? Because at this stage, you're closer to Mark Fidrych than Fergie Jenkins, pal. Grow up.

If true, I hope Cherry doesn't let it get to him, because he has had a great spring and has really helped himself. The Cubs will tempted with Marmol, but I hope they install Cherry as Iowa's closer, use Marmol in setup, and keep Holdzkom in AA until he shows he can consistently throw strikes.

Dumb. Jones has looked good this spring, and Lou seems to like him. If JJ struggles, you can always platoon him, Jones has always hit RHP good, so that's not a concern. And his defense is no worse than Sosa's, I can live with it. Floyd is the one I'm concerned about with his Adam Dunn-quality defense to-date. I mean, Cliffie looks BAD out there, BAD.

For once, Sox fans were right. This guy is awful. Our Favorite Manager seems to share the sentiment: God, I really like Lou Piniella.

There's just no chance Price falls to the 3 pick. None. He's gonna be a good one.

With yet another setback for Wood, I think you can go ahead and pencil in Cherry to break camp with the big league Cubs. He's had one shaky outing and five strong ones. He's in. We need Wuertz to get up to speed over the next two weeks, and then I'll feel pretty good about our bullpen regardless if Wood has anything for us. Dempster, Howry, Eyre, Ohman, Wuertz, Cherry and Cotts, I'll take that. For those hanging out at Fitch, let us know when you see Lincoln Holdzkom and what he's looking like. I'm pleased to have him back, I still think he can help the Cubs down the road. More than likely he's another Todd Wellemeyer--just can't get to the strike zone consistently enough to make it, despite good stuff. But, we can hope.

How about if we trade them Pagan for Ricky Nolasco? :twisted:

I don't think that is the case at all. He could play 2nd base or one of the corner outfield spots. 2B, maybe. The Cubs are not going to sign him to play corner outfield though-they already have their future plan for the outfield set out. How is that? Pie and Soriano are two, but if you're thinking Tyler Colvin three, I like Colvin's upside. But he wouldn't bump A-Rod from a job, c'mon. Rodriguez, Soriano, Pie--yep, I could live with that. :-)

Haha! Just as I post mine, you post this ahead of me. Good news! Yes, Ceda was an animal last year, he is worth getting excited about. And for all the Donnie Veal love around here (justified), am I the only one thinking Samardzija may well be our #1 prospect right now? Even ahead of Prince Felix?

In the lower minors, I'm interested in following Carter, Ceda, Fuld and Atkins this year. In the "do they have anything left" category, Blasko, Hagerty, Petrick, Johnson and Brownlie would be the pitchers to watch, for hitters, it's obviously now or never for Dopirak and Harvey. In the high minors (AA and AAA), there are a lot of pitchers this year to be excited about. Given what's happened so far in Arizona, I am really pumped over Samardzija, I think he has to start off in AA, doesn't he? He has too much talent already to waste time in Daytona IMO. I think Felix Pie, Eric Patterson and Tyler Colvin are the only three genuine hitting prospects we have, but all three look awfully good. And I really want to see Jake Fox some more, c'mon dude, can't you catch just a LITTLE bit?

At the current pace, a Cherry thread may not be long for the minor league forum. The kid has been lights out and is making Hendry and Fleita look like geniuses for protecting him instead of Holdzkom. Of course, they'd be bigger geniuses if they'd not protected Dopirak and kept Campusano instead, but I digress... Wuertz is well behind because of his shoulder and will almost certainly not break camp with the big league Cubs. We may (thankfully) have passed through the Novoa Era with his #1 supporter (Dusty) gone. And, Lou is pretty much saying at this point that they will go north with 12 pitchers. So, Rocky Cherry--does he hit the show? I think he does. AZ Phil has been watching everyone live in Arizona as many of you know--I really respect Phil's take, the guy is thorough. He has been raving about Cherry, the kid is unhittable. Like so many young power pitchers, he only gets in trouble when he doesn't throw strikes, but that will come with experience. I'm thinking we might have our future Bobby Jenks-type reliever here, and I started the thread to see if anyone else has seen Cherry or has some relevant comments.

Some people will complain about anything. I'm a huge Marquis supporter now because...he's a Cub. And so far, he looks just fine. He has a history when effective of getting a lot of ground ball outs and putting his heavy fastball over the plate for strikes. That's exactly what he's been doing. The guy has a track record of being durable and effective for a full season. Granted, last year he was awful, but how do we know that was not the aberration and 2004 is more the norm? I think he'll be just fine, and I'm plenty pleased to have him punched into Lou's rotation as the 5 guy all season long. Give me an ERA+ of 100 to go with 200 IP and I'm satisfied. Anything better is gravy, and so far this spring, Marquis has shown that he brought his ladle to Arizona. ;-) You all want something to complain about, I'd complain about the wisdom of paying $4MM a year to a former top pitcher who looks like he's become the Cubs' own version of Mark Fidrych. Fork, meet Mark. Mark, fork.

I know this is a bit off topic, but it does fit with the title of the thread, so instead of starting a whole new thread... Wuertz is injured at the moment. Now he may be fully ready to return and perform well by the time the season gets under way, but for the sake of discussion, let's say he isn't. With Wuertz out and Miller not wanting to go to the pen, that leaves Dempster, Howry and Wood as the three righties to go with Eyre, Ohman and Cotts as the lefties. Lou has been talking about breaking with a bullpen of 6, so that could do it, but if he goes with 7 or if Ohman or Cotts keep struggling, what are the chances that Rocky Cherry breaks camp with the big club. He has done everything right so far this spring, and his plus-slider seems similar to Wuertz's. Is he ready to spell Mike until such time as Wuertz is ready to return? I would be more shocked as of today if Cherry DOESN'T make the team coming out of Arizona. He's done nothing but make the Cubs look like geniuses for protecting him instead of Holdzkom. A lot can change in the next three weeks, but right now, Cherry looks like a big leaguer. BTW, I believe Wuertz still has minor league options, so they can send him to Iowa to get the rust off once he's ready to go again 100%. I know for sure that Novoa has options remaining, as do all of the young starters from last year. And then there's Prior.....

<> Um, I think a guy with a 400+ OBP that strikes out less than 40 times a season is EXACTLY the kind of guy stat people LOVE. Madlock was the Balls. I was so crushed when they traded him. Cheapskate Wrigleys.