Tim

They're going to convert him to a pitcher, for real. Nope - next pick is an actual catcher. (rd 15)

They finally realized that someone has to catch for all these guys during warmups

I guess the assumption is that Brailyn is (one of): - never going to be healthy - going to be slotted to a relief role if he ever gets healthy again - actually dead

By my rough estimate off of the MLB.com draft rankings, there are still 79 of the top 250 prospects available. Anyone think we still have funds to overslot another couple of players?

A couple to full season ball(Horton, Birdsell) a couple to the complex league(Ferris, Mule), a couple of the senior signs might be relievers real quick(Hull), and a couple probably need pitch lab/dev list/rehab time(McGwire, Frisch). And a couple of current fringe pitchers will shortly find themselves on the outside or experiencing new "injuries"

How do they get innings to all these guys?

This is a lot of pitchers. I wonder if that's just the way the board is falling for the Cubs or if it is a conscious decision. Combined with most of our top prospects being hitters, I wonder if the potential returns from trades they are discussing are more focused around position players.

I would have much rather had Ben Joyce I’m not very interested in a once-a-week 1-inning relief pitcher until after the 5th round. Certainly not interested after Carraway and even Crochet. On the one hand, I trust the cubs pitching development to get more than that out of him. On the other hand, I should trust the cubs dev team to pick which pitchers they see something they can work with.

I would have much rather had Ben Joyce

There’s hardly any consensus on anybody past the top half of the first, these guys are 17/18 year olds. Here are the rankings on the guy they drafted at 7: Ranked #16 by Corey Pronman (The Athletic) Ranked #17 by Scott Wheeler (The Athletic) Ranked #14 by Chris Peters (The Daily Faceoff) Ranked #12 by CONSOLIDATED RANKING Ranked #19 by ELITEPROSPECTS.COM Ranked #8 by FCHOCKEY Ranked #11 by TSN/BOB McKENZIE Ranked #18 by MCKEEN’S HOCKEY Ranked #10 by TSN/CRAIG BUTTON Ranked #7 by NHL CENTRAL SCOUTING (NA Skaters) Ranked #13 by SPORTSNET Ranked #17 by ISS HOCKEY Ranked #14 by RECRUIT SCOUTING Ranked #15 by DOBBERPROSPECTS Ranked #17 by DRAFT PROSPECTS HOCKEY Ranked #13 by SMAHT SCOUTING Ranked #17 by THE PUCK AUTHORITY Here are the rankings on the guy they drafted at 25: Ranked #29 by Chris Peters (The Daily Faceoff) Ranked #50 by Corey Pronman (The Athletic) Ranked #52 by Scott Wheeler (The Athletic) Ranked #32 by ELITEPROSPECTS.COM Ranked #62 by FCHOCKEY Ranked #31 by TSN/BOB McKENZIE Ranked #28 by MCKEEN’S HOCKEY Ranked #37 by TSN/CRAIG BUTTON Ranked #19 by NHL CENTRAL SCOUTING (NA Skaters) Ranked #53 by RECRUIT SCOUTING Ranked #37 by DOBBERPROSPECTS Ranked #58 by DRAFT PROSPECTS HOCKEY Ranked #43 by SMAHT SCOUTING Ranked #54 by THE PUCK AUTHORITY Here are the rankings on the guy they drafted at 39: Ranked #63 by Scott Wheeler (The Athletic) Ranked #84 by Corey Pronman (The Athletic) Ranked #55 by ELITEPROSPECTS.COM Ranked #52 by FCHOCKEY Ranked #60 by TSN/BOB McKENZIE Ranked #50 by MCKEEN’S HOCKEY Ranked #94 by TSN/CRAIG BUTTON Ranked #49 by NHL CENTRAL SCOUTING (NA Skaters) Ranked #35 by RECRUIT SCOUTING Ranked #65 by DOBBERPROSPECTS Ranked #70 by DRAFT PROSPECTS HOCKEY Ranked #45 by SMAHT SCOUTING Ranked #89 by THE PUCK AUTHORITY Here are the rankings on the guy they drafted at 57: Ranked #71 by Scott Wheeler (The Athletic) Ranked #70 by Corey Pronman (The Athletic) Ranked #90 by ELITEPROSPECTS.COM Ranked #168 by FCHOCKEY Ranked #59 by TSN/BOB McKENZIE Ranked #93 by MCKEEN’S HOCKEY Ranked #46 by NHL CENTRAL SCOUTING (NA Skaters) Ranked #63 by RECRUIT SCOUTING Ranked #76 by DOBBERPROSPECTS Ranked #57 by DRAFT PROSPECTS HOCKEY Ranked #113 by SMAHT SCOUTING Ranked #73 by THE PUCK AUTHORITY

Pretty much all of their picks so far have been reaches based on the various rankings. These guys really think they are the smartest ones in the room. Let's hope they're right.

No. It really doesn't.

two defensemen taken with their three first round picks. I know you want to always draft bpa, but they've got a slew of defense prospects and hardly any forwards. both defensemen also sound like they are at least somewhat reaches. time will tell, I guess.

...and then they take a reach with the #7 pick.

Someone is going to give Rodon the Gausman contract and I don't want it to be the Cubs. Way too much injury history with that one.

I think you're underestimating the ceiling of some guys in the system. It would take them hitting on their 80-90 percentile projections, but guys like Kevin Alcantara or Christian Hernandez could be that type of player. Heck, what PCA is showing could end up being there, too. There's also the #7 pick in the draft coming up that should add to that list, too. I feel pretty good about there being enough pitching in the system to fill the 3-5 and even the #2 spot in the rotation effectively in coming years. Where they lack is a really good #1 starter. But there aren't really anywhere close to 30 "#1" starters in MLB at any given time. If we've got a whole bunch of really solid middle of the rotation guys, then we'll occasionally get good seasons from them. And it's certainly possible that one of the arm strength guys in the system like Palencia pops and now you've got it. I'm actually optimistic that we'll be a "pretty solid" team next year and get to a sustainable window after that. I don't know that we'll sign anyone at the Correa-level this offseason. But I think we could easily see multiple signings at the Stroman & Seiya level that really raises the floor for the team.

I get why they did it. I'm underwhelmed by the return. Now we get to see if Kane & Toews ask for trades.

If they can get value, I have no problem shopping Happ. LF is probably the easiest position on the field to replace. Heck, trade Happ for decent minor league assets, sign Conforto and let him use the rest of this season as adjustment after surgery. You've upgraded your OF and also acquired future assets.

Effross isn't going to get you Moreno - Keegan might be a start?? Right, the idea is that pre-arb reliever is the 2nd or even 3rd piece in a deal that also involves a bigger player. Toronto doesn't have much use for Contreras or Happ which further makes it unlikely, but the Mets could desperately use Willson, so if a middle reliever is what gets you over the line to get an Alvarez you tell him to pack his bags. Thompson I would've said the same thing about a month ago, but now that's a little more nuanced a conversation. yeah, it depends on how much faith you have in Thompson and whether you think you'd be selling high.

Right shoulder soreness for Hendricks

Just noticed PCA's current ranking on FG is at 49 overall.

Mervis is breaking out to the point where he's gone from a super-fringe prospect to someone of significant interest for me. That 160 wRC+ across 292 PA looks really nice. As a bat-only 1B and at 24, he needs to be doing that to be on the radar. Hill is doing enough with an outstanding contact rate to be intriguing. Slaughter is another breakout that needs to go on for all season to be believed, but hot damn right now. Also, I have no idea why you're discounting a .320/.388/.532 line from a "plus-plus" CF in his first effective year in pro ball. He's essentially straight out of high school putting up those numbers after a year off. He's got the draft pedigree and is a no-doubt CF. If that's his line at the end of the year, I think you'll see top 20-30 ranks on him. Especially if that power production holds up - that was definitely unexpected from him this year.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/minor-league?pos=all&level=0&lg=2,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,14,12,13,15,16,17,18,30,32,33&stats=bat&qual=40&type=1&team=&season=2022&seasonEnd=2022&org=17&ind=0&splitTeam=false&players=&sort=19,1&pageitems=100&pg=0 We have 48 players hitting above league average on that list. If you set the PA at 100 to get rid of the short season guys, then you're still at 29 players hitting above league average. And a large batch of those players are real prospects who are young for their levels. Someone like PCA is almost a lock to be a top 75, if not top 30 player if he keeps up his production at this level. About the only prospect who has really hurt his standing this year (other than injury) is Preciado. For PCA, Alcantara, Made, Triantos, Caissie and Pinango to all be above average hitters as some of the youngest guys in their leagues is really good. Add in that they pretty much all got off to slow starts and then started raking after the adjustment is even better. There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic on that side of the ball. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/minor-league?pos=all&level=0&lg=2,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,14,12,13,15,16,17,18,30,32,33&stats=pit&qual=30&type=1&team=&season=2022&seasonEnd=2022&org=17&ind=0&splitTeam=false&players=&sort=17,-1 There's not quite as much to be excited about on the pitching side, but there are good things happening there, too. The guy that has really "popped" there this year is Devers. He's probably raised his stock more than any other pitcher. But Herz & Wicks have both posted really good peripherals & scouting. Also, so that I don't have Tom jump on me, Gallardo has also more than held his own as one of the youngest players in that league, also.

I had Bell being the target instead of Mancini in my original post. Then I looked at his stats for this season and figured he's probably going to get overpaid by some team thinking this is the new normal for him. I agree I'd prioritize a left-handed hitter, but just grabbed the first name that represented an easy upgrade, but would come pretty cheap. My lowkey favorite option for #2 on your list is Schwarber. If Philly decides that their "ignore defense entirely" approach didn't work and looks to re-tool the roster, he should be available for players on the back half of our 40 man crunch. Unfortunately, if Dombrowski is still in charge this winter, I don't think that'll happen. My *hope* is that Mervis continues to really force the issue for the rest of the summer. First base is just sitting there waiting to be claimed. It's really hard to have a winning team with negative offensive contributions from 1B. Debrincat for Schwarber and a 1st. They really need to add an NHL-ready prospect for that to work given the age & contract differences.

That was kind of the point of the original post