seattlecub

I know it's way too early to look ahead this far, but I'm curious to see what other people think on this. Assuming every player in the Cubs organization hit their reasonable high-level projections, what would you want the team to look like to start 2016? Who would you have start where, and who would you trade and for what? I ask because I find myself vacillating between numerous possibilities regarding the construction of the team — keep Castro? trade Olt and put Bryant at 3b? does alcantara get moved? What do y'all think?

This is Tom Tango, right? Excellent. He is the guy i was most hoping they would target, assuming they would also target someone to fill the consultant role filled for the Red Sox by Bill James. Good luck to everyone applying for the job opening!

I would like to see them add to the number of scouts they employ, following the Blue Jays model. With the new CBA limiting the amount you can spend on amateur talent, I like the Blue Jays' model of trying to improve the signings they do make. Granted, before this season, Toronto was also picking a gazillion draft choices and signing tons of IFA bonus babies, but I think the new, more (monetarily) level playing field makes it even more crucial than before to be right with the selections a team makes. Obviously, I also think that a team's ability to hit rather than miss on those selections can be improved with more scouts and therefore more eyes on and looks at players under consideration.

The first HR from vogelbach didn't really go that far (maybe 360) but the second one was crushed. left the stadium, cleared the field slash hill and the fence beyond that. i was afraid he took out the windshield on my car, actually. Scott was sitting at 90, had a 79/80 mph breaking ball and what i'm guessing was a change that seemed to be mostly 84/85 mph. he had command problems all night — a lot of pitches in the dirt. Candelario looked good at third (at least he didn't boot anything, and he started an almost 5-4-3 double play). I only remember two of his at-bats, but he saw 4 pitches in them total and swung at all of them. marco misplayed a chopper — he hung back to avoid moving in for a short hop, and instead the ball bounced right over his head. it was ruled a hit. Amaya did a nice job lifting a decently deep fly ball to right to plate what would eventually be the winning run.

yeah, i love having the northwest league to watch. unfortunately, the Iowa Cubs didn't come to Tacoma at all this year, so no chance to see Rizzo/BJax/Vitters.

I'm hoping Almora gets moved to Boise today, cuz I'm seeing the Hawks play tonight. Not gonna lie, I was momentarily elated to see that Soler got promoted before realizing he was skipping Boise. Still glad he's getting the promotion, but I'd like to be able to see him play. Amaya/hernandez/vogelbach/candelario will have to tide me over (and Tayler Scott pitching tonight, I believe)!

yeah, i hope he's with boise at least for the hawks' trip to everett. would love to see him and candelario. and amaya and hernandez. and almora. and dunston and martin. maybe even vogelbach. such an exciting team already, and with the possibility of adding two of the top 3 players in the system (assuming almora signs).

don't want to get ahead of myself, what with the 2012 draft still to come and the regular season still to play out, but it looks like we'll be picking fairly high in that draft (currently 3rd worst in MLB) so i was wondering if anyone knows anything about the relative strength of the potential draft prospects.

of course, he was pulled after three innings — don't know what's up with that.

mcnutt is going for tennessee. 1 hit, no runs and 2 Ks through 3. both he and taijuan walker with shutouts so far.

the braves were not then a small market. they were top 3-5 payrolls starting in 1994 (started 93 7th, and ended the season 4th). for 94-2000, they were mostly w/in 10% of top payroll, and always w/in 20% (contrast with rays, who even in their highest payroll year were doubled by several teeams, and have been consistently triple payrolled by NYY and BOS— in their own division). In contrast, from 94-2000, only twice were the braves not the highest opening payroll in the entire NL, and never lower than second. This helped them manage to keep the great pitchers they had AND manage to surround them with productive to good to excellent players on the rest of the roster, part of the reason why they could run off that impressive record of playoff appearances.

according to BA, Oakland signed Sanber Pimentel on Dec. 4.

assuming some other team(s) would be interested in pena at 8.5-10M, why not offer and if he accepts, trade him to another team? I'm not certain, but I believe that such a trade is allowed, and isn't subject to the same "can't be traded until June" clause that affects free agents, b/c technically pena would not be a free agent in that scenario. i do see the risk if you think no one else would bite and feel that his contract would prevent more meaningful signings, but i think it _may_ be worth it, if you think he could be moved even if he did accept. upside would be a top flight 1b (assuming pujols or fielder) plus a sandwich pick or a prospect or two.

KKvG, i'm curious as to why you think our No. 6 pick in next year's draft will shoot us (general idea seems to be that Cubbies system is in the 18-24 range, certainly not top half) past the padres (they are getting some top 5/top 10 love), given that the padres have the No. 7 pick. They also have harang as a type B and bell as a type A that could nab them another first rounder and two sandwich picks. I personally agree with you and/or whoever else has opined that the pads system may be overrated a bit right now, but that seems like a lot of perception ground to make up.