seattlecub

Well, he didn't swing at it... in 3 plate appearances thus far today, vitters has seen 5 pitches, swung at 4 of them and was hit by the other one. Not writing him off or anything, but seeing that didn't make me happy. when does he finally get written off? i understand he has good zone coverage, but an extended big league career that doesn't make. it seems silly to consider him to ever be a productive starting option outside of the greyhound leagues I would say he gets written off sometime yet in the future, because while good zone coverage doesn't MAKE an extended big league career, his contact ability can, if he can learn to at least be more selective about which pitches to swing at. and while he might never be miguel cabrera, his contact ability will earn him more benefit of the doubt and thus more chances to succeed (and fail) than, say, ryan harvey, who Crash Davis might say couldn't hit water if he fell off a boat. That said, my expectations have become tempered over the past couple of years, and I'm not exactly confident he will develop into an above average big leaguer. and he will certainly need to produce at some point. However, I'm hopeful that he's at least trying to develop more selectivity at the plate, and if he is (or does) the attempt will almost certainly coincide for awhile with unpleasant results, b/c that is what happens when humans try to produce while incorporating new information/methods/approaches/etc.

Well, he didn't swing at it... in 3 plate appearances thus far today, vitters has seen 5 pitches, swung at 4 of them and was hit by the other one. Not writing him off or anything, but seeing that didn't make me happy.

Rusin? I thought it was Dolis

From what I can gather by a quick internet search, available evidence does not seem to suggest that big-money signings in Latin America have a great payoff for MLB clubs. Here's a list from 2009 of top LA signing bonuses ever: http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/10/4/1069057/30-largest-latin-american-signing 31 Largest Latin American Signing Bonuses of All Time Tiny by Patrick Clark on Oct 4, 2009 8:39 PM EDT Note that I've excluded Cubans, who have generally played professionally in Cuba before signing with MLB clubs, and who are generally older than the July 2 prospects. Michael Ynoa, 16, RHP, 2008, Athletics, D.R., $4,250,000 Miguel Sano, 16, SS, 2009, Twins, D.R., $3,150,000 Gary Sanchez, 16, C, 2009, Yankees, D.R., $3,000,000 Rafael Rodriguez, 16, OF, 2008, Giants, D.R., $2,550,000 Yorman Rodriguez, 16, OF, 2008, Reds, VZA, $2,500,000 Wily Mo Peña, 17, OF, 1999, Yankees, D.R., $2,440,000 Joel Guzman, 16, SS, 2001, Dodgers, D.R., $2,255,000 Angel Villalona, 16, 3B, 2006, Giants, D.R., $2,100,00 Juan Duran, 16, OF, 2008, Reds, D.R., $2,000,000 Adys Portillo, 16, RHP, 2008, Padres, VZA, $2,000,000 Guillermo Pimental, 16, CF, 2009, Mariners, D.R., $2,000,000 Jose Vincio, 16, SS, 2009, Red Sox, D.R., $1,950,000 Miguel Cabrera, 16, IF, 1999, Marlins, VZA, $1,800,000 Jesus Montero, 16, C, 2006, Yankees, VZA, $1,650,000 Jackson Melian, 16, OF, 1996, Yankees, VZA, $1,600,000 Jurickson Profar, 16, SS, 2009, Rangers, Curaçao, $1,550,000 Ricardo Aramboles, 16, RHP, 1998, Yankees, D.R., $1,520,000 Luis Sardinas, 16, SS, 2009, Rangers, VZA, 1,500,000 Michael Almanzar, 16, SS, 2007, Red Sox, D.R., $1,500,000 Esmailyn Gonzalez, 16, SS, 2006, Nationals, D.R., $1,400,000 Fernando Martinez, 16, OF, 2005, Mets, D.R., $1,400,000 Willy Aybar, 16, IF, 2000, Dodgers, D.R., $1,400,000 Carlos Triunfel, 16, SS, 2006, Mariners, D.R., $1,300,000 Luis Domoromo, 16, OF, 2008, Padres, VZA, $1,250,000 Juan Urbina, 16, LHP, 2009, Mets, VZA, $1,250,000 Chesler Cuthbert, 16, 3B, 2009, Royals, Nicaragua, $1,200,000 Roberto De la Cruz, 16, 3B, 2008, Cardinals, D.R., $1,100,000 Julio Morban, 16, OF, 2008, Mariners, D.R., $1,100,000 Kelvin De Leon, 16, OF, 2007, Yankees, D.R., $1,100,000 Alvaro Aristy, 17, SS, 2008, Padres, D.R., $1,000,000 Jharmidy De Jesus, 17, SS, 2007, Mariners, D.R., $1,000,000 On that list, only Cabrera seems to have really achieved success at MLB level (granted, he's pretty awesome, but I'm not defining success as Cabrera-level type production. I don't even see anyone whose become a full-time starter here). To be fair, a large number of these have signed in the past coupe of years, so we can't really judge their success, but of that group only J. Montero seems to possess a particularly high probability of success at MLB level. When we look at the top 15 signing bonuses from all international signings, we see much of the same. Except that the clearest example of success comes in the form of Byung-hyun Kim. An Asian signing. from BA (July 22, 2010) TOP 15 ALL-TIME INTERNATIONAL SIGNING BONUSES Player Year Pos Org Age Country Bonus 1. Michael Ynoa 2008 RHP Athletics 16 Dominican Republic $4.25 million 2. Miguel Sano 2009 SS Twins 16 Dominican Republic $3.15 million 3. Gary Sanchez 2009 C Yankees 16 Dominican Republic $3 million 4. Adonis Cardona 2010 RHP Blue Jays 16 Venezuela $2.8 million 5. Ariel Ovando 2010 OF Astros 16 Dominican Republic $2.6 million 6. Rafael Rodriguez 2008 OF Giants 16 Dominican Republic $2.55 million 7. Yorman Rodriguez 2008 OF Reds 16 Venezuela $2.5 million 8. Wily Mo Pena 1999 OF Yankees 17 Dominican Republic $2.44 million 9. Joel Guzman 2001 SS Dodgers 16 Dominican Republic $2.255 million 10. Byung-Hyun Kim 1999 RHP Diamondbacks 20 South Korea $2.25 million T-11. Phillips Castillo 2010 OF Mariners 16 Dominican Republic $2.2 million T-11. Chin-Hui Tsao 1999 RHP Rockies 18 Taiwan $2.2 million T-11. Renato Nunez 2010 3B Athletics 16 Venezuela $2.2 million 14. Angel Villalona 2006 3B Giants 16 Dominican Republic $2.1 million T-15. Guillermo Pimentel 2009 OF Mariners 16 Dominican Republic $2 million T-15. Adys Portillo 2008 OF Padres 16 Venezuela $2 million T-15. Juan Duran 2008 OF Reds 16 Dominican Republic $2 million What does all this mean? For me, I would love to see more money put into international player procurement and development. I'm not saying otherwise by any stretch. And, frankly, when July 2 rolls around, i find myself wanting to see the cubs mentioned on a big name. But there seem to be few success stories involving the big money deals paid to 16 year-old kids. I like the spread-the-money-around strategy adopted by the Cubs, given the evidence of the success rate of the big bonus deals. I would, however, like to see them more aggressive on deals for players in the 6-figure range, the kinda guys who show more potential than the rather anonymous guys they tend to sign but who also seem to have more questions or ambiguity surrounding them than the big names. And I would also like the Cubs to allocate more money to increasing the number (and possibly quality) of their international scouts, to get more looks at more players (I would also like to increase this for the Cubs' U.S. amateur scouting, a la what the Blue Jays have done).

any clue what the wind is doing at wrigley for the game tonight?

and now they've had him sacrifice twice in the doubleheader. sigh.

looks like Raley stayed on the bench after play resumed. and it looks like daytona's manager finally caught on to the fact that junior lake's been awesome for 2+ months, and moved lake into the leadoff spot. junior so far has responded by going 1 for 1 with a walk and a steal.

lets just say lake, lee, castro, and vitters develop as hoped—what do you do? you have 3 shortstops and a 3b.

anybody know what the wind is doing today at wrigley?

Just a thought I've been having regarding Vitters and his promotion in the absence of blistering numbers: Perhaps the Cubs recognized the need for him to increase the selectivity in his plate approach and thought he might not do so without him seeing himself as struggling at the plate. While his FSL stats weren't great, they weren't particularly bad either, especially the batting average, which i think might be most likely to stand out to a young kid. However, perhaps the Cubs thought that to succeed in AA at this point he would have to change his approach, and that not doing so might lead to the kind of struggles that could change Vitters' perception of his performance and plate discipline. Just a thought, and one that may be benevolent regarding the Cubs' player development team.

junior lake has a .400+ obp after the all-star break—granted it's less than 30 games, and he's still striking out somethin glike twice as much as he walks, but still, at least a glimmer of hope for a young toolsy shortstop

Vitters replaced sometime during the game by Nate Samson tonight, and vitters also listed as being hit by pitch. Anybody know anything?

thanks CR! i knew about altagracia from last year, but frankly i'm not expecting much from him after his performance last year. mostly when looking at the roster i look for the younger players—definitely the 16-year-olds, as well as the 17- and later-birthday 18-year-olds—and tall pitchers. I'm kinda hoping we land at least one of the top latin players on the market (i've seen cubs listed as interested in peguero) to solidify ricketts' claim that he wants to build a player development machine, although forking over $1.2 M for that pitcher from korea or taiwan over the winter was a nice step (hopefully he turns into something). Thanks also for the word on D-Y Kim. hope the injury isn't serious.

Anybody have any clue on guys who might be worth keeping an eye on for the cubs' 2 DSL teams? Also, any clue where Dong-Yob Kim (spelling?) is? I know Na (the other teenage OF we signed from, IIRC, Korea) is at EXST, but i've seen no sign of Kim. Thanks

anybody know what the wind is doing at wrigley today?

hey fred, how did you find that wind information?

thanks, fred

anyone know what the wind's like today at wrigley?

i'd prefer that the deal doesn't include beckham, that peavy signs off on it and it signals that the pads are in firesale mode, in conjunction with hendry being willing and able to trade for adrian gonzalez. not including beckham would mean the pads are accepting less than ideal return for a high-profile player; i'm not all that high on peavy outside of petco (not saying he's a fluke, but he ain't the same guy); and i think gonzalez would improve the offense significantly, and with a good contract to boot. but i'm pretty sure this pipe dream gets derailed at any number of the necessities

anybody have a link to or a list of all type a and type b players for 2007-08, not just free agents?

why not put pie in #9, pitcher in #8. Pie will benefit from hitting in front of soriano, soriano will get more RBI opportunities

would you trade prior for hamilton? i would, and try to get a young prospect as well (if poss.)

well crap, i'm going to the game tomorrow and hopefully tuesday in tacoma. i'd waited 2 years for this chance to see pie here. you've got to be kidding me.

just anecdotal information here, but when i saw colvin play a coupla games last year, he seemed fairly patient and overall pretty good at the plate (i'm no scout though, so take this for what it's worth). he worked counts, took strikes (wasn't just swinging at anything that looked close; rather it seemed he was looking for his pitch, one he could drive). he did swing and miss more than i liked. and he played center for only one of them. as an interesting addendum, in one of the games i got to see pawelek walk 3 or 4 guys, including 1 HBP that he nailed in the crotch. sc

i believe they did away with the arbitration deadline, didn't they? from mlb.com