Jump to content
North Side Baseball

Hairyducked Idiot

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    39,504

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    46

 Content Type 

Profiles

Joomla Posts 1

Chicago Cubs Videos

Chicago Cubs Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

2026 Chicago Cubs Top Prospects Ranking

News

2023 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks

Guides & Resources

2024 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks

The Chicago Cubs Players Project

2025 Chicago Cubs Draft Pick Tracker

Blogs

Events

Forums

Store

Gallery

Everything posted by Hairyducked Idiot

  1. Hairyducked Idiot
    I'm not trying to say he won't meet expectations. It just seems to me that expectations have exploded into something pretty crazy overnight. If he were on a normal prospect development curve, he'd spend 2013 at A+, 2014 at AA, 2015 at AAA and make his MLB debut sometime in late 2015 or early 2016. I'm willing to allow for the possibility that he's such an elite talent he will push that forward by an entire year. But people are going completely nuts and expecting him to cut the time to the majors into a small fraction of what it would normally be.
  2. Hairyducked Idiot
    I can totally ignore that. There are tons of reasons why that might be the case. You can't read anything into early spring assignments. They could assign him to Iowa and I'd still expect him to play his first game this season for Daytona. In the long run, sure, it's fine if he can produce without the walks. But you don't rush him to the majors at 20 before you find out whether you can force him to learn to draw walks. Because why settle for a SLG-heavy .800 OPS when he's got 1.000 OPS potential? Edit: Oh yeah, Arizona Phil explained this yesterday. Players on the 40-man can only be assigned to the disabled list of the minor league to which they were assigned after 16 days before Opening Day. So whatever level Soler was assigned to, he would have to go to that level's roster and disabled list to start the season if he were hurt after yesterday. Since Baez is not on the 40-man, there's no such restriction and no pressure to assign him to any particular level.
  3. Hairyducked Idiot
    What has he done to make you think he's capable of that doing that to AA? 1) Put a normal BABIP on his AFL resume. 2) What he's doing to some legit pitchers this spring. Heck, just combine the numbers from those two into about 100 PA of advanced pitching and he's showing quite a bit that he could handle AA at some point this year. 1) Can I put a normal HR/FB% on it too? But OK, Baez had 59 plate appearances in the AFL. He struck out 14 times (23.7%) and walked an Early Vittersian twice in 59 PAs (3.4%). He went 9-for-39 on balls in play. So if we give him four more singles, that gives him a .333 BABIP. That brings his AFL line up to 281/305/526 line. So while the power is impressive, he's still got contact issues and major approach problems. 2) Spring training stats don't mean anything even when they are fun and exciting.
  4. Hairyducked Idiot
    What has he done to make you think he's capable of that doing that to AA?
  5. Hairyducked Idiot
    I'll believe it when I see it. I just think they want him to have a couple years of big league camps under his belt. Sure, if he progresses rapidly he won't be held back. But he's given us nothing to think that he still doesn't have major approach issues. Pedroia got 600+ AAA plate appearances before he got called up. Ellsbury got 400+ AAA PAs before being called up. I don't think they are lying when they say how important they consider AAA to be.
  6. Hairyducked Idiot
    Planning on skipping him a level doesn't mean he's not that many levels away. Three. And what makes you think this front office doesn't view AAA as a necessary step? They were conservative with Soler last year. They kept Baez in extended spring training last year when people were clamoring for A+ or even AA. Rizzo spent half the year dominating Iowa, a level he had already dominated once. Noticing a pattern? This front office has laid out very specifically how they intend to develop prospects like Baez. They want him to "check the boxes" of improvement in very specific areas. Seeing as how "have jaw-dropping power" was already checked off, nothing we've seen in the spring has changed anything for their plan for him. He needs to show improved plate discipline, and he's not getting promoted, let alone rushed, until he does.
  7. Hairyducked Idiot
    Sure. Winner gets to pick a new username for the loser for six months?
  8. Hairyducked Idiot
    Wanna make a bet? I'll bet my crumpled up Mark Prior scouting report printed out from the 2002 pre-draft Baseball America web page against your hacked site. Neither of them is more than a September call-up in 2014. The last time we saw Javier Baez in competitive games, he was getting punked by A+ pitchers and then the AFL. There are three full levels he has to prove himself at before you think about moving him into the majors. Soler hasn't even seen A+ yet.
  9. Hairyducked Idiot
    The simple version is that they get him for six years, with the first year possibly not counting if you hold him down for part of it. When you want to start that clock is up to you. But he's not close to ready. He was last seen in a competitive environment struggling with A+ and the AFL. He's still two years away, easily.
  10. Hairyducked Idiot
    Wacha is also No. 76 on Baseball America's list and No. 56 on BP's. This is for a guy selected 19th. Apparently he got some pixie dust sprinkled on him immediately upon signing with the Cardinals and added some velocity that he hadn't shown before.
  11. Hairyducked Idiot
    Unrelated, but I noticed today while looking at the minorleagueball top 150 list that the Cardinals' pick from last year, Wacha, is already ahead of Almora. @%#@$ Cardinals
  12. Hairyducked Idiot
    Yeah, if we don't come out of that draft feeling like we picked someone who comes in ahead of Almora, I'll be disappointed.
  13. Hairyducked Idiot
    I suspect someone told Baez that his two in the Japanese game didn't count, so he just shrugged and did it again.
  14. Hairyducked Idiot
    It gets back to what I said earlier about not trusting guys who show up out of nowhere and start flashing amazing stuff. I'd rather have the guy who has had it all along. Unfortunately, if Manaea falls back, even if someone else steps up, I think that makes it even harder for Appel to fall. If it's not Appel, I really just don't want a pitcher. The rest are all projects where you have to worry about their polish *and* their health.
  15. Hairyducked Idiot
    Whatever. The [expletive]. He wants. (if I were Javier Baez, the word filter would let that through)
  16. Hairyducked Idiot
    Like I mentioned, I was kidding. But part of me does wonder how he'd do obviously. If this was the previous regime though, I honestly think there would be serious talk of him coming north right now. Definitely think he'd start in AA and up midseason, if he was remotely holding his own. I think if he were in the majors for a full season and played every day, he'd hit 25 HRs, commit 40-50 errors and strike out 250+.
  17. Hairyducked Idiot
    Age 19 season Baez: 21.5% K rate across A and A+ Patterson: 16.7% at A Vlad: 11.8% at rookie ball (9.7% at A the next season). Baez definitely does not have Vlad's hit tool. And Patterson's was a little ahead at the same age. I think they'll handle him better too, which is why unless he does way better than I expect this season, this rushing-him-to-the-majors talk is silly.
  18. Hairyducked Idiot
    At the same age and stage in their development? Patterson was a much better prospect. Patterson had everything Baez has, plus speed and defense. I'm a little fuzzy, but I don't remember CP having Javy's power or hit tool. Plus, the reports on Javy's D are just getting better and better. He definitely had the power projection. Both of them have the same problem with hit tool: It's not going to matter if they get fooled by breaking pitches. Baez has good defensive reports. Patterson was expected to be an elite defender at a premium position.
  19. Hairyducked Idiot
    Rename us the Chicago Javys.
  20. Hairyducked Idiot
    At the same age and stage in their development? Patterson was a much better prospect. Patterson had everything Baez has, plus speed and defense.
  21. Hairyducked Idiot
    Most exciting prospect since Corey Patterson, and I would hope the comparison reminds us of why patience is key here.
  22. Hairyducked Idiot
    His second HR of the game.
  23. Hairyducked Idiot
    Stanford live broadcasts their games too. Appel starts at 9 p.m. tonight, I believe. I just noticed ESPN3 has a ton of college baseball. Nothing too exciting tonight in terms of prospects.
  24. Hairyducked Idiot
    I guess, but I sort of prefer the "did whatever it took to get better" attitude of Appel. Last time we had a pitcher chillax it was Maples when he decided that he didn't really need to follow the Cubs' offseason regimen and mixed in some of his own.
  25. Hairyducked Idiot
    It did. I remember it happening with the bases loaded, so he got his 100th RBI on the HBP that ended his season. He had 40 HR at that point and was a legit threat to hit 50+ Apparently, there are two parts you can break. the "hook" of the hamate and the main part. I remember Sosa's injury was the hook.
×
×
  • Create New...