Down On The Farm:Cubs Minors Discussion Thread

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Rice Cube

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Agreed, I think it'll be interesting to see how they go about acquiring that talent, I think this is the first time I've paid real attention to prospects in the Amateur draft.

They will unfortunately be hamstrung by slot requirements in the draft and also in how much they can spend on foreign free agents so last year was pretty much the last year teams could go crazy on overslot signings. Cubs may try to go overslot on a few guys and just pay the extra tax without forfeiting draft picks though.
 

MRubio52

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They will unfortunately be hamstrung by slot requirements in the draft and also in how much they can spend on foreign free agents so last year was pretty much the last year teams could go crazy on overslot signings. Cubs may try to go overslot on a few guys and just pay the extra tax without forfeiting draft picks though.


Which is why I think they should trade Garza at the deadline while his stock is still high, the new rules kinda screwed Epstoyer, and the talent they can get back in that trade could really help out.

I think they missed on trading Marmol while they could and that might really end up hurting.
 

dabynsky

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Which is why I think they should trade Garza at the deadline while his stock is still high, the new rules kinda screwed Epstoyer, and the talent they can get back in that trade could really help out.

I think they missed on trading Marmol while they could and that might really end up hurting.

The issue with trading Garza is not desire on the Cubs part but the fact that teams weren't willing to pony up the prospects Theo and Jed want for Garza.

As far as drafting goes I think one of the new front office guys addressed what the new strategy has to be under the CBA, and that is be less wrong than the other guys. You can't outspend your mistakes. So the Cubs are really dumping money into scouting. All the various things that they are doing to get as much info about the prospects is encouraging that they might be able to be less wrong than the other guys.
 

Rice Cube

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Which is why I think they should trade Garza at the deadline while his stock is still high, the new rules kinda screwed Epstoyer, and the talent they can get back in that trade could really help out.

I think they missed on trading Marmol while they could and that might really end up hurting.

The best time to trade Marmol was before they signed him to that extension. The extension was actually fair market value (believe it or not) and I think Marmol is better than he had shown, but trading him was on Hendry and right now he's in the second year of his extension and his bad year basically torpedoed his trade value.

As for Garza...with Matt Cain and possibly Cole Hamels off the market after this season, I think Zack Greinke might be the best impending free agent pitcher (we'll also see how Tim Lincecum does and whether he leaves the Giants) so there's not much they can spend on by way of pitching. I think the CBA and the lack of impact free agent pitching might entice the Cubs to extend Garza. I read that the common opinion is that Garza might get something similar to what John Danks got from the Sox.
 

Rice Cube

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If I understand the CBA correctly the Cubs could potentially spend up to 4.999999% over slot for each pick without forfeiting draft picks in the future. They'd have to pay a penalty tax but since they have money lying around...
 

dabynsky

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The best time to trade Marmol was before they signed him to that extension. The extension was actually fair market value (believe it or not) and I think Marmol is better than he had shown, but trading him was on Hendry and right now he's in the second year of his extension and his bad year basically torpedoed his trade value.

As for Garza...with Matt Cain and possibly Cole Hamels off the market after this season, I think Zack Greinke might be the best impending free agent pitcher (we'll also see how Tim Lincecum does and whether he leaves the Giants) so there's not much they can spend on by way of pitching. I think the CBA and the lack of impact free agent pitching might entice the Cubs to extend Garza. I read that the common opinion is that Garza might get something similar to what John Danks got from the Sox.

Danks and Garza are very, very similar statistical, and if Garza is willing to do a Danks like extension than I think the Cubs might have to do that. The reason being is that there isn't elite starting pitching coming through the system. If another team is willing to deal that type of starting pitching back than the Cubs do it, but it appears like teams are balking at that.
 

MRubio52

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The issue with trading Garza is not desire on the Cubs part but the fact that teams weren't willing to pony up the prospects Theo and Jed want for Garza.

As far as drafting goes I think one of the new front office guys addressed what the new strategy has to be under the CBA, and that is be less wrong than the other guys. You can't outspend your mistakes. So the Cubs are really dumping money into scouting. All the various things that they are doing to get as much info about the prospects is encouraging that they might be able to be less wrong than the other guys.

Yeah I feel you on that one, I'm still hoping Detroit or some other team gets desperate at the deadline and sends a good haul the Cubs way.

BTW, it's pretty awesome that we're talking about the Cubs allocating money into scouting and player development.
 

Rice Cube

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Yeah I feel you on that one, I'm still hoping Detroit or some other team gets desperate at the deadline and sends a good haul the Cubs way.

BTW, it's pretty awesome that we're talking about the Cubs allocating money into scouting and player development.

Yeah, it would've been nice for them to have done that before the CBA fucked them in the ass :D
 

MRubio52

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If I understand the CBA correctly the Cubs could potentially spend up to 4.999999% over slot for each pick without forfeiting draft picks in the future. They'd have to pay a penalty tax but since they have money lying around...

BTW, I dunno if it was you that referred me to this forum, but if you did do that on twitter (@MRubio52), thanks man.
 

Rice Cube

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BTW, I dunno if it was you that referred me to this forum, but if you did do that on twitter (@MRubio52), thanks man.

Might have been Anno, he does the World Series Dreaming Twitter. We also have a blog page and a facebook page and were invited to mod this forum by Rush. Thanks for joining :)
 

MRubio52

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Might have been Anno, he does the World Series Dreaming Twitter. We also have a blog page and a facebook page and were invited to mod this forum by Rush. Thanks for joining :)

Oh I'm a big fan of WSD, it's a great time. Love your work.

But yeah, to get back on topic, I wouldn't be mad either way if the Cubs traded or extended Garza. I can see the merit in doing both.
 

dabynsky

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Low A-Midwest League
(1-0 T-1st Western)Peoria Chiefs 5 at (0-1 T-5th Western)Beloit Snappers (MIN) 2
The Chiefs win their opener by roughing up Beloit's opening day starter Madison Boer. The Chiefs tagged the 22 year old righty for four runs in the third and another tally in the fifth. The bottom of the order accounted for 5 of the Chiefs 7 hits including the only extra base hit, a triple by CF Pin-Chieh Chen. The Chiefs were shut down after the fourth and struggled to make contact the whole day as they struck out 11 times. Chiefs leadoff hitter, 2B Zeke DeVoss, went 1 for 5 with a run and an rbi, but struck out 3 times in the game. Adding to his rough day was a fielding error. Outfielders Reggie Golden and Taiwan Easterling went 0 for 7 collectively, but Easterling picked up a walk and a run. The Chiefs opening day starter, 21 year old right hander Michael Jensen, managed to pitch 5 scoreless innings to earn the win after struggling the first two innings. Beloit got its two runs off of 21 year old righty Scott Weissman in the sixth. Converted OF Kyler Burke pitched a scoreless seventh, and Jeffrey Lorick picked up the two inning save.

High A-Florida State League
(0-1 T-4th North)Daytona Cubs 4 at (1-0 T-1st North)Brevard County Manatees (MIL) 11
Daytona's season began on a down note. Daytona pitchers struggled early and often as 23 year old righty Matt Loosen managed to record only one out to start the game. Loosen walked the first two batters and then got his only out on a pop out. He then hit the next batter, walked two more, and gave up a single before being relieved by Brett Wallach. Wallach struck out the next two batters to end the inning with only 3 runs on the board. Wallach got two outs, 2 walks, 4 hits and 4 more runs before Austin Kirk struck out the last batter of the second inning. Kirk managed to pitch 4 innings and a third surrendering another 3 runs. Daytona struggled against the Brewers first round draft pick from last June, Taylor Jungmann, managing only a run over 5 innings. The Cubs were never in this one with OF Rubi Silva the offensive leader going 3 for 4 with a run scored. CF Matt Szczur went 1 for 5 with a run scored and RBI, and 2B Ronald Torreyes went 2 for 5.

AA-Southern League
(1-0 T-1st North)Tennessee Smokies 4 at (0-1 T-3rd North)Chattanooga Lookouts (LAD) 1
21 year old right hander Nick Struck had the best pitching performance of Cubs farmhands. He earned the win by giving up a single run over 6 innings. He also managed to strike out 10 and walked only 1. Kevin Rhoderick and Frank Batista added 3 more strikeouts over 3 scoreless innings. The Smokies pounded out 12 hits including the only Cubs affliate homerun on the day, an eighth inning solo shot by Justin Bour. 2B Logan Watkins went 3 for 5 with a run and rbi. CF Jae Hoon Ha went 2 for 5 with a run and rbi, and 1B Justin Bour went 3 for 5 with 2 rbi on the day.

AAA-Pacific Coast League
(0-1 T-2nd American South)Round Rock Express (TEX) 3 at (1-0 T-1st American North)Iowa Cubs 5
Randy Wells pitched a quality start for the I-Cubs opener. He gave up 2 homeruns which resulted in the 3 earned runs for the Express in the game. Wells finished the game with 6 IP, 3 ER, 3 BB, and 2 K. Manny Corpas and Scott Maine pitched 3 scoreless innings combined to finish the game. The Iowa Cubs had 10 hits, but the only extra base knock was a Dave Sappelt double down the left field line. The Iowa Cubs grabbed 3 stolen bases and managed to bunch their hits together for five runs. LF Tony Campana, CF Brett Jackson and 1B Anthony Rizzo all went 2 for 4 on the day. 3B Josh Vitters went 1 for 3 with a run scored and a walk.

Scouting Reports (Iowa Cubs):
CF Brett Jackson-Showed flashes of why we all should be very excited about his future and why it was the right decision to send him to Iowa to start the season. Jackson struck out in his first AB on three pitches against right hander Mark Hamburger. He missed on an 0-1 fastball in the zone and a curveball froze him for a looking strikeout. His last AB he swung and missed on a 74 mph curveball to strike out for a second time which was off of a lefty, Ben Snyder. His RBI was a weak grounder to the 3B that should have been a routine play, but the 3B took his time and Jackson easily beat the throw. Jackson did have a solid base hit over the shortstop in the bottom of the sixth. He also stole a base and made a nice diving catch in center field.

1B Anthony Rizzo-Had two singles to the right side of the infield. He drove the ball to deep right center in one at bat. He also struck out in the 6th inning. Rizzo didn't take the bat off his shoulder on the strikeout. The pitcher went down 3-0 to the start the AB, but came back with 3 strikes. The second strike was a mistake pitch that Rizzo probably should have swung at, and the third strike was a questionable call by the umpire. Rizzo looked real solid at 1B defensively. He made a number of decent stops and only had one slight miscue where he fumbled the ball briefly but recovered in time to throw out the runner.

2B Adrian Cardenas-Had some nice ABs despite going 0 for 3. He worked the count well and got an RBI on a sac fly. The main thing that impressed me though was his defense at 2B. He didn't have to make any amazing plays but he looked smooth. He showed some decent range going back on a pop out that he caught in front of Brett Jackson as well.

CF Tony Campana-Reached on a bunt single to score his first run. He popped the bunt up slightly, but it was placed perfectly where the 3B had no chance to get him despite playing in. He also had a single up the middle that dribbled through the box. He stole a base easily though the starting pitcher for Round Rock, Mark Hamburger, didn't really have a good pickoff move or really any pickoff move that he showed. Campana did hit two weak flyballs, one of which was a sac fly.

C Wellington Castillo-He crushed a ball in the first inning, but he hit to the deepest part of Principal Field (400') with the wind blowing in. He was also hit by a pitch twice. He gunned down the one runner that attempted a stolen base with a perfect throw that Cardenas didn't have to move his glove to tag the runner. In the eighth inning he got called for catcher's interference which I couldn't see from the camera angle.

3B Josh Vitters-Vitters was pretty impressive as well. Vitters turned on an 0-1 cut fastball for single up the middle. He would get tagged out on the bases trying to go first to third on a Matt Tolbert single. Vitters stumbled between 2nd and 3rd and was tagged out trying to get back to second. In the sixth inning he had a real quality AB. He took 3 balls to start the at bat. He took a strike, and then swung and miss on a breaking ball. The third pitch was a wild pitch to give Vitters a rare walk. Vitters generally looked like he was recognizing pitches well the whole afternoon. He only had one play on defense that was a routine play which he made.

SP Randy Wells-Wells had a quality start, but I can't help but feel like it wasn't very pretty. Wells was constantly behind hitters. I think I can count on one hand the number of times Wells got an 0-1 count. The umpire's strikezone was tight on both sides and a bit inconsistent, but you can't afford to be 1-0 to most hitters at the major league level. He didn't really have a good slider in the game and one of the homeruns came off a hanging slider. The other homerun came on a pretty good fastball that Julio Bourbon pulled down the right field line. His fastball was hitting 86 and 88, and he seemed to have pretty good movement since he was getting a lot of groundballs to the right side. His changeup was pretty good as well which was clocked at 79.

RP Manny Corpas-
Corpas had a real nice outing. He got through 2 innings with relative ease. Corpas hit 90 on his fastball. Corpas gave up a solid single down the line that was out of Rizzo's reach in the eighth. The inning was made interesting due to catcher's interference being called on the next batter, but Corpas got two more groundballs to Cardenas to end the inning.

RP Scott Maine-Maine is Iowa's closer and he threw the hardest out of any of the I-Cubs hitting 92. The inning started off shaky with a walk, but the next batter couldn't catch up and or lay off Maine's high fastball. Maine got another swinging strikeout on a breaking ball, and a weak grounder to Vitters earned Maine the save.
 

Rice Cube

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Dabynsky is in Iowa?
 

Rice Cube

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Nice. I wish I could afford MiLB.tv but alas.
 

dabynsky

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Nice. I wish I could afford MiLB.tv but alas.

I shouldn't have spent the money, but I treated myself to the year of it for 40 bucks. It is pretty sweet what you get for that price with basically all I-Cubs games and the home games for Tennessee and Boise. You can catch the Cubs affliates in a couple other leagues when they play at the homes of the other teams. Anyways not sure how long I will keep up with these style posts, but since I am on break I did the full treatment.
 

waldo7239117

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Rizzo and Jackson look like they want the call already. Same goes with Castillo.
 

dabynsky

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Low A-Midwest League
(1-1 T-3rd Western)Peoria Chiefs 1 at (1-1 T-3rd Western)Beloit Snappers (MIN) 6
The Chiefs fall to 1-1 off of a 5 run seventh inning. The Chiefs bats were held mostly in check the whole evening managing only 6 hits total. The Chiefs struck out 11 times again, and no Chiefs batter had more than a single hit. The Chiefs only run came in the fifth inning off of a Eduardo Gonzalez double to drive in Wes Darvill. 2B Zeke DeVoss managed to go 1 for 3 with a BB, and outfielders Reggie Golden and Taiwan Easterling each managed a 1 for 4 night. 23 year old right hander Patrick Francescon was the Chiefs starter, and he finished the night going 4.2 innings with 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, and 9 K. Francescon managed to strike six batters out in a row. He got into trouble in the fifth inning after a fly out to Easterling. Francescon gave up a double and then hit the next two batters. He struck out the next batter and then was lifted from the game for 22 year old righty Luis Liria. Liria balked forcing in Francescon's only run of the game. The losing pitcher was Willengton Cruz who came into the game in the seventh. He gave up 2 hits and 2 walks managing to only get 2 outs in the seventh. He was taken out having given up a run and the bases loaded. Bryce Shafer then gave up a grandslam to Twins top prospect Miguel Sano to put the game out of reach.

High A-Florida State League
(1-1 T-3rd North)Brevard County Manatees (MIL) 2 at (1-1 T-3rd North)Daytona Cubs 6
Daytona struck back today with a solid all around performance. The Cubs twice went down by a single run in the game, but pulled away late by scoring the final 5 runs of the game. The Daytona Cubs offensive was highlighted by DH Rubi Silva 3 for 4 performance and SS Arismendy Alcantara 3 for 3. Silva had two doubles and Alcantara had 4 RBI, HR, and a SB. The top of the order for the Cubs was neutralized with CF Matt Szczur going 0 for 3 with a run and 2B Ronald Torreyes also going 0 for 3. The Cubs starter was Eric Jokisch who got the no decision despite only giving up 2 runs over 6 innings with 5 strikeouts to one walk. Ty'Relle Harris picked up the win pitching one scoreless inning. Tony Zych picked up a two inning save throwing in mid 90s and topping out at 97.

AA-Southern League
(2-0 T-1st North)Tennessee Smokies 1 at (0-2 T-3rd North)Chattanooga Lookouts (LAD) 0
The Smokies are the only Cubs affliate to start the year out at 2-0 so far this season. The Smokies managed only run off of a sixth inning Michael Burgess solo shot. Burgess had another nice game going 2 for 4. The only other multihit game belonged to 2B Logan Watkins going 2 for 4 but striking out twice. CF Jae-Hoon Ha had a rough day at the plate going 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts. Smokies starter Trey McNutt pitched 3.2 scoress innings, but struggled with his command all afternoon. McNutt gave up 3 walks and 3 wild pitches. McNutt did strike out 3 batters and gave up only 2 hits. Jeffry Antigua, Alberto Cabrera, and Frank Batista combined with McNutt to pitch the six hit shutout with Antigua picking up the win and Batista the save.

AAA-Pacific Coast League
(1-1 T-2nd American South)Round Rock Express (TEX) 4 at (1-1 T-1st American North)Iowa Cubs 3
The I-Cubs dropped to 1-1 on the season with Casey Coleman on the mound. Coleman continued the trend of I-Cubs starters giving up 2 homeruns. Coleman managed to give up 4 runs over 5 innings off of 4 H, 0 BB, and 5 K. The I-Cubs trailed after the first inning and would never tie the game. Anthony Rizzo went 2 for 4 with an eighth inning RBI. On the play, Tony Campana was throwing out at the plate trying to score the tying run. Adrian Cardenas drove the ball to deep right center, but the CF caught it just before the track to kill the I-Cubs best chance to tie the game. Brett Jackson went 1 for 3 with an RBI and a triple. Josh Vitters also went 1 for 3 with another walk.

Scouting Reports (Iowa Cubs):
No Scouting Reports yet because MiLB.tv has yet to archive the I-Cubs game from last night. Seems like something is up with the PCL last night because about a third of their games aren't archived yet for some reason. I will watch the game sometime today, and get some more details about the I-Cubs performance up when they get it up.
 
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