Cubs Farm System And Prospects Discussion Thread

[beckdawg]

No way Almora sniffs an all-star game without some crazy babip year.

I'd disagree but with that being said, I was talking his max potential not what he's "likely" to be. Fact of the matter is there's not many good CF's and that's especially true in the NL. Top 5 in NL fWAR right now are Marcell Ozuna, Dexter Fowler, Odubel Herrera, Yoenis Cespedes and Joc Pederson. Fowler's probably leaving the cubs and maybe the NL. Plus Almora is on the cubs. If the cubs are good and they should be for the foreseeable future he's going to get a disproportional amount of votes. Russell does not deserve to be in the all star game but right now he'd be starting.

 

[beckdawg]

Cubs den had some notes on Jose Albertos who the cubs signed as an IFA this year for I believe $1.5 mil.

he star of the day was Jose Albertos, who started in the 94-95 range, then sat at 96 in his second inning, before touching 97 twice and topping out at 98 in the 3rd. He's being stretched out so he tired a bit in the 4th, dropping back into that mid 90s range. He does it with a simple, repeatable delivery and without max effort, so while he isn't physically imposing, there is a good chance he can stick as a starter. He relied heavily on a change-up with some sink (81-82 mph) as his secondary pitch as he did not have a feel for his curveball (77-78 mph), which I have seen flash plus in previous outings. He is about as far down the chain as you can be, so there is a lot road ahead -- and therefore a lot of risk, but when it comes to high ceiling Cubs pitching prospects, Albertos has to be in the conversation. Great scouting find for the Cubs as he was relatively unheralded as an amateur. Oh yeah, the game. He pitched 4 innings, allowed a broken bat single, struck out 7 and did not walk a batter until he started to tire in the 4th.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

Ian Happ promoted to AA Tenessee Smokies.

 

[CSF77]

Makes me think they are setting him up for a late promotion next year. Seems the trend. June promote

 

[chibears55]

Makes me think they are setting him up for a late promotion next year. Seems the trend. June promote

OR
Maybe its to get him playing at next level for a possible Yankees trade

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[CSF77]

OR
Maybe its to get him playing at next level for a possible Yankees trade

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Maybe

Ben Zobrist :
signed by Chicago Cubs as a free agent 12/9/15
$2M signing bonus
16:$10M, 17:$16M, 18:$16M, 19:$12M
full no-trade protection for 2016-18
limited no-trade protection for 2019 (may block deals to 8 clubs)

So there is no need for 4 years.


In 69 games at Myrtle Beach, Happ hit seven homers with 42 RBIs and a .296/.410/.475 slash line. The switch-hitter left Class A ball on a tear at the plate, going 10-for-17 with five RBIs over his last five games for the Pelicans.

He most likely needed to face tougher pitching and we are over thinking it

 

[TC in Mississippi]

OR
Maybe its to get him playing at next level for a possible Yankees trade

Sent from my LG-V495 using Tapatalk

Oakland has been scouting Happ for weeks and Billy Beane is said to like him a lot. I think there's some showcasing involved. I also don't take it as a guarantee that he'll be moved.

 

[beckdawg]

I don't see the point in "showcasing" a guy by promoting him. Trades fall apart all the time. You promote players when they are ready. He hit .296/.410/.475 in A+. Pretty sure that's the reason you promote him.

 

[beckdawg]

Cease pitched well again last night. On the season he's at 10.1 k/9 1.1 bb/9 with a 2.25 ERA over 8 innings. He's looking really strong.


Edit:

 

[CSF77]

I don't see the point in "showcasing" a guy by promoting him. Trades fall apart all the time. You promote players when they are ready. He hit .296/.410/.475 in A+. Pretty sure that's the reason you promote him.

Pretty much. If they offered Reddick and that BP arm for Happ and Vogelbach it would be tempting

 

[beckdawg]

Speaking of promotions..... After a slow start Torres is hitting .256/.337/.421 with 8 HRs in A+.... at 19. God damn this kid could be good. If you exclude April where he struggled, .290/.359/.472 with 7 HRs.

 

[beckdawg]

Curious to see how he hits in A+

 

[Parade_Rain]

McKinney for the month of June-

.292/.393/.389

 

[Boobaby1]

McKinney for the month of June-

.292/.393/.389

Ian Happ. 11 for 15, 2 HR's and a ridiculous 1.973 OPS in his first four games.

Yeap! I know it's early and he won't keep those numbers anywhere near that, but I love where this organization stands top to bottom with talent.

Bryant, Almora, Schwarber, Happ, Vogelbach, Contreras, Russell, Soler, Baez, Zagunis, McKinney, Jimenez, Candelario, Martinez to name some.

Oh! And then we have the senior citizens in Heyward, Szczur, and Rizzo.

 

[SilenceS]

Eloy Jimenez was named to the futures team.

 

[beckdawg]

Eloy Jiminez was named to the futures team.

As was Candelario

 

[SilenceS]

Jimenez should be moved up soon. He is killing A ball

 

[TL1961]

I don't see the point in "showcasing" a guy by promoting him. Trades fall apart all the time. You promote players when they are ready. He hit .296/.410/.475 in A+. Pretty sure that's the reason you promote him.

Agreed. The last thing you do is send him up a level where he may be overmatched initially.

 

[beckdawg]

Following up on the draft thus far here's the guys who've signed

03.0104 - Thomas Hatch $573,900(0 savings)
04.0134 - Tyson Miller $500,000($70,300 over slot)
05.0164 - Bailey Clark $450,000($128,200 over slot)
06.0194 - Chad Hockin $241,000(0 saving)
07.0224 - Michael Cruz $75,000($111,000 savings)
08.0254 - Stephen Ridings $120,000($53,800 savings)
09.0284 - Duncan Robinson $30,000($132,300 savings)
10.0314 - Dakota Mekkes $275,000($118,400 over slot)

Non-slot guys
13.0404 - Wyatt Short
15.0464 - Jed Carter
16.0494 - Holden Cammack
17.0524 - Zack Short
18.0554 - Marc Huberman*
19.0584 - Matt Swarmer*
20.0614 - Colton Freeman
21.0644 - Samuel Tidaback
23.0704 - Delvin Zinn
25.0764 - Trent Giambrone
27.0824 - Connor Myers
29.0884 - Tyler Peyton*
32.0974 - Zachary Davis
38.1154 - Tolly Filotei

Guys who looking like they might sign
11.0344 - Michael Rucker*
33.1004 - Nathan Sweeney

Players unlikely to sign
12.0374 - Trey Cobb
26.0794 - Austin Jones
30.0914 - Montana Parsons
31.0944 - Brenden Heiss
34.1034 - Davis Daniel
35.1064 - Ryan Kreidler
36.1094 - Jake Slaughter
39.1184 - Anthony Block
40.1214 - Deaundre Roberts

Players who've given no indication one way or another
14.0434 - Parker Dunshee
22.0674 - Dante Biasi
24.0734 - Reynaldo Rivera
28.0854 - Rian Bassett
37.1124 - Davis Moore

Hatch and Cobb are still in the college WS and the cubs have said they can wait until after that. I'm pretty sure Hatch will sign. As of right now the cubs are +$297,100 in bonus money. Hatch was right around his BA ranking so I doubt he takes much more than slot. Ditto for Clark and Miller. Mekkes is an interesting arm but he's a reliever and doesn't have to tier stuff despite his high k/9 rates. So, I doubt he's going to get much more than slot. If I'm not mistaken, you can offer anyone outside the top 10 rounds $100k without it messing with your slot money but anything over that comes out of it. If I had to guess, the money left over is going toward Zinn, Rivera and/or Cobb as they are the 3 highest rated guys who aren't unlikely to sign though theoretically you might be able to convince Deaundre Roberts, Ryan Kreidler, Davis Daniel, or Brenden Heiss to take money rather than going to college as they are top 500 guys.

Edit: Updated July 8th

Also with Hatch signed the cubs have a -$19,800 bonus pool but you can go over I believe 5% without penalty meaning they have $92,455 left to play with on top of I believe $100k they can offer any non slot player

 

[beckdawg]

As a follow up to the Ian Rice talk from about a month ago, some of the prospect type places have covered him a bit more and I now have a bit clearer idea of what he is. From what I've read there are some concerns whether he will stick as a catcher as opposed to him being good back there which was what I initially thought given the talk about him when drafted. However, given the way they are talking I don't really think it's as big of a worry as say Schwarber back there. To compare, most prospect places flat out said Schwarber wont catch. As for Rice's bat, it is looking the same in A+. He's hitting .400/.500/.750 over 24 PAs with roughly similar bb/k rates. He's had more power thus far but I'm guessing that's more a case of small sample size especially considering the florida state league tends to suppress hitting a lot.

Ultimately, I don't know whether or not he sticks at C but what he's done with his bat is probably enough to warrant notice as a top 30 prospect in the cubs system. And considering he was a 29th round pick the cubs did great finding him.