Cub's Prospect Watch And Development Discussion Thread

[JosMin]

@jimcallisMLBVery reasonable. @ajwalsh08: When I look at just numbers I think we could see Neil Walker-like output from Alcantara. Seem reasonable? @Cubs

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After watching a lot more Alcantara last year, I've really become intrigued in his potential arc. I like the Neil Walker comparison. The .260/.340/.415 slash at second with an above-average glove and 20-30 steal potential would be a welcomed addition.

 

[daddies3angels]

7 #Cubs in the Top 100: Baez (7), Bryant (9), Almora (18), Edwards (42), Soler (49), Alcantara (89), and Johnson (100).


Lets hope it works out. Ratings look great on paper.

 

[SilenceS]

After watching a lot more Alcantara last year, I've really become intrigued in his potential arc. I like the Neil Walker comparison. The .260/.340/.415 slash at second with an above-average glove and 20-30 steal potential would be a welcomed addition.

They like to compare him to Jose Reyes. Not as impactful, but like mini version of him.

 

[patg006]

:fap::fap::fap:

Championship. Just book it. All these prospects will make it.

 

[CSF77]

:fap::fap::fap:

Championship. Just book it. All these prospects will make it.

better than having 0 in the top 100 and a wreck show at the major league level.

Shoot I remember those days. Just Bruce Sutter and Ivan with a crap team and Billy Buckner. No prospects up coming. Dallas Green came in an put together a quality team then his draft picks netted Maddux/Palmero and Grace.

Rickett's deserve a big chunk of the blame here. They are not giving Theo a payroll to work with while the farm is churning up the talent.

 

[DewsSox79]

They like to compare him to Jose Reyes. Not as impactful, but like mini version of him.

just like castro is the next hanley ramirez right. ughh these fantasy comparisons.


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[Boobaby1]

better than having 0 in the top 100 and a wreck show at the major league level.

Shoot I remember those days. Just Bruce Sutter and Ivan with a crap team and Billy Buckner. No prospects up coming. Dallas Green came in an put together a quality team then his draft picks netted Maddux/Palmero and Grace.

Rickett's deserve a big chunk of the blame here. They are not giving Theo a payroll to work with while the farm is churning up the talent.

Didn't the front office already state that when they needed the money, it would be there. I take that as whenever they need it whether that be today, tomorrow, or next year.

If not, then Theo has lied to the very crowd he wants to support him. Not good if you are selling a product to the end user.

 

[SilenceS]

Didn't the front office already state that when they needed the money, it would be there. I take that as whenever they need it whether that be today, tomorrow, or next year.

If not, then Theo has lied to the very crowd he wants to support him. Not good if you are selling a product to the end user.

He has also said they that last year they spent all the money they could. That was a 100 million dollar payroll.

 

[SilenceS]

just like castro is the next hanley ramirez right. ughh these fantasy comparisons.


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I never heard Castro compared to him. Also, fantasy comparisons? They dont expect him to be near as good. Its because he is a switch hitter with some pop and will steal 30 to 40 bases a year. He has learned to walk and is real smooth in the field. Very athletic kid. No one is saying he is the next Jose Reyes. They are saying he has similarities to his game.

 

[Boobaby1]

He has also said they that last year they spent all the money they could. That was a 100 million dollar payroll.

Well don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining. It isn't as if the Cubs aren't a very profitable team and the Rickett's don't have a dime to spend.

If that were the case, why have they eaten the contracts of Soriano and Zambrano? Why spend 20 million for a fast food restaurant? Why make the huge offer for Tanaka and say they would not be outbid? Why build a complex in the Dominican and Arizona? Why spend 52 million for E-Jax if you are not going to compete for a few more years. Why? Why? Why?

To me, it seems they have the money whenever they want.

 

[beckdawg]

If that were the case, why have they eaten the contracts of Soriano and Zambrano?

What choice did they have? MLB contracts are fully guaranteed. They managed to save ~$10 mil on the two contracts as that's all they could get people to take on. I've explained this seemingly a lot before but the leveraged partnership with Zell is a roadblock to their spending. As of May 1st they still had $600 mil in debt from the purchase.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/21/news/companies/zell_tribune_chicago_cubs.fortune/
Hence Zell's nonsale sale of the Cubs, which works like this. The Ricketts family, founders of Ameritrade (now TD Ameritrade (AMTD)), will put $150 million of cash into a partnership that will also borrow up to $698 million. Tribune will put the Cubs, the Wrigley Field stadium in which they play, and related assets into the partnership.

The MLB has rules with regard to debt.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...hicago--20110602_1_club-debt-cubs-debt-issues
The rules, intended to ensure clubs have the resources to support their financial obligations, generally limit a team's debt to 10 times its annual earnings, although Commissioner Bud Selig has wide latitude to enforce those rules. Selig declined to comment for this story.

I'm not entirely sure what counts as "annual earnings." Their operating incoming was $32.1 M. According to that site, That's "Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization."

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on this area. But from my understanding the situation is basically this. The leveraged partnership with Zell has to run 7 years in order for Zell to avoid taxes(reason for the partnership). Because of that they can't pay down the debt because that would trigger taxes. Because they can't pay down the debt they HAVE to have insanely high earnings because if they don't they are in violation of MLB rules and the league could theoretically take the team away. If that $32.1 M profit is right they are still in violation AFAIK but my guess is MLB is giving them some room because they understand the situation. The partnership runs through the 2015 season.

 

[Flacco4Prez]

:fap::fap::fap:

Championship. Just book it. All these prospects will make it.

So you prefer the last 20 years when we had a bottom 5 farm system and 3 division titles? Ok makes sense

People act like we have been a dynasty all these years and just decided to change the program now. We have been shit 17 times in the last 20 years, what's the big fucking deal of building up the farm now?

 

[Flacco4Prez]

Well don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining. It isn't as if the Cubs aren't a very profitable team and the Rickett's don't have a dime to spend.

If that were the case, why have they eaten the contracts of Soriano and Zambrano? Why spend 20 million for a fast food restaurant? Why make the huge offer for Tanaka and say they would not be outbid? Why build a complex in the Dominican and Arizona? Why spend 52 million for E-Jax if you are not going to compete for a few more years. Why? Why? Why?

To me, it seems they have the money whenever they want.

Yeah but they won't spend it. What's the point of earning the 5th highest revenue if they don't even reinvest it into the club? If the Cubs were actually competent they would no doubt have the #1 or #2 revenue in the league, but Ricketts seems satisfied where he is at. I'm fine with them not doing much now, but next offseason better be different because these pieces are going to becoming up here in 2014 and 2015, so we need to surround them with veterans. I'm not saying get 2 guys to $100 mil deals but we need to be more aggressive

 

[chibears55]

People act like we have been a dynasty all these years and just decided to change the program now. We have been shit 17 times in the last 20 years, what's the big fucking deal of building up the farm now?

some of these people complaining are either not cubs fans or just being AssClowns on a message board...

yes it sucks having to go through another summer of losing baseball for my team, but im going to allow them a couple years to do what their doing and wait and see how it ends up when the Baez, bryants, ETC. start to come up and play..
I believe after the 2015 season, they will be able to expand payroll pass the 100 MIL, which they were contracted to keep it around per agreement with Zell..

until all this comes about, I will just watch players like castro, Rizzo, wood, Castillo, ETC. either grow into solid MLB players or not..

no reason to piss n moan everyday about something you have no control over, if you don't care for what their doing and cant find anything positive to watch or keep an eye on during the season then just simply find something else to do ..

I mean its pretty sad that in a thread where the topic is about the Farm System,, which is their strong point right now..
posters are being negative towards that and bringing up their financials.. just seems like no matter the topic, the daily downers always need to find something to complain about... it is what it is, im not saying to accept it but either find something positive out of it to watch or just turn it off and wait..

im keeping an eye on the growth of the kids on the farm and will attend more Kane County games , and I will keep an eye on players like castro, Castillo, and Rizzo..

you really have to be naïve to think the rickets bought the team and not care about winning and to keep them mediocre or below for years and think that's what going to net them profits ..

same with Epstein, you really think he ok with ruining the reputation he built up for himself in Boston by not caring about winning .
you know damn well if he succeeds at what he done and doing at tearing down a payroll and building up a farm system to have and maintain success on the MLB level he along with Hoyer will be known as one of the Best Pres/GM in baseball history.
this is Epstein ticket to the HOF if he gets the cubs to a world series and Boston

 

[CSF77]

Cubs invite Baez, Bryant, Almora to camp
January, 24, 2014
JAN 24
2:14
PM CT
By ESPNChicago.com
RECOMMEND125TWEET27COMMENTS27EMAILPRINT
Top prospects Javier Baez, Kris Bryant and Albert Almora are among 24 non-roster players invited to spring training by the Chicago Cubs, the team announced Friday.

Baez, a shortstop who is expected to open the season at Triple-A Iowa, is ranked as the No. 7 prospect in baseball by MLB.com. He hit 37 home runs between Class A and Double-A last season.

Bryant, a third baseman taken second overall in June's draft, is No. 9 on the MLB ranking. He is expected to open the season at Double-A after hitting .336 with nine home runs combined at three different stops in the minors last season.

Almora, the Cubs' No. 1 pick of 2012 who is ranked 18th by MLB.com, had his season cut short due to injury at Class A Kane County. He had a strong Arizona Fall league and is expected to begin the season at High-A ball.

Kyle Hendricks, the Cubs' minor league pitcher of the year in 2013, also received an invite to spring training. After dominating at Double-A Tennessee with a 10-3 record and a 1.85 ERA, he excelled at Triple-A Iowa late last season, posting a 2.48 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in six starts.

Here are the rest of the non-roster players who have been invited to camp:

Pitchers: RHPs Marcus Hatley, Carlos Pimentel, Armando Rivero and Brian Schlitter; LHP Tommy Hottovy, Eric Jokisch, Jonathan Sanchez and Tsuyoshi Wada.

Infielders: Ryan Roberts, Chris Valaika and Jeudy Valdez.

Outfielders: Chris Coghlan, Aaron Cunningham, Ryan Kalish, Mitch Maier, Darnell McDonald and Casper Wells.

Catchers: John Baker, Rafael Lopez and Eli Whiteside.

Position players report to camp Feb. 18, and the first full-squad workout is Feb. 19.

 

[patg006]

:fap:

 

[Jntg4]

Cubs invite Baez, Bryant, Almora to camp
January, 24, 2014
JAN 24
2:14
PM CT
By ESPNChicago.com
RECOMMEND125TWEET27COMMENTS27EMAILPRINT
Top prospects Javier Baez, Kris Bryant and Albert Almora are among 24 non-roster players invited to spring training by the Chicago Cubs, the team announced Friday.

Baez, a shortstop who is expected to open the season at Triple-A Iowa, is ranked as the No. 7 prospect in baseball by MLB.com. He hit 37 home runs between Class A and Double-A last season.

Bryant, a third baseman taken second overall in June's draft, is No. 9 on the MLB ranking. He is expected to open the season at Double-A after hitting .336 with nine home runs combined at three different stops in the minors last season.

Almora, the Cubs' No. 1 pick of 2012 who is ranked 18th by MLB.com, had his season cut short due to injury at Class A Kane County. He had a strong Arizona Fall league and is expected to begin the season at High-A ball.

Kyle Hendricks, the Cubs' minor league pitcher of the year in 2013, also received an invite to spring training. After dominating at Double-A Tennessee with a 10-3 record and a 1.85 ERA, he excelled at Triple-A Iowa late last season, posting a 2.48 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in six starts.

Here are the rest of the non-roster players who have been invited to camp:

Pitchers: RHPs Marcus Hatley, Carlos Pimentel, Armando Rivero and Brian Schlitter; LHP Tommy Hottovy, Eric Jokisch, Jonathan Sanchez and Tsuyoshi Wada.

Infielders: Ryan Roberts, Chris Valaika and Jeudy Valdez.

Outfielders: Chris Coghlan, Aaron Cunningham, Ryan Kalish, Mitch Maier, Darnell McDonald and Casper Wells.

Catchers: John Baker, Rafael Lopez and Eli Whiteside.

Position players report to camp Feb. 18, and the first full-squad workout is Feb. 19.

Nice, so Baez, Bryant, Almora and Soler (already on 40-man) will be there then!

 

[CSF77]

Nice, so Baez, Bryant, Almora and Soler (already on 40-man) will be there then!

Ya. I'm going to try to take a week off in March to see a few games out in Azl this year. Might as well with all of them out there.

 

[daddies3angels]

Ya. I'm going to try to take a week off in March to see a few games out in Azl this year. Might as well with all of them out there.

My dad and I are going next yr. Figured that way all the kids either up or banging on the door and will be at Spring Training for 95% of the year

 

[CSF77]

My dad and I are going next yr. Figured that way all the kids either up or banging on the door and will be at Spring Training for 95% of the year

I'm about 5.5 hours from there on a drive. Depends if my GF has time on the books still if we head out there for a few days. I'll find out next month.