The present and some of the future

[Boobaby1]

Had some time to kill, and I wanted to see what the Cubs had eclipsed in the minors, so I have listed the players who have some of the best statistics for their respective levels.

I have excluded this years draftees both domestic and internationally with the exception of Bryant, and I have left out most of the AAA team because quite frankly, they are in worse shape than the Cubs themselves and older….LOL.

To me, there is a glaring weakness in the catchers position other than Castillo, and the outfield although looking very weak in certain positions could be upgraded via free agency or simply moving a RF’er to LF for example.

The pitching can always be improved, and could definitely get a major bolstering if Theo could land the Cuban Miguel Gonzalez (I expect him to be a major player on this guy).

I am sure I have left off some names like B-Jax or other injured players, but I found it interesting to see just who is pushing who, and how hard.

1B – Rizzo - (Bour, Geiger, Voglebach/Shoulders)

2B - Barney - (Watkins, Alcantara, Amaya)

3B - Valbuena/Ransom – (Vitters, Olt, Villanueva, Bryant, Candelario)

SS - Castro - (Baez, Hernandez, Soto)

LF - Soriano - (Lake, Andreoli, Chen)

CF – DeJesus - (Ha, Szczur, DeVoss, Almora)

RF – Schierholz - (Silva, Soler, Encarnacion)


SP – Shark, Wood, Jackson

AAA (Viscaino, Rusin, Grimm)

AA (Castillo, Beeler, Morris, Hendricks, Cabrera, Jokisch)

A+ (Wells, Cates, Wang, Loosen, Johnson, Edwards)

A - (Pena, Heesch, Paniagua)

Time to start adding long term players via free agency or through trades in my opinion to start balancing this whole thing out.

It will be interesting this off-season to see what direction they will take, and where the main emphasis will be.

I know it will be pitching for sure, but how will they acquire it? opcorn:

 

[JosMin]

There will be a few decent free agent pitchers worth taking a peek at. Garza may still certainly be in play, and if the Cubs can sign him to a reasonable extension, I'd be all for brining him back. Ervin Santana has pitched well this year, and would be another solid middle-of-the-rotation guy who shouldn't command a salary that's too ridiculous. Tim Lincecum is also going to be in play. He's looked good over the last six weeks. Might he be the "ace" Cubs fans are clamoring for? Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez will be signing soon and the Cubs are considered front-runners for his services. Best case scenario -- what if the Cubs got him (Gonzalez) and Lincecum?

:fap:

 

[Boobaby1]

There will be a few decent free agent pitchers worth taking a peek at. Garza may still certainly be in play, and if the Cubs can sign him to a reasonable extension, I'd be all for brining him back. Ervin Santana has pitched well this year, and would be another solid middle-of-the-rotation guy who shouldn't command a salary that's too ridiculous. Tim Lincecum is also going to be in play. He's looked good over the last six weeks. Might he be the "ace" Cubs fans are clamoring for? Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez will be signing soon and the Cubs are considered front-runners for his services. Best case scenario -- what if the Cubs got him (Gonzalez) and Lincecum?

:fap:

If it were the Lincecum of old I would say most definitely. Of course, if it were the Lincecum of old, he would command 25 million per year easily. The ERA's the last two years puts up a red flag for me seeing how he was in the 2's for nearly 4 years, and now he is averaging around 5.

I would also be leery of a pitcher who has seemingly lost a lot for some odd reason and can't get some of his issues back under control, and then could be switching to a friendly hitters park like Wrigley. Maybe he is turning it around, but only time will tell.

Santana has issues with giving up an occasional long ball, and an occasional (hiccup) on the ERA, but then he returns to form as explained below.

2008 ERA 3.49
2009 (hiccup) ERA 5.03
2010 ERA 3.92
2011 ERA 3.38
2012 (hiccup) ERA 5.16
2013 ERA 3.18

I would hope that a move to the NL would only help him, and I know he is no ACE, but I don't see Lincecum as an ACE either anymore. They are roughly the same age, and I think will be moderately priced in the market, and both would be middle of the rotation pitchers for the Cubs.

If they could get Gonzalez, I wouldn't even mind seeing the Cubs go after a very short term aging veteran like Hiroki Kuroda or Bronson Arroyo to round out the staff until some of the youth starts to arrive.

Shark, Gonzalez, Wood, Kuroda/Arroyo, and Jackson isn't stellar, but it would be very affordable to where they could start tossing something at a positional player or two.

Just a thought.

 

[Diehardfan]

What about the pen? Even without Garza, they'd have enough to compete if they had any kind of bullpen. They have guys drawing major league paychecks who aren't even good Triple A pitchers. One of the few bullpen arms that is probably tradeable is Gregg. Trust me, what he's doing now will not last. Dump this stiff while he has some value. I mean he's started his slide already...get rid of him before it gets out of hand.

 

[Diehardfan]

There will be a few decent free agent pitchers worth taking a peek at. Garza may still certainly be in play, and if the Cubs can sign him to a reasonable extension, I'd be all for brining him back. Ervin Santana has pitched well this year, and would be another solid middle-of-the-rotation guy who shouldn't command a salary that's too ridiculous. Tim Lincecum is also going to be in play. He's looked good over the last six weeks. Might he be the "ace" Cubs fans are clamoring for? Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez will be signing soon and the Cubs are considered front-runners for his services. Best case scenario -- what if the Cubs got him (Gonzalez) and Lincecum?

:fap:

Not yet. It's too soon to be looking at guys like that. You don't toss 18 mil at a guy unless you got a team to go around him. You go after a guy like him when your team is a contender. They are making progress but there is still a lot of work to do before you trade for a pitcher with a contract like that.

 

[CSF77]

1B – Rizzo - (Bour, Geiger, Voglebach/Shoulders)

2B - Barney - (Watkins, Alcantara, Amaya)

3B - Valbuena/Ransom – (Vitters, Olt, Villanueva, Bryant, Candelario)

SS - Castro - (Baez, Hernandez, Soto)

LF - Soriano - (Lake, Andreoli, Chen)

CF – DeJesus - (Ha, Szczur, DeVoss, Almora)

RF – Schierholz - (Silva, Soler, Encarnacion)


SP – Shark, Wood, Jackson

AAA (Viscaino, Rusin, Grimm)

AA (Castillo, Beeler, Morris, Hendricks, Cabrera, Jokisch)

A+ (Wells, Cates, Wang, Loosen, Johnson, Edwards)

A - (Pena, Heesch, Paniagua)

1B Rizzo has it locked up for 3 years. After that it depends on Vogelbach. If he becomes a monster they could deal out Rizzo.
2B Watkins at best is a LH hitting UI and they have given him some time in at SS knowing this possibility. A.A. seems to be the future here.
SS Baez is 2 years out. I can see Castro traded if needed.
3B With Olt going to 3B it should push Vitters to the OF. He played 1B yesterday but I see Vitters being a corner IF/OF bench player. Rest are fringe until Bryant. I see Bryant ending up at RF now. Which should be a good thing with his arm. Have to see with Bryant. 1-3 years is what I expect.
LF Tough call. Lake could go here or Vitters. Shoulders has seen some time here. This is to me a spot for a power hitter that lacks a cannon. Lake's potential would be wasted here.
CF I see Almora sealing this spot in 3 years. It should be in in-flux until then.
RF I see Bryant getting this spot in the end now. Soler I believe ends up in LF. Which is fine as his arm was considered Avg at best.

Over all they have been packing in talent so if a prospect blows there are more options up welling. I conciser this an educated way of building via the farm.

Pen: Paniagua I never buy the hype on this guy. Seems most want to suck him off when he has proven nothing.

At this point I would call Johnson the best SP prospect in the system. Hands down. Viz injured and I see him as a BP arm due to his injury track record. Not a bad thing if Him and Strop end up being a power arm closing team.

Cabrera at AAA now. Might become good. Had a 13 S/O game and won some games at AA. Have to see. Seems to be the most talented at AAA now. Rest are trash.

AA: Jokisch, Not really talented. Hendricks Smart pitcher again not talented. Has to be perfect and located his pitches because his margin for error is small with his velocity.

Again out of the SP prospects I would go with Johnson, then Cabrera. Edwards is still too skinny for me to call him a S/P. Maples I believe is over due for a major injury with his bad mechanics.
I believe they will have to continue to add S/P via the market. Cabrera might make the team by the trade deadline next year. Raley I believe ends up in the pen. After that Johnson about 3 years out.

 

[SilenceS]

Not yet. It's too soon to be looking at guys like that. You don't toss 18 mil at a guy unless you got a team to go around him. You go after a guy like him when your team is a contender. They are making progress but there is still a lot of work to do before you trade for a pitcher with a contract like that.

You sign talent when talent is available. You don't pass on a guy because in 2 off seasons you plan on spending. There may not be anyone there or anyone near as good.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

You sign talent when talent is available. You don't pass on a guy because in 2 off seasons you plan on spending. There may not be anyone there or anyone near as good.

Key word here is sign, not trade. He's a free agent after this year and would also not command anywhere near 18M a year with the way he's pitched the last two years.

 

[CSF77]

If they could get Gonzalez, I wouldn't even mind seeing the Cubs go after a very short term aging veteran like Hiroki Kuroda or Bronson Arroyo to round out the staff until some of the youth starts to arrive.

Shark, Gonzalez, Wood, Kuroda/Arroyo, and Jackson isn't stellar, but it would be very affordable to where they could start tossing something at a positional player or two.

Just a thought.

looking at it this way:

Shark
Wood
Jackson
Villanueva
Rusin

AAA
(injury depth)
Grimm, Arrieta
(Potential piece)
Cabrera

They could again try to flip 2. Now they have Grimm and Arrieta and they could also try to sell high on Villanueva as they did with Fieldman.

So I would expect 1 of the 2 spots to fill in with one of the 3. Other 2 would be injury depth or BP help.

2nd spot.

To be honest I expect them to resign Scott Baker 2nd option would be Josh Johnson on a 1 year deal thinking they could fix him to resale.

 

[Diehardfan]

You sign talent when talent is available. You don't pass on a guy because in 2 off seasons you plan on spending. There may not be anyone there or anyone near as good.

If that's the case, why didn't they just resign Garza? It will not happen.

 

[chibears55]

unless lincecum totally turns it around the 2nd half, i dont see him getting more then a 2-3 yr deal at about 10-15 per with prob. an option attached.
lincecum has totally pitched himself on a downward spiral the last 2 yrs and team will be weary of signing him long term and at high cost.

he may actually be what the cubs might go after if he willing to take a 1 or 2 yr deal, looking to redeem himself for a bigger contract.