Official 2023 Chicago Cubs Season Thread Vol: (17-17)

[CP1708]

Naw, the NBA is a much different animal, the draft is important, but so many more players in MLB than the NBA on every team, and the salary limits are so different.

Last night, two Cub minor leaguers hit for the cycle. Albert Almora and Mark Zagunis.

Every day a minor leaguer of the Cubs does something. Jorge Soler and Jeimer Candelario were also named players of the week in their respective leagues.


And CJ Edwards should be pitching again soon. He said on Twitter he was aiming for the 23rd. We've wisely been taking our time with him.

 

[sportsjunkie]

Kyle Schwarber is getting promoted to High Class A Dayton. He will be teammates with Albert Almora. Watching this rebuilding process is fun.

 

[champcruthik]

Naw, the NBA is a much different animal, the draft is important, but so many more players in MLB than the NBA on every team, and the salary limits are so different.

Last night, two Cub minor leaguers hit for the cycle. Albert Almora and Mark Zagunis.

Every day a minor leaguer of the Cubs does something. Jorge Soler and Jeimer Candelario were also named players of the week in their respective leagues.


And CJ Edwards should be pitching again soon. He said on Twitter he was aiming for the 23rd. We've wisely been taking our time with him.

Read this about C.J.? Year ago.

http://www.suntimes.com/photos/22476450-417/the-amazing-story-of-cubs-prospect-cj-edwards.html

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Schwarber making strides.
It's been unlike anything we've ever seen before having all these young prospects coming up.

@ the thought of still having a top 5 pick in the draft as well.

 

[CP1708]

Bryant, Baez, Soler and Russell all homered so far tonight.

Baez also started at 2B tonight.

Shwarber with 2 hits too. Already has 13 multi-hit games.

 

[sportsjunkie]

Bryant, Baez, Soler and Russell all homered so far tonight.

Baez also started at 2B tonight.

Shwarber with 2 hits too. Already has 13 multi-hit games.

I think Soler about to flourish. he healthy now.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Rizzo smacked his 22nd of the year and Alcantara stole 2 bases.....can't remember the last time one of our players stole 2 bases in a game....Eric Young maybe.

 

[CP1708]

Starlin last year.

Bryant, Baez, Schwarber all homered last night as well. And Wada had 10k's in 6 innings.

 

[CP1708]

Addison Russell just hit a Grand Slam, his 2nd homer of the day.

Albert Almora is 3 for 3 on the day.

 

[CP1708]

Alcantara with an opposite field RBI double in the 8th.

Rizzo with his 23rd home run earlier in the game. Tied for the NL lead.

 

[sportsjunkie]

i watched that Cubs-Diamondbacks game earlier. I think we need to send Mike Olt and Junior Lake back down to the minors.

 

[CP1708]

Almora now 4 for 4.

McKinney has a 3 run double and Schwarber is 2 for 4.

With the Addison 2 homers, Rizzo leading the NL, Starlin and Alcantara, and still have Soler, Bryant and Baez.

 

[sportsjunkie]

let them young boys cook.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Rizzo
Arrieta also had 8K's in the losing effort. He looked good for most of the game till the 6th.

i watched that Cubs-Diamondbacks game earlier. I think we need to send Mike Olt and Junior Lake back down to the minors.

I'm with you.
I know it's still too early to speculate but who do you guys think will get shifted?
Alcantara to outfield?
Bryant stays at 3rd or goes to outfield?
Baez goes to 2nd or outfield?
Russell??

 

[sportsjunkie]

Rizzo
Arrieta also had 8K's in the losing effort. He looked good for most of the game till the 6th.
I'm with you.
I know it's still too early to speculate but who do you guys think will get shifted?
Alcantara to outfield?
Bryant stays at 3rd or goes to outfield?
Baez goes to 2nd or outfield?
Russell??

I think bryant stays at 3rd. Baez goes to the outfield and Alcantara plays 2B. I will make a bold statement and SAY Addison and somebody else gets traded to the Devil Rays for David Price. we have a few assets.

 

[CP1708]

I think Bryant goes to RF, Baez to 3B, Russell to 2B or SS, with Castro manning the other, Alcantara in CF, Soler in LF (or Schwarber as backup) and then Almora is left without a slot.

Either way, we're loaded in position players, someone could easily be dealt for an extra arm within a year or two. Plus we should have a top pick next year, for another arm on top of that.

 

[CP1708]

As it stands right now......

Texas
Houston
Colorado
Cubs

We're only 1/2 game back of 3rd, but we can not get 2nd because of Houston losing the #1 pick this year. So we can either finish 1st, or 3rd. But with us already down 2 good arms from the trade, and more guys could be sold at the end of the month, we figure to fall off pretty dang good. We can easily catch Texas, as we are only 2 games behind them for the #1 pick.


To have this minor league system already, and then get the #1 pick would be

 

[sportsjunkie]

As it stands right now......

Texas
Houston
Colorado
Cubs

We're only 1/2 game back of 3rd, but we can not get 2nd because of Houston losing the #1 pick this year. So we can either finish 1st, or 3rd. But with us already down 2 good arms from the trade, and more guys could be sold at the end of the month, we figure to fall off pretty dang good. We can easily catch Texas, as we are only 2 games behind them for the #1 pick.


To have this minor league system already, and then get the #1 pick would be

We will ended up with the #3 pick. We will continue to make trades and it will hurt us in the lost column. Us Cubs fan should be happy The Astro took Mark Appel instead of Kris Bryant. Worked out well for us.

 

[CP1708]

Friday was MLB’s signing deadline for draft picks, but the Cubs had no real excitement, since they’d already agreed on all of their expected/possible deals (unlike the Astros’ nightmare, which we’ll discuss later, because of the implications for other teams).

The one, final bit of news from the day was that, to get tough-ish sign Jordan Minch under contract (35th rounder out of Purdue), the Cubs had to go slightly over the $100,000 allotted for guys after the 10th round – $110,000, according to Chris Webb. If true, the Cubs used basically every dollar they possibly could without incurring a draft pick loss penalty.

Remember the people who said the Cubs went cheap in the draft after, like, two picks?

At the end of everything, the Cubs will have spent their entire $8.35 million bonus pool plus an additional 5% – the maximum they can spend without losing a future first round pick – making them one of just a few teams to exceed its bonus pool by that much, per Baseball America.

Put another way, not only were the Cubs committed to spending as much as possible in the draft, they executed their draft in a way to allow them to do just that and maximize their take of talent. Even if Kyle Schwarber weren’t immediately breaking out, you would have to call this draft a success. Now we wait another three to four years to evaluate whether that holds up. For now, however, these guys look damn good at their jobs.

In total, the Cubs signed 27 of their 40 picks, including their top 22 selections . In addition to Schwarber, the Cubs signed four pitchers to seven-figure bonuses, added a variety of interesting positional guys, and gave themselves a chance with a ton of upside pitchers.

Absolutely dominating rebuilding this farm system. Let us all hope and pray it pipelines into the MLB team for years to come.

 

[sportsjunkie]

Absolutely dominating rebuilding this farm system. Let us all hope and pray it pipelines into the MLB team for years to come.

Is it me or Theo knows what he doing?

 

[CP1708]

I been tryin to think of what will be done for him if he were to fix both the Red Sox, and the Cubs curse. Like, a statue outside the Hall of Fame? Rename the Hall of Theo, I mean, what could really be done for that guy?

IF, he fixes us. We're not there yet, but certainly seems like a modern team being built from the ground up. No more terrible contracts, no more old dudes, just a massive influx of young, developmental talent.

 

[sportsjunkie]

I been tryin to think of what will be done for him if he were to fix both the Red Sox, and the Cubs curse. Like, a statue outside the Hall of Fame? Rename the Hall of Theo, I mean, what could really be done for that guy?

IF, he fixes us. We're not there yet, but certainly seems like a modern team being built from the ground up. No more terrible contracts, no more old dudes, just a massive influx of young, developmental talent.

Alot of Red Sox people i have talk to out in Boston gives credit to the GM before Theo. Some people in Boston like him. Some dont.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

IF Theo gets us there, and I really mean IF.....he deserves a statue outside Wrigley right next to Ernie, the keys to the city and 100 virgins.

He'll get that Ditka treatment where he can do no wrong in all our eyes, he would be allowed to slap infants and the elderly with no impunity.

 

[CP1708]

4. The Cubs await more word of trade activity. I speculated here the other day that if the Rays and Mariners discuss a David Price deal, the Cubs are the perfect third team to help deliver the position prospect(s) Tampa Bay wants and needs. The Rays could send Price to Seattle, the Mariners could deliver pitching to the Cubs (hello, Taijuan Walker), and the Cubs could send a young infielder to the Rays

 

[CP1708]

Number one rated farm system.

1. Chicago Cubs

I know Cubs fans have heard this before, but just wait 'til next year, because this club is going to get good in a hurry, at least on the run-scoring side of the ledger. The system already had the minors' best collection of high-end bats, and it added several more over the past seven weeks, including the fourth-best prospect in the minors in shortstop Addison Russell, who came over with promising left fielder Billy McKinney in the Jeff Samardzija trade.

The Cubs also added catcher/left fielder Kyle Schwarber with the fourth overall pick in this year's draft. It's a pick I think was an overdraft in part due to doubts he will stick at either position, but he has raked so far in limited at-bats, mostly against younger competition. They used the savings on Schwarber's bonus to grab several high-upside high school arms later in the draft, including right-hander Dylan Cease, whose elbow ligament injury might require Tommy John surgery but who was seen as a top-15 pick talent before his injury. Cease has a fastball that can touch 100 mph and at times a plus breaking ball. The Cubs also have some promising hitters on their AZL club (rookie league) from their Latin American spending spree in 2013, including bonus babies Gleyber Torres (from Venezuela) and Eloy Jimenez (from the Dominican Republic), both just 17 years old.

These infusions have helped balance out a few disappointments in the system of players I ranked highly coming out of last year. Albert Almora has been a disappointment (.306 OBP in high Class A), continuing his record of awful walk rates in pro ball to date. C.J. Edwards and Pierce Johnson, their top two arms coming into the year, both have missed substantial time with injuries; Edwards is still on the shelf, and Johnson hasn't been effective at Double-A when healthy. Jeimer Candelario, whose only tool was his bat, hasn't hit at two levels and is about to be buried by the wave of infield prospects ahead of him. Scott Frazier, their sixth-round pick last year, appears to have the yips, with 12 walks and four hit batsmen in 22 batters faced.

Most of the successful arms in the system this year have been pitchers at low-Class A Kane County, particularly undersized Taiwanese right-hander Tseng Jen-Ho and 2012 draftee Paul Blackburn, which means the Cubs probably won't get the starting pitching help they need from their system in the next year or two. Fortunately for them and their fans, they have the bats to trade to acquire pitching from outside the organization.

This has to be the most loaded the Cubs' farm has been in at least 30 years.