Analyzing the Cubs to death since July 2001.
2013 Draft Pick Order
The Cubs have clinched the #2 spot in the 2013 draft. Congrats?
2013 Draft Pick Order
- Houston Astros
- Chicago Cubs
- Colorado Rockies
- Minnesota Twins
- Cleveland Indians
- Miami Marlins
- Boston Red Sox
- Kansas City
- Pittsburgh Pirates (for not signing Mark Appel)
- Toronto Blue Jays
Cubs Roster Info
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ELIGIBLE FOR DECEMBER 2013 MLB RULE 5 DRAFT
Last updated 5-20-2013
Depth Chart
AZ Phil's Roster Info
Hunter Ackerman, LHP
Arismendy Alcantara, INF
Gioskar Amaya, INF
Jose Arias, RHP
Frank Batista, RHP
Xavier Batista, OF
Dallas Beeler, RHP
Justin Bour, 1B
Sergio Burruel, C
Esmailin Caridad, RHP
Marcelo Carreno, RHP
Lendy Castillo, RHP
Javier Castro, RHP
Zach Cates, RHP
Hunter Cervenka, LHP
Pin-Chieh Chen, OF
Casey Coleman, RHP
Gerardo Concepcion, LHP
Willson Contreras, C
Wes Darvill, INF
Antonio Encarnacion, RHP
Luis Flores, C
Anthony Giansanti, OF
Enyel Gonzalez, RHP
Carlos Gutierrez, RHP
Jae-Hoon Ha, OF
Eric Jokisch, LHP
Dong-Yub Kim, OF
Austin Kirk, LHP
Luis Liria, RHP
Matt Loosen, RHP
Jeff Lorick, LHP
Eric Martinez, RHP
A. J. Morris, RHP
Chad Noble, C
Loiger Padron, RHP
Juan Carlos Paniagua, RHP (see NOTE)
Amaury Paulino, RHP
Felix Pena, RHP
Starling Peralta, RHP
Dae-Eun Rhee, RHP
Kevin Rhoderick, RHP
Greg Rohan, IF-OF
Jose Rosario, RHP
Zac Rosscup, LHP
Victor Salazar, RHP
Brian Schlitter, RHP
Ryan Searle, RHP
Elliot Soto, INF
Nick Struck, RHP
Luis Villalba, LHP
Yao-Lin Wang, RHP
Oliver Zapata, OF
NOTE: Player not eligible for selection if added to MLB 40-man roster by 11/20. Also, Juan Carlos Paniagua signed his first contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks as "Juan Callado" on 5-8-2009 and pitched for the DSL Diamondbacks in the Dominican Summer League in 2009-10, but the contract was "pending" for almost two years and was never officially approved by MLB. The contract was eventually rejected by MLB due to "fraudulent paperwork" and Paniagua (Callado) was suspended for one year and then was declared a free-agent. He signed with the New York Yankees in March 2011 but then was suspended again and that contract was rejected, too, because his birth certificate could not be verified. Paniagua was cleared by MLB in 2012 and he signed with the Cubs on 7-9-2012. Therefore, Paniagua could be eligible for selection in the Rule 5 Draft for the first time in December 2013, since 2009 was his "first season" on the field and he was 18 on the June 5th immediately preceding the signing of his first contract, or he might not be eligible for selection in the Rule 5 Draft for the first time until December 2015, if 2012 is considered Paniagua's "first season" for Rule 5 eligibility purposes.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
i'm just used to bob knowing a lot more about the team...noticing when someone is off their swing or a pitch and recalling when he's been better...comparative analysis of what was done in the past vs what's going on now. it's not like i pine for the days of bob vs aram...because that got old, but bob really dug down in his analysis of players without getting preachy or doing "i'm steve stone and here's how he could be perfect" type analysis.
bob also seemed to not only know who was in the minors, but how they were doing down there beyond the numbers and would talk about them.
jim d. is still getting to know the team and all, but a lot of game calling feels like he's calling a Fox or ESPN "game of the week" from a disconnected point of view.
i'm not ready to "turn" on him...he may need some more time to actually get used to the team and he's comfortable behind the mic. i just feel like he's not "connected" to the team yet.
I actually enjoy this team much more than last years squad. My twtw(the will to watch) is up 25%-30% from last year. If it wasn't for the shit bullpen, this team would be totally average! If they could dump E. Jax and his entire salary and replace him with one of the college arms, then we are on to something. Make a trade for Price, which I don't see happening, and you've got yourself a fantastic rotation.
Garza
Ninja
Wood II
College guy
Feldman
Let's hear some examples. It's a bit of a reach to suggest that you know he's not doing his homework without providing specifics.
I haven't been able to watch many games (and there is some apathy involved, too), but he's been fine as far as I'm concerned.
Also seems to be a lot of dead air time -- he and Len don't tseem to be in sync yet.
Almora goes 4-7 in yesterday's 14-inning Kane County loss, dropping his average to .636.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-2013-cubs-bette...
FG article from yesterday about the overwhelming underperformance of the 2013 Cubs. If I understand their 'Clutch' stat correctly, then the Cubs this year are 40% less clutch than the 29th-most clutch team in baseball.
I still love TCR, please don't hate me.
---
Garbage song, I Hate Love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOcVhBu0YjE
I'm not sure how to get very angry with all the bad baseball anymore. Too many years of ineptitude and suckage. I think Sveum is pushing all the wrong buttons so far this year but he's not having a worse year than the team in general or at least he's not having a good managerial season. Tuesday he goes to a bullpen of Rondon, Russell, The Cubs "Big Toe" Shawn Camp and produce a 5 run 6th which ruins a fine start from Garza. Wednesday Sveum doesn't have to think much about the pitching but can't get his offense off the toilet. Today EJax does his typical thing and would have gone 5-6 mediocre IP except for the rain and then the bullpen has a rare good day of Dolis, Villaneuva, Marmol, Fuji pitch 5 scoreless innings. If he could only mix and match a bit better the Cubs could be watchable (but I'm only asking for 1-2 decent games out of 3 at this point). So how is the 2014 draft shaping up? ...and yes, the next big thing will be the 2013 draft followed by the trading deadline.
scrubbies lose...18-28
as an aside...though jim d. hasn't been awful in the booth, it's a bit disappointing he didn't/doesn't do the amount of "homework" getting to know the team or critiquing things being done like bob did.
so far, when i hear jim d. calling a game it feels like he's a national "game of the week" generic type announcer that doesn't know the team well.
he's a full-on 100% replacement for "bad joke bob" type humor, though.
link is fine
MLB.com's error page
http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2013/5/23/4359426/mlb-error-page-gifs
Now pitching for the Pirates --- Jose Contreras?!
welly gets his 2nd walk of the season in his 141st PA.
I imagine that things will pick up a bit with the draft, promotions, and trades. It seems that most of the remaining posters are on board with the rebuilding process so the discussions have been slim.
all kidding aside, this team really has been running on a single bright spot (the starting rotation) and rizzo pounding the ball hard when he's not slumping (and his extension)
welly's doing as expected (though a few more homers/doubles would be nice)...valbuena is helping people forget about i.stewart, though he's not doing anything extraordinary...kevin gregg has been a nice surprise as the new closer...castro is being castro, though a few more walks or hits would be nice since he's performing slightly below expectations...
things are just kinda "wheel spinning" and playing out as expected with few high spots or extreme low spots. it would be nice to see s.baker take the mound some time, though.
It's definitely hard to get excited about this team. When they suck like this it feels like a huge part of my summer is just completely missing, so I want to come here and get a little bit of a Cubs fix, but lately it's 100% split squad games at Fitch Park. I can't stand any of the major newspapers' coverage, and I really don't like BCB or any of the other Cubs blogs. I guess I just miss the good old days with 200+ comment threads, even if 90% of it was just The Real Neal arguing with himself.
The people demand more free entertainment, Rob G!
broken link...probably cuz MLB protects their rights on the innerweb on a scale music + film industries should be jealous of.
click this... http://mlb.com/ajkls
refresh for different lulz.
official Cubs MLB squad post for april/may - everyone sucks except for the starting pitching (sans e.jackson) and when a.rizzo isn't on a no-hit, major-K streak
save to cut/paste for june-september
So I haven't commented much lately, and I don't want to be that guy, but is this site now exclusively dedicated to Extended Spring Training? I absolutely love everything AZ Phil brings to the table, but could we maybe get a few posts about the big league squad?
I still love TCR, please don't hate me.
Nice start for Almora -- 3-4 with a double for Kane County.
Baez has picked it up lately, hits in 13 of his last 14 games..something like 19/56 with 3 BB and 9 K over that span.
That Liberace movie is on HBO this week end.
/just saying
wow...that rizzo K in the 8th was a swing even sammy sosa would rag on.
It's hard to compare two very different eras, but as good as Urlacher was, Butkus was better.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
cubs load the bases with 0 out...no one scores.
awesome!
I thought it would be strained neck from watching balls fly over his head
~~ right after Sveum stomped on his big right toe.
He sounds like Marmol minus the $9.8M.
i wonder how long until i.stewart asks to be traded...if for no other reason than to get ABs on someone else's AAA team
yet another day he didn't start...got a PH appearance, 0-1.
also, josh vitters continues to be unimpressive, 0-4.
b.bogusevic continues to make a joke of AAA...1-2 (HR) with 3bb...(.370/.475 avg/ob%)
"My right big toe is kind of sore, why do you ask?"
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Somewhere in the Cubs locker room, Bill Murray chimes in...
"an Army without leaders is like a foot without a big toe"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtbBmwgxKc0
I wonder how what converstion went.
"Hey Shawn, do you have anything that hurts?"
"My right big toe is kind of sore, why do you ask?"
i'm not sure the author of that report knows what "lights-out" reliever means.
if he means a reliever with spotty control that will throw 20+ pitches an inning in AAA is "lights-out" i wonder how high the praise goes for someone that deserves it.
he's got good velocity at least. he's worth taking a chance on.
s.camp on the DL (evidently sucking is an injury these days) with a "sprained right big toe" (no, seriously)...r.dolis up
File this under the banner of how's the Cubs organizational depth coming along...
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Must have stubbed that toe throwing the grand slam last night. How convenient.
per Roto...
But for 2013 the Cubs rotation depth is greatly improved.
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JB: I completely agree about the 2013 improvement.
In fact, the debacle that was 2012 was accelerated when Maholm/Dempster/Garza were gone which is a tough nut to crack for any team. If the trade deadline subtracts 2 starters this year from the Cubs they likely will have Villanueva and even Scott Baker should be ready by then...and if not then one AAA guy (Rusin, Vizcaino).
Unfortunately 2013's legacy is being written by the bullpen and by the lack of RISP hitting whereas 2012 was the same plus the starting pitching. Organizational depth building should help the bullpen in 1-2 years but for every crusty veteran like Camp, these type of players tend to have alternating good/bad years so I'm not surprised he's back in the Crappy Camp. Right now I don't know what to expect from Fujikawa but my expectations have been significantly lowered. We've been lucky with Greg so far...so hopefully he will have some real trade value when the unloading of 2013 happens. My thinking is the offense won't improve much from here until 2015 as talent filters up from single A teams. They could fix this like Boston did with 3 yr contracts to the Victorino/Napoli but that is contrary to current Theo-think which calls for 1-2 year deals, not 3. Another example if instant bullpen was the plan, like the Pirates, but I think it's mostly a crapshoot when you sign/trade for Melancon and Grilli who could be really bad in a year. I'd rather see them model after Atlanta's bullpen but even that has been unsettled because of injury to Venters, O'Flaherty and Walton; Kimbrel was a 1st round pick (which in rebuilding mode is usually not how the first round is played) but what's not to like about having Kimbrel at the end of a game.
For all the complementary words Soriano has gotten lately, I'm tired of his inconsistency, streakiness, slow starts and iron glove (although he's clearly better than pre-Dave McKay version). We need someone who consistently knows how to drive in runs, someone who the fans can call an rbi-machine. The Cubs always seem to come up with the ARam rbi machine types, who take off a month or two then hit like crazy. Why can we get someone who is consistent, a stable offensive force.
Sorry for the rant/ramble.
But for 2013 the Cubs rotation depth is greatly improved. Villanueva just shifted to the bullpen, Rusin is pitching well enough in Iowa that a half-dozen MLB teams would promote him today to their rotations, and this is all in spite of the total washout that is Scott Baker.
As for the Cardinals, they called up Tyler Lyons. His control will keep him in games, but I don't think he's about to embark a Hall of Fame career.
per mlbtr...StL starting lefty, Jaime Garcia to undergo shoulder labrum repair after seeing Dr. Andrews and is out for the rest of the year. Some quote about Andrews surprised to see how well Garcia was pitching given how large (40%) the labral tear is.
We can measure how far the Cubs system is working by injuries like this, just watch how well Garcia's replacement in the rotation does. In 2011-12 the Cubs would be bringing up Justin Germano, Jason Berken, Chris Volstad or Rodrigo Lopez. Webster had a pic of RodLo in its definition of hitting rock bottom.
Right thing to do, thanks 54 best LB in Bears history
Side note I was at Kerry Wood's & Urlacher's last games (Seattle )
Can't wait to get my Bulls opener tix
Urlacher retiring from NFL
http://espn.go.com/chicago/nfl/story/_/id/9301402/...
Cubs prioritize Vitters' development over Stewart
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130521&c...
Dave Duncan has took a leave of absence back in January 2012 (wife has cancer). So I don't know how much he's around these days.
Something to keep in mind about Michael Bowden, is that even if he clears waivers, he can refuse an Outright Assignment to the minors & elect free-ageny because he has been outrighted previously in his career.
JOHN B: Exactly. I think if the Cubs make a deal with the Rangers, it's Texas who would want some of the Cubs ISBP value, not the other-way around.
And remember too that the best 16-year old international prospects usually sign right at the start of the ISP on July 2nd, so there could be a flurry of trades on July 2 that would allow a club like the Rangers to add ISBP values that would enable them to sign the #1 Venezuelan or Dominican prospect. And if the Cubs are compoeting for the same player, they aren't going to trade an ISBP value to Texas that would give the Rangers a chance to sign the guy the Cubs want.
JOHN B: 2012-13 International Signing Bonus Pool (ISBP) values ($2.9M per club) CANNOT be traded, and 2013-14 ISBP values (which are divided into 1/4 values of unequal amounts and which vary depending on the club's 2012 winning percentage ranking) cannot be traded until the start of the 2013-14 International Signing Period (ISP) on July 2nd. (The 2012-13 ISP closes on June 15th, and no international players can be signed during the period of time extending from June 16 to July 1. NOTE: This is the first year that a "quiet period" has been established separating the ISPs).
For the first year of the new system (2012-13), all MLB club's received the same $2.9M ISBP value. This means that $2.9M is the maximum aggregate amount of bonuses a club can give to international players during the 2012-13 ISP who are subject to the ISBP restrictions before financial penalties start to be assessed, and AGAIN, the 2012-13 ISBP value cannot be traded. (NOTE: There is no loss of draft pick involved if a club exceeds its annual ISBP, only bonus limitations that apply the following season).
With the second-worst record in MLB in 2012, the Cubs were assigned a 2013-14 ISPB value of $6.24M, divided up into unequal quarters ($2.873M, $462.3K, $312.2K, and $209.7K, plus an additional $700K that all clubs receive each season... and the "extra" $700K CANNOT be traded).
Clubs cannot add ISBP values via trades that would result in an ISBP that exceeds 50% of the club's originally assigned ISBP, and a club cannot trade for an ISBP value if the club has already paid-out bonuses at or beyond its ISBP limit.
So as far as the Cubs are concerned, they can spend (in aggregate) $6.24M in bonuses on international players subject to ISBP restrictions before they would reach their 2013-14 max ISBP limit. And they could acquire as much as $3.12M (in aggregate) in ISBP values in trades (50% of $6.24M), so that they ultimately could spend $9.36M in bonuses on international players in 2013-14 before 2014-15 penalties would start to be assessed.
Each MLB club is assigned a different ISBP value (again, divided up into quarters of unequal amounts), and an entire quarter must be traded if a club acquires an ISBP value from another club in a trade.
EXAMPLE:
Cubs trade Matt Garza to Texas in July, and as part of the deal, they acquire the Rangers top ISBP value ($514K), which would then be added to the Cubs assigned $6.24M 2013-14 ISBP. (NOTE: The Cubs do NOT get $514K, they just acquire the right to spend it).
Remember, the ISBP does not apply to international players age 23 or older who have played all or part of five seasons in a recognized foreign "major" league (or all or part of three separate seasons for Cuban players). Clubs can give these players as much as they want, and these players can get Major League contracts (like Kyuji Fujikawa). However, an international player who is subject to ISBP restrictions cannot receive a major league contract, so Jorge Soler got his deal right before the new restrictions went into effect last July 2nd (he was the last player subject to ISBP restrictions who got one).
I don't know if the Cuibs will be trading for ISBP values, because $6.24M is already a substantial ISBP. But if they are in a position where they can sign the best Venezuelan and Dominican free-agents during the 2013-14 ISP and to do so they will need to spend more than $6.24M, obviously they will have to acquire some ISBP values in trades.
I think it will be clubs that have a much lower 2013-14 ISBP (liike TEX) who will probably be looking to acquire ISBP values in trades, so that they can spend more on international players during the 2013-14 ISP. (The Rangers are probably #1 as far as scouting and signing players from Latin America). Or any high revenue club that finds itself out of contention at the trade deadline and wants to pick up some ISBP values as part of a deadline deal, since they might have started out with a low ISBP.
And clubs that don't spend much on international players or who don't care that much about it will probably be happy to trade an ISBP value if they can get an actual player back in a trade, especially if the club's ISBP is more than what they want to spend internationally, or if they are just unable to sign the best international prospects.
Thank you. It sounds like the Cubs could maybe even be more logical sellers of an ISBP share than buyers. Packaging a share with Garza or Feldman might increase the eliteness of the in-system prospect(s) coming back to the Cubs.
Scouting Report, Sanchez:
"A fastball and slider specialist, Sanchez has been a lights-out reliever in the minors and now appears fully cooked and ready to help with an MLB squad. He didn't look his best during a stint with the team in 2012, but if he stays healthy, he can still be a nasty late-inning weapon for the Cardinals in 2013, and probably for many years to come."
How is it that the best organization, with Dave Duncan, would waive this guy?
He seems to be a solid prospect. As good, or better than any bullpen shit the Cubs have currently. Oh wait...
Cubster - did you see this about Josh Conway?
“I thought maybe some scar tissue had ripped, but it was a ligament anchor for the UCL. Basically, I have a fractured elbow right now.”
http://articles.herald-mail.com/2013-05-19/sports/...
I hope he had a tampon on him!
Harley?
from CBS sports and Tribune...
CBS...To make room for Garza on the roster, the Cubs earlier Tuesday designated RHP Michael Bowden for assignment. Also Tuesday, Chicago claimed RHP Eduardo Sanchez off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals and assigned him to the Triple-A Iowa Cubs.
Trib...The 24-year-old Sanchez had a 3.72 earned-run average in nine appearances at Triple-A Memphis. He made 43 appearances for the Cardinals in 2011 and '12, compiling a 3.40 earned-run average. Last year he had a 6.60 ERA in 17 outings for the Cardinals.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/gametracker/recap/MLB...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs...