Jim Hendry is going around telling Patrick Mooney that the Cubs are just a few smart moves away from contending again. He’s not being ironic. He’s dead serious. “That’s the way the game is now,” Hendry said. “The Pirates were (34 games) back a year ago. They did a nice job. Some of their younger players are playing well. …
Midseason look at the Cubs top prospects, part 4
Over the last week we’ve looked at the top 20 Cubs prospects according to John Sickels and how they’re performing this season. We’ve also looked at 15 or 16 additional players worthy of some discussion for one reason or another. Many of the 2010 draft picks, especially the high school ones, have very little playing time to their name. Few …
Midseason look at the Cubs top prospects, part 3
We’ve taken an extensive look at the top 20 Cubs prospects this season by Sickels so it’s time to look at some others who weren’t ranked. John Gaub Gaub is coming of a season in which he walked almost a batter per inning and allowed a tons of runs, but this season he’s been pretty good. His strikeouts are through …
Midseason look at the Cubs top prospects, part 2
A few days ago we looked at Sickel’s Cubs prospects ranked 11-20 entering the season and how they’ve done so far. This time we’ll look at the top 10. 10) Alberto Cabrera, RHP, Grade C+: Another live arm that needs polish. Cabrera made 9 starts for AA Tennessee and then was promoted to Iowa. I’m pretty sure the only reason …
Tom Ricketts and Player Acquisition
Tom Ricketts has been vocal since buying the Cubs about the need to strengthen the minor league system. It’s getting harder to doubt his sincerity given the construction of a new facility in the Dominican Republic, the increased number of overslot draftees in 2011, and the newly competitive nature of the organization in plucking sixteen year-olds out of foreign countries. …
Midseason look at the Cubs top prospects, part 1
I figured now was a good time to post something about the Cubs top prospects since it’s past the midway point in the full minor league seasons. The short-season teams just got under way. I’m using Sickel’s top 20. I’m breaking this into three parts. I’ll cover 11-20 here and then 1-10 while the final part will focus on players …
Looking Back at the Matt Garza Trade
I was none too happy when the Cubs traded for Matt Garza in the offseason. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Garza. He was a good pitcher about equal to Dempster and Zambrano so that would obviously be good if you can add a starter like that to any rotation. However, I hated what the Cubs had to give up …
Some thoughts on the so-called team meetings
On Saturday Tim explained how silly the Cubs are, but I came to a much different conclusion than he did after reading the same thing. Let me start with just quoting some of the same things Tim did. General manager Jim Hendry and assistant GM Randy Bush will preside over the two days of meetings. Hendry’s objective will be to …
2011 MLB Draft: Rundown
Carrie Muskat has an article up about a few of the players the Cubs drafted that’s worth reading. A couple of things caught my attention. Cubs scouting director Tim Wilken said they did take more high school players than in the past and did so with Cubs chairman Tom Rickett’s endorsement. Ricketts was in Mesa, Ariz., at the team’s Draft …
2011 MLB Draft: Day Two ***updated***
Rounds 2 through 30 will begin today at 11 am central. The best players still available according to Baseball America rankings include Josh Bell who was the 15th ranked draft prospect. From a talent basis, outfielder Josh Bell and lefthander Daniel Norris are both first-round talents. But their asking price ensured that they are the two highest-rated players left undrafted …