Orange Guy had Jim Callis from Baseball America and Kevin Goldstein from Baseball Prospectus on the Cubs pre-pregame show today. The highlights
Callis:
Gaussman is the best player that actually has a chance of dropping to the Cubs, though the chance of him doing so is small (but nontrivial!)
Cubs will probably draft Almora
Callis would take Correa over Almora and Fried, if all three were available at 6
He compared Almora to Buxton and said that Almora has a lower ceiling, but a higher floor
Callis had lots of great things to say about McLeod (thinks he’ll be a GM someday) and Wilken, referred to them as a dream team
It’s a lousy draft for pitching
Goldstein:
Baez, Jackson, Rizzo the only bats with upside in the system.
Loves Sczczcaratafdr’s speed, but points out there’s not a lot else there.
He does not like the Cubs pitching prospects, wouldn't say any of them have good upside.
He spent some time tempering expectations on Dillon Maples.
He agrees that the Cubs will probably take Almora. He’s toolsy, could be a future 20-20 CF
He thinks Correa is the best player in the draft, probably won’t drop to 6
He doesn’t think the three big college pitchers will drop to six, but if Zimmer is still around at 6 he thinks the Cubs will take Almora over him anyway
My memory stinks and I can't remember which of these guys said this
The MLB draft is tomorrow. The Cubs worked out possible first round picks Carlos Correa (SS) and Max Fried (P) earlier this week, and several draft evaluators are prognisticating that the Cubs will take high school OF Albert Almora. It's nice not having to worry about the Cubs picking another Tyler Colvin or Homer Simpson.
Jorge Soler's free agency is now officially official
The Cubs can now officially pursue Jorge Soler, His agent wants all offers submitted by Thursday, which is well before next month's CBA spending deadline. I guess we'll find out soon if the Cubs (or some other team) did have a handshake deal with him after all. The rumored Cubs deal earlier in the offseason was 4/27, and I hope that's not true. The Cubs need young talent, but at what price? Young talent is what teams need, but price is as big a factor in their value as aging curves. That amount of money would be better spent on a free agent rather than a guy with a ton of uncertainty who, even if he does pan out, will have a relatively expensive baseline to negotiate further contracts while he's under team control. The Cubs can afford it, but there are probably better ways to spend their money without overreacting to the new CBA.
The Cubs brass do seem to be impressed with Soler. Sveum said he likes his bat, but thinks that Correa might be a little better.
Last night Javier Baez hit a 4,000 foot HR (video below) and was later drilled in the ribs for swinging at a 3-0 pitch with a 13 run lead. The opposing manager was as obvious as possible about the pitch, coming out to talk to the pitcher immediately after the swing. Both were immediately ejected. Hopefully the opposing team also took the rest of the night off and refused to swing at every pitch for the rest of the game, since they already said the game was over. Asshats.
Also mentioned in dj's recap, Josh Vitters is still hitting well. He had a homer and a double in last night's game and now has a .276/.327/.470 line (.341 wOBA) on the season. Good thing for him that Ian Stewart isn't really staking any claim on the 3b job for next year. Speaking of Stewart, his bum wrist is bothering him yet again.
John Heyman has reported that the Yankees have already expressed some interest, and Olney thinks that the Blue Jays could be a good partner. Garza has AL East Experience which gives him extra value to those teams. It's too bad the Rays likely won't have much interest in bringing him back, I'd love for the Cubs to crack into that farm system.
Speaking of pitching fire sales
The Dodgers could be a destination for Ryan Dempster. According to CBS's Danny Knobler they're looking to pursue pitching and hitting (what else is there?), and wanted Dempster a few years ago before the Cubs extended him.
The Cubs sweep of the Padres puts them one game behind in the race for the #1 pick. The Cubs are tied with the Twins for the second pick.
Buried in this Hobbitton Times article about the sweep was a nugget about Ryan Dempster putting a hole in the wall next to his locker after his poor start. ZOMG, he's so emotional and out of control. Time to start concern trolling him about needing a psychologist, right Paul?
Sveum ♥ Mather
Dale Sveum continues to bat Joe Mather third in the order. Joe Mather.
"I thought I'd put somebody in there that might juice the team with a home run, or a three-run homer or two-run double, something like that. Just going to see if he can spark the team now and do some things," Sveum said. "Since I've put him in there, he's pretty much had a quality at-bats, hit some balls really hard right at people."
Mather has the second highest SLG on the team. Arranging a Cubs lineup this season is pretty much just deckchair rearranging, but Joe Mather's hot tear to start the season has only managed to drag up his wOBA projection to .300, just a hair behind Darwin Barney. I think he should definitely be in the lineup against LHP, but ugh. (via Muskat + Kruth)
Tweets from the other day
@BleacherNation Cubs record with Campana starting: 10-11. Cubs record with Campana NOT starting: 7-21. Not saying cause/effect, but…
So many levels. That a guy who was DFA'd in spring training is our MVP, that the offense sucks, and that Dale Sveum thinks a middle reliever is the most valuable pitcher on the team.
Phil Rogers suggests a Soriano landing spot
Apparently Travis Hafner is injured again. It's probably only news at this point if Hafner is *not* injured. Cleveland is playing well in a division that was supposed to be dominated by the Tigers and could be interested in a "suddenly" power hitting DH. This isn't that much of a surprise though, aside from his defensive resurgance pretty much all that's left of Soriano's game is his power. Offensively he's the reverse of the empty batting average hitter – instead of a zillion singles with no walks and xbh, most of his (small) offensive value is just hitting HRs. I do wonder how much DHing could help him at the plate though – he's clearly been hurting for weeks now in the OF without getting any relief.
Is there a Cubs game today?
No.
Cubs work out possible first round pick
Carlos Correa worked out at Wrigley yesterday. He's a 17 year old SS from Puerto Rico. I bet he and Geovany Soto know each other, since it's just a small island and everyone knows each other /GROTA Rob. Sveum himself threw BP to Correa. He might not drop to the Cubs – Klaw thinks the O's will grab him at 4.
