Earlier today, Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago appeared with host Jeff Todd on this week’s edition of the MLBTR Podcast, and the two discussed a variety of Cubs topics, from the Welington Castillo trade to Starlin Castro and the team’s rotation. For Cubs fans (and others) who have already checked that out, though, here are a few more notes on the team that sits four games back in the NL Central and currently leads the Padres 3-0…
- Infielder Javier Baez has hit well at Triple-A this season, posting a .296/.375/.423 batting line in 80 plate appearances, but there doesn’t seem to be any rush to get him back to the big leagues at this time. Via David Kaplan of CSN Chicago (on Twitter), GM Jed Hoyer said that the Cubs “…want to take our time on Javy Baez. He is playing well, but we want to let him continue to keep working right now.” Addison Russell has seen most of the time at second base, where many thought Baez would play this season. After some early struggles, Russell has settled in and is hitting .273/.333/.455 over a 22-game stretch.
- Speaking of Russell, agent Scott Boras, who represents both Russell and Kris Bryant, praised the Cubs organization prior to tonight’s game, writes Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago. Boras feels that both Bryant and Russell have “dramatically” improved since joining the team, leading him to praise the organization’s developmental techniques. Boras said that his main gripe in Spring Training was that he wanted Bryant to know that his fate wasn’t pre-determined (presumably, that is, to know that he wouldn’t be reassigned to minor league camp at the end of Spring Training). He also praised manager Joe Maddon for his communication skills and work with young players. “Joe Maddon is a talent,” said Boras. “He’s very good at giving the players a focus at a variety of levels of their careers. And that has a lot to do with why they’re performing so well in their careers.”
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports feels that the Cubs should think twice before considering a trade of Castro. Rosenthal spoke to a number of Castro’s teammates as well as Maddon, assistant hitting coach Eric Hinske and president Theo Epstein — all of whom feel that the 25-year-old has made strides in terms of maturity, preparedness and defense this season. Rosenthal notes that with $37MM owed to Castro from 2016-19, his contract is highly affordable as well. Of course, Castro has struggled at the plate early this year, as even after a pair of singles tonight he’s hitting .272/.304/.346, which translates to a wRC+ of just 76 (24 percent worse than the league average).
Upton – Yankees 8/168mil……
Price – Dodgers 7/185mil…..
Cueto – Rangers 7/165mil…..
Heyward – Tigers 7/136mil….
Zimmermann – Cubs 5/96mil…..
Gordon – Royals 4/72mil…..
Greinke – Giants 5/120mil……
Desmond – Yankees 5/90mil……..
Cespedes – Angels 5/75mil……
Samardzija – Jays 5/65mil…….
Fowler – Cubs 3/33mil…..
Kendrick – Phillies 5/70mil……
Span – Mariners 4/52mil……
Lind – Brewers 1/8mil….
Rasmus – Astros 2/16mil……
Harang – Royals 2/18mil…..
Burnett – Pirates 1/12mil……
Haren – Padres 2/22mil……
Utley – Dodgers 2/24mil…..
Lincecum – Giants 2/37mil……
Zobrist – Angels 2/22mil…..
Kazmir – Astros 3/38mil……
Morrow – Tigers 4/48mil……
Anderson – Rockies 2/22mil…..
Jackson – Rangers 2/13mil……….
Leake – Nationals 2/24mil…..
Hunter – Giants 1/9mil…….
Fister – Nationals 1/15mil…….
Rollins – A’s 1/8mil……….
Hudson – Retire…….
Lee – Yankees 1/13.5mil……
Simon – Tigers 2/18mil…….
Vogelsong – A’s 1/6mil……..
Latos – Indians 2/16mil…..
Buehrle – Retire…….
Masterson – Rockies 2/13mil……
Chen – Rays 3/21mil…..
Papelbon – Marlins 3/33mil……..
Lohse – Indians 1/7mil…..
Kennedy – A’s 1/6mil…..
Colon – Retire…..
Free-agent predictions………
So the Yankees would go into next season with a $272 million payroll? Oh, I forgot the luxury tax, better make that $310 million lol. That is not happening, Hank is going to try to get under the tax at some point. The game is changing, even Cashman and Team Steinbrenner recognize it.
I do see the Yanks getting Desmond and a top pitcher either Zimmerman, Greinke, or Price. They will have Tex, and CC coming off the books in 17, A-Rod in 18.
I think they tipped their hand when they made zero effort on Scherzer. They really need to slip under the luxury tax one year so they can recalibrate. Free agency is bad enough, but to pay a 50% tax on that is absurd. Especially if they have a third year with no playoff revenue. I don’t think Hank is a maniac like George was, if it’s not working he might tighten up.
Samardzija is going to do better than 5/65. A lot of teams would line up for that.
Kendrick going to the Phillies is bizarre too. It would kind of require displacing Utley, and it would mean Kendrick would go to a pretty terrible team.
I have Kendrick going to the nationals
Why do you continue to post this on unrelated topics? The previous thread related to this topic is only a couple days old. You should post it there.
Jeopardy…. jeopardy… gotta watch jeopardy.
I don’t think Greinke will leave the dodgers to go to the giants, i think he goes somewhere else.
HALF of these Cubs prospects are over-hyped !
What about the other half?
Underhyped? Lol
Lol good one
I’ll GLADLY take only half.
Yep, because major scouting corporations such as Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus get paid extra for ranking a certain franchise’s prospects higher than others. Yep, makes sense!
I remember people were writing off Baez saying the Cubs should traded him not even a month ago.
Baseball fans are the least patient with strike out/power combinations.
I still think they should trade him, regardless of how good he has performed in the minors. Yes, he is a great prospect, but I think Russell and Castro is a better middle infield combination than Baez-Castro or Baez-Russell. I think he could be traded for a very good (but not top tire) pitching prospect like Montero (mets), Johnson (red sox), etc.
Severino (Yankees) could be a good swap for Baez as well….
Yankees would have to give more. Truthfully I’m hoping they don’t go after Baez though. I doubt they are interested anyway.
You think the Yanks would have to give more in that scenario for Baez? Honestly I wouldn’t do that trade either, but because Severino is a bit much to give up for a 1 trick pony prospect who struck out every other at bat in the bigs. I like Baez, but his stock is still down and could be had for less than Severino
“I think he could be traded for a very good (but not top tire) pitching prospect”
–But they are kicking tires on many different pitchers.
–Or are they getting tired of all the rumors?
I’m stating the obvious, but success in the minors doesn’t guarantee success in the majors
Baez can return to the Cubs and do just as horrible as he did last year. He has a higher BA and OBP this year in AAA than he did last year in AAA, but his OPS is nearly 70 points lower due to him only slugging .405
And his K% is over 26%. Down from last year, but still very high.
Stating the obvious is stating the obvious.
If we had traded him before we called him up last year, that could have made sense. There was certainly no reason to trade him at a severe discount after last year’s struggles.
That said, until he shows me that he can maintain an acceptable level of performance in the majors I’m not going to get excited about him anymore.
I think the percentage that Minor Stars become Major league Stars is 40 -45 %
There’s no doubt the actual percentage is way lower. I’d be surprised if it was over 20 percent.
Yeah, it’s a really low percentage and I think it would end up surprising most people on this site how many top prospects ultimately fail. The last article I saw on this is several years old now, but only about 30% of BA top 100 prospects end up averaging 1.5 fWAR/season through their cost controlled seasons and about 17% end up averaging more than 2.5 fWAR/season. Even the top 20 overall prospects are only about a coin flip to be average and 1 in 3 to be slightly above average.
I don’t think Joe Maddon played professional baseball..
Neither did half of the GMs these days, but you certainly wouldn’t say you don’t care about their views of a team’s developmental abilities. Take the pat on the back and leave it there.
I think he meant Wei-Yin Chen of the Orioles.
He did. It was just in the minors, which is professional.
They deleted my reference to Boras but Maddon has earned his chops for objective evaluation of talent. Who wants to hear/read self-serving comments from agents? It’s a judgment call. Not comparable to GM’s in any way. Talent agents are last resorts as sources of news and perspectives across all forms of media. Candor is not in their job description — even if they were describing their own jobs..
It very much is, and I stand corrected. Thank you for clearing that up for me!
Or Julie Chen from CBS News.
You are welcome, friend
He’s the best agent in the industry, he played the game, he makes pretty dang good assessments on who he wants to represent, and I’m sure he has some insights into the game that are if not informative, at least entertaining.
Can he evaluate bullpen talent?