DRAFT DAY 1
Well, I was surprised to see the Cubs draft a hitter with the #2 overall pick. Kris Bryant has tremendous power and a great bat. He currently plays Third Base in college, but a lot of scouts feel he is better suited for First Base in the majors. Since the Astros drafted Mark Appel I guess the Cubs decided to draft Bryant. I have no problem with that….I’m just surprised.
The Cubs other Day 1 draft pick was a left handed pitcher out of Missouri named Rob Zastryzny. I like this pick a lot. I am a firm believer that the Cubs need arms. While our current starting pitchers are performing well, I want to build/draft for the long haul.
There will be more rounds today and it will be interesting to see what the Cubs do.
I’m hoping that Kris and Rob sign quickly and get started on their professional careers.
DRAFT DAY TOMORROW
It was sad to hear that Jonathan Gray has tested positive for Adderall. I was thinking the Cubs were going to draft him or Mark Appel with the #2 overall pick. Now I am wanting to stay away from Gray. I may be over reacting but I want to play things safe.
Besides the first round the Cubs have a lot of work to do. Theo & Co. need to draft more arms, a Catcher or two and a power bat at Third Base wouldn’t hurt. There are still a lot of holes to fill.
One player locally that I know is receiving a lot of interest from MLB teams is Ryne Roper. He is a high school player from Harrisburg, Illinois. He was recently announced Illinois’ Gatorade Player of the Year for baseball. I know he has committed to play baseball at the University of Illinois, but if he’s drafted high enough I could see him signing. Should be fun to watch.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s draft and enjoying the wonderful weather we have had lately. I will leave everyone with a picture of my son after his baseball game last night.
Got Your Game Face?
GRAY OR APPEL
The 2013 Draft is this week and the Cubs pick second. I would be shocked if the Cubs didn’t draft a power arm in Mark Appel or Jonathan Gray. The Cubs have some young hitters in the minors in Albert Almora, Jorge Soler and Javier Baez to name a few. What the Cubs are lacking in their minor league system is top of the order starting pitchers. Appel or Gray, either one, would be a great start. I’m undecided on which one to draft at this point. I keep going back and forth. I think both pitchers have high ceilings and I hope both end up having great careers. I can’t wait until Thursday to find out!
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN
After the 2010 season, I wrote several posts on my ideas for the Cubs. I wanted the team to make some trades and free agent signings that I felt would help them. One of those ideas was trading for Chris Davis. Here is the link for one of those posts.
http://strictlycubsbaseball.mlblogs.com/2010/12/09/who-is-chris-davis/
As of this morning, Davis is batting .344 with 17 HRs and 47RBIs. So, I definitely feel like I was right about wanting the Cubs to trade for him.
That off-season was brutal for me as a Cubs fan. Obviously I wanted Davis. I also wanted the Cubs to trade for Matt Garza and they did. But I didn’t want to sacrifice SS Hak-Ju Lee in a deal for him. Well, we ended up trading Lee and 4 other players to get Garza in the deal.
That off-season was the one that saw Ryne Sandberg leave the Cubs organization as well. He will always be my favorite Cub of all time. Sandberg, Andre Dawson and Greg Maddux are my favorites that I was fortunate to watch for their entire careers.
Anyway, the Cubs didn’t reload that year like I wanted them to. Instead, the organization began going in the wrong direction in my opinion. Now that Theo & Co. are running the show there is a big mess to clean up. It started after the 2010 season.
HAYDEN SIMPSON
THEO & CO.
First, I want to let everyone know something. I like to refer to Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod as “Theo & Co.” Theo is the former GM of the Red Sox, Jed Hoyer was his assistant GM in Boston and Jason McLeod was the scouting director of the Red Sox. These guys were working together in 2007 when they originally drafted Anthony Rizzo. Since then Jed & Jason went to San Diego and Theo came to Chicago. Shortly after that, Theo was able to bring Jed & Jason to the NorthSide and begin working on the building a World Series Champion in the Chicago Cubs.
The work has been slow and methodical. There have been plenty of trades, waiver moves and free agent signings. Andrew Cashner was traded in a deal to bring Anthony Rizzo to the Cubs….a move I was initially skeptical of. Theo & Co. made me upset when trading Tyler Colvin for Ian Stewart in a deal with the Colorado Rockies. While the Rizzo trade has been great, the trade for Stewart has been a flop!
There have been several other trades (too many to mention) as well. Overall, I would give Theo & Co. a B- when grading their trades. Yet, when it comes to free agent signings I will give them a B+ grade. Here are just a few signings: Carlos Villanueva, David DeJesus, Scott Feldman and Nate Schierholtz. I can see all of these players and more being traded in the future as the Cubs continue to build a perennial contender.
Finally, Theo & Co. are working on the upcoming draft. With the #2 overall pick I am confident that the they will draft a pitcher with a high ceiling. I cannot wait to see what they come up with.
BUILDING A FOUNDATION
The Chicago Cubs are obviously in a rebuilding process. There are 4-5 players on the current roster that I feel can be a part of the long term solution. I will start with Jeff Samardzija. He turned 28 back in January as is finally looking like the pitcher that I felt he could become. I think he has the chance to be a competitive front line starter if he could ever get some run support. His battery mate, Welington Castillo, is another player I think is going to stick around. Castillo turned 26 last month and is finally the everyday catcher for the Cubs. I like his bat and his defense. He’s not going to be winning gold gloves, but he’s not hurting the team either.
Take these 5 guys and think about adding Soler, Amora and Baez to the lineup. That could be a solid offense to help Samardzija and who knows who else….maybe David Price????
RESURRECTION
After taking a considerable amount of time off I am attempting to blog again!!! As a husband and father of three precious children my blog is not a priority at this point in my life. However, I really enjoying blogging about baseball and the Chicago Cubs.
Yoenis Cespedes
Okay, this 26 year old Cuban outfielder is starting to generate a lot of interest with Spring Training right around the corner. I’ve been reading a bit more on him as of late and here’s my thoughts that I would like to share with you.
First, he has a ton of talent and it’s obvious when you look at his stats from the Cuban league. In 2011, he managed to hit .333 with 33 HR’s, 99RBI’s, 11 SB’s, with 49 Walks and 40 strikeouts in 354 at bats. From 2004-2011 he hit under .300 only one time. I truly believe he’s the real deal.
With that said, I think he’s capable of .285 average with over 20 HR’s in his first MLB season depending on how quickly he adjusts to MLB pitchers. The quicker he adjusts the better his stats will be.
I think the Marlins will be the team that lands him and I think it’s going to happen soon. I would love my Cubs to sign him, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. Miami actually makes a lot of sense to me with its large Cuban population and the new stadium and all the money they’ve been spending this off-season. Imagine Cespedes in a lineup with Stanton, Reyes, Ramirez, Sanchez and more. It’s scary!!!
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