1) Brett Jackson, OF, Grade B+: I love his broad range of skills...speed, power, patience, defense. Only problem is a high strikeout rate which could foretell adjustment issues and/or preclude a high batting average. A more complete player than newly-acquired Rizzo, so ranks ahead for me.

2) Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Grade B+: Acquired today from Padres for Andrew Cashner. Nobody should panic about 128 at-bats. Although he's not going to hit .300 in the majors, Rizzo should provide plenty of power and walks and I think he'll make the needed adjustments. Maximum outcome: Ryan Howard. Worst-case: Chris Davis.

3) Javier Baez, SS-3B, Grade B: 2011 first-round pick. Outstanding bat speed, should hit for average and power. Questions revolve around future position as well as volatile personality. Higher ceiling than Jackson or Rizzo but we need to clear these issues up first.

4) Matt "Scrabble" Szczur, OF, Grade B-: Borderline B. Grade under review. Outstanding tools but still learning how to play baseball. Uses speed very well, skilled defensively, should develop more power but plate discipline slipped in High-A.

5) Trey McNutt, RHP, Grade B-: Hampered by nagging injuries in Double-A and gets a partial mulligan, although stock is legitimately down a bit. I am concerned by low strikeout rate.

6) Dillon Maples, RHP, Grade B-: 14th round pick with second-round talent, hasn't pitched yet. Scouting reports point to number two starter potential, or perhaps a relief ace if he doesn't develop a changeup, or if his funky delivery results in durability issues. Grade speculative given lack of pro data.

7) Dan Vogelbach, 1B, Grade B-: 2011 second-round pick. I really, really believe in this bat. Enormous power combined with legitimate hitting skills and strong plate discipline. Main problem is jumbo size; at times he has carried more pounds than I do, and he's not a sedentary middle-aged writer. If he can stay in decent condition he could move quite quickly and provides a backup plan if Rizzo doesn't work out.

8) Junior Lake, SS, Grade C+: Borderline B-. Excellent athlete, with power and speed, great throwing arm. Poor plate discipline, erratic track record, and probable position switch hurt stock, but has tremendous upside. Much better physical ceiling than Vogelbach, of course, but I'm less confident in his ability to hit.

9) Welington Castillo, C, Grade C+: Considerable power with a great throwing arm, still somewhat raw with the glove. Spotty strike zone judgment could be an issue, but could supplant Geovany Soto eventually.

10) Dae-Eun Rhee, RHP, Grade C+: Tommy John survivor saw velocity boost, continued to throw strikes, and was extremely effective in High-A down the stretch, posted 32/5 K/BB in last 25 innings with 2.16 ERA. If he maintains that momentum in 2012, will break through and shoot up prospect lists.

11) Josh Vitters, 3B-1B, Grade C+: Placement is very difficult. You can make a case as high as eight or as low as 15. Strengths remain age (22) and contact ability, but still short-circuits himself with impatience. At some point he's got to produce more than this, and with the new regime in place he needs to take that step forward now.

12) Jeimer Candelario, 3B, Grade C+: Outstanding performance in the Dominican Summer League. Scouting reports are good, too. Unfortunately DSL performance is not particularly predictive, but he has good plate discipline and scouts are impressed with him. May face position switch. Could rank much higher once we see him in North America.

13) Marco Hernandez, SS, Grade C+: Solid performance in Arizona Rookie League, gap power, should hit for average, and can remain at shortstop. Could also rank much higher a year from now.

14) Chris Carpenter, RHP, Grade C+: Power arm pitched poorly in Triple-A bullpen due to command issues but looked much better in Arizona Fall League. Dominant when his command is working.

15) Rafael Dolis, RHP, Grade C+: Could rank as high as 10th if you aren't concerned by his poor strikeout rate in Double-A. Power sinker could get him significant major league innings in 2012 but will need better command to close. I don't like him as much as some other people do, but upper-90s sinkers are rare.

16) Zach Cates, RHP, Grade C+: Acquired in the Cashner/Rizzo trade. Often overlooked due to 4.78 ERA in Low-A, but he has a live arm and peripheral stats were much better. Breakthrough possible.

17) Ben Wells, RHP, Grade C+: Arkansas high school talent from 2010 draft is another sinkerball expert, impressed scouts in Northwest League. Number three starter upside.

18) Dave Sappelt, OF, Grade C+: Acquired in Sean Marshall deal. Perfect fourth outfielder with a broad balance of average tools/skills.

19) Ronald Torreyes, 2B, Grade C+: Acquired in Sean Marshall deal from Reds. Excellent performance record, hits for average, very reliable with the glove, but undersized at 5-7, 150. Can he do what Jose Altuve did with the Astros?

20) Reggie Golden, OF, Grade C+: Struggled with contact in Northwest League. A raw hitter, but power potential is quite impressive. High risk/high reward type.

21) Gioskar Amaya, INF, Grade C+: Hit .377 in rookie ball, lacks distance power at this time and needs better plate discipline. Long-term position unsettled as well, but a nice ceiling.

22) Tony Zych, RHP, Grade C+: Lively arm drafted in fourth round in '11, projects as a closer if he sharpens his command.

23) Shawon Dunston, Jr, OF, Grade C+: Excellent speed, but lacks strength/power and raw for a bloodline player. Good upside as a leadoff type but will take time to get there.

24) Aaron Kurcz, RHP, Grade C+: Good year as a swingman in Florida State League, excellent K/IP ratio with few hits given up, above-average stuff.

OTHERS: Jeffry Antigua, LHP; Dallas Beeler, RHP; Jeff Beliveau, LHP; Jeff Bianchi, INF; Lendy Castillo, RHP; Pin-Chieh Chen, OF; Zeke DeVoss, 2B; Jae-Hoon Ha, OF (a lot of people really like him but he looks like a tweener to me); Jay Jackson, RHP; Eric Jokisch, LHP; Austin Kirk, LHP (season collapsed after he threw the no-hitter);; Luis Liria, RHP; Kevin Rhoderick, RHP; Jose Rosario, RHP; Neftali Rosario, C; Hayden Simpson, RHP; Nick Struck, RHP; Yao-Ling Wang, RHP; Logan Watkins, 2B; Robert Whitenack, RHP.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2012/1/6 ... s-for-2012

The Stache wrote:IIRC, most of the prospect guru's were saying Baez won't be able to stick at SS. He'll probably end up at 3B.

Gose and BJax are both good defensive OF'ers, so I think it would work out just fine. Gose in CF and BJax in RF would be ideal.

SymposiumX wrote:

The Stache wrote:IIRC, most of the prospect guru's were saying Baez won't be able to stick at SS. He'll probably end up at 3B.

Gose and BJax are both good defensive OF'ers, so I think it would work out just fine. Gose in CF and BJax in RF would be ideal.

Thanks Stache....along the lines my mind was going, but I wanted to touch base with fans more knowledgeable than myself regarding prospect/farm/minor leaguers.

When I listed my personal overall Top 50 in the 2012 Prospect Handbook, I had Brett Jackson at No. 28, Javier Baez at No. 31 and Rizzo at No. 42, so that would put Rizzo third on an updated Cubs list. I like Rizzo's power potential and think he's the third-best first-base prospect in baseball (behind the Astros' Jonathan Singleton and the Padres' Yonder Alonso), but Jackson and Baez are up-the-middle players and Baez has the bat to be an impact player if he moves down the line.

None of Chicago's other acquisitions would crack the Top 10. There's depth in the farm system, so if I were updating the Cubs Top 30 I wrote for the Handbook, I'd put Torreyes, Cates and Sappelt (in that order) in the back half of that list. Torreyes is a career .364 hitter in the lower minors, but he's also 5-foot-7 and lacks a second standout tool, so he's really going to have to max out what he has to make it as a big league regular. Cates has a strong arm but is relatively new to pitching and has a lot of work to do, while Sappelt looks like a fourth outfielder who's overmatched in center field.

In our preliminary system rankings in the Handbook, we put Chicago at No. 14. When we release our final rankings this spring, the Cubs' moves will push them up a spot or two.

As for Volstad, I thought he was a nice pickup in the Carlos Zambrano trade. Chicago might have released Zambrano if it couldn't have traded him. Though the Cubs had to eat $15 million of Zambrano's $18 million salary for 2012, they got a young, durable starter. Volstad may not be more than a No. 4 starter because he doesn't miss enough bats, but he'll help Chicago more than Zambrano would have.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/pr ... 12794.html

tripxcore wrote:JimBowdenESPNxm JIM BOWDEN
Hoyer just told us @mlbnetworkradio told us the key to the Marshall deal was the control of Wood and the up-side on Torreyes who batted .364

SymposiumX wrote:

tripxcore wrote:JimBowdenESPNxm JIM BOWDEN
Hoyer just told us @mlbnetworkradio told us the key to the Marshall deal was the control of Wood and the up-side on Torreyes who batted .364

Makes perfect sense to me, that is why it's was such a good trade. That for basically a 1-season rental of Marshall in a year that we don't really need him. I still say that Marshall will be back in Cubbie Blue in the future.

richdanna wrote:

SymposiumX wrote:

tripxcore wrote:JimBowdenESPNxm JIM BOWDEN
Hoyer just told us @mlbnetworkradio told us the key to the Marshall deal was the control of Wood and the up-side on Torreyes who batted .364

Makes perfect sense to me, that is why it's was such a good trade. That for basically a 1-season rental of Marshall in a year that we don't really need him. I still say that Marshall will be back in Cubbie Blue in the future.

I don't see it.

If Marshall puts together another good season for the Reds, I can't honestly see this regime shelling out 3/$18M for a middle reliever, and that's where Marshall's gonna be. At that point, you have to wonder if Jocketty extends him for 3 years at a more reasonable rate. It's a feel-good story. Epstein tells Marshall to play in Cincy for a year, and we'll bring you back.

He also said that he'd like to have Zambrano and Wood back if it works for the team. It's what he HAS to say. The thing I love about the new feel of this team is that there is no sappy allegiances to players any longer. The Mark DeRosa love fests won't continue here. The Sandberg situation was handled perfectly.

Theo, if nothing else, has proven to be very decisive, yet very straight forward with his personnel.

I think Sean Marshall is a great pitcher in the wrong time for the Cubs, and will go on to have an illustrious career with other teams, and I wish him well.

Beyond the fact that they're brilliant baseball minds, the fact that Epstein, Hoyer and McLeod have no rooted ties to players makes the ability to go forward and make educated baseball decisions, rather than popular baseball decisions so much easier.

richdanna wrote:

SymposiumX wrote:

tripxcore wrote:JimBowdenESPNxm JIM BOWDEN
Hoyer just told us @mlbnetworkradio told us the key to the Marshall deal was the control of Wood and the up-side on Torreyes who batted .364

Makes perfect sense to me, that is why it's was such a good trade. That for basically a 1-season rental of Marshall in a year that we don't really need him. I still say that Marshall will be back in Cubbie Blue in the future.

I don't see it.

If Marshall puts together another good season for the Reds, I can't honestly see this regime shelling out 3/$18M for a middle reliever, and that's where Marshall's gonna be. At that point, you have to wonder if Jocketty extends him for 3 years at a more reasonable rate.

It's a feel-good story. Epstein tells Marshall to play in Cincy for a year, and we'll bring you back.

He also said that he'd like to have Zambrano and Wood back if it works for the team. It's what he HAS to say. The thing I love about the new feel of this team is that there is no sappy allegiances to players any longer. The Mark DeRosa love fests won't continue here. The Sandberg situation was handled perfectly.

Theo, if nothing else, has proven to be very decisive, yet very straight forward with his personnel.

I think Sean Marshall is a great pitcher in the wrong time for the Cubs, and will go on to have an illustrious career with other teams, and I wish him well.

Beyond the fact that they're brilliant baseball minds, the fact that Epstein, Hoyer and McLeod have no rooted ties to players makes the ability to go forward and make educated baseball decisions, rather than popular baseball decisions so much easier.

tryptamine wrote:I think you missed the best lefty of the bunch. At least the one I feel will be best.