2021 Chicago Cubs Minor League Thread

[Proximo]

The Darvish acquisition was poor decision by Epstein.


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[1908_Cubs]

The Darvish acquisition was poor decision by Epstein.


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Huh? He's been one of the 5 best SP in the league the last 1.5 years and they got 4 really high upside prospects put of him (we can talk about the risk of the prospects due to their age and that the Cubs, in a normal market probably didn't need to take on that risk, but frankly that has little to do with their upside or your comment).

That's absolute nonsense. There's literally no defense of what you just said. It didn't hurt the team long term. He was great here outside of an injury. He brought back high upside prospects. Darvish, at $20m a year is a bargain. Its unequivocally a move that worked out well and was a fine decision (team who needed TORP signed TORP to contract that is under market value, TORP plays well and team trades TORP to get 4 prospects back, and has no contractual obligations any longer)

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[ILMindState]

The Darvish acquisition was poor decision by Epstein.


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What!? Why?

[Bluefire]

The Darvish acquisition was poor decision by Epstein.


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No. No explanation needed.

[CubsRule08]

The Darvish acquisition was poor decision by Epstein.


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At this point, you have to be trolling. There’s no other way to look at it, especially with this comment of yours.


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[CubsRule08]

MLB listed Cubs 2B prospect Chase Strumpf as the #7 overall 2B prospect in the minors

Also lists him as MLB ready by 2022

[1908_Cubs]

Some good news coming out from Kohl Franklin: he's still growing. When we last saw him, he was sitting around 6"4. Word on the street is that he's actually gotten taller and is now 6"5 or 6"6 and put on 20lbs of weight. This is a guy who was hitting mid-90's last we saw him at South Bend.

[CP_414]

Some good news coming out from Kohl Franklin: he's still growing. When we last saw him, he was sitting around 6"4. Word on the street is that he's actually gotten taller and is now 6"5 or 6"6 and put on 20lbs of weight. This is a guy who was hitting mid-90's last we saw him at South Bend.

The Cubs seem very excited about Franklin. He’s got a chance to jump up rankings lists once the games start up.

I’d guess he starts in South Bend, which is now A+. Maybe they give him a few starts at Myrtle Beach first.

[Seyton]

Huh? He's been one of the 5 best SP in the league the last 1.5 years and they got 4 really high upside prospects put of him (we can talk about the risk of the prospects due to their age and that the Cubs, in a normal market probably didn't need to take on that risk, but frankly that has little to do with their upside or your comment).

That's absolute nonsense. There's literally no defense of what you just said. It didn't hurt the team long term. He was great here outside of an injury. He brought back high upside prospects. Darvish, at $20m a year is a bargain. Its unequivocally a move that worked out well and was a fine decision (team who needed TORP signed TORP to contract that is under market value, TORP plays well and team trades TORP to get 4 prospects back, and has no contractual obligations any longer)

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The only problem with your analysis is that he was a non-factor when we were good. He was only great when we weren't. Timing of performance counts, too.

[1908_Cubs]

The Cubs seem very excited about Franklin. He’s got a chance to jump up rankings lists once the games start up.

I’d guess he starts in South Bend, which is now A+. Maybe they give him a few starts at Myrtle Beach first.

He's my favorite arm in the minors and is the most "traditional" one of the bunch. He's big. He has a killer changeup (fastball/change combo is my favorite 1/2 combo). His fastball is projectable and adding velocity (he says he should be able to keep mid 90's velo all game now). I think he's a true TORP type and within a year very well could be a 55+ fv type. By 2023 he has the type of talent to be a consensus top-5 SP's prospects in baseball.

Granted, we haven't seen him pitch in a year, he's got very few starts in full-season, and there's always injuries. But in general, he's got everything you'd want from a SP. I think he'll get the nod at SB. With what will be a weird minors season, potentially shortened, I think he'll get A+ treatment to get the innings in. And I think with a velo jump and size increase he'll easily have forced his way.

[CP_414]

The only problem with your analysis is that he was a non-factor when we were good. He was only great when we weren't. Timing of performance counts, too.

The Cubs won the division last year and he was cy young level. He was hurt in 2018. That happens.

The Darvish deal was a steal and no real analysis is needed to support it. He had a lost year to injury, but then he pitched really well and he was great in 2020. They just traded his remaining years for surplus value. The market decided that it was a good deal when the Padres gave the Cubs value to take on the contract. The market has decided the Heyward deal was a bad deal because nobody will take on that contract.

The Darvish deal was inarguably a very good deal.

[1908_Cubs]

The only problem with your analysis is that he was a non-factor when we were good. He was only great when we weren't. Timing of performance counts, too.

He was the best SP on a team who literally just won the NL Central, so no, that's not true. We were good last year. It's also not Epstein's fault that he got hurt in 2018; he wasn't hurt when they signed him. It's not Darvish's fault they weren't good in 2019; he did everything he could.

The Cubs aren't on the hook for anything, they got good upside for him...the deal is literally nothing bad. He was a great signing. Sucks he got hurt. **** happens.

[CP_414]

He's my favorite arm in the minors and is the most "traditional" one of the bunch. He's big. He has a killer changeup (fastball/change combo is my favorite 1/2 combo). His fastball is projectable and adding velocity (he says he should be able to keep mid 90's velo all game now). I think he's a true TORP type and within a year very well could be a 55+ fv type. By 2023 he has the type of talent to be a consensus top-5 SP's prospects in baseball.

Granted, we haven't seen him pitch in a year, he's got very few starts in full-season, and there's always injuries. But in general, he's got everything you'd want from a SP. I think he'll get the nod at SB. With what will be a weird minors season, potentially shortened, I think he'll get A+ treatment to get the innings in. And I think with a velo jump and size increase he'll easily have forced his way.

I’m looking forward to a Milb season. Franklin and Jensen in a rotation together should be fun. This is a big year for Marquez. Davis will shoot up rankings with a nice season in AA. Amaya might start in AAA. They have a ton of interesting arms that look destined for a future bullpen role. It’ll be interesting to see if Strumpf can get the K rate under control. Ed Howard hasn’t had competitive at bats in a really long time.

There’s a lot of interesting depth at pretty much every level in the system. They are a few more high end prospects away from a really good farm system but there’s tons of upside at the low levels and lots of guys who look like Mlb contributors at the upper levels.

[1908_Cubs]

I’m looking forward to a Milb season. Franklin and Jensen in a rotation together should be fun. This is a big year for Marquez. Davis will shoot up rankings with a nice season in AA. Amaya might start in AAA. They have a ton of interesting arms that look destined for a future bullpen role. It’ll be interesting to see if Strumpf can get the K rate under control. Ed Howard hasn’t had competitive at bats in a really long time.

There’s a lot of interesting depth at pretty much every level in the system. They are a few more high end prospects away from a really good farm system but there’s tons of upside at the low levels and lots of guys who look like Mlb contributors at the upper levels.

Yeah, it's one of those things many (including yourself) have been trumpeting for years; the Cubs system was a lot better than what people were claiming it to have been, it was just hard to see as far away as it was. Think about all of these names? They're not necessarily "new" additions. They're guys we had in 2018 when we were being ranked 25th or so as a full system. And it wasn't like these guys came from no where. Kohl Franklin was an overslot HS arm. Marquez was on prospect radar with his fastball. Amaya was hitting in the minors. Etc. It'll be these prospects in many ways that's going to potentially make this a top-10 system next year (the same ones being ranked 25th a year or so ago)

It just goes to remind some that the Cubs have always been a good team with young players. There's a lull in players making the majors (due largely to being traded away and from FA acquisitions raiding our picks) there for a bit, but they never were bad at this, or lost their way. It's just far away. (I know it's yelling into a void, because in 5-7 years when the system doesn't produce for 2-3 years again we'll be right back here talking the same stuff, but I want to pretend).

[CP_414]

Yeah, it's one of those things many (including yourself) have been trumpeting for years; the Cubs system was a lot better than what people were claiming it to have been, it was just hard to see as far away as it was. Think about all of these names? They're not necessarily "new" additions. They're guys we had in 2018 when we were being ranked 25th or so as a full system. And it wasn't like these guys came from no where. Kohl Franklin was an overslot HS arm. Marquez was on prospect radar with his fastball. Amaya was hitting in the minors. Etc. It'll be these prospects in many ways that's going to potentially make this a top-10 system next year (the same ones being ranked 25th a year or so ago)

It just goes to remind some that the Cubs have always been a good team with young players. There's a lull in players making the majors (due largely to being traded away and from FA acquisitions raiding our picks) there for a bit, but they never were bad at this, or lost their way. It's just far away. (I know it's yelling into a void, because in 5-7 years when the system doesn't produce for 2-3 years again we'll be right back here talking the same stuff, but I want to pretend).

It’s what’s so infuriating about this offseason. I think there is talent in this system that if combined with a very competitive payroll the Cubs should have been able to transition from one window of success to a new one with maybe a one year blip at worst. Instead they are choosing to extend the “blip.”

I believe they will have a top 10 system within about 18 months. I just wish they didn’t plan to suck at the Mlb level while that was happening in the minors.