The Cubs have struggled to develop homegrown pitchers during Theo Epstein’s regime, though senior VP of player development and amateur scouting Jason McLeod told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times that “this is probably the first year I can confidently sit here and feel like we have the guys that can help this team in the major leagues this year, if needed.” The Cubs are already overloaded with veteran rotation options on the 25-man roster, with Jon Lester, Cole Hamels, Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana, Yu Darvish, swingman Mike Montgomery, and Tyler Chatwood all on hand to make starts. Of course, those seven account for over $100MM in salary next season, as the Cubs have been forced to spend big on starting pitching to account for a lack of help from the farm.
Jen-Ho Tseng and Duane Underwood Jr. are Triple-A arms who cracked the big leagues in 2018, plus a variety of 2016 draft picks (Thomas Hatch, Michael Rucker, Duncan Robinson) could potentially make the MLB level this season, possibly in the bullpen if not the rotation. The 2016 class is noteworthy, as McLeod said the player development staff has been “more aggressive” with how it brings along its pitchers given the lack of results in earlier years. “We tried to fit everyone neatly into a box,” McLeod said. “Do these mechanics lead to what we think is going to be long-term health? And has he thrown enough strikes that we think prior performance is going to equal this type of performance going forward? We put so many checks on guys…that probably hamstrung us a little bit.”
More from around the National League…
- The Reds have been linked to the center field market since parting ways with Billy Hamilton, though Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter link) suggests the team could like its internal options enough that “a late-inning defensive specialist” could be acquired. None of Scott Schebler, Yasiel Puig, or Nick Senzel profile as anything more than an average defender in center, so it makes sense that the Reds could aim for a glove-first bench player that would allow the team to keep those bigger bats in the lineup for the bulk of a game. A defensive specialist, additionally, would also come at a much lower cost than an everyday-type of center fielder.
- Reports from earlier today suggested the White Sox had interest in Dodgers outfielder Joc Pederson, and The Athletic’s David O’Brien (Twitter link) opines that the Braves also make sense as a Pederson suitor. Atlanta is in need of an outfielder to line up next to Ronald Acuna and Ender Inciarte, and Pederson offers some power and two years of team control. The Braves also have right-handed hitting bench options (Charlie Culberson, Adam Duvall, Johan Camargo) to platoon with Pederson, who struggles against left-handed pitching.
- The Dodgers announced their minor league coaching staffs earlier this week, including the item that former outfielder Jason Bourgeois was joining the staff of the team’s A-ball level Great Lakes Loons. This would seem to indicate that Bourgeois is calling it a career after 19 professional seasons. A second-round pick for the Rangers in the 2000 draft, Bourgeois appeared in 317 MLB games with the White Sox, Brewers, Astros, Royals, Rays, and Reds from 2008-15, hitting .253/.300/.326 over 761 career plate appearances. Since last appearing in the Show, Bourgeois played for the White Sox and Diamondbacks at the Triple-A level, and he spent last season in the Mexican League. We at MLBTR wish Bourgeois all the best in this next stage of his baseball career.
Dodgers must have some ideas brewing for them to freely give up on Joc Pederson. This is the anti-dodgers move…ie one that doesnt involve dumping a toxic contract.
Be nice to know what the Dodgers are asking in return.
I’m not sure, exactly, what they need. They have tons of pitching, a good lineup with multiple players able to handle multiple positions, a great farm system, and a good bullpen. Is Joc’s small salary being moved for a little more Harper/Machado money? More prospects for a Realmuto deal?
more prospects for JT would be my guess
Pederson could very well be a great fit in Atlanta, especially paired with Duvall.
I hope McLeod is right, but I’m not too optimistic that there will be much help from the Cubs minor league arms in the near future. Their pen is not equipped to handle any injuries, and they don’t seem to be too eager to strengthen it via free agency.
Cubs should hire Brian Bridges and Roy Clark if they want to draft and develop minor league pitching.
Sigh… Anthopulous has been an excellent GM. However, I feel like us Braves fans are going to regret the termination of Brian Bridges because you are right. If you want to develop strong pitching for your farm, he’s the guy to do it.
With him being extended in Oct and fired in Jan- there has to be something else going on there that AA wanted to distance himself from. Or it could have been AA wanted his own people in place, finally.
See, I think a lot of us thought that because Bridges termination happened right on the heals of the Carter Stewart fiasco that was about to be cleared up. We figured we we’re going to get screwed and so Anthopulous was dropping the Ax on Bridges but that wasn’t the case. I don’t know. Maybe there will be another shoe that drops and we all collectively say “Noooooooow that makes since.”
Dakota Mekkes has looked really good with the Cubs since he’s been drafted. He reached AAA last year, he throws hard and K’s a lot of guys and his ERA is 1.16 through his first 147 innings over a 3 year span. I think he could be a potentially possibility next year as well if he continues to show well at AAA.
Mekkes has made the opposition look foolish all the way to AAA, so not sure why they wont’ give him more of a shot, other than his walk totals are still too high? Definitely worth giving him a shot in spring training.
What are you talking about they have Dylan Ce… oh wait.
Shhhhhh don’t mention Dylan Cease’s name in this forum!
K.
downvoted
Lol, none of these pitchers are even in the same hemosphere of top 100 prospects. Anybody who thinks the cubs have developed any prospect pitching…I’ve got some land in FL you might be interested in. Cubs farm system has Amaya and their recent first round picks. End of list.
I like your user name
Absolutely blows that Epstein got played into giving up Eloy and Dylan for Q absolutely. No doubt. But you win some you lose some. Losing Gleybar sucks too but that one netted a World Series. I’m glad they take the shots.
When it comes to trades they’ve won far more than they lost. Rizzo, Hendricks, Strop, Arrieta and he who shall not be named (not Voldemort) all came from incredibly kick a$$ trades in their favor. The Cease/Eloy one and the LeMehiu for I can’t even remember who are the only super painful “loss” trades. (And by the way all you super snarky White Sox posters you have nothing to smirk about, you traded Fernando Tatis Jr for James Big Daddy oh my god my ERA is what?!??? Shields.) Let’s chalk that up as a L why don’t we?
When it comes to free agents yeah that has not worked out so well. Can’t argue that.
Had the Cubs not won the World Series then you all could rip away. Thankfully that isn’t the case.
Don’t be afraid to mention Cease we can take it. A) Cubs pulled off a title from a similar trade and B) James freakin’ Shields!
The hilarious part is that I happen to be a Padres fan. So thanks for reminding me about the Shields for Tatis thing.
And I’m assuming the “he who shall not be named” you are referring to is Addison Russell?
Theo overpaid for Quintana, but Quintana is still a good pitcher. Hahn made a lazy, desperate trade for Shields when Shields was in clear decline.
dj lemahieu and tyler colvin were traded for Ian freaking Stewart. That was such a terrible trade.
If Joc gets traded I picture him being a power threat for years
When he was coming up through the minors, I kind of thought Joc would be an all-star once he reached the bigs. He just hasn’t figured out how to hit lefties or raise his average. He’s a good big-leaguer, but not quite what I envisioned. Steven Souza, too, has been a disappointment.
Joc has been an all star
Yep. And he cratered so bad in the second half that year, he ended up with a .210 BA for the season.
Who might the Reds give in exchange for Jake Marisnick–one of the best defensive-only CF around?
I’ve been thinking that after the Astros signed Michael Brantley, that Derek Fisher could be a great trade target whom could be acquired fairly easily. With Springer, Brantley, Marisnick, Reddick and Preston Tucker pretty much ready the Astros have no need for Fisher. His upside is limited but he can be penciled in as a corner outfielder for a non-competing team or a solid 4th outfielder with years of control without a prohibitive cost to go after.
@jimmyz , Kyle Tucker. Not Preston.
I’d like to see joc in Atlanta
We have a late inning CF’er, Michael Lorenzen. Pitch the 7th, stay in to field and take an at bat
Lorenzen deserves some at bats after last year. What did he have…3 pinch hit home runs in a single week last year?
Lorenzen will be a great option in outfield. So happy we have a group willing to maximize the guy’s talent.
Padres have a solid CF defender in Margot. Seems like an obvious choice to trade with considering we need 3rd base help. Suarez or Senzel for Margot,Quantrill and Allen?
I don’t believe Senzel or Suarez are going anywhere, despite Preller’s consistent trying.
It cracks me up when I see trade examples including Suarez. An all star 3B signed to a team friendly, long term deal is striking gold for a small market team. No chance he’s traded.
And unless the Reds are overwhelmed, Senzel will be at 2nd.
Prospects to help them get realmuto and will try to sign Harper or Machado .
So the Marlins wouldn’t be interested in Joc as part of a JT deal?
I agree…I think that is what they should do.
How can you say Joc is a disappointment. He had an OPS of .848
last year which ranked him 18 th of all NL hitters. Higher than Votto, Rizzo and Realmuto!
Joc can be a big-league contributor, sure, but he strikes out a ton, can’t hit lefties and is hugely inconsistent year to year. I’d love to have him on my team, but he’s not an everyday player. He had a good year, by his standards, last year. He may improve upon that. Or he may go back to hitting .212 with a .738 ops like he did in ’17. Even comparing him to Votto and Rizzo, with their excellent track records of consistent production, shows your lack of baseball IQ. It’s also worth pointing out that Realmuto is the very best catcher in all of baseball.
Everything tends to have an explanation. He made significant strides in 16. Actually historical in terms of contact from his rookie season. He was slowed by injuries in 17, and his strikeout percentage has continued to decline. That nagging groin injury slowed him and was evident especially defensively. In fact he struck out less than league average last year. In terms of Pederson you know exactly what you are going to get
The reality of this whole conversation is the reputation he earned his first season stuck with him, but hasn’t necessarily held true. Always has seemed somewhat head scratching that a segment always expects a linear progression without acknowledgement that not all prospects develop that way or the simple fact that external factors tend to also be in play. He can’t hit LHP, and no one will dispute that at all, as a hitter though, he’s seen significant strides. There is no way he has been a disappointment. He has really just been the backend top 100 guy many expected him to be. He’s going to be the ~.260/.340/.550 ~140ops+ guy vs rhp which is still holds value. Now the originator of this rumor works for fansided, which basically I lend credence to especially after reading the thread, but seems more like the Dodgers doing their normal due diligence rather than anything serious. In the end it makes little sense on either side.
I agree… I think they should trade Joc and sign a right handed hitting outfielder and also trade for Realmuto.
Not too hard to have very good rate numbers when you’re heavily platoon protected.
Exactly
Adam Engel and Dylan Covey for Senzel.
Man, I guess it actually can be fun making ridiculously bad trade proposals.
Scott Schebler for Kyle Freeland and David Dahl.
You’re right. It is kinda fun.
That’s a stupid trade. Engel is the best center fielder in the game hands down. If they were dumb enough to trade him he gets at least 2 top 20 picks. Go Sox
Engel is the best defensive OF in the game, look it up.
Good to see they let you out!
Start with Buxton…..
Engel is ranks #1 defensive OF, statistically. Ytube him.
Doesn’t Mike Trout play CF?
And?
If only defense had any real trade value…
I looked him up. He is not, in fact, the best defensive CFer, not even close. Look up Jacoby Jones.
Still can’t understand why the Braves haven’t re-signed Markakis.
Because he’s 35 and though he had a great season last year the second half suffered greatly. There is no way he will put up the same numbers. The numbers don’t lie he’s on the down side of his career and age will catch up quickly with him.
He also played every game and was forced to hit in a position in the lineup his skill set didn’t fit. His intangibles and leadership would be valuable to the young guys. Also it wouldn’t take a crazy amount of years that it would effect Pache or Waters. I wouldn’t mind Markakis back.
One of the reason the Braves haven’t signed Markakis because the rest of the league hasn’t shown much interest in him either. If there were abundant rumours about Markakis AND he was truly their fall back option then you’d probably see Atlanta sign him if they felt they had exhausted other realistic scenarios. The very fact that Atlanta has not resigned Nick shows that Anthopoulos has faith that the Braves rightfielder in 2019 will be better than Markakis. If AA resigns Nick without following up every other possibility then he has just settled for mediocrity in right field.
Markakis is a great influence in the clubhouse with his quiet professionalism, but Atlanta also needs someone who can produce more at bat. Do you even think it is likely that Nick could even replicate his 2018 numbers? EXTREMELY DOUBTFUL in my mind.
Not to mention Nick just came off a 4/44mil deal, then won a gold glove and silver slugger and was an all star. You think he’s going to take a pay cut for a 1-2 year deal? Sorry I’m not paying him 12-24 mil. We paid Bmac 2 to be that presence in the locker room with Freddie. Nick starting in RF would signify a failed offseason to me unless they ended up with kluber instead of an impact bat.
The goal should def be Haniger, gallo, rosario, Peralta, pederson, piscotty or Laureano, or possibly someone else that hasn’t been mentioned. I have faith in AA to get something done.
He’s old and isn’t the type of player that helps you get to a WS. Corner OFs need to have some pop and he doesn’t.
Theo seems to suck at signing big money free agents.
Maybe he should try the
blue pill…..
Theo sucks at everything except tanking. lol
The Dodgers lineup without Machado and Grandal appears vulnerable. Without these players plus Puig and Wood it will be difficult for them to repeat. Therefore it seems essential that they acquire Machado, Harper or Pollock (they need all three) at a mininum to match 2018. This require salary relief so undoubtedly they are trying to move part of the over $100M in rotation cost plus any other costly assets to free up the forty million required.
Could easily see the Dodgers trading Pederson and either Bailey, Ryu, or Hill to make payroll space for Machado, Harper or Pollock and maybe two of those. Young affordable pitching is what they need. Perhaps Ryu for Teheran or Bailey for Teheran or Hill and Pederson for Teheran or Soroka. This would bail out the Dodgers from their hopeless 2019 predicament.
Bailey has been released. The Dodgers do not need the Braves trash. Stop being being such a brave Homer and you would had realized about Bailey.