And by DLs, I mean Durham bulLs. Is he over his injury past? The Rays could have another Carl Crawford on their hands and this time one with strike zone judgment. Crawford is hit or miss and this year he us hit. I think Jennings could be hit, big hit even, every year. That's a very scary thought for any AL East fans out there. What's his power projection? I'm thinking 20HRs, 850 OPS, maybe .900?

Jeff Clement

What happened to the K judgment?  Does this show he is pretty much a Triple-A slugger? 

 

2003	USC	Pac10	19	-	NCAA			56	208	53	62	8	1	21	53	1	1	32	43	5		0	1	3	.298	.402	.649	1051
2004	USC	Pac10	20	-	NCAA			52	198	36	58	12	1	10	43	1	5	38	39	5		1	2	3	.293	.416	.515	931
2005	USC	Pac10	21	-	NCAA			63	230	52	80	17	0	15	54	5	6	44	43	13		2	3	1	.348	.472	.617	1089
	EVE	Nwst	21	Sea	A-	c		4	11	4	3	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	2	0	0	1	0	.273	.400	.364	764
	WIS	Midw	21	Sea	A	c		30	113	17	36	5	0	6	20	1	2	12	25	1	0	0	1	0	.319	.386	.522	908
2006	SAN	Tex	22	Sea	AA	c		15	59	7	17	6	1	2	10	0	0	7	8	3	0	0	1	1	.288	.386	.525	911
	TAC	PCL	22	Sea	AAA	c		67	245	23	63	10	0	4	32	0	2	16	53	8	1	1	2	8	.257	.321	.347	668
2007	TAC	PCL	23	Sea	AAA	c		125	455	76	125	35	3	20	80	0	0	61	88	10	4	0	4	8	.275	.370	.497	867
	SEA	AL	23	Sea	MLB		5,9	9	16	4	6	1	0	2	3	0	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	.375	.474	.813	1287
2008	TAC	PCL	24	Sea	AAA	c		48	173	40	58	17	0	14	43	0	0	35	30	3	0	0	0	7	.335	.455	.676	1131
	SEA	AL	24	Sea	MLB	c-dh	6,8	66	203	17	46	10	1	5	23	0	1	15	63	5	0	0	1	4	.227	.295	.360	655
2009	TAC	PCL	25	Sea	AAA			91	371	65	106	32	3	14	67	1	0	43	81	4	2	0	2	11	.286	.364	.501	865

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Carlos Santana hit yet another HR last night to make it 4 HRs in 4 straight games.  39 of his 81 hits have been for extra bases (19 2B, 1 3B, 19 HR) AND he has 63 BBs vs. 57 Ks.  Is this guy going to tear up MLB pitching or what?  Okay, maybe that's a bit much, but what are the Indians waiting for in promoting him?!  I just don't get it.

Is Wyatt Toregas really standing in the way?  Maybe once Matt LaPorta gets called up again, Santana can see some action at DH for Columbus?  Anyway, can you believe Carlos Santana for Casey Blake?  Dodger fans have to be raving mad.

One of the SBN partners with Bleed Cubbie Blue is Minor League Ball with John Sickels.  One of the things that John likes to do is conduct a mock Minor League Draft with his readers volunteering to take over every team.  Now, it's only the first three rounds, but really, I'm having diffucluty reading up for the first round pick, could you imagine having to sort through players for pick 1,000 or so?

Anyway, I volunteered to conduct the Cubs mock draft and I thought I would make a fanpost here to get a good draft conversation going and maybe we'll start talking about the Cubs system as a whole.

This year the Cubs have picks

No. 31

No. 79

No. 109

The overall goal I always believe is to take the best talent because it often takes 3 or 4 years for players to develop and who knows what will happen with injuries, trades, and what not at the major league level.  That being said, I think the Cubs are good on 2B/LFs.  Fire away on your thoughts/suggestions.

My Minor League Ball Cross Post

General Minor League Ball Mock Draft Post

Okay Cub fans we've got the following picks:

 

No. 31

No. 79

No. 109

 

What can we do to make sure we rock this draft?  I think the Cubs are pretty good on 2B/LF.  I'll take a good bat or a good arm if I see it.  I welcome all thoughts and suggestions.

I need more words, so here we go:

Baseball season's underway
Well you better get ready for a brand new day.

Hey, Chicago, what do you say
The Cubs are gonna win today.

They're singing ...
Go, Cubs, go
Go, Cubs, go!

 

Ryan Freel is a Cub

 

What does this mean for Bobby Scales?  I'm not sure Ryan Freel is that much of an upgrade for the team versus Scales.

When will Ryan Freel get hurt again?  What do you think the over/under is?

I guess he is somewhat of a poor man's Mark DeRosa because he can play IF & OF.

Anyway, a penny for your thoughts and more and more and more and more.

 

 

Wow, just one day ago, the people of this blog asked when is it going to be Chris Coghlan time.

 

That time is NOW!  Let's start 'calling up' other players too!  Perhaps we will have the same effect on all players.  Who is next?  Hanson?  Gamel?  What player do you think will be next?  Make your bets now.

 

Right now though, it's:

 

COGHLAN TIME

 

Behold MLB, Chris Coghlan, may his time be fruitful!

If we take a look at Aaron Hicks minor league stats: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Aaron%20Hicks&pos=LF&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=543305

We see that in 2008 he put up some great stats at a very low level. 

His 2009 stats are unaviable and it doesn't seem like he is playing for the Advanced A team or even the low A team for that matter.  After a little bit of research, I've found out that he is still in extended spring training but I can't seem to find out why.  Does anyone have inside info on Aaron Hicks and why he isn't playing at Beloit?  Is he hurt?  Thanks for the info guys, this one is really baffling.

Adrian Cardenas

If you would have told Adrian Cardenas was going to have a breakout year, I probably would have laughed at you at the beginning of the season; now I might take you at face value.

This is a small sample size, but his stats are impressive.  He is batting .407 with 7 doubles, after striking out 3 times in his first game, his BB:K ratio is 4:5.  Is this just a hot start or does anyone think he could be the next hot SS prospect?  Anyone seeing his team play in Texas?

You won't see the word masterful in the article, but on the MILB front page, they do say that Matusz was 'masterful': http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081011&content_id=3611706&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Umm... then you read this:

"Matusz (1-0) did not disappoint in his first taste of pro action. He struck out one and walked one while throwing 45 pitches, including 26 strikes."

Granted he retired the first 7 batters he face, but 26 strikes versus 19 balls is hardly a masterful performance.  Anyway, good work on the outs at least.  Sickels is rating him very highly so far.

What's going on with this guy?

IP       H   R   ER  HR  BB  K  GO/AO .AVG

58.2

69

41

39

8

30

55

1.19

.296

MILB PAGE

Is he just getting unlucky?  Harsh growing pains?  Everything to do with the Pacific Coast League?  Hardly the prospect his Southern League numbers suggested he was going to be.  He'll have a good start now and then, but is there any hope he can right the ship for good?

I would love to see this Prospect Showdown because it would teach me a lot about prospects in general.  

Geovany Soto: 6'1, 230lbs, Born 1/20/1983
Jeff Clement: 6'1, 201lbs, Born 8/21/1983

Both play catcher, both played mainly in the Pacific Coast League for the past two years, only eight months and twenty pounds apart.  

Here are their lines from the past year:

.275/.370/.497  125H/455AB 76/20/80 61BB/88SO
.353/.424/.652  136H/385AB 75/26/109 53BB/94SO

One is a highly regarded prospect currently ranked in the top 20 of all MLB prospects and the other can't even crack the top 100.  Sure you say, the guy hitting .275 is nowhere near the guy hitting .353, that's pretty obvious...

Then you realize that the .353/.424/.652 line is Geovany Soto who can't crack the top 100 and it's Mr. Top 20 Jeff Clement who hit .275 this year.

I try and look to figure out what could be the difference.  All I see is Jeff Clement has a nice BB/K ratio.  In everything else, Soto dominates over Clement.  If Soto was five years older, I would get it, but eight months?  That can't be enough to distinguish between the two, can it?  Is it the BB/K ratio?  Does Soto have a swing that all scouts now catches up to AAA pitching just fine but will be crushed by MLB pitching?  I've been searching for information on this and I just can't find it.  I understand that Soto isn't necesarrily better than Clement but the numbers are hard to argue with.  Why can't Soto just crack the top 100?  Don't tell me it's a late prospect thing either.  Pearce wasn't on too many radars until he had a great year too.  What's up with Geovany Soto that people aren't talking about or is it just a case of getting looked over?