Cubs Draft Thread

[BH]

I love how the picking of hayden simpson even surprised him. He had friends over to see who would get drafted, thinking he wouldn't be picked until the 2nd round at the earliest. The only reason i think this is a good pick is because of how bad keith law thinks it is.
Why anyone questions Tim Wilkens draft strategy is beyond me, he's been pretty efficient at GETTING IT DONE.

Agreed.  It's nice having competence in charge of the draft.  Now, if we could get someone in charge of roster construction, pro scouting, and salary negotiation, Jim Hendry might be able to do his job.

What his job would be at that point, I have no idea.

I'm actually kind of surprised that you didn't suggest this pick was made because of budgetary constraints. The thought crossed my mind.

Agree. He must think the difference in talent between simpson and the other talent at this level wasn't worth paying a lot more for it. People said the same thing when he picked Colvin. And Brett Jackson. He seems to get talent without paying a ton of money for it. The most surprising thing is that this guy works for the Cubs.

[CBStew]

I love how the picking of hayden simpson even surprised him. He had friends over to see who would get drafted, thinking he wouldn't be picked until the 2nd round at the earliest. The only reason i think this is a good pick is because of how bad keith law thinks it is.
Why anyone questions Tim Wilkens draft strategy is beyond me, he's been pretty efficient at GETTING IT DONE.

Agreed.  It's nice having competence in charge of the draft.  Now, if we could get someone in charge of roster construction, pro scouting, and salary negotiation, Jim Hendry might be able to do his job.

What his job would be at that point, I have no idea.

I'm actually kind of surprised that you didn't suggest this pick was made because of budgetary constraints. The thought crossed my mind.

That was suggested on Mully and Hanley this morning. If they did that, then its the worst something something since something something. I can understand them being cheap on the present because it sucks, but don't be cheap fucks for future talent.. But if this guy is actually good, then my complaint is null and void.

Noted.

[Chuck to Chuck]

I love how the picking of hayden simpson even surprised him. He had friends over to see who would get drafted, thinking he wouldn't be picked until the 2nd round at the earliest. The only reason i think this is a good pick is because of how bad keith law thinks it is.
Why anyone questions Tim Wilkens draft strategy is beyond me, he's been pretty efficient at GETTING IT DONE.

Agreed.  It's nice having competence in charge of the draft.  Now, if we could get someone in charge of roster construction, pro scouting, and salary negotiation, Jim Hendry might be able to do his job.

What his job would be at that point, I have no idea.

I'm actually kind of surprised that you didn't suggest this pick was made because of budgetary constraints. The thought crossed my mind.

It crossed my mind as well.  I was only commenting on Wilkens (that he has a history of being competent), not on the actual pick.  Tight budgets are going to be an issue at Wrigley for the next several years.  Seeing the minors do well will be a big part of that plan.  That they have left a guy in charge who not only blew the budget u, much of it on bad players, but also ran a rancid minor league system in the 8 years he was in charge of it is the biggest worry I have about new ownership.

[Chuck to Chuck]

Agree. He must think the difference in talent between simpson and the other talent at this level wasn't worth paying a lot more for it. People said the same thing when he picked Colvin. And Brett Jackson. He seems to get talent without paying a ton of money for it. The most surprising thing is that this guy works for the Cubs.

Yes.  The Cubs usually spend a lot of money and get very little talent.

[R-V]

I love how the picking of hayden simpson even surprised him. He had friends over to see who would get drafted, thinking he wouldn't be picked until the 2nd round at the earliest. The only reason i think this is a good pick is because of how bad keith law thinks it is.
Why anyone questions Tim Wilkens draft strategy is beyond me, he's been pretty efficient at GETTING IT DONE.

Agreed.  It's nice having competence in charge of the draft.  Now, if we could get someone in charge of roster construction, pro scouting, and salary negotiation, Jim Hendry might be able to do his job.

What his job would be at that point, I have no idea.

I'm actually kind of surprised that you didn't suggest this pick was made because of budgetary constraints. The thought crossed my mind.

Agree. He must think the difference in talent between simpson and the other talent at this level wasn't worth paying a lot more for it. People said the same thing when he picked Colvin. And Brett Jackson. He seems to get talent without paying a ton of money for it. The most surprising thing is that this guy works for the Cubs.

This fits in with the earlier mention of this being the worst draft in several years. Add in Wilken's track record and I now give the Cubs my permission to see how this Simpson pick plays out.

[Quality Start Machine]

You can have the Grand Poobah of drafting, and it doesn't mean dick if the Cubs don't get better at player development in the minors.

[BH]

You can have the Grand Poobah of drafting, and it doesn't mean dick if the Cubs don't get better at player development in the minors.

Who has Wilkens drafted that the system has screwed up in your opinion?

[R-V]

You can have the Grand Poobah of drafting, and it doesn't mean dick if the Cubs don't get better at player development in the minors.

Who has Wilkens drafted that the system has screwed up in your opinion?

Did Tim Wilkens draft Kerry Woods?

[BH]

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/06/your-morning-phil-simpson-sale-strasburg.html

"You can find pitching in funny places. The White Sox landed Mark Buehrle as a draft-and-follow pick from Jefferson Jr. College, outside of St. Louis. The Cubs got Greg Maddux  as a scrawny high school pitcher from Las Vegas. In Sale, the headliner for a start-up program at Florida Gulf Coast University, and Simpson they landed pitchers with better amateur portfolios than either Buehrle or Maddux.
The Cubs sort of stumbled onto Simpson on the reports of their area scout for southwest Arkansas, Jim Crawford -- or "Crawdaddy,'' as scouting director Tim Wilken calls him -- and every time a different scout looked at him he continued to look better. He has a Tim Lincecum-style delivery, which roving pitching director Mark Riggins graded as a 100 on a scale of 1-100, and throws four quality pitches, including a fastball that hit 97 in games the Cubs scouted.

"You had to say, 'Hey, wait a minute, this is almost too good to be true,' " Wilken said.

Simpson was 35-2 with a 2.39 ERA in his career for the Muleriders -- yes, the Muleriders.

"That shows you his competitiveness, his will to win,'' Wilken said. "His freshman year he was 10-0. I think that shows he has a really good feel for pitching.''"

[Chuck to Chuck]

Who has Wilkens drafted that the system has screwed up in your opinion?

That's not the issue.  Fork is suggesting that Mr. Fleita and Mr. Hendry have a poor record at player development, regardless who is drafting.

To date, is it only Colvin that Wilkens has drafted that has made the majors?  And he plays defense like a future DH.  That's great for a national league team.

[BH]

Who has Wilkens drafted that the system has screwed up in your opinion?

That's not the issue.  Fork is suggesting that Mr. Fleita and Mr. Hendry have a poor record at player development, regardless who is drafting.

To date, is it only Colvin that Wilkens has drafted that has made the majors?  And he plays defense like a future DH.  That's great for a national league team.

You could also argue that if you draft "toolsy", high upside players, that these guys not panning out isn't necessarily a coach's problem.

Here is what I don't get. Good GMs and good organizational guys cost a fraction to a good FA player.
Why not just pay more to steal these guys from orgs with a proven track record?

[Quality Start Machine]

The fact that the Cubs seem to be incapable of developing a hitter who takes the occasional pitch is a pretty good indicator that anyone who makes the big club is getting there with whatever they got drafted with. Nothing's getting added.

[R-V]

Who has Wilkens drafted that the system has screwed up in your opinion?

That's not the issue.  Fork is suggesting that Mr. Fleita and Mr. Hendry have a poor record at player development, regardless who is drafting.

To date, is it only Colvin that Wilkens has drafted that has made the majors?  And he plays defense like a future DH.  That's great for a national league team.

Huh? He's probably not good enough to play CF but everything that I've seen suggests he'd be average to above average defensively at either corner.

And who is this Wilkens dude you guys keep talking about?

[Chuck to Chuck]

Huh? He's probably not good enough to play CF but everything that I've seen suggests he'd be average to above average defensively at either corner.

Man, has Soriano lowered your defensive expectations.

[Slaky]

Who has Wilkens drafted that the system has screwed up in your opinion?

That's not the issue.  Fork is suggesting that Mr. Fleita and Mr. Hendry have a poor record at player development, regardless who is drafting.

To date, is it only Colvin that Wilkens has drafted that has made the majors?  And he plays defense like a future DH.  That's great for a national league team.

Huh? He's probably not good enough to play CF but everything that I've seen suggests he'd be average to above average defensively at either corner.

And who is this Wilkens dude you guys keep talking about?