Cubs' Prospects FUTUREBONER thread

[R-V]

More good news. Jorge Soler went 3 for 4 with a double and HR. Just stay on the field.

In early wagering, I'm putting my money on Soler to be better than all of them at this point.

I'm on the fence between Soler and Bryant as to who will be the best.  I also think Soler's contract and readiness makes him the most tradeable. 

That's really the next big thing to watch with Theo. He's never been shy about trading away young talent to acquire established talent.  The question is: from this huge crop he has, who stays and who goes?  There's no way that I see him keeping everyone.

If you think Theo isn't increasingly likely to trade away young talent, you haven't been paying attention.

[Yeti]

More good news. Jorge Soler went 3 for 4 with a double and HR. Just stay on the field.

In early wagering, I'm putting my money on Soler to be better than all of them at this point.

I'm on the fence between Soler and Bryant as to who will be the best.  I also think Soler's contract and readiness makes him the most tradeable. 

That's really the next big thing to watch with Theo. He's never been shy about trading away young talent to acquire established talent.  The question is: from this huge crop he has, who stays and who goes?  There's no way that I see him keeping everyone.

If you think Theo isn't increasingly likely to trade away young talent, you haven't been paying attention.

He traded $ner

[Quality Start Machine]

Let's not put the cart before the horse here. There is a pipeline fat with players who will supply the major league club with talent either through their own presence or what they bring in trade. But for now, let's just sit back, relax and think about how every GM in baseball wishes they could be Jepstink for the next 3-5 years.

[Brownie]

More good news. Jorge Soler went 3 for 4 with a double and HR. Just stay on the field.

In early wagering, I'm putting my money on Soler to be better than all of them at this point.

They'll all be Hall of Famers.

Who'll be?

Soler (RF), Almora (CF), Bryant (LF), Baez (3B), Schwarber (c), Rizzo (1B), Castro (2B), Russell (SS), McKinney (DH), Alacantra (Short-center), Beeler (SP), Hendricks (SP), Edwards (SP), Arrieta (SP), Straily (SP), Neil Ramirez (RP), Strop (RP) and Rondon (RP). No trades necessary. The best free agent pinch hitters and middle relievers (and by that I mean regulars on any other team) will just Andre Dawson their way onto the Cubs.  Ten World Series in a row (2015-2024, a year off for the 2025 players strike, and then 5 more in a row with 2 years off for World War III). Post World War III, I'm not sure what'll happen, but you'll get commentators still saying the 1985 Bears were the greatest  Chicago sports team ever (depsite the Blackhawks 12 Stanley Cups during that stretch), and Sox fans still babbling about 2005 and crowing that the 2033 Cubs will have to rebuild, that Epstink had left the cupboard bare.

Epstink is terrible.

[InternetApex]

Like SKO said, I'm comfortable with the Cubs just building a massive offense and then throwing shit at the wall for pitching every year.

And, then, if they feel set up to make a push, they can always make like the A's in the mid-season trade market.

Throwing shit at the wall, yes. But some of these pitchers they have don't suck. It's not unreasonable to build a strong staff this way.

I thought that was more or less what Eli meant when stating his comfort with the "throwing shit at the wall" strategy. At least that's how I read what he said.

In fact, I think Oakland basically did just that, unless I'm wrong and several of their young arms are all massively high draft picks.

And this was kind of what I was driving at. Not to say that their strategy is perfectly identical to the Cubs'. Just that they seem to have done a bit of wall shit throwing of their own and, more to the point, that they haven't necessarily worried about making the blockbuster prospects-for-arms deal until they've found themselves with the best record in baseball at mid-season and are ready to make a calculated push in with those chips.

You must expect me to read everything you post on here. Jesus.

[PenFoe]

More good news. Jorge Soler went 3 for 4 with a double and HR. Just stay on the field.

In early wagering, I'm putting my money on Soler to be better than all of them at this point.

I'm on the fence between Soler and Bryant as to who will be the best.  I also think Soler's contract and readiness makes him the most tradeable. 

That's really the next big thing to watch with Theo. He's never been shy about trading away young talent to acquire established talent.  The question is: from this huge crop he has, who stays and who goes?  There's no way that I see him keeping everyone.

If you think Theo isn't increasingly likely to trade away young talent, you haven't been paying attention.

Far be it from me to stick up for Chuck, but isn't this what he's saying?

Unless I'm just confused by the double negatives.

[Brownie]

Seriously, how many of these guys right now project into everyday Major Leaguers? Soler, Bryant, Baez, Russell for sure. Rizzo and Castro already are All-Stars. Arrieta and Straily have proven they can pitch every 5th day, and both have shown signs they can be at the front-end of the rotation someday. (Straily might be the real darkhorse of this trade). It's probably too early to know for certain about Schwarber or McKinney, but indications are good. Alacantra is the guy no one has talked about until this month. Plus, we haven't even mentioned 24-year-old Junior Lake (useful Major League reserve), 27-year-old Wellington Castillo, 27-year-old Travis Wood and 25-year-old Justin Grimm. And Mike Olt might turn out to be a dud, but he's 25, and probably could be a piece of a deal.

We can assume Luis Valbuena and Emilio Bonifacio, valuable and breathing Major Leaguers, can be traded for valuable talent as well.

[Powdered Toast Man]

Seriously, how many of these guys right now project into everyday Major Leaguers? Soler, Bryant, Baez, Russell for sure. Rizzo and Castro already are All-Stars. Arrieta and Straily have proven they can pitch every 5th day, and both have shown signs they can be at the front-end of the rotation someday. (Straily might be the real darkhorse of this trade). It's probably too early to know for certain about Schwarber or McKinney, but indications are good. Alacantra is the guy no one has talked about until this month. Plus, we haven't even mentioned 24-year-old Junior Lake (useful Major League reserve), 27-year-old Wellington Castillo, 27-year-old Travis Wood and 25-year-old Justin Grimm. And Mike Olt might turn out to be a dud, but he's 25, and probably could be a piece of a deal.

We can assume Luis Valbuena and Emilio Bonifacio, valuable and breathing Major Leaguers, can be traded for valuable talent as well.

If I had to guess who the guys that are most likely to succeed at the next level, I'd go with Bryant, Soler and Russell. I don't know enough about Schwarber yet to say he is going to be that good, but his arrow is pointing in the Bryant, Soler, Russell direction.

And the difference between Arrieta and Straily is that Arrieta seems to have turned it around and figured out how to pitch and pitch with more command effectively. Straily, on the other hand, is a 4+ ERA pitcher in the major leagues so far. But, he is 25 and he's now in the Cubs organization, which has sort of been good at pitching projects lately.

[PenFoe]

Seriously, how many of these guys right now project into everyday Major Leaguers? Soler, Bryant, Baez, Russell for sure. Rizzo and Castro already are All-Stars. Arrieta and Straily have proven they can pitch every 5th day, and both have shown signs they can be at the front-end of the rotation someday. (Straily might be the real darkhorse of this trade). It's probably too early to know for certain about Schwarber or McKinney, but indications are good. Alacantra is the guy no one has talked about until this month. Plus, we haven't even mentioned 24-year-old Junior Lake (useful Major League reserve), 27-year-old Wellington Castillo, 27-year-old Travis Wood and 25-year-old Justin Grimm. And Mike Olt might turn out to be a dud, but he's 25, and probably could be a piece of a deal.

We can assume Luis Valbuena and Emilio Bonifacio, valuable and breathing Major Leaguers, can be traded for valuable talent as well.

You didn't even mention Almora.  

Also, some of them are a ways out, but Eloy, Gleyber, Jen-Ho, Hannemann and Zagunis are all major league hopefuls.

Other guys like Charcer Burks, Jeffrey Baez, Jake Stinnett, Chesny Young, all in play as well.

That doesn't even include the arms like Johnson, Underwood, Edwards, Zastryzny, Skulina and the 3 high school arms from this year's draft.

There are so, so many guys to be excited about right now.

[Eli]

More good news. Jorge Soler went 3 for 4 with a double and HR. Just stay on the field.

In early wagering, I'm putting my money on Soler to be better than all of them at this point.

I'm on the fence between Soler and Bryant as to who will be the best.  I also think Soler's contract and readiness makes him the most tradeable. 

That's really the next big thing to watch with Theo. He's never been shy about trading away young talent to acquire established talent.  The question is: from this huge crop he has, who stays and who goes?  There's no way that I see him keeping everyone.

If you think Theo isn't increasingly likely to trade away young talent, you haven't been paying attention.

Far be it from me to stick up for Chuck, but isn't this what he's saying?

Unless I'm just confused by the double negatives.

You DO suck at memes.

[PenFoe]

More good news. Jorge Soler went 3 for 4 with a double and HR. Just stay on the field.

In early wagering, I'm putting my money on Soler to be better than all of them at this point.

I'm on the fence between Soler and Bryant as to who will be the best.  I also think Soler's contract and readiness makes him the most tradeable. 

That's really the next big thing to watch with Theo. He's never been shy about trading away young talent to acquire established talent.  The question is: from this huge crop he has, who stays and who goes?  There's no way that I see him keeping everyone.

If you think Theo isn't increasingly likely to trade away young talent, you haven't been paying attention.

Far be it from me to stick up for Chuck, but isn't this what he's saying?

Unless I'm just confused by the double negatives.

You DO suck at memes.

I have no idea what's going on.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Seriously, how many of these guys right now project into everyday Major Leaguers? Soler, Bryant, Baez, Russell for sure. Rizzo and Castro already are All-Stars. Arrieta and Straily have proven they can pitch every 5th day, and both have shown signs they can be at the front-end of the rotation someday. (Straily might be the real darkhorse of this trade). It's probably too early to know for certain about Schwarber or McKinney, but indications are good. Alacantra is the guy no one has talked about until this month. Plus, we haven't even mentioned 24-year-old Junior Lake (useful Major League reserve), 27-year-old Wellington Castillo, 27-year-old Travis Wood and 25-year-old Justin Grimm. And Mike Olt might turn out to be a dud, but he's 25, and probably could be a piece of a deal.

We can assume Luis Valbuena and Emilio Bonifacio, valuable and breathing Major Leaguers, can be traded for valuable talent as well.

You didn't even mention Almora.  

Or Corey Black, who's been pretty nifty in his 100+IP for the Cubs so far.

[Quality Start Machine]

Good article on how the Cubs are doing a way better job of rebuilding than the Astros, and this doesn't take into account Aiken's broken elbow.

Related: As much hype as George Springer gets as the nNext Great Young Player, every time he steps to the plate he is 6 months OLDER 50% closer to his next birthday than Starlin Castro. That's absolutely staggering.

More Gil'ed.

[R-V]

More good news. Jorge Soler went 3 for 4 with a double and HR. Just stay on the field.

In early wagering, I'm putting my money on Soler to be better than all of them at this point.

I'm on the fence between Soler and Bryant as to who will be the best.  I also think Soler's contract and readiness makes him the most tradeable. 

That's really the next big thing to watch with Theo. He's never been shy about trading away young talent to acquire established talent.  The question is: from this huge crop he has, who stays and who goes?  There's no way that I see him keeping everyone.

If you think Theo isn't increasingly likely to trade away young talent, you haven't been paying attention.

Far be it from me to stick up for Chuck, but isn't this what he's saying?

Unless I'm just confused by the double negatives.

You DO suck at memes.

I have no idea what's going on.

This might help.

[PenFoe]

More good news. Jorge Soler went 3 for 4 with a double and HR. Just stay on the field.

In early wagering, I'm putting my money on Soler to be better than all of them at this point.

I'm on the fence between Soler and Bryant as to who will be the best.  I also think Soler's contract and readiness makes him the most tradeable. 

That's really the next big thing to watch with Theo. He's never been shy about trading away young talent to acquire established talent.  The question is: from this huge crop he has, who stays and who goes?  There's no way that I see him keeping everyone.

If you think Theo isn't increasingly likely to trade away young talent, you haven't been paying attention.

Far be it from me to stick up for Chuck, but isn't this what he's saying?

Unless I'm just confused by the double negatives.

You DO suck at memes.

I have no idea what's going on.

This might help.

Okay, appreciated.

/kills self for forgetting meme
//kills self twice for needing a meme explained