Cubs--another draft director

nothing personal to the OP or John, but I don’t particularly like the draft as a Cubs fan. Is it realistic? somewhat.

Gerritt Cole – Reminds me too much of Mark Pawelek. We also haven’t done well with guys that need big time mechanical work (granted, new minor league pitching coordinator in Mark Riggins). Also, Cole doesn’t “feel” like the type of arm that Wilken takes early. I can’t remember Wilken taking a pitcher with so many questions.

Now, is it realistic? It’s definitely possible, considering how the board fell. I think Zach Collier and Anthony Hewitt might get consideration in RL (although I’m not huge on either). We also have a decent relationship with Boras and could use a high upside young arm.

David Cooper – Love his talent. Don’t see where he fits. Most accounts are that Vitters is going to have to move off 3rd. Some suggest that his arm won’t play well in the OF, so he might have to go to first. Jovan Rosa has been solid and if he goes to Daytona later this summer, he’ll likely play first. Much as we need power, I’m just not sold on taking a pure first baseman, as everything I’ve heard says Cooper can’t move to the OF. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Considering the board, I could see Ladendorf (although I think he went a bit high) as we could use more middle infield depth, because Thomas and Barney are going to be in Tennessee sometime later this year or 2009, and there isn’t much behind them. I could see maybe Meyer, Gose, Lobstein, Nieto, amongst others.

Tim Murphy – Is this possible? Sure. We seem to take a lefty relative early each draft. I’m just not a fan. I see a guy who has fringe stuff as a starter, and doesn’t have what I consider a pen arsenal. Maybe I’m dead wrong.

A bunch of possibilities – Mercer, Webb, Adams, maybe Avery, Lance Lynn seems like solid value here, and so forth.

John made the remaining picks:

Aaron Weatherford – Don’t like this pick. Not a single bit, nothing personal to John. I don’t like his max effort delivery and I have questions on the durability. Really nice stuff, but he likely isn’t a guy that will be tried as a starter, and our system has a lot of young righty pen arm types already. It’s not as if we need a quick moving pen arm, as our big league pen is fine for now, and we have Ceda/Maestri and others perhaps lined up.

Brandon Crawford would’ve been my preference here based on the board. We could use more MI depth. Jake Jeffries and Petey Paramore would cross my mind as well. There’s obviously others.

Kyle Hudson – Could this happen? Yeah. He has the athleticism that Wilken probably would like. I prefer a guy with a bit more pop.

Mike McKenna – Perfectly fine with this pick. I could see it happen as well.

I probably would like to see more than 1 HS player early. We need upside moreso than fill-in types.

My take on system needs (which are more relevant in the midrounds) scaled 1-5, 5 being a big need:

Power is a big need.

C – 3. Donaldson looks bad, as that hole in his swing is problematic. He might move to 1st anyways. Castillo is superb defensively, but his bat is still a question. More Henry Blanco right now than a starter type. Clevenger’s defense needs more work and he might be Hatteberg without pop.

1st – 3. Rosa could be at Daytona/Tennessee sometime next year, with Vitters potentially doing a Peoria/Daytona split. Donaldson could also figure into the mix.

2nd – 3. There’s the Eric Patterson issue at the top, but my guess he won’t be in our system that much longer. He either makes it up with us (unlikely), or we deal him off, IMO. No point letting him stew and waste value. He’s gotten hot again. After that, it’s Nate Spears right now at AA, and NAte is a system guy. Tony Thomas has gotten going a bit again. After that? Um … Marquez Smith has moved to 2nd. That said, not sure how much to read into his low A numbers. I like Gian Guzman, but don’t know if he has the bat.

SS – 4. Theriot and Cedeno are at the bigs, but after that, it’s messy. Cedeno might be a chip, and Theriot is a below average shortstop who is already 28. Matt Camp has played the last few weeks at short in AA. Doesn’t seem to have the bat to merit consideration. Darwin Barney has gotten going with his bat the past month, but we’ll have to see if that keeps up. Nate Samson is the main guy at Peoria these days, I think, but as far away as he is, he seems like a system type. Maybe Barney is the answer, but getting another guy would be key.

3rd – 4. This one’s sort of mixed. A lot is up in the air. Jovan Rosa and Josh Vitters could fit in the third base mix potentially. Of the two, Rosa seems more likely. It’s also possible that neither guy is used at 3rd. Both could be at 1st or in the OF. Marquez Smith could also fit in.

OF – 5. We could use more OF pieces in general, and in particular, CF considering . Colvin and Pie are sputtering. There isn’t really a guy that comes to mind that has the tools and production to really merit strong consideration to develop into a big league starter at this stage. Kroeger seems to have found a 2nd wind, but he still seems like a bench type in the bigs if he makes it up. Who else? Doug Deeds? Eh. Hit AAA first and then we’ll talk. Cliff Andersen? Not enough production? Sam Fuld? Was always a fringy starter type whose fit was in CF if he made it up. James Adduci? No pop. Jonathan Wyatt? Overall bat isn’t there yet.

Comment on pitching – There’s plenty of pen depth in the system, which is bleh. I mean, a couple guys profile as potential late inning types, and pen lefties always are nice (Ceda/Maestri for the former, Lambert as a good pen lefty, Papelbon has struggled this year). What we really need are guys with front of the rotation potential. A lot of raw arms, but the production isn’t there so far. Pawelek supposedly has been good in XST, so it’s worth watching if he’s found his confidence. Not sure what Huseby is doing, and he didn’t show front of the rotation potential last year either. Dae Eun Rhee showed promise earlier this year, but is working his way back (pitched 2 innings today). Robert Hernandez is coming off a 50 game suspension. Mitch Atkins is a mid-back end type, James Russell is more a mid-rotation type, Donald Veal still doesn’t have enough control, and Jeff Samardzija has struggled. Gallagher’s good, though, and has done well in the bigs so far, relative to what should be expected.