Cubs Minor Leagues

was never an “also ran.” He was always a top prospect.

Theriot and Fontenot were never considered top prospects. (Actually, Fontenot was a top prospect when he was drafted in the first round back in 2001. Then he spent four seasons in AAA.) Some would argue they aren’t good major league ballplayers today.

Pie and Patterson were top prospects, but they were never “can’t miss,” which is a title that should be rarely, if ever, bestowed. But Patterson has played nine seasons in the majors and no matter how disappointing those seasons have been, a player with nine major league seasons can’t be considered a “miss” in minor league terms. That’s considered a “hit.”

And the jury is still very much out on Pie.

Sure, guys can turn it around like Soto did last year. Tell me who is doing that this year.

But the premise you start with is factually wrong. With the exception of Iowa, they haven’t been “whooping” other teams for 6-8 weeks. More like two weeks.

Tennessee finished the first half with the worst record in the Southern League. Peoria avoided last place in their division by half a game. Daytona was 35-35 in the first half.

Sure, Iowa has been doing great. But Jason Dubois is 29, Micah Hoffpauir is 28 and Andres Torres is 30. Bobby Scales is 31. Luis Figueroa is 34. Josh Kroeger is a relative pup at 25. With the exception of Kroeger, all those guys are past the age where players generally improve and into the period where age starts to take its toll. (And Kroeger is approaching it rapidly.) Andres Blanco, Casey McGehee and Felix Pie are the only I-Cub position players that can reasonably be described as “young.” (And Blanco and McGehee aren’t that young, so you’re left with Pie, whom you’ve already dismissed.) They’re winning because they’re older and more experienced than their competition. They wouldn’t have that advantage in the majors.

The pitching staff isn’t quite so old and age isn’t quite as important for pitchers, but realistically, Mike Burns is 30 and has a lifetime ERA of 5.88 in 52 major league innings. Heck, Hector Carrasco is 38 and was a teammate of Kevin Mitchell and Frank Viola once upon a time. Jim Brower is 35 and has a lifetime ERA of 4.67 in over 350 major league appearances. Are you telling me those guys have found something in Des Moines that had turned them into major prospects like Soto did last season?

I follow the Cub system every day and there isn’t anyone like Soto this season who has turned himself from an organization guy to a prospect. Maybe Blake Lalli, but I want to know more about his ability to catch before I say that. I suppose Hoffpauir may have played his way into a Ross Gload-type career.

Hey, if the Cub farm system continues to win through August, then maybe we can start talking about players turning it around. But the very premise of this fanpost is flawed right now. The Cub farm system has only been winning for about two to three weeks, not 6 to 8. Except for Iowa, and that’s mostly a bunch of career minor leaguers and veterans who aren’t ready to retire yet.

...being a minor-league veteran and being a fringe major leaguer. You probably can’t swing a cat in the clubhouse of most AAA parks without hitting a guy with just as much talent as, say, Willie Bloomquist.

And, when you look at the Iowa Cubs, those are the sorts of guys who are “tearing it up.” If these guys were 22 – or even 25 – they might be prospects, but they’re not. The “Team Age” at Iowa is 27.3 – 27 being roughly the prime of a ballplayer’s life. Heck, some of them have played several seasons in the majors already.

The word “prospect” comes from the Latin “to look forward” – players aren’t prospects for what they’re doing now, but what you can see them doing later. Joey Votto is a prospect, and Micah Hoffpauir isn’t, even though Hoffpauir has the better numbers at AAA. Why? Because of what you can see Votto doing two, three years down the road as he fills out and reaches his prime years. Hoffpauir is in, maybe even past, his prime as a player. And Hoffpauir cannot hit enough to be the first baseman on a team that has serious notions of contending. And, just looking at the aging curve, you have to think he never will.