Cubs Release 3 former top picks

Ryan Harvey, Grant Johnson (2nd round), Mark Pawelek. All 3 released this spring. Oneri Fleita needs to do better.

almost 3 years ago MJMars 9 comments 0 recs |

Comments

Farm system sucks

I’ve said this many times before…organizations that win World Series have as their foundation strong farm systems. Even big revenue teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Angels owe their post-season success to strong farm systems that either supplied capable major league talent to the big club or the ammunition to be used in trades to acquire attractive talent from elsewhere.

Jim Hendry has played a hand in the Cub minor league system since his arrival in 1996. Suffice to say the fruits of his involvement have been bad. Right now the Cub system is largely threadbare too. Get past a couple names and the talent level in this organization sucks big time.

by BLou on Mar 31, 2009 10:54 AM CDT reply actions

Pawelek

Wasn’t Pawelek a high school pick? He can’t possibly be very old yet. Something must have gone horribly wrong. I know he never really made it out of Boise, but yikes!

by WiscCubsFan on Mar 31, 2009 12:23 PM CDT reply actions

What was the deal with Pawelek?

I assume that he’s been injured from the moment we drafted him, as he’s had very little work in any given season, and they’ve been completely unwilling to let him get any kind of experience above short-season ball.

His 2006 was very good at Boise. He never had any success outside ot Boise, though – he’s only made 2 appearances as high up as A-ball Peoria, neither were starts.

He was back in Boise in 2008, and kind of stunk.

Still, outright releasing him makes little sense, absent a career-ending injury. He’s 22, and under team control for a few more years yet.

Regardless, just another indictment of the scouting and player development departments.

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by D98 on Mar 31, 2009 12:52 PM CDT reply actions

He's got a maturity problem

He was dismissed from the Hawks last year for failing to get a passport so he could travel to Vancouver, despite being reminded several times and months in advance. I also got the impression that this wasn’t the first time he’d ignored his responsibilities.

I’m guessing the Cubs had just had enough of him. Too bad, because when I saw him pitch, he still had some life on his fastball.

by Josh Timmers on Apr 1, 2009 4:48 AM CDT up reply actions

None of the three are surprising

In Pawelek’s case, we messed around with his delivery, and Mark probably wasn’t mentally tough enough as he fell apart. Other small issues happened, but most point to the changes in his delivery as the main factor in his disappearance. There were some positive reports last XST, and I expect someone to nab him to see what’s left. But he still hasn’t made it to full season as a consistent player.

In Johnson’s case, he just never materialized. This was a Maineri-Hendry pick, by most accounts. I believe some injuries happened, although off the top, I don’t recall what. At this point, he was simply a righty middle reliever who was likely ticketed for AA. We have more than enough pen options, and better options to boot.

Harvey was a swing or miss type. We are better off giving his AA spot to someone else.

____________________

Where does the blame go for the collapse in the system? Certainly, those in charge deserve some blame, as the buck stops there. In terms of specifics, I attribute a lot of it to Stockstill. Poor picks, combined with some poor development, can ruin the farm system, which was well-thought of in the early part of this decade (value wise). I am cautiously optimistic about the arms Wilken brought in the last draft, and I do like some of the changes in coaches that have happened in the system, particularly Riggins.

by toonsterwu on Mar 31, 2009 2:00 PM CDT reply actions

Fleita

He has been around a while and though I have not agreed with all of the top picks we have made, for the most part (Colvin being an exception) the Cubs have taken players who were all ranked pretty high going in to the draft. I believe Harvey was a consensus top 10 guy and i know Pawelek was, and would have gone higher if it wasn’t for Boras.

So the top guys we are picking have the talent, but just seem to stagnate, or in Pawelek’s case, regress. Fleita, being the director of player development, deserves the majority of the blame at that point.

Anyone know how long Fleita has been with the org?

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by MJMars on Mar 31, 2009 3:46 PM CDT up reply actions

I have a bad feeling Tyler Colvin will go down the same path..

#34: You'll be missed!

by Chanman25 on Mar 31, 2009 4:36 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

+1000000000

Colvin will never see a day in Wrigley as a Cub—in a meaningful role.

by socalbob on Mar 31, 2009 5:14 PM CDT reply actions

I'm hoping that one of the first things the new ownership does...

is completely reassess our scouting and player development and start rolling out the pink slips.

I, for one, am throughly sick of seeing so many our top draft choices/prospects completely wash out.

Out farm system has been a joke since Dallas Green was fired about a million years ago. On the plus side, when Green took over in 1982 he had, arguably, an even worse system than the one today. His success is a reminder that a smart baseball man can turn around even the worst systems.

by bluekoolaide on Mar 31, 2009 5:19 PM CDT reply actions