i had read that we had found a “6th starter” somewhere down in AAAAA. jeez how did heilman lose @ least the 6th starter position. some of our starters show some real fragility issues and i cannot understand how heilman has been elbowed out of starting consideration despite a very fine ST>.. this is not fair; and if aaron’s track record w/the mets is any indication; will lead to aaron’s psychological breakdown…

Paying him 3 mil not to pitch for us might be using money more wisely that paying him that much to pitch for us. Everybody has to be pulling for Patton at this point and lousy spring or not I’d still rather have Guzman over Vizcaino.

Although I did read somewhere that Lou doesn’t want to put any pitchers on waivers, which of course could just be bluffing in hopes of “forcing” a small trade of some sorts.

what the hell happened to him this spring????

Maestri is headed for AA. Btw, to the poster above, his main breaking pitch is a slider, a nasty one at that (probably 2nd in our system right now in terms of sliders). The chances of a quick call up is probably slim (assuming quick call up is about a month or so). Not impossible, if he lights it up, but there’s a lot of righty arms in the back end, and I think the Cubs want Maestri to work on his change/split. While you can do work in AAA, it’s easier/justifiable to keep Maestri at AA, particularly since he’s only had a cup of tea there. I’ve long compared him to Michael Wuertz – he may be a notch more consistent, which may make him more of a setup option, but he’s an ideal 7th inning guy, nasty breaking ball with decent enough juice on the fastball.

I know I’’ve been much higher on Guyer than anyone else has been. I think I’ve said it before, but he has star potential that we simply don’t have much of in the system. Granted, it’s potential, and a lot of work to do. As I’ve noted before, he was the “prototypical” Wilken pick – an athlete, with loads of tools … but also a bit raw. We’ve seen some strides, and I still laugh at some of the arguments people on here made on him last summer (basically, disregard his performance in Peoria as he was a bit older and wasn’t a top of the draft guy or something like that – his age was definitely not too old to be a concern for Peoria and he ended up puttinig up a superb line in the MWL, which is hard). He has a complete package of power and speed … if he can get consistent. He’s not going to be a defensive stud, and considering the defensive trial that may still happen for him, I would caution against people expecting too much too quick. He’ll likely start in Daytona, with a shot at Tennessee later this year. It’ll be interesting if Colvin and Guyer are both in Daytona for a bit (Colvin has been rumored headed there for a abit whenever he starts to work his way back). I would also caution against watching for just the basic numbers, particularly with the totality of circumstance involved. With Guyer, you’ll want to see what his discipline is looking like. He’s never going to have elite discipline, but it has to be controllable. I have him in the early teens for prospects, but the reality is, the difference between Guyer and the 4th prospect in our system isn’t by much (in regards to value) and Guyer offers us an asset that we lack (power) (I use 4th, because I do consider Vitters/Samardzija/Jackson to be a notch above the others, enough to really distinguish from the B-/C+ cluster of guys). In fact, in terms of upside, Guyer is probably in the top 5 in the system.

I tried to get people to focus on the smaller signings this offseason, but I understand why it gets glossed over. Those signings can be hit or miss. Bill White has already been cut. But Waddell was a good signing, and another guy to watch would be Matt Smith. They both fill needs in our system at the upper levels. Smith has a good slider that could be effective in a LOOGY role. That said, don’t rule out Jeremy Papelbon and Casey Lambert. Lambert would be a LOOGY’s LOOGY (if there was such a thing), as he boasts a moving high 80’s fastball coupled with a nasty curveball. Papelbon would be more of a “Jack of all trades” LOOGY in that, he could probably fill a lot more roles, a la what Marshall did last year, but perhaps more effective against lefties.

somewhat disappointing in that, rocky finally showed some strides down the stretch last year, and when he’s on, his fast/slide combination is setup quality. That said, considering our system’s depth in pen arms, it’s not a big loss, particularly when considering his age and the number of righty arms on the 40 man in the minors. I do hope we got something somewhat decent for him, though, as he did have some value as a pen arm that could be contributing in the bigs later this year.

This last week is meaningless. That’s why the regulars aren’t playing much. Plus it’s been an extended spring training with the WBC. They’ve gotten their hacks in.

I don’t think any other team is playing all their regulars the full nine either, or haven’t been ever in previous ST.

It’s like football. The starters play the most in the third preseason game, then just one or two series in the final preseason game.