Why can't we find young talent?

for two more years he wil make the list. Along with Soto, but that is iffy.

We went through a down period in the middle part of the decade. There were some bad draft choices, some failures in development, some player failures (Pawelek comes to mind). Now, our rankings were decent for a couple years, because we had a bunch of cup of tea guys. The system has been on an upswing and right now, is a fairly solid system. The only thing that matters to me from year to year is if the system is improving and if the system fits, but people love rankings, and I’m fairly confident that our system, justifiably a bottom system last year, is more of a middle of the pack system now. People will note, what’s changed in one year? Well, the thing is, the difference between a good system and bad system isn’t by that much. It can be as little as a draft. 2008’s draft looks real solid right now, with several high end chips and some solid depth, and we’ve added to that. We’re still a bit thin on the positional side, though, but we are getting better.

Certainly, having talent in the system doesn’t equate to producing major league players. We had a lot of stellar arms at the start of the decade, when our system ranked quite high, but many of those fizzled out. That said, there’s hope. Now, you point out that we haven’t gone after high end Latin American talent. While I would like to see us make a bold move in Latin America, the Cubs have diversified. The Cubs, under Steve Wilson, have invested heavily in Asia, to the point where, it’s been noted that Korean teams took out bleachers to prevent Cubs scouts from sitting at a game (I’ll get the link later, it was in the East Windup Chronicle last year). Two of our best talents are from Korea in Hak-ju Lee and Dae-Eun Rhee. Both guys are well thought of for their upside and talent, and we got the both of them for, off the top, combined half of what Mateo cost, and Mateo was considered a somewhat risky signing.

There’s hope for the future. Certainly, it has to be developed, but there’s hope that we have a core in the minor leagues to build from. One of the more exciting things is the diversity in the system. We have speed, we have patient hitters, we have some power. There’s power arms, there’s some finesse arms. There’s some raw guys with high ceilings and huge bust factors, but there are also some “Theriot-type” safe guys. There needs to be more (particularly lefty starting pitching depth, where Jeffry Antigua/Chris Rusin/James Leverton are arguably our top 3, not bad, but not great, and we need more).

the white sox white flag trade basically. Here’s my question – is there a need to? It isn’t as if we have a bad system right now. If we did, fine. But with an improved system and the different economic environment baseball is in right now, while we can get some solid prospects for most of our players, is it worth it to completely give up on the now? It might help us long run, but our system is actually at a good balance – the pitchers are slightly ahead of the hitters right now, overall, imo, but they aren’t separated by that much. Why not keep the team intact, let the contracts run out, wait on the youngsters, but also hope that the team gets hot at the right time? Heck, even though I entered the year thinking we were the favorites in the NLC, I was always aware that, for this Cubs team to win, it would require the team getting hot at the right moment. It’s not that I’m against a firesale – I just don’t know if I’m for it. I’m also concerned that money cleared would mean money to spend.

in a talent vacuum. we had no quality. both zoomed since there was nothing to hold them up. guys now have talent they have to outperform in our system.

but i’m not sure whiff is the right word for cerda. the esteemed azphil has indicated that cerda’s bat has had his moments. the bigger issue was adjusting to being a catcher, and that shouldn’t have been anticiapted as an easy process. he might not adjust (2nd base would be the fallback), but i think he’ll be at Peoria in 2010, which, for a HS kid, is fine, and is age appropriate.

from the mid-late sixties and 80’s, it’d be more like, i dunno, seventy years?

Are not proven talent just yet. Hopefully they continue to play well

…but you have to think long and hard about who will be hiring those scouts, and what type of philosophy they have.

As was pointed out in the article from George Castle (fan post), Hendry is a good ole boy who likes to take care of his buddies, and that is not always conducive to making progress.

This is what I love about Kenny Williams, they guy works overtime to stay objective and to put what is best for the team ahead of everything else. To do that, you can’t always be everybody’s friend and sometimes you ruffle feathers. Dallas Green was also this way.

…he has sold the trib on spending a lot of money and giving him a 4 year contract. Why can’t he ask for a meazily million bucks to go hire 10-12 scouts.

the cubs have valued their minor league (hitters, particularly) with the same vigor that amish value porsches.

that you are referencing.

One other note to make is that the Cubs have always prioritized pitching over hitting, particularly under this McPhail/Hendry tenure. I can imagine, as with most organizations, some trickle down effect.