The reaction to today's Tribune article was another grimace from Cub fans.
The Chicago Cubs are one of several teams interested in signing free agent left-hander Jonathan Sanchez.
The Cubs envision Sanchez as a reliever, according to a source.
Several other teams interested in Sanchez prefer to employ him as a
starter -- a role that Sanchez has performed for most of his career.
Sanchez has limited left-handed batters to a .218 batting average.
Sanchez, 31, threw a
no-hitter in 2009 and won 13 games for the Giants in 2010 but has been
hampered by control problems. Sanchez has pitched for the Rockies,
Royals and Pirates.
After going 0-3 with an 11.85 ERA in five starts for the Pirates, Sanchez was released and signed with the Dodgers.
Sanchez was 7-3 with a 5.13 ERA in 14 starts for Triple-A
Albuquerque, where his fastball was clocked at 95 mph, according to a
National League scout.
The problem with this is not the report itself, but what the Cubs are reportedly trying to do. It is another example of the Cubs sifting through other team's trash to find a diamond in the crud. Sanchez has not pitched well in four seasons. What makes the Cubs the magical pitching turnaround machine? I'm sorry: Chris Bosio is no Dave Duncan. Sanchez failed with the Pirates, and spend last year in AAA with a 5.13 ERA! That's really bad against inferior hitting prospects.
It is yet another example that the Cubs have no intention of fielding a full, competent major league roster in 2014 if the big off-season target is Jonathan Sanchez.
Showing posts with label Sanchez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sanchez. Show all posts
December 16, 2013
May 21, 2013
AAA ARM
It is kind of rare to pick up a AAA player off the waiver wire and assign him to your own AAA club. But the Cubs made such a move today, according to MLBTR.
The Cubs claimed often injuried reliever Eduardo Sanchez off waivers from the Cardinals. The Cards had to make room for another player on the major league roster.
The Cubs assigned Sanchez to Iowa. This may have been a need move because we note that starter Brooks Raley earned his first save last week in Iowa.
MLBTR reports that Sanchez, 24, has a career 3.40 ERA, 9.6 K/9, 5.8 BB/9 in 45 big league innings from 2011-12. In 2011, he landed on the DL for a shoulder strain. Since then, he has been up and down last season and has missed time this year with a forearm strain. He has only made nine appearances at Triple-A this year. Baseball America scouting report stated, "durability remains his biggest concern, as his small frame leaves some scouts wondering how his stuff will hold up at the major league level."
The Cubs claimed often injuried reliever Eduardo Sanchez off waivers from the Cardinals. The Cards had to make room for another player on the major league roster.
The Cubs assigned Sanchez to Iowa. This may have been a need move because we note that starter Brooks Raley earned his first save last week in Iowa.
MLBTR reports that Sanchez, 24, has a career 3.40 ERA, 9.6 K/9, 5.8 BB/9 in 45 big league innings from 2011-12. In 2011, he landed on the DL for a shoulder strain. Since then, he has been up and down last season and has missed time this year with a forearm strain. He has only made nine appearances at Triple-A this year. Baseball America scouting report stated, "durability remains his biggest concern, as his small frame leaves some scouts wondering how his stuff will hold up at the major league level."
December 7, 2012
RULE 5 BARELY ALIVE
The last piece of business at the baseball winter meetings is the Rule 5 draft. The purpose of this draft is to allow teams to pick unprotected players wallowing in the minors and promote them to their major league roster for the next season.
The Cubs wasted a roster spot last season on Fendy Castillo, a 20 year Phillies pitcher,
unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. So the Cubs claimed him for $50k with the requirement that
he be on the major league roster all season. Castillo was not ready for major league service,
and got allegedly hurt. But since he was "active" for at least 90 days, the Cubs could keep him after the season. He will start 2013 in the minors. Even on a bad 2012 Cub team, using a 25 man roster spot for a player who is not ready for major league action is a waste.
Now, NOT learning their lesson, the Cubs took in this year's Rule 5 draft
Hendon Rondon, a 24 year old Indians pitcher, who only threw in 4 total games last season!!! In A/AA!!! A remarkable total of 7 innings in 2012!!!! Adding to the head scratch, Rondon has been in the minors for 6 years!!!
Oh, we will learn that he was limited to 7 IP by - - - (trumpet horns) "ongoing recovery from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery!"
But it gets stranger yet:
Rondon owns a career Minor League pitching record of 36-36 with a 3.88 ERA in 120 games/113 starts (587.0 IP, 593 H, 253 ER, 526 SO). The Guatire, Venezuela native has been limited to 41.2 innings pitched the last three seasons since 2010 after undergoing a pair of right elbow surgeries. He is currently pitching the Venezuelan Winter League for Caracas and has compiled six straight scoreless appearances since October 23rd.
So Rondon has not really pitched in THREE years, because he needed TWO surgeries. But the Cubs were so impressed with his less than 6 IP winter ball appearances to draft him. It seems like grasping at straws to draft a marginal AA pitcher who has had no development for 3 seasons due to two major surgeries to be a contributing member of one's bullpen.
Was there no better option?
Results of the 2012 Rule 5 Draft:
Acquiring teams; former organizations in parentheses
Major League Phase
HOU: Josh Fields, RHP (BOS)
CHC: Hector Rondon, RHP (CLE)
COL: Daniel Rosenbaum, LHP (WAS)
MIN: Ryan Pressly, RHP (BOS)
CLE: Chris McGuiness, 1B (TEX)
MIA: Alfredo Silverio, OF (LAD)
BOS: Jeff Kobernus, 2B (WAS)
NYM: Kyle Lobstein, LHP (TB)
ARI: Starling Peralta, RHP (CHC)
PHI: Ender Inciarte, OF (ARI)
CWS: Angel Sanchez, INF (LAA)
BAL: T.J. McFarland, LHP (CLE)
TEX: Coty Woods, RHP (COL)
HOU: Nate Freiman, 1B (SD)
MIA: Braulio Lara, LHP (TB)
Triple-A Phase
HOU: Michael Burgess, OF (CHC)
MIN: Mark Sobowleski, 3B (TOR)
MIA: Tyler Kehrer, LHP (LAA)
BOS: Jack McGeary, LHP (WAS)
TOR: Sawyer Carroll, OF (SD)
SEA: Eric Farris, 2B (MIL)
SD: Diego Goris, 3B (KC)
PIT: Ethan Hollingsworth, RHP (KC)
PHI: Brendan Lafferty, LHP (KC)
LAD: Elevys Gonzalez, INF (PIT)
STL: Matt Cerda, 3B (CHC)
DET: Eliezer Mesa, OF (OAK)
LAA: Robert Widlansky, 1B (BAL)
BAL: Tom Boleska, RHP (PIT)
TEX: Marquez Smith, 3B (BOS)
OAK: Thomas Mendonca, 3B (TEX)
SF: Scott Shuman, RHP (TB)
CIN: Ryan Dennick, LHP (KC)
HOU: Cameron Lamb, RHP (SF)
BOS: Jon Bachanov, RHP (CWS)
TOR: Alvido Jimenez, RHP (CHC)
SD: Federico Castaneda, RHP (KC)
LAD: Hector Nelo, RHP (WAS)
STL: Jay Voss, LHP (DET)
OAK: Steven Hill, C (STL)
CIN: Michael Gilmartin, 2B (OAK)
TOR: Efrain Nieves, LHP (DET)
If we just look at the pitcher taken after Rondon for evaluation comparisons, Rosenbaum pitched for the Nationals AA team, going 8-10, 3.94 ERA in 26 starts, throwing 155.1 IP, 99 K, 39 BB, 1.307 WHIP. Rosenbaum, a left handed pitcher, is 25 years old. In his four minor league seasons, his career totals are 26-24, 2.84 ERA, 1.190 WHIP.
From a pure analytical perspective, Rosenbaum is a much better "immediate" prospect than Rondon.
The Rule 5 draft is supposed fill one's major league roster without having to make a trade or expensive free agent signing. It is really filling the 25th man on the roster. The White Sox took an Angels SS, Angel Sanchez, who has 586 major league games, as a bench player in 2013. That makes perfect logical sense since the White Sox traded some of their utility infielders last season in order to shore up their pitching staff.
So what if Rondon is a bust? It will only cost the Cubs $25,000. The real question is what do the Cubs talent evaluators see in such a move.
And on a final note, the Cubs "lack of minor league talent" apparently did not deter other teams from selecting four players from the Cubs system (five, if you count former Cub 3B prospect Marquez Smith). The Cubs "woeful" farm system led the league in other teams picks: RHP Peralta, OF Burgess, RHP Jimenez and AAA third baseman, Cerda, who went to the Cardinals.
The Cubs wasted a roster spot last season on Fendy Castillo, a 20 year Phillies pitcher,
unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. So the Cubs claimed him for $50k with the requirement that
he be on the major league roster all season. Castillo was not ready for major league service,
and got allegedly hurt. But since he was "active" for at least 90 days, the Cubs could keep him after the season. He will start 2013 in the minors. Even on a bad 2012 Cub team, using a 25 man roster spot for a player who is not ready for major league action is a waste.
Now, NOT learning their lesson, the Cubs took in this year's Rule 5 draft
Hendon Rondon, a 24 year old Indians pitcher, who only threw in 4 total games last season!!! In A/AA!!! A remarkable total of 7 innings in 2012!!!! Adding to the head scratch, Rondon has been in the minors for 6 years!!!
Oh, we will learn that he was limited to 7 IP by - - - (trumpet horns) "ongoing recovery from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery!"
But it gets stranger yet:
Rondon owns a career Minor League pitching record of 36-36 with a 3.88 ERA in 120 games/113 starts (587.0 IP, 593 H, 253 ER, 526 SO). The Guatire, Venezuela native has been limited to 41.2 innings pitched the last three seasons since 2010 after undergoing a pair of right elbow surgeries. He is currently pitching the Venezuelan Winter League for Caracas and has compiled six straight scoreless appearances since October 23rd.
So Rondon has not really pitched in THREE years, because he needed TWO surgeries. But the Cubs were so impressed with his less than 6 IP winter ball appearances to draft him. It seems like grasping at straws to draft a marginal AA pitcher who has had no development for 3 seasons due to two major surgeries to be a contributing member of one's bullpen.
Was there no better option?
Results of the 2012 Rule 5 Draft:
Acquiring teams; former organizations in parentheses
Major League Phase
HOU: Josh Fields, RHP (BOS)
CHC: Hector Rondon, RHP (CLE)
COL: Daniel Rosenbaum, LHP (WAS)
MIN: Ryan Pressly, RHP (BOS)
CLE: Chris McGuiness, 1B (TEX)
MIA: Alfredo Silverio, OF (LAD)
BOS: Jeff Kobernus, 2B (WAS)
NYM: Kyle Lobstein, LHP (TB)
ARI: Starling Peralta, RHP (CHC)
PHI: Ender Inciarte, OF (ARI)
CWS: Angel Sanchez, INF (LAA)
BAL: T.J. McFarland, LHP (CLE)
TEX: Coty Woods, RHP (COL)
HOU: Nate Freiman, 1B (SD)
MIA: Braulio Lara, LHP (TB)
Triple-A Phase
HOU: Michael Burgess, OF (CHC)
MIN: Mark Sobowleski, 3B (TOR)
MIA: Tyler Kehrer, LHP (LAA)
BOS: Jack McGeary, LHP (WAS)
TOR: Sawyer Carroll, OF (SD)
SEA: Eric Farris, 2B (MIL)
SD: Diego Goris, 3B (KC)
PIT: Ethan Hollingsworth, RHP (KC)
PHI: Brendan Lafferty, LHP (KC)
LAD: Elevys Gonzalez, INF (PIT)
STL: Matt Cerda, 3B (CHC)
DET: Eliezer Mesa, OF (OAK)
LAA: Robert Widlansky, 1B (BAL)
BAL: Tom Boleska, RHP (PIT)
TEX: Marquez Smith, 3B (BOS)
OAK: Thomas Mendonca, 3B (TEX)
SF: Scott Shuman, RHP (TB)
CIN: Ryan Dennick, LHP (KC)
HOU: Cameron Lamb, RHP (SF)
BOS: Jon Bachanov, RHP (CWS)
TOR: Alvido Jimenez, RHP (CHC)
SD: Federico Castaneda, RHP (KC)
LAD: Hector Nelo, RHP (WAS)
STL: Jay Voss, LHP (DET)
OAK: Steven Hill, C (STL)
CIN: Michael Gilmartin, 2B (OAK)
TOR: Efrain Nieves, LHP (DET)
If we just look at the pitcher taken after Rondon for evaluation comparisons, Rosenbaum pitched for the Nationals AA team, going 8-10, 3.94 ERA in 26 starts, throwing 155.1 IP, 99 K, 39 BB, 1.307 WHIP. Rosenbaum, a left handed pitcher, is 25 years old. In his four minor league seasons, his career totals are 26-24, 2.84 ERA, 1.190 WHIP.
From a pure analytical perspective, Rosenbaum is a much better "immediate" prospect than Rondon.
The Rule 5 draft is supposed fill one's major league roster without having to make a trade or expensive free agent signing. It is really filling the 25th man on the roster. The White Sox took an Angels SS, Angel Sanchez, who has 586 major league games, as a bench player in 2013. That makes perfect logical sense since the White Sox traded some of their utility infielders last season in order to shore up their pitching staff.
So what if Rondon is a bust? It will only cost the Cubs $25,000. The real question is what do the Cubs talent evaluators see in such a move.
And on a final note, the Cubs "lack of minor league talent" apparently did not deter other teams from selecting four players from the Cubs system (five, if you count former Cub 3B prospect Marquez Smith). The Cubs "woeful" farm system led the league in other teams picks: RHP Peralta, OF Burgess, RHP Jimenez and AAA third baseman, Cerda, who went to the Cardinals.
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