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Chris Archer made his AA debut last night and went

5.2 innings, giving up only three singles and two walks, striking out six.

Double-post, deleted.

I expect Thomas Diamond to be called up for Lilly's spot in the rotation.

GYBE wrote:I expect Thomas Diamond to be called up for Lilly's spot in the rotation.

CarrieMuskat

#Cubs announce Thomas Diamond will start Tues vs #Brewers. Randy Wells will go Monday, then Diamond then Ryan Dempster

The Cubs minor league teams have won a combined 27 games in a row. 29 if you include Iowa. Daytona has won 13 in a row themselves.

Cubs call up Castillo and Hoffpaur.

I am glad to see Hoff back up here, I would rather have him play over Nady.

I hope Castillo can impress so we can cut/demote Hill. Hill really brings nothing to the the team except for a good arm but Catillo's arm is better. Actually, living in Iowa I go to a lot of I-Cubs games and from what I've seen he has a CANNON! He also has good power although probably wont hit for average.

whats the report on the 3 prospects we got from the Braves.

Robinson Lopez is the best guy we picked up. He was #10 on the Braves pre-season prospect list by BP, but he's had command issues this year. Still, he can throw 96 and he's only 19, so he's got some upside.

The other two guys are older who are probably just possible bullpen pieces.

Was there a reason Lahair was not called up? I know he was bad with Seattle last season, but he seemed to put up good numbers in the minors this year.

Keith Law just came out with his "top farm system" rankings (Cubs 20th out of 30)

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/ ... LBOrgRanks

20. Chicago Cubs
A top-10 system before the Garza trade, the Cubs probably would place more guys in the 101-150 range than any organization except the Royals. They're loaded with high-floor players who have the potential to be above-average or better big leaguers but aren't there yet. Considering all the picks they've given up to sign free agents, it's remarkable how strong the system still is after the giant trade with Tampa Bay.

The Sheik wrote:Chris Archer made his AA debut last night and went

5.2 innings, giving up only three singles and two walks, striking out six.

I could do better @ the AA level, why was that even worth typing.

Durantula 35 wrote:

The Sheik wrote:Chris Archer made his AA debut last night and went

5.2 innings, giving up only three singles and two walks, striking out six.

I could do better @ the AA level, why was that even worth typing.

Alright, I'm going to throw out some random thoughts on our farm system so far:

- Chris Archer is really struggling for the Rays, but Lee has looked amazing. Archer has lost his control, Lee is killing the ball while keeping his elite defense. Guyer is in Tampa already.

- Robert Whitenack is a decent sleeper in the system. Heavy sinker, he's pitching well

- Vitters is Vitters...sigh. You can't give up anyone that young, but after a hot start, he's back to usual performances

- Brett Jackson is playing well. The dude is a OBP machine, he's going to be PERFECT for the 1/2 hole. Still strikes out a lot, but he's the rare Cubs prospect that has a good approach. Of course he just went on the DL with a pinky injury, but hopefully that's not a huge setback.

- Jae-Hoon Ha is a 20 year old outfielder turning heads. Elite speed and has shown power. But since he's a Cubs prospect, of course he has no walks

- Michael Burgess isn't hitting much

- Cameron Greathouse has an awesome name and possibly a future lefty in the pen

- Hayden Simpson has been a disaster. He left his last start with shoulder tightness after throwing 86-87 this season. The writing on the wall seems to point to surgery. So...yeah, the first round pick everyone hated has turned out bad so far. Shocking.

Also, Austin Kirk has been lights out. He could be one of our top pitching prospects at the end of the year.

The Rule 5 draft happened yesterday.

We lost Ryan Flaherty to Baltimore. Lost Marwin Gonzalez as well.

We picked a reliever from the Phillies named Lendy Castillo.

Rizzo tearing up AAA- http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/po ... th#comment

Anthony Rizzo is an absolute beast. Only concern is he's struggling against lefties right now but he's hitting over .400 against righties with a 1.300 OPS. Ridiculous.

Unfortunately outside of Rizzo, the system has been pretty terrible so far.

Jackson still striking out way too much
Vitters struggling as usual
McNutt keeps dissapointing
Sczur got off to a very slow start
Baez doesn't have a single walk in his last 75 AB's (another Vitters?)

Castillo is doing pretty well, but overall it's been a lackluster start in the minors.

What's up everyone, haven't posted here in a while and really excited for our future. How's our pitching prospects going?

IbreakNeckZ101 wrote:What's up everyone, haven't posted here in a while and really excited for our future. How's our pitching prospects going?

Our pitching prospects are awful. We have a kid, Dillion Maples, who we spent a lot of money on last draft to keep him from going to North Carolina who is supposed to be a stud but he hasn't pitched yet this year with an injury but he could be a good one. Other than that we have little starting pitching depth in our minor league system. Theo and company drafted like 9 straight pitchers in the draft a few weeks ago so hopefully a few turn out to be good