Nasty Maples, Cubs Prospects, Hall of Fame, and Other Bullets

Dec 18, 2018

Thinking about the lunch I want to have today, and therefore thinking about the workout I need to perform before that to justify the lunch I want to have. Normal stuff.

We talked about Baseball America’s new top ten Cubs prospect list yesterday, and BA held a chat on the list with more info on the prospects that did and didn’t make the cut:

The Cubs' track record with hitting prospects has impressed in recent years.

Both Nico Hoerner and Miguel Amaya come up in today's Cubs chat!https://t.co/Hr8nd3ii8V

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) December 17, 2018

Unsurprisingly based on the top 10 (which was heavy on the recent draft), BA sees the Cubs’ farm system as in the 25-30 range in baseball. Unfortunately, big steps back for guys like Jose Albertos and Oscar De La Cruz hurt, and also top 2017 draft picks Brendon Little and Alex Lange took a step back in stuff and velocity in 2018, according to the scouts. The Cubs need some of these guys to take big steps forward next year if they want to see their farm system turn the corner.

Speaking of young Cubs pitchers that we’d like to see take big steps forward, Dillon Maples shows up in this competition for one of his sliders:

We've selected the Nastiest 32 Pitches of 2018 and we're running a tournament to crown the #1 pitch of the year.

This Blake Treinen fastball is my personal favorite. It's just…stupid.

Vote and check out all 32 GIFs here – https://t.co/x3glQAksaD pic.twitter.com/IwKfEfXYbR

— Pitcher List (@PitcherList) December 17, 2018

You can check out the pitches there. The Maples slider selected was actually not one of his nasty ones, IMO:

To me, that one just looks like a good, hard slider – not one of his remote control frisbee jobs:

This slider by Dillon Maples had some serious movement… Yikes pic.twitter.com/8tqWcWpYpY

— Daren Willman (@darenw) June 28, 2018

I know it’s true for so many players on so many teams, and if you don’t phrase it perfectly, it just comes off as mindless homerism … but, the following is accurate: the Cubs have so many players like Maples (and Carl Edwards Jr., and Kyle Schwarber, and Willson Contreras, and on and on) that, if they were the *best* version of themselves in 2019, they would be far better than anything the Cubs could get in free agency. I still don’t think counting on that is an appropriate offseason strategy in the middle of a competitive window, but it is accurate to say.

ZiPS are out for the not-quite-rebuilding Diamondbacks, and they kinda look like a team caught in the middle:

2019 ZiPS Projections – Arizona #Diamondbacks https://t.co/P6AzNAIuBC #ZiPS19

— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) December 17, 2018

They should probably send Archie Bradley to the Cubs for nothing. Just my objective opinion.

I do, Michael. I do:

Yo … you remember this, though?https://t.co/04T5HLTP1e

— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) December 18, 2018

Jay Jaffe writes about Andy Pettitte’s life, career, and Hall of Fame candidacy, and it’s a great read. His Hall candidacy is a really tricky one, because although he was very good for a very long career, he lacks the kind of peak you usually see from a Hall of Famer. And although he saw a ton of time in the postseason, he was merely good, not great, in those many appearances. Plus, there’s the PED allegations – and the one HGH admission – which will be an absolute bar for some voters. On a very crowded ballot, I think Pettitte probably wouldn’t get one of my 10 votes right now, but I’d be open to thinking about it as time goes on.

Huge sale on Instant Pot at Amazon today, together with all the other deals of the day – tools, blenders, Seinfeld, so much more.

written by

Brett Taylor

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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