The other day, they ranked the Cubs top 10 prospects.
| 1. | Starlin Castro, ss | |
| 2. | Brett Jackson, of | |
| 3. | Josh Vitters, 3b | |
| 4. | Andrew Cashner, rhp | |
| 5. | Jay Jackson, rhp | |
| 6. | Hak-Ju Lee, ss | |
| 7. | Logan Watkins, 2b | |
| 8. | Chris Carpenter, rhp | |
| 9. | Ryan Flaherty, ss/2b/3b | |
| 10. | D.J. LeMahieu, ss/2b |
Here are a few things to note and to watch for over the next few seasons:
There projected 2013 lineup:
| Catcher | Geovany Soto |
| First Base | Derrek Lee |
| Second Base | Starlin Castro |
| Third Base | Aramis Ramirez |
| Shortstop | Hak-Ju Lee |
| Left Field | Josh Vitters |
| Center Field | Brett Jackson |
| Right Field | Kyler Burke |
| No. 1 Starter | Carlos Zambrano |
| No. 2 Starter | Jay Jackson |
| No. 3 Starter | Chris Carpenter |
| No. 4 Starter | Ryan Dempster |
| No. 5 Starter | Randy Wells |
| Closer | Andrew Cashner |
Castro seems to be the flavor of the month right now in Cubbie land...where will he play...shortstop or second? Castro is on the fast track to the major league club right now. He might be a good solution at shortstop while moving the weak armed Ryan Theriot back over to second. Theriot will likely be staying in a Cubs uniform for many years to come.
Castro: Coming soon to an infield near you!
Josh Vitters...again, where does he play? It depends on a few things...does D-Lee stick around and does Ramirez actually stay at third base?
People also seem to be very high on Chris Carpenter...(not to be confused with the cardinal's pitcher.) Personally, Carptenter is probably a little overrated. Watch to see what he does in the minors next year.
I haven't seen enough of Hak-Ju Lee to say we should expect him on the big league club. But after the Hee Seop Choi disaster in 2003, I'd maybe look to trade the Korean. I'm still waiting to see a Korean position player that can play everyday at the major league level.
Jackson: Not quite ready to take Milton's spot.
In the outfield, the only prospect on this list is Brett Jackson. He had a good year, but is still a few years away from the big league club.
Basically, if you look at this list, Castro might be ready in another year...as well as Cashner, (who will undoubtedly be coming out of the bullpen). Vitters is the third baseman of the future and may be ready soon. And aside from that, the Cubs have a bit of a void in their farm system before any of the other players are going to be ready.
The Cubs were very lucky to get as much production out of some career minor leaguers this past season...Fuld, Fox, Hoffpauir, Wells, Scales...these players with the exception of Wells, are probably never going to be every day players in the big league (Fox may make a serviceable DH some day)...and even with the performance of these players in 2009, the Cubs were quite disappointing...so more help was needed.
So, keep your eyes open. One of the major things the Crickets have said they want to do is to rebuild the farm system and to push for a consistent organizational philosophy as far as developing players. This could likely involve trading away some veterans to add some new prospects and it could also result in the emergence of some other players that aren't on this list if they change some of the instructors they have in the minors.
One last point, a number of the players on this list play positions that are currently manned by some very good players on the Cubs (Ramirez, Soriano, Soto, Marmol...etc...)...watch closely when trade talks come up...because it is possible that these minor leaguers could be used to bring in some help to fill in missing pieces on the big league club.
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