The Cubs made a minor trade today sending former top prospect Brett Jackson to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Blake Cooper according to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.
Jackson, 26, was hitting .210/.298/.348 in 252 AAA plate appearances with an eye-popping 94 strikeouts and only 24 walks. Jackson was once considered a Cubs top prospect but his inability to make consistent contact affected his ability to really show his talents.
Cooper, 26, has also struggled for the Diamondbacks AAA affiliate posting an ERA of 6.00 in 17 appearances for the Reno Aces after dominating for their AA affiliate. His primary issues has been his control with 17 walks in just 24 innings on top of 20 strikeouts.
I think this is a smart deal for both sides as both players can still turn out to be fairly solid players if they can rebound. Jackson did struggle in his MLB debut with a .175/.303/.342 line in 2012 so it will be interesting to see if the Diamondbacks can rework his swing to make more contact. I think Cooper has the potential to turn into a fringe reliever at the big league level if he can improve on his horrendous walk rate in AAA.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
What to expect from Javier Baez?
The Cubs have called up top prospect Javier Baez from AAA Iowa to make his major league debut at second base for the Cubs. Baez, 21, is hitting .260/.323/.510 in 434 plate appearances in AAA Iowa and has rebounded after an awful start where he hit .172/.238/.379 in April but managed to hit .300/.344/.600 in July for the I-Cubs.
Baez is the first player from the "Core Four" to make the big leagues and was Jim Hendrys last first round pick back in 2011 and shot through the Cubs minor league system by hitting 37 home runs last season between Class-A Daytona and AA Tennessee.
Of course it is unrealistic to expect Javier Baez to come up and hit 4 home runs in his debut especially since he got off to a slow start at every stop in the professional level. I think Baez will get off to a slow start in August with a .163/.211/.352 line in August but improve slightly and hit .211/.265/.400 to finish out the season. These next 2 months are important but it is also important to remember that he is just 21 years old and still has a few years to develop and adjust before he could be labelled a bust.
Baez is the first player from the "Core Four" to make the big leagues and was Jim Hendrys last first round pick back in 2011 and shot through the Cubs minor league system by hitting 37 home runs last season between Class-A Daytona and AA Tennessee.
Of course it is unrealistic to expect Javier Baez to come up and hit 4 home runs in his debut especially since he got off to a slow start at every stop in the professional level. I think Baez will get off to a slow start in August with a .163/.211/.352 line in August but improve slightly and hit .211/.265/.400 to finish out the season. These next 2 months are important but it is also important to remember that he is just 21 years old and still has a few years to develop and adjust before he could be labelled a bust.
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