Morning Rundown: Shota Imanaga signs with Cubs, Baseball America talks Pirates on Podcast
Cubs make a signing, Baseball America talks Pirates prospects
The Chicago Cubs have been quiet for most of the off-season but finally made a big splash on Tuesday, as they are nearing a deal with left-handed pitcher Shota Imanaga, according to Bob Nightengale.
Also, according to Jim Bowden, the deal is ‘complicated’ and involves player/team options and escalators. It starts as a two-year deal worth $30 million that can go as high as 4/$60, potentially even $80 million.
Just missing out on the playoffs, the Cubs add their first big piece through free agency this off-season.
Baseball America has been going from organization to organization, talking about each system on their podcast, going along with the release of an updated Top 10 prospect list for each team.
On Tuesday, they finally dropped the episode on the Pirates and talked for about 30 minutes about the system.
Some highlights of the episode include;
A ‘hot take’ of Bubba Chandler being a lot closer to Paul Skenes than many think, which is something I’ve said here on this site after seeing him live in Greensboro.
They recognized that some of the numbers weren’t great, but there was no denying the talent.
Paul Skenes was brought up for a reasonable amount, talking about his potential and some of the questions about the fastball shape. They mentioned that in some of these situations, teams have that pitcher start throwing a sinker/two-seamer, which we saw some from Skenes in his brief time throwing in 2023.
Ultimately, they believe his overall arsenal of pitches should help him succeed in the majors.
They then talked about Termarr, who believed he was stuck between being a ‘power’ and ‘contact’ hitter and that he may not be able to do both, and he’ll have to decide what he is.
Mainly, he sacrificed some of the contact to try to destroy the ball, and he might have to be a bit of a ‘slow burner’ prospect to have him complete his game.
Jun-Seok Shim and Brandan Bidois were two lower-level pitchers they mentioned to watch in 2024.
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The Skenes-Chandler comparison, IMO, speaks to a general flattening of talent in minor league ball right now. I don't know if it's a down period or an up period, but I don't see many dudes really standing out from the pack on either side of the ball.
Another BA writeup by Tim Williams in the January issue speaks heavily about the small adjustments made with Anthony Solometo on his delivery (staying planted rather than leap or hop off the mound) and working with Pitching Coordinator Josh Hopper to change his 75-78 mph slurve into an 85-88 mph Sweeper. Quotes from Solometo - on the Sweeper "it's been a game changer", and "they just helped me find ways to be not leaking energy, and more efficient with my power". Very strong compliments to the pitching staff!