Cubs turn up the (pitching) volume
You've heard of these names: Ryan Dempster, Paul Maholm and Matt Garza.
The Cubs traded two of these pitchers this week and likely would have traded Garza had he been healthy.
You're starting to hear of these guys: Jake Brigham, Kyle Hendricks, Arodys Vizcaino and Jaye Chapman.
Those are the pitchers the Cubs obtained this week in the trades of Dempster, Maholm, outfielder Reed Johnson and catcher Geovany Soto.
You may or may not have heard of these guys: Gerardo Concepcion, Pierce Johnson, Paul Blackburn, Duane Underwood, Ryan McNeil, Josh Conway, Anthony Prieto, Trey Lang, Michael Heesch and Chad Martin.
Concepcion was a key international signing, and the rest of those names are pitchers taken in the first round of this year's amateur draft.
If you detect a pattern, you'd be right. You'd also know that restocking the Cubs' farm system with guys who throw the ball has been a priority of the new administration, led by president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer.
It's way too early to say “mission accomplished,” because most of these pitchers are just getting started and some will wash out.
But it is a start.
“A little bit,” Epstein said. “Incrementally. Pitching is a numbers game because there's so much attrition between injuries and natural struggles with development.
“You need to identify a handful of pitching prospects or more to get one who is going to actually help you for a sustained period in the big leagues. Because of that fact, we have to attack it with volume.”
In other words, you need to sign, draft, trade for and pick up off the street as many live arms as you can and hope that a few of them pan out.
After the Cubs took outfielder Albert Almora in the first round of the June draft, they took Johnson and Blackburn in the supplemental round between Rounds 1 and 2 and then went with pitchers in the next five rounds.
In Epstein's term: volume.
“That dictated some of that in the draft, Epstein said. “We identified pitching prospects to get back (in trades). To be completely candid with you, we would have liked to have gotten back even more at this trade deadline.
“We were able to accomplish some of what we wanted to accomplish, not all of it. That process will continue going forward into the winter and next year's draft and next year's (trade) deadline.
“The organizational pitching deficit is not something you can address all at once. It's something that takes years to address.”
The term “organizational pitching deficit” is new-age speak for “we don't have any.” It's much like the “talent deficit” Epstein spoke about a couple of months ago, which was the fancy equivalent of Carlos Zambrano's proclamation last year of “we stinks.”
Truth be told, Epstein isn't the first Cubs president to recognize this problem. However, the Cubs are banking heavily and expensively on him doing it better.
In the mid-1990s, Andy MacPhail came to Chicago with a winning reputation from his days with the Minnesota Twins. MacPhail sought to emulate the Atlanta Braves, who were building a sustained winner based on pitching.
During MacPhail's tenure, they drafted some good ones: Kerry Wood, Jon Garland and Kyle Lohse. Wood just finished a fabled, if not always healthy, career with the Cubs, and former general manager Ed Lynch foolishly traded away Garland and Lohse when they were in the minor leagues.
Mark Prior, another first-round pick, saw his great promise derailed by injuries, but he's still plugging away with the Red Sox' Class AAA club.
There were some first-round duds: Todd Noel, Ben Christensen, Bobby Brownlie and Mark Pawelek.
Recent history shows us two years similar to this in Cubs drafts. In 2002 the Cubs took Brownlie in the first round, followed by Luke Hagerty, Chadd Blasko and Matt Clanton in the supplemental rounds.
They took pitcher Justin Jones with the 62nd overall pick, two ahead of a catcher named Brian McCann, who had strong support in the Cubs' front office but who went on to become an all-star for the Atlanta Braves.
The Cubs got no major-league service time from those top picks, but they can take cold comfort from getting some from third-rounder Billy Petrick and fourth-rounder Rich Hill.
In 2005 scouting director John Stockstill made Pawalek the first-rounder, followed by Donnie Veale, Mark Holliman, Mike Billek, Scott Taylor, David Taylor and Matt Avery.
Veale most recently appeared in the majors with the White Sox but other than that, the Cubs got nada from the '05 draft from their top pitching picks.
So volume is good, but it's no guarantee of future success. It all comes down to good scouting, and it will take more than one draft for the Cubs to have something from which to draw.
“We're getting there,” Hoyer said. “I don't think you're ever satisfied. We have to have a lot more good drafts and make some more good trades. Just keep adding, over and over.
“The best teams will replenish their bullpens internally. They're able to bring up starters through the minor leagues when they need to. We're not at that point yet. Since we got here, we've worked really hard at building up that depth. I don't think the job's complete.”
bmiles@dailyherald.com