Three of the Chicago Cubs UBER-Prospects, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez and Addison Russell, will begin the 2015 season in the minor leagues. ESPN MLB analysts Curt Schilling and John Kruk (Sunday Night Baseball) participated in ESPN’s MLB Opening Night/Opening Day media conference call earlier today. ESPN will nationally televise the Cubs season opener, at home versus the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday, April 5, at 7 p.m. CST.
Addison Russell, the jewel of the Jeff Samardzjia trade last 4th of July, drew extensive praise from the Bristol seam heads.
Said Schilling: “Addison Russell probably impressed me almost as much as anybody this spring with his consistency. He’s a lot better than I thought. What I saw from him on the field and at the plate, I think he’s mature beyond his years.”
(We’ve covered the current statuses of all four of these prospects in more detail: Bryant here, Russell here, Soler here and Baez here)
Don’t be shocked if you see Addison Russell make his major league debut before you see Javier Baez make his return to the parent club. Baez was the first member of “the movement” to get his individual chance up at the parent club, and his 2014 1/3 season was awful; as was his spring training. Of course, Baez can play second base, and with Starlin Castro holding down shortstop, where will Russell fit?
Hey Theo Epstein is always the smartest man in the room; no matter what room he’s in, so he’ll work with the new messiah who’s come to Chicago (Joe Maddon) to make it happen. They’ll figure it out. Theo/Jed wouldn’t have made the trade unless they had a long term plan.
Russell needs to be as much of a building block for the future as Bryant. Baseball America has Addison Russell ranked the #3 prospect in all of baseball for 2015. Baseball Prospectus has him ranked #2.
More importantly, Addison Russell represents the last time that the Cubs made a move from “selling mode” before then shifting into “buying mode.” We still haven’t seen any results on the field indicating that the Cubs rebuilding plan is moving along. There is no evidence yet that the franchise has turned the corner. However, from a personnel perspective, they have turned down the corner from teardown to rebuild.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital. You can read Banks’ feature stories and op-eds in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and hear his regular guest spots on numerous sports talk radio stations all across the country.
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