Cubs fans and Cubbies Crib followers, who you got?

Apr 8, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein meets with the press prior to a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

With starting pitching being priority #1 on the Cubs’ list right now, it puts a lot of pressure on the team to draft the right player considering their number 2 selection overall in the 2013 draft.

Although improvements have been made on the international market, like the signing of Juan Paniaugua and Gerardo Concepcion, the Cubs will almost certainly change gears from the draft in 2012 – OF Albert Almora was the Cubs’ first selection overall if you needed a refresher.

The starting rotation at the big league level right now looks scary at best. Matt Garza wasn’t great before getting hurt, Travis Wood still has a lot to prove, and Jeff Samardzija is largely untested as a regular starting pitcher. Taking a quality pitching prospect with their first selection makes the most sense for the Cubs as it helps bolster the potential “up and coming” pitchers like Trey McNutt, Dillon Maples and Arodys Vizcaino.

So it boils down to this: Who’s available and worth drafting?

Mark Appel:

The Stanford RHP has been at the tops of everyone’s radar since 2009 and has still yet to make a major league debut despite being drafted twice. Yes… he’s been drafted twice already. Maybe the fact that he’s a Scott Boras client and asking a pile of cash for his services after being drafted is scaring a lot of teams off, but he’s somewhat justified in his requests for a cash-in. Appel is a big man (6’5″ 215 lbs) with some serious power in his arm. His 4-seam easily hits the mid 90′s and occasionally flirts with the high 90′s, while his 2 seam has some serious tail which allows batters to take a sniff at the zone before it drops for either swinging strikes or called strikes. Big power and lots of control of his slider make him a top prospect who could hit triple digits with his heater should his development stay on track.

If Appel is so good, why wouldn’t Houston draft him first overall? The answer is price.

June 3, 2011; Fullerton, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal pitcher Mark Appel (26) pitches against the Kansas State Wildcats during the second inning of the Fullerton regional of the 2011 NCAA baseball tournament at Goodwin Field. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

Houston may not be able to afford Appel considering he’s known for wanting big time cash right away. Could the Cubs make the leap and try to sign Appel knowing his tendencies to ask for outrageous sums of money? Who’s to say right now, but Theo and Jed tend to like players who mesh well with the team dynamic and Appel may not fit in to that category. It would certainly be an influence on their decision, one that leads me to believe they’ll consider other options before taking a stab at the loose cannon.

Jonathan Crawford:

This University of Florida righty has already seen some success in his baseball career having thrown a no hitter vs Bethune-Cookman in the fist round of the 2012 NCAA tournament. Not too shabby eh? It gets better. Crawford boasts a low to mid 90′s fastball with some late sink. His slider is pretty solid and shows some big time potential to be a real weapon, thanks to his very high 3/4 style delivery. He’s packing a changeup and a curve as well, which never hurts if he can master the offspeed delivery style. While he’s never posted a WHIP over 2.00 in his career, command is emerging as a problem for the 21 year old. Could this scare the Cubs off? No, but there are much better prospects that will likely go top 5, whereas Crawford is more of a top 10 guy.

Sean Manaea:

Finally, a lefty… and not just any lefty, a crafty one at that.

Check out these numbers: 1.22 ERA, 12.14 K/BB, 0.52 WHIP in 51.2 IP in 9 games. Drooling yet? Me too, but better grab a napkin or something before you look foolish. Manaea is young, extremely raw and 9 games isn’t much of a sample but the tools are there to make a quality pitcher. His fastball touches 96 at the best of times but has problems holding velocity as he works. His secondary pitches are still very much a work in progress, including a slider which is very effective when it’s on. After watching video on him, you can see his delivery is very relaxed, but his low 3/4 arm slot can make his pitches easy to read right out of his hands. Could the Cubs consider him? Of course, but he wouldn’t be impact talent anytime soon as his future is still very much up in the air.

Ryne Stanek:

Great first name, Ryne. You’d be loved by Cubs fans everywhere…

This righty out of Arkansas has already been drafted once in 2010, but is back having improved on his mechanics issues which have plagued him for some time. The 6’4″ 180 lbs lanky man is probably the most well rounded pitching prospect when considering price, talent, experience and mix. Stanek’s fastball caps off at 97 but hovers nicely in the low to mid 90′s with no velocity loss. He already has a curve and a slider that is very effective in the mid 80′s, not to mention a changeup which is in the finishing stages of development (it never hurts to have a 4 pitch guy who can really mix it up effectively). Stanek is a battle tested warrior who has now changed his delivery and is showing vast signs of improvement. A 1.19 WHIP and a 1.00 IP/K ratio make him a very adaptable player who could develop in to a big league 2-3 starter one day. He could be the Cubs’ selection should they pass on Appel.

Clint Frazier:

The Loganville highschooler is a quality outifield prospect who can put a charge in to some balls from the dish.

You might be asking? Why an outfielder? I know I said that pitching is priority but the Cubs will indeed be looking at out fielders just in case. Frazier is pretty damned good too, so I tossed him in the mix.

Frazier is pretty much the complete package when it comes to an outfielder. His arm has been ranked from 50-65 by scouts, his speed is right up there allowing him to have leniency on his defensive paths to the ball, and his bat speed is through the roof. The kid can hit to all sides of the field and is projected to be a 20+ HR type of player one day.

There you have it folks. That’s the current short list of potentially draftable players for the Cubs this year. Feel free to add any you feel I missed in the comment section below, or hit me up on twitter and lets chat about it.

I’m not talking about like “long car ride to the in-laws house for dinner” long… This is a “dragging through the most desolate pits of hell over top of shattered glass and that creepy, nasty feeling sea-weed that grazes your foot while swimming” type of long.

Naturally, another season passes and another post season is missed. Such is life for a Cubs fan as of late.

While we’ve become all too familiar with being chastised by other baseball fans and generally being at the brunt end of many loss jokes,  there are some significant steps being taken in order to solve the problems that have plagued the Cubs’ season. Young prospects have earned lots of playing time during September, including Dave Sappelt, Junior Lake, and Chris Rusin. This is obviously an afforded luxury when your team loses 100 games a season and can experiment with wild line-ups without any repercussions. Sure makes for some whacky baseball though!

A very clear trend is developing from 162 games of borderline laughable baseball: the Cubs need quality pitching.

I wish I could bold, italicize and make the word “need” a 72 font size in that previous sentence. The word on its own simply doesn’t do the demand justice. Alas, if I did, I’m sure Jordan (gifted writer and lead editor at Cubbies Crib) would fill my inbox with stern emails telling me to never do that again. But I digress…

With so many quality pitchers being on the market pre-deadline this year, it warrants the question: How come the Cubs didn’t pull the trigger on a deal? Why would they contemplate trading ace Matt Garza? Wouldn’t all this be counteractive towards acquiring pitching? While many of these concerns are valid, it shows colors of the new regime that Theo Epstein has built:

Youth and value are held in a high regard. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that if you have a player within your system while he’s young, you can motivate him and brand him as your own. This plays in to the psyche of any athlete.

Taking in to consideration all of these factors, there’s one name that stands out above all others: Mark Appel.

June 3, 2011; Fullerton, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal pitcher Mark Appel (26) pitches against the Kansas State Wildcats during the second inning of the Fullerton regional of the 2011 NCAA baseball tournament at Goodwin Field. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

The Stanford student athlete and Baseball America No.1 prospect of 2012 was expected to be drafted first overall this season. He certainly was drafted, but selected only 8th overall by the Pirates after many teams took a pass on his services. Why on earth would so many teams pass on Appel despite the fact that he could very well develop into an ace within the major league ranks? Are these teams not focused on pitching? Do they not believe in his skill?

The truth of the matter is that Appel is recognized as a very talented player and would be an asset to any team he joins.

The problem was that Appel’s price was sky high  - and was due largely to Appel’s agent, Scott Boras. Boras is known for only representing the best in the game, but he also demands a high price for all his clients. The simple fact is that most teams recognized this fact and avoided Appel based on his representation, knowing that Boras would be trying to gouge any team for as much cash as possible.

The Pirates attempted to take Appel on, who wanted $8M for his services. Under the new CBA, there is an allocated budget that every team must follow while taking part in the Rule 4 draft. This was implemented in an attempt to stop team with massive buying power from simply throwing money at prospects.

Boras seems to have missed the point on this, and Pittsburgh refused to sign Appel because of the penalties associated with exceeding these new budgets and his asking price. Appel went from top prospect and expected no.1 draft pick to returning to Stanford to play baseball.

As a Cubs fan, this has me licking my chops…..

Considering the past failure of his signing with the Pirates, economics dictates that his services are worth <$8M. Having a fixed figure on the price of his services is probably the most harmful thing to his value. This would be a steal if the Cubs can talk Boras down to a reasonable $4-$5M.

Appel has been rumored to be pursued by the Houston Astros, but these allegations can be cast aside because the Astros do not have the budget to take on Appel’s contract desires.

However, the Cubs do have the budget. Its a perk of having almost ~3,000,000 fans a season pass through the gates at Wrigley, not to mention the massive brand dominance the Cubs have.

The Cubs may also be interested in the fact that he’s only 21, shows tremendous upside and the rights to his services aren’t owned by anyone at the present time. He’s eligible to be drafted in the Rule 4 draft again next season, and the Cubs are looking very good to “earn” the second overall pick in 2013.

As far as qualifications go, Appel checks out. The real question is would Theo Epstein be willing to deal with a Scott Boras client?

While the Cubs have very few Boras clients on their squad (Jeff Baker, who is now in Atlanta and Rodrigo Lopez is still a part of the system), I don’t think it will hold them back too much. Boras will realize that his push for maximum profits has actually hurt his client’s value, and the Cubs may see this opportunity to obtain a no.1 prospect for pennies on the dollar.

Sure, its a stretch…. but its exactly the type of move that Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer are known for.

Appel will continue to pitch for Stanford next season, where maybe he’ll learn that his first contract isn’t always the most important.

Want more? You can always follow me on twitter @Denny_CubsCrib for Cubs analysis, news, humor and updates.