With the Cubs not possessing a second, third, or fourth round pick in this year’s draft, they set themselves up for either saving a few million dollars or taking highly regarded talents that fall due to signability concerns.  The Cubs didn’t cop out on us, they spent the money and they took the chances under Wilken’s first year as scouting director.

The newest use of money comes on the heels of the Cubs formally coming to an agreement with 11th rounder Chris Huseby, who was considered a lock to go to college.  He joins a list of highly touted high school players that were considered extreme longshots to sign with a major league club and instead go honor their college letters of intents and become top round picks in a few years.  The main concern for Andersen, Rundle, and Huseby were all questions of signability and their leverage of college committments.  The Cubs proved that money does talk.

Perhaps the biggest suprise and risk of the three is right handed pitcher Chris Huseby .  As is he didn’t throw more than five games between his junior and senior seasons of high school due to rehabbing his surgically repaired arm (Tommy John surgery).  But by May, his arm was healed and he was clocked as fast as 93 mph and consistantly around 90 mph.  Not many other teams were interested due to his injury and lack of experience, but one Florida Cub scout, Rolondo Pino, the same man who found Sean Gallagher, saw something in kid who’s now filled out a 6′7 frame.  Pino kept tabs on Huseby as a sophomore and was in touch during his rehabbing process.  With everything looking good he gave Wilken/Hendry a very favorable report on him and three days before the draft he had a private tryout before Hendry and Wilken.  Still all signs pointed to Huseby owning up to his commitment to pitch for Auburn unless the Cubs offered up top tier money.  And Cubs did not disappoint by getting Huseby to sign for 1.3 million.  Last year, the lowest picked player to receive a bonus of a million or more  was No. 33, Huseby was the No. 329th pick.  In comparision, the Cubs 2006 first round pick Colvin received just 1.475 million.

A player from my neck of the woods,  Drew Rundle, put up great numbers in high school (Bend, OR) and has a god given ability to play the game gracefully at every facet.  The 6′3 190lbs left handed outfielder has a pure smooth stroke, great plate discipline, speed on the bases, great arm and glove in the field.  His power is slight but he’s going to put more muscle on and likely to add much more power to his game.  Some analysts had him going as high as the 1st round of the supplement portion of the draft.  But teams didn’t bite due to money and college so when the Cubs saw him still there in the 14th round they’d decide to roll the dice and see if the kid would sign.  Rundle had already signed a letter of intent to play at Arizona, and they were looking forward to his presence.  Yet Drew had a dream of playing in the big leagues sooner rather than later and the Cubs were willing to reach his asking price of a half million dollars. 

Much like Rundle, Clifford Andersen was regarded as a top round talent but many teams passed on him due to signability concerns and that he had already signed a letter of intent at Oklahoma State.  The pitcher/centerfielder instead past up his college career and signed for a little more than a half million dollars.  Currently he’s in the Arizona Cubs outfield.

The Cubs have now signed 25 of their 47 draft picks from the 2006 Draft:

Right now the Cubs draft is regarded as one of the worst this season but that is to be expected when one possesses only two picks in your first five rounds.  Adding to the Cubs low grade is that they took what was widely considered a third round talent with the 13th pick overall in Clemson Senior Outfielder Tyler Colvin and that their fifth round pick is pondering an NFL career.  Other than that everything went just peach, as the Cubs selected 47 players, losing their 2nd, 3rd and 4th round picks for signing Eyre, Howry, and Jones.  With those selections, the Giants took switch hitting Kent State shortstop Emmanuel Burris with the 33rd pick, he’s a leadoff, with great basestealing abilities, good hands/arm, and solid contact.  For losing Howry the Indians selected Senior lefty David Huff from UCLA with the 39th overall pick, who’s hailed as a Jeremy Sowers type player and has great command.  While the Twins picked up XXX.  Of the 47 players Chicago drafted, 23 were right handed pitchers, 4 were lefty pitchers, 10 infielders, 8 outfielders, and  two catchers. 

2006 Cubs Amateur Draft

1 Tyler Colvin, OF (Clemson)
2. (to CLE for RHP Bob Howry)
3. (to SF for LHP Scott Eyre)
4. (to MIN for OF Jacque Jones)
5. Jeff Samardzija, RHP (Notre Dame)
6. Joshua Lansford, 3B (Cal Poly)
7. Steve Clevenger, SS (Chipola CC)
8. Billy Muldowney, RHP (Pitt)
9. Cliff Anderson, CF (HS - Sandy, UT)
10. Jake Renshaw, RHP (Ventura JC)
11. Christopher Huseby, RHP (HS - Martin County, FL)
12. Kitt Kopach, RHP (Illinois State)
13. Matt Camp, IF-OF (NC State)
14 Andrew Rundle, OF (HS - Bend, OR)
15. Matthew Canepa, C (Cal Poly)
16. Blake Parker, C-3B (Arkansas)
17. Keoni Ruth, 2B (San Diego)
18. Jose Hernandez, RHP (HS - Orlando, FL)
19. Jeremy Papelbon, LHP (U of North Florida)
20. Kevin Kreier, RHP (Foothill HS)
21. Taylor Parker, LHP (U of Missouri Columbia)
22. Jovan Rosa, 3B (Lake City CC)
23. Charles Platt, RHP (Lamar U)
24. Matt Matulia, SS (The Citadel)
25. Jamie Bagley, RHP (Hargrave HS)
26. Michael Cooper, RHP (UC Berkeley)
27. Cedric Redmond, RHP (Joliet Township HS)
28. Brett Summers, RHP (South Suburban College)
29. Jordan Latham, RHP (College of Southern Idaho)
30. Donald Walters, RHP (Richland College)
31. Bryan Collins, RHP (Alvin CC)
32. Cesar Valentin, SS (Catalina Morales de Flore HS)
33. Ronald Clip, RHP (Point Loma Nazarene U)
34. Nathan Samson, SS (Ocala Forest HS)
35. Marquez Smith, 3B (Clemson U)
36. Greibal Cuevas-Novas, RHP (Los Angeles Pierce College)
37. Ross Francis, RHP (St Joseph SS)
38. Benjamin Feltner, CF (Temple College)
39. Marcus Hatley, CF (Mission Hills HS)
40. Eli Diaz, RHP (Texarkana CC)
41. Jonathan Negron, RHP (Puerto Rico BB Academy HS)
42. Benjamin Ornelas, OF (Cypress College)
43. Anthony Morel, SS (Riverside CC)
44. Daniel Berlind, RHP (Calabasas HS)
45. Elliot Shea, CF (Franklin Pierce College)
46. Ryan Shook, LHP (Valley Christian Academy)
47. Andrew McCormick, RHP (Pikeville College)
48. Kenneth Goodline, RHP (North Monterey County HS)
49. Ryan Malone, 3B (Florida State University)
50. Ryan Davis, LHP (Eastlake HS)

right handed pitching with seven picks in a row from rounds 25 to 31.

relatives of past and present ballplayers (Joshua Lansford, Jeremy Papelbon, Jonathan Negron)

Rundle was rated the 106th best player by Baseball America pre-draft (projecting him as a 3rd or 4th rounder), but he slid all the way down to the 14th round only because he had signed an Letter of Intent to attend the University of Arizona and has made it clear to scouts that he intends to go to college.

Colvin likely to get 1.5-2 million signing bonus, which is over  a million more than he would have gotten as a third rounder.

Joshua Lansford (Cal Poly) will probably do very well right away, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him move quickly up through the Cubs system. But he has the same problem that Casey McGehee has, and that is both are one-dimensional line-drive hitters (albeit good ones) playing a position (3B) where power is preferred

Clevenger as a good hitter who uses the entire field. On the negative side, he has only “fringe power,” and he is too slow to play SS, so he will likely be moved to 3B

Muldowney as a “bulldog” with a good feel for pitching, with a 88-90 MPH sinker, a plus-change, and just an average “slurvy” breaking ball. He is projected as a reliever

Anderson (HS - Sandy, UT). A left-handed hitter and thrower, Anderson is considered Utah’s best high school baseball player, but he has signed a LOI to play college ball at Oklahoma State

6’3 215 20-year old RHP Jake Renshaw (Ventura JC). Throwing a 91-94 MPH fastball, rated in Top 220. , but since then he has missed one full season due to academic problems