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This is where it starts to get interesting!

Please vote for the Cubs #5 prospect (serious votes only, please!). Please post your rationale below.

If someone convinces you that someone else should be higher, please feel free to change your vote anytime between now and Thursday.

As of this round, I'm going to start allowing multiple votes. So for this vote, you should select the players you feel should be #5, #6 and #7. If we end up with multiple players having similar vote totals at the end of the voting period, there will be a run-off with just those players.

Results so far:

#1: Javier Baez
#2: Jorge Soler
#3: Albert Almora
#4: Arodys Vizcaino

5) Christian Villanueva
6) Brett Jackson
7) Dan Vogelbach

5) Vogelbach
6) Panigua
7) Maples

Edit: Shoot, I forgot about Maples.

I'm refusing to vote for Fujikawa on principle.

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Team Theo.

Paniagua. High ceiling arm, two plus pitches and more advanced than the other high ceiling arms besides Vizcaino.

ETA:

5. Paniagua
6. Vogelbach
7. Fujikawa

5) Vogelbach
6) Fujikawa
7) Candelario

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[The sound of fastballs] was one of those things that told me my pitches were fast....because I've never heard pitches as loud as mine.

5) Vogelbach
6) Fujikawa
7) Maples

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I'm leaning Paniagua as well, but not with a load of enthusiasm about it. There's a notable gap after 4. For all the expectations that he's more polished than Underwood and others, well, that's still unknown. That said, the reports of his easy power and potential advanced secondary pitch gets the upside nod as of now, and I'll assume that he is a bit more developed than the raw arms.

Brett Jackson would be a close 6th, with Vogelbach a close 7th. I love Vogelbach's bat, but it's awful tough for me to put a 1st/DH corner slugger who hasn't hit full season ball yet at 5 this year. It's much easier to gamble on an arm with velocity like Paniagua, if you assume he is a bit more polished, than a bat, as it assumes that Vogelbach has a truly elite minor league bat. It's possible he does, but this far away, it's just too risky for me.

5) Vogelbach
6) Jackson
7) Johnson

Someone didn't read the instructions!

The reason I'm looking for three votes from everyone here is to catch things like if there's a group of people who think Paniagua (just to pick an example) should be #5, but nobody else sees him in the top 10. That could win him the vote at #5 even though most don't see him that high. What I'd like to do is have the picks weighted, but I don't see a way to do that. So we'll have to make this work for now.

Sorry, I edited my post.

I went:

5) Vogelbach
6) Paniagua
7) Fujikawa

5. Paniagua
6. Vogelbach
7. Maples

5) Vogelbach
6) Paniagua
7) Villanueva

Fujikawa
Vogelbach
Jackson

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i don't know how you're supposed to try to compare a 32-year-old finished product to other players who all still have further development left to do

Vogelbach
Johnson
Jackson

I know Fujikawa will be listed by other services, but I really don't see the point in adding him ourselves. He's over 30 and will always be an MLB player, does it really matter where he stands relative to a bunch of guys with 1-5 years of minor league ball still to go?

Expected value?

I'm with Kyle, TT, and sneaky. Leaving Fuji off out of principle.


5. Vogelbach
6. Paniagua
7. Jackson

Hypothetical:

We draft Appel this June. He spends a couple years in the minors and looks ready to dominate in the majors in 2015, but gets an arm injury in ST. He's out that year and rehabs in the minors most of 2016 to regain strength - but looks fantastic. He comes up and gets a cup of coffee at the end of that year, but would still qualify for prospect lists.

To begin 2017, he'd be around 27 and wouldn't have any more developing left to do or anything to prove in the minors. Would he belong on a prospect list? Because he'd fail every criteria TT and sneaky just listed.

How about this as a disqualifying criteria: He's spent multiple years pitching primarily in a professional league that is competitive rather than developmental.

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Team Theo.

I was going to come up with something like this... and add that he's over 25.

I was OK with Darvish being technically a prospect last offseason, but this is a bit crazy.

that, and i don't think there's been a moment of consideration given to him ever stepping foot in the minors, unless to eventually rehab an injury or something

truthfully, Castro and Rizzo are more prospects than this guy, with much further development still needed for both

25 shouldn't be a good cut off.

I'm with these guys. I don't really see how you compare this guy with the rest, nor do I see what the purpose would be. He's an old major league reliever. He's not a prospect in any way shape or form. It may not be the letter of the law for prospects but at sure as heck is the spirit.

Only for foreign players who have played in a league as advanced as Japan's NPB. I'm ok with it being a bit higher, I guess.