Whatever the case, things are improving.  Starlin Castro was recently named to the MLB Top 50 Prospects List.  Having a player on the Top 50 Prospect List is nothing new.  The Cubs had three players in the top 50 as recently as 2007 (Eric Patterson, Felix Pie, Donald Veal).  The big difference now is the depth that the Cubs have in the minor leagues.

The Cubs have several MLB-legit prospects at all levels of their minor league system.  Castro is at the top of the list* and will most likely start the year at Triple A.  Of course, that assumes that the Cubs don’t succumb to the urge to have him start the year in the majors.  He’s only 19 years old and there’s no reason to rush him.  That doesn’t mean the Cubs won’t rush him, but they shouldn’t.  He will benefit from a half-year or more in Triple-A.

Brett Jackson, perhaps the most athletic player in the Cubs minor league system, will likely start the year at Hi-A Daytona.  Although he only played 26 games (112 ABs) in Peoria last year after sprinting through the Arizona League and Rookie League in Boise, don’t be surprised if he does the same thing in Daytona and ends up in Double AA before the end of the year.

The Cubs #3 prospect is Josh Vitters.  He was the #1 prospect in the Cubs organization in 2008 and 2009, but slipped to #3 this year.  Great things are still expected from him, but his defensive ability at third base hasn’t progressed as well as expected.  However, he can still hit and Baseball America predicts that at some point, the Cubs will shift Vitters to the outfield so they can take advantage of his bat without having to suffer through his growing pains at third base.  Although Vitters struggled a bit at Hi-A Daytona last year, there’s a good chance he’ll start the 2010 season in Double A Tennessee. 

Right handed pitcher Andrew Cashner comes in as the #4 prospect for the Cubs.  He pitched well in Double A last year (3-4, 2.60 ERA, 1.19 WHIP) and will likely start 2010 in the starting rotation at Triple A Iowa.  He may see time on the big club in 2010 depending on injuries.  Cashner was a terrific closer in college.  The Cubs have turned him into a starting pitcher, but I could definitely see him in the Cubs bullpen in the next year or two in either a set-up role, or perhaps even closing.

Jay Jackson is another right handed pitcher who will likely start the year in the starting rotation in Triple A.  He has good stuff and I can see him in the Cubs starting rotation in a year or two.  He’s a tremendous all around athlete who can hit (ala Carlos Zambrano).  To me, even though he’s the Cubs #5 prospect, he seems a little bit like a sleeper to me.  He doesn’t get a lot of publicity (certainly not like Castro or Vitters), but he has the stuff to be a successful big league pitcher.

Nineteen-year old Hak-Ju Lee is the Cubs #6 prospect.  The shortstop from South Korea spent 2009 in the Northwest League (Rookie League) where he hit .330/.399/.420 with 2 homeruns and 33 RBI in 68 games.  He’s raw, but has great potential.  Because the Cubs are pretty well stocked at shortstop at the moment (Castro, Darwin Barney, D.J. LeMehieu), there has been some talk of getting Lee some experience at second or in center field.  He has tremendous speed and would probably do well as a center fielder.  However, any position change will probably wait a while.  Lee is expected to start the year as the shortstop for Peoria.

Right behind Lee as the #7 prospect is second baseman Logan Watkins.  The 20-year old was Lee’s double play partner at Boise last year and is expected to move up to Peoria with Lee this year.  Watkins is a terrific athlete.  He was a well-respected quarterback in high school who gave up a baseball scholarship at Wichita State to sign with the Cubs in the 21st round of the 2008 draft.  The Cubs are hoping for big things from Watkins.

The #8 top prospect is Chris Carpenter.  Just like his namesake with St. Louis, the Cubs Carpenter is a right handed pitcher.  He had an unimpressive 2008 in Rookie League Boise, but 2009 was much better.  He started the year at Lo-A Peoria, moved up to Hi-A Daytona, and eventually ended the season at Double A Tennesssee.  2010 should find him starting the year in Tennessee again with a good possibility of spending part of the year in Triple A.

Ryan Flaherty, the Cubs #9 prospect, is an incredibly versatile player.  He played shortstop in college (Vanderbilt) and has also played second and third base since joining the Cubs minor league system.  His future may be as a super-sub (he can play the outfield too) or as a platoon player who thumps righties, but struggles against lefties.  That’s not to say that he will never be a successful every day MLB player.  However, from what I’ve seen, he appears to be underperforming for a former suuplemental first round draft pick.  I know he’s only been in the minors for two years, but I guess I expected bigger things from him.  He will most likely start 2010 at Daytona.

Former LSU shortstop D.J. LeMehieu is the #10 prospect.  Personally, I would have ranked him higher.  I really like this kid.  Although he’s a shortstop now, I predict the Cubs depth at SS will force him to move to a different position as he progresses through the minor leagues.  I think he’ll get the nod as the starting SS in Daytona this year, but may be moved to second base in the near future.  I would love to see LeMehieu at second and Castro at short for the Cubs in a few years.

* The Top Ten Prospects are based on the list compiled by Baseball America.

Other Cubs minor leaguers to watch are catcher Wellington Castillo (will start the year in Double A Tennessee most likely), Darwin Barney (another SS who will likely start the year in Tennessee), 21-year old outfielder Kyler Burke (will likely play in either Peoria or Daytona in 2010), Tyler Colvin (AAA outfielder who could make the big team out of Spring Training), Rebel Ridling (1B who will start the year in either Peoria or Daytona), Brandon Guyer (versatile OF who could start 2010 in either Daytona or Tennessee), and Marquez Smith (3B who will spend 2010 in either AA or AAA).

Although the 2010 version of the Cubs is not overly exciting, the same can not be said about the Cubs minor league teams.  They have some terrific players in the pipeline and whoever is the GM in coming years will have some good young talent to work with.

Rich Harden only gave up two earned runs on four hits in 5.1 innings.  He also walked four and struckout three.

On a more positive note, Derrick Lee ran his hitting streak to 22 games. 

The Cubs wrap up their series in Detroit this afternoon.  Ted Lilly (7-4) will pitch for the Cubs against Armando Gallarraga (3-7).

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If you’ve ever looked for a reason why fans should not vote for the All-Star game, here’s some ammo.  Alfonso Soriano is currently fourth in voting for NL outfielders.  He is hitting .227/.291/.426 so far this year with 70 strikeouts in just 65 games played.  Not exactly all-star caliber play.

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The Cubs signed their first round pick, Brett Jackson, a 20-year old CF out of Cal.  According to Baseball Prospectus, the assumption is that Jackson signed for a bonus of $975,000.  I’ve heard the bonus was more than $1 million, but I don’t have anything to back that up.

According to Carrie Muskat at MLB.com, Jackson will take a physical and will then report to Class A Boise.

The Cubs second round pick, D.J. LeMahieu is expected to sign soon.  LeMahieu just finished up the College World Series, helping the LSU Tigers beat the Texas Longhorns in the final game.  LeMahieu hit a homerun in the seventh, tied the game in the ninth with a two-run double, and scored the winning run in the 13th inning.

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The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Aramis Ramirez went through a rigourous workout on Wednesday in Detroit.  After resting today, Ramirez is expecting to start taking batting practice on Friday.

Ramirez says that his shoulder is still very painful and that he may need to rest periodically during the second half of the season.  Lou Pineilla echoed Ramirez by saying that it will be “tough” for Ramirez to come back to play a day game after a night game.

Ramirez needs about a week before he can hit in a live game and then will need another week of minor league rehab before he’ll be ready to play for the Cubs again.  That puts him about two week aways from rejoining the team. 

In an article on FoxSports.com, Randy Bush is quoted as saying that the Cubs will have a better idea of what they need to do at the trade deadline once Ramirez comes back.  The Cubs want to see how well and how often Ramirez can play before making any decisions.

Even if Ramirez comes back at full strength (which is a big “if”), the Cubs still have needs.  I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but bringing Mark DeRosa back could really shore up the infield and could send Mike Fontenot and Aaron Miles back to the bench where they belong.  DeRosa would also be a great asset as an outfielder, especially if Milton Bradley doesn’t remember how to hit.

I’m especially anxious to bring DeRosa back to the Cubs because there are reports out right now that the Cardinals are the leading candidate to trade for DeRosa.  Jim Hendry made a mistake when he traded DeRosa this past winter.  He’ll be compounding that error if he let’s St. Louis trade for DeRosa.

Now to the draft.  I can’t claim to be any type of expert on this draft class, but in doing some research, I learned that the draft was heavy on pitching and weak on hitting.  So naturally, the Cubs went after hitters in their first two picks.

In the first round, with the 31st pick overall, the Cubs selected Brett Jackson out of the University of California.  Jackson is a CF who has been described as JD Drew with a good work ethic and excitement for the game.  To his credited, Jackson claims to be a long-time Cubs fan.  That’s nice.  At Cal, Jackson hit .321/.407/.564 with 8 HR and 41 RBI.  He has very good speed and is an aggressive base runner, stealing 11 bases for the Golden Bears while being caught five times.

In round two with the 79th pick, the Cubs took LSU 2B/SS DJ LeMathieu.  LeMathieu is a good contact hitter who hasn’t shown much power to this point.  In his sophmore year at LSU, LeMathieu hit .340/.408/.462 with 4 HR and 39 RBI.  In the field, he has a weak arm for a SS, but does fine at 2B.  Scouts believe he can mature into more of a power hitter.  Considering he is 6′4″, his future is likely at 3rd base or in the outfield.  Of course, his weak arm may help determine that decision.

The Cubs final pick of day was Austin Kirk, a 19-year old LHP out of Owasso HS in Owasso, OK.  Kirk was taken in the 3rd round with the 109 overall pick.  Kirk is said to have an overpowering fastball that hits in the mid 90’s, complimented by a good change-up and curveball.  He has signed to pitch at the University of Oklahoma next year if he doesn’t sign with the Cubs.

To be honest, I’m not crazy about the Cubs draft.  Again, I’m no expert, but it seems to me that there were better players available.  I like Jackson’s make-up, but the fact that he strikes out about 25% of the time concerns me.  He’s projected to be a top-of-the order kind of guy (he hit lead-off at Cal) because of his speed and excellent bat speed, but he’s going to have to cut down on the strike outs.

The LeMathieu pick confuses me.  True, he comes from a top college program and had decent batting numbers, but his fielding is a question mark and he has shown very little power.  It’s also true that he could develop more power, but why go with a guy that needs so much work (arm strength, power, fielding)?  There were other guys available that can do now what the Cubs hope LeMathieu can someday do.  At 6′4″, he certainly has the ability to mature and gain some power, and may someday be a good 3rd baseman or outfielder (depending on how his arm strength develops).  But that seems like a lot of maybes for a guy taken in the second round.

Kirk seems like a good pick.  Left handed pitchers with a plus fastball and two other good pitches coming right out of high school don’t grow on trees.  He’s not projected to be an ace, but perhaps he’ll develop into a solid middle-of-the-rotation guy. 

One final thought: The MLB draft is an absolute crap shoot.  It’s not like the NBA or NFL drafts where you are generally drafting guys that can help your team in the next year or two.  In baseball, the guys chosen in the draft will generally stay in the minor leagues for 3-4 years minimum before they ever make it to the big leagues, if they make it to the big leagues at all.  And if history is any indication, some of the best players in MLB in 5-10 years will be guys that were drafted in the later rounds this year.  Everyone has high hopes for the guys drafted in the first few rounds, but the baseball highway is littered with the names of high draft picks that never panned out.  It happens once in a while in the NBA and NFL.  It happens a lot in MLB.