Well it's that time of year again, it's June and the Cubs are struggling, so it's time to look forward to this Tuesday's Amateur Baseball Draft. The Cubs lost their scouting director, John Stockstill, who had been in charge of our scouting since 2000, when Hendry got the promotion to assistant GM. Stockstill left for the Orioles' system to join his brother Dave, O's farm director, to become the team's director of professional scouting. So the Cubs' brought in Tim Wilken, who has a long and distinct track record in amateur drafts. From 1988 to 1994, he was the head scout/crosschecker for the Toronto Blue Jays before he got the promotion to scouting director from 1995 to 2000 (left before 2000 draft). Wilken had a very strong influence in a Jays' run of 11 first rounders to make the MLB. Here's some of the names that he helped corral:



Year Dft# Level Pos Player
1988 25 JR-Col 3B Ed Sprague
1989 19 JR-Col SS Ed Zosky
1990 22 HS RP Steve Karsay
1991 16 HS OF Shawn Green
1992 19 HS OF Shannon Stewart
1993 15 HS SP Chris Carpenter
1994 28 HS SS Kevin Witt
1995 17 HS SP Roy Halladay
1996 4 JR-Col RP Billy Koch
1997 5 HS OF Vernon Wells
1998 8 HS SS Felipe Lopez
1999 19 HS OF Alexis Rio


After that Wilken set himself into retirement but was contacted by the Devil Rays in 2004 to do some scouting and realized what he was missing. So he became in charge of the Rays draft last year, where his top pick was Wade Townsend a 2004 first round pick by the Orioles who was available due to Baltimore unable to sign him. Wilken was able to sign Townsend in June before he blew out his arm in October and underwent Tommy John surgery.

Of the Chicago Cubs' last 12 No. 1 draft picks, only five have made it to the Major Leagues (Prior, Patterson, Wood, Garland, and Kieschnick). This year the Cubs have the 13th pick overall, but then don't get another selection until the 5th round due to the free agent compensations due to signing Scott Eyre, Bob Howry and Jacque Jones. The good thing for the Cubs is that Wilken not only has a good eye for first round talent but he does also have an excellent pedigree on finding talent later in the draft. He has a history of not only taking high school bats early but for taking middle infielders later in the draft as they usually are the best athletes. "Going back to the 'best player' theory, I think you apply that in the early rounds and as the draft drops off in ability and everything being somewhat equal, you start concentrating on your weaknesses," Wilken said. "If available, then naturally look for pitching -- especially left-handed pitching -- and shortstops and second basemen. Middle infielders generally have the ability to play somewhere else."

Now onto the 2006 Amateur Draft and what the Cubs are looking to do. Right now the hottest rumor is that the arguably best talent in the draft, Andrew Miller, and his agent Mark Rodgers, are trying to get his stock to drop by asking for either a record breaking bonus or an MLB contract. Rodgers has a very good relationship with Tim Wilken, and the word is that Miller and Company are trying to get down to Chicago. Apparently Rodgers has already contacted several top picking teams (Royals, Rockies, D-Rays) and has told them he doesn't want to play with them. It's likely just a ploy to get more money, as there are a few teams that pick before Chicago that would gamble that enough Benjamins will convince him.

So back to more likely scenerios. The Cubs are looking to draft a projectable bat they can take their time with, but there are only a few to choose from and none of them really stand out. Besides from Evan Longoria, the top positional talent in the draft, the rest of the positional talent seems to be high school kids. Leading the list of probables is Chris Marrero. Heading into this season, Marrero was the top High School positional player. He didn't have a poor 2006 High School season but it wasn't as eyepopping as his previous three years. Drafting Marrero at 13th might be a stretch but with his projectability and the Cubs' able to take their time with him, it might be a match. Chicago feels with the right development that he can be the superstar that everyone thought he was last year, a power hitting 3B with good strikezone judgement that has all around third baseman written all over him.

Marrero is a pure right handed third baseman who led his Monsinger Pace High School team (out of Opa Locka, Florida) to a Class 4A state title. The kid stands at 6'3 with a very ripped 215 lbs frame, and he's likely not done growing. He's been scouted since his freshman year, with upwards to 15 scouts watching him at any given time over the last four years. Chris is remarked as having the mental abilities to handle the rigor of a major league schedule and the poise to deal with the pressure of being a top pick, things the Cubs hold dear. In addition to his mental competency, he's got a bazooka of an arm, soft hands, awesome power, good plate discipline, and good speed for a big man. He has drawn some local Southern Florida comparisions to Alex Rodriguez, who played across town but that's a far stretch.

This year Marrero hit .375 with 13 homers, while hitting .430 with 8 hrs as a junior. His teammate and leftside infield partner, Adrian Cardenas took some of the spotlight off of Marrero has he hit .630 with 18 hrs (tying the Miama-Dade County record) . But even still, Cardenas won't likely be picked until the 2nd or 3rd round, and hasn't dealt with nearly the pressure or spotlight that Marrero has. Marrero's selection will have little to do with his numbers this year and more likely to deal with his high potential ratings across the board. There are some reports that Marrero won't slip to the Cubs at 13, as the Orioles are heavily considering him at number 9.

With Scott Boras and fellow demons representing/advising a good portion of the top talents, there are always occurances of prospects falling due to signability concerns. An art the Cubs have mastered in recent years with Mark Prior and Matt Pawelek. If Marrero is available or not, the Cubs will take what they feel is the best available player. That being said, here are the likely candidates the Cubs are still mulling over:

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