[The second in a short series of primer posts discussing the upcoming 2012 MLB Draft, which could be huge for the Cubs. The first in the series looked at ten of the players the Cubs might consider with their first round pick, and the final in the series will look at the changes to the Draft structure for 2012. The Draft will take place from June 4 to 6, and you can expect plenty of live coverage here at BN.]

The MLB Draft is not the NBA Draft or the NFL Draft. This is so for many reasons, not the least of which is the lengthy period that usually intercedes between the time a kid is drafted, and the time he actually appears in MLB (if he appears there at all).

Because the MLB Draft is not quite as dramatic as those in some of the other major American sports, it doesn’t get the months-long buildup of hype that, for example, the NFL receives on ESPN. And because it doesn’t have a hype machine, you might not know the precise details of what’s happening next week, logistically. This post is designed to give you a head’s up on exactly what will happen next week, and when.

Dates, Times, Coverage

The 2012 MLB Draft will begin on Monday, June 4 with the first round (and supplemental first round). The first round will be televised on MLB Network, beginning with a pre-show at 6pm ET (5pm CT), and the actual Draft at 7pm ET (6pm CT). If you’re really hankering for more pre-coverage, ESPN will have a Draft program starting at 3pm ET (2pm CT) on Monday. Obviously we’ll be covering it all here at BN live, so make sure you’re here to participate. It’s a pretty fun night.

Rounds 2 through 15 will take place on Tuesday, June 5, beginning at noon ET (11am CT). These rounds, too, will be televised on MLB Network. It’s amazing: it wasn’t but a few years ago that you couldn’t really follow the Draft live, even if you wanted to. Now, it’s all televised (though the picks roll in via conference call). Once again, the Draft will be covered here live at BN, so if you can’t follow on TV, you can catch the important Cubs bits here, as they roll in. You can also follow at MLB.com.

Rounds 16 through 40 (remember, the Draft has shrunk to 40 rounds this year, one of the many changes that will be previewed in the next primer post) will take place on Wednesday, June 6, beginning at noon ET (11am CT). Once again, you’ll have television coverage on MLBN, and online coverage here at BN and on MLB.com.

Draft Order

Here are the first, supplemental, and second round draft order, which are the rounds that tend to deviate a bit from the overall order. The deviations are noted.

First round:

1. Houston Astros
2. Minnesota Twins
3. Seattle Mariners
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Kansas City Royals
6. Chicago Cubs
7. San Diego Padres
8. Pittsburgh Pirates
9. Miami Marlins
10. Colorado Rockies
11. Oakland Athletics
12. New York Mets
13. Chicago White Sox
14. Cincinnati Reds
15. Cleveland Indians
16. Washington Nationals
17. Toronto Blue Jays
18. Los Angeles Dodgers
19. St. Louis Cardinals (A. Pujols – LAA)
20. San Francisco Giants
21. Atlanta Braves
22. Toronto Blue Jays (T. Beede – unsigned)
23. St. Louis Cardinals
24. Boston Red Sox
25. Tampa Bay Rays
26. Arizona Diamondbacks
27. Milwaukee Brewers (P. Fielder – DET)
28. Milwaukee Brewers
29. Texas Rangers
30. New York Yankees
31. Boston Red Sox (J. Papelbon – PHI)

Supplemental First Round

32. Minnesota Twins (M. Cuddyer – COL)
33. San Diego Padres (H. Bell – MIA)
34. Oakland Athletics (J. Willingham – MIN)
35. New York Mets (J. Reyes – MIA)
36. St. Louis Cardinals (A. Pujols – LAA)
37. Boston Red Sox (J. Papelbon – PHI)
38. Milwaukee Brewers (P. Fielder – DET)
39. Texas Rangers (C.J. Wilson – LAA)
40. Philadelphia Phillies (R. Madson – CIN)
41. Houston Astros (C. Barmes – PIT)
42. Minnesota Twins (J. Kubel – ARI)
43. Chicago Cubs (A. Ramirez – MIL)
44. San Diego Padres (A. Harang – LAD)
45. Pittsburgh Pirates (R. Doumit – MIN)
46. Colorado Rockies (M. Ellis – LAD)
47. Oakland Athletics (D. De Jesus – CHC)
48. Chicago White Sox (M. Buehrle – MIA)
49. Cincinnati Reds (R. Hernandez – COL)
50. Toronto Blue Jays (F. Francisco – NYM)
51. Los Angeles Dodgers (R. Barajas – PIT)
52. Texas Rangers (D. Oliver – TOR)
53. St. Louis Cardinals (O. Dotel – DET)
54. Philadelphia Phillies (R. Ibanez – NYY)
55. San Diego Padres (B. Austin – unsigned)
56. Chicago Cubs (C. Pena – TB)
57. Cincinnati Reds (F. Cordero – TOR)
58. Toronto Blue Jays (J. Rauch – NYM)
59. St. Louis Cardinals (E. Jackson – WAS)
60. Toronto Blue Jays (J. Molina – TB)

Second Round:

61. Houston Astros
62. Oakland Athletics (J. Willingham – MIN)
63. Minnesota Twins
64. Seattle Mariners
65. Baltimore Orioles
66. Kansas City Royals
67. Chicago Cubs
68. San Diego Padres
69. Pittsburgh Pirates
70. San Diego Padres (H. Bell – MIA)
71. New York Mets (J. Reyes – MIA)
72. Minnesota Twins (M. Cuddyer – COL)
73. Colorado Rockies
74. Oakland Athletics
75. New York Mets
76. Chicago White Sox
77. Philadelphia Phillies (R. Madson – CIN)
78. Cincinnati Reds
79. Cleveland Indians
80. Washington Nationals
81. Toronto Blue Jays
82. Los Angeles Dodgers
83. Texas Rangers (C.J. Wilson – LAA)
84. San Francisco Giants
85. Atlanta Braves
86. St. Louis Cardinals
87. Boston Red Sox
88. Tampa Bay Rays
89. New York Yankees (S. Stafford – unsigned)
90. Arizona Diamondbacks
91. Detroit Tigers
92. Milwaukee Brewers
93. Texas Rangers
94. New York Yankees
95. Philadelphia Phillies

As you can see, the Cubs have four picks in the top 67, which is pretty nice. The later rounds will matter heavily, too, but the Cubs will hopefully make hay in those first four picks.

Related posts:

1. 2012 MLB Draft Primer: Getting to Know the First Round Candidates A look at 10 kids whom the Cubs could take...
2. 2011 Major League Baseball Draft Order Finalized for First Round Now that Carl Pavano, the last Type A free agent...
3. Chicago Cubs 2012 Schedule Released The Cubs open at home against the Nationals, and close...

SWEEP! Bet you didn’t think you’d hear that just a few days ago.

The Cubs’ battled back today, and capped off their comeback with a game-winning homer by Darwin Barney. It was awesome, and a reminder that the game can still be exciting and fun, even when the Cubs are (probably) terrible.

Ryan Dempster was up in the zone today, and he paid for it. He gave up six earned runs in just over four innings, and would have deserved the loss if the Cubs hadn’t come back. The bullpen was great, and even included a scoreless inning by Carlos Marmol (naturally with two walks and a strikeout).

Joe Mather had a nightmarish day, and I think we can all finally agree that a three hitter he is not, and a full-time player he is almost certainly not. He’s nice in a utility role, but, as a starter, he’s exposed.

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There are many, many things to dislike about White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson. The lame catch phrases. The over-the-top homerism. The ignorance of a great many modern baseball concepts. Listening to him call a game is akin to getting your ear pierced, repeatedly, for three hours.

But, occasionally, he offers some enjoyment.

Like today, when he absolutely lost his mind during the White Sox/Rays game, when White Sox pitcher Jose Quintana was ejected for throwing behind Ben Zobrist (without a warning). Here’s the video – can you imagine Len Kasper doing this (maybe Bob Brenly):

In case the video is taken down, here’s my best dramatic interpretation via exclamations, CAPS, and the like:

“Watch out … Oh. OH! What are you DOIN’?!? He threw him out of the ball game?!? You’ve got to be bleepin’ me!!! (He actually said “bleepin’.”) What in the HELL are you doin’? What are you doing Wegner?!? You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me!!! That is so bad – that is absolutely brutal! That is unbelievable!!! I’ll tell ya what. They have GOT to start making guys be accountable. That is TOTALLY absurd! That just tells you he has … here’s an umpire in the American League that knows NOTHING about the game of baseball!”

And we all had a good laugh. By the way, I’m not sure Hawk was wrong on this one.

(h/t Awful Announcing)

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Ah, how the feckless sweep-ee might become the sweep-er.

In other words: the Padres are bad. Ryan Dempster is going for his first win of the year, but why do I feel like the Cubs used up all of their good luck/skill in the last two days?

Steve Clevenger makes his return to the starting lineup today, which will be a welcome sight no matter how he does.

Game Info

San Diego Padres (17-34) at Chicago Cubs (17-32), 1:20pm CT on CSN.

Game Thread and Series Preview

The Game Thread lives here. You should participate in the madness. And, of course, for those who aren’t into message board-style game threads, please feel free to use the comments on this post for your in-game commentary/outbursts.

The Series Preview for this series lives here.

Starting Pitchers

Anthony Bass (2-5, 3.55 ERA, 100 ERA+)

versus

Ryan Dempster (0-3, 2.14 ERA, 180 ERA+)

San Diego Padres Lineup

1. Will Venable, CF

2. Everth Cabrera, SS

3. Yonder Alonso, 1B

4. Carlos Quentin, LF

5. Chase Headley, 3B

6. Chris Denorfia, RF

7. Nick Hundley, C

8. Alexi Amarista, 2B

9. Anthony Bass, P

Chicago Cubs Lineup

1. David DeJesus, RF

2. Starlin Castro, SS

3. Joe Mather, CF

4. Bryan LaHair, 1B

5. Alfonso Soriano, LF

6. Ian Stewart, 3B

7. Darwin Barney, 2B

8. Steve Clevenger, C

9. Ryan Dempster, P

Related posts:

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The latest from the just-starting-to-kindle mid-season stove…

• So, Roy Oswalt has officially signed with the Texas Rangers for $5 million (not prorated) and $1 million in incentives. What does this mean for the Cubs? Well, at its outer limits, it’s probably good, or at least neutral, news for the Cubs. The Rangers, to the extent they were in the market for a starting pitcher, were probably looking at most for a short-term fill-in type (they were looking to make the move primarily because Neftali Feliz is injured). That means the Rangers very likely wouldn’t have been in the market for Matt Garza, if he becomes available. It’s possible they would have looked at Ryan Dempster, but the Rangers wanted someone as quickly as possible (Oswalt could be ready to pitch in as few as two or three weeks), and the Cubs might not deal Dempster until late July. That is all to say, Oswalt going to the Rangers probably didn’t harm the Cubs’ market for Garza and Dempster (again, assuming they are made available).
• Speaking of Garza, Phil Rogers wonders why the Cubs would feel pressured to make a decision on Garza by the trade deadline. He suggests that the Cubs can just wait this year out, and make a decision about whether to trade Garza next year. Phil: Garza’s value in trade drops dramatically if the Cubs wait to trade him in the offseason. Further, you risk injury or extended ineffectiveness absolutely destroying his trade value. If the Cubs are going to trade Garza, this season is the time to do it.
• Speaking of Dempster, Rogers believes Dempster is worth more to the Cubs than another team, and, if traded, wouldn’t net “a ton” in return. It depends on your definition of “a ton,” but Dempster is likely to be one of the top few pitchers available this Summer, albeit as a mere rental. The Cubs will be able to get enough in return to justify making a trade, of that I’m certain. The questions, instead, remain: will Dempster accept a trade, do the Cubs want Dempster back next year, and do the Cubs think Dempster would accept a “qualifying offer” (approximately $12.5 million for 2013) if they tried to keep him and get draft pick compensation for him after the season? Ultimately, I think a trade is the most likely outcome, but it’s a mighty close call.
• Bruce Levine chatted yesterday, and offered some thoughts: (1) Josh Vitters isn’t going to replace Ian Stewart any time soon; (2) Theo and Jed are studying Matt Garza’s starts closely to decide whether he’s the “ace” they want to commit to long-term; (3) Alfonso Soriano might be playing too well to release but not well enough to be traded; (4) teams aren’t yet thinking about adding bats, and are instead focusing on pitching; (5) Geovany Soto cannot be traded until he shows he can hit; (6) Bruce thinks the idea of trading Dempster in July and then re-signing him in the offseason is unlikely (I always tell folks that kind of setup never happens, though I can’t help but wonder if Dempster is the exception, given the unique circumstances of the Cubs’ building process, Dempster’s affection for the Cubs and Chicago, and the fact that Dempster would have to agree to the trade in the first place); (7) the Cubs aren’t looking at a Jeff Samardzija extension just yet; and (8) Bruce keeps trying to find out Jorge Soler information, but nobody is talking.

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Although it’s great to get Steve Clevenger back from his oblique strain/rib cartilage break, the Chicago Cubs still have troubles behind the plate thanks to a myriad of injuries.

Specifically, the Cubs are still waiting on starter Geovany Soto, and other back-up Welington Castillo to get healthy. Soto, who underwent a knee scope on May 18, says he’s “close” to returning, and described his injury as a two-or-three-week thing, rather than a multiple month thing. That’s awfully optimistic of him, but no one is expecting him back for another week at the very least. The Cubs are undoubtedly hoping Soto returns fully healthy and productive, which could give them a chance to trade him at the deadline. Even if Soto comes back next week, he’ll have only about seven weeks of game action to prove that he’s healthy and swinging the bat well. It might not be enough time.

As for Castillo, his strained MCL (knee) was originally described as a four or five day injury back on May 19, but then he was quietly put on the 15-day disabled list. From there, we haven’t heard much, until Dale Sveum revealed that Castillo is still having trouble squatting, and isn’t expected back for a couple weeks yet. Ouch. It’s a real bummer for Castillo, who looked like he was just starting to break out with the bat, and was primed to get plenty of playing time with both Soto and Clevenger out at the time.

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I’ve got a kickball game tonight, but I have Alfonso Soriano knee going on. I made a ridiculous, over-the-shoulder, diving catch (I can only assume I looked like this) last week, but landed hard on my right knee. I can’t really grouse about the pain because it’s a “kickball injury,” but man, it’s been giving me trouble this week. But, like Soriano, I can’t sit out. It isn’t in my DNA. I just have to resist the urge to dive again today.

• Dale Sveum is rightly singing Shawn Camp’s praises after yesterday’s brilliant performance, and his season-long solid effort. “You can’t say enough about Shawn Camp this year,” said Sveum. “We put him in all these different roles and the way he gets out left handed hitters. The fact of the matter is he is probably our MVP up to this point …. He was always had a rubber arm and we are able to get him up and down and back to back to back days. Nothing really seems to faze him.” That sound you hear is Shawn Camp’s value on the trade market ticking up.
• Jeff Samardzija offered a wonderful quote about winning yesterday on his own bobblehead day: “You don’t want to pitch bad and go outside and see your bobblehead smashed all over the pavement. You want to keep the game close and hopefully people go put them in their room now or something, instead of in the trash.”
• The Cubs don’t really have a “closer” after the demotion of Rafael Dolis, and instead, save opportunities will be dictated by the situation, and spread out among James Russell, Shawn Camp, and Casey Coleman. One might emerge as a great option, but it’s also possible that Carlos Marmol will have a couple decent middle relief outings, and the Cubs will give him the closer’s job back. As they should: the only way Marmol is going to gain any value at all (enough to be dumped) is if he’s pitching well in high leverage situations.
• Alfonso Soriano is finally getting consistent love from fans at Wrigley Field, as he should be. Not only does he continue to work hard and play improved defense in left field, but he’s killing the ball. His numbers parallel those of Albert Pujols this year, but Soriano’s actually been better than Pujols since the two have been on their respective hot streaks. That all said, the second the Cubs get an offer for a deal that would save them $5 million of the $48ish million they still owe him, they should take it. That remains the best they can hope for.
• The folks walking from Arizona to Wrigley Field with a goat in an effort to “crack the curse” (and raise money for charity) arrived this weekend, and were at Wrigley Field yesterday.
• Dillon Maples says he’s not necessarily expecting to be pitching in games until late July.
• MLBullets at BCB discusses the Roy Oswalt signing, as well as the Roy Halladay and Roy Weaver, er Jered Weaver, injuries.
• Nate Silver does his Nate Silver thing, and ranks MLB ballparks using data, and Wrigley comes in 10th.
• From the Chicago Reader, an opinion piece titled “Hey, Mayor Rahm: Don’t give the Cubs our money!” Catchy headline. Don’t give the Cubs “our money” … you know, the tax money collected by the city and county on Cubs tickets. Yeah! Don’t give the lousy Cubs any portion of that money that they gave to us! Yeah!

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Like an iceberg that can either sink the ship or turn out to be made from chocolate, the 2012 Draft is looming ever closer. We have a pretty good grasp on what the Cubs would like to do (draft one of the top three college pitchers), what they probably won’t have a chance to do (draft one of the top three college pitchers), and what they will probably do instead (take a high school hitter). All of that only applies to the Cubs first round pick, though. What about the rest of the draft?

Baseball America has a tool for you. They have put together a searchable database of their Top 500 draft prospects. The data set can be filtered by rank, name, school, or position. If you are a subscriber you can read scouting reports for many of the players. If you aren’t, you can still enjoy the searchable ranking goodness.

For example, we think the Cubs would like to take pitching early in the draft. We also think they would prefer college pitchers (because they will be ready sooner) and left handed pitchers (because the farm system doesn’t have very many of them). So, who might they be able to take in the supplemental round that is a southpaw and maybe pitching in college? By filtering the database by position for LHP and looking at players ranked between roughly 35 and 55, we have a list of candidates: Brian Johnson from the University of Florida, Hunter Virant from a high school in California, and Alex Wood from the University of Georgia.

Combine a tool like that with the power of Google and the sheer amount of prospect videos on the internet, and you have the perfect way to waste every waking hour from now until the draft. (Brett: Holy crap.)

AAA – Iowa Cubs. 24 – 27
Fresh off a sweep of the Memphis Cardinals, Iowa won again. After this 5-4 win, the Cubs find themselves just three games under .500.

Chris Rusin did not have one of his better games. He held division leading Omaha to four runs in six innings despite giving up a pair of home runs, but he did not get the win. That went to Jeff Beliveau, who was excellent in an inning of relief. Also excellent was Mike MacDougal. Yes, that Mike MacDougal. After a very rough start as a Cub, MacDougal has been putting up some surprisingly good innings lately. Collecting his third save of the season was Scott Maine.

With Anthony Rizzo still nursing a sore wrist, Josh Vitters not only got to start at first base, he put on his best Rizzo impression. Vitters was 2 for 3 with a home run, two runs scored, and a walk. That home run was the third Vitters has hit in the last four games, and his seventh this month (and this season).

Dave Sappelt also had two hits for the Cubs, and catcher Brian Esposito doubled for the team’s only other extra base hit. The team was horrible in RBI situations (just 1 for 11 with men in scoring position), but still managed to score five times on just eight hits for the win.

AA – Tennesse Smokies. 22 – 30
When the Smokies win, they often do it with pitching. That was the formula on Tuesday as Tennessee prevailed 3-2.

Nick Struck was spectacular. He pitched six innings and gave up just three hits as he struck out nine, earning a well deserved fifth win. Alberto Cabrera allowed two runs to score, but thanks to Kevin Rhoderick (who collected his first save) the Smokies escaped with the win.

Tennessee did not have much offense in this game, but they had just enough to win. Junior Lake returned to the top of the order and put together another two hit night, including the team’s only extra base hit (a double). Jae-Hoon Ha also had two hits and Justion Bour reached three times on a hit and two walks. Ha stole his fifth base of the season.

High A – Daytona Cubs. 19 – 30
Fans in Brevard County got to enjoy watching the Daytona Cubs in a double header on Tuesday, but unfortunately Daytona lost twice, 4-1 and 5-2.

The biggest story of the day was Robert Whitenack‘s return to Daytona after enduring elbow surgery last season. His first outing, four and a third innings, was not spectacular (10 H, 3ER, 1BB, 0K), but it wasn’t a disaster either. He’ll need a few more innings to shake the rust off before we can start to measure where he is and how much work he has to do.

Ryan Searle stepped in to relieve Whitenack with an impressive performance of his own. Of the five outs Searle recorded, four were strikeouts.

The Daytona offense managed just six hits in Game One, and two them (including a double) came from Richard Jones. Arismendy Alcantara stole his thirteenth base of the season in this game, and John Andreoli added two steals to his season total, which now stands at fourteen.

Patrick Francescon pitched a six inning complete game in Game Two of the doubleheader, but it resulted in the first loss of his High A career. In his six innings he allowed five runs on eight hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Daytona managed only six hits in this game as well. Greg Rohan‘s two run homer (his ninth of the season) accounted for both of the Cubs’ runs. Alcantara was 2 for 2 with a walk.

Low A – Peoria Chiefs. 23 – 29
It took fourteen innings, but the Chief’s walked away with a 4-3 win.

Kyler Burke only allowed one hit in his five innings of work, but he also walked five. Burke is not usually wild; this is an odd result for him. Larry Suarez came on for the sixth and seventh and allowed one run on four hits. After that, Luis Liria, Yao-Lin Wang, and Sheldon McDonald combined to throw five innings of scoreless relief. That was all for the bullpen. In the thirteenth inning, shortstop Kenny Socorro (recently arrived in Peoria) took the mound and threw two perfect frames for his first win of the season.

A lot of Chiefs had rough nights at the plate. Only Ryan Cuneo, Anthony Giansanti (playing catcher again), and Yasiel Balaguert had two hits in the game. Cuneo hit his fourth home run of the season. Balaguert and Zeke DeVoss both doubled. Oliver Zapata was just 1 for 7, but that one hit drove in Pin-Chieh Chen with the game winning run.

Javier Baez stole his first base of the season (and otherwise was 0 for 5 with three strikeouts and a walk). DeVoss stole his thirteenth bag, and Chen swiped his sixth.

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Two! Two wins in a row! Ten more to go…

Jeff Samardzija was cruising today until the 8th inning when he allowed a double and a triple, setting the stage for the Padres to tie up what had been a 4-2 Cubs lead (fortunately Shawn Camp came in and prevented that runner at third from scoring thanks, in part, to a diving catch by Jeff Baker at first). It was probably one inning too many for Samardzija, but it’s hard to blame Dale Sveum given that Jeff was at just 84 pitches at the time. Ultimately, it mattered not.

Alfonso Soriano homered (again) today, and also made a diving catch in the outfield. Anyone interested yet? His OPS in May is through the roof.

But, from my vantage point, the story today was Shawn Camp…

Related posts:

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The Cubs will try to start a winning streak today, as Jeff Samardzija takes the mound on his own bobble-head day. The Cubs’ bats will try to stay alive, even if they don’t have the same extreme-wind-related support.

Bryan LaHair sits again against a lefty, so it seems like he’s kind of a platoon guy now. The Cubs might be trying to protect his numbers, so to speak.

Also, the folks – about whom I reckon you’ve heard by now – who have been walking with a goat across the country (to “crack the curse,” but also to raise money for charity) have arrived at Wrigley Field. I guess it was unrealistic to try and delay the arrival until 2014 or 2015, when the curse might actually be broken.

Game Info

San Diego Padres (17-33) at Chicago Cubs (16-32), 1:20pm CT on CSN.

Game Thread and Series Preview

The Game Thread lives here. You should participate in the madness. And, of course, for those who aren’t into message board-style game threads, please feel free to use the comments on this post for your in-game commentary/outbursts.

The Series Preview for this series lives here.

Starting Pitchers

Eric Stults (1-0, 1.54 ERA, 1.029 WHIP)

versus

Jeff Samardzija (4-3, 3.00 ERA, 1.175 WHIP)

San Diego Padres Lineup

1. Will Venable, CF

2. Chris Denorfia, RF

3. Yonder Alonso, 1B

4. Carlos Quentin, LF

5. Chase Headley, 3B

6. John Baker, C

7. Everth Cabrerra, SS

8. Alexi Amarista, 2B

9. Eric Stults, P

Chicago Cubs Lineup

1. David DeJesus, RF

2. Starlin Castro, SS

3. Joe Mather, 3B

4. Alfonso Soriano, LF

5. Jeff Baker, 1B

6. Reed Johnson, CF

7. Darwin Barney, 2B

8. Koyie Hill, C

9. Jeff Samardzija, P

Related posts:

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