Chicago Cubs' Scouting Director Tim Wilken Opens Up About the Organization

With the Cubs selecting Brett Jackson from Cal with their first pick, I thought it might be interesting to read an interview I did with Tim Wilken of the Cubs during the winter.

When Tim Wilken joined the Cubs, it was considered a coup by Jim Hendry, as Wilken was considered one of the top scouts in the game.

With his title as Director of Amateur and Professional Scouting, he came over in January of 2006 to resurrect the Cub farm system with a steady stream of talent expected to make its way to the big league club.

At one point with Toronto, he had 12 consecutive first-round draft picks making a major-league roster. So far things are not quite as fruitful with the Cubs.

Darrell Horwitz: What are your responsibilities with the Chicago Cubs?

Tim Wilken: I coordinate from 20 to 25 amateur scouts in the United States and Puerto Rico. Once the draft is over, I turn my attention to professional scouting, which I coordinate with Randy Bush and Jim Hendry. We talk frequently about potential deals between May and the trade deadline.

DH: When Jim Hendry hired you, what did he tell you he was looking for you to add to the system?

TW: He was looking to add overall depth to the system. We were looking specifically adding depth to the everyday players because up until the last few years, it’s kind of been a void for 15 years with the concentration being on pitching.

DH: What are the differences in what you’re looking for early in the draft as compared to later rounds?

TW: Earlier, you’re looking for players with a higher ceiling. Later, getting to rounds five and beyond, you’re looking for players with average or slightly less than average type tools that you can hopefully make into an everyday player, or organizational depth being the type of player that can become part of the twenty-five man roster.

DH: Some players can have all of the tools in the world, like a Corey Patterson, but they never achieve what’s predicted for them. How can you tell if a player has what it takes to become a star ballplayer?

TW: Sometimes you’ll see a player that has tremendous physical attributes, but the part of the game that you’re looking for and what you’re alluding to; it doesn’t necessarily show up. You’re evaluating tools, but the player’s ability or lack of playing ability doesn’t always show in quick looks.

DH: In a Baseball Prospectus article that appeared in a Paul Sullivan column a while back, it said that the Cub farm system didn’t fare too well in their evaluation, and their quote was, “This is a weak system in which finding any future Cub stars requires a bit of dreaming.”

Also, when it came to trying to trade for CC Sabathia and for Jake Peavy, it was said by scouts of other teams that the Cubs didn’t have the players in their minor league system to pull off those deals. What’s your take on those statements?

TW: I’m a prideful person and I could say let them come and see the whole system. A lot of their evaluations are what they see statistically. Some things we can improve upon here.

We can get a higher ceiling type of player. I think our depth is as good as anyone at this point. I can’t answer for Baseball Prospectus or some unidentified scout that thinks he knows our system totally.

A lot of our depth and talent is at the ‘A’ level. I understand it’s not punch you in the face talent, but I think there’s a fair amount of major leaguers that once they mature, they’re going to say they had some pretty good players.

I say let’s check this thing out three years from now.

DH: Are there any players right now that you think are on the fast track to the major leagues?

TW: Everything’s been pretty steady here and I don’t know if there’s one player that’s going to be on the fast track. I think you’re going to see some pitchers that are going to move fairly quickly here.

I think pitchers have a tendency to move quicker than everyday players. I won’t say it’s a fast track; I think it’s going to be a steady track.

DH: Are there any pitchers we should be looking out for in the near future?

TW: You can look at our first pick last year, Andrew Cashner. He was a little wild when he started off, but in the Florida State League playoffs he was totally unhittable.

I also think Chris Carpenter, who was a third round pick in that same draft is going to move pretty quick, and Jay Jackson, our ninth round pick got out of the starting blocks very well last summer.

DH: How would you rate Tyler Colvin, who was your first pick with the Cubs, and Josh Vitters, and how they’re doing so far? (This interview was conducted before their minor league seasons began.)

TW: In Colvin’s case, he’s starting to walk a little bit more and get a little more patient at the plate. His outfield play has been good. He’s a good base runner and I think he’s got a chance to hit. I think he’s got a chance to be a big leaguer.

With Vitters, when he signed a couple of years ago in August, he wanted to play, and I think it was a detriment to him because he wasn’t ready to play. He had a bout with mono right after high school and did not play the next two months.

I think when he went out last August, some people said he didn’t do too well, but you have to remember he was a young seventeen. He turned around and went to the Northwest League last spring and swung the bat very well.

The thing I was really impressed with Josh was that his defensive play had improved immensely. I saw him play in the Dominican Republic this past winter and he played very well down there.

DH: The Cubs have not done very well the last two years in the playoffs. Is one of your jobs handling advance scouting involving teams you face in the playoffs?

TW: As we get closer to the playoffs, around two to three weeks before playoff time, we all get together and assign a certain amount of scouts to clubs we may be playing in the playoffs. We have different two and three man crews and they’re supposed to notice tendencies and things like that.

I’m just as disappointed and frustrated as most of the fans in Chicago. It’s something we’re going to keep trying to improve upon. We didn’t have any answers, but hopefully we’ll be able to improve ourselves in 2009.

DH: It seems like the other teams have been able to find all of the weaknesses in the Cubs' hitters, and it didn’t seem to be that way the other way around.

TW: I don’t know if it’s so much that their scouts found it as it’s we just didn’t hit the ground running in either of those playoffs. There’s no excuses there.

There are books that each club builds on each particular player and the organizations that they may face. It’s a matter of executing pitches, executing as a hitter, and we didn’t do that. They pitched our hitter’s right, and we didn’t do the job.

I don’t know that one scouting department out did another one; I just think it’s a case that we didn’t perform. We will get better at it, and that’s the only way I can retort to that question.