Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full) 

28 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, and twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors. 

Last updated 3-26-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 15
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
Alexander Canario
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Ben Brown, P 
Alexander Canario, OF 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Keegan Thompson, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
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Jay Mariotti Discovers the Internet

The folks at Deadspin already had this covered and Fire Jay Mariotti looks to be back in business, but let it be known that Jay Mariotti is back for the New Year and he's proclaiming that the Internet is the wave of the future. Mariotti is also predicting a deep global recession, the U.S. voting in a black president., Ken Griffey Jr. being traded to the Reds and that one day, people will walk around with telephones in their pockets. 

Of course, his entire article is just more of the same bullshit he spewed on the back inside cover of the Sun-Times three to four times a week, there's little point in dissecting it. More importantly though, they've allowed AOL users to comment on his articles.

No good shall come of this...

markot09 03:46:59 AM Jan 05 2009 first!! jay rulz
Welcome to the Internet indeed, Jay!

prans42 08:31:22 AM Jan 05 2009 ....Woody has forgotten more than Jay has ever known, and he is the one who schools on Around the Horn.

prans42=Woody Paige's mother

nashonaluo 10:36:18 AM Jan 05 2009 Jay,You're an unskilled moron... you write for the sole purpose of generating controversy. The next original thought you have will be your first. Of course, this criticism of you is hardly original. Virtually everyone hates you. You're a joke.As for AOL, sayonara...

justinshaype 10:48:28 AM Jan 05 2009 Jay is on the cutting edge with AOL. He also just got a nice beeper at RadioShack, and a 12 pack of Crystal Pepsi. Welcome to obscurity, hack.

bjngnnss 11:07:30 AM Jan 05 2009 Wow - it's amazing the level of detail you can come up to spin your side of the story. That's the BS you can dream up in your head when you're off for 3 months.Mariotti column recipe:General pontification, followed by a pop culture referenceGeneral cut down comment toward manager/GM/ownerComparative of historical data vs other marketsAnother pop culture referenceCute "Moronotti" nickname (Rexperiment, Blizzard of Ozz)Moronotti directive as to how he would do thingsClosing smartass comment, talking down to general publicThen, when the article is 10000x wrong, jump the bandwagon like a little girl. Google Eric Zorn's awesome Chicago Tribune article to show how much this idiot flip flops. Enjoy AOL - A$$holes On Lease.
A solid attempt at the Mad Libs version of a Jay Mariotti article I must say. On a sidenote, why would a profanity filter replace Assholes with A$$holes, exactly what is being gained here?

edgecrusher433 10:03:33 AM Jan 06 2009 Dear Jay,I hate you with every inch of my soul. You are the unholy embodiment of everything that is wrong with sports journalism in the modern age. Although I'm sure you fancy yourself the second coming of Shirley Povich, in reality you are the illegitimate bastard spawn of declining integrity standards and reality tv. I'll make you a deal though, once AOL's put out of misery and the sun-times is still chugging along, I'll pay you two shiny nickels a week to wash and wax ozzie's car.

walshjf3 06:40:46 AM Jan 06 2009 Jay, I was soooo glad you left Chicago. The only time I missed you was when I put the newspaper on the bottom of my birdcage ( it wasn't near as satisfying as it was with you column in the drop zone). I'll have to get my sports elswhere now. You are a little man with little ideas.

savethemooses818 03:44:20 PM Jan 05 2009 I was going to read this column, but then I saw a tease at the bottom of this page for a slideshow of what the Family Matters stars look like now. It was a fascinating piece of journalism that I recommend to everybody! Maybe you need to start covering mediocre 90s sitcoms, Jay! They're the wave of the future!!!

I will admit, if I could get 5 minutes back, I'd rather have the ones I used to read Mariotti's article over The Family Matters picture gallery. Good to see Jaleel White still on his feet instead of trying to rob a video store and OD'ing...although I guess there's still time for that in his career.

flexcavana44 09:56:35 AM Jan 06 2009 Dear Jay, Eat shit and die.Signed, Everyone

I must say, well-said and poignant. You're the Walt Whitman of commenting, flexcavan44.

The 76% disapproval rating by the AOL readers at the bottom of the story did restore my faith in humanity for a minute. That is until I came across another account of Santa Clause shooting a girl in the face. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

 

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

Also lets not forget she had her panties in a bunch over that blow-up doll in Wsox clubhouse last year. I dont get the fausenation with Vick. He was never a good throwing QB, just look at the improvement this year of former "bust" number 1 draft picks Roddy White and Michael Jenkins now that they have a real QB in Matt Ryan throwing to them. Also I doubt he is as fast as he was 2 years ago. Even if Goodell lets him play this season after he gets out of jail in July (which I doubt because of his hard line stance on player conduct, Vick will be suspended for the 09 season), we saw how the best QB in the history of the NFL finished up his season, when he decided in july he wanted to unretire. Outside of getting a compent back-up QB, a number 1 WR, a complementry RB to Forte and drafting a few O-linemen for depth's sake the offense does not need alot of work. Its the dfense where the Bears need to get 3 or 4 new starters that needs attention.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know squat about Football. Take my respnse with a grain of salt and if I screwed anything technical up....I blame my love of baseball. Here goes: Huh? Were you watching the same team? Forte is a workhorse. Desmond Clarke and Greg Olsen are excellent TEs. Hester has become an offensive playmaker but needs company out there at WR to be successful. The O-line wasn't half bad either. The big problem on offense wasn't even Orton's throwing ability. The problem was that Orton was never getting past his first read. He was "locking on" and throwing even if it was a bad play. Before the injury I didn't notice this as much, but after the injury he was terrible. When that happened, the Bears became relatively one dimensional on offense which makes them much easier to play. The defense had much bigger holes this year. The loss of Tank Johnson created significantly less depth at DT. We got lucky with Mike Brown this year in that he only missed the last game, but the depth issue there was ABSURD. Manning was eaten alive against Houston. The Bears need depth at CB. Tillman has the potential to be out muscled. He was made look totally foolish by Andre Johnson largely because of size and athleticism. The defensive coaching was WEAK this year. Babich has Urlacher and Briggs constantly running up to the line and then dropping back into coverage. This seems to make it much more challenging to get back into position properly. So I think there are fewer fixes necessary on offense than on defense. The individual fixes may be bigger or more expensive, but there are fewer pieces that need to be dealt with on the current offense than with the defense. My 1 cent. Chad, is any of this accurate?

[ ]

In reply to by Mister Whipple

bah, you're full of it, you ignorant slut...

  • Forte runs hard and with a good offensive line, he'll be a top 5 back in the league
  • The TE's are fine, no team ever won with TE's and RB's their best offensive players though
  • Hester is the only WR worth keeping, he's a #3 or #2 at best
  • Orton is mediocre at best, almost all of his success was against poor pass defenses. A lot of folks point to his ankle as the source of his problems, it was playing better teams. I'd like a QB that can throw a ball more than 30 yrds.
  • the O-line is terrible, particularly in the run game, they're adequate at pass protection though

On Defense...

  • Babich is terrible, the blitz packages look like they were designed by an 8-yr old on Madden '95
  • terribly inconsistent
  • we do need new safeties
  • Urlacher is old
  • almost the exact opposite of the offense, the Bears played a lot of very good offenses, particularly pass offenses. 
  • they're still very good at getting turnovers

A new DC and some safeties would fix the D pretty quick, and you can always use some more D-Line. The offense on the other hand I'd blow up besides Forte and the TE's. If you like stats, Football Outsiders will back up my assessment, 7th ranked defense, 22nd on offense.

That being said, Orton is signed for less than a million next year, so there's no way they'll waste $$ at that position. Put together a good O-line and a world-class receiving corp and they may score adequately.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I never said there offense was perfect, but they have pieces at RB with Forte, TE with Olsen and a second or third WR with Hester and an average O-line that gets an upgrade next year with Chris Williams taking over for John St.Clair at LT. If you look at the upgrades the unit needs to make for 09 a number 1 WR, a good complementary back-up RB to Forte and a backup QB better than Grossman. Things that we could use, but if we dont have the cap space for I can live with out or the need to use 1st through 4th round picks on are number 2 or 3 WR and some depth on the line. With Orton on a cheap contract year give the needed upgrades, give him a number 1 WR like Plexico (if he avoids a suspension longer than a couple of games) or Torry Holt, both likely cap casualties or releases over the off-season and a guy that can compliement Forte at RB and they will be a top 15 offense next year. In terms of bang for you buck Kurt Warner or Jeff Garcia will not improve this team drastically. As much as I would like Boldin he would cost too much in picks and cap space needed to improve the defense. At defense outside of Briggs, their depth at DT, and maybe Kevin Payne (who is adaqute but not great SS) they are a mess. They need a top pass rusher (has to be a DE, since you have to move Urlacher to SSLB because he aint a Cover 2 MLB anymore), a good cover corner, a ball roving safety and a MLB who can cover the middle of the field, since Lovie insists on using that f'ing stupid cover 2. All these things are primary needs for the defense and they all require a large of cap space or first and second round picks to get. This doesnt include secondary needs like another CB or more DE depth (behind The new guy, Brown and Anderson) and some back-up safeties. What I meant to point is that the offense doesnt need as many major investments for next year as the defense does.

Brewers looking in on Hoffman

Nats like Randy Wolf

Pavano to Indians for 1/1.5 with another 5.3M in incentives

If only Mariotti could discover a single small device (so small it could fit in the average pocket, mind you) that could hold an entire music collection. I mean literally thousands of songs. That'd be two columns worth of material easy.

Best faux-Mariotti ever, reprinted from BBTF (author unknown): SAMMY SOSA IS A FRAUD WHO POOPS HIS PANTS by Jay Mariotti Thau shalt not cheat. That's the first thing they taught you in little league. Hustle, play hard, worry about winning if it makes you play better, just have fun if it doesn't. Have fun, play within the rules, shake the other team's hand after the game, and we'll go for a tasty freeze afterward. But don't cheat. I don't know if they have little league down in the Dominican Republic, but Sammy Sosa must have missed that day of class. Sammy was a hero to so many. He was a hero to Edna Terwilliger, who has faithfully attended every home game since 1923 in spite of her blindness and the Cubs' listlessness. He was a hero to Roberto Sanchez, a native of San Pedro de Macoris, who works the overtime shift at the meat packing plant just so he'll have the extra cash to come to come see his countryman in a game or two over the weekend. He was a hero to my son, Jay Jr. He'll be a hero no more. Sammy Sosa is a fraud and all of his accomplishments are forever tainted. The 500 home runs, the smile on his Hall of Fame plaque, the race against McGwire during that magical summer of 1998. Tainted. Forever. Just when it looked like everything was coming together for one glorious season, with Dusty in the dugout and Prior on the mound and the Yankees coming to town for the first time in seventy years. Just when it looked like it was safe, for the first time in a long time, to believe in this franchise. Just as the calender had turned to June - Cubs fans dug in, waited for their pitch - And took a collective beanball to their head. Sammy Sosa is a fraud who poops his pants. There is no joy in Wrigleyville today. -JM

the bears need to draft a safety in the first round preferably one from USC even if you trade up to get him screw drafting a reciever in rounds 1 or 2 angelo would pick the wrong one, SIGN TJ HOUSHMANZEDAH. thats my 3 cents on the bears.

Kyle Orton. Who knows what the Bears really have there. Look at the QB's who are on playoff teams, and compare them to Orton. Then look at each team, and compare their WR's to the Bears. How many dropped passes do you think the Bears had this season? I'm pretty sure that they led the league in receivers tackled at the 1 yd line..lol. Ok...maybe that only happened 2 or 3 times. I'd get him some decent receivers, and then see how he looks. Orton needs to get better. I agree. 18 TD's, 12 INT's, 58.5% comp. pct. It's something to build on. Hester can be the #2 WR. It was his first full season at WR. 51 catches, 665 yds, 13.0 per, 2 TD's. Not great, barely adequate. But there is hope. The Bears should draft a WR second or 3rd, and look for a solid vet, preferable one without a large fork in his back, ala Marty Booker, who did make one of the best catches I've ever seen against the Lions..wow. They could bring Peyton Manning here, and he sure wouldnt' make chicken salad out of this chicken shit. If the Bears cut Booker, Rashied Davis, and Brandon Lloyd, no big loss. the defense....oof. Need a pass rushing end, a LB, a CB, a free safety, and a LB...and a new def. coordinator.

He completed more passes, threw less picks, and had to throw to Hester and Davis, Grossman had Berrian and Muhammed. Please do the research jacos.

Regarding the Bears: I'm not a huge football expert either, only played a couple years in HS before my torn Achilles sent me to the Walter Mitty Conference, but I do know that all football games are won in the trenches. If your offensive and defensive lines are both spectacular, you have a chance to win every game you play even if you have mediocre players elsewhere, including QB and receiving. The Bears don't have that, so, with their mediocre QB and receiving corps, guess what we have? A mediocre team. I'd love to see the Bears get a good QB but it's amazing how one can sort of emerge out of nowhere when you have a great offensive line. Gimme a great offensive line, and my 8 year old will draw up great offensive plays. Hell, I'll run draw plays up on you all night and still beat you with a great line 70% of the time.

Wow that came off as condescending...sorry Jacos. I meant to say that Grossman, at least had NFL receivers to throw to rather than the group of cast offs, AFL all stars, and general trash Orton had.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

No offense, I just heard they had the same QB rating. And I'm sure you saw all the passes Mohammed dropped here and that Grossman had Benson and Orton had Forte. One is tall with no arm. The other is small with an arm. If we could surgically put the parts together...

Morissey basically mentioned the same thing I did in the last thread - who cares if Bradley goes apesh-it, at least he'll shake things up once in awhile.

Muhammed dropped a lot of passes last season, 2007. Grossman had Thomas Jones in 2006. At least Muhsin Muhammed has been an NFL receiver, an ALL-PRO type player in his career. 2006 Bears: Leading rusher Thomas Jones 1210 yds, 6 TDS second rusher Cedric Benson 647 yds, 6 TDS Receivers 2006: Muhammed: 60 catches, 863 YDs, 5 TDs, 14.4 yds/catch Berrian: 51 Catches, 775 YDs, 6 TDs, 15.2 yds/catch Davis: 22 catches, 303 yds, 2 TDs, 13.8 yds/catch (TE)Clark: 45 catches, 626 yds, 6 TDs, 13.9 yds/catch Bears 2008: Leading rusher Matt Forte: 1238 yds, 8 TDS. 4 TDS rec. second rusher Kevin Jones: 107 yds, 0 TDs Receivers 2008: Hester: 51 catches, 665 yds, 2 TDS, 13.0 yds/catch Davis: 35 catches, 445 yds, 2 TDs, 12.7 yds/catch Lloyd: 26 catches, 364 yds, 2 Tds, 14.0 yds/catch (TE)Olsen:54 catches, 574 yds, 5 TDs, 10.6 yds/catch (TE)Clark:41 catches, 367 yds, 1 TD, 9.0 yds catch.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

See? This tangent proves that Mariotti writes something, gets everyone talking about it or him, and it just blows up and up. That is precisely why he gets paid. Every paper/site has a paid assassin and now AOL has Jay. Morrissey is the Trib's gun-totin curmudgeon, carrying on the Bernie Lincicome/Skip Bayless torch. And you know that the majority of people who complain about Mariotti so much read his stuff more often than not, which will always keep him gainfully employed.

should the Cubs get in on John Smoltz? I say, yes... won't be ready until May, which should be when Harden's season ends.

Lol....good call Rob...Substitute Smoltz for HArden. Just in time for summer!! I lik how the Sun times says the Cubs "also have options in the bullpen with Samarsdzji9kksjkh, Angel Guzman, and Kevin Hart. THE Kevin Hart. Wow. Color me unimpressed.

[ ]

In reply to by 10man

I can vouch that Hendry lives in Park Ridge, my Dad owns a bike store there and he bought a few for his kids a couple of years back. My Dad tells me he was sporting a hot, trophy wife or girfriend with him.

The sad part about this Bears season is that if the offense was just good enough that if the D had stepped up, they'd have made the playoffs (Atlanta and Tampa Bay games being the two that really hurt). No pass rush, even with good end rushers. That baffled me. Couldn't cover when it counted, partly due to no pass rush. The tackling seemed better than the last couple years, but still shoddy at times. Etc.

the offense was not good enough and the Bears don't need a backup QB, they need a QB

While I agree the receivers are crap, they would have looked a lot better if there was a QB that didn't underthrow them on every deep ball. Yes, the receivers dropped a lot of balls, but Orton missed a lot of open receivers too.

Saying we don't know what we have in Orton shows an obvious disregard to watching the games. He can't avoid a sack to save his life, he can't make a throw past 30 yards and he rarely gets past his first option. Only the last one has much of a chance of improving...

the defense, while wildly inconsistent, has a lot more talent than the offense. The CB's are fine (if they can stay healthy), the D-line could use a pass rusher and they definitely need a safety or two. Mostly they need a DC with an imagination that knows how to blitz.

"Mostly they need a DC with an imagination that knows how to blitz. " I read somewhere they lead the league in blitzes. I know I did, I don't where to find it and I'm just as shocked as you are.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

amazing documentary...did you know that there was a team in Pittsburgh? Ken Burns doesn't considering he gave about 10 minutes of his 1000000000 minute documentary to the team. it's a great new york baseball documentary with other token stuff thrown in. i couldn't even make it though the documentary past the first few discs. his handling of the 50s+ baseball was horrid, imo.

Thanks Rob...should I go eff myself now? I watched every Bears game this season, as I have the last 25 years or so. If Orton wasn't underthrowing, he was overthrowing the deep pass to Hester. How about the Bears had a WR..I dunno..make a freaking play? He needs to get better on the deep pass, but there were times the ball was there, and Hester couldn't make the play. I'd mention another receiver, but no one else can get open deep on this team. Is Orton Peyton Manning? No. Does he need to get better on the deep ball? Yes. Is this a team that needs at least 2 more good NFL receivers? Absolutely yes. There are several areas on this team that are a lot bigger problem than the QB position. Offensive line, pass rush, defensive back to name 3.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

apologies if I came off strong, but Orton has a lot of problems besides an inability to throw the deep ball, which will never get better without steroids.

and the O-line, albeit slightly better than 2007, is awful, particularly at the run.

I'm also a firm believer that the QB makes everyone better on the offensive side of the ball, so there you go. You can have average to even-below average talent around him and QB can make them all better. Guys like McNabb, Brady, Manning, Favre in his hey-day made a lot of those players a lot better around them then they really were.

If the Bears can get Manning, Favre, Brady, by all means. A great QB can do that, but is there one available? It's not like Orton went out there and went 52.0%, 2200 yds, 12 TD/17 ints I understand what you're saying Rob, but there are other needs that must be addressed first. You could put Peyton Manning on this team, and the Bears would still suck unless he was bringing Reggie Wayne with him.

I lean toward Dusty's argument overall, but the fact is that the Bears just missed the playoffs with Orton. With Manning, they make the playoffs without question. I still blame the defense gagging away the Atlanta and Tampa Bay games more than anything, tough. The O line was not awful....this year. Although maybe because they improved from last year, it just seems it wasn't awful.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

So they missed the playoffs because they got three wins over the Rams and Lions? No, they missed the playoffs because of bad defense, in two games specifically. Who they actually beat and in what division they play isn't the point; the point is that despite a weak-ish QB, they were almost a playoff team. You can argue they would be a weak playoff team, and I wouldn't disagree. 24th-ranked line vs run, 11th in pass = not awful. Mediocre maybe.

[ ]

In reply to by Tito

clearly I worded that poorly, they were only in the playoff picture because of a relatively weak schedule is how it should have read.

the Tampa game was a disaster for their defense, the atlanta game was as much on their offense, that didn't do much until their last drive either. They also got lucky beating the Eagles, Packers and Saints imo, so saying they missed just because of two bad games by their defense is ignoring how they were even in the conversation.

(I'd argue they were lucky to beat the Colts too as Manning was clearly still hurting and shouldn't have been playing).

when your suppose to be a running team, and not very good at blocking for the run, that makes for a poor O-line. Because then they're forced to pass when they can't move the ball on the ground like they should be and they don't have any weapons to be passing much at all.

Mostly I'm sick of people thinking Orton was any good because of his first 6-8 games...they were mostly against very bad pass defenses. He had one good game last year vs the Vikes at home imo. The rest was decent to awful considering the opponent.

Ok..I was being a little facetious...but throw Manning on this team, and he isn't going to put up 30 TD's throwing to Rashied Davis, devin Hester, and Marty Booker.

If the QB was weak-ish, and I'm not saying he doesn't have to improve, or that he wasn't...but what was the defense? 12 games of 20 points for the offense. 10 games for the defense giving up 20+ points. Pick your QB A: 58.5% comp, 2972 yds, 18 TD, 12 int, 79.6 rating B: 60.0% comp, 2971 yds, 14 TD, 12 int, 80.3 rating C: 59.9% comp, 3301 yds, 17 TD, 15 INT, 80.1 rating D: 59.1% comp, 2157 yds, 12 TD, 15 INT, 73.7 rating E: 58.3% comp, 2676 yds, 12 TD, 7 int, 80.20 rating F: 61.1% comp, 3440 yds, 16 TD, 11 int, 87.7 rating

Well, if you want to factor luck into it, go right ahead. And yeah, simplifying it to "they missed the playoffs because of two bad games by their D" is perhaps a mistake. But I'm looking it at in a factual manner in that regard -- if they stop one freaking pass vs. Atlanta, make a play vs. Tampa on that final drive (and not have a stupid personal foul), they're in the playoffs. They were resilient enough to come back vs. Atlanta, make some plays when they had to (the offense, I mean), and the D let them down most of the year when they had to come up big. Of course, it is often infuriating watching the Bears' offense; it's been that way for years. I just disagree that that's what kept the team at home right now.

Ok Rob. Lol...point taken. Is he right theere with everyone else there? Ok..maybe not F..Matt Ryan. Of course, having Turner/Norwood, and throwing to Roddy White may help a little. Sure am glad I picked Ryan up cheap in my FFL pool. He isn't too far off the numbers of the other qb's there Rob. Flacco Roethlisberger Collins Frerotte...ok...Frerotte stinks. But compare the receivers that Flacco, Ryan, Big Ben, Frerotte, and Collins are throwing to, and compare them to the Bears receivers.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

compare that Ryan and Flacco were rookies in their first season and first camp...there's not a sane person that wouldn't take those two over Orton going forward. Collins & Frerotte are just washed-up vets, they got lucky in the right situations, no team would build around them.

the bears on the other hand are thinking about whether to offer Orton an extension or who to pick in the draft.

you'd expect more out of Big Ben I think, but that's a defense & running team. Which is what the Bears try to be, but aren't...

Orton will never be more than mediocre...no matter who's around him. Can the Bears still win with that? sure, if they surround him with a whole lot of talent. Personally, I'd start with replacing Orton...

I agree 100% on Ryan and Flacco, but they were still throwing to better receivers than Orton. Rob, i agree to disagree. The Bears should draft a QB, sure...but there are too many other holes right now to spend that 1st pick on one. Who should they go get?

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Seconded!!!

  • crunch (view)

    another awesome spring of pitching reports.  thanks a lot, appreciated.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 90-92 
    CUT: 87-89 
    SL: 82-83 
    SPLIT: 81-84
    CV: 73-74 
    COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes...  if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...   
     
    JOE NAHAS
    FB: 90-92 
    SL: 83-85 
    CV: 80-81 
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...   

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 86 
    SL: 79 
    COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...   

    FRANKIE SCALZO JR
    FB: 94-95
    CH: 88 
    SL: 83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning... 

    MICHAEL ARIAS
    FB: 94-96
    CH: 87-89
    SL: 82-83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...   

    ZAC LEIGH: 
    FB: 93-94 
    CH: 89 
    SL: 81-83 
    CV: 78
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...   

    JOSE ROMERO:  
    FB: 93-95
    SL: 82-84
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...

  • crunch (view)

    pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"

    mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit.  nice.

    he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons.  he's not lean, but he looks healthier.  good for him.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.

  • videographer (view)

    AZ Phil, speaking of Jordan Wicks having better command when he tires a bit, I remember reading about Dennis Lamp 40 years ago and his sinker that was better after 3 or 4 innings when he would tire a bit and get more sink with a little less speed on the pitch.  The key for Lamp was getting to the 4th inning.