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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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Game 99 Recap: Cubs 12, Astros 0

Just Need an Better Extra-Point Kicker.
W - Wells (7-4), pitching to contact, GIDP chances
L - Hampton (6-8), pitching badly to contact

Things to Take from This Game
1.  The batters hit well.
Hampton didn't have much control or stuff today, giving up 9 runs in 4 innings.  The game was over after the first, which saw the first nine batters either get hits or advance a runner on a sacrifice, resulting in  six runs.  No one on the team had more than two hits, and only Soriano got to three RBI, courtesy of the home run in the first.  Among the hitters only Fukudome, who replaced Johnson early in the game for reasons yet unknown, failed to get on base. (Update: As Cubster reports in the second and thirty-eighth comments, Johnson has a fracture in his foot.)

 

2.  The batters don't hit Wells.
Randy Wells only had one strikeout, on a generous check swing call.  But the Astros didn't hit much of anything hard, recording just six singles.  The Cubs seemingly had a GIDP opportunity in every inning and converted four of them.

 

3.  First! (s)
The game featured Wells' longest outing in the majors to date, eight innings, and in consecutive at bats, the first major league homer and triple for Blanco and Hoffpauir.  Mitch Atkins made his major league debut in the ninth, pitching a scoreless inning.  It's also my first game linking to the awesome FanGraph's Game Graph pages, too.  Oh yeah: we might regain first place, depending on the Cards' game tonight.

 

The nothing-to-complain-about details, below.

Game Recap
Inning 1 - Top
  •  Wells throws Bourn a fastball over the plate for a strike to start the game.  A beautiful, mild day at Wrigley.  Eventually flies out, directly to Soriano
  • Keppinger rolls out ot Theriot. 
  • Strike one called to Tejada, now 1-2.  A bouncer out to Baker for a very easy 1st inning, woo.
Inning 1 - Bottom
  •  0-2 to Johnson.  Fouls off some pitches, and then singles into right-center.
  • Theriot hooks one down the left field line, past the bullpen.  Johnson is flying around the bases, but holds at third as the ball didn't make it all the way to the left field corner.  Runners at 2 and 3.
  • Lee Flies to medium-depth right field, Johnson comes home.  Throw is up the third base line a bit, by Pence, runner safe.  Theriot to third.  1-0 Cubs
  • and Ramirez singles throught he left-side hole, scoring Theriot.  2-0 Cubs
  • Bradley walks on five pitches.
  • Soriano skies a fly ball to left, slowly drifting over Carlos Lee's head and into maybe the third row up from the left field well.  A fastball right down the middle, and a towering, towering fly ball.  Bob says Hampton kew "nothing good was going to come of it" when he threw it.  Looks like Bob's getting hip to the TCR lingo.  5-0 Cubs
  • Baker walks.  Pitching coach to the mound.
  • Len tells us this is Hill's 19th straight start as catcher.   Last Cub to do that, Damon Berryhill in 1989, who went to 25.
  • Hampton spikes a slider into the dirt, getting by Rodriguez.  Baker to second.  Hampton is wild both in andout of the zone.
  • Hill singles back up the middle, Bourn's throw to the plate gets cut off, and Baker scores without a play.  Sharply hit back at Hampton.  6-0 Cubs
  • Wells bunts back to Hampton, advancing Hill to second.  Two outs this inning, each were on sacrifices.
  • Johnson skies one to shallow center, Bourn battles the sun, catches it to end the inning.
Inning 2 - Top
  • Wells' first pitch after a six run inning is a strike.  Good boy. 
  • Moises Alou is watching the game from the stands. 
    • Transmission passes on the chance to make any obvious Alou joke.
  • Theriot snags a ball hit up the middle, but the throw to first pulls Derrek Lee wide of the bag, unable to tag Carlos Lee as he lumbers by.  Lee sort of ducks around the tag, touching the base barely with his hand as he rolls by.  Error on Theriot
  • Immediately followed by a routine 4-6-3 DP on what I think was a slider to Blum. 
  • Rodriguez rolls out to Baker.
Inning 2 - Bottom
  • Theriot and Lee with two routine flies to Pence.
  •  The red-hot Aramis Ramirez lines a home run over the left-field well, and on to Waveland.  Impressive shot, 7-0 Cubs
  • Bradley grounds to Keppinger at third.
Inning 3 - Top
  •  Matsui singles into right.
  • Down seven, Hampton is swinging away. 
  • Hampton bounces to Ramirez, force at second, but beats the throw to first.
  • Bourn shatters his bat, bouncing it back to Wells.  He throws to Theriot coming across the bag at second, forcing Hampton, but the ball just sort of pops out of Theriot's hand as he transfers it to make the throw to first.  Would have been an easy double play.
  • Not much harm done, Keppinger promplty bounces back to Wells.
Inning 3 - Bottom
  • Soriano looks at a called breaking ball strike three, over the inside corner.
  • Baker pops out to Matsui, again having to battle the sun 
  • and Hill flies to center.
Inning 4 - Top
  •  Fukudome replaces Johnson in center. No word yet on why.  Johnson fouled a ball off his foot in his second AB of the 1st inning, but no reason to believe that's the cause of the change
  • Tejada singles into left.
  • Lee lines right to Bradley, easy play
  • Blum grounds to second base, foring Tejada.  Can't get the double play
  • Pence up.  The HD Shot Of The Day is of Pence's spindly legs.  BJB explains that Pence weighs 215 pounds, 210 of it above the knees.  In a Western, he says, they'd round up a posse to find the rustler who swiped Pence's legs.  Precious.
  • Legless Hunter Pence fouls out to Lee.

Inning 4 - Bottom
  • Wells bounces out to Tejada, who gobbles up a big hop and throws him out.
  • Fukudome hits a sharp liner to right, but directly at Pence.
  •  Theriot walks.
  • Full count to LEe, who dumps one just fair downt he right field line, scoring Theriot.  Double for Lee  8-0 Cubs
  • Hampton walks Ramireaz to get to Bradley.   In an 8-0 game.  With two outs.  This might not end well for Hampton. Bradley takes a big swing and miss at the first pitch, a changeup.
  • Next pitch, Bradley lines a single into right.  Oddly, Lee gets sent, though the ball was hit sharply right at Pence, and Lee wasn't even at third when Pence gets to it.  But Geoff Blum cuts off the throw, and Lee scores uncontested.  9-0 Cubs, runners at 1st and 2nd.
  • Soriano pops into shallow left, Carlos Lee gets it.
Inning 5 - Top
  •  Rodriguez grounds to Theriot
  • Matsui singles into left-center
  • Matt Kata bats for Hampton, mercifully ending his day.
  • Kata bounces to Lee, who turns a nice 3-6-3.
Inning 5 - Bottom
  • Bud Norris comes in to mop up. 
  • Baker with a modest popup to Matsui.
  • Hill K's looking, but then Wells walks.
  • Fukudome also K's looking.  Decent debut inning, for Bud Norris.

Inning 6 - Top
  • Leadoff walk to Bourn.
  •  full count to Keppinger, he chopps one to Therior's right, starts a nicely-turned 6-4-3, the third double play of the game.

Inning 6 - Bottom
  • Theriot flies to center, and Lee K's looking.
  • Ramirez lines out right to Tejada.  Norris helping speed this game along.
Inning 7 - Top
  • Lee flies out to right
  • Blum K's on a checked swing slider low and inside.  It sure didn't look like a swing to me, and the home plate umpire didn't ask for any help, but it goes down as Wells' first K of the day.
  • Wells doesn't get the call on a ball on the outside corner, full count.  Next pitch, and Pence dumps a single into right field.
  • I-Rod flies out to Fukudome
  • Somebody named Terrence Howard sings the stretch.  He has a very pronounced vibratto.  But basically well done:  kept something resembling a tempo, was enthusiastic, knew all the words, and wasn't too far off key.
Inning 7 - Bottom
  • Bradley slices a single the other way into left-center.  Bourn over-runs it, and Bradley takes second as the ball kicks off of Bourn's glove.
  • Wild pitch advances him to third.
  • Fox hits for Soriano.  A fastball sails behind Fox, at the letters.  Bradley holds at third as the ball ricochettes right back toward the mound.
  • Howard seems to be a baseball fan, a sincere earnest enthusiasm.  Tolerable interview, for a random actor's stop-in. 
  • Fox flies to Pence, sacrifice fly scores Bradley 10-0 Cubs
  • Baker drives one into the left field well, disappearing as it landsin the ivy at the base of the well.  Lee stares at it for awhile, then holds up his hands.  Ground-rule double.  Lee also didn't play the ball too well, as it basically landed a foot or two away from where he was at the wall.
  • Hill singles through the right-side hole, Quade holds Baker at third, broadcasters think it's out of "Respect" for the blowout circumstances.
  • Wells hits for himself, pops to Blum at first.
  • Fukudome strikes out spinning.
    • Er, I mean, swinging.
      • No, spinning.
Inning 8 - Top
  • Hoffpauir in for Lee, and Blanco for Theriot
  •  Matsui singles, and Jason Michaels hits for Norris.
  • Michaels rolls one to Baker, who flips to Blanco, who grabs it bare-handed coming across second, and fires to first.  It's a bit low, and Hoffpauir can't hang on, probably ought to have.  Just gets the force.
  • Now Bourn hits one to Wells, who can't quite hang on.  Would have been yet another DP chance.  Instead, runners at 1 and 2.
  • Keppinger flies to Fukudome in shallow center.
  • Tejada bounces to Theriot, 6-4 force.

Inning 8 - Bottom
  • Doug Brocail relieves Bud Norris.  Carlos Lee has come in to play first.  You'd think he'd have some experience there, but it's only a handful of games in his career.  Michaels stays in to play left. 
  • And this is the icing on the cake.  A first-pitch fastball down the middle, and Blanco lines one right down the right-field line for his first career home run.  11-0 Cubs.
  • Now Hoffpauir pulls one down the line, and Pence makes a pretty lame effort to reach down for it, as it scoots under his glove to the wall.  Hoffpauir gets his first career triple.  This is very amusing. 
  • Fontenot hits for Ramirez.  Walks on four pitches. Brocail's got nothing.
  • WGN finds a great shot of four young women all sitting in a row, wearing blue Cubs jerseys, with almost identical long, straight brown hair, all with blank, expressionless faces. 
  • Bradley breaks his bat on a liner to first, Lee makes a surprisingly decent leaping catch.
  • Fox dumps one into center, Hoffpauir scores, 12-0 Cubs.
  • Baker flies to Pence, Hill rolls to Matsui, and Brocail gets out of the inning.  Finally.
Inning 9 - Top
  •  Baker to third, Fontenot to second, Mitch Atkins makes his debut.  First pitch is a foul ball to Carlos Lee.  Second pitch is a grounder to Baker, who misses the backhand for an error.
  • Breaking ball, strike one to Blum.  Eventually pops up directly behind home plate, where Hill catches it for Atkins' first major league out.
  • Fittingly, the game ends with a GIDP as Pence rolls to Theriot, who turns the 6-3.

Parachat Recap
Inning 1
  •   Chaterinos.
  • Credit card fraud
  • Cincy Kid, others teach me about modern concepts of finance and credit.  Thank you, chatterers
  • Soto's future, Walton's past.
  • Real Neal dates himself
  • So does CT_Steve
  • I try to pick up one of CT Steve's students.  He recommends that I stick with this option.
    • I think the "no real jerks" line disqualifies me. 
  • Real Neal wants to trade for a shortstop named Butcher, and a first baseman named Candlestickmaker.
  • Steve's courses.
  • Cincy Kid's CNN tour, and Who Is Ted Turner?
  • RN is on a roll:  pitching on "normal rest" vs. pitching after sleeping in a sensory deprivation chamber.
Inning 2
  •  CT Steve is unimpressed with the new Philly ballpark, or its fans
    • He is really, really unimpressed.
Inning 3
  •  Blame Crunch.
  • Soriano's baserunning
  • The division-altering Wlademir Balentine acquisition.
  • Taxing all the things Crunch enjoys.
  • Grad-student strippers.
  • Tax codes on strippers.
Inning 4
  •  the Pirates trades.
  • RN:  WWE implementing drug testing:  anyone with less than 7X the normal testosterone levels gets fired.
  • Future sporting events at Wrigley
  • Paul Noce:  We have a 10 million dollar singles hitter, and a 14 million.  Hendry needs to find us a 12 million.
Inning 5
  •  Ricketts' finances
  • Fukudome's contract.
  • So Mayo.
  • Bud Norris and Married with Children
  • Bud Norris, the Jawas, Bad Breath, R2D2 and Sergio Mitre. 
    • I don't get the connection, either.
Inning 6
  • Mark Grace's open mind
  •  marketing slogans for the Diamondbacks
  • Could the Cubs trade for Victor Martinez?
  • Crunch does his Pepsi Rap.  It still needs some work.
  • Morgan Freeman and Grover Cleveland share what in common?
Inning 7
  •  Reviewing Terrence Howard's performance.
  • LaTroy Hawkins' criticisms of the umpires from the other game.
  • Filmmakers Crunch hates.
Inning 8
  • Craigslist Singles invade Parachat
  • Freddy Sanchez negotiations. 
  • The purgative powers of a sausage egg McMuffin
  • Mitch Atkins vs. Mitch Webster.
Inning 9
 
Cubs record in games recapped on the Mac creeps to 4-5.  I think.  
Tags

Comments

I would imagine that if 10 people ordered 10 of those mystery shirts, same size and style they'd all get the same 10 shirts.

1.) Get and Stay Healthy 2.) Score more runs some things are easy to say and hard to do but the way the Iowa Cubs are performing at the mlb level, I'll go with accepting #2 if the powers that be let us have only one of these two options.

I guess Freel is gone. He's a little reminiscent of Johnson. Fuld, Camp and Adduci are lefty hitters (although I wasn't sure of the latter two till I just checked). The minor leaguers most like Johnson are Ty Wright and Brandon Guyer. Both have played some center and I'm sure are more adept than Bradley. Wright is hitting a workmanlike .297 at Tennessee. Guyer has more pizzazz and is tearing it up at Daytona but he stumbled at Tennessee earlier in the season. No one gets called up from Daytona. It's a missed opportunity for Guyer. Taguchi played center in 63 games in '07, 41 as a starter.

Former Bears "wide receiver" Bobby Wade talked to Urlacher this summer and Urlacher told Wade that he thought "Cutler is a pussy." Now there are reports that Urlacher and Cutler had a "confrontation" off the field at OTA's. Bring it on!11

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

Absolutely nothing needing an apology, Jacos. 

 

If anyone cares, and you probably shouldn't, my interpretation of good TCR manners is not to immediately hi-jack one of the first few comment positions on a thread where an author clearly has put in a lot of work.

 

Other than that, it's just a matter of having some sense of decency and good humor.

[ ]

In reply to by Transmission

Is that what happened?!! That was organized?! I had no idea. All I remember is feeling I was in Bizarro Land that day with everyone saying, "I agree with ST", "I really think ST nailed that one", "I think ST is totally right about that", "ST totally got that one", etc. I remember wondering-- what the FUCK is going on here?!

Thanks for the recap, Transmission. BJB said that in a Western, they'd round up a posse to find the rustler who swiped Pence's calves.

Well, duh. Crawford is signed at $8.25 million this year, with a $10 million club option for next year. Egos aside, Fukudome and Bradley would be one of the all-time great MLB offensive platoons. The Rays entering tonight are 6.5 out of first and 4 back in the Wild Card race, even trailing the Rangers. Despite their run differential, considering their market size, they would have to be willing to at least hear what teams would give for Crawford. Since they have Longoria, they might not even have interest in Vitters. I'd start the conversation with a package including Fuld, Samardzija, Hart and Jackson, then maybe include another 1-2 young arms if need be. The Cubs may not have a ton of superstar prospects, but they do have an abundance of three-star prospects, especially young pitchers. Maybe a package of 5 of those guys can get us one of the best left-handed-hitting center fielders in baseball. Go for it all, 2009 edition!

Talk about small ball! First three batters from Boise's game tonight: Boise Bottom 1st * Hak-Ju Lee singles on a bunt ground ball to pitcher Julio Ramos. * Logan Watkins singles on a bunt ground ball to second baseman Conner Crumbliss. Hak-Ju Lee to 2nd. * Brett Jackson singles on a bunt ground ball to first baseman Anthony Aliotti. Hak-Ju Lee to 3rd. Logan Watkins to 2nd.

Looking at the Iowa stats -- put Ascanio or Hart in CF. Both hitting over .350 for Iowa. If you don't bring up So Taguchi now, why is he in the organization? Isn't this exactly why they signed him?

Regarding Reed Johnson's injury... Although it might not make much difference in terms of time to recover (they said up front it would be 4 weeks, meaning he's out until September), it really bugs me that the baseball reporters can't ask what bone was broken in Reed Johnson's foot. I read all 3 biggies (Sullivan, Wittenmeyer and Miles) and none of them said anything more than this: "Johnson suffered a fracture at the top of his left foot" There are 11 bones in the foot not counting toes (phalanges). If it's a metatarsal it probably doesn't make much difference in terms of time to heal but if he broke a bone called the navicular it could be much longer than 4 weeks. Dempster broke a phalanx (big toe) and it took 2 weeks so I assume it's not that...they would have said he broke a toe, not his foot if that were the case. In these times when medical information is being questioned for more specific information, you would think they could ask what bone was broken. It leads to less unnecessary speculation (or at least more specific speculation). A navicular fracture was what Frank Thomas as well as Michael Jordan had early in his career and currently has led to big problems with Yao Ming. I found this link with some info on why Navicular fractures are different but it does mention one thing they said about RJ...it's located at the top of the foot: As early as 2002, the American Academy of Family Physicians reported a rise in tarsal navicular bone fractures in active people. It is most common in athletes who indulge in running sports, and is very difficult to spot, which causes further complications as the condition worsens. The bone is located at the top of the foot. The first symptom is usually pain in the midfoot area, gradually spreading throughout the rest of the foot. Regular x-rays don’t usually pick up the damage right away, so doctors are often led in another direction in trying to diagnose the source of the trouble. Slight injuries are often treated with six to eight weeks of immobilization in a cast. Worse cases like Yao’s often necessitate surgery. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=483632&publicationSubCat… here's a link to an illustration of where the navicular is.

[ ]

In reply to by Transmission

I can't tell you how many times I have thought about that video clip, which is one of the most vivid memories of TV when I was really little. This clip, which, I believe, is actually from "The Electric Company", not Sesame Street, and the Schoolhouse Rock "I'm just a Bill" song. Thanks for finding that, Trans! When I have tried to describe that video to my wife in the past, she always looked at me like I was crazy. She obviously just didn't see it, which is almost inconceivable to me. Inconceivable! (You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.)

[ ]

In reply to by SJS

The clip is definitely original to Sesame Street circa 1970. I watched it in college for the trippy Yellow Submarine animation and the music--odd meter, Coltrane-ish soprano saxophone. Then I watched it with my kids in the 80s. All this stuff is on YouTube: The lost kid and the yo-yo man, Stevie Wonder doing Superstition, the boogie-woogie sheep, Put Down the Duckie, you name it. The Schoolhouse Rock songs are all there, too. I missed these the first time--too old to have seen these in school, my kids too young. I discovered SR when I checked out "I'm Just a Bill" for a class I teach. [Yes, I get to watch YouTube videos and call it work.] Also very hip music: Jack Sheldon in "Bill" and "Conjunction Junction," Blossom Dearie in "Figure Eight."

Isn't this exactly why they signed him? --- shhh...So Taguchi is our secret weapon. They are saving him for the World Series.

I am pleased with the video clip added to this top of this recap. --- Trans...wonderful video, kind of reminds me of my Zap comics reading days....and it's really helping me with my time telling skills. I might use this as framework for a writeup but I'll wait a bit so as not to step on your fantastic recap efforts. Say hi to you're new mac, glad to see it's on a winning streak. http://www.comics.pop-cult.com/S-Z/images/zap-comix.jpg

Bottom of the Twelfth Inning, Joe Thurston pinch hits a double. Misses first base. First appeal is a no-call, as Guillermo Mota didn't properly come set for the appeal. Second appeal, and Thurston properly is called out. Game continues to the Thirteenth.

[ ]

In reply to by Transmission

LaRue pops to Loney, maybe 30 feet up the first base line

 First pitch to Lugo is a pitchout, anticipating a one-out squeeze in a tie game in the bottom of the 15th.  Not happening.  Now 2-0.  Pitching around Lugo to set up a GIDP for DeRosa, perhaps? Jeff Weaver keeps dropping down sidearm on Lugo, throwing outside.  Ball Three.  Lugo swings 3-0, pops to the foul side of firstbase, just drifts out of play.  There's bal four outside.

 

Manny Ramirez is basically playing Deep Shortstop at this point.  Maybe 10 yards off the infield.

 

 

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

manny in LF turned a single into a double (for no harm) earlier in the game...and in the bottom 15th manny just turned a b.ryan double into a triple. jogging after balls, still... but hey, he hits dingers.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I'm sicking the copyright police on ya, Crunch.

 

Weaver starts off DeRosa with the fake to third, whirl to first.  

 

First pitch, chopper to shortstop, Furcal throws home and just barely gets Ryan.    Tries to go around the leg of the catcher, and replay suggests hand may have touched the very back of the plate before the tag swipes him on the arm.  Pujols up, now two outs and runners on 1 and 2.

[ ]

In reply to by Transmission

Check swing called strike 2 on Pujols. From there works a full count.  Fouls a few off, then smokes a liner to straight-away center, that just keeps rising over Kemp's head.  Kemp misplayed it a bit, breaking in, but not sure he could have caught this missile, anyway.

 

Dodgers have now lost three in a row in St. Louis.

[ ]

In reply to by Transmission

Dodgers have now lost three in a row in St. Louis. This is a very distressing development to me. The copulating Los Angeles National League Baseball Club have disappointed me very much in this series.

[ ]

In reply to by O.Julius

I'd say in the last 10 months the Dodgers may have become my second least favorite team behind the St. Louis Pujols. First they sweep us in the NLDS and now with the best record in baseball they lose 3 in a row to our heated rivals? Fucking A.

Randy Wells, first rookie pitcher to get 7 wins since Kerry Wood. The amazing part is his first 3 starts or so should have also been wins, but at the time the offense was sleepy. He could very easily be 10-4 right now.

Uh... Soriano? It is agonizingly unbelievable that he hadn't figured this out until now. "“If you’re hot and hit a leadoff homer, it’s only one run,” he said. “But being hot like now ... first at-bat, first pitch, I hit a three-run homer. “I’m very comfortable. I don’t have pressure to get on base. Just see the ball and hit it. I like to score a lot of runs, but now I can get a lot of RBIs.”"

A Ram? Please don't be injured. __________________________ Lou on yesterday postgame said ARam would get today off so he's rested for the Florida series.

Also near-sure bets to be eventually outed from that 2003 list (my opinion): Armando Benitez Albert Pujols It may take 20 years before we know the full list, but mark my words. These guys will be on there!

[ ]

In reply to by Jace

Here's my Q on Pujols: 

 

If he were on the list, why wouldn't this myserious name-leaker have already leaked it?  I mean, the source of the leaks has already leaked Bonds, Sosa, A-rod, Giambi, Palmeiro, Manny and Papi.   So it seems the leaker is interested in revealing the top-name guys.  Isn't it likely that if Pujols were on that list, that his name would be one of the first leaked, along with these other marquee names?

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022. 

  • 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.