2013 Arizona Fall League Schedule Released
The 2013 Arizona Fall League (AFL) schedule has been released, and rosters should be announced later this month
There are three AFL games scheduled every day Monday through Saturday (there are no games on Sunday), beginning with AFL Opening Day on Tuesday October 8th and extending up through Thursday November 14th. The AFL Rising Stars Game will take place at Surprise Stadium Saturday night November 2nd (there are no league games scheduled that day), and the AFL Championship game will be played at Scottsdale Stadium on Saturday November 16th.
The Cubs usually assign some of their better prospects to the AFL. Depending on what positions the Cubs are asked to fill on the Mesa squad, I would not be surprised to see some combination of position players like SS Javier Baez (who played in the AFL last year), RF Jorge Soler (if healthy), 2B Arismendy Alcantara (if he doesn't play in the Dominican Winter League), 3B Kris Bryant, Mike Olt (if Bryant isn't assigned to the AFL), or Christian Villanueva (if he doesn't play in the Mexican Pacific League and if Bryant or Olt aren't assigned to the AFL), CF Matt Szczur, Jae-Hoon Ha, or Albert Almora (Szczur played in the AFL last year), 1B Dustin Geiger or Dan Vogelbach, and/or Rafael Lopez (if the Cubs are asked to supply a catcher), and (if they have not exceeded their max proscribed IP) a AA starting pitcher like LHP Eric Jokisch or RHP Matt Loosen, and relievers like LHP Zac Rosscup and Kyler Burke and RHP Trey McNutt, and Tony Zych (McNutt and Zych have pitched in the AFL before).
Alcantara is a lock to get added to the Cubs MLB 40-man roster post-2013, but Rosscup, Ha, Loosen, and Burke might have to prove themselves in the AFL first. (Rosscup, Ha, and Loosen are Rule 5 eligible post-2013, and Burke can be a minor league FA if he isn't added to the 40-man roster by the 5th day following the conclusion of the World Series).
They have changed a bit over the years, but here are the current AFL eligibility rules:
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Tale of Two Prospects
Thursday night I invited myself to the Triple A debut of Kyle Hendricks. He was neither exciting nor disappointing. He is a pair of blue jeans, not a tuxedo. He is a home cooked meal, not a night on the town. He is someone we could get used to.
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Cubs Claim T-Daddy Off Waivers
Carrie Muskat reports that the Cubs have claimed 25-year old RH hitting LF-RF-1B Thomas Neal off waivers from the New York Yankees. Neal had been Designated for Assignment by the Yankees last Friday to make room on their 40-man roster for OF Curtis Granderson, who was reinstated from the 60-day DL.
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Matt Garza, Texas Mysognist
The Cubs look to be comfortably back to being terrible...so terrible that Sunday's lineup is: DeJesus, Lake, Rizzo, Navarro, Schierholtz, Ransom, Watkins, Murphy, Villanueva. Oof. And yes, that's Logan Watkins that has been promoted to take Luis Valbuena's spot, who went on the disabled list with an oblique injury. Watkins had a slash line of 243/333/379 over 412 AB's with 10 SB against 9 CS...hardly inspiring, but he seems to at least work the count. If there's much good news to be had, Yasiel Puig will sit out today after jamming his thumb against the brick wall.
But back on topic, Matt Garza said a lot of stupid things yesterday on twitter. To briefly summarize, he got beat by the A's and part of that beating included four bunts by the A's because, well Matt Garza and throwing to first base don't go together too well. The last of those bunts was by Eric Sogard and was a safety squeeze that gave the A's an insurance run, bumping the lead to 4-2. Garza, who I remind you has played major league baseball since 2006 and probably has seen a 1-run comeback or two in his day, didn't take kindly to this play for reasons unbeknownst to anyone but Matt Garza. So he immediately jawed at Eric Sogard during the game and then took it to twitter and went full Archie Bunker.
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Trade Assignment Waivers
The deadline for "non-waiver" (unrestricted) trades is 4 PM (Eastern) on July 31st. No trades can be made between 4:00 and 5:00 (Eastern), and then beginning at 5 PM (Eastern) on July 31st and extending through to the conclusion of the MLB regular season, Trade Assignment Waivers must be secured before players on MLB 40-man rosters can be traded. (Waivers are never required to trade players on minor league reserve lists).
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Happy Trade Deadline Day
TheJedi have already knocked out a number of trades earlier in the month, that today shouldn't bring too much excitement, but there's still a few pieces left on the trading block. One is Nate Schierholtz whom Jayson Stark reiterates is the most likely Cub to be dealt today. The Pirates and Rangers seem like the most likely spots at the moment.
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Travis Wood is fun to watch right now
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TCR Weekend Notes
As you all know by know, Alfonso Soriano was dealt to the New York Yankees along with a ton of cash for RHP Corey Black. According to Buster Olney, the Cubs will pay $4.7M of the remaining $6.5M owed Soriano in 2013 and then $13M of the $18M owed Soriano in 2014, saving $6.8M total on the deal and getting a decent relief prospect that Theo compared to Jessie Crain. Soriano went 0/5 in his Yankee return with a run scored and an RBI. Black will stay in Florida and head over to Daytona.
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Who Says You Can't Go Home Again? Soriano to Yankees...
It appears Alfonso Soriano is indeed headed to his original franchise...Dale Sveum was told before the game to pull Soriano from the lineup and has been telling the press that a deal is 99% certain with the Yankees. Sveum isn't too good with percentages lately, so let's temper our expectations a bit.
Olney says a lower tier pitching prospect will be coming back to the Cubs once Soriano gives his formal approval. He also claims Cubs will pay the bulk of the $25M owed Soriano through 2014. I will update as more information becomes available.
Cubs Rumors from Around the Globe
- Alfonso Soriano had a "scheduled" off day on Wednesday versus the Diamondbacks despite some gaudy career numbers against Ian Kennedy (6-for-13, 3 HR's, 7 RBI's, 3 BB's). The Twitter-verse was having none of it and the conspiracies flowed that the Cubs were just awaiting his approval on a deal. Soriano showed up though for a pre-game chat with the reporters and spilled the beans that he would accept the a trade to the Yankees and apparently gave TheJedi a list of a few other teams he'd be willing to say yes to...so it's Soriano waiting on the Cubs and the rest of the league. As of now, a trade has not been made, but somehow Soriano didn't manage to even get an at-bat in a 12-inning affair last night that the Cubs eventually won 7-6.
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Recent comments
Dolorous Jon Lester (view)
I think if you had ranked players by how much the team could ill afford to have them miss significant time, Steele would be right at the top of the list.
crunch (view)
steele MRI on friday. counsell expects an IL stint.
no current plans for his rotation replacement.
hellfrozeover (view)
I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1.
crunch (view)
amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.
neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.
Eric S (view)
Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it).
crunch (view)
boo.
crunch (view)
smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.
this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.
crunch (view)
i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things. the default is delay. i would choose brown.
like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.
anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.
Childersb3 (view)
Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.
I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.
If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.
Give him a chance.
But Wesneski probably gets it