Cubs MLB Roster

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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 

 



 

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Game 11 Thread / Reds @ Cubs (3 of 3)

Game Chat Kyle Lohse vs. Ted Lilly Lineups:
Freel CF Soriano CF
Phillips 2B Theriot 3B
Hamilton LF Jones RF
Conine 1B Lee 1B
Griffey Jr. RF Barrett C
Encarnacion RF Floyd LF
Castro SS Derosa 2B
Ross C Izturis SS
Lohse P Lilly P
For the series win...

Comments

Just before the first pitch (strike!), Len and Bob announce Adam Dunn's out of the lineup with back spasms, Josh Hamilton in and batting third.

interesting using derosa at 2B and theriot at 3B. i thought piniella said that when ramirez was out he would move derosa to third and theriot at 2B. i guess he's happier with theriot's D at third than he thought.

I'd wager that Lou thought it would be easier on DeRosa's back if he didn't have to make all those throws all the way across the diamond.

Jackie Robinson Day. I bothers me that more people don't know more about the kind of baseball player he was. One always hears about his great courage and being a civil rights pioneer. Very few, it seems to me, know much about what he was like as a ball player. "Great" doesn't begin to describe it and his stats only hint at how he affected the game. For example, his impact as a base runner is entirely missed by his season totals -- averaging about 23 SB per season. The fact that he stole home 19 times in his career give a little better idea of the havoc he caused to opposing teams' concentration when he reached base. Bill James, in his revised Historical Abstract, ranks his fielding at 2B near the top for all time. A few anecdotes better illustrate what he was as a ballplayer. Harry Carey called him the most exciting ballplayer he ever saw. A teammate who was traded to the Dodgers after having been on an opposing team described said, in substance, "when you played against him, you hated him more than any other ballplayer. When you played with him, you liked him more than any other ballplayer." Finally, when Bobby Thompson hit his famous "shot heard 'round the world" walk-off home run to win the 1951 Dodgers/Giants playoff, every member of the Dodgers walked off the field as Thompson rounded the bases, except for Robinson, who stayed at his position, watching Thompson to make sure that he touched every base. Only after Thompson stepped on home plate did Robinson finally leave the field.

Ugly game, except for Lilly and Theriot... Now at low water mark again, 3 games under .500. Fire Hendry!!!

A healthy Eric Davis was the most exciting player I ever saw, and if he as born in the early part of the 1900's, I may have never seen him play at all.

A sequence in the bottom of the sixth that boggles the mind: Soriano leads off with a double, Theriot singles him to third, the meat due up...Jones swings and misses @ three consecutive bad ones; one high, one in the dirt, and one a foot outside to strike out with the Reds conceding the tying run. Then Lee, of all people, TAKES three consecutive strikes before Barrett flies out to end our one and only scoring chance. The back-to-back AB's of Jones and Lee were the sort of stuff that feeds talk of curses and such...Soriano has been picked off more times than he, Lee and Ramirez have homered combined! Ye Gods...

"Fire Hendry!!!" you can't blame Hendry for this MANNY. The pitcher he signed that you complained about throws a 2-hitter for his third straight excellent start. The catcher that AT LEAST hits, didn't in key spots. The $136MM CF had key hits two days in a row and got stranded in the only inning we threatened. 1-3rd one out! Mostly, Kyle Lohse pitched out of his skull considering he is well below .500 lifetime. I will not expect him to do it again.

Wow, that's a rough end to the $100 bet "BigZ". 1-0 loss. This kind of game just drives me up the wall. Kyle Lohse did the same thing all day long (fastball at the knees, slider outside), and the Cubs failed to adjust. The ump had a huge strike zone today but our guys have got to have better ABs. Jacque Jones had three ABs and D-Lee had two ABs that were just laughable. 1 HR in a week, and it's from our headcase ace. The lack of power on this club is truly mystifying.

E-Man: "you can’t blame Hendry for this MANNY." And Teflon Jim lives again!!!!

mannytrillo — April 15, 2007 @ 3:11 pm E-Man: “you can’t blame Hendry for this MANNY.” And Teflon Jim lives again!!!! ------------------------- What exactly are you blaming Hendry for today?

Why defend Hendry? What has he done to make this team better since he became GM? Looks to me like he's pretty much screwed up everything he got his hands on.

I can't stand Hendry. He will soon be gone. I blamed him 100% for 2+ years of fuck-up. But I am giving him some slack for 60 days and then I will put his feet to the fire if deserving. You can think what you want, MANNY. But he is not to blame for today, imo.

Andrew, to make it worse there is some Cincy fan, or a guy who bet on Cincy sitting across the way at the sports book. Clapping every time we struck out, which was a lot. I am boggled at our lack of power as well, and we are constantly behind in counts. We seem to out hit teams, but not out score them, which I attribute to our lack of power and lack of working counts. Can the weather really dismantle a team with 100M payroll? And if we all know about the weather, shouldn't we stop swinging for fences??? Bad weather at wrigley in April isn't exactly something new due to global climate change or something.

(I'll try to start a conversation going, anyway.) I hated two things about Baker, his inability to see that Neifi had the worst approach to hitting in the league, and his willingness to let veterans with no future with the Cubs--Burnitz, Mabry, Pierre--pad their resumes in September, while robbing Cub prospects of at bats. Other than those two things (and we won't see how Piniella takes care of his sunset players like Floyd until September), I don't see much difference between the two managers. Well, I suppose Dusty would be batting Izturis second more frequently. What else is different? The criterion for who plays at what position is pretty simple: whoever has the greater likelihood of hitting a home run--whoever hits more home runs per at-bat. That's why Floyd plays and Murton sits, and why DeRosa plays and Theriot sits. I assume that's why DeRosa played second today. He owns second until someone else hits more home runs per at-bat. Does anyone think Theriot will play after Ramirez comes back? Where will he play? Even Dusty admitted that Theriot had won the job at second eventually. But he didn't have DeRosa. The atmospherics are different, the noise level is different, but it's the same deal. Lou keeps saying that this or that will be corrected. Okay, so change something.

Both Jones and Floyd suck. I say play Murton everyday, put Soriano in RF and bat the bastard 5th, bring up Pie and put him in CF. Theriot is my SS and leads off. Izturis can take his magic glove and fuck off.

"and if he as born in the early part of the 1900’s, I may have never seen him play at all." You never saw any player who was born in the early part of the 1900's play. Black, white or Latino.

The E-Man:
Mostly, Kyle Lohse pitched out of his skull considering he is well below .500 lifetime. I will not expect him to do it again.
What do you mean? He's a young guy coming into his own. He looked good during his first start against the Cub's this year, and I called it before the game today. He pounded the outside corner and the Cub's couldn't do anything with it. You can pretend he's a bad pitcher if you want.

"What do you mean? He’s a young guy coming into his own. " WHAT DO YOU MEAN!!! Coming into his own??!! He was traded for fucking Rick Aguillera in 1999!! Gimme a break!! Just like your other gem (actually, in Cinci the Cubs got TEN hits off of him in 8 innings and should have won the game), think before you speak! He is 28 with a 4.85 Lifetime ERA!!! A record of 54 and 62! And He's "coming into his OWN??!! You can pretend you have a clue if you want. Let's see in September how he's doing. The law of averages will catch up to him.

No pretending about David Weathers -- the guy is a joke, and he owns the Cubs. That is simply embarrassing.

LNL: "What exactly are you blaming Hendry for today?" I am not blaming him for anything in particular with the team losing today, just that he has done a horrible job with building this organization considering how much money he has been given over the time he has been GM.

E-Man: "But I am giving him (Hendry) some slack for 60 days and then I will put his feet to the fire if deserving." You are much more patient and forgiving than I. IMO, he hasn't earned another hour of slack. "You can think what you want, MANNY. But he is not to blame for today, imo." Like i said to LNL, I don't blame for for the loss today, I just blame him for continuing the losing tradition even though he has had more than enough money to win year in and year out.

He did pound away, away, away. So why is theriot the only cub try to go the other way? Coincidentally he had 3 hits. They showed his hit chart at one point, with 1 up the middle and two to RF. Why are our guys so dumb???? as you can see I am pissed about the $100

VA Phil: "I don’t see much difference between the two managers" I said that early in ST. Besides the fact that Baker was more of a laid back, players manager and doesn't blast his players or GM in the media & Lou is a no holds barred "fiery" manager, their overall old school managerial philosophies are fairly similar.

the at-bat by Jones in the bottem of the 6th was the worst ab i've ever seen by a big league player---that ab alone should be his last as a cub

Well, since you guys hate this club so much and you think the season is already over, it ought to thin out around here pretty soon. That'll be nice. This is already sounding a broken record from you people who think that a 40 AB sample size automatically translates out to what a player will do over the course of a 500 AB season. Ridiculous.

Lou Pinella was better when he was at Cincinnati in 1990 with Eric Davis, Chris Sabo and crew! (I have Chris Sabo's autograph, thanks!). On an additional note, I checked out www.fansherpa.com before going to the game today and it helped me...I wasn't sure of the best restaurants in Wrigley - gave good names, tips. Maybe this sounds like a shameless plug for them too but I love this site and wanted to share another good fan site. Welll go Cubs - we'll win this week. (I hope!)

Yeah. Fire Jones. Send him down. He only had a .830 OPS last year. He fucking sucks. Just 27 homers and 81 RBIs. What a crock of shit. I mean really. Are you high? He's outhitting DeRosa, Soriano, Barrett and HE'S the one who should be let go? Awesome, dude. Great analysis. Forget the fact the D-Lee did the same thing in the at bat after that. In a MORE crucial situation than Jones. If D-Lee doesn't get on, then there are two outs and a fly ball doesn't score a run anymore, which is exactly what happened. He even left the bat on his shoulder when Eddings called that pitch a strike all day. It's still 100% JJ's fault, though. For sure.

WES: I'm with you - to a point. To bat Jones 2nd DOES suck, imo. His K habit is hard to break and he just does not have the experience to move the runner along when he has to. I am thrilled with the pitching staff, gents. It is truly a shame that three outings so far have been WASTED. At the 60 day mark I will start venting big time and jump on the bash Hendry bandwagon, but I'm really going to try to restrain myself until then. I happen to think that Lou is much diferent than Dusty, and holds people accountable. We will see if I am right. Just remember - Nolasco!

Damn, The E-Man, the only thing that comment was missing was "Jane, you ignorant slut!" :-)

While small sample sizes aren't good enough, DeRosa and Izturis have large enough sample sizes to show they simply aren't very good. It always annoys me when a bad player has one good year like DeRosa and suddenly everyone wants to pay him lots of money and pretend he turned a corner. We also have very few players on this team with high OBP numbers, so it's not surprising we can't string together multiple people getting on base. I keep seeing people wanting the Cubs to hit HRs, but it's not going to do much for us if there's no one on base before the HR. Also, we have to be able to score runs outside of HRs, and there's simply way too many people on this team with high strike out rates to see that happening. On Floyd, I don't dislike him, but I just saw no need to get him when we already had Murton. If we want Floyd, we should trade Murton, because it does him no good to sit on the bench and he hasn't shown a capacity to come off the bench and hit well. It's not always worth it to get a player if he doesn't fit in to the team, and Floyd just didn't seem to fit in to the team we had when we got him. I just see bad team construction all around with the Cubs. That combined with a lot of money sunk into aging players makes me worry me about our future.

jones vs. righties is about as good as it gets on this team vs. righties. he's also fast...what's he not doing to "earn" a place as a #2 hitter vs. righties? he's not gonna get many wasted pitches with dlee behind him and he's gonna see strikes.

E-Man, I don't really have a clear idea on the two hole right now E-Man. I also probably wouldn't hit Jacque there. DeRosa hasn't hit anything since the Milwaukee series. Floyd's in left everyday against righties. He can't hit there. For the offense's sake, I might sit Izturis for a while and put Theriot out there. We're playing good defense for now, we just have to hit a little bit. If Rammy's in there, I might do this: Soriano Theriot Lee Ramirez Floyd Barrett Jones DeRosa That gets tough because you have to split up the two lefties... can't go Ramirez-Floyd-Jones or some combo thereof.

Wes----the ab by Jones was as bad a any hitter can be---3 pitches no when near the strike zone and he swings at all 3---at least DLee had a plan at the plate, not to swing at what he though were bad pitches----so you feel comfortable with Jones in that situation again---how many rbi's does he have so far---at least be a hard out in that situation

"At the 60 day mark I will start venting big time and jump on the bash Hendry bandwagon, but I’m really going to try to restrain myself until then. I happen to think that Lou is much diferent than Dusty, and holds people accountable. We will see if I am right." i dont get this. how about the players? how does holding a player accountable fix the fact he screwed up to begin with? if dumpster walks someone is it because he forgot that lou might yell at him or is it his own fault because of his own limitations? a bad GM can sign a bad player and a bad manager can play the bad player instead of a good player on the bench, but ultimately the players provide (or dont). a bad GM can sign a guy who cant bunt and a bad manager can ask that player to bunt. still, at what point does the guy(s) who dont even play become bigger and more important than the guys playing the game...especially when most of the regulars are playing?

crunch, I didn't see your post before I made mine. I may do what I said above for the short term until JJ breaks out of this funk. I think he can the long term solution at the two spot. Even though he's hitting poorly, his strikeout rate is improving from last year.

This team is "badly constructed" compared to about five teams in the AL and the Mets. Let's get real -- compared to most other NL clubs, the Cubs are stacked in the lineup. I was in favor of most of Hendry's off-season moves, with the exception of Marquis. So far, except for Soriano, the new guys are doing pretty well. I think, in the end, the acquisitions won't be too bad. The problem is that this team needs some fire and some intense hitting instruction. With our rotation, there's going to be some days like Friday, where the pitchers just give the game away. But with our lineup, the Cubs should never be totally out of a ballgame. And, say what you will about his success thus far in his career, they should never be baffled by a pitcher like Kyle f***'in Lohse.

Fine carmelo. It was one at-bat. It was poor. But I'll make you a video if every player on every roster in this league who has a bad at-bat in an important situation in a 162 game season. Let's go ahead pass judgement on a player and fire him based on one at-bat, though. Not only that, but one at-bat IN THE MIDDLE OF APRIL. Get rid of him. He blows. Think before blindly and wildly jump to the conclusion to cut the guy who was one of only two to drive in more than 65 on our team in 2006. You want to cite the D-Lee injury? Fine, one of three if D-Lee's healthy.

yeah, jj does look pretty crappy right now. and he still looks flat out lost vs. lefties...today he just looked lost, period. still, historically...he ravages the righties. its pretty amazing how bad he is vs. lefties with his contact...his work vs. righties masks the true severity of how lopsided it is.

Forget the fact the D-Lee did the same thing in the at bat after that. Jones swung at three pitches that were not strikes. Lee took three pitches that were not strikes. Okay, maybe the ump calls one a strike, but not all three. His K habit is hard to break and he just does not have the experience to move the runner along when he has to. That reminds me that Theriot singled home the fifth run with no out on Friday and promptly stole second, but Jones struck out rather than moving the runner, so the Cubs didn't get a sixth run that inning. I'm not a Jones basher. He just has a strange profile for a lefty hitter. You don't want him in there against crafty righthanders (Arroyo, Lohse) because he'll have the same problems with the outside (in his case, inside) breaking stuff that your righty power hitters have. Play him against fastball pitchers and he'll make some noise with the bat. Of course, then you can't play him every day. That's what the manager is supposed to figure out. I will say something about Jones I've said before: he was booed last year for at-bats like the one today, not because he was black.

I'll say this: with the strike zone that was working today, I'm not going to blame Jones or DLee. That ump had a flight to catch. There'll be plenty of opportunities to bash Jacque, but today he gets a free pass.

my only problem with j.jones so far is he left his power in arizona. its early, though...ready for more doubles/homers.

Meanwhile, at Iowa today: Felix Pie 2-3 with another BB, total 9 BB (tied for 2nd in PCL) and 4 K in 41 PA, 1.110 OPS. Micah Hoffpauir 1-3 with another RBI (18 RBI so far, leads all AAA). Ryan Theriot's old DP partner at LSU (Mike Fontenot) is 6-15 last four games, four BB and only one K in 30 PA. Rocky Cherry gets the save, has allowed 0 BB with 7 K in 6.1 IP (four games). Maybe it would be a good idea to recall Cherry from Iowa and send Angel Guzman to AAA so that he can get regular work as a rotation starter? Neal Cotts can be the "long man" in the bullpen, Cubs don't need two (Cotts AND Guzman).

does no one see the unbelievable juxtaposition of the jones and lee AB's in the sixth?! three straight SWINGS @ crap followed immediately by three straight TAKES of at least borderline strikes - it was a classic 'only-the-cubs' sequence...also, as far as what's going on @ iowa,,,never mind

"Maybe it would be a good idea to recall Cherry from Iowa and send Angel Guzman to AAA so that he can get regular work as a rotation starter?" agreed...especially a good idea while w.miller is gonna get 1-2+ more chances to screw up. at least have angel stretched out enough to go 100+ pitches.

If I remember correctly JJ crapped the bed until up mid-May last year, Cubs were about a week away from losing Dlee for the year and Rusch and Marshall were in the rotation. It's not like they are waiting for Todd Walker and Neifi to get hot. It's Soriano and Floyd/Murton. This team will fly by the Dodgers in wins this year and win the central. Though I am warming up to the idea of bringing up Pie just for his defense and a spark. The Cubs will be coming my friends, they will be coming.

crunch: "still, at what point does the guy(s) who dont even play become bigger and more important than the guys playing the game…especially when most of the regulars are playing?" At the point when the GM has proven to me over and over again he can't get a roster set that can win year in and year out when he has been given more than enough money to do so. And that point has long passed, IMO.

Jacos: "The Cubs will be coming my friends, they will be coming." They are here already, in their cozy little nook known as the cellar...:)

And that point has long passed, IMO. In the same breath, isn't it nice that in 11 games, the collective TCR base has questioned maybe, what, one or two managerial decisions? That number was probably reached after the sixth inning of Opening Day in 2006. The Cubs, as always, are losing -- but for once it ain't because of the manager.

I knew the minute that the Cubs didn't send Soriano to score from second on a play he easily would've done so, that the Cubs would fuck it up and not score at all. I mean, it's a given that Jones does nothing at that point, having looked lost all day. I figured Lee would GIDP, especially after Thom Brennaman [who did the game on MLB Extra Innings] said "Lee is very difficult to double up". I figured that'd gooch it for sure. But no, Lee LOOKS at three fucking pitches. Way to extend the hit streak, shoulder. And Barrett, I hadn't even expected him to come to the plate but knew he'd do nothing. Oh, the Gods teased us with that shot down the RF line that hit the wall foul, of course. Then Weathers--who could get no one out when ON THE CUBS, comes in to nail it down. This is one of those games that makes you want to give up watching this team, forever. But you come back, because you haven't had enough punishment yet. Not after 20 years, not after 30 years. You want to see how they'll fuck it up and lose next time. You want to see what HOF Manager they will ruin, how their aces arms will fall off, how their 130 million dollar men will do nothing until the team is 30 games back. That's the stories we want to see develop.

"In the same breath, isn’t it nice that in 11 games, the collective TCR base has questioned maybe, what, one or two managerial decisions? That number was probably reached after the sixth inning of Opening Day in 2006." actually, i brought up days ago that pinella's made a number of moves that would have been jumped on like crazy if dusty was in charge. is it worth mentioning murton hasnt started in literally over a week? that's just one of the "bigger" ones... i like how lou uses the #2 slot a lot better than baker and i'll take lou over dusty for that alone so far, but overall lou's getting a few free passes that dust wouldnt get.

>>but overall lou’s getting a few free passes that dust wouldnt get.>> let's talk if, after 4 years, these same questionable moves are being made.

I disagree emphatically that Soriano would have scored easily on that play. I think he would have probably been out by a good measure. When Soriano gets thrown out, everybody's saying Mike Quade is the next Wave 'Em In Wendell. I don't care that it's Freel's mediocre arm out there. If Quade sends him and he gets thrown out, we have ZERO chance to score in the inning with Theriot at first with one out and Lee & Jones coming up.

if you are comparing or criticism of Dusty vs. Lou, please only do so in Year 1, April. As I recall, we didn't start calling Dusty crazy until Year 2. I uniquely remember a sign that read "In Dusty We Trusty"

hey, im all about **NOT** hearing about every move a manager makes as if he's the only person on the planet that does it. some of the stuff dusty caught hell for wasnt even uncommon or unique to him. some of the stuff dusty did...lou is doing. but seriously, i am much more happy hearing about players rather than the manager more than the other way around. im just trying to present a view on the whole players vs. suits thing rather than getting into whether lou is better than dusty. i'm not a big fan of how lou's using his bench early, but how he uses the #2 lineup slot wins me over more than dust's speed/contact religious view of the #2 slot.

Andrew: "In the same breath, isn’t it nice that in 11 games, the collective TCR base has questioned maybe, what, one or two managerial decisions?" Have you been watching these games? Lou is doing many of the same things Dusty did, but like Crunch said, he is just not getting called out on it. JJ is starting vs. LHP, Izzy batted 2nd, Murton not playing, etc.

He only Izturis second one time. On 4/7 at Milwaukee. Not sure if your implication of that being a frequent offense is intentional or not. Just for clarity's sake. I do agree about JJ against lefties, but I still stick to the fact that without Floyd in there, we lose a great hitter against righthanders. We also only have one lefty + Izturis in the order.

Lou is doing many of the same things Dusty did, but like Crunch said, he is just not getting called out on it. JJ is starting vs. LHP, Izzy batted 2nd, Murton not playing, etc. Cubs have faced one lefty starter so far and JJ sat... surprised Murton's sat this many games in a row, but why bitch when there's an actual capable hitter being put in his spot. fairly obvious to spot the differences between Lou and Dusty's styles and baseball IQ's already, most of the criticism on Dusty was after 2-3 years of doing the same stupid shit over and over...

Why the hell did Murton pinch hit against a right handed pitcher? Bring in Ward. If they bring in a lefty, then so be it. Then later, bring in Murton to PH for Jones when they bring in Weathers. HORRIBLE! Also, "I disagree emphatically that Soriano would have scored easily on that play. I think he would have probably been out by a good measure. When Soriano gets thrown out, everybody’s saying Mike Quade is the next Wave ‘Em In Wendell. I don’t care that it’s Freel’s mediocre arm out there. If Quade sends him and he gets thrown out, we have ZERO chance to score in the inning with Theriot at first with one out and Lee & Jones coming up." What made you think that we would touch the ball that inning. I say test the arm. It's not like we had hits to spare. Worst case scenario, you have a guy on first with your 'best' hitters coming up. On a day like today, with hits at a premium, you gotta go for it.

I say test the arm. It’s not like we had hits to spare. Worst case scenario, you have a guy on first with your ‘best’ hitters coming up. On a day like today, with hits at a premium, you gotta go for it. I, like Wes, disagree because it didn't require a hit to score a run at that point. All Jones or Lee needed to do was to hit a fly ball, or hell, a ground ball in Jacque's case, and the run would have scored. I agree with Wes that I think it would have been, at best, close at the plate if Quade had sent him. With no outs, and our #3 and #4 hitters up, it's reasonable to expect that run to score anyway.

"JJ is starting vs. LHP, Izzy batted 2nd, Murton not playing, etc." MANNY: I know you are filled w/frustration, but if you're gonna continue the neg-City you love to do, be accurate at least. Izturis has BATTED 2nd ONCE this year - and the Cubs WON that game 6-3. I'm callin' you on it. Admit you are wrong! Murton has started 4 games and also PH twice. Floyd is a better hitter than Murton, and has more power. He is starting tomorrow. He will also start when Floyd hurts himself which will be soon coming.

Weren't we questioning the tight strike zone a day or two ago. Now today it's a very wide zone. Actually I thought it was one that was very close to the black not really wide. Personally, I prefer the one today even though we didn't do very well with it. Those pitches that Lee took today are just too close to watch three straight times.

It's the players, it's the players, it's the players! Jim Hendry assembled a roster that most of us thought would hit a ton. There were questions about Derosa and Marquis but overall most thought we would compete and even win the Central. Now after a few games we are ready to fire JJ, Hendry, and who ever screws up next game. If I wanted to read this I'd move to Philly.

"Weren’t we questioning the tight strike zone a day or two ago. Now today it’s a very wide zone. Actually I thought it was one that was very close to the black not really wide. ' Are you nuts? Did you watch the game? The ump called strikes that were almost a foot off the plate. (for both teams) This was a 1 - 0 game that featured 6 hits and you think it was a good strike zone. This also featured Kyle Lohse's career high in strike outs and a total of 25 strike outs and 3 walks. I ask you again, you REALLY think that was a good strike zone?

The difference between Lou and Baker are like night and day, but Manny will never stop his Baker love. I would love for Murton to start everyday, he is our 2nd best hitter in the OF behind Soriano. But we knew Floyd would be getting a bunch of starts the day he was signed. He came here to start and Jim Hendry signed him to start. He wasn't coming to Chicago to be a bench player and get 150 AB's. But hell atleast Murton is losing out time to a guy that can actually hit over multiple seasons and not Todd Hollandsworth or whatever worthless bum Baker trotted out year after year. Look at Ramirez being down with an injury, under Baker we would be knee deep in Neifi, Macias or some other garbage player that can't hit, or take a walk. Under Lou Piniella he immediately recognized Theriots abilities instead of just automatically making him the 4th or 5th option because he isn't a veteran like good old Dust bag. Lou's lineup construction is infinitely better than anything Baker wrote down in 4 years. I don't like Jones hitting #3 but atleast he hits RHP well over his career, so it's not crazy. The offense just isn't clicking right now, but they got too much talent to be bad all year. Unlike previous years you would just look at the lineup and go, "Yep this about what I expect from them." You can't say that about our current lineup. I say keep your chin up on that one.

"You never saw any player who was born in the early part of the 1900’s play. Black, white or Latino. " That's funny, I could have sworn I have seen Ted Williams, Rogers Hornsby, Babe Ruth (19th century) and Joe Dimaggio play. Ever heard of film and TV, Chad? Tim Wilkens interview at BP: Probably old but I haven't seen a mention of it http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6102 Piniella by my count has only done one bonehead double switch (I thought he did a second Friday but he let Cotts pitch two innings). At this point Dusty would have done about 5 to 7 of those. Soriano has looked pretty good in center, other than almost killin Cedeno and himself Friday. The pitching acquistions have been good. DeRosa hasn't been completely awful. The Floyd signing was stupid at the time and remains so. Soriano isn't hitting yet. It's funny how a lot of people gave Sosa grief here and other places about not wanting to be dropped out of the 3/4 slots in the order, but when people make up 'best lineups I can think of', they can't even conceptually move Soriano down. For Today's game my lineup would be: Theriot Murton Jones Lee Barrett Soriano DeRosa Izturis Marquis Maddux pitches against us Tuesday, that should be fun.

So be it Neal. If a healthy Eric Davis is the most exciting EVER in the history of baseball (since you've seem them all) baseball is boring as hell.

BTW, you never saw any of those old time players play. You may have seen highlight reels or maybe a couple of full games but you can't say you every saw them play. My dad saw Ernie Banks play. My grandfather saw Gabby Hartnett play but my kids (should I ever have them) will never be able to say that they saw Sandberg play. (I would have said Sosa, but I really didn't want to get into that whole thing.)

Lou is doing many of the same things Dusty did, but like Crunch said, he is just not getting called out on it. JJ is starting vs. LHP, Izzy batted 2nd, Murton not playing, etc. The number of reasons this statement is just flat out wrong (JJ being benched vs. a lefty, Izzy batting 2nd ONCE not everyday, Murton benched for Floyd, not Hollandsworth or Hairston) has already been said quite well. But the much bigger issues that is being missed is that Dusty was blasted for doing the same stupid things over and over. There is a big difference between batting someone like Neifi or Isturis or Korey or Macias in the 1st or 2nd slot every once and a while, and putting them at the top of the lineup every day, no matter how poorly they perform. From the lineups, to the backwards double switches, to the keeping young players out of the lineup so proven veteran scrubs could play, were all things that happened on a regular basis. So keep pointing out how Lou does something that Dusty might have done each and every time you do it. The fact that you can't point it out every single day, show how much of a difference there is between the two. It shows how you just didn't get that the compalints about Dusty's were not short term knee jerk reaction. They were the same mistakes being repeated over and over, something Lou has not yet done (or even had time to show a pattern).

I think Wes is right, Lee choked. Sure, no one else did anything to help the team, either, but Lee is one of those guys we depend on to come through in those situations. At least swing the bat. At least a sac fly. Oh well, time to move on. One good thing we're finding out: The Lilly experiment proves you can take a mediocre pitcher in the AL East and move him to the NL Central and he becomes a good pitcher.

When it's freezing and the wind is blowing in -- don't stack your lineup with free-swinging fly ball hitters. You need men on base (see Theriot, R). Sitting Murton all weekend was just stupid. Let's not get too excited about the pitching -- nobody is scoring any runs. JJ always expands his strike zone in the clutch -- I think he is still trying to be a hero and turn the boos around. D-Lee came through Saturday, but not Sunday -- that's baseball, folks. 14 games left in April -- let's go 9-5, have a winning month and get on with it.

Cubs have faced one lefty starter so far and JJ sat… Maybe it's just the small sample of the teams we've played, but I don't think we'll see too many lefty starts against us this year. Other teams look at us and see Soriano (in addition to our overall right-handedness) and they load up the rotation with every righty junkballer they can scrounge up. We are supposed to counter this strategy with lefthanded power but Floyd so far is not hitting (or not very good) and Jones does not have normal lefty tendencies. He can't hit a ball that breaks down and in. I once compared him to C-Pat in that respect, but Jones is worse. People can talk all they want about Jones's numbers last year, but if he doesn't start seeing fastballs, he won't be generating anything similar. Before you drive in 80 runs you have to drive in one. Solution: Well, I like Darryl Ward about as much as the other people on TCR do, which is to say, not at all, but he could probably hit a guy like Arroyo, which is why Arroyo walked him on Saturday. So for the time being, while Soriano is in center, Ward should probably be in right. A better solution would be Micah Hoffpauir, but this is the Cubs, not the Braves, so it's probably out of the question. Hoffpauir has been hitting for a month-and-a-half, so it's starting to look like more than a hot streak. He may be emerging. And he's a dead pull hitter, which means he crushes the pitches that curve away from Soriano.

(only the top line was supposed to be italics--whatever happened to preview?)

*JJ always expands his strike zone in the clutch — I think he is still trying to be a hero and turn the boos around. * In the sixth inning, Jones looked like he did not know how to swing a bat, literally . I mean, those would have been some pretty ugly swings in a girls T-ball league for pete's sake. The only thing that could have looked worse was a guy not even taking the bat off of his shoulder and Lee provided that immediately thereafter. After that first ugly swing, I'd have put the bunt sign on. Then again, I have never seen Jones bunt--maybe he can't do that, either.

Rob G.: "Cubs have faced one lefty starter so far and JJ sat…" Well, JJ does have 6 PA's against LHP this year.

David Weathers: Cub Killer The Cincinnati David Weatherses

E-Man: "I’m callin’ you on it. Admit you are wrong!" What are you calling me out on???? I said "Izzy batted 2nd". He did. What exactly am i wrong about??????

VA Phil, While your sense of feel of Jacque Jones and his his ability to hit inside pitches may be accurate, I still remind you that he did this against right handed pitching in 2006: 303/358/528 24 2B 21 HR 59 RBI That's even after the horrific April he had. Regardless of a swing hole, to think that throwing Hoffpauir out there and getting that kind of production is a bit far-fetched, I think.

VA Phil
“I’m working on being patient at home plate.” –F.Pie in DesMoines Register.
How do you say "no room in the outfield, can you play shortstop" in Spanish? Even with Jacque scuffling, I have a hard time believing Pie will outhit Jacque, Soriano, Murton, & Floyd once the bats get going. Jacque has looked lost, sure, but let's just say he starts off slow. He went, what, 0-13, last year before he even got his first hit. For the record, I don't like free-swingers like Jacque, but I still would rather him in the lineup than Pie.

E-Man: MANNY: I’m Silent." No, it called having a fucking job... Sorry if I can't respond to you within a 6 hour time frame...

MANNY: o.k, o.k. - your INFERENCE on this one aspect of your frustration vent (which I fully understand) is that: "b/c Lou BATS Izzy in the 2-hole, he is the same manager as Dusty". This is the conclusion you are making with your above statement - right? What a couple of us have pointed out, which you are not really owning up to, is that while "technically" he batted Izzy 2nd, he has done it ONCE only. And, in this one time, the Cubs won the game, 6-3, so batting him in this position obviously did not hurt their one-of-four victories. So, again, you are painting your perceived similarities of the two managers with a broad stroke, and you are being called on this aspect.

MANNY: "No, it called having a fucking job…" C'mon - you call that work? ;-)

If TCR isn't allowed at work, I'm in big trouble. What kind of cruel joint you work in manny?

E-Man: "your INFERENCE on this one aspect of your frustration vent (which I fully understand) is that: “b/c Lou BATS Izzy in the 2-hole, he is the same manager as Dusty”. This is the conclusion you are making with your above statement - right?" No, that is the "inference" and "conclusion" you are drawing. I am using that as one small example.

Lilly not pointing the finger.
'It was tough to score the way [Lohse] was throwing,'' Lilly said. ''I knew I had to keep up with him. He made less mistakes. The big mistake I made was walking [Brandon Phillips to lead off the fourth]. It's something we talked about, and holding runners. The things we work on in spring training, the little things, are the things that cost us today.''
Click here for the full story.

MANNY: "No, that is the “inference” and “conclusion” you are drawing. I am using that as one small example." Fine, my bad then, sir. But you must admit that it is quite a small sample used for your position that they are the same manager. Well - as you know - as much as I want to go nuts, I'm gonna give 'til June 5, and then examine my position again re Hendry, new players, and Lou. I am sorry you can't get physically to many games now - glad at least I got to see the only win of the weekend.

comments #87 and #89 were beauties... first, wait I didn't mean that and then take what I said literally....well done, manny, you should go into law. (No offense to the lawyers here)

E-Man: "But you must admit that it is quite a small sample used for your position that they are the same manager." Yes, it is only 10 games into the season, but i was pointing out things, just like Crunch was, that were similarities already and things that Baker had been blasted on, that thus far Lou has been given a free pass. But hey, to each is their own. While, I don't like Lou's style of blasting his players in public or "fiery" attitude, I think Lou will be fine as a manager, he just needs to get the players to win. Hopefully we can get a GM who can get those players year in and year out with the more than enough payroll he has been given.

Rob G.: "first, wait I didn’t mean that and then take what I said literally" Yeah I saw JJ had 6 PA's so far this season and figured he has just started against a LH starting pitcher. I was wrong, Lou just left him in to face a LHP 6 times this year in the later innings. My bad...

i could, and did, name a laundry list of just 1 game where many things could be picked apart and would have been prime game for it if it was dusty. as a person who's sat on the outside reading dusty-this and dusty-that for a few years it just jumps out at me. i just find it interesting how much importance a manager gets...and how the slack/blame plays out...and how somehow benefit-of-the-doubt is in play. A=A. B=B. in my book just cuz he "just got here" doesnt mean he gets a pass on anything. the reason im not all up in arms about it is cuz most of the crap is stuff many managers do. the blame-dusty crap got carried the hell away the past couple years. the criticism of every move as if dust is breaking new ground. i'll take the player bitching over the manager bitching, but people are selectively giving lou a free ride that dustbag would not get. yeah, managers deserve some criticism for stuff, but if lou is doing it NOW that doesn't mean benefit of the doubt erases it..cuz its being done no matter how much or little slack is being given him.

crunch, There's a difference between one game and 486 games, though. Dusty not only did stupid things, he did them continously, game after game, year after year. Piniella has done some occasionally. About ripping players you have three options when a reporter asks you a question about a player failing. 1. Lie, and try to stay chummy with the player 2. Don't answer the question 3. Tell the truth Manny, which one do you think Piniella should do?

Rynox, I've never said that Pie would out-perform Jones at the plate. I don't usually bring up Pie in discussions of what's wrong with the Cubs offense. I do think that Pie should be in center, but only because center is a crucial defensive position, and giving it to a guy who has always been defensively challenged does not seem intuitive to me. But this is not TCD (The Cub Defense) and I don't see any point in saying the same thing over and over. I have Google alerts for a lot of things and one of them turned up that interesting DesMoines Register piece and I thought I'd share it. It wasn't connected to anything about JJ.

Real Neal: "Manny, which one do you think Piniella should do?" I think there a good combination of #1 and #3 would be what I would like to see. If someone asks Lou, or any manager: "Hey, Lou what did you think of Lee's and Jones' AB's there with men on 1st and 3rd where they both K'd?" Lou might answer: "Yeah those were terrible AB's and might of cost us the game. Lilly was pitching great but those heart of the lineup guys need to come through and they didn't." I would like to hear: "Yeah those were AB's I am sure they both would like back. We could of broken the game open in that inning, but I don't think we will see those kind of AB's from those type of professional hitters very much this year. It just came at a bad time today." See, in Lou's he just blasted away at the hitter, where in my example he admitted they weren't good AB's but still showed support to them. That is what i would like to hear from a manager.

Wes said: "Regardless of a swing hole, to think that throwing Hoffpauir out there and getting that kind of production is a bit far-fetched, I think." Jones hit 27 dingers last year. I think Hoffpauir might do that at Iowa, but no way he does it in Chicago. The question I'm starting to ask myself, though, is whether Jones is going to do anything like that again. I've sometimes thought that Jones was one good scouting report away from being marginalized. Just don't throw him a fastball, especially one from the middle of the plate to the outside. Last year they kept throwing fastballs, because that's what most pitchers throw. But this year, I don't see him getting too many fastballs, at least against the Reds and Brewers. (He hit a laser to left over Carlos Lee last week, but the count was three and one and the pitcher got careless.) I think the difference might be Soriano. The pitcher has had it drummed into his head, Don't throw Soriano a fastball--he'll go reaching for an outside breaking ball. Then Jones steps in and its a twofer--pitch to him the same way you did to Soriano, except now the breaking ball is inside. Soriano is hurting Jones, and vice versa. When you pitch to a lefthanded power hitter, your breaking ball should curve right into his wheelhouse. Jones has a strange wheelhouse. It's tilted toward straightaway left.

"See, in Lou’s he just blasted away at the hitter, where in my example he admitted they weren’t good AB’s but still showed support to them." But when you do it again and again and again, you start to lose credibility both to your players and with the media, and you wind up like Dusty. That's the kind of mindset that puts Neifi Perez at the plate 500 times in a season. At least with Piniella you get the idea that he is going to bench or remove players for repeatedly failing. With Dusty, you don't know if he can distinguish failing from suceeded in any but the simplest measures, because of his lack of willingness to bench proven veterans. Maybe you're right, and Piniella will rip players who fail, and still trot them out there. It remains to be seen. But at this point, he should get the benefit of the doubt. Dusty lost that privalege about midway through the '05 season.

"There’s a difference between one game and 486 games, though." i just took 1 game as an example...ive seen stuff in almost every game that mirror "dusty" action. seriously, if people think lou is just night/day to dusty they're in for a rude awakening as far as the in-game stuff goes. they got their own +/- (i love how lou uses the #2 slot over the dusty way), but this isnt a new era in cubs managing or some kind of revolution. nothing here is special...

Yeah crunch, you're right. Piniella does tend to start three outfielders and four infielders, use lefty relievers to face left handed batters etc... Main complaints about Dusty: 1. Doesn't understand the importance of walking/OBP - Piniella has made several public comments regarding this, as well as rewarding Cedeno with a roster spot when he showed some discipline in ST 2. Doesn't understand being scrappy is not the only thing required to bat second -Piniella has put either guys with Power (Jones.Murton) or pitch taking ability (Murton, Theriot) into the 2nd spot for the vast majority of the time 3. Doesn't understand why you double switch - Piniella has only double switched too early once, that I have noticed. Dusty did it in at least two out of every three games. These are all management decisions. When a team is 15-26 in 1-run games like the Cubs were last year, you have to start to suspect it's more than a run of bad luck. Piniella is also a bit rusty, I think, not having managed in the NL for what is it, 12 years? What was Dusty's excuse?

Recent comments

  • 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.

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  • 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...