Cubs MLB Roster

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39 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (one slot is open), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL and one player has been DESIGNATED FOR ASSIGNMENT (DFA)   

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, and eight players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, three players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-24-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Hector Neris 
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

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

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Pete Crow-Armstrong 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 8 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2
* Cody Bellinger, OF  
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL: 3
Kyle Hendricks, P 
* Drew Smyly, P 
* Justin Steele, P   

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P

DFA: 1 
Garrett Cooper, 1B 
 





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Game 13 Thread / Padres @ Cubs (2 of 2)

Game Chat Greg Maddux vs. Wade Miller Lineups:
M. Giles 2B Pie CF
B. Giles RF Theriot 2B
Cameron CF Lee 1B
Gonzalez 1B Ramirez 3B
Greene SS Murton RF
Sledge LF Jones LF
Kouzmanoff 3B Cedeno SS
Bowen C Blanco C
Maddux P Miller P
The Felix Pie era begins on the Northside and for the second day in a row we get an "interesting" lineup. At least Aramis is back. UPDATE: Pie up, Guzman down. He wasn't getting  much work as is thanks to the unexpected decent starting pitching we've been getting for the most part and the way Lou seems to burn through his bench coupled with the lingering injury issues (Ramirez, Soriano and Derosa) seems like the smart move.

Comments

from rotoworld... Jason Schmidt underwent an MRI on his right arm Monday even though he claims it isn't sore. "We are exploring every area," manager Grady Little said. "We've had coaches, players and his former coaches look at video of him, trying to reconstruct his mechanics from square one." Schmidt has lost velocity lately and was able to last just two innings in his start against the Padres on Saturday.

There is something poetic about Pie getting his first major league AB against Greg Maddux. I hope it's more "poetic" than "pathetic", but I am afraid Maddux has enough knowledge about him from spring trainings to make him look silly.

why bat Pie in the leadoff spot? Wouldn't Theriot make a better leadoff hitter? You could then put Murton in the 2 hole and slide Pie down towards the bottom of the order.

[...] UPDATE (12:38): Through Cub Reporter, Pie is officially up, playing center and leading off in today’s game. A situation to walk. [...]

I agree someguy...on the other hand versus Greg Maddux it doesn't really matter, doubtful he's going to walk anybody.

I got this from northside baseball so no link, but Pawelek has been sent back to extended spring training replaced by Jake Renshaw in Peoria.

Damn, I thought for sure based on Arizona that Rocky Cherry would be the first call-up. Oh well, let's hope our young 22 yo Felix is as good as Seattle's young 22 yo Felix. :-)

potential WSCR report of Guzman being sent down.... I'll believe it when it's a Levine report.

murt in RF again...interesting. wonder what jones thinks of this. not like he's a bitch, but with all the trade talk pre-season its gotta be going through his mind that if pie shows what he was showing in the minors he could be gone when the first legit team out there loses an OF'r/DH.

ROB: Are you listening to Chicago stations again! Apparently, this appears to be the case. Lou wants to get him stretched out as the heir apparent to Miller when he has his next bad outing or two. I am disgusted that Ohman (Oh-MAN!) wasn't the one, if the reports are correct. But, this would seem to be a Hendry thing. Ya think?

Jock is "just an employee", he can't do anything anything about the lineup :roll: The way Floyd's been hitting, I think Hendry can think seriously about just dumping Jones on any taker that will pick up his salary. We don't need a player back, just someone take him off our hands. A Patterson or Sosa-type "trade."

hehe...lou's already sick of the "will pie stick around if he plays well" question...well, he had to know it was coming. no blowups, classy soundbite harmless answer. good for you lou, just give em what they need in order to get their print then go get back to the team.

I read the guzman thing on another cubs board fwiw... Ohman didn't walk anyone yesterday in a 11-run blowout, why would he catch flak for that game? Your basically told to throw the ball down the middle.

Ok...that wouldn't be so great.... If we were to trade Jones, we should at least get a good bullpen arm, or maybe a shortstop out of it. Not a good idea to just dump him....

no offense but jones for 10-11m he's owed for 2 seasons...man, that's a deal for a RF/LF/CF...can't just give that away, imo. pie isnt going anywhere for 6-7 years unless the cubs will it (or he retires).

no seriously, why is there no video link for the cubs game yet? I'm going to beat mlb.com to a bloody pulp if I miss Pie's first game.

If I were Jacque, I'd make sure my lease in Chicago had a 30-day out clause. This Murton thing looks like more than an experiment. Soriano in LF and Pie in CF improves their OF defense at least 67%.

Judging from Jacque's pregame interview yesterday, I got the impression he was less than thrilled by the move but knew he couldn't come right out and say that. I think his exact response was "what do you want me to say?"

crunch: "murt in RF again…interesting." How much time did Murton see in RF in ST? I mean if this was in the back of the Cubs mind, he should of gotten some real time there.

Anyone notice the Giles Bro's power drying up over the last couple of years?

"Any reason why Floyd is not playing in LF today? " Day off that he didn't wind up getting yesterday because of Soriano's injury.

Just a reminder in all of these swirling events, Soriano is not on the DL. So he might be back in 7-10 days. This leaves the pitching staff with one less option but the bench is at the same strength until Soriano can play again. Just hope for no 20 plus inning games.

manny... Murton did have significant playing time in the minors in Right Field, so it is not like he is learning a new position.

dave: "Murton did have significant playing time in the minors in Right Field, so it is not like he is learning a new position." Thanks!! Too bad the the play he just made he looked like a Little Leaguer out there. They gave Giles a 2B, but Murton looked lost and it got right by him to the wall. UGH!!!

murton could have made that bad play just as easily in LF. i don't think that RF had anything to do with it. call guzman back up.....thanks for all your help, miller.

I'm not going to complain about Murton when Miller's busy getting rocked by the Padres of all teams...

By all means, one game is enough to judge Murton in RF...sure. Let's all take a deep breath....

I hope Hendry can swallow his pride a bit quicker this time with Miller than he did with Rusch. They should go call Guzman and tell him to turn around and come back.

Dusty Baylor: "By all means, one game is enough to judge Murton in RF…sure." Oh, he didn't screw that up because he was playing RF, he screwed that up because he is just not a good OFer.

Vorare: "I take it Murton misplayed that 2B?" Yeah, he started to come in on a sinking line drive, then realized he wasn't going to get there and tried to pull up, but the ball bounced in front of him and skidded on by. They ruled it a 2B, but at worst should of been a 1B.

Out of curiosity, anyone know what kind of reception Maddux got from the hometown faithful?

Any guesses on how high Miller's ERA will climb today? I'm guessing 16.00. It's already up to 14.40.

Yeah...Murton isn't a great OF...true.... He isn't that much of a drop from Jacque Strapp. I see Giles had an adventure in RF too...with Ramirez' "triple," getting turned around twice...

I'm kind of coming late to the party here, but is it possible that Jones is playing LF against the Padres because they are possibly in the market for a new LF? They have Sledge, but I know they were looking around for a possible trade during the winter and in ST. Just a thought...

Sweet Lou, that was my general thought (the Cubs are auditioning either Murton or Jones for a trade), though I didn't suspect it would have to do with the Padres specifically. The MLB Gamecast strike zone looks might tight today. Any reality to that?

I dont know how much time Murton got in RF during Spring Training, but of the two games I went to, he played in right in one of them. So, by the same sample size judgments a lot of folks on this board use, he must have gotten about 50% of his playing time in right during Spring Training.

personally, i could care less if murton played every game at RF this spring. he's played it in the minors. its a corner slot...they're both kinda similar as far as comparing 2 positions can come. he's just not a good natural OF'r and his arm wont hold many from going 2nd to 3rd or 3rd to home. jones isnt god's gift to the OF, but he fields somewhat intelligently...with ease...and has an arm runners at least think about.

I'd put the odds at less than 50-50 that Miller will make it through the fourth. An interesting question is when the Cubs can get Maddux out? I think with one or two more long at bats, they might have a window to get him out before the 6th.

Crunch- I think that the only thing that runner think about with Jacque's arm is how many bases to take. Jones: 143 games, 5 assists, 7 errors Murton:133 games, 3 assists, 3 errors.

counting jones last year is like counting dlee's year last year...he was playing with a bit of a handicap that he's shown this spring and most of this year he's over. even when healthy he's not an accurate arm, but it is strong. i dont mind murton, but he's not gonna command an ounce of respect with runners or coaches in RF.

Wait...Jones played 143 games last year. His shoulder was not 100%, but let's not get crazy with the love of his defense. He's never been a Gold Glover or anything. He is smoother in the OF than Murton, but I'll take Murton anyday over Jones right now. He younger, cheaper, and is just coming into his own. Jones is a nice player, but an average one, who could bring a nice plaer in treade. That, of course, depends on how Pie plays, how Soriano's recovers, etc...

Cubs have a lot of dry powder left in this game: Howry-Eyre-Dempster Floyd-Ward-DeRosa-Barrett

Pie!

Thats was some throw by Pie at the plate - I cant remember a Cub outfielder with that kind of laser like throwing ability...wow

∏!

before we jump on the send ohman down bandwagon, theriot misplayed a routine fly into a double, otherwise we would have been out of the inning.

I am NOT jumping on the bandwagon. I have been DRIVING IT. For two years in a row. If he wasn't LH, he'd be working at Costco! This game is TOTALLY the offense's fault for not pushing a goddamn run across since the 6th inning. Plain and simple.

I'm not sure who we had left at this point but why not pinch run for Ward in the bottom of the 14th?

the 15th would have been interesting if the cubs would have tied. Z at first, perhaps...

tough one. Bullpen was good (a nice recent trend), but we need more offense. Shut out for last, what, nine innings

I like Matt Murton, but he really should have done more with his AB in the fifth. A pop-up on the first pitch? That's Neifi-esque.

yeah Jones play was ugly too but the runner was going to score either way, it just let the guy get to 2nd

There's no shame in losing a 14 inning one run game ladies and gentlemen. Rather than come in here and using terms like pathetic, let's look at what we learned today: 1) Will Ohman is probably about to go back to the minors and is unlikely to be one of our top 12 pitchers. 2) Felix Pie can really fly and throw the baseball. 3) Wade Miller is not any good but may have gotten himself two more starts today. 4) Ryan Theriot is likely to get 500 at bats this year. 5) Unfortunately, he's clueless when he plays the outfield so let's hope Lou realizes that it's DeRosa in the outfield, Theriot in the infield for now on. 6) Michael Wuertz is probably a future closer. 7) Cub fans enjoy panicking. Ok, I think that's the jist of it. Go Cubs

BTW, I think it's obvious Rocky Cherry will be making the trip to Atlanta with Will Ohman going down. Looking at the Cubs' pen, I'd say the following pitchers may not be available to pitch in Atlanta: 1) Clearly Ohman, whether he's sent down or not 2) Wuertz 3)I'm sure Dempster can go one inning but no more 4) Ditto Howry 5) Cotts is probably good for no more than one inning. That leaves Eyre and possibly 1 inning from 3 pitchers, all of whom you'd like to give the day off to. The question is, how to do this with just sending Ohman to the minors? Should the Cubs send Cedeno down also? Who, other than Cherry, will be coming up. If I'm not mistaken, they need to leave Guzman down for 10 days after optioning him. So the Cubs send down Ohman (I assume he has options left) and Cedeno (ditto, options?) and bring up Cherry + Novoa? Someone else? Another option is to bite the bullett and place Soriano on the DL. The way the team is structured, they could use 12 pitchers right now. I hope Big Z is good for 8 innings tomorrow in 12-0 blowout or something.

Alright guys--bandwagon or not: What's deal with Ohman-- Why? I know Howry had a fairly rough outing again, he isn't the issue. Ohman had theriot's issue behind him, but three bad outings in a row. IS there a reason he is still here? I'm not saying dump him...is a mind thing? mechanics? (Oh my god Rothchild not helping someone? I can't believe ti?)...the need for 3 lefties (the Padres have no lefties--jesus)...is there anyone at AAA who might replace him and do as good a job or better? I feel like Bobby will come around and he did ok (Felix, what an arm--or Pat and Ron narrated it beautifully)... I'm just confused on Ohman. I know you can't dump everyone after a few bad games, but this guy... It isn't just him...what was it one hit after the 5th? Why am I seeing so much Ronnie Cedeno? That is a personal thing...I can't stomach him. I can't believe that this team is still three games under. It isn't just will Ohman's fault. I'm just confused by all of it. Jeckyl and hyde. 3-3 and on the road. Anyone see AS's comments to Chris DeLuca today about how it easier for the Cubs to play on the road this year because they feel less pressure to win for the fans (nothing wrong wit hthat)--basically they are pressing at home... maybe they 3-3 will get better, but the braves...

7/7

Sayers: "o the Cubs send down Ohman (I assume he has options left) and Cedeno (ditto, options?) and bring up Cherry + Novoa? Someone else? Another option is to bite the bullett and place Soriano on the DL." Novoa reminds me of Dusty. Maybe a good idea, but the name alone make me want to vomit. However, that is not a baseball judgemnet, just dusty hangover. The DL idea makes a lot of sense. I second it. Finally, maybe it is time to "bite the bullett" and bring back Scott Bullett. I liked his speed. Anyone miss him?

Sosa landed a verbal right hook on Baker at his presser at US Comiskular Field a bit ago...paraphrasing..."the Cubs now have a more professional manager"...gehh

3/43 had a MRI done on his right arm today. He has Wade Miller velocity right now; Dodgers are concerned he might have shoulder issues. Results are due tomorrow.

see comment #1 carlos... although I'll give you bonus points if you did it intentionally, that would be funny.

"Finally, maybe it is time to “bite the bullett” and bring back Scott Bullett. I liked his speed. Anyone miss him?" I do! I met him last year when he was playing for my hometown AAA team, the Yucatan Leones. Very nice person... too bad he's got a huge ego.

"although I’ll give you bonus points if you did it intentionally, that would be funny." It was intentional. Give me some credit.

Steve (and to back up what Andrew said): Marquis pinch ran for Ward. Isn't that a slap in the face.

ohman started the year with 3 nice outtings...no one wanted to make him closer. now he has 3 bad outtings in a row...people wanna send him to AAA. depending on how taxed the pen gets we could see mr. cedeno get sent down for an arm...could be ohman, too...doubt they'll do that to ohman so shortly after giving him a 2 year deal, though. and yeah, its an over-generalization to be calling for ohman to close after 3 outtings that were unspectacularly good, but i doubt his job is in that much trouble, personally. if they need another pen arm cuz its so taxed, someone has to move, though.

oops...looks like it was 2 good outtings, and 1 outting where he walked a guy and was yanked. still, i think its dependant on what the team needs and when...im leaning toward cedeno being expendable, but that included factoring in derosa's back health on that flip...

well since he essentially gave up one bloop single the opposite way today, I think Ohman's safe. And his outing yesterday was an 11-run blowout where he threw strikes, I doubt either one gets him a ticket to Iowa. Soriano getting moved to the DL as others speculated is more likely if they need an arm.

isnt it nice to have proper injury replacements that arent youth experiments for a change? ...and yeah, i think theriot/murton showed enough to consider them non-experiments in their roles expected of them.

Sayers: "There’s no shame in losing a 14 inning one run game ladies and gentlemen." Sorry, I'm not for moral victories or only looking at silver linings after tough losses. This was a pretty much poorly played game all around by the Cubs.

all-around's a bit much, no? bullpen threw 9 innings and gave up one run because of bad defense. And Felix Pie's throw out at the plate was a thing of beauty. Also had 3-4 balls knocked down by the wind that would have been out most other days.

Rob G. — April 17, 2007 @ 12:42 pm Guzman has to stay down for 10 days I believe… ============================ ROB G: Guzman can be recalled at any time as long as he is replacing a player who is placed on the DL. Otherwise, he has to stay in the minors (on optional assignment) for at least ten days.

Manny: I agree that it sucks that the Cubs didn't win but the pen was awesome, Miller didn't totally suck and Pie was amazing. The Cubs also got behind again but managed to come back to tie it. The Padres bullpen is awesome so I don't think it's all that terrible that they were unable to score against that bunch. But I think the "poorly played game all around" crap is pushing it big time. But I'm not surprised. See #7 on my list. The season is far from over.

Arizona Phil: Guzman can be recalled at any time as long as he is replacing a player who is placed on the DL. Otherwise, he has to stay in the minors (on optional assignment) for at least ten days. --------------- I think the Cubs need to think seriously about this option. I know having one of your best hitters out of commision for 15 days stinks but no one wants Soriano to be out for a month or longer and bringing back Guzman became very important today. Otherwise, yeah, sending down Ohman or Cedeno (or both) seems like the way they are going to go.

For some reason, my comments seem to be dropping off and I wrote a Shakespearean post after the above repeat of Crunch's point! So instead, I'll sum it up this way: 1) Ohman should be sent down out of convenience (He has options)more than just his not pitching well. 2) Having said that, Ohman is the one man in the pen who has struggled outside of Howry but come on. That is why he is going to be sent down.

would/should work, but its easier to apply in reality later in the year rather than so early. i imagine there's more than a few of us that dont wanna see more w.miller in the #5 slot, but even those of us sick of him kinda expect him to get a another chance or two to screw up and/or show what he's got. im kinda throwing ohman in this mix. i'd rather see r.cherry over ohman at this point given eyre/cotts already in the pen, but its early and ohman has a 2 year deal while r.cherry has nothing but club control going for him. not like i'd be shocked to see ohman go down to AAA...i just wouldnt be shocked to see cedeno go first or soriano to the DL as mentioned... its pretty obvious ohman's not one of lou's current favorites, but he's not been missing by 1-2ft. up there or something.

Theriot shouldn't be in the outfield if he isn't ready or capable. Cost us the game today. Personally, rather than seeing Guzman sent down, why not send down Cedeno? His average is like .050. Maybe the reason he's up is because of the need of an extra infielder but he's struggling and it wouldn't hurt to see him get more at-bats in the minors and get some confidence back.

Also, Pie was pretty darn good today. Exciting player. So when Soriano gets back, Felix is sent down?

OK RobG, you said it in chat and you said it here, "one of the worst managed game you've ever seen" so I think this deserves a dedicated TCR post on that. Educate me with your "let me count the ways." not that I'm skeptical, just cough up the details so I can appreciate them. And is there a context for possible interpretation as "this is normal for Lou" or is there a general basis for saying, "Lou is panicked too and trying irrational things to shake up the team"

Jorge Julio is awful. Today's line: 1 IP 5 H 5 ER 1 BB and 1 SO. He has 11 BBs in 5.2 IP so far.

Rob G. — April 17, 2007 @ 11:50 am I got this from northside baseball so no link, but Pawelek has been sent back to extended spring training replaced by Jake Renshaw in Peoria. ============================= ROB G: Mark Pawelek has indeed been sent back to EXST. Also, LHP Fabian Jimenez-Angulo (one of the two pitchers the Cubs acquired from SD for Scott Williamson last Summer) has been released. For anyone interested, I posted some EXST stuff at Road to Wrigley.

This loss wasn't too bad... I guess we should be thankful the game isn't still going on. Mark Derosa had a game winning HR robbed by the elements. It's not a small-ball team, so I hope the wind doesn't gust in from CF too often.

Really the outfield defense in right cost us two runs, if you want to say that the ball Murton dived for was catchable and the one that went over Theriot's head was as well. I am not totally comfortable with either of those statements, but I can see why people would think that.

Did anyone watch "Baseball Tonight"? Ravich called Willy Mo Peña, "Tony" and referred to the great Greg Maddux Jack Morris matchup in the 91 series. Then he announced the final score of the Sox/Rangers game as 5 -1 just after they showed the highlight of Sammy hitting a 3 run bomb to make it 8 -1. FUCKING MORON! I Tivo-ed it, FWIW.

Chad -- is there any way you could upload it to Youtube?. They take at least a day to take it off, so we'll all be able to watch it at least once.

Neal, if Murton stops and takes that on the bounce, the run may very well have not scored. He couldn't take off on a sinking liner in case it was caught.

Though, if you listen carefully, he refers to Smoltz as "Mad Dog". What a putz.

OF defense's fault or not. The game would have been over with Pierre in CF last year. He would not have made that throw, thats for sure.

If you want to play that game, Pie made an out in the bottom of that inning. MAYBE Pierre triples and steals home to tie it.

thats assuming pierre even makes contact. i see what you're saying, but all the blame is being put on defense and while it blew at times, that play alone kept them in the game.

Theriot, Murton misplayed balls... blah blah blah, so did Cameron. I don't think we need to ship them off to AAA because of it. The wind looked pretty wicked yesterday. Not making excuses, just saying. Derosa hit one that normally would have ended up on Waveland and was caught. It didn't even back up the fielder to the warning track.

I was sitting right behind Pie at the game yesterday. I really didn't think Theriot had any chance to catch that ball, truthfully. Even if he got a good break and took a good angle to it, fwiw. Also, if you're going to talk about how bad our defense was, I think you should be required to mention that Mike Cameron is the only reason we scored two of our three runs.

"Neal, if Murton stops and takes that on the bounce, the run may very well have not scored. He couldn’t take off on a sinking liner in case it was caught. " That's interesting Chad. If you were to, you know, watch the play, you would find that it is also totally incorrect. Little Giles was running hard from the strike of the ball, I even commented on how foolish that was in parachat.

As stated earlier - the loss was on the offense. The team SHOULD have scored a freaking run with this lineup. Period. Let's give Cherry Garcia a chance and dump Oh-MAN!

Hey now..Murton's had 2 games in RF...it's obvious he can't do it. 2 games is plenty of time. Please note sarcasm..... Theriot in the OF ain't so good however....that's 4 different times he's struggled out there. A bigger question might be where in the hell is the offense? No soriano or Floyd,....ok, but someone please hit the effing ball!!

How pissed must of Ozzie been last night walking Texiera to get to Sammy and he hit that HR? I know Sammy only has like 4 hits, but still it was classic....

hey guys, i was at the game yesterday but never got an explanation as to why, in the bottom of the 9th i believe, theriot appeared to get walked, then was forced to go back to the plate and continue his at-bat, as if the previous pitch did not count. can anyone shed some light for me? did somebody call time before the pitch was thrown? also Chad, i noticed when Ravich called Smoltz "Mad Dog" last night. I was like, WTF??

Matt: "hey guys, i was at the game yesterday but never got an explanation as to why, in the bottom of the 9th i believe, theriot appeared to get walked, then was forced to go back to the plate and continue his at-bat, as if the previous pitch did not count. can anyone shed some light for me? did somebody call time before the pitch was thrown?" 3B coach Quade had called timeout. They even showed him tap his chest in acknowledgment that he did do it. Not sure why he did, but the umps didn't screw that one up.

The 3rd base umpire called a timeout for some unknown reason. It was a highly questionable call to say the least.

In reply to #139, I think Pat and Ron said Mike Quade, the 3rd base coach, called time just before the pitch. Not sure what was up with that.

Quade called the timeout? WTF was he thinking? I can't think of anytime ever where that would be called for.

Minor League Report: The Good: Iowa (AAA) Ryan O'Malley 7 IP, 0 ER (1 Run), 3K, 0 BB. Casey McGehee: 2/4 HR, 2B, 1 R, 1 RBI The Bad: Fontenot 0/5 Pagan 0/4 Cherry 1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, BS Tennessee (AA) The Good: Chris Walker 2/5, RBI Chris Robinson 1/5 HR, 2 RBI Matt Craig 3/3 Mark Holliman: 7IP, 1 ER, 3K/2 BB, 3 H The Bad: Spearman/Salas errors lead to 4 unearned runs Daytona(HI-A) The Good: Kyle Reynolds 2/4, 1 2B, 1 R Mitch Atkins 5.2IP, 1 unearned run, 6K/2BB, 2 H Scott Koerber 2.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 K,/0 BB The Bad: Amador.Chirinos/Norwood 0/9 Grant Johnson 0 IP, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 H Peoria(Lo-A) The Good: Matt Camp 2/4, R, 1BB Josh Lansford 2/5, 1 2B, 1 RBI Alfred Joseph 2/3, 2 R Billy Muldowney 6 IP, 3K/0BB, 2 unearned runs, 6H Rocky Roquet 1 IP, 2 K, SV Jeremy Papelbon 2 IP, 4K, 0 R, 1 H, Hold The Bad: Dylan Johnston 2 errors, Matt Camp 1 error Castillo/Carter/Johnston 0/10

Ravich is unbearable. If you did a transcript of his broadcasts, you'd swear he was mentally challenged.

This will be interesting. If Pie plays well the next week or two, and if there is concern about not wanting to push Soriano too much on his return to the lineup, I bet there is a chance that Pie stays, plays center, and Soriano then plays left field. That leaves us with a log jam in right and also will reduce Floyd's playing time greatly. This would mean a trade eventually. Hence, the injury to Soriano, if it is not too serious, may be a blessing in disguise, that is, if Lou concludes that Pie in center is better than either Murton in left or Jones in right.

even before yesterday what did anyone see that would lead them to believe murton is a good RF? sub-par arm and hobbled ball tracking skills is not a good start...when j.jones is a better RF option and its almost a non-issue, that's a warning sign right there. occasional RF? sure... but if anyone thinks what happened with jones patrolling RF last year was awful or even slightly bad, murton isnt gonna give much reason to solve those feelings as a replacement. anything mid-OF or greater with a runner that's not slow as hell on 2nd or 3rd is gonna get green-lighted even if derosa is the cutoff man til murton proves he can hold. hell, jones was holding runners from LF from taking extra bases the past couple days...except for his own contribution to bobble-fest in the OF yesterday.

it was already 5-1 in the 8th, not that big a deal with Sosa's homer. anyone got $195 to sponsor Sosa's BR page, surprised no one owns it.

Sosa still pretty much annoys me, but worse than Sosa, is Jeff Passan writing a scathing article about him. Reading the article I just kept thinking, "who the f*** does Passan think he is?"
CHICAGO – He still hops, kisses and taps like it's 1998. That's what greatness does. It traps people in vacuums of delusion, and until the day baseball no longer wants Sammy Sosa, he will carry himself like he did the summer he and Mark McGwire rescued baseball.
Click here for the full story.

more from Passan his best days now almost 10 years in the rearview apparently Passan is also trapped in a vacuum of delusion...

Jones is slightly better than Murton in the OF. He's faster, and more natural out there, it's true. But for $4 million less over the next 2 seasons, are you that sure that Murton wouldn't approximate Jones's seasonal averages of 23 HR, 79 RBI, and .279/.328/.458? In a lineup with a few 100+ strikeout guys he wouldn't be valuable?

"That’s interesting Chad. If you were to, you know, watch the play, you would find that it is also totally incorrect. Little Giles was running hard from the strike of the ball, I even commented on how foolish that was in parachat." That's interesting Neal, cause I just re-watched the play and it's YOU that is 100% wrong. Why was little Giles running on the play? It was a hit and run. He was on first. Big brother Giles hits a sinking liner. If Murton pulls up on it, Lil' Giles doesn't score.

Almost 10 years? Hmm... 2007 - 2001 = 6 I guess 6 is almost 10. Just like Passan is almost a good writer.

Lil' Giles still scores on the ensuing Gonzalez double though, it is possible though that Brian doesn't score if he was held to a single. But the final result should not excuse what was a poor play by Murton.

Absolutely a poor play by Murton, she should not have tried to make that catch.

Rob, that is what I was saying. it was a terrible play and he needs to play that off the hop. It's a much worse mistake in right than it is in left. In right, a play like that often leads to a triple. In left, not as much.

well it's a terrible play if it's down the line in RF, in the gap in RF, not so god-awful, but whatever, he needs to keep that in front of him at all costs. And Ryan Theriot needs to not look like a lost puppy chasing an imaginary tennis ball that his owner faked threw when he plays the OF....

question... when theriot and de rosa are both in the game (along with aram), why does theriot play RF and de rosa? de rosa has more experience in the OF, along with a stronger arm.

I think you should ask Piniella that in a press conference dave, preferably after a tough loss.... but yeah, you would think that's the right move.

As a rare poster but regular reader, it's sometimes very painful reading you guy's suggestions on how to turn a bad ball club into a .500 team. Regarding the outfield, you're working with very little here, with the lone exception of Felix Pie. The only answer is to stick him in the middle and hope he can cover enough territory that whoever is on either side can patrol the foul lines.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Childersb3: Miguel Cruz walked six in 1.2 IP in his last start, so I guess he is improving. Wilme Mora also walked six in one of his appearances a week or two ago, and one or two others have walked five. I don't know what would be the most I have ever seen a pitcher throw in a game out here, because the manager / pitching coach usually gets the pitcher out of the game if it gets too ridiculous. 

    As for the attendance, probably about 20 of the 25 were early arrivals for the Savannah Bananas game who came over to Field # 1 to see what was going on, and once they saw all the bases on balls (12 walks by Cubs pitchers and four by Angels pitchers) they ran away screaming. I'm used to it so it didn't bother me that much. 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Jed has added Teheran, Tyranski, Kissaki, and now Straily and Nico Zeglin today.

    Zeglin is 24 yrs old. Pitched well at Long Beach St in '23 and well in some Indy Ball.

    They also added Reilly and Viets in late ST.

    Have to search for MiLB arm depth anywhere you can and at all times!!!

  • Childersb3 (view)

    25 in Attendance!!!

    Phil, is that a backfield record?

    Also, 6 BBs for Cruz in 2 IP. What's the most walks you've seen in one EXT ST outing that you can recall?

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    He has a pulse. Apparently that’s the only requirement at this point.

  • crunch (view)

    cubs sign dan straily...for some reason.  minor league deal.

    welcome back.

    zac rosscup is down in mexico trying to make it happen...maybe they could throw him a contract, too.  junior lake is his teammate.  shore up a bunch of holes with some washups.

  • fullykräusened (view)

    The great thing about going to live sports events is you don't know if you're going to see something historic. Today I went to the Cub game, after putting the liner back in my coat and fishing my Cubs knit hat out of the closet. I needed all that- my seats are in the upper deck, left, so the east wind was in my face. Both teams failed to capitalize on good situations, but both starters did a good job to accomplish this. So, we go to the bottom of the sixth inning. The Cubs tie it up, and then Pete Crow-Armstrong comes up. We all know he would still be in AAA if not for injuries, and future Hall-of-Famer Justin Verlander absolutely carved up the young fellow up in his first two plate appearances. So this time he hits a fly ball. The wind was blowing in and had suppressed several strong fly balls- including a rocket off Altuve's bat that Canario hauled in (does anybody else remind me of Jorge Soler?) , but the ball kept carrying and carrying. 107mph, legit angle and carry. The crowd went nuts, the dugout went nuts. Maybe, just maybe, I saw the first homer from a long-term Cub.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Which was my original premise. They won the trades but lost their souls. They no longer employ the Cardinal way which had been so successful for so long.

  • crunch (view)

    STL traded away a lot of minor league talent that went on to do nothing in the arenado + goldschmidt trades.  neither guy blocked any of their minor league talent in the pipeline, too.  that's ideal places to add talent.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Natural cycle of baseball. Pitching makes adjustments in approach to counter a hot young rookie. Now it’s time for Busch and his coaches to counter those adjustments. Busch is very good and will figure it out, I think sooner than later.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In 2020, the pandemic year and the year before they acquired Arenado, the Cardinals finished second and were a playoff team. Of the 12 batters with 100 plate appearances, 8 of them were home grown. Every member of the starting rotation (if you include Wainwright) and all but one of the significant relievers were home grown. While there have been a relative handful of very good trades interspersed which have been mentioned, player development had been their predominant pattern for decades - ever since I became an aware fan in the ‘70’s

    The Arenado deal was not a deal made out of dire need or desperation. It was a splashy, headline making deal for a perennial playoff team intended to be the one piece that brought the Cardinals from a very good team to a World Series contender. They have continued to wheel and deal and have been in a slide ever since. I stand by my supposition that that deal marked a notable turning point within the organization. They broke what had been a very successful formula for a very long time.