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Arizona Phil's Archives
Cubs Bats Come Alive, Simultaneously Sink Mariners and Detox Brewers
A day after they were shutout on two hits by a trio of Angels pitchers at Diablo Stadium in Tempe, a Cubs split squad exploded for 22 hits, defeating a Seattle Mariners split squad 16-4 before a crowd of 8,625 at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa today.
box score - CUBS VS SEA at MESA
Padres Spoil Cubs St. Patrick’s Day Party at HoHoKam
Jose Cruz, Jr and Kevin Kouzmanoff each hit two-run home runs, as the San Diego Padres defeated the Cubs 7-3 before a capacity St. Patrick's Day crowd of 12,764 and an international WGN-TV audience at extremely hot (record-setting mid-90's) and sunny Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa today.
box score
Sox Shock Cubs at Tucson Electric
This time I'm SURE the game was on WGN-TV (because that's how I watched it), so I'm not going to go into a complete review of the game, but the White Sox defeated the Cubs 7-6 yesterday at VERY hot (upper 90's) Tucson Electric Park.
box score
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Cubs Big Bats Torpedo S. S. Mariner
Cliff Floyd hit a three-run homer and doubled, Aramis Ramirez hit a two-run home run, Alfonso Soriano went 3-3 with two singles, a triple, a stolen base, and a run scored, and Jacque Jones (a single and a double and two runs scored) and Matt Murton (a single and a walk) reached base twice, as the Cubs defeated the S. S. Mariner (that's "S. S.," as in "Split Squad") before a capacity crowd of 12,771 at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa today.
box score
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Roster Crunching, 40-Man Style
Almost every year, one or two Non-Roster Invitees (NRI) contend for a spot on the Cubs Opening Day 25-man roster.
This year, it appears that veteran utility INF Tomas Perez has the best shot among the NRI to make the Opening Day 25, since Manager Lou Piniella says he believes the Cubs will need two utility middle-infielders. Ryan Theriot is definitely one, and unless the Cubs go outside the organization and make a trade for somebody like Marlins supersub (SS-2B-CF) Alfredo Amezaga, Perez would seem to be the logical front-runner to become the Cubs second utility infielder.
But who are the other candidates, and if Perez does get the job, who gets dropped from the Cubs 40-man roster?
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Cubs Cut 14, ST Roster Now at 44
The Cubs announced 14 roster cuts after today's game in Scottsdale, bringing their Spring Training roster down to 44 players.
OPTIONED TO IOWA (AAA):
Scott Moore, IF-OF
Clay Rapada, LHP
OPTIONED TO TENNESSEE (AA):
Brian Dopirak, 1B
OPTIONED TO DAYTONA (Hi-A) :
Jeff Samardzija, RHP
SENT TO MINOR LEAGUE CAMP (NRI)
Jason Anderson, RHP
Tyler Colv
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As a Rule
For the first time since 1996, the MLB Playing Rules Committee has voted in several rules changes for 2007, including a couple of changes to MLB Rule 10 (official scoring).
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Make Mine Piniella
The smell of freshly-cut grass, and temperatures in the 60's with nary a cloud in the sky. A smilin' Lou Piniella strolling from field to field, bantering with the fans and signing autographs. The sound of bat on ball, and pitchers practicing covering first on a ball hit to the first-baseman. Ah, yes. While it might not be absolutely as good as it gets, it's pretty close.
Your pal AZ Phil and about 100 hopeful Cub fans attended the Cubs first Spring Training workout of 2007 this morning at Fitch Park in Mesa. It was a mandatory work-out for the Cubs' 30 pitchers and six catchers, but six position players (infielders and outfielders) who were not required to report showed up anyway.
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Cubs 2007 Spring Training Roster, Contracts, and Options
The rain has stopped, skies have cleared, Kerry Wood is a lean, mean, fighting machine, and with pitchers, catchers, and a few of the position players having reported to Fitch Park yesterday (minus Carlos Zambrano, whose arrival was delayed), and with the first offical Spring Training workout scheduled for this morning, here is the up-to-date Cubs 40-man roster and ST NRI list, the contract status and minor league option status for all players on the 40-man roster, the list of Cubs minor league players who will be eligible to be free-agents after the 2007 season and those who will be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft next December, and AZ Phil's pre-ST Cubs organizational depth chart:
An Eternal Cub, Forever Young
This time each year, I get stoked. It's automatic. It never fails.
I'm in Arizona. The weather's great. It's time for Spring Training.
But there's this one thing that gnaws at me, that keeps me from enjoying the experience quite as much as I would like to enjoy it. The start of Spring Training is fun, but there's this one memory from my youth--it's kind of a Long Sorrow--that I guess will be in the back of my mind for the rest of my life.
For those of you who don't remember him or who aren't all that familar with his career, Ken Hubbs was born in Riverside, CA on December 23, 1941, and as a 12-year old, he led his Colton (California) Little League team to the Little League World Series championship game in Williamsport in August 1954. Colton lost the game to future Cub Billy Connors and his Schenectady (New York) team, but by the time he was a senior in high school (1959), Kenny Hubbs was nothing but a winner. President of his high school class and a star football, basketball, and baseball player, he could have followed his older brother Keith to BYU--where he probably would have been a two or three-sport star and BMOC. But Kenny instead chose to sign a professional baseball contract with the Chicago Cubs (yes, YOUR Chicago Cubs), all the more significant because this was before the amateur draft, and Hubbs had the option to sign with any of the then-16 MLB clubs.
A TCR Cubs Spring Training Preview for the Casual Fan
The Super Bowl is over, March Madness isn't until next month, and the NBA and NHL regular seasons (AKA the playoffs) haven't started yet. So what time IS it? Well, it's time again for Spring Training, which is when professional baseball teams gather in Florida and Arizona to prepare for the coming season.
Cubs Actually Really Do Sign Cliff Floyd
After what only seems likes months or perhaps years, the Chicago Tribune and numerous other Chicago media are reporting that the Cubs have (finally, at long last) signed FA OF Cliff Floyd.
Terms are being reported as $3M for 2007 plus some type of mutual option for 2008.
Although Floyd was rated an MLB Type "A" free-agent, the Cubs will
not los
Cubs Round Up More of the Usual Suspects
In addition to signing Jeff Samardzija to a major league contract last week and INF Tomas Perez to a minor league contract (with an NRI to ST) the week before, and while waiting for Cliff Floyd to decide what he wants to do, the Cubs have signed several additional FAs to minor league contracts recently:
Samardzija Gives Up Football
Some of you might remember back to last June, when the Cubs selected Notre Dame RHP (and WR) Jeff Samardzija in the 5th Round of the Rule 4 Draft (June Draft). The Cubs subsequently gave Samardzija what was reported at the time as a record-setting multi-million dollar bonus that the Cubs hoped would ultimately dissuade Samardzija from pursuing a career in the NFL.
Not so, apparently
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Erstad and Finley on Cubs Radar
Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports is reporting that FA outfielders Darin Erstad and Steve Finley are "on the Cubs radar" as potential stop-gap CF candidates for 2007, and that they are still interested in signing Cliff Floyd as a part-time LF.
Rosenthal also mentions
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Recent comments
crunch (view)
wow, counsell coming with the early lineup. rarity.
canario/tauchman/happ RF/CF/LF
crunch (view)
PCA called up.
crunch (view)
welp...
bellinger...fractured rib.
a not-very-ready PCA will probably be called up when it would be much better for him to be in AAA getting regular ABs.
crunch (view)
i have no hard data, but i'm seeing the same thing.
there used to be some parks where that was rampant (colorado during the todd helton days comes to mind), but i'm seeing it all over the place the past couple seasons.
TarzanJoeWallis (view)
I’ll spare the details which I’ve stated before but, in short, the Cardinals have lost their sight of their successful identity and strategy over last several dominant decades. From the beginning of the season I saw the Cardinals being in last place or near it again this year, and my prediction is that Mozeliak will be gone after the end of the season.
Bill (view)
I would have kept Cooper rather than Wisdom, but at least I can understand why they did it. In a team that lacks dominant power hitters, Wisdom can be a dominant power hitter, at least in streaks. I suppose that there is always the possibility that the streaks longer in both duration and frequency. I will be content if they essentially make a 100 % DH commitment to Mervis against righties and Wisdom against lefties. When a regular needs rest, give them total rest, rather than a DH rest. Do this for at least 2 months, and then re-evaluate at that point.
Dolorous Jon Lester (view)
This is Cubs adjacent but…
Jordan Walker just was optioned by the deadbirds. For all the talk of the Cardinals development machine, they’ve really missed on a lot of can’t miss superstars lately. Walker has struggled. Gorman has been okay. They’re already trying to push Carlson out the door. Their pitching system has been so bad they had to go out and sign basically a full rotation over the last two offseasons.
They’ve still developed a few of those pesky solid players, like Donovan, Edman, and Nootbaar. Their two best prospect to MLB players have been Adolis and Arozarena, neither of which is a cardinal.
I hope they never figure it out again. Cardinal failure brings me such joy.
Raisin101 (view)
Thank you so much! I really appreciate not only all your posts but how eager you are to respond to our questions.
Sonicwind75 (view)
Is it just me or does it seem that official scorers are becoming less likely to call a misplay an error?
Guess I've hit my cranky old-man phase in life. "I remember back in the day when an error was an error. Official scorers have gone soft. Now where did I put my readers?!!??"
Sidenote, maybe Bellinger should be a little more careful against the Astros. That was the series last year that a play at wall put him on the IL.
crunch (view)
i hated the almonte pickup, but he's 9-10 out of 12 for good outings, following a great spring. hope he can keep it up.
i already miss cooper, but yeah...the thin OF roster backup the team seems to want to carry probably got wisdom preference over cooper. i could live without seeing wisdom at 3rd unless it's a blowout, though.