Arizona Phil's Archives

15 Cubs minor leaguers were declared MLB Rule 55 minor league free agents at 5 PM (Eastern) Monday 11/4.

UPDATED 10-13-2019

As things stand right now...

As things stand right now.... 

9/17 UPDATE: 

SS Zack Short (replacing Nico Hoerner) and RHRP Scott Effross have been added to the Mesa Solar Sox roster. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

8/28 UPDATE #2: 

One pitcher still TBA, but here are the Cubs assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox (AFL):

Miguel Amaya, C 
Nico Hoerner, INF
Jordan Minch, LHRP  
Keegan Thompson, RHSP  
Erich Uelmen, RHSP 
Jared Young, 1B-OF
TBA, P 

Jamie Vermilyea, Pitching Coach 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

8/28 UPDATE #1: 

The Cubs have assigned SS Nico Hoerner to the Mesa Solar Sox.  

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

8/26 UPDATE: 

Cubs (South Bend) Pitching Coach Jamie Vermilyea has been named pitching coach for the Mesa Solar Sox. (The Cubs are responsible for providing the MSS pitching coach in 2019). .  

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

7/31 ORIGINAL POST: 

The 2019 Arizona Fall Schedule has been announced.

An unsigned player under club control who has accrued at least three but less than six years of MLB Service Time is automatically eligible for salary arbitration.

Also, any unsigned player with at least two years but less than three years of MLB Service Time who accrued at least 86 days of MLB Service Time during the previous season can qualify for salary arbitration as a so-called "Super Two" if the player is among the top 22% in MLB Service Time of players in that group (rounded to the nearest whole number). And if  two or more players are tied with the same MLB Service Time just above the "Super Two" threshold, all of the players with that accrued MLB ST would get "Super Two" status even if that means the number of players with "Super Two" status exceeds 22%.   

UPDATED 9-9-2019 

Here is the Cubs 2019 post-season roster eligibility list:  

POST-SEASON ROSTER ELIGIBILITY RULES 

A club's Post-Season Eligibility List is established at midnight (Eastern) on August 31st.

A club's Active List (25-man roster) must be submitted to the MLB Commissioner prior to the start of the first game of each post-season series (Wild Card game, LDS, LCS, and World Series).

So with the Cubs selecting the contract of LHRP Danny Hultzen from AAA Iowa today, Hultzen becomes the Cubs first 2019 Draft-Excluded Player.  

In addition to being a Draft-Excluded Player (which limits what the Cubs can do with him in the off-season, especially after the conclusion of the Rule 5 Draft), Hultzen is also out of minor league options (so he can't be optioned to Iowa if he doesn't make the Cubs 2020 Opening Day 25-man roster), and he can elect free-agency if he is outrighted (because he has been outrighted previously in his career).

UPDATED 7/13: 

Players selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft (MLB Rule 4 Draft) are placed on a club's Negotiation List.

As things stand right now at the 2019 MLB All-Star Break.... 

The following Cubs have used up their last minor league option year in 2019 and thus will be out of options come Spring Training 2020 (presuming they are still on the Cubs 40-man roster):

7/5 RE-POST: I posted this about three months ago, but here it is again since we are within a month of the 2019 MLB trade deadline... 

4/9 ORIGINAL POST 


There were a couple of changes of note made to MLB Rules in 2019 (they were officially approved this week), one pertaining to Trade Assignment Waivers and the MLB Trade Deadline, and the other with regard to Outright Assignment Waiver claims. 

One change was reported (with much fanfare but without much detail) in the media, but the other one was not reported at all.

So here they both are (in somewhat greater detail).  

Sad news at Sloan Park Saturday night as informatiion was received that long-time Cubs Dominican Republic Area Scout Carlos Reyes was struck and killed by a car in Santo Domingo on Friday. 

Reyes was one of four Cubs Dominican Area Scouts (the Cubs also have a Dominican Scouting Coordinator). He was hired by the Cubs about twelve years ago after newly-hired Scouting Director Tim Wilken significantly expanded the Cubs international scouting foot-print (the Cubs previously had one Area Scout covering all of the Dominican Republic).  

Reyes signed dozens of Dominican players over the years, including OF Eloy Jimenez, INF Arismendy Alcantara, RHP Jose Rosario, RHP Pedro Araujo, OF Jonathan Sierra, RHP Yunior Perez, INF Luis Diaz, RHP Benjamin Rodriguez, and RHP Luis Ramos.

Per statistics compiled by the World Health Organization in 2016, the Dominican Republic has the highest rate of traffic-related fatalities per 100,000 population of any country in the Americas (Belize is a distant second). Cubs minor leaguers RHP Jose Zapata and OF Kevin Encarnacion (both signed by Reyes) were almost killed (and had their playing careers effectively destroyed) after being involved in a roll-over car crash in the Dominican in January 2014, and another Cubs minor leaguer (not signed by Reyes) -- 16-year old SS Vicente King -- was killed in a motorcycle crash in the Dominican in April 2017, less than two months before he was scheduled to make his pro debut in the DSL.  

6/16 UPDATE:

With just minutes left before the midnight (Eastern) deadline, the Cubs signed two more 2018-19 J-2 IFA (both from Mexico), bringing the total number of 2018-19 J-2 IFA signed by the Cubs to 39, including 21 since the Cubs acquired $750K in ISBP space from the Baltimore Orioles this past April in return for allowing the Orioles to keep 2017 Rule 5 draft pick RHRP Pedro Araujo.    

Here is what I saw this week from Craig Kimbrel's Spring Training in June at the Cubs Mesa facility:  

2019 AZL Opening Day is this coming Monday (6/17).