Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

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 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

What Would Tyler Colvin Do

It's your first start of the season, chance to impress the manager and the fans...Cubs need a pick-me up. Tommy Hanson, ace-in-training on the mound just struck out the side in the first. He unleashes a 95 mph fastball down the middle of the plate, might be the best pitch you see the entire at-bat. You calmly let it go for strike one. Bravo. Make him think you know something. Next pitch is another fastball but Hanson misses well inside. 1-1 now, and Hanson mixes it up with a slider but it's outside. A hitter's count and you know the fastball is probably coming. The catcher sets up away and Hanson rears back and fires. He misses his target...badly, ball is right in the lefty sweet spot down and low. You bring the hands in, uncoil the swing and *crack*, you know you hit it good. You're a rookie though, put your head down and start running. A muffled cheer and the ump twirls his finger, time to break out the home run trot but don't show up anybody or you'll get one in the ear next time.

Jesus Heyward ain't got nothing on you Tyler Colvin...well other than probably having a much better major league career. As for rookie theatrics, you're neck and neck.

The Good: Randy Wells goes 6 innings, giving up 6 hits, 2 walks and getting one strikeout and 3 inning-ending double plays, twice with a runner on third base and less than one out. That's some pitching magic. The bullpen throws three scoreless including Sean Marshall retiring two more batters and running his total to 13 straight batters to start the season. Carlos Marmol gives up a loud out to Eric Hinske in the 9th, but manages the 4-out save. Marlon Byrd hits his second home run of the season, on the road no less after I bitched about he didn't show much power away from the Ballpark when the Cubs signed him.

The Bad: Ryan Theriot is 0/11 without a walk out of the leadoff spot. Jeff Baker got 4 at-bats.

Minor League Watch: Andrew Cashner strikes out 10 in 4.1 IP giving up 2 walks and a 3-run HR before getting lifted. Starlin Castro goes 2/4 with a triple and an RBI in the same game as Tennessee wins 4-3. Jeff Gray pitches a scoreless inning for Iowa and Sam Fuld gets on-base twice out of the leadoff spot in a 6-3 loss. Daytona only manages a hit by Michael Brenly, but Rafael Dolis goes 5 innings with 5 K's and 0 BB's against 2 hits, but Daytona loses 3-0. Peoria wins 4-3 as Greg Rohan homers and Hak-Ju Lee walks and scores a run but goes 0/4 out of the leadoff spot. Don't forget you can view all the minor league updates clicking on the "Organizational Results" link underneath the Cubs boxscore on the right sidebar. The First Inning recap doesn't get compiled until the morning though.

Next Up: Cubs head to Cincinnati for a three-game set with Carlos Silva, Carlos Zambrano and Tom Gorzelanny scheduled to go against Homer Bailey, Aaron Harang and Mike Leake.

Comments

bus breaks down after the game, team stranded for 3 hours at stadium. Cashner struck out the first 7 batters tonight.

Caridad really humps it up there. He's my early front-runner for surprise Cub breakout. Colvin's got a pretty, compact swing and gets a lot of leverage. If Fuku can sprinkle some magic selectivity dust on him, look out.

In Atlanta, Jason Heyward fever is in full bloom. Did you know that so far in his big league career, Hayward is hitting better than Ken Griffey, Jr did at the same point in his career? It's true, I saw it on the news. Will the Chicago media follow that same path with Colvin? I understand he has better stats than Ted Williams had at a similar point in his career.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

It's just real hard to get excited about Colvin who sports a minor league .277 BA and a .320 OBP. Soriano sports a major league .278 BA and .326 OBP. Colvin is the Soriano of minor league ball. And we all know how stats tend to trend down in the transition to the majors. So what is he? A .250 hitter with a sub .300 OBP at the major league level? Ohhhh yay let me get excited about that. The Neifi of LF!

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

Yes Mike...Colvin=the Neifi of outfielders. He's 24. He's gained a little muscle, and maybe, after a torrid ST, some confidence. Before we label a player, entering what may be his first full season, as some hopeless 5th OF type..or as some type of savior. Lol... If he put up .280/.330/.480, and played solid defense, I'd take that, certainly. Would he be an All-Star? No. Could he be a solid player? Yes.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

One major massive difference between Theriot and Colvin. Theriot can take a walk which leads to a better transition to the majors. If a guy is walking as much as he strikes out, its a good bet that he can transfer that to the majors. Hitting ability then becomes the wildcard. Theriot had 260 walks and 264 SO's in the minors over his career. In the majors he sports 191 walks and 224 strikeouts. Theriot is way more likely to handle the transistion to the majors than Colvin who in his minor league career has 105 walks to 341 strikeouts. Even Theriot doesn't take a walk as well as he did in the minors but he is still close. However if your strikeout to walk ratio is hovering near 3 to 1 in the minors thats probably going to explode to 5 to 1 in the majors. You hope he can just keep it at his minor league levels but even a small drop in the K/BB ratio is catastrophic for a player like Colvin. Its not impossible he could be a good player, Soriano did it, but the examples of the ones who have succeeded despite this glaring flaw is few and far between. You see more successful players with good strikezone judgement than you do the way Colvin hits.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

Soriano in the minors hit .284 with a .331 OBP. His major league line stands at .278, .326. In the minors Soriano had nearly a 2 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio. In the majors it went up to a 3 to 1 ratio. Colvin is starting out at a 3 to 1 ratio which is around the area i would not seriously consider him a major league option. Someone will eventually mention a Ryan Howard but even despite his massive strikeouts he still keeps his walk to strikeout ration around 2 to 1, from the minors through the majors. The other case study would be Mark Reynolds who would best resemble a Tyler Colvin style hitter reaching the majors. He was close to a 3 to 1 ratio in the minors and now he is at 3.2 in the majors. What does a 3.2 ratio get you in the majors? It gets you about 220 strikeouts a year. It doesn't give you a great batting average but you better damn well respond with amazing power, and Colvin doesn't have anything remotely considered amazing power. So whats the excitement for a deeply flawed player? That his name isn't Alfonso Soriano? Because thats the only reason people are in love with Colvin, if everything was going on perfectly, none of you would give shit about Tyler Colvin or care if he ever made the roster. He isn't a Wieters, or Heyward where you don't care if he has a spot open now, but you deeply await his arrival to the majors. Call me when the Cubs system produces anything that could be considered better than what is projected from its major league players. The only viable case is for Starlin Castro, and thats mostly on the defensive end. The rest of the system is one big pile of shit and Colvin is cleanest pile of shit we have available, not exactly a good way of trying to win a championship. It sounds a lot like the Pirates way of building a team.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

If the facts don't suit your story, you just change them? Soriano's K to BB ratio was 2.76 to 1 in the minors. Including 3.4 to 1 the year before he got promoted. Colvins was 2.9 to 1 last year. Anyway, as discussed with Rob G about Colvin a few weeks back - K to BB ratio is a stupid statisic. Just look at K rate.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

HOLY CRAP!!! Whean has anyone considered Colvin a Heyward or Wieters? My only point has been, that writing off Colvin as "Neifi Perez of an outfielder" is premature. People are excited about Colvin because he came to spring training a little bigger and stronger than last year, and hit the crap out of the ball.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

more Fox News'ing... Soriano's minor league K:BB Ratio was 2.73 which is a helluva stretch to get nearly 2:1. people are probably excited about Colvin because he put on a bunch of muscle in the offseason, and showed some more power in the spring. but comparing Colvin vs. Soriano is just dumb all-around... if Colvin takes anyone's job it will be Fukudome and they'll probably both put up an OPS around .800 with the added disadvantage of Fukudome being a better defender and his OPS being driven moreso by OBP which the Cubs lineup desperately needs.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

yeah, Baseball Cube has Japanese stats and comes up with 2.70 K:BB ratio because it doesn't have the one outlier season in 1995. Both are missing 1996 bb and k totals unless he really didn't walk once or strike out once in 131 AB's. And using the Japanese stats are dumb unless you think Fukudome is going to be an 1.000 OPS player. BR.com has 2.73 for his actual minor league career including a few ab's on rehab which amount to 2 bb's and 1 k.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Whatever the case its still a worse ratio than Colvin's, and it still went up in the majors. You hope it doesn't get any worse than 3 to 1 with Colvin, but it will likely increase in the majors. It's a fine line between being productive with a ratio that bad and being worthless to your team. You better drive in runs and hit for power. I don't see Colvin doing anything like that. Your basically hoping that Colvin at his best can match Soriano at his worst.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

Let me further expand upon that last paragraph. The franchise as a whole gains nothing if the matchup between Colvin and Soriano equals the same end result. One of these things need to happen... 1)Colvin needs to morph into something he never has been or 2) Soriano needs to return to something resembling his old form. The question then becomes what do you believe? Do you believe Colvin can far exceed expectations to render Soriano useless? Or do you think Soriano even at his worst is still a better hitter than Colvin and that Soriano can bounce back? I much more confident in Sorianos ability to bounce back than wishing and hoping Colvin can do something far exceeding his reputation.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

I know other folks made the comparison, but Colvin isn't battling Soriano for anything. If he takes anyone's job it will be Fukudome's, followed by Byrd.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Yes I know, but people want to kick Soriano to the Curb ASAP and Colvin is the flavor of the month to do it. Soriano will be playing for us for a long time, it's in the best interests of the franchise for him to return to form. I am really arguing over something that won't happen, lol. And Colvin is kinda like my "Really he is the best we can offer from our minors?" Ughh i am just disgusted with the hitting side of development from drafting to scouting of players. I just think Colvin is the best of the crappy players who can help us now. It doesn't automatically make him good because he is the best available in this system to help us now. it just means the whole system is a pile of junk at the moment.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

"You hope it doesn't get any worse than 3 to 1 with Colvin." Pre-elbow surgery, Colvin spent a season at AA. That was two seasons ago. 44 walks, 101 strikeouts. That's not 3 to 1. I was never a fan of Colvin's minor-league numbers. I rooted for him for the Cubs' sake and Wilken's sake: a first-round pick is a terrible thing to waste. But I noticed he had 36 hits in spring training (plus a couple more, I think, in Arizona last weekend), and that Lou kept saying he looked like a major leaguer, and now he's taking starts away from guys making $31 million between them. On the telecast I was watching last night, Jim Kaat was talking about a conversation with Piniella where they were comparing Colvin to Paul O'Neill, whom Kaat said had the most beautiful swing he ever saw. I don't remember Lou saying that about Felix Pie, whom he never liked at all with a bat in his hand. Your stuff about "flavor of the month" doesn't apply to Piniella. He hasn't liked any young Cub outfielder before.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

It's kind of unfair to compare Colvin to Soriano, I mean Soriano is making 18 million dollars this year, and he was given that contract for a reason. I suspect the only reason we're making the comparison is because Colvin played LF yesterday and hit an awesome home run. The real question is, is Soriano ever going to produce meaningfully in the Cubs lineup again? I would be very very surprised if Soriano doesn't go on a tear at some point. When that happens, it will answer the Soriano/Colvin comparison. As for Colvin and minor league stats, I've said it before, some guys will hit 320 in AAA and come to the big leagues and hit 210... other guys can hit 275 in the minors and come up and hit 270 in the majors. Any guesses why? A big league off-speed pitch is completely different than what you see in the minors. This is what happened to Felix Pie, he has a long, absurd swing that he has to start before he picks up the pitch. The result? A bunch of Ks. You all remember me bitching about Felix Pie back when everyone was drinking the koolaid... Colvin has a nice, powerful, compact swing going for him. He keeps his head in the ball and doesn't load up. What he has going against him is he's a free-swinger, but hey, the big leagues have a lot of free swingers that seem to make it work.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

Soriano's minor league line according to baseball cube: .270/.312/.429 Not saying the comparison makes sense, just using somebody that has been defended as an example. If I sparked this (not sure I did or not) I'd like to point out that I was just saying Colvin should be given credit for his D (and to some degree his speed) when being compared to other players.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

I think you would be wise to stop comparing Colvin to Soriano. It is true that he has not done the same things at the major league level as Soriano. At this point in Soriano's career, however, I am not sure that Colvin isn't the better all-around player. That is NOT saying much. And I am not suggesting that Colvin is going to be a great player. All you have to be in order to be better than Soriano at this point is average...

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

That was an interesting play. A seasoned veteran who hits a ball in that spot will trot to 2nd base knowing it was a double... a seasoned left fielder would trot over there assuming it was a double and let it roll to the wall. Yet, the runner was busting ass to second base and the left fielder was busting ass to get to the ball. It's still turned out a double, but much more fun to watch.

".well other than probably having a much better major league career." You can tell this after three games? You truly are magical, ROB G. Nice lede today, anyway, and terrific re-cap.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Ty Colvin has a sweet swing.

So I've pretty much gone from "Colvin is probably just another Cub bust" to "Colvin is the best thing ever" pretty much in one day. Yeah, I'm THAT fickle.

I'm not going to put any more emphasis on Colvin's minor league efforts than I am on this one home run. I'm pretty sure Colvin was hurt some in the minors, right? I think he has a pretty sweet swing, and putting some meat on his bones was a nice plan of attack for his mediocre minor league numbers. I do think you can teach a kid some patience at the plate to a limited degree -- if nothing else just insist he not swing at the first pitch so he can just watch it come in. But Rudy isn't the type that teaches patience at the plate from what I've read. He's into aggressive hitting. At this point in his career, if he can hit a slider, he's already better than Soriano. The real comparison we'll never be able to make is with Heyward, who looks, so far, pretty special. Still, my Cubs history tells me not to get excited about Colvin, just because the Cubs list of successful prospects is small enough to write down on a Dusty Baker toothpick.

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

Sure - I don't disagree with that. Maybe you don't want to have expectations. My point is just that if you want to be able to have realistic expectations, you can look at past performance. Many seem to want to believe that Colvin is much better than he is because they are ignoring his mediocre minor league numbers.

The Bad: Ryan Theriot is 0/11 without a walk out of the leadoff spot. Jeff Baker got 4 at-bats.
But on the positive side, 2B Andres Blanco is 0/4 with a fielding error.

SP Chris Young to miss next start with "tightness" via twitter and Tracy Ringolsby, not sure where the tightness is..

I believe the most important statistic on Colvin is that he's 24 years old. Who the hell knows what he's going to do in the show this year or next 2-3 years. Most (emphasis on most) players hit their peak around, what 27? Colvin supposedly put on 24 lbs. of muscle this off-season. Let's assume for the moment that's a legitimate weight gain and he hasn't been drinking from the Albert Pujols magic fountain. TRN hit it on the head - minor league stats are not definitive in predicting MLB results. I hope Colvin has a helluva season. Hell, I hope he wins Rookie of the Year, but I'm not going to hold my breath or lament the rain if he doesn't and spends the summer in the PCL. I will say compared to Soriano's numbers (let alone Fukudome) - how far off would Colvin be if he got 500 AB's? The Cubs brass are saying money won't determine who plays or who doesn't. Well, Colvin could be a real barometer for that couldn't he?

[ ]

In reply to by George Altman

Nothing is definitive in the world of baseball. You just look for what is most likely to happen based off of past experiences and trends to produce major league talent. I am gonna stick to looking at the strikeout to walk ratio of minor leaguers as compared to the rest of their skills and decide who has a better chance in the majors. It's a hell of a lot better than the Cubs drafting of their athletes, and then praying they morph into something they are not. The Cubs should start by drafting baseball players.

CarrieMuskat: #cubs lineup vs #reds ss theriot, cf colvin, 1b lee, 3b ramirez, rf nady, lf soriano, 2b fontenot, c hill, p silva

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

Couple interesting items in that lineup. Colvin replaces Byrd right after Byrd hits a home run. Looks like Piniella means to keep Colvin circulating in the outfield, no matter what. And Hill behind the plate for the second time in four games. If you think who's catching makes a difference to the pitcher [Wes--that's your cue], then I can see where you want Hill in there for Silva. But doesn't that apply to Zambrano tomorrow? Or every time Marmol comes in? When doesn't it apply?

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

they said they'd give Colvin 2-3 starts a week, best thing to do is make it continuous. Seems he wanted Nady to get a start as well since I can't even think when the first lefty is set to go against the Cubs (probably next week against the Brewers). Hill does have an astounding W-L record as a starter, although the link to him starting and the Cubs winning is tenuous at best. I don't know how well Silva holds runners, but the Reds are middle of the pack at stealing bases, so maybe that's the connection. Teams usually don't run on Z and Gorz is a lefty. Or Lou's already tired of Soto like Barrett...

"...he'd make a plan and he'd follow through, that's what Tyler Colvin'd do." keeps running through my head. Also, my parents aren't coming to Seattle afterall for the Mariners-Cubs series. If anyone needs (they's the pricey ones) tickets, I'm your man.

colvin...a mid-power (20hr/30double type), low ob%, high average, good D, contact hitter. marlon byrd...repeat. there's not a lot to hate about colvin except the fact that he swings so much might make him a bit streaky. he's still capable of hitting doubles/homers, but it's not like he projects to be a top performer with his power. he can play CF/LF... thing is it looks like anyone he may replace could be just wheels spinning this year...there's a lot of similar-level talent with their own pros/cons. it'd be nice for colvin to see more ABs, but at the same time it's not like he's being blocked from greatness while he scraps for those limited ABs. when nady is 100% it's going to get even more interesting. nice problem to have, imo. hehe.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

It's not that nice a problem, imo. There'd be no nice problem here if it weren't for the underperformance on Soriano's part and the fairly replaceable quality of our other outfielders. Lots of "meh" in the outfield, especially for the money. But that's not news. The reason I get more excited about Colvin than Byrd, for instance, is really just that he is a relative unknown, so I can at least hope that the extra muscle and his youth means he could improve.

Kevin Gregg got his first save for Toronto, in a 7-6 win vs Baltimore. 3 up/3down, 2 K's, including Markakis and Tejada. Naaawww...I won't miss him EVEN if he gets 50 friggin' saves.

Colvin WALKS and scores on an ARam SF Wooooooooooooooooooooooo.....Colvin OBP to the Moon, Alice!

Recent comments

  • 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.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • 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...

  • crunch (view)

    pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"

    mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit.  nice.

    he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons.  he's not lean, but he looks healthier.  good for him.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.

  • videographer (view)

    AZ Phil, speaking of Jordan Wicks having better command when he tires a bit, I remember reading about Dennis Lamp 40 years ago and his sinker that was better after 3 or 4 innings when he would tire a bit and get more sink with a little less speed on the pitch.  The key for Lamp was getting to the 4th inning.