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

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood for Rockies

Esmil Rogers threw five innings of one-hit shutout ball, and the Colorado Rockies defeated a split squad of Cubs 4-2 in Cactus League action at Dwight Patterson at HoHoKam Park in sunny & warm Mesa, AZ, this afternoon.

box score (Mesa)

Randy Wells got the start for the Cubs, and allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits, a walk, and a HBP, with two strikeouts, in five innings of work (69 pitches - 45 strikes, 7/4 GO/FO). He pitched very well, retiring ten of the first eleven men he faced before the Rockies strung together back-to-back-singles and a sacrifice fly to plate a run in the top of the 4th.

Colorado scored two more runs in the top of the 5th, as Wells walked the lead-off hitter (Chris Iannetta) and then surrendered a one-out single to Hernan Iribarren, putting runners on 1st and 2nd. Rockies pitcher Esmil Rogers showed bunt on the first pitch, but then swung away on what looked to be a botched butcher-boy play on the second pitch. As Rogers swung & missed, the two Rockies runners were left hung out to dry in the base-paths. Cub catcher Geovany Soto opted to throw behind Iannetta (who was caught between 2nd & 3rd), but it was a bad decision because Iannetta was able to advance to 3rd base easily, and then Iribarren moved up to 2nd base on the unnecesary late throw to 3rd (Iannetta was already standing on the bag). Rogers hit a sacrifice fly to LF to score Iannetta from 3rd, and then Iribarren scored from 2nd (unearned run) when Alfonso Soriano threw the ball into the 3rd base dugout, for some unknown reason.  

Carlos Marmol worked the 6th and walked the bases loaded, getting out of the jam by inducing a pop-out to end the inning and leave the bases jammed. Marmol threw 31 pitches in his one ining, but only 15 were strikes.

RHP Kyle Smit pitched the 7th and actually got four outs (three ground balls and a strikeout), the 4th out thanks to a Blake DeWitt throwing error on what should have been an easy 4-3 GO.  Smit was one of 18 players cut today, and he should be the closer at Tennessee at the start of the season.  

RHP Justin Berg (who was not cut today despite having a terrible Spring) looked as shaky as usual, throwing 1.2 IP (37 pitches - only 21 strikes), walking two and allowing one hit. He did not allow a run. Jeff Stevens got the final out of the 9th.

Meanwhile, Esmil Rogers was outstanding for the Rockies, completely shutting-down the Cubs for five innings. He faced the minimum number of hitters (15) in his five-inning stint, allowing just a Carlos Pena one-out opposite field single with one out in the 2nd, but the slow-footed Pena was out by a mile trying to stretch the single into a double.

Facing RHRP Matt Belisile, Jim Adduci and PH Scott Moore lined consecutive one-out singles in the bottom of the 6th, but both were left stranded when Matt Camp flied out and Blake DeWitt grounded out to end the inning.   

The Cubs got two more runners on base against Rockies closer Hustonn Street in the 8th, as Koyie Hill reached base on an E-4 with one out and Adduci singled to center. But Ryan Flaherty flied out to the base of the Batter's Eye "Green Monster" in dead CF, and Matt Camp popped-out to RF to end the inning.

A cadre of Cubs minor leaguers attempted to mount a last-ditch rally in the bottom of the 9th.

Down 4-0 and facing RHP Edgmer Escalona, Blake DeWitt struck out swinging to open the frame, but Tony Campana lined a single to CF, and advanced to 3rd when Josh Vitters roped a line-drive double down the LF line. Steve Clevenger plated Campana with a sac fly to left, and then Jae-Hoon Ha knocked-in Vitters, rifling a two-out line-drive double into the LF corner. That brought up Koyie Hill (representing the tying run), but Hill struck out on a 3-2 pitch to end the game.   

Meanwhile, Welington Castillo drove-in three runs with a two-run double and a solo HR, Brett Jackson and Tyler Colvin smacked solo home runs, and five Cubs pitchers combined to toss a three-hitter, as the other squad of Cubs defeated the A's 8-1 at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. (W. Castillo is now hitting 692/733/1.000 with one HR and five RBI, while Koyie Hill is 1-23 and hitting 042/083/087).  

box score (Phoenix Municipal Stadium)  

Andrew Cashner got the start for the Cubs split squad in Phoenix, allowing one run on two hits (the first two men he faced in the game), and three walks (including the last two men he faced in the 4th before being relieved with one out). I don't know Cashner's pitch count because I wasn't at this game, but Cubs starters are throwing between 60-70 pitches per-game at this point in Spring Training, so he must have thrown a lot of pitches in just 3.1 IP.  He did get a ton of ground balls, though (6/1 GO/FO, including one GIDP).

Comments

Second time in three days that Stevens has cleaned up a mess in the late innings - probably a small sample size but maybe he's starting to figure things out a bit.

On the Garza trade front, Tampa Bay optioned Brandon Guyer to AAA last Friday, and Robinson Chirinos was optioned to AAA today. Sam Fuld (who is out of minor league options) and Chris Archer are still in big league camp with the Rays, although Fuld is hitting just 091/200/091. Archer has an 0.00 ERA but a 1.62 WHIP, mainly because he has issued five walks in just 4.1 IP. He has not yet been stretched-out as a starter.

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In reply to by The Real Neal

You're using history to know that Marquis eventually had problems. That's a dumb argument and a bad comparison. I could make the same idiotic argument. I would trade Dan Plesac for Andy Pettitte. Wow, I win that trade. That makes me look like a genius. Back to reality... Pitcher A - 60 ip Pitcher B - 200 ip Either one could get hurt at any time. What is more valuable to a team, a pitcher who throws 60 good innings or a pitcher who throws 200 good innings? Easy choice. End of argument. Tom Verducci had a good article a few weeks back about how overrated closers are. Baseball history shows it's easy to find a closer, it's much more difficult to find good starting pitching. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/03/01/ranger… From 1996-2010 there have been 43 pitchers who threw 200 ip with an era under 3.00 During the same period there have been 90 pitchers who saved 30 games in a season. To quote Verducci: "That's not the number of times that those thresholds have been reached; it's the number of pitchers to reach them, and the 30-save closer group includes such names as Rocky Biddle, Derrick Turnbow, Danny Kolb and Shawn Chacon. Basically, it's twice as easy to find a guy to save 30 games as it is to find a frontline starter." Closers are asked to pitch 1 inning at a time, often coming in at the start of an inning with nobody on base. It's a much easier job than being a successful starting pitcher. The numbers prove it. And obviously, if Archer is used in relief by Tampa that must mean he would have won 40 games a year as a Cub in the rotation. I've never seen such consistent complaining by people over trading never-was and unknowns with extremely limited minor league success for a legitimate starting pitcher with a track record of major league success. OMG, we traded a weak hitting A-ball SS, a 1 year minor league SP, and two 27 years old's who can't crack the majors for a 200 ip quality SP. What the hell was Hendry thinking!!???

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In reply to by Sweet Lou

I wonder if the other teams had dedicated closers, though. What happened in 1957 when a team came back in the 9th (on the road) to take a one run lead? He also lists the 1950's Yankees and Ryne Duren as an example. In 1958 when Duren lead the league in "Saves" he finished 33 of 44 games he appeared in. The team had 53 complete games, so in the non complete games Duren got a save in 20 of 101 "chances", about 20%. I am sure the percentage he got in games that they won, which weren't complete games is much higher. Last year the Cubs closer got a save in 38 of 161 chances or 23%. It's almost like, Posnasnki doesn't know what he's talking about...

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In reply to by Sweet Lou

He used ALL games where the team had a lead going into the ninth. But closers are usually only used when going into the ninth with a one, two or three run lead. I suspect that teams going into the ninth with a lead larger than that win almost all the time, closer or no. What he should do is compare the success of a closer going into the ninth with only a run run lead, with the teams before closers became popular going into the ninth with a one run lead. And compare the same one run figures for a top closer like Rivera against one run figures for teams with the worst closer. Then we could make a better decision.

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In reply to by Paul Noce

Why would the manner in which the Rays use Archer determine if it was a good deal? If they use Archer as a reliever because they have a wealth of starters, that doesn't mean he wouldn't have been a starter with the Cubs. In my opinion, the value of a deal should be judged on (1) does it help the team meet the objective for making the trade (i.e. rebuild farm system, free up cash, make run at division title), and (2) did you receive comparable value for the players you traded (i.e. had you offered them to other teams, would you receive more/same/less than you did receive). I think the Cubs failed on both. On point one, even if my opinion that Garza is overrated and will struggle at Wrigley is wrong, he doesn't give the Cubs a legitimate shot of winning the division (at least on objective analysis this offseason, which is when the trade needed to be judged). Thus we traded prospects for a few more wins and no championship. On the second point, this is much vaguer and hard to quantify, but I think the package we gave should bring more than a starting pitcher who has had a few pretty good seasons, but really has not been dominant. I know I overvalue prospects, but I would take the potential of Archer alone over what Garza will provide the Cubs.

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In reply to by Tito

Unless you can package all the crappy veterans in the deal, trading for more vets isn't going to help. We have holes at 1b/2b/LF - with below avg production. As fun as Marlon Byrd is, he put up below avg numbers for a CF last year. (Which would likely have been better if he was surrounded by better players). 3b is a question mark but has the chance to be ok for the season if ARam gets his head on straight and can also avoid injuries. SS could again be a defensive problem, but at least if we're going to stink we can give Castro another year of experience and see if he shows any improvement on d. Our rotation is better with Garza but Z is a question mark, and production from the 4-5 slots are also questionable. The best position is, barring injuries, our late inning relievers (Marmol/Wood/Marshall). I don't know what trade we could possibly make that puts us in contention. The best thing that can happen to the Cubs is probably some serious injuries to our competition. Otherwise, I can't see us making a deal that benches Soriano, Pena, Ramirez, or Byrd, and it's not likely we make a deal to improve 2b.

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In reply to by John Beasley

Does Garza give us a better chance in 2011? In theory yes, but the odds of us winning the division still are so low that the increase in neglible and therefore the answer statistically is no. Does Garza give us a better chance over the next three years? Maybe. I don't think Garza is that good, actually, and think he will likely perform slightly worse than he did last year with Tampa. Even if I am wrong, though, we still don't get much better overall over the next three years without development of prospects (or signing Pujols). Without such development, our ends are still minimal that we will be a division contender next year or in 2013. Once we say we are counting on this development to make us a contender, then we need to consider the prospects we traded and their development. Archer's ceiling is to be a better pitcher than Garza -- will he reach this? Likely not. But hard to say now that we are better in 2013 with Garza than a 23 year old Archer and the money saved from the Garza deal. Throw in Chirinos (who perhaps plays with us, perhaps traded for another player), the uncertainty of Guyer (finally healthy last year, dominated AA, then hit .340 in winter ball) and the potential lead-off speedy SS of Lee...hard to say we are better. The trade makes sense if Texas does it. It doesn't make sense for the Cubs.

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In reply to by springs

Why would the manner in which the Rays use Archer determine if it was a good deal? ------------------ If Archer is this 15-20 win machine so many people on this board somehow think he has become after 1 standout season in the minors, the Rays wouldn't be using him in relief. There was talk about his future being in the bullpen before the trade was made as some analysts thought he would be better off in relief. As I said before, any team in baseball would trade a closer for a 200 ip 26 yr old SP who is under team control for 3 more years any day of the week.

AZ PHIL: Thanks for the local vibe as always. Are Jim Hendry, and, to a lesser extent Mike Quade really that hardheaded and blinded not to see that Koyie Hill is not good at baseball anymore? Im assuming the team is not gonna carry three catchers, right? With the team coming off being one of baseball's worst offensive clubs in 2010, does Castillo or MaxRam make the pitcher's pitches slower - or - do they not speak a lick of english?

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In reply to by Ryno

That's a very good question. I looked at passed balls and wild pitches recently for various mostly NL catchers including Soto and Hill and several Cub prospects and ex-prospects. Wild pitches are blamed on the pitcher, of course, but many are preventable by the catcher. Steve Clevenger, e.g., blocked three pitches in the dirt in the ninth inning Sunday in a tie game versus the Dodgers. I produced a chart that you can see here. Baseball Reference gives wild pitches for catchers in the majors but not in the minors, so I didn't have those numbers for Castillo and Ramirez, except for 5 games last September in Castillo's case and 30 games for Ramirez. We know how many passed balls Castillo had in the minors, though, and his rate was almost twice the minor-league rates of Chirinos, Soto, Ramiriz and Hill, and more than double the rates of Luis Flores, a Cub minor-league defensive stud, and Clevenger. It's a tiny data sample, but just in those five major league games, Castillo "witnessed" four wild pitches, almost one per game. So I'm not sure Castillo is ready to be a useful backup catcher. Now Clevenger, that's a different story.

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In reply to by VirginiaPhil

Very nice analysis. I don't think it is fair to compare minor league catchers (who probably see a bit more in terms of wildness) to major league catchers. As far as K Hill goes, I mean a 250 batting average over a 190 batting average is real nice and all, but stopping a slider in the dirt when you got a guy standing at 3rd base in the ninth inning... those are the kinds of things that save ball games. THIS is his job. If, on the other hand, you are depending on K Hill's bat in the 9th inning, then I would say the manager has made a mistake and I would not blame K Hill. This is NOT his job. Keeping runners close and nailing them when they do make an attempt... that's a whole other matter. Geo is dreadful.

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In reply to by VirginiaPhil

That is some very nice collection there. I also agree with your (unstated?) hypothesis that passed balls and wild pitches are often the same pitch, separated only by the catcher or pitcher's repuation and the official scorer's preference. It's nice to see what I've been saying about Soto put into actual numbers. It would have been a little more fare, I believe to do the rates based on defensive innings, and not starts (you could have then multiplied the rate by 9 to give convert to 'games' rate). Koyie, for instance, counter-intuitivley averages more innings per start than Soto. FWIW, Chirinos had 3 passed balls in ST games.

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In reply to by The E-Man

The other issue is that Castillo will be just 24 this April, and has only played in essentially less than three full seasons of minor league games (363). If you think that this is as good as he gets, then putting him as a backup to Soto will be an improvement over Hill. But if you think he has the chance to be a starter some day, putting him in the big leagues now and as a backup playing once a week is a quick way to kill his development. A back-up catcher might be worth, what, 1-2 wins for the team a year? Maybe. So the gain of adding him now is not that great. But if you keep him in AAA and Soto gets injured, then you can call up Castillo who has been playing everyday, rather than having your back-up start and calling up someone else from the minors to be the backup. And if later in the season they are in the pennant race and Hill is hitting under .200, you can release him then and call up a hot Castillo who has been playing everyday. If you make this move now, and then Castillo hits .190 off the bench and in spot starts, then you are screwed because you have no fallbacks and you might have hurt his long-term development.

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In reply to by The E-Man

Submitted by The E-Man on Wed, 03/16/2011 - 6:56am. AZ PHIL: Thanks for the local vibe as always. Are Jim Hendry, and, to a lesser extent Mike Quade really that hardheaded and blinded not to see that Koyie Hill is not good at baseball anymore? Im assuming the team is not gonna carry three catchers, right? With the team coming off being one of baseball's worst offensive clubs in 2010, does Castillo or MaxRam make the pitcher's pitches slower - or - do they not speak a lick of english? ======================================== E-MAN: The only way the Cubs would carry three catchers is if they combine the 5th OF slot (R. Johnson/F. Perez) with the utility middle-infielder slot (Barney/Ojeda), and Matt Camp is the only one around who can do both. So if the Cubs were to keep Camp on the Opening Day roster, he could be the back-up SS, late inning defensive replacement for Soriano in LF, and PR. It's just that although he has played there a lot in AAA, Camp is a below-average defensive SS (he bobbles balls and has a Theriot Arm). He is much better at 2B or (especially) CF. Bob Dernier LOVES Matt Camp as a CF. If the Cubs kept Camp, they could release R. Johnson and Ojeda and option F. Perez and Barney to AAA. As I've said before, if it was up to me, I'd play Barney at SS, Castro, at 2B, and drop F. Perez, R. Johnson, Ojeda, and either DeWitt or Baker (probably DeWitt, because he has options left). That would allow the Cubs to keep both Barney and Castro, with Camp the combo IF-OF-PR (with Camp's shakiness at SS less of a liability because Castro could be shifted back there when necessary), and then there would be an opening for a 3rd catcher (M. Ramirez). But of course that is not going to happen. If Cub pitchers had their way, Koyie Hill would be the #1 catcher. They really like the way he calls games and receives pitches. I don't think pitchers care much about a catcher's offensive contribution or even if he can throw out base-stealers (they probably should, but they don't). It's just that a certain catcher can sometimes provide a pitcher with a comfort level that's not there with another catcher. The most obvious example of this would be if a certain catcher gives a pitcher confidence to throw a strikeout pitch in the dirt with men on base (like Dempster's splitter or Marmol's slider), or if a catcher can cheat when he frames a pitch, or when a catcher can out-think a hitter. Actually the young catcher who gets high marks in the catcher-psych-out-the-hitter dept is Steve Clevenger. Pitchers like throwing to him even though he is still a bit stiff back there and doesn't have the best arm. That said, pitchers do not have to be given (and probably should not be given) the right to pick and choose their catcher. As it is now, Geovany Soto is the starting catcher because of what he brings to the table offensively (he is probably the Cubs best offensive player) and he is at least passable-average defensively. But management gives Cub pitchers their guy (K. Hill) as the back-up, and the pitchers are happy with that. I think Hendry and Quade probably can see very clearly (as we all can) that K. Hill is a slug at the plate, but they don't care. If it was up to me, I'd have Soto play 1B on days he's not catching (to keep his bat in the lineup) and have a 3rd catcher (either W. Castillo or M. Ramirez) who can be the starting catcher (and hit better than K. Hill, or at least hit with more power) when Soto plays 1B. But that's not going to happen, either. Welington Castillo projects as a frontline MLB catcher. He has the best arm of all the catchers in the Cubs organization, and he slugged nearly 500 at AAA last season at age 23. But he has had a history of showing off his arm with unnecessary pick-off attempts (at all three bases) that sometimes have resulted in throwing errors and led to unearned runs scoring, and his receiving still needs polish (he racks up Passed Balls like Frequent Flyer Miles). He did have some trouble with English earlier in his career, but that is no longer an issue. So W. Castillo has shown improvement in all areas, and he is now probably fairly close to being ready to be an MLB catcher. I just don't think the Cubs want him to be the #2 guy in Chicago in 2011 when he can be at Iowa getting regular playing time as the #1 guy there, because he still has some rough spots that need polish and he can only get that with regular playing time. Max Ramirez is more of an offense-first back-up catcher type, and if you take M. Ramirez over Hill, you're taking offense (especially XBH power) over defense (although both have below-average arms), but there is no guarantee that M. Ramirez will hit at the MLB level. He almost certainly would be an offensive upgrade over K. Hill, but his defense is below-average in all areas, and the Cubs care about that, perhaps more than they should. Still, I am disapointed that M. Ramirez hasn't gotten more playing time so far.

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In reply to by Arizona Phil

The most obvious example of this would be if a certain catcher gives a pitcher confidence to throw a strikeout pitch in the dirt with men on base (like Dempster's splitter or Marmol's slider), or if a catcher can cheat when he frames a pitch, or when a catcher can out-think a hitter. For whatever it's worth, and I know this is the Cubs' pitchers (and many others) proporting this fantasy and not AZ Phil, there's no evidence that game calling skill (and pitch framing would fall into this) exists. A really great and free (I think) read on it for those of us with a half an hour to kill: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=432#conclusions Though we would colloquially say that game-calling doesn’t exist, it’s more accurate to say that if there is a true game-calling ability, it lies below the threshold of detection. There is no statistical evidence for a large game-calling ability, but that doesn’t preclude that a small ability. For example, a genuine game-calling ability that reduces a pitcher’s ERA by 0.01, resulting in a savings of about 1.6 runs per year for the entire team and could be masked by the statistical variance in the sample size we have to work with. Players would need to play thousands more games than they actually do to have enough data to successfully detect such a skill statistically. *Edit - Actually, now that I look at it, he's bungled the logic a bit. I like that Joe Girardi was really bad and Damno Berryhill was really good, though.

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In reply to by The Real Neal

We know that Hill likes to give advice to pitchers. We know it, because it sometimes spills over into the press. Many catchers (Soto?), if they have any thoughts whatever about pitching, keep it to themselves. Let's suppose that Hill's advice to pitchers is good advice. If you say that has no value, what do pitching coaches get paid for? What's so great about having Maddux around? If you say, make him a coach, then, and free up his roster spot, I would say that that isn't too far off. Meanwhile, pitchers probably don't mind having a coach behind the plate giving the signs.

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In reply to by The Real Neal

Well, everybody is replaceable, even Koyie Hill. I'm just not sure that Castillo (too many passed balls) and Ramirez (too many stolen bases) are suitable defensively. I was impressed by Clevenger last Sunday on WGN. Two late-inning singles including one that started the winning rally. Three blocks (or "saved" wild pitches) in the top of the ninth, two with the bases loaded. Average arm, no worse than Soto/Hill. Looks like the best of all Cub catchers (save Flores, but it's close) at avoiding passed balls. Dependable hitter, mostly singles. Pitchers like him, acc. to AZ Phil, apparently for most of the same reasons they like Hill. He's the perfect back-up, isn't he? I don't think he'd get stale on the bench. He looks like he could roll out of bed and go up there and hit a single.

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In reply to by navigator

Going into '09, though, Theriot says he was asked to be something different. The Cubs wanted him to swing away more, put away his patience in favor of hitting the ball farther. He did the first part -- drawing 22 fewer walks and striking out 35 more times. He did hit for a little more power, but not enough to make up for how much less often he was getting on base. Theriot became a less effective offensive player, and in 2010 it just got worse.
I don't know how much I trust Theriot's word, but sounds like standard operating procedure for the dumb-ass Cubs. On the other hand, they had just brought in Fukudome and signed Bradley that offseason, so clearly some patience at the plate was being seeked out.

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In reply to by navigator

A brief follow up: Riot batted lead off today and went 0/2 to lower his BA to .166 while walking twice. (So far this ST he's walked 7 times and struck out once in something like 43 PA's.) LaRussa may want him to be aggressively selective at the plate but it looks like the Riot Plan is just to try to walk as often as possible while not striking out.

fascinating stuff... http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2011/3/16/2054577/how-long-does-it-tak… I'll jump to the conclusion, read the article for the methodology, "top prospects" are considerd BA Top 100 from 1990-2003. Prospects usually make you wait. They rarely have even league average seasons right away. Although it is unclear how much of this is because they are not yet average talent players, or because they are not given the opportunity to show how good they are over a full season of regular playing time. Most top prospects (58.6%) blossom in their second or third major league season. But for any prospect, there’s a significant chance that he’ll blossom anywhere from his first to fifth season. Top pitching prospects have their first league average MLB season a little earlier than position player prospects. On average, you have to wait until a position player’s third season, after about 120 games and 440 PA for his first league average season. On average, you have to wait until a pitcher’s second or third season, after about 33 games, 19 starts and 130 IP for his first league average season. Age at first MLB call up is not a meaningful variable in how long it takes a top prospect to succeed in the majors. Better prospects (by BA rank) succeed a little more quickly than lesser prospects, but the difference is not great.

from the retarded as hell "yanks looking at silva" front... i.nova threw 59 pitches of goodness today (he was given an 85 pitch limit leash, but didn't need it)...add colon's decent outings (and velocity) to the mix and it doesn't look good for that rumor.

Brewers @ Mariners a-a-a-nd Milton Bradley in a complete meltdown after a called strike three he didn't like. Tossed out of the game in the third inning and later grabbed by manager Eric Wedge in the dugout and escorted to the showers.

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In reply to by navigator

Nice pitch. Close enough to the strike zone that you don't take it and hope for a ball with two strikes. Milton has been given some bad calls in the past, call it ump conspiracy or whatever, but this isn't really one of those. It was close enough. I remember the call he got in his first game as a Cub... that was truly a shitty call. But arguing over it in a spring training game... dude... man up.

carrie's mailbag... Why don't the Cubs let Welington Castillo back up Geovany Soto? All I ever see Castillo do is hit. I can't stand to watch another .203 year from Koyie Hill. Yes, Hill handles the staff well. But he simply cannot hit. And defensively, if we can handle 20-plus errors out of Starlin Castro, Castillo will not lose us any games. What's the deal? -- Andrew E., Chicago A catcher's first priority is to handle the pitchers, which is what makes Hill so valuable. He's had a major impact on the young pitchers, such as Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner. The Cubs aren't that strong defensively up the middle, so Castillo's defense is key. As for Castro, let's hope the hard work he and the coaches are doing will help him avoid another 20-plus errors. http://m.mlb.com/chc/news/article/2011031616977420/

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In reply to by Paul Noce

This happened recently in my vicinity. A Lincoln barge full of ladies aged 77-99 was driving down the highway and the 88 year old driver pulled to the left to pass a slower car in front when she suddenly noticed that there already was a car in the lane next to her. She panicked and pulled hard right and the car went off the road and down an embankment at 65 mph. Rolled twice on the way down too. Car was crushed but everybody survived. They all were wearing belts.

suppose to pitch today

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In reply to by Rob G.

The guy doesn't understand the survivor effect. However, also notice that pitchers with "terrible" ground-ball rates perform better in ERA than pitchers with "below-average" and nearly as well as "above-average" ground-ball rates. Because the guys who give up a lot of home runs, and don't strike out a lot of guys never reach the majors. Really the article is an indictment of why WHIP is a stupid stat to use, because it punishes people who get outs via double plays.

gives up a 2-run HR to Suzuki, then fails to get a sac bunt down with Fuku on 1st, followed by Baker GIDP.

Soto HR, 2-run HR by Soriano, 2-run HR by R. Johnson gave Cubs the lead Wood, Marshall and a F. Perez error give the runs back. 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth and C. Jackson wins it with a double, 6-5 A's

Rob Whitenack will be the Trey McNutt of 2011. There might not be room for him in the Tennessee Opening Day starting rotation (he is blocked by McNutt-Dolis-Cabrera-Rusin-Raley), but he will begin the season as the #1 starter at Daytona. He has been an extra pitcher at several Cubs Cactus League games but hasn't gotten into a game yet. He has a killer knuckle-curve. If I was making a Cubs Top 15 Prospect list right now, Whitenack would be in the Top 10.

I would take a flyer as long as you don't have to take on any money other than mlb minimum. Dewitt has an option left, send him down to work on defense. Castillo might fill lead off role and might improve with Jarimillo.

fwiw, UZR/150 numbers since 2008: -9.5 (2008), -12.7, 6.3 BR's defensive numbers: -23, -6, -3 and he hasn't had a good offensive season since about 2006. -edit- to be fair to Castillo, a good offensive season for him is getting on-base and stealing a few bases, so you could say 2009 wasn't too bad.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I was kidding about this the other day, but all indications are that one of Q-ball's secrets to unanticipated managerial success is: If player salary > Q-Ball's, THEN 1)avoid them if possible, don't even strike up a conversation, just say hello, how are you, leave it at that. 2)praise them effusively to the media even when they suck lemons, NEVER criticize, just tell media you expect great things from them 3)if player effs up, discipline some other player whose salary < Q-Ball's

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=13277 Kevin Goldstein has something nice to say
Lake's .264/.333/.398 line at High-A Daytona last year might not impress, but it was a solid season for a 20-year-old tools player, and he made clear progress in his approach by cutting his strikeout rate while nearly doubling his walk ratio. The real problem is that he's probably not a shortstop, but he has more than enough arm for third base and burgeoning power in he can make some progress against breaking balls.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Read on someone's prospect list a week or two ago that if Lake doesn't have offensive success this year, it will be tempting to see his arm on the mound. It was probably Mayo's list. I wonder if anyone in the Cubs organization has actually shown an interest in having Lake pitch, though.

Colvin, Castro, Byrd, Ramirez, Pena, Soto, Soriano, DeWitt, Barney Z pitching and getting DH'd cause of the sore left wrist...

W. Castillo 2/2 up to .733 BA rally falls short though, lose 14-13 D. Barney goes 3/4 with a 2 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, probably has won his spot by now. Might be competing for DeWitt's really soon. Cubs had 22 hits...only 5 of the XBH variety.

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.