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 

 



 

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Rule 5 Draft 
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Cubs Organizational Report Week 18

Team Records updated through 8/8/05; Individual Stats updated through 8/8/05
Organizational Records
TeamW-LGB/Pos.Last 10
Chicago Cubs54-57(Div)16.0/4th
(WC)6.0/7th
2-8
Iowa Cubs52-609.5/4th5-5
West Tenn Diamond Jaxx*25-172.0/2nd5-5
Daytona Cubs18-239.5/5th7-3
Peoria Chiefs20-246.0/7th5-5
Boise Hawks20-260.0/1st3-7
AZL Cubs2-75.5/9th2-7
Cubs Ex W/L: 55-56; (2003) 57-54; (2004) 61-50 * West Tennessee clinched the first half North Division title of the Southern League
TRANSACTIONS
MLB SS Nomar Garciaparra actived from 60 day DL on 08/05/05 RHP Kerry Wood activated from 15 day DL on 08/05/05 RHP Scott Williamson activated from 60 day DL on 08/05/05 OF Jerry Hairston Jr. placed on 15 day DL on 08/05/05 with torn ligament in left elbow LHP Mike Remlinger designated for assignment on 08/05/05 AAA/Iowa RHP Sergio Mitre demoted on 08/05/05 LHP Phil Norton placed on DL on 07/29/05 AA/West Tennessee NONE TO REPORT Advanced A/Daytona RHP Jordan Crews assigned from Rookie League on 08/02/05 OF J.D. Westphal assigned from Rookie League on 08/02/05 OF Kevin Collins placed on DL retroactive to 07/29/05 RHP Nate Sevier placed on DL retroactive to 07/29/05 A/Peoria NONE TO REPORT Low A/Boise LHP Donald Veal promoted from Rookie League on 08/07/05 Rookie Leauge/Arizona NONE TO REPORT
INJURY UPDATES
(BOLD indicates an update to a pre-existing injury) MLB P - Carlos Zambrano left game after 3 innings on 08/07/05 with stiffness in back. OF Jerry Hairston left game after hurting elbow on 08/03/05; MRI showed partial tear of ligament and was placed on DL on 08/05/05; Was able to swing a bat with both hands yesterday; P - Chad Fox transferred to 60 day DL on 05/17/05; Has "nerve issues" in his right elbow; Still undetermined whether he'll attempt another comeback AAA/Iowa LHP Phil Norton placed on DL on 07/29/05; Reason unknown AA/West Tennessee LHP Sean Marshall placed on DL on 07/24/04; Complaining of shoulder and bicep soreness, tests to be done OF - Felix Pie sprained ankle on 06/16/05; Placed on 7 day DL on 06/21/05; Expected to be activated on Tuesday LHP - Jon Connolly placed on DL on 07/16/05 with "recurring" shoulder injury; Will be out all season INF - Jemel Spearman out sine 04/26/05 because of wrist injury; Had surgery at some point and it should cost him the season P- Angel Guzman out with forearm stiffness and inflammation in pitching elbow; Has started pitching once again and could see game action in a week or two in Arizona; If all goes well, he'll be assigned to the Arizona Fall League P ñ Rocky Cherry left game on 4/21/05 after 1/3 of an inning. Tommy John surgery performed on 05/05/05 Advanced A/Daytona OF Kevin Collins placed on DL on 08/02/05 with bone spurs in his foot; Retroactive to 07/29/05 RHP Nate Sevier placed on DL on 08/02/05 for unknown reasons; Retroactive to 07/29/05 RHP Billy Petrick placed on DL on 06/24/05 with shoulder woes; Had season ending shoulder surgery A/Peoria 1b Alberto Garcia out for season with fractured fibula; Occurred on June 15th while sliding back into first base LHP Ed Campusano placed on DL, reason and date unknown Low A/Boise NONE TO REPORT Rookie Leauge/Arizona NONE TO REPORT Other Notable Injuries OF - Nic Jackson had more surgery to clean out his shoulder; Probably out until 2006 P - Chadd Blasko - shoulder surgery; Probably out until 2006 P - Matt Clanton - shoulder surgery; Had 2nd shoulder surgery during off-season, probably out all season PROSPECT WATCH LIST (BOLD indicates injury, * bats lefty, # switch-hitter) Hitters: 3B *Mike Fontenot (AAA) .284/.390/.439 2B Richard Lewis (AAA) .209/.278/.288(AA) .246/.373/.333 OF *Corey Patterson(AAA) .273/.347/.420 C Geovany Soto (AAA) .248/.359/.317 SS/CF *Buck Coats (AA) .284/.348/.397 OF Adam Greenberg (AA) .276/.382/.421 3B Casey McGehee (AA) .297/.342/.414 OF Luis Montanez (AA) .309/.349/.469 (A) .305/.384/.521 OF Felix Pie(AA) .304/.349/.554 13/22 SB opportunities 1B/OF Brandon Sing (AA) .294/.407/.588 2B Ryan Theriot (AA) .308/.358/.407 1B Brian Dopirak (High A) .244/.299/.384 OF *Kevin Collins (High A) .265/.346/.507 3B *Scott Moore (High A) .275/.349/.487 C Tony Richie (High A) .296/.339/.437 C Jake Fox (High A) .293/.366/.466 OF Ryan Harvey (A) .270/.320/.509 2B *Eric Patterson (A) .331/.408/.511 32/42 SB opportunities C *Mark Reed (Low A) .265/.323/.402 (A) .135/.167/.192 Pitchers: RHP Bobby Brownlie(AAA) 6-4 4.46 ERA/33 BB/54 K/8 HR/80.2 IP LHP John Koronka (AAA) 7-10 4.71 ERA/37 BB/82 K/8 HR/109.0 IP RHP Jon Leicester (AAA) 1-6 1 Save 5.97 ERA/30 BB/45 K/11 HR/66.1 IP LHP Russ Rohlicek (AAA) 3-1 3 Saves/3.93 ERA/36 BB/45 K/3 HR/52.2 IP LHP Carmen Pignatiello (AAA) 0-2 5.84 ERA/11 BB/28 K/4HR/24.2 IP (AA) 5-4 2.68 ERA/28 BB/77 K RHP Todd Wellemeyer (AAA) 2-2 3.02 ERA/23 BB/44 K/1 HR/47.2 IP RHP Jermaine Van Buren (AAA) 2-2 20 Saves/1.94 ERA/19 BB/55 K/5 HR/46.1 IP RHP David Aardsma (AA) 4-0 2 Saves/2.65 ERA/19 BB/31 K/1 HR/37.1 IP (Norwich) 6-2 2.93 ERA/13 BB/30 K RHP Carlos Marmol (AA)3-2 2.98 ERA/26 BB/35 K/6 HR/45.1 IP (High A) 6-2 2.99 ERA/37 BB/71 K LHP Sean Marshall (AA) 0-1 2.52 ERA/5 BB/24 K/1 HR/25.0 IP (High A) 4-4 2.74 ERA/26 BB/61 K RHP Ricky Nolasco (AA) 11-2 3.15 ERA/38 BB/137 K/10 HR/131.1 IP LHP Reynel Pinto (AA) 8-2 2.15 ERA/46 BB/91 K/3 HR/100.1 IP (AAA) 1-2 9.93 ERA/24 BB/24 K RHP Jae-kuk Ryu (AA) 8-7 3.44 ERA/42 BB/100 K/11 HR/133.1 IP RHP Billy Petrick (High A) 1-4 5.59 ERA/19 BB/25 K/0 HR/37.0 IP RHP Sean Gallagher (A) 12-4 2.24 ERA/43 BB/115 K/5 HR/124.2 IP RHP Grant Johnson (A) 2-6 3.64 ERA/21 BB/41 K/6 HR/54.1 IP RHP Mike Billek (A) 1-0 5.11 ERA/6 BB/10 K/12.1 IP (Low A) 0-1 2.65 ERA/6 BB/20 K/0 HR/17.0 IP LHP Darin Downs (Low A) 4-2 2.08 ERA/11 BB/42 K/3 HR/43.1 IP LHP Luke Hagerty (Low A) 0-1 21.94 ERA/21 BB/3 K/0 HR/5.1 IP RHP Michael Hyle (Low A) 2-4 2.70 ERA/14 BB/27 K/0 HR/33.1 IP LHP Donald Veal (Low A) 1-0 1.80 ERA/1 BB/3 K/1 HR/5.0 IP (RL) 0-1 8.10 ERA/4 BB/9 K/2 HR/6.2 IP LHP Mark Pawelek (RL) 0-3 2.42 ERA/14 BB/35 K/0 HR/26.0 IP OTHERS NOTABLES: 3B Scott McClain (AAA).284/.347/.575 INF Nate Frese (AAA) .273/.343/.430 OF Ben Grieve (AAA) .249/.367/.469 RHP Talley Haines (AAA) 2-1 1.47 ERA/1 BB/20 K/1 HR/18.1 IP (AA)4-2 13 Saves/ 1.78 ERA/2 BB/20 K/0 HR/25.1 IP RHP Andy Shipman (AA) 3-4 8 Saves/3.00 ERA/26 BB/56 K/0 HR/54.0 IP LHP Paul Schappert (High A) 0-0 1.19 ERA/4 BB/16 K/2 HR/30.1 IP (A) 1-0 4.50 ERA/8 BB/16 K/1 HR/24.0 IP OF *Sam Fuld (A) .285/.367/.412 OF *Davy Gregg(Low A) .281/.340/.326 29/37 SB opportunities GREG MADDUX INNINGS WATCH 362.1 IP over the last 2 years; Needs to pitch 37.2 IP over the rest of the season for his $9 million 2006 option to vest; Assuming he starts 33 games (like last year), needs to average less then 4 and a third innings per start over the rest of the season. KOREY WATCH (Career) K/PA - .236 (2005) K/PA - .247 (2005 AAA) K/PA - .198 (estimated but can only go lower) (Career) BB/SO - .21 (2005) BB/SO - .20 (2005 AAA) BB/SO - .42 MINOR LEAGUE LEADERS Hitting HR - Scott McClain (25) RBI - Ryan Harvey (82) AVG - Eric Patterson (.331) OBP - Eric Patterson (.408) SLG - Brandon Sing (.588) SB - Chris Walker (45) Pitching IP - Jae-kuk Ryu (133.1) ERA - Sean Gallagher (2.24) WINS - Sean Gallagher (12) SAVES -Jermain Van Buren (20) K - Ricky Nolasco (137)

Comments

sorry if that has been covered. I have been out of touch for a little bit. I realize that Remlinger was DFA'd to make 1 roster spot available for Nomar but who was taken off the 40 man for Williamson?

Chad Fox was moved to the 60 Day DL to make room on the 40

Actually, I think the Cubs only had 39 on the 40 man before last week. Fox was already on the 60 day.

what bleeding blue said, the cubs were at 39 before last Friday's moves, they activated Williamson and Garciaparra from the 60 putting essentially putting them up to 41 and then DFA'd Remmy to put them back to 40. Although I'm sure the moves were done in reverse order... Some other notes... - Bobby Brownlie is back in the starting rotation after a fantastic run as a reliever (something like 3 ER in 20+ IP). There are also 'unsubstantiated' reports that he's got his velocity back up in the low 90's. - Andy Shipman is recently begun closing games for the DJaxx(rather then Dave Aardsma which is a bit of a surprise) and has 8 saves so far this season. His BB/K ratio is okay, but he has YET to give up any homers in 54.0 IP. Sure AA is considered a pitcher's league as well as the DJAxx park, but still ZERO home runs. He'll turn 24 in December. - Brandon Sing is nearing the all-time record for homeruns by a DJaxx player, rumor has it that the record is 25 and he has 24. Sure he K's a little more then you like, but he more then makes up for it with his walks and power. They've been playing him a lot in right field of late. He turned 24 in March, a bit old for the league, but the progress in his game the last 2 years is promising. As mentioned before, he'll have to be added to the 40 man roster this off-season otherwise he'll be eligible for the Rule V draft.

according to wscr the outfield tonight will be murton L, burnitz C, lawton R. Lineups not yet posted.

That's great. The thing is, I don't believe that Murton could do anything to get himself in the lineup everyday. He may have to go 4 for 4 with 4 grand slams to earn a spot in Dusty's eyes.

Doesn't Dusty Realise the Cubs are in a playoff race? How can he afford to be experimenting at a time like this??? In DUSTY we TRUST!!!

The Cubs are in a playoff race? Did I miss a memo - cause it's hard to run a race with a giant fork stuck in your back.

It must be because the Cubs are the Cubs...you know--perennial threat but not really. The Reds hold a better shot of catching the Cubs than the Cubs do passing 6 teams for the wild card. 3 under .500 with 51 games left is amazingly pathetic. They are not in a wild card race anymore than Baltimore is. This team is in a free fall which resembles nothing of a wild card race.

Matt Lawton, RF Todd Walker, 2B Derrek Lee, 1B Aramis Ramirez, 3B Nomar Garciaparra, SS Michael Barrett, C Jeromy Burnitz, CF Matt Murton, LF Jerome Williams, P Adam Dunn, SS Adam Dunn, 2B Adam Dunn, CF Adam Dunn, LF Adam Dunn, 1B Adam Dunn, 3B Adam Dunn, RF Adam Dunn, C Adam Dunn, P

Woo! That's pretty much our best lineup, I think. We're going to get shutout!

sadly it is our best lineup...its gonna be very important to keep the speed offbase in front of anyone who can put a ball in the OF regularly in the corners. go cubs...

what an absolute embarrassment that said lineup didn't get a single look in NY.

I had a feeling Dusty would not play Macias in CF and put Murton in. This is the 1st game back from a horrific road trip, the last thing he wants to hear is 30,000 people booing him when he turns in his lineup card. Tuesday's game? The Gloves are off, I wouldnt be surprised to see Macias back.

lineups: 1 Felipe Lopez, SS Matt Lawton, RF 2 Ryan Freel, 2B Todd Walker, 2B 3 Ken Griffey Jr., CF Derrek Lee, 1B 4 Adam Dunn, LF Aramis Ramirez, 3B 5 Sean Casey, 1B Nomar Garciaparra, SS 6 Rich Aurilia, 3B Michael Barrett, C 7 Austin Kearns, RF Jeromy Burnitz, CF 8 Javier Valentin, C Matt Murton, LF 9 Brandon Claussen, P Jerome Williams, P

The two hottest players from the past week are not in the lineup tonight for the Cubs... Macias: 5-14 (.357) , 1 run, 2 RBI Perez: 6-19 (.316), 2 runs, 1 RBI Hopefully Walker and Burnitz can come back after a day off, they have been hitting the ball dreadfully along with Lee.

That is a great lineup. And yes...everytime we praise the lineup we suck - but then again, our sucking has not exactly been conditional on any lineup that we have had. When is Derek Lee going to get a day off?

Yea, how can you bench Macias? He's been a 1-man wrecking crew in the lineup.

"Macias: 5-14 (.357) , 1 run, 2 RBI Perez: 6-19 (.316), 2 runs, 1 RBI" Manny, if you are manager, over the course of the next week...do you play Macias and Perez over Murton and Walker/Nomar? If not, then I'm not sure of your point.

Adam- My point is how sad the rest of the team is when Perez and Macias are clearly the hottest hitters over the past week. And like I said we need others (Walker, Burny and Lee) to pick it up.

ahhh...yup, I agree in full. When our most productive hitters are getting 1-2 RBI's in a week...we fucking suck. I will say, I don't think Macias and Neifi have caused our troubles at all...they don't help over the long run, but if our big smashers don't smash...we are dead meat no matter where Macias is or isn't. If we go on a win streak (hahaha) it isn't likely going to be because of Murton...it will be because Ramirez, Lee, Walker, Burnitz started hitting again.

Walker, Burnitz and Lee have been missing in action for a couple of days, it'd be nice to see them contribute every once in a while.;-) It'd also be nice if Jim Hendry finally learns a lesson from this year (and last) and gets some high OBP guys for the team, so when our sluggers aren't slugging, we're not helpless and impotent. I know its not easy to score runs, but I've been watching the Oakland A's this season, and they're just downright scary! They seem to be able to score runs at will, and they really have one TRUE slugger on their team (3rd baseman Eric Chavez). And don't get me started on the fundamentals... they're a sound team in that regard, and I really don't know what to attribute it to. They're great at advancing runners, using the sacrifice fly to score, stealing a base, whatever it takes to get a runner in scoring position, then home. They're not great bunters, and they're not that fast but somehow, whenever they need a run, they deliver more times than not. Is Macha smarter than Dusty? Is Macha a better in-game tactician?, or does he have better players? If yes, how did the A's become so fundamentally sound? Is their minor-league instruction superior to ours, or are their major league coaches better? Is Macha better at making out lineup cards, or is Billy Beane just the all-around best GM in either league? Is there something to this "sabremetrics" stuff? How the hell do they do it? And why can't WE? Personally, I'd like to see Hendry take advantage of that high infield grass, get a few guys who are adept at bunting, can get on base regularly, and score runs. We haven't had anything like that since 1984 with Sandburg and Dernier. That way, when the wind is blowing in, we're not sitting around with our face hanging out, praying for the wind to shift.

Hell, we don't even need to look at the A's, we can look at what the Mets did on the field against us the whole series...they must have created half of their runs through speed and agressive base running...with very little power.

Murton is now 12 for 22 against left handed pitchers...Burnitz is in a HUGE slump...we need more productivity from our veterans.

Adam, Yeah, I mean, the way the Mets took it to us... I don't know how Hendry can deal with the embarrassment, and everyone on that club should be ashamed of their performance... or lack there of. That series was a complete abomination... and it galls me to see teams with significantly lower payrolls look like world-beaters, while we cant get out of the damned starting blocks. How the hell is it we make rookie hurlers and rag-armed, journeyman pitchers look like Cy Young, for crying out loud? Sure, I don't think much of Dusty, or what he's done with the available talent, but Hendry should be strongly criticized for getting players that would lay down and quit with the Cubs being just 5 games out of the wild card going into the Mets series. That's what I see... a bunch of damned quitters! Hell, even in the good old Larry Biitner/Hal Breeden/PeteLaCock/Ray Burris/Chuck Rainey days, the Cubs struggled, but at least we thought they were trying. This team looks like it completely surrendered, just laid down and died. The went totally French on us, just looking for a soft place to lay down and die... and still the suckers swarm in to pack Wrigley Field, the world's biggest beer garden! Un-freaking-believable! We deserve what we're getting.

Again, can we really count on Williams being an effective 4th or 5th starter next year? I think this team has a lot more wholes to fill to make us really competitive in the division than any of us talk about. You look at the Cards, their 4th or and 5th pitchers can afford to be mediocre because their offense is awesome...The Cubs don't have that luxury, unless we upgrade at 3 positions or so.

#5 of 30: By Rob G. (August 8, 2005 02:25 PM) - Brandon Sing is nearing the all-time record for homeruns by a DJaxx player, rumor has it that the record is 25 and he has 24. Sure he K's a little more then you like, but he more then makes up for it with his walks and power. They've been playing him a lot in right field of late. He turned 24 in March, a bit old for the league, but the progress in his game the last 2 years is promising. As mentioned before, he'll have to be added to the 40 man roster this off-season otherwise he'll be eligible for the Rule V draft. -- ROB G: If the Cubs fail to add Brandon Sing to the 40-man roster within 10 days after the end of the regular season, he will be a six-year minor league free-agent. Same goes for Jermaine Van Buren, David Kelton, Casey Kopitzke, and Nate Frese (among others). Luis Montanez, J. J. Johnson, Aaron Krawiec, Nic Jackson, Buck Coats, Carmen Pignatiello, and Jason Szuminski will be six-year minor league free-agents after next season if they are not added to 40-man roster within 10 days after the close of the 2006 regular season (and if they are even still in the Cubs organization at that point in time). The only way Brandon Sing would be eligible for next December's Rule 5 Draft is if he is re-signed to a minor league contract for 2006 with the Cubs organization (probably with a guaranteed invitation to Spring Training as a "non-roster" player) or if he signs a minor league deal for 2006 with another organization (again, with an invitation to Spring Training with the new organization as a "non-roster" player). I can see Hendry leaving Brandon Sing off the 40-man roster just because there are only so many slots available and Sing is stuck behind Derrek Lee (although Lee can be a free-agent after next season), but I doubt that Sing will sign a minor league deal with the Cubs for 2006, even with a guaranteed invitation to Spring Training 2006 as a "non-roster" player. Most likely scenarios regarding Sing: 1. He will be added to the Cubs 40-man roster within 10 days after the end of the regular season, or 2. He will be traded to another organization and then be added to that club's 40-man roster, or 3. He will sign as a six-year minor league free-agent with another organization and be added to the new club's 40-man roster, or 4. He will sign a one or two year deal to play in Japan.

I misunderstood what you had wrote earlier....thanks for the clarification. Whatever the Cubs do, I would hate to lose this guy for nothing. 24 and putting up those numbers in a pitcher's league are still very impressive. At least he should be trade bait, you'd think? Hell, he's only 6 months older then Murton with more power. Obviously he's not going to take over first base for Lee and I have no idea how he looks in the outfield so far, but he's been absolutely tearing it up the last 2 years.

Did Jermaine Van Buren run over Hendry's dog? Otherwise, after two great minor league seasons, why hasn't he been brought up to Chicago?

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022. 

  • 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.