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

Cubs Roster now at 28

The Cubs were busy Tuesday, as they traded RHP Todd Wellemeyer to Florida for two minor leaguers, placed RHPs Mark Prior and Kerry Wood on the 15-day DL retroactive to March 27th, optioned RHPs David Aardsma, Angel Guzman, and Jae-Kuk Ryu to AAA Iowa, and returned C Casey Kopitzke to the minor league camp at Fitch Park. Also, veteran OF Marquis Grissom retired. So the Cubs roster currently stands at 30, but it really is more like 29, because once RHP Wade Miller is added to the 40-man roster (and he must be added to the 40-man roster sometime before Opening Day), he will certainly be placed on the 15-day DL. Miller will no doubt take the 40-man roster slot formerly occupied by the departed Todd Wellemeyer. The Cubs will need to make five more cuts before Opening Day (four cuts if you don't include Wade Miller, since he will certainly be placed on the DL). If non-roster OF Michael Restovich is added to the 25-man Opening Day roster, another player will need to be dropped from the 40-man roster, either by moving Wood, Prior, or Miller to the 60-day DL, or by outrighting, releasing, or trading a player. UPDATE #1 3/29 AM: ATTENTION! ... ATTENTION, PLEASE!... The Cubs sent OF Michael Restovich to their minor league camp at Fitch Park Wednesday morning, so the Cubs Spring Training roster now stands at 29 (includes one non-roster player--Wade Miller--who will be added to the 40-man roster prior to Opening Day and then will be immediately placed on the DL). UPDATE #2: 3/29 PM : OK. Here's another one. The Cubs optioned LHP Rich Hill to Iowa today, so their Spring Training roster now stands at 28 (including Wade Miller). Besides adding Wade Miller to the 40-man roster sometime prior to Opening Day and then immediately placing him on the DL, the Cubs will need to cut just two more players, and at least one (possibly both) will be a pitcher. CHICAGO CUBS ROSTER (as of March 29, 2006) 28 players (includes one non-roster, does not include two on DL) * denotes has been placed on DL PITCHERS (14 + 2 on DL) : Ryan Dempster Scott Eyre Bob Howry John Koronka Greg Maddux Sean Marshall Wade Miller (non-roster) - must be added to 40-man roster prior to Opening Day Roberto Novoa Will Ohman * Mark Prior (DL) Glendon Rusch Jerome Williams Scott Williamson * Kerry Wood (DL) Michael Wuertz Carlos Zambrano CATCHERS (2): Michael Barrett Henry Blanco INFIELDERS (7): Ronny Cedeno Jerry Hairston, Jr Derrek Lee Neifi Perez Aramis Ramirez Ryan Theriot Todd Walker OUTFIELDERS (5): Jacque Jones John Mabry Matt Murton Angel Pagan Juan Pierre ================================= OPTIONED TO AAA IOWA (6): David Aardsma, RHP Angel Guzman, RHP Rich Hill, LHP Felix Pie, OF Jae-Kuk Ryu, RHP Geovany Soto, C OPTIONED TO AA WEST TENN (4): Brian Dopirak, 1B Carlos Marmol, RHP Scott Moore, 3B Jose Reyes, C

Comments

Posted this on other thread... The official MLB service times out of the NL Green Book are out for all the players. Here are the one that are less than 6 years. Zambrano - 4.042 Pierre - 5.056 Prior - 3.131 Hairston - 5.138 Ohman - 3.040 Williams - 2.075 Wuertz - 1.086 Aardsma - 0.062 Cedeno - 0.108 Dopirek - 0.000 Guzman - 0.000 Hill - 0.061 Koronka - 0.046 Marmol - 0.000 Marshall - 0.000 Moore - 0.000 Murton - 0.087 Novoa - 0.169 Pagan - 0.000 Pie- 0.000 Reyes - 0.000 Ryu - 0.000 Soto - 0.027 Theriot - 0.021 Miller - 4.127 (thru 2004) Restovich - 1.123 (thru 2004)

Great link, Dawson. like a lot of other people, i've become a Marshall fan in the last few weeks, especially because he grew up relatively not too far from me. this sheds more light on him than anything else I've seen, at least concerning his college ball.

damn...nice scouting report breakdown. hope its accurate on his "stuff" cuz all the factual injury/example information is in depth as hell. i took a look at his greenberg article (a player i am a lot more familiar with than marshall) and that scouting report looks dead on enough for my tastes. btw...looking at other scouting examples they seem to reference this place as a source: http://www.cubshub.com/index.php?topic=farmsystem the source on that link seems to be the writer of the site linked below, though...so...well...whatever...

What's the advantage to only making Wood and Prior's DL stint retroactive to 3/27 versus the beginning of March?

I wonder if Dusty felt the need to go to church tonight and pray for a good season now that Grissom can't be his savior.

This is a Jim Hendry quote from Peter Gammons' blog on ESPN.COM...... "In some ways, it's probably good that Wood and Prior aren't the focus of our spring training" WHERE THE HELL HAS HE BEEN? They were the focus of spring training for a period of WEEKS! Did he miss Kerry's knee surgery while recovering from shoulder surgery and Prior's "non injury" that magically turned into an injury and all of the media coverage of said injury/non-injury. Stop talking Jim! Gammons also mentioned that Rich Hill "has added a hard breaking ball to his big, soft curveball...." Is this news to anyone else? I thought he was adding a changeup? Either way, two good moves by the Cubs today, one by Hendry, one by Grissom. Things are looking better for opening day!

Arizona Phil: Has Ronny Cedeno looked as bad in person as it sounds? If so, is it possible he's going to get sent to Iowa and the Cubs will need to acquire a middle infielder who can play SS? Also, try to ease my concern over Juan Pierre having 2 walks and Jacque Jones having 1 RBI.

there's no real SS option out on the FA market or a team looking to dump a SS right now that would be any improvement over cedeno. after furcal was lost in the insane bidding that somehow got him 13m/3yr, the team was pretty much committed to cedeno/neifi filling the SS+backup roles. royce clayton just got a 1m contract for being added to washington's roster yesterday to backup SS after hitting .200 (.240ob%) this spring in *70* ab's. royce can field. he's pretty much getting that loot based solely on his glove. if hendry was willing to pay neifi 500K-1m more a year than he's worth (yeah, i know 2.5m to some of you) to have him know he'll probally be working bench, but get 2 years of job security, then he's probally not afraid to have neifi/cedeno around no matter who starts.

I don't know about you guys but I don't remember the Cubs breaking camp with so many young players...As for Theriot, isn't the fact he can play third part of his value? Based on Mabry's performance at 3rd this spring and Ramirez' legs, you'd think the Cubs would want to keep Theriot. I see it like this: lee walker hairston walker cedeno perez ramirez theriot barett blanco murton mabry pierre pagan jones pagan zambrano rusch maddux marshall dempster eyre howry williamson williams ohman wuertz i picked wuertz over koronka but wouldn't be surprised to see the cubs move wuertz. when novoa comes back, they won't have enough innings for wuertz. unless they trade williams...

and another thing: trading williams as a starter will gain a better return than trading him as a middle reliever. the million dollar question: do you trade him now while his value is higher? or hang on to him because you have so many uncertainties in your staff? they'll probably hang on to him unless they get bowled over.

article in the trib says this 1) marshall is in line for the 4th spot (according to dusty) 2) jeromeW will likely start out as the long reliever, although he has one start left today. 3) he might not even get the 5th starter spot start on april 15th 4) theriot or restovich could get the 25th spot, or dusty says "a lot of people will become available these next few days" maybe williams gets traded for a bench guy? what would it take to get mench?? there's a power guy for your bench....i'm talking out of my ass bc i don't really know what the rangers' plan for him is, it's early, i gotta go to work and don't have time to research it... all very interesting though. marshall being #4 in april....wow.

The Sun-Times also reports that Marshall is in line to go north as the #4 starter. According to Mike Kiley, a lot depends on Williams' final start on Thursday. The Sun-Times also reports that Grissom intentionally retired to help Angel Pagan. Grissom had taken Pagan under his wing during ST, and decided to retire when he realized that he might be blocking Pagan's career: "'He sacrificed for a young guy,' a red-eyed Pagan said. 'What can you say? He's a hell of a man. I never met a guy like that before in baseball. I had to cry, you know.'" Grissom's also been mentioned as managerial material. I hope Hendry finds a spot for him in the organization; you can't have too many guys like that, especially working with young players.

If that is true Brown Line then Grissom is a stand up guy. Bravo. On the other side our manager is even more of an idiot than we ever thought. That means if Grissom wanted to stay he would of made the team and the Cubs would have chosen the worst option over the best one. How sad is that? I wish Holly, Perez, Macias, Ordonez, Lenny Harris, and a few other craptastic players retired before this organization made the stupid decisions they did with them.

Agreed Mike C. Our manager is such a dumbass that a player had to retire to make sure the obvious better move for the team and for Pagan was made. But I agree - rather then give Baker any more attention how about celebrating the positive: Grissom is a rare person. I hope he gets a spot in the Cubs' org. How about Manager? Mad-dog said he'd love to play for a Grissom managed toeam . . .

To be fair to Dusty, I don't think Grissom would have made this team regardless. Maybe Hendry would have pushed the issue, but I just don't see a 39-year old with obvious injury problems, a BA of .200 and no defensive or running capacity making the team. If I were a Dusty supporter, I might even argue that he told Grissom he's not going to make it, and let Grissom retire consequently. But, I ain't one, and there's no way to know that. Unless someone really useful comes along, I don't think trading Williams for a bench guy is smart at all. This kid is 24 and has a bunch of ML experience -- yes, he has issues, but he's still got a ton of upside. Rather than sticking him in the pen, though, I'd prefer to option him to AAA to let him get regular starts. I'd bring Guzman up, although I'd have never sent him down in the first place, if I were Hendry. And, regarding Mench, there's NO way the Cubs are getting him for anything less than too much. He's having a monstrous spring, and many "experts" think this will be a breakout year for him. He's the starting LF or RF for the Rangers now (depending on how they arrange their outfield) and he isn't going anywhere. He's far, far less likely to be traded than he was even a few months ago.

Trading Williams while his value is highest (and I'm not certain it is all that high to begin with) would be a good thing. I think he is another in a long list of "upside potential" guys who never really pan out for a variety of reasons. According to this morning's news reports, at least Williams knows that he is the problem and the solution. Earl Weaver had a great answer for guys who came to him and asked "what is my role on this team?" "Throw strikes and get guys out." Oh,for a few more of those.

A good thing that Prior and Wood were not the focus of spring training? Gosh, just once I would love it if these two guys would have a spring in which they ACTUALLY pitched. Wouldn't that be a surprise!

Lost in the excitement of Marshall's four no-hit innings was the fact that he walked four guys including an American League pitcher. I hope he does well. It is fun to see an actual prospect make the team. Only thing bad is: his arm now belongs to Dusty. Also, Pierre is going to test freee agency after the season. So enjoy a leadoff man while he's here. Of the forty years I've been a Cub fan this will make the firth or sixth season they've had an actual leadoff hitter.

Dude, no sweat... if Pierre leaves, we got Pie waiting. He runs fast too.

#8 of 17: By ALLEN (March 29, 2006 03:45 AM) Arizona Phil: Has Ronny Cedeno looked as bad in person as it sounds? If so, is it possible he's going to get sent to Iowa and the Cubs will need to acquire a middle infielder who can play SS? Also, try to ease my concern over Juan Pierre having 2 walks and Jacque Jones having 1 RBI. ======================================== ALLEN: Ronny Cedeno hasn't looked all THAT bad. He has been really stinging the ball the last week or so, and his fielding (range and hands) has been very good. His two main problems are 1. He has been swinging at everything (he has always been a "first-ball/fastball" hitter, but this Spring he's been a "first-ball/swing-at-everything" hitter), and 2. He has made some bad throws when he's had too much time to think about it. He is either aiming the throw and/or gripping the ball too tight, both of which could be caused by a loss of confidence. This is one of the first times in his career that Cedeno has been a "front-runner," where he can't sneak up on somebody, and (unlike Matt Murton, for instance), he hasn't handled the "Golden Opportunity" very well (so far). I wouldn't say he's "choked," but I would say he definitely has not played with the confidence of years past. I expect Cedeno will continue to struggle for a while, and that Dusty will probably end up platooning him with Neifi for most of the season. I can't see Cedeno being shipped back to AAA, though, unless he goes completely into the tank like Corey Paterson did last year. As I posted on another thread the other day, I expect Neifi and Cedeno will platoon at SS, and Walker and Hairston will platoon at 2B, with Neifi and Hairston in the lineup at the end of any game where the Cubs are ahead and trying to protect a lead. As far as Juan Pierre and Jacque Jones are concerned, Pierre has been bunting a lot (once, sometimes twice a game), and usually when he bunts, he does it on the first pitch, so that has cut down on his opportunities to work the count. Jones was hitting the ball VERY well the first week or ten days of March, but he has been slumping of late. Hopefully he will find a middle-ground where he can be a consistent run-producer.

"I just don't see a 39-year old with obvious injury problems, a BA of .200 and no defensive or running capacity making the team" In 2003 Lenny Harris was 38 years old, hit .183 was bad defensively and couldn't run. He made the team and started 26 games for the Cubs at third. About Dusty just remember this: "When the Giants traded Kirt Manwaring to the Colorado Rockies during the 1996 season, manager Dusty Baker was upset. The veteran catcher was in Baker's inner circle, one of a cadre of veterans to whom he was extremely loyal. Bob Quinn, the Giants' general manager at the time, was asked a few days later by The Sacramento Bee why Manwaring was dealt away. The explanation was blunt and elementary: "So Dusty won't play him." The point being that Baker was too close to Manwaring, perhaps clouding his judgment of the veteran catcher's eroding skills." http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc0.asp?docid=1G1:63314480&refid=ink_t… It is not unreasonable to think that Grissom would have made the team and given starts if he had not retired.

"Gosh, just once I would love it if these two guys would have a spring in which they ACTUALLY pitched"- As Austin Powers said "That train has set sail." I can't see Wood in a Cubs uniform next year, unless he takes an incentive laden contract.

You know... all things considered... I'd say this spring went about as well as I could have hoped (knock on wood). I almost expected Prior & Wood to be on the shelf on Opening Day, but aside from that, a lot of good news coming from this camp: Marshall's a stud if he can stop walking guys, and he's found a spot in the rotation. I personally like Guzman for the 5th starting job, with Ryu as my second choice and Koronka as my choice if the other two started the day before. Marquis Grissom retired. He's a helluva guy, and used to be a helluva player, but I was very concerned that he was going to get 200+ AB's platooning with JJ in LF. Did a great thing for Pagan, who looks more likely to be on the opening day roster every day. A-Ram is not a real human being. He's some nature of a slugging robot. Pierre has looked good to start the year, and Murton picked up where he left off. Z is rolling, and Rusch has been somewhat serviceable. I'm OK with going to Cincy with this: Z Rusch Maddux Marshall I'm a little more optimistic about this season today that I was when pitchers and catchers reported. Things have went well, and Neifi aside, not a whole bunch of stupid lineups that Captain Intangibles can fill out.

Pretty much sounds like if Grissom stuck around he was going to make the team and Pagan wasn't. Here is a Pagan quote on the matter.... "My man Marquis Grissom, he made a sacrifice for me, and I appreciate it so much," Pagan said. "He's a credit to the game. I've never met a guy like that in baseball." I am pumped by the fact a guy went into camp kicked ass and got a roster spot. Very different change of pace than Dusty looking at a guys social security card and whether they can be best friends before looking at what he can do for the team on the field. Pagan gives us what appears to be a very good defensive 4th OFer. It has been ages since we have had one of those. A guy that can pinch run and steal bases in close games. An actual useful addition to our team for our bench.

looks like Restovich was sent to minor league camp today... so Theriot appears to be the winner, at least for now.

I'm not convinced it will be Theriot. If I was going to place a bet, I'd say the Cubs will either go north with 12 pitchers or they pick up someone off waivers to fill the last bench spot.

BP is out with its predictions for 2006: Cubs - 2nd in NL Central with 85-77 record, one game behind the Cards and one game ahead of the Brewers. Included in their assessment: "Scott Williamson, fully recovered from surgery, beings lights out in the 2nd half and displacing Ryan Dempster." Just for grins, they also pick the White Sox for 4th in their division with an 82-80 mark. Hmmm, did BP learn nothing from their prediction of last year?

BP knows its not April Fools day until this weekend, right?

Hell, I couldn't be happier to see youngsters on this team whether Dusty likes it or not. Also, I'd jump for joy if we get it done and the sox finish fourth. Maybe all my friends will shut up about that crap that happened last october...

they pick up someone off waivers to fill the last bench spot. Freddy Bynum's apparently available.

Maybe all my friends will shut up about that crap that happened last october... I don't think they'll ever shut up.

Lenny Harris just got released. Oh the wound still hurts with just a mention....

You mean Lenny "I'm not good enough as a bench player for the readers of TCR, yet I have a world series ring and the Cubs don't" Harris?

Lenny Harris just got released. Shh, don't give Hendry and Baker any ideas!

Lenny was hitting .183/.255/.229 with the Cubs before he got released, on top of which he had 26 starts at 3B.... It's nice he found his groove with Florida, but he just wasn't cutting it here...

I guess that makes Lenny Harris a better player than Ernie Banks was.

I guess that makes Lenny Harris a better player than Ernie Banks was. In some peoples' mixed up world...yep they probably would make that argument.

The Bulls tried to offer Wil Perdue in a trade in the 90's, when the other GM resisted Jerry Krause said "He has three champsionship rings." The other GM replied, "So does your trainer."

MIKEC: "On the other side our manager is even more of an idiot than we ever thought. That means if Grissom wanted to stay he would of made the team and the Cubs would have chosen the worst option over the best one." HA HA HA I think it is fairly obvious that Hendry and/or Baker most likely sat down with Grissom and told him he was not making the team. And to save face, he should just retire.

Andrew: "To be fair to Dusty, I don't think Grissom would have made this team regardless. Maybe Hendry would have pushed the issue, but I just don't see a 39-year old with obvious injury problems, a BA of .200 and no defensive or running capacity making the team. If I were a Dusty supporter, I might even argue that he told Grissom he's not going to make it, and let Grissom retire consequently. But, I ain't one, and there's no way to know that." THANK YOU!!! I did not read your post before I posted my last post. I agree 100% with your take. And just like there is no way to know that, there is no way to know if Baker was going to keep Grissom and to assume that is nonsense!!!!

Nonsense, completely. It's not like Dusty has a well deserved reputation for falling in love with declining/underwhelming veteran players.

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.