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

TCR Friday Notes

The next week or so should be pretty quiet. Bud Selig has his gag order on MLB clubs so they won't distract from the World Series and the Cubs organizational meetings aren't until November 7th I believe. - Paul Sullivan getting itchy about the Cubs not signing Aramis yet. Best part is that even if they do agree on something in the next week, there's a good chance we won't know about it until after the World Series ends. There's also this little tidbit.
Although the Cubs can't force him to sign at their price, they can, and already have, let him know they have a contingency plan in case he decides to leave.
That of course is being smart, you should always have a contingency plan, but I'm not so sure you should let Ramirez know that. - So much for John McLaren following Lou Piniella in as bench coach of the Cubs. He was offered the deal, but him and his wife like to play 20 questions or something and decided that Seattle was a better place for them, where McLaren will take up bench duties under Mike Hargrove. One of the Lou's previous bench coaches was Lee Elia, so that could be fun. I don't know the full history of bench coaches under Lou, the only other name I could dig up was Jackie Moore who was his bench coach in 1990 with the Reds and he's managing the Round Rock Express right now. - A bit of humor from a Barry Rozner article to get you into the weekend:
Comedian Alex Kaseberg, on Lou Piniellaís new job as manager of the Cubs: ìThe pay is good, you get to travel, and you always have the month of October off.íí
Enjoy the weekend folks!

Comments

I didn't know Pentland was the hitting coach out in Seattle.

Bench coach could be good learning for an in house guy like Quade or Listach.

I would think Piniella would want someone with more experience and who he trusts in that role. Quade will probably be a 1b or 3b coach. I heard that Speier may be coming back, but haven't heard anything since....

The talk was that Quade was the 1B, yeah, with Speier coming back. Not sure how confirmed it was.

Girardi got the gig with Torre without much experience. On the assumption that there are others as smart as Girardi, perhaps Quade would work out fine. He has managed longer than Girardi and was previously a coach with Oakland.

Of course, the indomitable Sonny Jackson could just slide right in there, given his EXTENSIVE knowledge of the big club! Or to throw McDonough a bone for his "Cubs Way" focus, give the job to Ryno.

How about Jody Davis? Him and Lou can bounce some underperforming players off the clubhouse walls. If the contingency plan has anyone other than A-rod or Joe Crede, no thanks.

But wasn't Girardi a coach in some other way with the Yanks first and then took bench coach duties when Zim quit?

It's good to see you all finally back from Tampa.

Strategy question. Mike and Mike and Steve Philips all said they were surprised that the Mets did not bunt last night in the 9th when the first two guys got on base. I'm thinking I would not want to give up the out there, being down by 2. I see the point about putting the tying run in scoring position, but I still don't want to give up the out in that situation. Please opine.

Good to see someone else, even if it is Paul Sullivan, is annoyed at the fact that Hendry has not sealed the deal with ARam yet. This is soemthing that could of even been started before the season ended. Hell, after the trading deadline (when Henry did not trade him, thus tying his hands to sign him), he could/should of started working on a deal. I have no clue what Hendry's "contigency plan" is but I am pretty sure it isn't as good as resigning ARam. He used the excuse of having to hire the manager, now that was done days ago, let's go Hendry. I understand the Selig gag order, and that is fine, but the day after the WS ends an extenstion better be announced, because IMO it should of been done already. And, yes I know it takes two, blah blah blah, but ARam has Hendry over a barrel. Hendry needs to realize and just sign him.

#11 If the Mets and Cardinals were both average teams, we would have expected the Mets to win about 27.3% of the time if they go to a situation with runners on first and second with no outs down by two in the bottom of the ninth inning. If the Mets bunted and the Cardinals got the out, we would have expected them to win about 30.7% of the time from the 2nd and 3rd situation with just one out. Winning is probably an overstatement as they would play just for the tie in that situation. In the first situation they would have tied the game about 42.2% of the time and if they bunted, we'd expect them to tie about 41.0% of the time. So really it depends on the hitter I guess. If he's below average you should bunt as long as he's good at bunting. Since it was Cliff Floyd pinch hitting who despite sucking this year was still about league average and his true ability is higher - it's hard to argue against letting him swing away.

yeah, hendry is slacking...especially when every other team has tied up their loose ends with potential FA's they might wanna keep. i mean..there's been..umm..hmmm miguel asencio signed with colorado..there's a high-water mark if ive ever seen one.

Sorry to take so long to reply: Girardi made his coaching debut with the Yankees in 2005 as the catching instructor and bench coach, after turning down the Marlins for the same job. (bench coach).

Krish thanks for the stats, even though they illustrate that I was wrong. The Mets had several other hitters available who would be better bunters than Floyd.

#12 - Mannytrillo This is soemthing that could of even been started before the season ended. Hell, after the trading deadline (when Henry did not trade him, thus tying his hands to sign him), he could/should of started working on a deal. Ummm.... Hendry and Aramis's agent did start talking about the extension before the season ended.

its up to aram...unless hendry is truely inept or has a legit, ready-to-spring, backup plan. the money is there and im assuming the want is there on the cubs end or he'd be gone months ago. whether he signs today or next week it don't mean a whole lot as long as he signs. its not fair to paint hendry as a deer in the headlights just cuz its not done now. its not his first dance and its pretty safe to assume he knew what he was getting into when he didnt wanna play trade with ANA/SD/etc. for aram. hendry, aram, and aram's agent...they all know the score.

Manny: Can you point to a single Cubs player heading into free agency that Hendry actually wanted to keep but was unable to sign?

"...but the day after the WS ends an extenstion better be announced, because IMO it should of been done already." ---- Oh yeah? It better be announced, huh? There will be Manny-Hell to pay if it ain't! Get all shouldof on his ass!

Hendry has demonstrated a tendency to wait until the last minute to sign players and make trades. Sometimes that's a good thing; I still feel he did a wonderful thing in dealing for Garciaparra minutes before the trade deadline. I'm willing to cut him some slack on signing Ramierez. Frankly, I'm not thrilled with A-Ram's attitude and I don't think Piniella will be either. Is Scott Moore ready to take over 3b? Probably not, but there are other contingencies. Wouldn't a trade for Rodriguez be great? What if we land A-Rod and Miguel Tejada this winter? At this point, all things are possible. Let's not count the Cubs out before this winter plays itself out and we can see what's there at spring training. I lived in the Seattle area for 23 years. If we had to pick between Seattle and Chicago, my wife and I would opt for Chicago without much brain sweat. The people are nicer, there is more to do, and the Cubs are in town 81 games a year.

Re #11-- I think you bunt. No stats to back it up, but a sac fly and a wild pitch/passed ball (on a cold, wet night) could tie the game without a hit. Also, given the conditions and Rolen's injury/occasional fielding issues (remember, he handed the Cubs 2 games this year), a well-executed bunt could have turned into a run-scoring play. I'm sure giving up an out when you only have 3 left in the season is a tough thing to do. However, given Floyd's injury, the DP risk was pretty high, so I probably would have bunted.

Vorare: "Can you point to a single Cubs player heading into free agency that Hendry actually wanted to keep but was unable to sign?" Nope.

#11, a rare example of one of the times I'd advocate a bunt. In that particular AB I would've sent Glavine or another pitcher who can handle the bat to bunt the runners over to 2B & 3B. Against Wainwright who mowed down the Mets and most other clubs down the stretch you can't play for 2 hits or a 3 run HR. I don't normally advocate bunting runners over and waste an out but if the situation dictates a stronger probablity of Reyes/loDuca/Beltran who were the next 3 scheduled hitters up getting 1 hit over a broken down Cliff Floyd getting an xtra base hit I move the runners up and take my chances with Reyes and LoDuca...LoDuca is at least going to put the ball in play and have a better shot at a hit. Maybe it's just me but I gave Floyd no shot at going Kirk Gibson circa 1988. Was Julio Franco on the CLS roster? I would've sent him up over Floyd despite any LHP/RHP situation...maybe he already PH earlier in the game and I missed it.

Oswalt signed an extension during the year. I don't know if he had out clause like Aram.

Ranch: I see the point about putting the tying run in scoring position, but I still don't want to give up the out in that situation. Please opine. Yeah, also it keeps you out of the double-play. I agree with you, though, the guys due up were pretty good fly-ball hitters and you could be reasonably certain that if they did hit it, it was going to be a deep fly out. If they only needed one run, it might be a different story.

Oswalt still had a year left on his deal and the Astros needed to make nice after they pissed him off with the Tejada rumors. Ramirez probably wanted to see how the manager thing played out before he did anything anyway. I was hoping to hear something today or yesterday, but it's not the end of the world. But yeah I do hope it's announced the day after the World Series or someone leaks something next week.

"Is Scott Moore ready to take over 3b? Probably not, but there are other contingencies." scott moore's 3rd base skills are much to be desired. no other 3rd in the system he's blocking and d.lee is locked into 1st so there's no real reason, organizationaly, to not keep moore at 3rd as long as he's in the minors. he's a bit of a stiff and slow to react. im gonna leave his bat skills out of it...we all know he's got power, but whether he can consistantly make contact enough to make that power pay off is a question.

here's what I'm guessing Willie was thinking... if he bunts there, there's a decent shot they walk Reyes there to face LoDuca who does put the ball on the ground a lot and is a good DP candidate. It's not a guarantee that Reyes is going to get walked there but there's a better chance if 1b is open. The bunt or letting Floyd hit there are pretty much a wash, there's not a great advantage to having him bunt(or someone else), so let your good hitters hit. It didn't end up affecting the game either way, so I'm surprised it's getting such publicity. Usually the talks shows only jump on this stuff when it turns out bad, but since Floyd didn't hit into a DP and nobody hit a single afterwards, it ended up being a nothing move. Of course you don't know what's going to happen at that moment, but if Pedro gets those Yanks out in 2003 when Grady left him in, no one says a word.

moore's been playing ss in the afl a bit as well, fwiw. I think he's going to try every position he can in case someone gets hurt and he can get a shot. Give him props, but yeah what crunch said. Okay patience, lots of K's, decent power. Nice guy to have around if Aramis goes down or Lee for next year.

so..is the NY media trying to trade beltran yet because he didnt swing at strike 3? give them 1-2 weeks and he'll be "close to traded" to 12 or 13 teams. =p

Rob G.: "if he bunts there, there's a decent shot they walk Reyes there to face LoDuca who does put the ball on the ground a lot and is a good DP candidate. It's not a guarantee that Reyes is going to get walked there but there's a better chance if 1b is open." There is really no chance any manager walks Reyes there to put the winning run on base. With Reyes speed and the fact that the ball will be very wet any 2B scores him.

I think you bunt there, I like the idea of using a starting pitcher to move them over. Floyd has been real gimpy and any ground ball in the infield is an easy two.

I agree with Manny that you don't put the winning run on base. Mike and Mike didn't consider that angle this morning. And of course if it's only a one run game, you have to bunt. Thanks to all for the enlightenment.

There is really no chance any manager walks Reyes there to put the winning run on base. With Reyes speed and the fact that the ball will be very wet any 2B scores him. yeah, it's CRAZY TALK talk to think you'd set up the DP with a slow runner who puts the ball on the ground and a pitcher who gets guys to put it on the ground. I must be nuts.... anyway, only Willie knows what he was thinking there and only Tony knows what he would have done. I was just offering a reasonable explanation on letting Floyd hit there, which didn't end up hurting them anyway. It was a coin flip call, it's no big deal.

"he's a bit of a stiff and slow to react." In your Opinion. I have to disagree. I saw him make a sparkler on a bullet down the 3rd base line towards the end of the season. Aramis rarely comes up with those plays. He has more (Moore) range than Aramis.

Hendry's slow...to sign... IS it possible his pursuit of a manager might have eaten up time otherwise spent on internal signings?

If you ask baseball people about Scott Moore and his skills at 3rd base, I think they would say he's at least avg if not better and improving! Where Scott Moore has to improve is not giving up at bats and striking out so much.

I think we can relax on the Aramis thing. If he's gone, he was gone (in his mind) a long time ago, and no Hendry on all fours would get it done. There will probably be a deal, if you go by Hendry's previous MO when he anticipated getting a deal done (think Nomar re-signing). Soriano would then be next, then Zito, then Schmidt, then CLee, then Tejada, then A-Rod to play 2B, then the bench... Simple.

re #11- i was thinking last night as i watched the game "what's wrong with glavine bunting?" runners move to 2nd and 3rd, 1 out, reyes bats. if larussa walks him, winning run is on. if larussa pitches to him, he's the perfect candidate to squeeze (bunt for base-hit actually)in valentin, putting chavez at 3rd with 1 out and reyes at first, who could wait a couple of pitches to see what loduca did, and steal if necessary. molina would not risk a throw to 2nd, and allow the tying run to score. nothing to back this up aside from instinct, but it would sure seem that the pressure is on the defense to make a clean play, and not easy at all with the slick infield grass. only a gut reaction, but i think randolph made t-l-r's life easier by sending up floyd.

Why are people ripping Aram's D? He was one of the best 3B in the League this year Defensively! Just look at his stats...

It's hard to make a lot of errors when you don't get to a lot of balls. Should have. Should have. Should have. What those TangoTiger numbers don't include is the chance that the bunt attempt ends poorly (strikeout or popout) or really horribly (double play), you can't use them without attaching likelyhoods to all three of those scenarios. Glavine is a hell of a bunter, though. I think he may have the ML record for sac bunts. I think Beltre is probably the main contigency plan. I don't think 'our stated goal is to win the world series, Meet our rookie third basemen who needed three cracks at highA' is a sentence likely to be made by the Cubs management. No thanks to Crede and his back issues.

Contest Idea: Ruz, this will be much easier than the standard deriviations you're doing on the players' stats too. The Cubs opening day 2007 25 man roster, before the end of the World Serious. Maybe do 1 point for players on the 40 man today, 2 points for FA pickup and 3 points for trade (or just use that in case of tie breaker), should be simple and fun.

Sullivan's article on the Ramirez negotiations is pretty intriguing. "Claims 7-10 teams interested in 3rd baseman if Cubs don't renegotiate" "The Angels already have made him their primary target, as Ramirez discovered through the grapevine in late September." The Cubs pretty obviously have one tampering case there and possibly 6-9 more, though Kinzer's sources may just be newspaper columnists for those other teams. The best 'news' from the story is: "That's our first choice," he said. "And we have gotten pretty close [to an agreement]. I don't think Lou P is going to be busting AramRam's balls unless things get really out of hand anyway. You're not going to go to the World Series if you treat your best players like 24 year olds on the AAAA shuttle bus.

Real Neal, Kinzer is probably just looking at the teams that need 3b/DH help which would be 1. Angels 2. Dodgers 3. Padres 4. Tigers 5. Phillies 6. Yankees 7. Orioles and the "maybe teams" are probably 8. Diamondbacks (could move Tracy to LF) 9. Mariners 10. Twins Also I am sure the Cubs have talked to others through the grapevine. For all we know Piniella might have been using his fox games for recruitment trips.

Anyone in the Angels organization saying to anyone outside of the organization 'We are going to go after Aramis Ramirez if he opts out of his contract' is a violation of the tampering policy, regardless of where Piniella was broadcasting playoff baseball last fall.. I guess, I don't understand your analogy. Whether the Cubs would be able to document that conversation so that they could file a grievance is another question, admittedly.

Real Neal, What I am trying to say is everyone in MLB tampers. Just the other day Richard Justice, of the Houston Chronicle reported that alot of MLB people know that CLee is a lock to sign with the Astros. Even if the Angels were tampering with Aram the Cubs arent going to file a compliant about it because they are most likely having conservations with Boros and the agents for Soriano and Schmidt.

Vorare: "Can you point to a single Cubs player heading into free agency that Hendry actually wanted to keep but was unable to sign?" But can you point to a time when Hendry was faced with keeping a top notch free agent after a season in which the Cubs finished below the Pirates?

this is a 100+ club...no matter what any of us think of it, unless you wanna bring the other 100+ clubs into play...when you're talking years...that's a plus in negociations. dont really matter what last year's record is when you clear up 25-35m and can "reset" practically yearly. only a few teams with 100m payrolls screw it up going from 1 year to another. wsox kinda screwed it up seeing as they have 10 cents to spend in 07, but its not like the guys that are staying are heavy weight on the team...the money that's already spent is mostly spent wisely enough to field a very competitive team.

I for one don't really believe there is a contingency plan. If you don't have the guy in AAA, and if you don't have the guy almost signed (which you wouldn't right now since you have AR), it sounds like a lot of political talk.

Curious about faqrm systems Does anyone know how the various teams compare in number of 25 man rosters that are composed by players developed from their own farm system. I know minor league trades are made but I would count any player who at least played AA ball with the current club. My guess would be the better organizations like Oakland and the Cards excel in developing their own players.

As long as the Angels don't publically state they want Ramirez and are not caight in the act of contacting Ramirez's agent, no one will bring tampering up. The fact is players get around this everyday. "A friend of a friend told me the Angels are interested in you." As long as the info didn't come directly from the organization itself, it is no harm no foul. And even if the organization directly contacted a players agent, it is up to the agent and player to report it and that isn't going to happen.

I am sure ARam and/or his agent has had many "friends of friends" talk to them about other interested teams. Other GM's see the small possibility that ARam might go to free agency and they want to make him know (without technically breaking any rules) that they would be interested. I just hope one of those teams doesn't peak ARam's interest enough to make him wait to the free agency period begins, thus he can actually talk to them legally. Hendry still has about 3 weeks, of course I would of hoped that it would of been taken care of by now, but he still does have 3 weeks. And there is no in-house contigency plan, so what ever the other plans might consist of they will ultimately cost us more than just signing ARam now (money plus players) and very possibily not get as good of a player.

And let me add, like someone else kind of mentioned, any "contingency plan", really isn't guarenteed to come a reality. Just because the Cubs have a plan of going after ARod or Crede or whoever, if they don't resign ARam, doesn't mean they will get them. And if we do lose out on ARam, those other teams will know Hendry is over a barrel again and can take advantage of that in the trade. But like I said, Hendry has 3 weeks, but a very important 3 weeks as if they don't resign ARam, they are going to have a VERY difficult time really improving this team overall this offseason.

Neifi is going to the World Series, and Macias started the Japanese Series last night with the Ham Fighters. Go ex-Cubs!

wow...dragons vs. ham...no giants... this is the equivelant of stl vs. det. actually i guess it'd be even deeper for the dragons who havent played in the finals since most of us were even born.

I know it's funny to say "Ham Fighters," but they're not Ham Fighters. They are Fighters. Their full team name is the {Location} {Nickname} => {Hokkaido Nippon Ham} {Fighters}. Unlike here, in Japan clubs are sponsored by corporations right in the name. That said, go (Ham) Fighters. They got through a tough Pacific League postseason and Hokkaido never gets enough love in my opinion. By the way, in his last game of the year, Matsuzaka pitched a complete-game six-hitter with 13 K's for a 1-0 Lions victory over said Fighters. That guy is good. Too bad his team went out and lost the rest of the series for him. Also, in Game 1, Dragons win 4-2.

the mexican pacific league names has similar backgrounds...only more regionalized into production areas rather than corporations... the "tomato growers" "cotton growers" "sugarcane growers"...etc etc. there's other non-grower named teams...and some former ones that no longer exist like the "oyster cultivator/growers" not really that much different that the pitt steelers who use the "steel" logo in our society.

Rishi: Their full team name is the {Location} {Nickname} => {Hokkaido Nippon Ham} {Fighters}. Like this? The 7-11 White Sox

The Real Neal: I don't think Lou P is going to be busting AramRam's balls unless things get really out of hand anyway. You're not going to go to the World Series if you treat your best players like 24 year olds on the AAAA shuttle bus. You're right, Piniella wouldn't treat him like that... nor should he. The Cubs are pretty much screwed without Ramirez. The only HR threat the Cubs could replace him with is Soriano and all stats aside, Soriano isn't nearly the hitter Ramirez is.

How hard is this? This is what should happen TODAY! Jim Hendry: Hi ARam's agent, it Jim Hendry ARam's Agent: Hi Jim JH: Hey we want ARam to stay a Cub, how much does he want AA: He wants X years X dollars JH: OK.

Jim Hendry: Hi ARam's agent, it Jim Hendry ARam's Agent: Hi Jim JH: Hey we want ARam to stay a Cub, how much does he want AA: He wants X years X dollars JH: OK. Yeah, frankly, I agree. The guy is young enough that a 4 or 5 year deal shouldn't be a problem, and he's certainly earned $14-15m a season. It doesn't speak well of the Cubs if, after announcing a $20-25 mil payroll hike, they are nickel and diming Ramirez and his agent. Give him the money, make him forget about the interested other teams, and let's look forward to free agency.

couldn't agree with Chad more...in fact, the next time I read here about why getting rid of ARam is a good move will be the first.

Chad, You dont offer a guy with Aram's injury issues a blank check. He is not worth more than what he is making right now. Look at his BR page, the 3b he is compared to in his top 10 (Beltre, Chavez, and Rolen) all make what he makes. I would rather have Beltre at 11 and a decent 4th SP at 4 than Ram at 15.

Chifan, You dont offer a guy with Aram's injury issues a blank check. He is not worth more than what he is making right now. Look at his BR page, the 3b he is compared to in his top 10 (Beltre, Chavez, and Rolen) all make what he makes. I would rather have Beltre at 11 and a decent 4th SP at 4 than Ram at 15. Maybe you missed the memo, but this was the worst offense (or 2nd or 3rd worst...whatever) in baseball last year. I agree that we need pitching, but not at the sacrifice of the offense we already have. I agree that we should be smart with our money, but not giving a guy a renewed contract because we feel it could be a few mil high is ridiculous. If we're going to try to win now, and if we're going to amp up payroll, then use the damn money on good players, not bits and pieces and downright garbage, like Beltre.

Heyo everyone, I apologize in advance if this has already been discussed on here today/recently, but it appears there's some news on the labor deal front, and its not all good, well besides the fact that their close on a deal....it appears there will be no FA Compensation in the new deal..... http://tinyurl.com/yxpld4

Andrew, If Ram was a Ripkenesque symbol of health I would not mind overpaying him, but the FOTM is that he is always dinged with quad, hamstring, or groin injuries. If he sustains a serious injury we might be overpaying without the production he can provide.

he is always dinged with quad, hamstring, or groin injuries. You take what you can get. Frankly I don't remember a lot of nagging injuries this year, and he played through the end of the season for the first time in 3 seasons. Maybe his new offseason regimen of strengthening his legs worked? He played in 157 games this year and 145 in 2004. I wouldn't exactly call that injury prone. I know this much. We aren't going to get Eric Chavez or Scott Rolen. And no matter how many games you get out of a guy like Beltre, he's still going to suck. Ramirez is a stud. He's on the Cubs currently, and he'd like to stay that way. Sign him NOW.

Adrian Beltre, he who has hit 30 hrs once. He has driven in 100 rbis once. He who maked over 1 million more than aram would last year going into year 3 of a 5 year contract. Aram has out performed Beltre in every year of his career aside from Beltre's contract year. As well, Aram played in 157 games last year. He missed many in 05 but sat out at the end of the year but could have played. He sat out cause the Cubs were out of it and it was dumb to risk further injuries. Furtermore, if you think that he'll ask for 'too much money' (whatever that means) and we let him walk, who do you think the Cubs should sign? There are NO options out there.

".it appears there will be no FA Compensation in the new deal....." Maybe now, cheapass owners will have to pony up and pay players.

>>>who do you think the Cubs should sign? i just hope it's somebody who hustles! cause we all know hustle trumps best in class production everyday...

Eli, Look at DET, Monroe led their team in HR with 28 and Maggs lead them in RBI with 104. Hitting doesnt win shit in October. Great power pitching and an offense that can support with with 3 or 4 runs a game does.

Andrew, You left out the rest of the conversation, the part that comes after JH says "OK": AA: That's great. Glad to hear it. My client thanks you for your interest. We'll get back to you, once we've heard from the other clubs - you know, the ones that actually go to the playoffs. Unless Hendry offers substantially more money than everybody else - and by "substantially", I mean way, way more - I can't imagine why ARam would come back. I really can't. Who in his right mind would want to play for the Cubs, if he can get pretty much the same money playing for team that isn't in complete disarray? I wouldn't. Would you?

Chad: "Maybe now, cheapass owners will have to pony up and pay players." I agree. But also I don't see the loss of draft picks for lost FA's a bad thing at all. I think it is a good thing, if anything, but overall I don't see it a major deal, nor affecting the way business will be done.

Chifan- I agree that pitching wins, especially in the playoffs, but DET's offense was 8th in runs in MLB. I don't care who led their team in HR's, they still scored a bunch of runs, something the Cubs were 3rd to last in doing so. Comparing DET to the Cubs this year is not a fair comparison. The Cubs CANNOT afford to lose ARam. The offense is already putrid, losing ARam makes it maybe the worse offense ever.

This just in! Fox Sports: "The deal will not eliminate draft-pick compensation for departed free agents, but the current plan will be modified, the source told FOXSports.com."

Thank God! Don't the players understand that the Royals and Pirates going out of business that ia not a good thing? If I were an MLB owner I wouldn't sign off on no draft pick compensation unless I got revenue sharing on par with the NFL.

my guess is teams will no longer lose a draft pick for signing a FA, but teams losing the FA will still get supplemental sandwich picks. that's my guess...

"Don't the players understand that the Royals and Pirates going out of business that ia not a good thing?" Bad for players and great for fans.

Watching the Series in High Definition on FOX, it occurs to me that there is one flaw in the technology. If the player is butt ugly, or has a disgusting, large, puss-filled cold sore like Albert Pujols does, then FOR GODS SAKE NO EXTREME CLOSEUPS!!!!

Looks like Macha is firing back at Beane. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2634647 "The reason I was fired," he told the San Francisco Chronicle, "[was] there was too much interference." Macha said that general manager Billy Beane made on-field suggestions that made the manager uncomfortable. Looks like Beane is the control freak that most of us all thought. Maybe Beane should just be the manager/GM and save any problems. Or maybe he could have his "manager" wear a headset, so Beane can tell him what to do every play.

The Priors had a baby on Thursday. Dr. James Andrews, a special consult to the couple, proclaimed the baby a perfectly healthy 6 pounds, 9 ounces, but cautioned that there was "some slight tenderness in the shoulder region." Jim Hendry, the baby's godfather, was elated and expects to have Amanda Grace back to her normal baby routine by midseason.

The Priors had a baby on Thursday. Once the labor began, Prior was very active in the process. After getting hot water, Prior threw some towels to the midwife. All that training paid off.

so mrs. prior has a better delivery than her husband? who'd a thunk it. good thing cedeno was not the midwife, as he would have dropped the relay.

So was the radar off last night or was Verlander really only throwing his fastball 93-94? His control isn't all that great, so if he can't throw it his usual 99-100 then his fastball isn't all that impressive.

Looks like Macha is firing back at Beane. You go Macha, don't worry that the players all hated you, it was the GM's fault you got canned.

players lose respect for you because you're just a mouthpiece for the GM...manager loses patience with GM barking orders...manager was hand picked because he will take orders from the GM (this was all figured out last year when he threatened to leave)... it was a cycle doomed to fail and Mr. Moneyball's gonna pay off macha for 2 years where he's not even playing just cuz he didn't pick the right patsy. good luck next time around cuz the players won't be thrilled about it then, either, probally.

so why the hell did Macha come back if he hated the GM so much and didn't like the situation?

another quote from rotoworld on Macha saying he thinks he got fired because he batted Kotsay against lefties and Beane wanted Kielty to start. Beane said Macha's recollection of events was a "total fabrication."

Crunch: "players lose respect for you because you're just a mouthpiece for the GM" Exactly... And that will continue to happen under Beane.

"Looks like Beane is the control freak that most of us all thought. Maybe Beane should just be the manager/GM and save any problems. Or maybe he could have his "manager" wear a headset, so Beane can tell him what to do every play." Why doesn't he just sack up and name himself Manager/GM. F U Billy Beane! I love that Moneyball philosophy of yours keeps circling the drain of baseball insignificance.

that is just...wow. okay, a lotta people knew macha was a puppet. a lotta people knew my macha took the job after threating to walk cuz of why he wanted to walk to begin with... that is just unreal, though. part owner, yes...GM, yes...but that is that man's office who just put 3+ hours of real-time work after a few hours of practice who's looking to eat in HIS office. ...and in FRONT OF AN OUTSIDER WHO'S A REPORTER...what the hell kind of complex do you have to just kick something like that out for a guy who's not only an outsider, but one with a media outlet. the worst part, though...macha took it like the bitch he is (was).

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • 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.