2013 Cubs AZ Instructional League Roster

BOB: I'll look forward to seing you!

Remember, the Cubs will be at Riverview Park (Rio Salado Parkway & Dobson Road) starting next season.

The stadium at HoHoKam Park closes for renovation on December 1st, and I think the baseball facility at Fitch Park is supposed to close at about the same time.

GEORGE A: Unfortunately (for the Cubs), when a player is "Signed for Future Service," the player DOES count against the club's bonus pool for the season during which he actually signs the contract, even if he signs a contract for the following season.

However, when a player is Signed for Future Service, the player does not count against a minor league club's reserve list until Opening Day of the following season. This allows a club to avoid having to release too many players during the off season. (AAA clubs have a 38-man reserve list, AA clubs have a 37-man reserve list, and all other minor league clubs have a 35-man reserve list).  

Without getting too deep into the weeds, any first contract player signed on July 1st or later can be Signed for Future Service (meaning he can sign a contract for the following season), but first-contract players signed prior to July 1st cannot be Signed for Future Service.

Players who sign prior to July 1st count against the minor league club's Active List within 15 days after signing or when the player appears in a game (whichever comes first), but the same player does not count against the minor league affiliate's Reserve List until the minor league reserve lists are filed with the MLB office on November 20th. So (for example), OF Charcer Burks was selected by the Cubs in the 9th round of the 2013 June draft and signed prior to July 1st, so he could not be Signed for Future Service, and he counted against the AZL Cubs Active List when he appeared in a game, but he won't count against the AZL Cubs Reserve List until November 20th. Conversely, RHP Jen-Ho Tseng was Signed for Future Service (he signed in August, and he signed a 2014 contract), and so while he can participate in Instructs games post-2013 and Minor League Camp games and Extended Spring Training games in 2014, he won't count against the AZL Cubs 35-man Reserve List or Active List until AZL Opening Day next June.

So for every player who is Signed for Future Service, the club can keep one additional player it otherwise would have had to release prior to November 20th. 

Another effect of a player being Signed for Future Service is that the season during which the player signs the contract does not count toward the seven minor league seaons needed to qualify as a so-called "six-year minor league free-ageht." So because Jen-Ho Tseng was Signed for Future Service, he will not qualify to be a minor league 6YFA until post-2020.

However, the season the player actually signs his first contract (even if it's a contract for the following season) does count as far as Rule 5 Draft eligibility is concerned. Therefore, although Jen-Ho Tseng signed a 2014 contract when he signed in August, the 2013 season counts as his first season for Rule 5 Draft eligibity purposes because he signed his first contract prior to the conclusion of the AZL Cubs 2013 season. And therefore Tseng will be eligible for selection in the Rule 5 Draft for the first time after the 2017 season (same as Charcer Burks). 

So in summary, signing an international player for future service makes sense if the player signs after July 2nd, and either the player is only 16 years old (like Eloy Jimenez and Gleyber Torres), or the player signs too late in the minor league season for the player to get ready to play in a game (as was the case with Tseng). 

JOE P: It's not clear if the idea is to make Papaccio a catcher permanently, or if it's to just give him experience as a catcher because the Cubs project him as a utility player down the line. If I had to guess, I would say it's probably the latter.

The Cubs have a recent history of teaching minor league utility players the catching trade without actually moving the player to catcher on a permanent basis. Recent examples would be Brandon May, David Macias, Anthony Giansanti, Jonathon Mota, and Rony Rodriguez.

But then other times, the move is permanant (like with Steve Clevenger, Robinson Chirinos, and Willson Contreras).

I think because he was signed as a catcher, moving Mark Malave back to catcher is probably designed as a permanent move, but the others (Carhart, Hankins, and Papaccio) might be a matter of giving the player experience as a catcher to increase his versatility (and value). But if the player shows unusual dedication & aptitude for the position (as was the case with Clevenger, Chrinos, and Contreras), it could become a full-time gig and a whole new career!

Even without Javier Baez on the team, the Mesa Solar Sox have two 1st basemen (C. J. Cron and Max Muncy), two second basemen (Devon Travis and Taylor Lindsey), two shortstops (Addison Russell and Dixon Machado), and two third-basemen (Kris Bryant and Matt Skole), but they only had four outfielders on the primary roster (Zach Borenstein, Tyler Collins, Brian Goodwin, and Jorge Soler--and only Goodwin plays CF) plus two on the taxi squad (Albert Almora and Steve Souza--and only Almora is a full-time CF, Souza is an IF-OF utility guy), so the Cubs certainly don't need to send another infielder to the Solar Sox, and in fact assigning Almora to the primary roster instead of sending Baez back to the AFL for a second time (he was there last year) actually makes more sense than the original assignment configuration.