Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus one player is on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Twenty-Six Runs per Hour

Manager Ryne Sandberg's Iowa Cub lineup SCORED 4 runs in 9 minutes? I LOVE THIS STAT! That translates to 26.6 runs per hour. Thankfully, they suspend games in triple-A rather than just wash them out and make it a do-over. The RPH just might go up when the game resumes in a month.

Manager Lou Piniella's Chicago Cubs GAVE UP runs at a similar velocity. After last night's 17-2 debacle vs the Rockies in an 8th inning that saw 11 consecutive hits (13 total hits but 11 hits with 2 outs) and 12 runs score...that's what I'm talking about, RUNS PER MINUTE. The only problem is that the Chicago National League franchise's role model has been Captain Peter Wrongway Peachfuzz. It was too painful for me to use a stopwatch on that fiasco. The last time the Cubs gave up 12 in one inning was Sept. 24, 1985 vs the Expos. The Expos won that game 17-15 and Expo hat wearing Andre Dawson went 4-6 with 8 rbi and 3 homers. Oddly, a pitcher named Ray Fontenot took the loss for the Cubs. At least those Cubs scored 12 runs over the last 3 innings, which is more than this inept group could claim.

Why can't the I-Cubs just play out their schedule at Wrigley and hide the lame ducks in Des Moines?

As far as the trading deadline ending later this afternoon, the Saturday morning latest says Lilly is still on the block with the Dodgers, Twins, Tigers and Yankees for some reason showing interest. "Minor sniff's" on Xavier Nada and Little Babe Ruth are out there per Ken Rosenthal. Something about interest in DBack Kelly Johnson too. If they wanted him now, it seems they missed the boat since he would have come for less when he was a free agent nobody wanted last off-season. Did Jim Hendry misread the saying as buy-high and sell-low? I hate it when we get stuff bass-ackwards.

and a bit more detail on runs-per-minute after the break...

First the good news...


July 30, 2010 (Albuquerque, NM) - The Iowa Cubs scored four runs in nine minutes in the top of the first inning before rain delay halted play at Isotopes Park tonight. After waiting approximately 90 minutes, the field was ruled unplayable and the Cubs' game against the Albuquerque Isotopes was suspended. The game will be resumed when the Cubs return to Albuquerque on Tuesday, August 31st at 5:00 p.m. Central Time.

The at-bat by at-bat details:

Beautiful...

I-Cubs top 1st: Fuld walks. Barney singles. Scales strikes out. Hoffpauir doubles. Wright homers. LaHair 2-0 count, rain delay.

Ugly...

Rockies Bottom 8th: Sean Marshall pitching. Barmes doubles. Mora singles. Fowler Strikes out. Spilborghs Strikes out. HELL BREAKS LOOSE. Gonzales singles. Tulowitzki doubles. Hawpe doubles. Cashner replaces Marshall. Iannetta triples. Stewart homers. Barmes singles. Mora doubles. Fowler homers. Spilborghs singles. Schlitter replaces Cashner. Gonzalez singles. Tulowitzki doubles. Hawpe walks. Iannetta walks. Stewart flies out.

Comments

Ken_Rosenthal: Source: Westbrook to #Cardinals close. Deal at union level. Trying to work through $$$. Westbrook gets more than 2M

George Ofman is the source here. He does some post game work on WGN radio. Cubs deal to D-back in their hands now. Theriot and Russell for kelly Johnson who strikes out way too much for leadoff man. Does have 17HRs about 1 hour ago via web http://twitter.com/GeorgeOfman

thanks for the shorty george twitter link, didn't realize he is a talking head again... saw this on one of his previous tweets:
Lilly to Dodgers. Names to consider from LA: Ron Ely and Dee Gordon SS top prospect about 22 hours ago via web
I doubt Lilly plus Theriot would get Dee Gordon. BA had him as their #1 prospect, so I expect Shorty G just picked that name from his wishful thinking list rather than a real source. He's at AA Chattanooga this year with a line of .281/330/.368/.698 but he does run (39 steals/15 CS) in 439 PA. We saw Ely pitch well against the Cubs but lost earlier in the year, he hasn't been quite so good of late as I recall. Anyone see Dee Gordon lately? ...BA loved him as top prospect including best hitter for average, fastest baserunner, best athlete and best defensive infielder. They project him as the Dodger SS for their 2013 lineup. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-to…

Would be nice if the Cubs would do both trades. Try to pick up a pitching prospect to replace Russell in the Lilly trade, while shedding payroll, then flip Theriot and Russell for Johnson.

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

Considering the trouble the Cubs had putting together a bullpen for this season, I'd rather hold onto Russell. Lefty relievers are harder to come by than righties. I'd rather give up one of the righties or someone from the minors, if this has to be done. I'd expect Russell to improve upon his rookie season. But I could just be talking out of my arse.

Jayson Stark saying Lilly and Theriot will go to LA together, wonder who the prospects they are looking at (probably DeWitt) specifically prospects from minors. http://twitter.com/jaysonst/status/20003471513 Bruce Levine on his radio show just said the Cubs-Dodgers deal is the most likely scenerio, the GM's had late night discussions, mentioned DeWitt to Chicago, but it's not a done deal yet.

[ ]

In reply to by Paul Noce

So the Cubs will get (if the deal is wrapped up) Blake Dewitt, and pass on Kelly Johnson, because of the difference in 2011 salaries. Johnson will likely get $4-4.5 million. Dewitt gets a tiny (pre-arbitration) raise on $410k. I like Dewitt but his power has become non-existent. At this point I'd rather have Johnson. I know Hendry should have just signed him as a free agent, but he would make the team better next year and we're really only giving up a lefty middle reliever since Theriot would almost certainly be non-tendered.

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

Starting to remind me of the last Cubs-Dodgers deal where we got Izturis, when we already had good field no-hit shortstops on the roster in Perez and Cedeno. We've already got Fountainout(LH hitting 2nd basemen with career 92 OPS+), what's the point in adding a LH hitting second basemen with a career 93 OPS+?

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Minor leagues are professional? Who knew?! So, according to you, Wilken's comprehensive knowledge of high school and college talent and their progress through the minors is no longer useful once these same players reach the major leagues. Yeah, that makes sense. You do realize that Randy Bush and the other three asst.s to the GM also scout the minor leagues. Right? The point is, after the amateur draft if not before, Tim Wilken is in part responsible for what we've been getting back in trades since 2006. It's just a fact that's pretty much ignored when judging his and the Cubs' front office's performance.

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

The second basemen fetish rears it's ugly head again. The Cubs major league scouts have done a really good job in finding some guys who are set to blossom, I guess we have to hope that this is a case of that. Be interesting to see how much money the Cubs throw in. It certainly frees up a little payroll for the off-season.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

And Dewitt is a career .262 mlb hitter. Yuk. I liked him in 2008 but he's regressed since then. Perhaps the Cubs are simply thinking of Dewitt as next year's bench guy who can play 2b/3b replacing Baker and they'll get a 2b somewhere else. But if that's the case, we shouldn't be giving up a good starting pitcher to get him.

[ ]

In reply to by The Joe

meh, i like dewitt...not like he's anything special. his 15+HR power seems to have turned into 5-15 HR power, though. this season is kinda pathetic. he can field, spell 3rd (his arm isn't junk), and like someone posted above he has a really sweet swing (and decent enough eye)...too bad it's not become much yet. he's a nice #2 or 7/8 (real 7/8, not that soto kinda 7/8) hitter, imo.

When DeRosa was traded, I remember reading that Archer was the key to the deal for the Cubs. I think the key to this deal is Wallach. I keep a list of Cub pitching prospects ranked by K/9 minus H/9. I call it the Marmol Index, since Marmol is the undisputed king of K/9 minus H/9, and he's had some success. Wallach was a third-round pick last year, so this is his first full season. Relievers usually rise to the top of the Marmol index. Wallach is a starter, and he's right in there with some of the Cubs' best starting prospects: McNutt, 3.79 Samardzija, 3.48 Archer, 3.13 Batista, 2.65 Wallach, 2.02 Diamond, 1.50 Bibens-Dirkx, 0.54 Rusin, 0.49 (Yes, believe it or not, Samardzija is pitching well this season, although he gives up too many walks, which don't hurt you in this ranking.)

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

the 2nd base FA market is pretty much non-existant. it helps that i don't mind dewitt. i'm not expecting much more than a contact hitting guy who can field his position and flirt with .800 ops. mark ellis and jose lopez (not much of a 2nd defensively) are the cream of the 2nd FA market i believe...which is scary...

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

offensively dewitt has at least gap power. riot was pretty useless aside from collecting singles and finding an occasional double. not like it's hard to hit with a little more power than him unless you're juan pierre. dewitt is also kinda slow compared to riot, but he's not a molina or anything. dewitt's speed is low enough he turns some doubles some others would get into singles, though.

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

Well, you can't look at everything, especially if you're trying to make predictions, publicly, about who the real prospects are when they're still at Peoria. So I worry less about walks, especially when pitchers are on the youngish side. Take Chris Archer and Hung-Wen Chen. Last season, Archer had 66 walks in 109 innings, all at Peoria. But he struck out 119, and only gave up 78 hits. Chen was at Tennessee last year, two levels higher than Archer, where he yielded 32 walks in 142.2 innings, or about 2 per nine innings, close to the lowest in the organization. But Chen gave up 166 hits, so his WHIP was a bit higher than Archer's, 1.39 to 1.32 (still pretty close). The point is that Archer has blown through two levels this season and is on a fast track to the Cubs. His walks are down to 40 in 100 innings, still on the high side. Chen, three years older, was promoted to Iowa but converted to long relief, a bridge to nowhere. He could conceivably get a shot, but we'll see who gets there first, the pitcher with the pinpoint control or the one with the filthy stuff.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

You have to be kidding me. You do you know that you can look at walks AND strikeouts, right? And you do know that hits are very team defense dependent, right? Any analysis of pitching that ignores control/walks is no analysis at all. I'll just say that I am glad that Cubs are not relying on you to analyze prospects.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

You're treating dependent variables as independent variables. Hits/9 innings are inversely correlated with K'/9 innings, because when you give up a hit, you don't get a K and vice versa. But strikeouts and walks are frequently correlated positively as well. Think about Greg Maddux and Kerry Wood. If Maddux got two strikes on a guy - he'd throw him another strike. When Wood got two strikes on a guy he throws him a slider low and away and a chest high fastball to try to get them to chase for strike three, and potentially wind up walking him. You can't do any real analysis of a pitcher by disregarding his walk rate. The reason their walks rates are so high, is because they're trying to strike guys out. The reason that Chen's is low, is that he isn't afraid to let the ball be hit.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

I made it quite clear that I was talking about prospects, not major-league pitchers. Every pitcher in my list was a minor leaguer. The question is, who is a good prospect, and when. Was Archer a good prospect last season when he walked 66 in 109 innings? How about the year before, when he walked 84 in 115? That was when the Cubs acquired him. Didn't they know what you guys know about the importance of control? Dave is having trouble separating "good pitcher" from "good prospect"; and you are even less helpful. Every year, thousands of pitchers with excellent control graduate high school and are never invited to pitch competitively again. Meanwhile, if there's a kid in the neighborhood who throws 95, he is heavily scouted, completely regardless of control. What's hard about this? What does Greg Maddux have to do with it?

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

Dave is having trouble separating "good pitcher" from "good prospect"; Nope... not having any trouble at all. You cannot doing any kind of pitching analysis, including that of prospects, without looking at walks. Every year, thousands of pitchers with excellent control graduate high school and are never invited to pitch competitively again. This is stupid. No one, at all, is saying that you should only look at control. So don't pretend that we are. We are saying you can't just look at hits and k's, but also have to look at walks (as well as other things that are more difficult to look at via stats, such as command/movement). But to ignore control is just plain silly.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

I bet I can answer that for him from by merely using his prior comments. Was Archer a good prospect in the fall of 2008 when the Cubs acquired him? (Reminder: 84 walks in 115 innings.) "You cannot doing any kind of pitching analysis, including that of prospects, without looking at walks, [but] [y]ou do you know that you can look at walks AND strikeouts, right? No one, at all, is saying that you should only look at control. So don't pretend that we are. [Basically] we are saying you can't just look at hits and k's, but also have to look at walks (as well as other things that are more difficult to look at via stats, such as command/movement). But to ignore control is just plain silly." [So assuming that the other parts of his game were encouraging, yes he could be considered a good propsect in spite of his high walk totals.]

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

I'll venture an attempt at defending the "Marmol Index" being touted by VirginiaPhil. As I understand it, it is trying to identify pitchers whose "stuff" is so nasty that hitters not only swing and miss with regularity but also fail to square up the ball very often when they do make contact. I know that, by definition, pitchers who K many batters tend to allow less contact than pitchers who pitch to contact. However, there are pitchers who get many of their strikeouts mainly with velocity (hitters are able to "square up" the ball when they manage to catch up with it) and pitchers who, because of exceptional pitch movement, change in velocity and deceptiveness are constantly causing batters to "look sick" and only make weak, if any, contact. As I understand it, it is an attempt to identify not just those pitchers who can blow batters away but also those who consistently make batters "look sick" against them. It is an attempt to statistically identify those pitchers with Marmol-like "stuff". Clinical correlation is advised (i.e., someone should actually observe his pitching and not just rely on the numbers -- that's for you, Cubster).

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

The impression that I got from the radio (no statements of fact here) was that Rizzo told KW that if they traded for Edwin Jackson they would trade Dunn for EJ. Then Williams went and traded for Jackson, called Rizzo, and Rizzo says, "yeah, I want what I asked for earlier and now I want one more guy, too." Rizzo thought he could get Williams to step up his offer since Williams had it partially completed already. Rizzo recognized that KW had lost a lot of leverage in the discussions and attempted to exploit it. Williams chose to not make a deal and keep Jackson instead of Dunn. If what I heard was true, I don't see why Williams wouldn't have insisted on a 3-team deal to avoid this.

Quoting Ken Tremendous, formerly of FJM fame: "DeWitt VORP: 8.8. Theriot VORP: 3.3. Sweet trade, Colletti."

Lots of ex-Cub action. Besides Wood to the Yankees, Ohman went to the Marlins and Farnsworth to the Braves.

By sending $2.5M to the Dodgers, the Cubs save just about $2.5M in 2010 payroll by trading Lilly and Theriot, while gaining a player who will not be eligible for salary arbitration until after the 2011 season. It appears that DeWitt basicaly duplicates Mike Fontenot (albeit with better defense at 2B), so Fontenot will likely be a 12/12 non-tender if he is not traded before then. As for the two young pitchers acquired by the Cubs, Kyle Smit will be eligible for selection in the December 2010 Rule 5 Draft, so there's probably a pretty good chance that Smit will go to the AFL so the Cubs can get a better read on whether he is a legit prospect or not. Speaking of the AFL, Peoria Chiefs Manager Casey Kopitzke (a rising star in the Cubs Player Development Field Staff) will be the Mesa Solar Sox manager this season.

Colvin 9/ Castro 6/ Lee 3/ Ramirez 5/ Byrd 8/ Soriano 7/ Soto 2/ Fontenot 4/ Gorzelanny 1 right.

Phil, I realize that the AZ ssummer league has a month to go but does anyone in AZ now excite you much? Hard to get excited about our haul from Lilly nad Theriot.

[ ]

In reply to by chuck

Submitted by chuck on Sat, 07/31/2010 - 4:56pm. Phil, I realize that the AZ ssummer league has a month to go but does anyone in AZ now excite you much? Hard to get excited about our haul from Lilly nad Theriot. ====================================================== CHUCK: 2nd round pick Reggie Golden has been down here about a week, but he hasn't made his game debut yet. INF Vismeldy Bieneme has played very well so far. He had just a so-so EXST, but he has really been outstanding as a lead-off man for the AZL Cubs. He is a below-average defensive player no matter where he plays (and he is definitely miscast as a SS), but he is very fast and has shown a pretty quick bat. I would think 2B will be his position if he remains an everyday player. RHP Luis Liria is probably the best pitching prospect who hasn't been moved up to Boise. He has some control issues, but he also has good stuff (decent fastball, plus-change, OK breaking ball). RHP Aaron Reed (12th round pick out of Rancho Cucamonga HS - Rancho Cucamonga, CA) has electric stuff but sometimes struggles with his mechanics. He has long legs and a complicated delivery, but when he's on his game he is really outstanding. Reed's older brother Addison is the #1 starter at San Diego State, and it was a bit surprising that Aaron did not go there too after signing an NLI with SDSU, which is probably why he fell to the 12th round. RHP Ryan Hartman (16th round pick out of Mt. Zion HS - Mt. Zion, IL) got a late start but has looked pretty good. He has a plus-curve. The Cubs signed 49th round pick RHP Bryce Shafer (Valparaiso) last Tuesday, but he isn't ready for game action yet. Shafer was the #1 starter for the Crusaders this past season. The problem with AZL baseball and the AZL Cubs in particular is that the AZL is used as an entry-level staging area, and so the better prospects usually get moved up to Boise very quickly and just aren't here very long.

The Mariners placed OF Milton Bradley on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 26, with patellar tendonitis in his right knee. I hadn't checked in on him in a while, but he is at an abysmal .205/.292/.348 for the season in 278 PAs. Jeez.

I submit the following without further comment: The Astros 3-5 hitters tonight are Jeff Keppinger, Hunter Pence, and Jason Michaels.

RHP Thomas Diamond will have one minor league option left once he is added to the 40-man roster. He was one of the three Cubs minor leaguers eligible to be Rule 55 minor league free-agents (6YMiLFA) post-2010 who I thought the Cubs would add to the 40-man roster by the end of the World Series (at the latest). OF Brad Snyder and C-INF Robinson Chirinos are the other two. Two other post-2010 Rule 55 MiLFA (RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx and 1B-3B Russ Canzler) will probably be offered minor league successor contracts for 2011 where they would get 1st time 40-man roster money (about $30K) plus an NRI to Spring Training. The only risk in that arrangement is if the player wants to try his luck with another organization or if the player signs a minor league contract for 2011 and then gets selected in the Rule 5 Draft.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

When Lee hit the homerun, something crystallized for me: Lee has been out to ruin the Cubs since the beginning of the season! Now that they are out of it, not only will he refuse trades, but he'll do everything in his power to the team win games. Of course, his ability to help the team isn't great enough to get them back into the race, but it is enough to drop them in next years draft a few spots. What a jerk. Good thing for the rest of the team or we might have won that game.

I wish him the best-He's my second favorite Cub after Mordecai Brown (I loved watching both of them pitch)-but I have a feeling Wood isn't going to be making many fans in NY.

This site is the counterpart to the Cubs yahoo blog (which will remain nameless) so maybe the readers are jackasses, but here goes: http://www.truebluela.com/2010/7/31/1597626/ted-lilly-finally-comes-hom… You know the saying “Even if you put lipstick on a pig, it still a pig”? Well, in that scenario, I always imagined putting lipstick around the mouth of the pig. Trading a cost controlled league average 2B for 10 starts of Lilly and shitty ass Theriot is like putting lipstick around the pigs behind area. We didnt even put the damn lipstick in the right place! Reacting to the inclusion of the minor league pitchers: What more could the Cubs want? They got a cost controlled MLB’er (an upgrade at 2nd base) for TED Freakin Lilly. Fuck Ned Colletti. Just fuck him. I won’t let the excuse he has no funds to make trades. He shouldn’t make them then. It took not being able to afford a real starting 2B to get him a shot. You may not have been the best player, Blake, but you tried your damndest. Fuck, his defense got to be really good too. Screw you Ned. This makes me sad. Let me just go on record saying I like Ted Lilly and am perfectly fine that he's on my team. But (no offense to Theriot) the rest of the deal can bite me. He gave up on Brett Wallach? Fuck this. We gave up Wallach? Fuck that shit what the fuck NO NO NO THERE IS NO EXCUSE. This is a piss poor stupid trade. No matter how much money they are getting back. This doesn’t even help the team. Our pitching has been a strength, our offense is killing us. So we trade starters. We traded a cheap 2nd basemen that can get on base…for 10 starts of Ted Lilly that wont get the team to the playoffs. Amazingly, the offense just got worse. in 3 years blake dewitt will be hitting 300 for the cubs, lilly will be pitching for the yankees, theriot hitting on high school girls at a mall in encino trying to lure them into his camaro, and the starting 2b for the don mattingly-managed la dodgers – juan uribe Here's a post from a cub fan and some replies: Hate to be Debbie Downer on you guys, but Theriot absolutely sucks. However, you guys WILL fall in love with Lilly. He’s a beast. He’s probably been my favorite Cub for the whole last decade. Anyone care to give me a scouting report on DeWitt? DeWitt is better than Theriot in every way. We know he sucks We know Theriot is awful.. DeWitt is a gamer… Lilly will be here for 10 starts and thats it. When you’re already way behind in the race, it doesnt matter. i’m happy with lilly because now we may have one of the best starting rotations in baseball… on the other hand… WHAT THE FUCK WAS THE POINT IN EXCHANGING DEWITT AND RYAN FUCKING THERIOT! his ops is below ,700 too, FUCK OUTTA HERE! Have to say —→ I once saw Ryan Theriot buy beer in Chicago a couple years ago at a Jewell. It was bud light. Yes, he’s very gritty. This fucks us so badly for next year. No second baseman and Theriot’s arb-eligibility on the payroll is crippling.

I hate to break it to some (Jumbo, et. al.) but they weren't lined up aroumd the block for Ted Freakin' Lilly! He is a #4 pitcher on most good teams. He needs a big ball park so his home run balls can stay in the park and his velo is down 4-5 mph. Personally, I lile him and love his competitiveness, but to get your balls in a knot over a salary dump is just wasted angst. DeWitt is younger and will be a bench guy or stop-gap. That's it. Hopefully, one of the prospects will pan out. This just is a move where honestly the trade chip just was not as valuable as the fans thought. And, for the amount of bitching here re Theriot, I would think many of you would be pleased that the Cubs traded our junk for new junk!

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

Lilly hasn't lost 4-5 MPH on his fastball (unless you're talking about since he was 22 or something). He's third on the Dodgers in ERA was an all-star last year and flirted with a no-hitter earlier this year. There are I think three teams in baseball with three startes who have an ERA better than Lilly's - and I guess you didn't know this, but Wrigley Field is not a pitchers haven.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

It looks like a good trade for the Cubs, who were going to lose both Lilly and Theriot at the end of the season anyway without getting anything back, most likely. Now they've got DeWitt to replace Fontenot (he makes Fontenot obsolete--lefty bat that can start at 2B or backup 2b and 3B) and can use Barney to replace Theriot (as a right-handed bat that can backup SS and 2nd), all the while saving 2.5 mill this year, and paying Barney and DeWitt close to the league minimum next year instead of paying Fontenot and Theriot another $5 mill-ish? And they got a pitcher who is actually a prospect in the deal. Sounds like a great move by Hendry to me. DeWitt, as you said, can play off the bench or act as a stop-gap 2B until the Cubs have a better sense of what their young infielders can do (and then decide whether to give or save an infield job to Hak-Ju Lee, Logan Watkins, LeMahieu, Ryan Flaherty, or Tony Thomas). None of those guys are can't-misses, but any one of them could have a breakthrough inside the next couple of years, so if DeWitt has to be the starter in 2011 to prevent the Cubs from over committing to another veteran before they know what they really have in the minors, that's just fine with me. On the other hand, if DeWitt rides the bench while the Cubs get a more reliable guy finishing up a contract or on a short contract (2 years, maybe), that's okay too. I liked both Theriot and Lilly, but there is nothing to complain about here.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

When I read up on DeWitt being an excellent defensive 3B, I thought back to the days of Bill Mueller. While he had some injury trouble, he was a great #2 hitter. I don't know what DeWitt's ceiling would be, but if he could approach what Mueller was I'd put him back at third whenever one of the other guys take over at 2B. I realize Vitters may be the heir apparent to 3B, but I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up at 1B instead. Who knows?

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    steele MRI on friday.  counsell expects an IL stint.

    no current plans for his rotation replacement.

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1. 

  • crunch (view)

    amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.

    neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.

  • Eric S (view)

    Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it). 

  • crunch (view)

    boo.

  • crunch (view)

    smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.

    this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

    like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.

    anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.

    I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.

    If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.

    Give him a chance. 

    But Wesneski probably gets it

  • crunch (view)

    alzolay...bro...