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37 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (three slots are open)

Last updated 11-17-2023
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 20
Adbert Alzolay 
Michael Arias
Javier Assad
Ben Brown
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
Porter Hodge
* Bailey Horn
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Daniel Palencia
Michael Rucker
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 8
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
* Matt Mervis
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Luis Vazquez
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 7
Kevin Alcantara
Alexander Canario
* Pete Crow-Armstrong
Brennen Davis
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman

 


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Rule 5 Draft 
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A Rosa By No Other Name

Submitted by Arizona Phil on

Jovan Rosa had three hits, including a grand slam HR crushed over the CF fence, as the Daytona Cubs and Stocton Ports (Oakland A's Hi-"A" affiliate) played to an 8-8 tie at the Papago Park Sports Complex in Phoenix this afternoon.

A 21-year old corner infielder signed by the Cubs as a "Draft & Follow" out of Lake City JC (FL) in May 2007, Rosa led the Midwest League in doubles last season with 43.

Here is today's abridged box score (D-Cubs players only). Note that Russ Canzler and Marquez Smith have been demoted from AA Tennessee to Daytona, apparently an indication that OF Brandon Guyer and INF Jonathan Mota may have made the Tenneessee Smokies Opening Day roster.

Also, Tyler Colvin (rehabbing from Fall 2008 TJS) will be the DH with Daytona until he is ready to return to the outfield at either Tennessee or Iowa later this season.(Daytona plays in a league that uses the DH in all games, while AA Tennessee and AAA Iowa only use the DH when playing an American League affiliiate on the road).    

DAYTONA CUBS:

LINEUP:
1. Nate Samson, 2B: 2-5 (1B, 6-3, 1-3, 1B, F-9 - 1 R)
2a. Mark Reed, C: 0-2 (1-3 SH, K, E-4, BB - 1 R, 1 SB)
2b. John Contreras, C: 0-1 (K)
3. Tyler Colvin, DH: 1-4 (L-8, 2B, BB, K, K)
4. Jovan Rosa, 1B-3B: 3-5 (K, P-4, 1B, HR, 1B - 2 R, 4 RBI)
5. Dylan Johnston, RF 1-4 (3B, 4-3, BB, K, K - 2 R, 1 SB)
6. Russ Canzler, LF-1B: 1-4 (1B, 5-3, 1-4-3, K - 1 RBI)
7. Drew Rundle, CF: 0-2 (6-3, 4-3, BB, BB - 1 SB)
8a. Marquez Smith, 3B: 1-2 (BB, 1B, K - 1 R)
8b. Jonathan Wyatt, LF: 0-1 (P-5)
9a. Starlin Castro, SS: 1-3 (5-3, K, BB - 1 R)
9b. Marwin Gonzalez, SS: 0-0 (BB)

PITCHERS:
1. James Leverton - 3.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, 1 HBP, 4/5 GO/FO
2. Robert Hernandez - 0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 1 K, 0/1 GO/FO
3. Chris Siegfried - 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R (2 ER), 4 BB, 0 K, 1 GIDP, 3/1 GO/FO)
4. Erik Hamren - 2.0, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 1/1 GO/FO)

ERRORS (1):
Marwin Gonzalez - muffed ground ball with bases loaded, allowing run to score 

Tags
Cubs Minor Leagues
Jovan Rosa
Daytona Cubs

Comments

Submitted by springs on Fri, 04/03/2009 - 04:47 pm

Do you think they will keep Marquez Smith and Jovan Rosa together? If you throw in Canzler, it seems difficult to find positions for all of them. Smith should remain at 3b, but I would expect they want to keep trying Rosa there as well (does he have the bat for 1b?) Also, do you expect either Starlin Castro or Marwin Gonzalez to be at Daytona? I would expect Flaherty to be SS and don't think Gonzalez or Castro are ready for high A ball. Would love to see Guyer to start at Daytona and build more confidence -- actually was looking forward to the (potential) incredible production from Johnston, Burke and Guyer together in the OF. Thanks again for this and all the updates.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Fri, 04/03/2009 - 04:11 pm

Submitted by springs on Fri, 04/03/2009 - 8:47pm.

Do you think they will keep Marquez Smith and Jovan Rosa together? If you throw in Canzler, it seems difficult to find positions for all of them. Smith should remain at 3b, but I would expect they want to keep trying Rosa there as well (does he have the bat for 1b?)

Also, do you expect either Starlin Castro or Marwin Gonzalez to be at Daytona? I would expect Flaherty to be SS and don't think Gonzalez or Castro are ready for high A ball.

Would love to see Guyer to start at Daytona and build more confidence -- actually was looking forward to the (potential) incredible production from Johnston, Burke and Guyer together in the OF.

Thanks again for this and all the updates.

=======================================

SPRINGS: The minor league rosters are probably about 95% set right now.

I think the Canzler and Smith demotions are probably the final Spring Training moves downward from Tennessee. I suspect Canzler will play mostly in LF, Rosa mostly at 1B, and Marquez Smith will play 3B. And yes, Rosa does have the bat to play 1B, although his future could be as a corner IF-OF if he can learn to play LF and RF. Since Tyler Colvin will be the DH most every day at Daytona, it won't be possible for the Cubs to use Canzler or Rosa at DH very often. 

I haven't seen Tennessee in action since Canzler and Smith got demoted, but it's possible that Kyle Reynolds could have been moved down from Iowa when Smith and Canzler got demoted, and will play mostly 3B at AA, with both Steve Clevenger and Blake Lalli getting PT at 1B when they aren't catching. But if Reynolds did get sent down (and I don't know that he did, but Iowa is loaded with veteran infielders Hendry might like to keep on retainer at AAA in case something bad happens to one of the Cubs infielders), that would still leave one too many position players at AA.  

And I do expect both Starlin Castro and Marwin Gonzalez to start the season at Daytona. Player Development Director Oneri Fleita really loves those two guys (and Junior Lake, too, who will probably be the primary utility infielder at Peoria). Of course if Mota were to get moved down to Daytona from Tennessee (Justin Sellers and Matt Camp are also utility infielders at Tennessee right now), that could cause a Marwin Gonzalez to move down to Peoria, and Lake to EXST. 

BTW, Canzler getting demoted back to Daytona has got to be a bitter pill to swallow for him. While Marquez Smith only played about 40 games at Daytona in 2008 (he spent most of the year at Peoria), Canzler was at Daytona for the entire '08 season, and really had no competition for the 1B job at Tennessee. And yet here he is, back at Daytona again. That does not bode well for his future in the Cubs organization.

 

Submitted by rob9999 on Fri, 04/03/2009 - 04:56 pm

Awesome updates AZPhil!! I am thrilled to hear that Brandon Guyer is moving up the ranks. He was easily one of the top players in Peoria last year despite struggling at times at the plate. He is very athletic and has surprising speed for his size. He played all of the OF positions in Peoria (mostly CF), but where do you see him settling in at the major league level?

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 04:31 am

Submitted by rob9999 on Fri, 04/03/2009 - 10:56pm.

I am thrilled to hear that Brandon Guyer is moving up the ranks. He was easily one of the top players in Peoria last year despite struggling at times at the plate. He is very athletic and has surprising speed for his size. He played all of the OF positions in Peoria (mostly CF), but where do you see him settling in at the major league level?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ROB: Adding a power stroke to his game is what's taken Brandon Guyer's game to the next level. I now rank him as one of the Cubs Top 10 prospects (up from Top 15 during this past off-season).  

As long as he remains with the Cubs (I say that because he could get traded), I expect Guyer will probably end up in CF, but capable of playing the corners, too, doing basically what Reed Johnson does now.

Don't forget Guyer's "natural" position is 3B (that's the position he played in HS), but he was moved to LF at UVA, partly to take greater advantage of his athleticism, but mainly because some guy named Ryan Zimmerman was already playing 3B for the Cavaliers. 

BTW, kudos to Cubs master-scout Billy Swoope for bird-dogging Guyer. Swoope is probably the best Area Scout in baseball (IMO).

Submitted by Hagsag on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 04:55 am

Its great that Starlin Castro has advanced enough to play for Daytona at least so far. Phil, I am interested where Michael Brenly fits?

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 04:03 am

Submitted by Hagsag on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 6:55am.

Its great that Starlin Castro has advanced enough to play for Daytona at least so far. Phil, I am interested where Michael Brenly fits?

=====================================

HAGAG: It appears that position players like Michael Brenly, Jericho Jones, Ryan Keedy, Sean Hoorelbeke, Kurt Calvert, Ryan Sontag, Chris Weimer, TeWayne Williis, Dwayne Kemp, Matt Cerda, Logan Watkins, George Matheus,Alvaro Sosa, and Kevin Soto have been assigned to Extended Spring Training (EXST Cubs), where the older ones will spend April-May at Fitch Park waiting for their "Letter of Transit" (waiting for somebody at Peoria or Daytona who playes their position to get hurt or get demoted to EXST)  Otherwise, all of them are hoping for a slot at Boise in June.

The players assigned to EXST could be there because they failed to make the Peoria roster, or they could be injured. Also, one or more of them could get released in the next couple of days, too, since Peoria still needs to cut two position players who will likely end up at EXST. . 

Submitted by Jackstraw on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 04:16 am

AZ Phil- Maybe the answer to this one is too simple for me to see. What's the point in an NL team having somebody be an every-day DH, as you suggest Colvin will be at Daytona? Training somebody for a job that doesn't exist at the big club seems like training somebody to do the job for another team.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 04:33 am

Submitted by Jackstraw on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 10:16am.

AZ Phil- Maybe the answer to this one is too simple for me to see.

What's the point in an NL team having somebody be an every-day DH, as you suggest Colvin will be at Daytona? Training somebody for a job that doesn't exist at the big club seems like training somebody to do the job for another team.

========================================

JACKSTRAW: Tyler Colvin had Tommy John surgery last November and isn't at the point yet where he can throw well enough to play defense, so he will DH at Daytona (where they use the DH in every game) until he's ready to return to the OF sometime later in the season, and then he will be moved up to Tennessee or Iowa (the I-Cubs and Smokies only use the DH when they play an A. L. affiliate on the road). 

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 04:53 pm

One other move of note from this morning.

Catcher Robinson Chirinos (ex-2B who was converted to catcher last Summer) has been demoted from AA Tennessee to Daytona where he will share catching duties with Mark Reed, and John Contreras (ex-3B who is being converted to catcher) will be assigned to EXST.  

This means either Welington Castillo, Chris Robinson, or Shawn McGill got assigned to AA to share catching duties there with Steve Clevenger and Blake Lalli (both of whom hit LH and also play 1B). And then either Robinson or McGill probably got released (Iowa had four catchers, and needed to cut two). 

And 19-year old Australian RHP Ryan Searle and 22-year old Dominican RHP Alberto Alburquerque (who had shoulder surgery a year ago, but is a decent prospect when healthy) have apparently made the Daytona Opening Day roster (both worked in Daytona's game today), with 19-year old Venezuelan bonus baby (and Carlos Zambrano clone) RHP Larry Suarez (who missed most of last season after undergoing elbow surgery during Spring Training) assigned to Peoria (he pitched today, too). Somebody asked a while back about RHP Justin Bristow (2008 5th round pick out of East Carolina who was shut down with a sore shoulder at Boise last August). He's OK and is also assigned to the Peoria roster, as is LHP Ryan Buchter (who was acquired from WAS for RHP Matt Avery last November).

It looks like 2B Jake Opitz (2008 12th round pick out of U. of Nebraska) is with the EXST group now, too. (He was with Peoria as recently as yesterday). He was together with Sean Hoorelbeke, Ryan Keedy, and Chris Weimer this morning, and all of them are assigned to Boise/Mesa (EXST). I haven't seen 2008 draft picks Ryan Sontag (23rd round) or TeWayne Willis (28th round) around for a few days. They were assigned to Boise/Mesa, but they may have been released.

The Cubs are supposed to release at least a dozen minor league players (mostly pitchers) at Fitch Park this afternoon. So Opening Day rosters for Iowa, Tennessee, Daytona, and Peoria should be finalized by this evening.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 04:10 pm

Submitted by falcon on Sat, 04/04/2009 - 4:50pm.

I heard that Willis injured himself while diving for a ball in centerfield a week or so ago. Can they still release you if you're injured?

===============================

FALCON: If Willis was injured diving for a ball, they won't release him until he has a chance to try and rehab the injury.  

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