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

Game 103 Thread / Marlins @ Cubs (2 of 4)

Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview

SP Josh Johnson
SP
Ryan Dempster
  0-0, 3.86, 10 K, 3 BB, 11.2 IP

11-4, 3.05, 111 K, 51 BB, 132.2 IP
       
SS
Hanley Ramirez
LF
Alfonso Soriano
RF
*Luis Gonzalez
SS
Ryan Theriot
3B
Jorge Cantu
1B
Derrek Lee
1B
*Mike Jacobs 3B
Aramis Ramirez
2B
Dan Uggla
RF
*Kosuke Fukudome
LF
Josh Willingham C
Geovany Soto
CF
Cody Ross
2B
*Mike Fontenot
C
Paul Hoover
CF
Reed Johnson
P
*Josh Johnson P
Ryan Dempster

 

With Jeff Samardzija (last name = 29 Scrabble points) in a Major League uniform for the first time and the Brewers so close you can smell the Miller High Life and cannibal sandwiches on their breaths, the Cubs go for a second win in a row against the Fightin' Fish.

Kosuke Fukudome returns to the starting lineup, as does Mike Fontenot, who has gone 14-for-41 (.341) with four homers and a 1260 OPS since the first of July.

Ryan Dempster, who was beaten at home for the first time this year when he lost to the Giants on the Sunday before the All-Star break, comes off a sterling outing at Houston, in which he threw eight shutout innings while fanning seven, walking one, and allowing just six hits.

Josh Johnson makes his third start of the year for Florida as he recovers from elbow surgery this past March. The six-foot-seven-inch righthander throws a mid-90's fastball, a slider and change-up, though often not where he means to throw them. (In 185 Major League innings pitched dating back to '05, Johnson has allowed nearly 4.5 walks for every 9 IP.)

Just thought of this: on Monday, the Cubs faced six-foot-ten-inch Randy Johnson of Arizona. Today they get 6-7 Josh Johnson of the Marlins. That means this week alone, the Cubs have encountered more than 13 feet of Johnson.

 

Comments

That means this week alone, the Cubs have encountered more than 13 feet of Johnson. nice. I thought Edmonds was healthy and I thought Fukudome was suppose to stay in the 2 spot? Although I guess if Edmonds is sitting, Lou likes that lefty in the 5 spot.

Jace, They have this thing called the All-Star break. Cubnut, I don't have a Scrabble board in front of me, but I am pretty sure it's impossible to spell Samardzija (which you wouldn't be allowed to use in Scrabble anyway) without scoring more than 29 points. Carry on.

"The six-foot-seven-inch righthander throws a mid-90's fastball, a slider and change-up, though often not where he means to throw them." Through 4.5 innings" Dempster - 6 walks Johnson - 0

I guess this kills that speculation about him starting over the weekend...

the scoreboard radar in Des Moines always clocked Samarzija @ 90-92 [once I saw a 94]; even allowing for the extra 2-3 mph the scouts @ the ballpark said their guns usually registered, JS must have some serious adrenalin pumping for the Wrigley debut if these readings so far are accurate...

Hey Lou- News flash -- Howry sucks. His 5+ ERA may hav tipped you off, or the fact that virtaully every hitter scorches the ball when he throws it. Ths is also the 4th day in the last 5 he has pitched. What the hell?

Just going by the Yahoo! feed -- was there a batter that didn't hit he ball hard in the 9th inning? Howry's good-but-not-great fastball isn't getting it done any more. Man, the bullpen is a mess.

Ya, I agree, bullpen is a serious mess. It was masked for a while by the dominance of Wood/Marmol, but they've regressed. Gaudin isnt very good right now, and Howry hasn't been good in a long while. After that, we're pretty much ho hum. Its really hurting us. This very easily may be our last day in sole possession of first place :(

looked pretty awesome though...

10 hits + 5 walks = 2 runs. Sheesh. Had runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs in the 6th, 7th and 8th, but Ward, Fukky and Soriano couldn't come through. One hit from any of those 3 probably wins the game. Very frustrating loss. Howry is quickly becoming a joke. He has been scored on in 6 of his last 10 appearances. Good luck with that next ocntract, Bob.

Wow... serious doom and gloom around here. The Cubs lost a game to the Marlins today. It's not like they just got swept by the Mariners... I do think that Lou needs to back off from using Howry in nearly every ballgame, though... I wonder when he'll get that message...

On the Cincinnati news tonight, they reported Cub fans were "all over" the Dayton police about the Castillo charges/arrest due to Castillo's impending call up to the bigs. Uh...which Cub fans are those?? And "impending call up?" Seems everybody I've read on the internets is unanimously denouncing his monumental idiot status. I'm going to have to call shenanigans on the Channel 9 propaganda machine. Pede

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I heard we were going to call him up Monday because his beanball is so good we were going to let him use it on Braun and Fielder. In all seriousness, anyone who is sticking up for him is a moron.

[ ]

In reply to by Pede

Wow, don't they realize that player don't get called up from that deep in the minors? Not even close... It even rare for player to get called up from AA, let alone Low-A ball...

The problem with Lou is that he either overuses guys (Marmol/Howry) to the point of ineffectiveness or lets them rot on the bench (Wuertz/Lieber). I'm not a huge Michael Wuertz fan but in his defense I don't know how a guy is supposed to stay sharp when he only pitches once every two weeks. Not real impressed with the way Lou handles his pitching staff.

[ ]

In reply to by Pootie T

That's just a supposition. You don't know that that Howry and Marmol are struggling due to workload.. You're just assuming. It could be a million things, the most likely of which is Howry isn't as young as he used to be and he doesn't throw 95 anymore. Marmol doesn't trust his stuff right now. He can't control his slider and his fastball's getting worked. Please explain to me why it's the workload. I do agree that it's silly to have guys down there that never pitch, but that's not relevant to why Bob Howry can't get anybody out.

[ ]

In reply to by Wes

Well, with Marmol it's probably a bit of both. His struggles started after a pretty heavy work load and then it's not out of the question that some struggles led to mental struggles which led to more pitching struggles. With Howry, I doubt it's work load but it is reasonable to say a manager who has staked part of his reputation on only playing guys who produce should be not playing guys who aren't producing and Howry is one of those guys. He's only had good month in May (which was admittedly amazing with a 1.76 ERA). Other then that, his best was a 4.50 ERA in June and that's nothing to write home about. Relievers are very unreliable and you can't just keep using one because he used to be good. More often then not, teams do better by riding the hot hand or the young, up and comer who goes on a tear for one year. We have Gaudin, Cotts, Wood (when he comes back) and Marmol. That's a pretty good base there and better then a lot of teams. Marmol has always been wild and will always be wild but his WHIP is still lower then last year and he is still the best choice to close out games with Wood out. Saying Lou over-relies on certain bullpen arms is a completely valid argument. Bullpen usage is probably his biggest weakness and he needs to realize quickly that Howry is a 6th-7th inning guy and a mop-up guy. We have other arms and they need a chance. Heck, Wuertz has better numbers then Howry at this point.

[ ]

In reply to by johann

I don't disagree. But blaming his struggles on the workload alone makes no sense. Yes, he's worked a lot. I've always thought that he, in particular, had the arm to handle it. Maybe that's not the case, but he's still not showing signs of fatigue (dead/tired arm) in his delivery. At the same time, he's thrown all of 120 career relief innings. A sudden regression should not necessarily be blamed on the amount that he worked. Perhaps it's partially because we're talking about a guy who's relieved for only a season and a half. Perhaps it's because we're talking about a guy who isn't use to making mistakes and is now making them. Perhaps we're talking about a guy who hasn't yet fought severe wildness in this role. Perhaps we're simply talking about regression. Perhaps we're talking about guys finally learning to make him throw them a fastball for a strike. You can't hit his slider, whether it's in the strike zone or not. Guys would take called thirds on his slider all the time. It's not a strike right now. It could be one of many things, or a combination of all. Blaming it strictly on the amount of innings he's thrown is silly. Say he threw 20 or 25 innings in April/May instead of 35, is his ERA a full 5 runs lower in the last two months? I think that's incredibly unlikely. I mean, am I the only one who thinks that sounds absurd? EDIT: Also, if he's tired after 50 innings, then he's in the wrong business. Yes, the last couple of days have been a LOT of work for him, but working 3 out of 4 days shouldn't cause him to tire over this timeframe. Over the course of 162 games, yes. Over the course of 70 or 80 games (when he started to fail), no. That's not right. Either he's got the weakest arm in the NL or something else is wrong.

[ ]

In reply to by Wes

Wes, With all due respect, that makes no sense. Being overworked just means that you're not giving your body time to recover. You can become overworked in 3 days. Go to the gym and do your max bench press for 3 days in a row. See if you can do the same weight on day 3 that you did on day one. You won't be able to, because your body hasn't recovered. The same thing applies to all endeavors in sports. Runners, football players, tennis players, everyone needs time to recover, and if you play too much of anything over a given time frame, you won't be as effective. Back to Marmol, BP was commenting in May that he had a workload that was unheard of in today's game. He's not exactly Livan Hernandez when it comes to the amount of effort he expends either. Yes it's possible that his troulbes have nothing to do with overwork. He leads the Majors in relief pitches thrown. I don't know how much sports you have played, but when you get tired you tend to lose your coordination. Loss of coordination in for a pitcher is going to result in a loss of control, which is what we've seen from Marmol. It's not the league adjusting to him, He's throwing the same two pitches he's thrown since he became a reliever.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Some. I have played some sports. I know about recovery time. In fact, I very specifically know about the recovery time of pitchers. Three in a row is part of it. Four out of five in a week is part of it. Comes with the territory. After a season and a half in this role, I can guarantee you that his arm is conditioned for that. Maybe not for that workload over the course of a full season, but certainly for over 2 or 3 months. If we were having this discussion at the end of August about why he was beginning to have some trouble, I'd agree it was fatigue. But, I don't buy it right now. If Carlos Marmol loses effectiveness after throwing 30 innings in two months, then there's an entirely different problem here. Yes, he's thrown a lot of pitches. Yes, he's made a lot of appearances. But, it's fucking July dude. He started sucking at the end of May. THE END OF MAY. He's not tired at the end of May. His arm isn't out of gas at the end of May. That's just not possible for a big league reliever unless he makes 45 appearances in the two months. He appeared in 29 of 51 games that this team played in April and May. Approximately half. A little more than that, but but basically half. He didn't throw 3 out of every four over that time span. Sure, he threw 3 in a row occasionally, and made 1+ inning appearances occasionally, but he still worked in roughly half. That is NOT enough to wear out a reliever. It just isn't, Neal. I'm sorry. Not over that timespan. I've lived it and I've seen it. Mariano Rivera has thrown 70 or more innings every year since 2001 (save an '04 injury). Jonathan Broxton throws 70+ every year. He threw 82 last year. He's on pace to throw over 70 again. K-Rod has averaged 75 innings for the last 5 seasons. 80+ twice. 80 innings is a high workload. But it happens. The dependable relievers in this game are counted on for 80 innings. That's an inning every other day. Which is what Marmol has more or less done (give or take four or five innings) through 60% of this season. 55 innings in 103 games. He's on pace for more than that, but I don't think Lou ever planned on throwing him 90 innings. Lou has said he planned on resting him down the stretch, but now he's got a different problem. He's got to get him right. He has to get his confidence back, and the only way to do that is to work him more. He has to pitch. An interesting paradox. To conclude, I have a problem with your weightlifting analogy. If I go bench press 3 days in a row, I get tired. If I went right now, today, not having benched in several months, day 3 would be a failure. In fact, day 2 might even be a failure. Unless, of course, if I've conditioned myself to bench press everyday for the last 6 or 7 years. Then I bet I can do essentially the same bench on day 3 than I've done on day 1. Maybe a rep or 2 less, and if I give myself a day off on the 4th day, I'm right back in it on the 5th day. That's a more accurate analogy.

[ ]

In reply to by Wes

Neal, You also said when you lose coordination, you lose control. That's correct. But, that's not the only thing you lose. I went over this a few days ago, but as you said yesterday, you've only recently returned. Wildness is not the only symptom of tired/dead arm. Wildness is also not the tell-tale symptom of tired arm. In fact, wildness is a symptom of several things. If you have a tired arm, you lose velocity, which Marmol has not. He was still throwing 96 on Thursday. You change your arm angle. He hasn't done that yet, either. With most pitchers, you talk about shoulder fatigue when they get tired. With Marmol's mechanics, I wouldn't be surprised if we'd be talking about elbow pain, as well. In that case, you lose any kind of ability to throw a breaking ball like he does. The slider is still very sharp, he just can't control it. It's not a very tactful analogy, but I compare the symptoms of tired arm to the symptoms of having a heart attack. If you get a headache, you just don't feel well. Like having some wildness. Could be one of a bunch of things. If you change your arm angle, maybe you start feeling a little lightheaded. You start having trouble breathing. It's still a problem there that probably needs to be checked out, but it doesn't mean you're having a heart attack. Now, if your breaking ball goes flat and you've lost 5 or 6 mph, call 911. That's the left arm hurting and the chest pain. You've got trouble. It wouldn't surprise me if they put Marmol on the DL when Wood comes back and called it "tired arm". But that's not the problem right now.

[ ]

In reply to by Wes

We'll have to agree to disagree. At the start of the season he was throwing 98. At the peak of his down cycle he was throwing 95. All athletes aren't the same, what one guy can do doesn't necessarily apply to everyone. Have you ever heard of a guy with a 'rubber arm'? Marmol is what 5'10 and throws 98 MPH's. How many people have you ever met or seen like that? You can't just generalize because some guy you knew could throw in a game 4 times a week for 3 months. I ran a lot of track, and I was slow. But when the sprinters put had to join the distance guys for their endurance workouts, I could beat a guy who played wide reciever for TN in the 200. Was I more fit than him? No, but my body was less dependant on fast twitch muscles and could more quickly recover. You can't just make blanket assumptions and think they apply to everyone, particuarly a freak of nature like Marmol.

[ ]

In reply to by Pootie T

Sorry, but I don't get your point. The best pitchers pitch the most innings. If Lou called up Wuertz and put him in there in a tie game in the seventh inning and he sucked, and Lou said, "Well, he sucks, but I don't want him to get rusty due to too much inactivity, so I put him out there anyway," then that would be really ridiculous. Obviously, Howry has been terrible this year – this is the most HRs he's allowed in a season since 2002– but Lou using him obviously tells you what he thinks of his alternatives. Howry has great control, so Lou gives him more leeway.

[ ]

In reply to by Mitterwald

Actually Joe Torre said almost that exact same thing about one of his relievers once. If the guy's job is to get out two left handers, or to only give up one run in the 8th to bridge to the closer, that's his job. Every manager would love to have a bullpen full of vintage Jesse Oroscos and Bruce Sutters, but they have to play the hand their dealt. Wuertz's stuff comes and goes. If you don't think Pinhead misused Wuertz this year, then you're probably new to closely observing Cubs baseball. It's proven without a shred of a doubt that Wuertz, when he is on, is a bonafide late inning option. If Pinhead can't get him to perform that way (most likely because he was used too infrequently as Pinhead burned out Marmol and counted on Howry), that's Pinhead's short coming.

Pretty ugly loss for sure. I blame the offense not Howry in particular. Howry has been struggling. Samardzija impressed but I doubt he will be on the team all that long. Fukudome and Soriano could have put the Cubs up in the 7th and 8th. Ward striking out wasn't pretty either. Offense is just bad right now. Maybe Houston will help us out tonight. Unlikely but stuff happens.

If Lou isnt going to use Eyre, Jimbo should trade him. I mean if teams are willing to give up a good player for Ohman I imagine he could get a solid prospect for him. There was 2 good points in that game to use Eyre: 7th- to intentionally walk Cantu. At this point you force Gonzalez to pick his poison: Jacobs V. Eyre or Helms V. Howry or Gaudin 9th- Have him start the inning. If he does I wonder if Gonzalez even uses Hermadia their if he has to face a lefty.

and his ridiculous rant on the Cubs and Soto? I'm watching the Rockies/Reds and he goes off on Tulowitzki for not living up to his contract he just signed. Awesome stuff...

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Kontos has a good arm, but has struggled with command and he was NYY 25th best prospect going into the year. I could see him being viewed as equal to a 1st round sandwich pick. Tabata is a player with a 1st round grade so those two for Marte is an ok to good deal as they matched the talent they could get in compensation for him bolting as a free agent. However including Nady and only getting a pair of 26 year old journeyman type back is where it gets a bit stupid for PIT when you look at all the buzz Nady got in trade rumors.

The Cubs are like a bun without a hotdog. We lost because the middle of the order wasn't there. 2HR, a double, 9 hits sandwiched around a 1/12 performance and all we get is 2 runs. This has been going on too long now. Theriot who usually is in front of them has been on base more than 37 times this month (.422 OBP) but only scored 9 runs. He scored 19 in April, 17 in May.

The Cubs are like a bun without a hotdog. ================== I like it! Today Dempster was mustard, Howry was chopped onions. Shark relish? '98 Cubs, Sammy was the hotdog?

I just heard from a friend that Chad Fox is stretching on the field at Wrigley. Can anyone confirm this and whether he is going to be placed on the roster today?

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • 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.