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

2009 Cubs Draft Tracker Ticker - Day 2

ROUND 4 (140): Chris Rusin, LHP (Kentucky)
L/L, 6'2, 190, 22 years old
COMMENT: College senior was the Wildcats' "Friday night starter" (#1 starter)... Workhorse went 7-4 with a 4.20 ERA, 14 games (14 GS, 4 CG), 94.1 IP, 95 H, 27/108 BB/K, and a .258 OBA for Wildcats in 2009... 87-89 MPH fastball and decent curve, but change-up needs work... Had elbow surgery in 2008...  

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ROUND 5 (170): Wes Darvill, SS (Brookswood SS - Langley Blaze Baseball Club - Langley, BC)
L/R, 6'3, 175, 17 years old
COMMENT: Member of Canadian Junior National Team... One of the best teenage (secondary school) position players in Canada... Fast runner (6.87 60) with a line drive stroke... Signed NLI to attend Bossier Parish CC (Bossier City, LA)...

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ROUND 6 (200): Brooks Raley, LHP/OF (Texas A&M)
L/L, 6'3, 185, 20 years old
COMMENT: Draft-eligible sophomore... Two-way player in HS and in college... Was Aggies "Friday night" (#1) starter... Went 7-3 with 3.76 ERA, and allowed 80 hits (.237 OBA) with 26/95 BB/K in 93.1 IP in 15 GS (1 CG)... Throws 90 MPH sinker, 93 MPH four-seam fastball, slider, curve, and change-up, although no pitch stands-out... As position player, has plus-speed, plus-arm, and gap power... Played OF and hit 304/420/424, with 1 HR & 26 RBI, 19 2B, 2 3B, 41/32 BB/K in 273 PA, with 25 SB (4 CS) and 11 SH on days he wasn't pitching... Played corner OF at A&M, but would project as a CF in pro ball... Was named "Big 12 Freshman of the Year" in 2008... My guess is Cubs will probably try him as CF, and then move him back to pitcher if he struggles with the bat...

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ROUND 7 (230): Blair Springfield, CF/SS (MacArthur HS - Decatur, IL)
R/R, 5'10, 187 18 years old
COMMENT: "Athletic" defender and aggressive hitter with good bat speed... Has signed NLI to attend Illinois State...

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ROUND 8 (260): Robert Whitenack, RHP (SUNY- Old Westbury)
R/R, 6'5, 185, 20 years old
COMMENT: College junior was named 2009 ECAC "Pitcher of the Year"... Went 5-2 with a 2.87 ERA, with 79 K and only 46 hits allowed in in 67.1 IP... "Out" pitch is a knuckle-curve... Had his usually high-80's fastball up to 93 MPH this Spring...

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ROUND 9 (290): Richard Jones, C (The Citadel)
L/R, 6'0, 210, 21 years old
COMMENT: College junior is big-time lefty power-jacker, hitting 378/449/673 with 17 HR & 69 RBI and 27/52 BB/K in 285 PA for the Bulldogs in 2009... Offensive-first catcher who only threw-out 13% of opposing base-stealers... Was used as a DH quite a bit...

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ROUND 10 (320): Charles Thomas, 3B (Edward Waters College)
R/R, 6'4, 225, 20 years old
COMMENT: College junior is a powerfully-built corner infielder... Hit .336 with 8 HR and 30 RBI in 45 games for EWC in 2009... Played 3B in college, but may be moved to 1B in pro ball...

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ROUND 11 (350): John Mincone, LHP (Suffolk County CC West)
L/L, 6'1, 215, 19 years old
COMMENT: JC sophomore went 6-0 with a 0.92 ERA, allowing just 32 hits in 59 IP, with a 13/91 BB/K for the Longhorns in 2009... Good hitter, played1B & DH on days he wasn't pitching... Transferred to SCCC after spending his freshman year at James Madison...

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ROUND 12 (380): Runey Davis, OF (Howard JC)
R/R, 6'0, 185, 20 years old
COMMENT: Selected by Pirates in 11th round of 2007 draft, but did not sign... Transferred to Howard JC after spending freshman year at the University of Texas... Was hit by a pitch 14 times and stole 34 bases for JUCO World Series champion Howard JC in 2009... Will transfer to Mississippi State if he doesn't sign with the Cubs...

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ROUND 13 (410): Chad Taylor, SS/RHP (Jefferson HS - Tampa, FL)
R/R, 6'1, 175, 18 years old
COMMENT: Tremendously-versatile and athletic all-around baseball player, he made his HS All-Conference team as a shortstop, but he also has played CF and has been used both as a starter and as a closer on the mound... Signed NLI with South Florida...

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ROUND 14 (440): Danny Keefe, RHP (U. of Tampa)
R/R, 6'4, 185, 21 years old
COMMENT: College senior... Spot-starter and part-time closer for Spartans in 2009, Keefe went 4-5 with a 4.13 ERA and two saves, allowing 69 hits (.264 OBA) with a 19/70 BB/K in 65.1 IP...

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ROUND 15 (470): Cody Shields, CF (Auburn U. - Montgomery)
R/R, 6'4, 190, 21 years old
COMMENT: College senior... NAIA 2nd team All-American was the Southern States Athletic Conference "Player of the Year"... Hit .461 with 7 HR and 43 RBI for the "other" Auburn in 2009...

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ROUND 16 (500): Keenyn Walker, OF (Judge Memorial Catholic HS - Salt Lake City, UT)
B/R, 6'2, 185, 18 years old
COMMENT: Hit .517 in his senior year at JMCHS... Also played safety on Bulldog football team... Has signed NLI to play baseball at Central Arizona JC...

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ROUND 17 (530): B. J. Dail, RHP (Mt. Olive College)
R/R, 6'2, 205, 21 years old
COMMENT: College junior was 1st Team All-Peach Belt Conference... Was ace of Mt Olive staff, going 7-0 with a 2.97 ERA in 63.2 IP, 18/64 BB/K and 43 hits (.188 OBA)... Transferred to Mt. Olive after spending two years at U. of North Carolina...

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ROUND 18 (560): Matt Williams, C (Duke)
R/R, 5'11, 220, 22 years old
COMMENT: A typical veteran college senior backstop with strong receiving skills and a questionable bat, hit 345/421/475 with 5 HR & 47 RBI, 12 2B, 1 3B, 24/20 BB/K in 261 PA, and threw out 48% opposing base-stealers for Blue Devils in 2009...

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ROUND 19 (590): Sergio Burruel, C (Trevor Browne HS - Phoenix AZ)
L/R, 5'11, 17 years old
COMMENT: Lefty slugger hit 15 HR with 55 RBI for TBHS in 2009... Member of Class 5-A All-State team... Like Cubs 16th round pick Keenyn Walker, Burruel has signed NLI with Central Arizona JC...

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ROUND 20 (620): Eric Erickson, LHP (U. of Miami)
R/L, 6'0, 174, 21 years old
COMMENT: Freshman All-American... Had Tommy John surgery post-2008 and missed his junior season (2009) at "The U".. Was a combined 19-5 3.27 ERA with 34/131 BB/K in 168 IP and 26 GS pre-TJS (2007-08)... Cubs took a similar gamble on another pitcher rehabbing from TJS a year ago, drafting RHP Jon Nagel in the 17th round of the 2008 draft and then having him continue his rehab at Fitch Park... 

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ROUND 21 (650) Greg Rohan, 1B (Kent State)
R/R, 6'0, 205, 23 years old
COMMENT: 5th year senior... Oldest player selected by the Cubs through the first two days of the draft... Hit 349/436/609 with 15 HR and 63 RBI, and 29/32 BB/K in 282 PA for the Golden Flashes in 2009... Was 2008 MAC Player of the Year and was also an All-American in 2008... Was college teammate of Cubs 2008 3rd round pick RHP Chris Carpenter...

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ROUND 22 (680) D. J. Fitzgerald, SS (Dyersburg State CC)
R/R, 5'11, 195, 20 years old
COMMENT: Speedy middle-infielder, has played both 2B and SS for DSCC... Hit .304 in 2009...  Was a two-time PUMA All-American at Ocean Lakes HS in Virginia Beach, VA... Was a Georgia Southern recruit out of high school, before ending up at a JC... 

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ROUND 23 (710) Jeffrey Pruitt, CF/RHP (Cal Sate - Northridge)
R/R, 6'5, 220, 21 years old
COMMENT: College junior has plus-arm & plus-speed, is a solid defender in CF, and has the look of a power hitter, but he can't seem to do anything with the bat, hitting just 212/332/268 with two doubles and four triples, no HR, and 26/53 BB/K in 215 PA, and 24 SB (only four CS)... This guy is what hitting instructors call a "project"...  

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ROUND 24 (740) Gerardo Esquivel, RHP (De La Salle Institute - Chicago, IL)
R/R, 6'1, 170, 18 years old
COMMENT: Has signed NLI with Kansas State, so Cubs will have to pay over-slot to sign him...

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ROUND 25 (770) Justin Bour, 1B (George Mason)
L/R, 6'4, 250, 21 years old
COMMENT: College junior... First team All-Colonial Athletic Association... At 6'4 250, Justin Bour is this year's Rebel Ridling... Bour hit 339/420/633 with 17 HR & 66 RBI and 14 doubles, with 24/33 BB/K in 257 PA (not a high "K" total for a power hitter) for GMU in 2009... Just turned 21 last month...

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ROUND 26 (800) Steve Grife, RHP (Mercyhurst College) 
R/R, 6'0, 177, 22 years old
COMMENT: College senior.. Went 5-1 with a 3.24 ERA for Lakers in 2009, with 33/73 BB/K and 62 hits allowed (.244 OBA) in 66.2 IP...

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ROUND 27 (830) Corey Martin, RHP (Western Carolina)
R/R, 6'3, 195, 22 years old
COMMENT: College senior had a disappointing 2009 season at WCU, going 7-4 with a 5.56 ERA for the Catamounts, with 29/56 BB/K and 76 hits allowed (.283 OBA) in 68 IP...

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ROUND 28 (860) Jordan Petraitis, INF (Miami of Ohio)
R/R, 6'3, 225, 22 years old
COMMENT: Hit 343/434/478 with 0 HR & 13 RBI, seven doubles, one triple, and 9/11 BB/K in 83 PA for Golden Flashes in 2009... College senior will turn 23 in August... Was selected by the Cubs in 41st round of the 2008 draft but did not sign, so the fact that the Cubs drafted him again at a higher slot than last year must mean they are almost positive he wants to sign this time around (a player must give his permission before he can be drafted again by the same club)... Probably projects as a utility infielder, presuming he ever gets out of "A" ball... ...

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ROUND 29 (890) Tim Clubb, RHP (Missouri State)
R/R, 6'2, 195, 22 years old
COMMENT: College senior... Was the Missouri Valley Conference "Pitcher of the Year" in 2008 when he went 11-0 with a 2.52 ERA, but he dipped to 4-5 with a 5.11 ERA in 2009, allowing 98 hits in 88 IP (.284 OBA), with 36/74 BB/K.... Cubs will have to hope that the 2008 Clubb was the real deal, and that the 2009 Clubb was just an anomaly... Was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008 but did not sign... Younger brother Ryan is pitching for the University of Missouri...

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ROUND 30 (920) Daniel Sheppard, C (Downers Grove North HS - Downers Grove, IL)
R/R, 6'0, 180, 18 years old
COMMENT: Star football player (MLB/QB) and baseball player at DGNHS, Sheppard is headed to the University of Iowa and it is unlikely that the Cubs can sign him, mainly because what Sheppard would probably want to give up his free ride to Iowa is more than what he is worth as a baseball prospect right now... Look for the Cubs to watch Sheppard's progress at Iowa and maybe revisit this in 2012, next time Sheppard becomes eligible for the Rule 4 Draft...

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The draft resumes tomorrow, with the final 20 rounds (31-50).

Comments

Wilken stated we will take the best player available. Interesting that such best player also fortunately meets our needs. I believe first 7 rounds, 3 LHP (Kirk, Rusin and Raley). Also two left handed hitters.

Drew Storen signed already (Nationals with their pick they got for not signing Crow, which they would have lost had they not signed Storen). Expected to start in A ball right away.

Angels took U of Washington QB Jake Locker. Thought by some to have the potential to be a speedier Matt Holliday, Locker is set on the NFL. Interesting pick -- I wonder if they negotiated with him prior to the choice. Cubs meanwhile took Joseph Thomas from Edward Waters College.

A little bit of a 'look in' at the Dodgers war room. As they turn on their phone you can hear someone in the background say 'No, we take Powers.", and surprise surprise, they take some guy named Powers.

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In reply to by big_lowitzki

thnx...nothing you can't find at Baseball Reference, but I tried to make it easy to sort by position and schools. I'm always curious how many high school versus college players, etc....

I hope to one day figure out how I can have it automatically group players from certain schools over the years. Say someone gets drafted from University of Michigan in 2006 and 2008...if you click on University of Michigan, it'll go to that page and list all the players over the years drafted from there. Just have to figure it out...think it's something called "Semantics" for media wiki's, but I haven't had time to play with it.

“There may have been some guys better on the board as far as ranking goes and you’re thinking maybe they get to you. But we put a fair amount of time into this guy.” says they had 8 to 9 different scouts see him, fwiw.. that quote makes it sound like there isn't the funds for paying overslot this year...at least not substantially. also... “I’ve seen him handle velocity pretty good,” he said. “I’ve seen him handle the low ball pretty good. I’ve seen him doing it with the wood bat and I like his swing plane. “(Defensively) I would say he’s got a chance to have at least plus if not better range,” Wilken added. “He’s going to see balls hit like he’s never seen before, so sometimes it takes awhile to figure that out. But his arm is average to a little better than average, and he’s got plus accuracy to go with it. With that combination … it does make him a little bit of a weapon in the outfield defensively.” Wilken seems to be more sure that Jackson can stay at CF than he did with Colvin. and finally... “This guy is a hard-nosed gamer,” Wilken said of Jackson. “He’s got real good intensity and comes to the park with the same energy everyday. Edmonds might have been one of the best defensive players in center field the last 20 years, so I’m not going to put that on Jackson, but I think he can be a pretty good defensive center fielder. I have no doubts whatsoever.” says LeMahieu will play both 2b and SS...

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In reply to by Rob G.

Does it seem like he was sold on Jackson no matter what players fell to the Cubs? Other than Pollock, it doesn't seem like the Cubs would have taken anyone else who could have realistically fallen to them (Turner, Purke, Matzek, etc.).

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In reply to by Rob G.

We're drafting some guys that may require overslot. LeMahieu and Raley top that list, but some of the high school guys may cost. It does seem like a lot of teams decided that they would spread out the money a bit in this draft, so that may be what the Cubs thought process was.

Kirk’s fastball was anywhere from 89 to 94 mph this past season, and he combined that with a traditional 12-6 curveball, a changeup, and a harder, “slurve” type pitch. led his team to Texas 6A championship as well...high school coaches said his control got considerably better as the year went on.

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In reply to by Rob G.

Sending Fox back to Iowa seems to be a pretty bad call at this point. We already have Blanco to back up at SS and 2B and Fontenot playing 3B and Scales backing him up. Those are the positions we would use Miles at. On the other hand, despite last night's game, we're still struggling on offense. We're now going to send away an effective (.417 in a small sample) power bench bat and replace him with a crappy hitter who plays field positions we already have players for? Miles is obviously better on defense than Fox, but the subtraction of Fox is more negative than the addition of Miles, if that makes sense. Keep Miles on the DL...

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In reply to by The Real Neal

He hasn't adjusted as much as I hoped he would. On the other hand batting average is a trash statistic, he still currently has a better OPS than D Lee, Reed Johnson, Ryan Theriot, Soriano, Hoffpauir, Fontenot, Bradley, Blonco, Soto, and Miles. Many people consider OPS the best overall measure of production. EDIT: And I know how much you love BABIP, Bobby Scales has a 243 BABIP

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In reply to by Ryno

What sort of adjustment do you make to not being physically able to swing the bat quickly enough? Steroids? He's striking out one in 4.7 at bats. His BABIP is due to rise, but if you think he would hit 30 HR's in 610 at bats... well, that's just not reasonable.

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In reply to by Rob G.

I don't get having a guy hit .400 in the minors, .400 in the majors, and sending him down. He wasn't awful in outfield, I know he's not Clemente out there, but come on. The guy could at least PH and be a double switch candidate in some games. I'd rather have Fox PH'ing than any other rh hitter they scrounge up.

Aaron Miles 204/250/265 Jake Fox 417/429/583 --- if only Miles would only get as little playing time as Fox did I could live with that...on second thought, no way. Having a bench of righty options like Miles, Blanco, Scales and Hill really stinks. Something tells me Fox will be back 6/23 (series at Detroit/WSux) to alternate as DH with Hoffpauir --- One oddity I heard on the TV (and it's true). The Cubs don't play a national league team at Wrigley in the month of June. That's what two 9 game road trips and a home interleague schedule can do.

This one's sort of intriguing: 21st round, pick 650 Greg Rohan. 6' 205 lb R/R 23yo first basemen but he hit .349 .436 .609 with 29BB/32K's. In 2008 he hit .355 .443 .772 with 17BB/35K's. On his career it looks like 47 HR's. Not too bad at #650.

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In reply to by Rob Richardson

Maybe Hendry's keeping both Miles and Blanco up until another roster move has to be made when either/or: 1. Freel is off the DL (although they could just send Scales back to Iowa). 2. Interleague action (6/23). Maybe it's Blanco v. Miles until then. Winner stays, loser packs his bags. Or maybe there's a prize for having the shortest 25-man roster (literally and figuratively).

Been on the road -really love the Raley pick. He also fits the model of arms that we took last year, but in general, I like him. I think I prefer Raley as an arm, but I'm good either way.

Some of these guys are going to require over slot bonuses to sign. LeMahieu and Raley are the obvious ones. Whitenack (8th round) might need to go over slot. Maybe Erickson (20th rounder coming off surgery), Esquivel (24 - KSU commit) and Sheppard (30 - Iowa commit). I *love* the Whitenack pick - getting a guy with a plus out pitch in the 8th round reminds me of Dan McDaniel late last year). Also, looks like Blair Springfield (7) and Keenyn Walker (16) are major athletes who might cost a bit. Walker is something like the 80th rated safety prospect in the country per Rivals so he might be a bit expensive to drop football a la Logan Watkins and Tarlandas Mitchell last season. By the way, 8 of the first 30 picks were HSers. Wilken likes JC kids and young juniors, but not that many HSers since he got to the Cubs. That's a surprise. The Cubs only signed 3 HS prospects last year (Cerda, Watkins and Mitchell) and they only signed 2 the year before (Vitters and Acosta). Let's see how many they sign this year.

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In reply to by Raisin101

At first glance, I'm fairly pleased with our day 2. , Actually, I'm quite excited. We took some upside gambles - now, we gotta get them signed. That's going to be tough, but I hope we can get some of the key guys down. I could see Erickson asking for at least 2nd round money, if not more, to sign (and I hope we shell it out, provided it is reasonable). I still would've preferred seeing a better selection of power bats, as I'm not too enthused about the guys we drafted developing into big power threats that will be able to steadily climb the ladder. _____________ Btw, as a whole side note, the draft really needs to be two days. One final day for round 31-50 is so eh ... considering many of these picks won't sign. I think they should go around 5-8 rounds in day 1 and hammer out the rest in day 2.

I wouldn't figure on signing many over slot/bonus babies this draft. Does anyone remember how deep the comp pick pool runs? I seem to remember 3 rounds. However I'm probably mistaken. As an addendum. I'm at Rosemary beach in fla. I highly recommend it to my fellow tcr'ers.

Perusing the BA Top 200 list: 1. 31st overall Jackson 34th ranked 2. 79th overall D.J. LeMahieu 73rd 3. 109th overall Kirk 151st 4. 140th overall Rusin 194th 5. 170th overall Darvill not ranked 5. 200th overall Raley 82nd. That looks like it. Edit - whoops.

Soriano, Theriot, Bradley, DLee, Johnson, Soto, Zambrano, Scales, Miles vs Bourn, Tejada, Pence, CLee, Berkman, Blum, Kata, Quintero, WandyRod ...just kidding and Z is batting 9th (but I can wish for the above)

Awesome update AZ Phil. Some of those guys sound like they may be real prospects. The catchers and the kid from Miami in particular. Erickson probably going to want first round money, though, isn't he?

Sergio Burruel - the 19th round catcher from Arizona - supposedly fell because of signability concerns per BA (doesn't sound like anything too outlandish).

Epitaph: He was 5-6 as a pinch hitter We put up with Daryle Ward for all of 2008? I'd say that's a better niche he's carved out, being a real pinch hitter... instead of carrying the 3-4 nearly identical backup infielders ala Miles, Freel, Scales and Blanco --- Jake Fox on well, Jake Fox: "Would I make some mistakes there (at 3B)? Yeah, I would because I don't have a lot of innings there. But I feel like with the time and hard work, I can play anywhere on the field. Now maybe they have a different story. I'm short, fat and fighting against a little athleticism issues. But I think I could if I had enough innings and had enough hard work there." http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports_hardball/2009/06/c…

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • 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.