Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

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

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* 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: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Aaron Cooks Cubs Goose

Submitted by Arizona Phil on

Reggie Golden smacked a solo HR and Matt Loosen threw four innings of one-run ball as the EXST Cubs and EXST Rockies played to a 4-4 tie on Red Mountain Field, and Rockies RHP Aaron Cook (60 day DL - broken ring finger on pitching hand) threw 2.2 IP (35 pitches) of one-hit shutout ball with no walks and three strikeouts, leading the other squad of EXST Rockies to a 7-2 victory over the other squad of EXST Cubs on Dust Storm Field, in a Cactus League Extended Spring Training doubleheader played simultaneously on adjacent fields this morning at Salt River Fields at the Talking Stick Resort east of Scottsdale.

Both games were pre-scheduled as seven-inning affairs, but the game on Red Mountain Field was extended an extra half-inning to allow all of the Rockies pitchers who were due to throw today to get their scheduled work.

Augie Ojeda saw his first game action since suffering a back injury in Spring Training, getting an AB in each of the first five innings of the game played on Red Mountain Field, and going 0-5 (two ground outs, two fly outs, and a called third strike).

Once Augie has completed his rehab assignment at Extended Spring Training, he will likely assume the starting SS job at Iowa, and be available in case anything happens to Starlin Castro or Darwin Barney.

Here are today’s abridged box scores (Cubs players only):

DUST STORM FIELD

SQUAD “A” LINEUP:
1. Vismeldy Bieneme, 2B: 2-2 (1B+E-1, BB, 1B, RBI)
2. Yaniel Cabezas, C-DH: 2-3 (K, 1B, 1B)
3. Marco Hernandez, SS: 0-3 (F-7, F-7, F-8)
4. Wilson Contreras, 1B: 0-3 (1-3, K, K)
5. Chad Noble, DH-C: 0-3 (F-9, P-4, K)
6. Jesus Morelli, RF: 0-3 (K, K, 5-3)
7. Dong-Yub Kim, DH #2: 0-3 (5-3, K, F-8)
8. Oliver Zapata, CF: 1-2 (4-3, 1B, R, SB)
9. Blair Springfield, LF: 0-2 (K, K)
10. Gregori Gonzalez, 3B: 1-2 (4-3, 3B, R, RBI)

SQUAD “A” PITCHERS:
1. Yao-Lin Wang: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R (3 ER), 3 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 1 GIDP, 61 pitches (36 strikes), 3/2 GO/FO
2. Jin-Young Kim: 3.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R (3 ER), 1 BB, 4 K, 45 pitches (33 strikes), 5/1 GO/FO
3. Luis Villalba: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HR, 21 pitches (13 strikes), 0/3 GO/FO

SQUAD “A” ERRORS:
SS Marco Hernandez - E6 (throwing error allowed batter to reach base safely)

SQUAD "A" CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Chad Noble: 0-1 CS

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

RED MOUNTAIN FIELD

NOTE: Augie Ojeda was a DH and had five AB (one in each of the first five innings), batting third in the top of the 1st inning, second in the top of the 2nd inning, and first in the top of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings.

SQUAD “B” LINEUP:
X. Augie Ojeda, DH #1: 0-5 (6-3, F-9, K, F-7, 4-3)
1. Kyung-Min Na, CF: 1-3 (F-8, 1-3, 1B, RBI, SB)
2. Pin-Chieh Chen, 2B: 1-3 (1B, P-6, F-9, R, SB)
3. Reggie Golden, RF: 1-3 (HR, F-8, K, R, RBI)
4. Dustin Harrington, 3B: 2-3 (2B, 2B, 5-3)
5. Wes Darvill, SS: 0-2 (F-8, BB, 5-3)
6. Johan DeJesus, C: 0-3 (F-7, 6-4 FC, F-8)
7. Dustin Geiger, 1B: 0-2 (5-3, BB, F-7, R)
8. Xavier Batista, LF: 1-3 (4-3, 2B, 5-3, R, RBI)
9. Brian Inoa, DH #2: 1-3 (F-9, 1B, K, RBI, SB)

SQUAD “B” PITCHERS:
1. Matt Loosen: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 57 pitches (36 strikes), 4/4 GO/FO
2. Santo Rodriguez: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 0 K, 1 GIDP, 25 pitches (15 strikes), 3/1 GO/FO
3. Colin Richardson: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R (2 ER), 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HBP, 17 pitches (12 strikes), 1/2 GO/FO

SQUAD “B” ERRORS: NONE

SQUAD “B” CATCHERS DEFENSE
Johan DeJesus: 2-2 CS

==========================================>

ATTENDANCE: 6

WEATHER: Mostly sunny and VERY breezy with temperatures in the 70’s

 

Tags
Extended Spring Training
EXST Cubs
Reggie Golden
Matt Loosen
Augie Ojeda

Comments

Submitted by BoiseHawks on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 05:34 pm

Phil - thanks again for these great posts...it gives us in Boise a great opportunity to see what may be coming this way in a month. Will you be posting cumulative stats for Extended this year - it was interesting to see how they correlated with their numbers in Boise last summer.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 05:45 pm

Submitted by BoiseHawks on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 3:34pm. Phil - thanks again for these great posts...it gives us in Boise a great opportunity to see what may be coming this way in a month. Will you be posting cumulative stats for Extended this year - it was interesting to see how they correlated with their numbers in Boise last summer. ============================ B HAWK: I really would like to do that, but the problem is that this year for the first time the Cubs are sometimes playing two Extended Spring Training games at the same time at different facilities (miles apart), and while I am able to watch and score two games played simultaneously on adjacent fields, I am unable to do it when the games aren't played at the same facility. So any stats provided would be incomplete, because there already have been (and will be) a number of 2011 Extended Spring Training games that I just won't be able see and score.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 05:35 pm

Submitted by Koyies Bansaw on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 3:59pm. To go along with the Boise part of that, any predictions as to who will be on Boise's roster? Also, I know Brandon May is in injury rehab, but has there been a Ryan Cuneo sighting? ================================================== K BANSAW: As I recall, last year there were only two players selected in the 2010 June draft who signed fast enough to make the initial Opening Day Boise Hawks roster, (RHP Joe Zeller and catcher Jeff Vigurs), and the rest of the original Hawks roster came out of Extended Spring Training. Then as more players selected in the June draft signed, some of the players originally asigned to Boise were moved down to the AZL Cubs to make room for the new guys at Boise. So if that happens again this year, and without knowing who might get moved up to Peoria or Daytona over the next month, I would say the Boise Hawks roster will probably look something like this: * bats or throws left # bats both PITCHERS: * Hunter Ackerman * Kyler Burke Dustin Fitzgerald Jin-Young Kim Luis Liria Matt Loosen Austin Reed Colin Richardson Jose Rosario Larry Suarez Charles Thomas Yao-Lin Wang Ben Wells Joe Zeller CATCHERS: Yaniel Cabezas Chad Noble INFIELDERS: # Vismeldy Bieneme * Pin-Chieh Chen Wilson Contreras * Ryan Cuneo (presently on DL) * Wes Darvill Dustin Harrington Brandon May (presently on DL) OUTFIELDERS: Reggie Golden Jesus Morelli * Kyung-Min Na Blair Springfield # Jose Valdez However, I really doubt that Jose Valdez will actually end up at Boise. It's far more likely that Valdez will be at Peoria or even Daytona by this time next month. And I don't think Larry Suarez will actually be assigned to Boise, either. Either he moves up to Peoria by this time next month, or he gets released. If I had to make a prediction of what might happen over the next month, I could see Evan Crawford moving up to Tennessee from Daytona, and Jose Valdez getting assigned to Daytona as the D-Cubs 4th OF. Jesus Morelli could very well go up to Peoria and play LF, and then (if he doesn't start hitting pretty soon, or maybe even if he does) D. J. Fitzgerald might end up at Boise, or he could even get released, and/or Chiefs player-coach Smaily Borges could get placed on the DL with some vague injury to open up a Peoria roster slot for Morelli. If he is healthy enough to get some playing time down here, Brandon May could go up to Peoria without stopping first in Boise, with IF-OF Anthony Giansanti maybe getting assigned to Boise from Peoria. And pitchers like Luis Liria and Matt Loosen certainly could be at Peoria by NWL Opening Day, if not sooner. Once the MLB regular season starts and the full-season minor league teams (Iowa, Tennessee, Daytona, and Peoria) begin play, the "roster pressure" changes from being top-down (as it is throughout Spring Training) to bottom-up. As they get healthy, players (mostly pitchers) who have been rehabbing at Extended Spring Training are moved-up to where they were expected to be, and other players who got squeezed out of an Opening Day roster slot on a full-season affiliate force their way up the pipeline, as so-called "roster filler" and players who don't have a future are pushed aside. The pressure from below increases even more after the June draft, as players begin to sign and are assigned to Boise (and sometimes even Peoria), usually after getting their feet wet at AZL Cubs (Mesa) for a few days.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 05:41 pm

Submitted by skokiejoe on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 4:01pm. Any Wells or Cashner sightings??? ============================== SKOKIE JOE: Both Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner are here, and they probably threw in a sim game yesterday. I would expect to see one or both pitch in an EXST game later this week.

Submitted by Paul Noce on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 05:05 pm

Soto hurt something and is being PH for by Koyie in the 1st, who weakly pops out on the first pitch with the bases loaded. Ugh. UPDATE: Soto has a left groin strain. Paging Max Ramirez...

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Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 05:25 pm

well yes, if the Cubs want a single between first and second, Clevenger is the guy. He's on the Chirinos road to dominating a league in his third season there (although he has about a full season of at-bats there). if Soto goes on the DL, I'm sure it would be be Castillo as he's already on the 40-man although they do have an open spot.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:16 am

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 9:05pm. Muskat says Castillo pulled from Iowa Cubs game in 8th inning fwiw. ============================== ROB G: Actually Chris Robinson PH for Welington Castillo in the top of the 3rd inning of the Iowa game, all the more indication that W. Castillo was pulled from the lineup and told to get his ass to the airport ASAP and catch a flight to Chicago.

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Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:40 am

Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 9:24am. Az Phil: Is Steve Clevenger just a non-prospect? Even as a back-up C-3B-1B? I =================================== DUSTY B: Steve Clevenger was assigned to AA again this season only so he could get more regular playing time than he would have gotten as the back-up catcher at Iowa. But Clevenger does project as an MLB back-up C-1B-3B-LHPH.

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Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:12 am

Submitted by Paul Noce on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 9:44pm. Assuming Soto does go on the DL, Castillo gets to come up and sit on the bench for two weeks while our proven veteran catcher keeps us in contention. LOL. ===================================== PAUL N: The catchers who really like Koyie Hill are Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano, and Randy Wells, so I would think Welington Castillo might get the start behind the plate when Casey Coleman, Doug Davis and Matt Garza are pitching.

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Submitted by Ryno on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:54 am

If you need to call up a catcher to replace Soto, minor league hitting statistics should be a very, very small consideration. I would ask these questions: 1. Is he on the 40-man roster? 2. Does the guy have good plate discipline? (i.e.- not hacktastic) 3. Does he have a strong, accurate arm? If he more or less meets most of this criteria, then he's your guy.

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Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:22 am

Castillo is on the 40 man, and has a strong arm...not sure on accuracy... Hacktastic? well...did I mention the he's on the 40 man roster? I still would like to see a couple weeks of Castillo over the Koyie Hill Experience....which I liked the first time as the Tim Blackwell Experience....

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Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:01 am

"well yes, if the Cubs want a single between first and second, Clevenger is the guy." Clevenger has a .547 slugging percentage in 97 PAs this season. Only Soriano beats that among Cub starters, by 3 percentage points. Not sure what your point is, anyway, about a guy who hits singles. Doesn't a single drive in the runs that the Cubs keep stranding on second and third? Clevenger has 17 RBI, more than any Cub except Soriano, in fewer PAs than any Cub regular.

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Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:27 pm

Two more doubles this afternoon by Clevenger. My point is just that he's a big part of the hitting machine at Tennessee this year. Again today, they're down 4-1 in the sixth, no problem--two in the sixth, four in the seventh, now it's 7-5 in the ninth. Spencer hit his 6th, Flaherty his 8th. They do this quite often. They get the steamroller going in the late innings. Can you imagine a Cub team where they're down three or four in the sixth, and you don't feel like the game is over? Too bad there's no pitching machine at Tenn. Rusin with another underwhelming performance today. At least he's better than Raley.

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Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:54 pm

Clevenger: 2008 AA 104 PA's.247/.316/.360 1 HR, 15 RBI 2009 AA 89 PA's .364/.443/.532,1 HR, 10 RBI(promoted) 2010 AA 294 PA's .317/.367/.461, 5HR, 47 RBI We all get it that Castillo is coming up, and is ahead of the food chain, and rightfully so. However, it looks like Clevenger has raked in AA in 2009-2011

[ ]

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:52 pm

Smokies lost that game, by the way. Blake Parker couldn't go two innings without giving up 7 runs. After the 2-run HR that tied it in the 9th, Harper left Parker in for four more runs. Harper's job is just not to wreck any young pitchers with all the high-scoring games they play. The pitching problems have been worsened lately with McNutt missing starts due to blisters and closer Cales going on the DL.

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Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 05:20 am

I don't think your starting right fielder should be given too much credit when he's slugging .395. (Clevenger is slugging .567 at the moment but that will almost certainly come down.) The context of my remarks was people wanting a backup catcher who hit better than Hill, not Fukudome. I do think Clevenger is a better hitter than either of them.

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 05:58 am

In the minors Clevenger has had a .784 OPS, Fukudome has had a .783 OPS in the majors. Hill has had a .757 minor league OPS which has converted into .585 in the majors. There's certainly a lot of elements that come into play, but based on what we've seen, there's about 0% chance that Clevenger would match Fukudome's production, and when facing major league pitching he'd be a lot closer to Hill as a hitter than you'd apparently think.

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Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 05:46 am

You're comparing a starting right fielder with a guy who projects as a backup catcher (for two reasons: not enough pop and not a particularly good throwing arm). Clevenger is a career .308 hitter so far. I just have no reason to believe that he's suddenly going to drop to Fukudome's .259 in the majors, let alone to Hill's .214. Sometimes there's a big conversion factor, sometimes not. Career minor leagues, Soto was .280/.360/.429/.789. Career majors, he's .265/.357/.464/.821. Clevenger's OPS was .829 last year and it's much higher this year. He's getting stronger, for one thing. He's a converted shortstop, so you have to give him a few years to beef up.

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Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:18 am

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 7:27pm. Welington Castillo time probably, was hitting better than Ramirez anyway and that's not saying much. ============================== ROB G: One of the main reasons the Cubs released Max Ramirez was that he wasn't getting much PT with W. Castillo and Chris Robinson sharing the catching duties and Bryan Lahair firmly ensconced at 1B. If the Cubs had just waited another week they almost certainly wouldn't have released him.

Submitted by jacos on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 05:41 pm

sorry to pile on, but Hill is wearing his cap underneath his hockey goalie catchers mask. cmon.

Submitted by springs on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 05:56 pm

Hayden Simpson left the game early tonight...1 ip, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K. Not sure what happened, though he hasn't been impressive and not sure he has been at 100% so far.

Submitted by jacos on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 05:21 pm

That double tag on the berkman fo, shows why cards always in contention and the cubs are the cubs.

Submitted by QuietMan on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 05:09 pm

From Bruce Miles: Pitching at Colorado Springs for Iowa, Doug Davis went 3.2 innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs. He walked none and struck out five, throwing 59 pitches, 41 strikes.

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Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:10 am

Submitted by QuietMan on Tue, 05/10/2011 - 10:09pm. From Bruce Miles: Pitching at Colorado Springs for Iowa, Doug Davis went 3.2 innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs. He walked none and struck out five, throwing 59 pitches, 41 strikes =========================== Q MAN: Obviously pitch count was held below 60 so he can start Saturday.

Submitted by toonsterwu on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:47 am

AzPhil, I might have missed past commentary on this, but was wondering on your general take of the XST crop this year. Outside of some intriguing, but raw arms, and a couple intriguing positional players (Golden, still intrigued with Darvill), this seems like a fairly pedestrian crop at best. How does this compare to recent history down there (I don't recall last year's XST crop as that exciting either)? Would the top 5 prospect talents down there be something along the lines of Liria, Reed, Wells, Golden, and maybe JY Kim? Also, two side questions - what's your take on Cabezas in general, but specifically, the bat? Also, do you have any opinions on the explosion in performance that Bour and Ridling are having this year? I'm just not sure what to make of it, particularly Bour's power (considering past reports). Heck, I thought I liked Cuneo more out of college than Bour.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:29 am

Submitted by toonsterwu on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 12:47am. AzPhil, I might have missed past commentary on this, but was wondering on your general take of the XST crop this year. Outside of some intriguing, but raw arms, and a couple intriguing positional players (Golden, still intrigued with Darvill), this seems like a fairly pedestrian crop at best. How does this compare to recent history down there (I don't recall last year's XST crop as that exciting either)? Would the top 5 prospect talents down there be something along the lines of Liria, Reed, Wells, Golden, and maybe JY Kim? Also, two side questions - what's your take on Cabezas in general, but specifically, the bat? Also, do you have any opinions on the explosion in performance that Bour and Ridling are having this year? I'm just not sure what to make of it, particularly Bour's power (considering past reports). Heck, I thought I liked Cuneo more out of college than Bour. ============================================================ TOONSTER: As the Cubs have expanded their operation in Latin America and the Pacific Rim, the EXST Cubs roster has become very heavy with young Latin players ans Asian players who may or may not be ready for this level. For instance, 18 players who played in the DSL last year (about 40% of the EXST roster) are at Fitch Park right now. This is the highest percentage of Latin players at EXST than anytime in the past, and some of them (especially the pitchers) have struggled. Watching the EXST Cubs play the other "east-side" teams (Angels, A's, Brewers, Diamondbacks, Giants, and Rockies) a lot, it is pretty clear that the best EXST teams down here are the Angels, Rockies, and Giants. The Cubs are down toward the bottom (with the D'backs), possibly because they have over-emphasized speed over hitting skills and power/slugging when signing Latin players in recent years. Yaniel Cabezas has looked OK both in the field and at the plate. He is a very "bossy" catcher and likes to run the game for the pitchers (something he probably learned in Cuba), but his arm and receiving skills are just average. He has a nice opposite field stroke, though, and usually hits 2nd in the batting order. As for Rebel Ridling and Justin Bour, Ridling got a late start last season after missing Minor League Camp after undergoing an appendectomy (with complications), and never really seemed to get his stroke and strength back. But this year Ridling appears to finally be 100%, and what you are seeing is what he is capable of doing. Ridling is also a good defensive 1B and can play LF (although he has a below-average arm). I would describe him as a RH Micah Hoffpauir. Justin Bour came to Instructs last year to work on developing a power (HR) stroke, and it sure has worked out beautifully (so far). Prior to that Bour was a lumbering 6'4 250+ behemoth with good plate discipline and a line-drive stroke, but if he can consistently hit HR without losing either his plate discipline or the ability to hit line drives when needed he becomes an MLB prospect. Of course he will have to continue to slug as he has moves up the line, and he must improve his defense around 1B, too.

Submitted by Ryno on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:17 am

Sam Fuld watch- Last multi-hit game was April 22 when he was hitting .366... Hitting .085 since (last 15 games).

Submitted by billybucks on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:32 pm

Meanwhile, Sam Zell laughs and laughs. "I put some lipstick on that pig, then sold it to some sucker at the absolute peak of the market! Bwahahaha!" Ah, Mr. Ricketts? Your banker is on line one. He wants to know why you are not returning his call.

[ ]

Submitted by navigator on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:02 pm

Since you mention it, 4 bankers were talked about when the deal was made: $425 million from Joe Ricketts and $450 million from JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America. Tom convinced his dad to invest by telling him the fans would show up even if he put a shitty team out on the field (uh oh). And the big banks came onboard (albeit with short term financing) when the Ricketts subordinated their debt.

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Submitted by navigator on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:38 pm

Youtube, Crains Chicago, Investment News... Lemme summarize some things Joe said about the deal. Joe didn't know Tom was a Cubs fan. Joe wasn't a fan at all. Doesn't watch sports. Tom didn't finish his degree on time because he was hanging out in Wrigleyville. The family came to graduation and Tom had to tell them he wasn't getting his sheepskin. When the Trib let it be known that the Cubs were for sale, Tom told his dad they should buy the team. His sale pitch was, "Dad they sell every ticket to every game, win or lose." Tom's bond business wasn't profitable until recently, but Joe insisted he hand it off to another CEO and spend 100% of his time running the Cubs 24/7. Joe wasn't interested in doing it himself. So Tom got his "dream job." Joe thinks (or used to) that Tom is doing a great job selling himself to the fans. And that "the plan" is to get to the playoffs every year because, according to Tom, the Cubs have the players they need and a great organization. Joe has to be having second thoughts right now... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac6h2wczxGA&feature=player_embedded

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 05:07 am

Nor do I think they used short-term financing. If they were given short-term financing they must have been able to show the the Cubs are making a shit-fuck-ton of money... if the Cubs were making that much money, a million of the lower price seats going unsold isn't going to kill them. Once Pujols/Fielder comes on board in November the ticket sales will be fixed, at least for a year.

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:42 pm

Fukudome RF, Barney 2B, Byrd CF, Ramirez 3B, Peña 1B, Castro SS, Soriano LF, Hill C, Garza P

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:21 pm

Chris Archer with another meh start 5 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 H, 3 BB, 4 K and the loss Guyer was optioned back to AAA two days after the one game he played in Hak Ju Lee at 407/451/604 in Hi-A Fuld mentioned in comment #37, it's not pretty Chirinos at 190/261/202 and striking out 27% of the time, he's usually been in the 11-15% range.

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Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 05/11/2011 - 05:49 pm

Hak-Ju Lee is presently leading the FSL in hitting, is 2nd in OBP, 3rd in SLG, and 10th in SB (despite missing the first ten days while on the DL with chicken pox).

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Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 05:00 am

Where's the funny video of the other guys in left field who had to run on wet grass lately? Anyway, I don't think he had to move an inch to catch the ball, so not sure why his wheels were spinning in the first place. He made another goofy play last night. (Because it wasn't nearly as goofy, he was actually charged with an error.) This one was more his usual hand-to-eye coordination problem. They catch balls better in bush leagues. He's like a little leaguer out there.

Recent comments

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
    I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
    I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
    That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
    I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
    We'll find out soon enough!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa? 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Pro teams have to play their "big money" guys if they are healthy and not "locker room" issues.
    The Cubs wanted to deal JHey off well before they bought him out. They just didn't want to pay him to play for someone else for that long. Jed did give him 20+mil to play for LAD last yr.
    Jed might also let Kyle walk at some point this year. Similar scenario to JHey, except Jed thought Kyle was going to be good/solid in '24!!
    You'd think Smyly is in the same book as well. Same with Neris (he's a 1yr vet RP, so he's not really in this convo too much).
    That's ~35mil between those three and those three are going to get opportunities until at least late June) over younger guys even if their performance is "iffy".
    But, Jed is going to play Taillon a lot. They have to try and justify that contract and hope a veteran works out.
    So, Taillon, Imanaga, and Hendricks are locks for the rest of April and probably May.
    Assad, Brown and Wicks handle the last spots until Steele is ready.
    Now, you're question has real merit when Steele comes back. That will interesting if Brown is still good and Hendricks is still bad. But Taillon is entirely safe as long as he's healthy.

    And the bullpen moves were "money" based as well. Smyly has actually been okay. But he hasn't been clearly better than Little. Little had one bad outing. But Smyly makes 9mil. If they needed another RHRP and one of Little and Smyly had to go, it was going to Little. But that doesn't mean Smyly is one of the best 13 arms for the team. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Childersb3: I think there was an issue with Luke Little coming into a game with men on base. He seems to need a "clean" inning to be dominant. So he is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AAA. Same goes for Michael Arias. He needs to come into a "clean" inning, and is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AA. Porter Hodge is a more versatile pitcher, a better version of Keegan Thompson (multi-inning RP). But Little, Arias, and Hodge (probably in that order) are the Cubs top three RP prospects (all three are Cubs Top 15 prospects).

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    So, let’s do a little war gaming. Taillon is back for tonight’s game. He pitched two rehab games, just a few innings each, and not especially sharp. Let’s face it, he hasn’t been lights out since the Cubs gave him the big contract. In other words, as flat out bad as Hendricks has been, the chances of Taillon being the savior don’t look exactly promising.

    If Taillon is equally ineffective or perhaps even worse, what’s the next move? Winning teams can often find a way to work around a dud fifth starter - kinda. Two dud starters make things much more difficult.

    I believe the biggest reason for the recent bullpen moves was dissatisfaction with the recent blowing of big leads and the recognition that the bullpen wasn’t all it was thought to be. In other words, they are exploring alternate options and configurations. If similar juggling becomes necessary (even more so than it already is), what kind of reasonable maneuvering do we think could be explored?

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Cubdom needs to prepare themselves for Wicks to be sent to Iowa for Taillon to come up.
    Ben Brown has 4 appearances. Wicks has 4 appearances.
    Ben has 16.1 IP.  Wicks has 17 IP
    Ben was a 1.1 WHIP.  Wicks has a 1.7 WHIP. Wicks does have significantly more SOs. 
    Ben has been better, though.
    I love Wicks. I think he's a fighter and his stuff has improved.
    But, Jed isn't ditching Hendricks just yet. He should. But he won't.
    Hendricks should go to the IL and Taillon-Imanaga-Assad-Wicks-Brown should be the rotation.
    Wont' happen though.

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