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

Cubs Try Not To Fowl It Up

The Cubs hinted at getting an outfielder that could play CF or LF just over a week ago and today they finalized a deal for about the only player that made sense to fit that role. The Cubs sent Luis Valbuena and P Dan Straily to the Astros for OF Dexter Fowler. Hard to find a way to not like this deal, but I'm sure some will.

In Fowler, the Cubs get a switch-hitting center fielder with a career .366 OBP and a 12.5% BB rate. Yeah, some of that is BABIP and Coors Field driven and his projections have him more in the .345 OBP range which is still plenty good out of the lead off spot. On the upside, he'll be playing his age 29 season this year and headed to free agency so I like his chances to beat that projection.

To get Fowler, the Cubs gave up some decent parts, but positions of depth. Straily was around #9 on the depth chart and certainly would have started in Iowa. Valbuena was better than most give credit for around here, but with Baez, Bryant and Alcantara around, his time was limited on the Cubs roster. Trying to predict Maddon's lineups will send you to the asylum, but fair guess Fowler will be CF most days with Coghlan/Denorfia in LF. Third and second seem to be open right now with LaStella, Baez,  Olt, Alcantara likely to start the season and Bryant ready to throw a monkey wrench in there.

Comments

fowler/castro/rizzo/bryant/soler/montero...and the last 2 slots being a platoon of 10+ other players because joe maddon... that could be quite strong as a main "core" lineup (yeah, i know...joe maddon)...especially considering the last 2 slots shouldn't be bad options...heck, they could even swap out lineup position with montero or castro depending on how things go

I liked Valbuena - good player to have, especially if you have a contending team. It will be fun to see Olt get 12 days at third and disappear into oblivion.

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In reply to by Old and Blue

agreed on both counts. i don't see bryant breaking out of spring, but i'd be surprised if we didn't see him up before the all-star break (pending injury/suck/etc)...and i kinda expect him within the first month or 2 unless 3rd/LF are being adequately manned.

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In reply to by George Altman

I seriously don't get the big deal with service time and club control. Any player worth his salt is going to get a hefty raise or a reworked contract before their club control is up. It seems teams know this and in hopes of keeping said player will gladly rework contracts before they are due to hit free agency. So what the hell is the big deal with this? I admit, I don't follow player development all that closely aside from being aware of who some of the top prospects are for only the Cubs. Perhaps someone with more knowledge on this can clue me in... Does it truly matter?

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In reply to by joshb

Bryant's case is interesting because of Boras. Bryant himself doesn't seem like the kind of kid that would care much if he had to wait the 12 days, but Boras may try to convince him that it's cheap that the Cubs do that and try to convince him to extend when the time comes. On the other hand, it seems that TheoCorp has a decent relationship with Boras, as those things go, and so, no, it probably doesn't matter. I think it will be up to Maddon at the end of the day.

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In reply to by joshb

it's just a matter of leverage and how many millions team can save....

If Bryant starts out of spring training and is never sent down, he's a free agent in 6 years and hits free agency for his age 29 season. If Cubs wait a few weeks to call him up, they get his rights for an extra year and he hits free agency for his age 30 season. 2-3 weeks of Bryant not in lineup isn't going to tank Cubs season.

Yes, the Cubs can work out a buyout of his arbitration years or some of his free agency years, but at what cost? And will Boras and Bryant play ball? Boras doesn't take under market too often so it'll depend if Bryant really wants to stay.

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In reply to by Rob G.

Last year the Houston Astros waited 17 days after the start of the MLB regular season to call up George Springer and begin his MLB Service Time clock, meaning they will have Springer under club control through the 2020 season instead of through the 2019 season (which would have been the case if he had made the Astros MLB 25-man roster out of Spring Training). 

Springer and his agent (who is NOT Scott Boras) threatened to file a grievance over the Astros decision to wait to call Springer up until 17 days of the 2014 MLB regular season had passed, because the Astros had offered Springer a seven-year Major League contract the previous September (that he turned down) that would have bought out his arbitration years plus one free-agent year. So it appeared that the Astros waited 17 days into the 2014 season to call up Springer only because he had turned down the seven-year contract the previous September (which of course was true, but the way it transpired made the Astros look vindictive).     

The Astros mistake wes to offer the seven-year contract, and then after being turned down, waiting just long enough (plus another six days) to bring him up to the big club to keep him under club control for seven years (minus 17 days) instead of six. It was artless to say the least, because even though it was just good business, it made it look like the Astros were penalizing Springer for refusing the club's offer from the previous September. 

So the Cubs should not offer Kris Bryant a contract that would buy out arbitration years and one or two free-agent seasons until sometime AFTER he gets called up (which presumably will be at least 12 days after the start of the 2015 MLB regular seaon). Or else let Boras approach them with an offer during Spring Training (if Bryant is having a monster Cactus League and desperately wants to make the Cubs Opening Day MLB 25-man roster) so it won't be viewed as "punishment" if the Cubs wait at least 12 days into the 2015 MLB regular season to call Bryant up. 

I would think there will probably be some discussion going into the next CBA (the current one expires after the 2016 season) about changing the way players qualify for both salary aritration and Article XX-B MLB free-agency, not tying salary arbitration and free-agency to MLB Service Time, but rather connecting it to when the player signed his first contract. 

So for example, if the player was 19 or older on the June 5th prior to signing his first contract, the player would qualify for arbitation after five seasons and for free-agency after nine seasons (including time spent in the minor leagues) regardless of how much MLB Service Time has been accrued. For a player who is 17 or 18 on the June 5th prior to signing his first contract, it would be six seasons for salary arbitration and ten seasons to qualify for FA. And for players who were 15 or 16 on the June 5th prior to signing their first contract, it would be seven seasons for salary arbitration and 11 seasons for free-agency (again, combined time spent in the minor leagues AND MLB). NOTE: This is for players on an MLB 40-man roster ONLY.... minor league free-agency would remain the same, allowing a player on a minor league reserve list to be a Rule 55 minor league free agent (6YFA) after spending all or parts of at least seven separate seasons on a minor league Active List and/or minor league DL, including time spent in the minors on Opltional Assignment but not including DL rehanb assignments. 

That way the Cubs could call up a player (like Kris Bryant, for example) anytime, whenever they feel he's ready, last year, this year, Opening Day, mid-May, next season, whenever, and it wouldn't have any impact whatsoever on when he would qualify to be a free-agent. And the club would get maximum value out of the player for as long as he is with the club (not keeping the player in the minors just to keep his Service Time clock from starting), and the player could start making the big bucks sooner rather than later. 

Gallardo deal....

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports hears that the Brewers will acquire middle infielder Luis Sardinas, and right-handers Corey Knebel and Marcos Diplan from the Rangers in the Yovani Gallardo deal.

Fowler recently filed for arbitration at $10.8 million, while the Astros countered at $8.5 million, and the Cubs will inherent those salary figures.

I hope Olt can seize this opportunity after a dismal nearly 50% K -rate, and poor contact rate until September, with all semblence of pressure gone. The thorough analysis reported at Cubs Den I shared several weeks ago paints a grim picture of Olts's futility trying to create contact/offense for the North Siders. I expect this is his last shot at making the big club.

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In reply to by The E-Man

How is the pressure gone? Any hope of that was dashed last year ... what, he has 12 days of pressure free baseball? Any analysis of his performance last year is mute unless you put it in the context of a manager completely fucking with a rookie's head. Sort for all rookie's in the last 10 years who were drafted in the 1st round/1st supplemental and who at some point were top 30 prospects. Then plot their AB versus available AB at their position. I think you'll find that Olt starting with THE SECOND GAME OF THE YEAR was treated uniquely among those who qualify. Much more common would be the way Alcantara Baez and even Soler (who was rested occasionally for health reasons) were played which is essentially they got every AB at their position once called up. It boggles my mind that the intelligent critics here at TCB don't acknowledge how difficult it is to perform at the professional level when you are sitting more than playing and your manager is saying and doing nonsensical things. Even professionals as experienced as Alfonso Soriano were saying they couldn't perform without regular playing time. Especially a young power hitter like Olt. Again the analysis of his performance and K rate (in a year btw that set records for pitchers' K rates) seems ridiculous for a rookie who psychologically was being toyed with. The analysis I want to see is how many blue chip rookies sit as much as Olt did. That should be the first analysis. As far as his prospects with the Cubs, they are limited quite a bit by the arrival of Bryant and that is what irritated me about last season. That was when we should have seen him in a true no pressure situation so he could be evaluated. It was like a formula one racing coach got obsessed with eeking 6 MPH out of a stock car (Valbuena) when he could have at least tried the vehicle with aerodynamic potential (Olt). But yeah there is plenty of pressure if he is supposed to prove himself in a week or two while we wait for Bryant who some are calling one of the best hitting prospects ever.

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In reply to by Carlito

 

How is the pressure gone? Any hope of that was dashed last year ... what, he has 12 days of pressure free baseball? Any analysis of his performance last year is mute unless you put it in the context of a manager completely fucking with a rookie's head. Sort for all rookie's in the last 10 years who were drafted in the 1st round/1st supplemental and who at some point were top 30 prospects. Then plot their AB versus available AB at their position. I think you'll find that Olt starting with THE SECOND GAME OF THE YEAR was treated uniquely among those who qualify

I really don't think you will find that.

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In reply to by Rob G.

About mid season last year I did plot all NL rookies and out of like 33 or so rookies Olt was one of only 4 who were averaging less than 3AB per game. And he was way down around 2.5. And that is all rookies not just blue chip. Also he was leading them all in HR and close in RBI.

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In reply to by Carlito

But yeah there is plenty of pressure if he is supposed to prove himself in a week or two... Are think you are being a bit fatiecious here? You know he got worse every month until he stunk so much he had to sit, right? Or were you watching different games? I mean not even making contact at all? I am not blaming the manager for that. No reasonable person should in a success-based league. Sorry about your guy but he will have a chance this spring once more, or he'll get shipped out, cut, etc.

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In reply to by The E-Man

Too many fun things coming to get caught up in this again. Suffice it to say I disagree with you. I think your analysis minimizes the psychological aspect of the game and also how whack his playing pattern was. (For instance people like to say he was handed the starting job out of spring training. Would it surprise those people to know he finished 1 game of the first 8 games?). Anyway agree to disagree and I embrace my lunacy and inability to be a reasonable person. Not sure why people have to add those adjectives. But if it makes you feel great about yourself, go for it!

I am one of the few who have not written off Olt. I think that there is a reasonable chance that he can recover and have a good career. But to say that he was treated unfairly is sheer lunacy. He stunk, pure and simple. As did Baez (who did get most of the available at bats, and Alcantara, who also got most of his available at bats). Olt was worse than both of them, and that is saying quite a lot. He played decently in September, but is going to have a very short window to prove he can do better. And if he has a poor spring, he won't even get any window at all.

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In reply to by DavidP

If you are going to call someone crazy at least get the one fact you assert correct. Here are Olt and Baez stats: Olt 225ab 100k .160ba 25bb 12hr 33rbi .356slug Baez 213ab 95k .169ba 15bb 9hr 20rbi .324slug How is Olt worse? And I stand by my lunacy. I've never seen a manager fuck with a kid's head like that. He plays every day with the manager's blessing and he's a different player. I'm sorry you don't agree.

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In reply to by Carlito

I have posted something like this before during this recurring Olt debate, but I disagree wiht the idea that he didn't get fair playing time. Here is what I see:

For the first two weeks of the season Olt played sporadically. On April 12th, he had 24 PAs and Valbuena had 28 PAs and BOTH were hitting under .200. The manager was trying to win games to start the season and playing both guys hoping someone would start hitting.

On April 13th, Olt went 2-3 with a BB and a 2B, and beginning with the second game of a double header on April 16th, he was given the everyday job at 3B for the rest of the month of April and basically all of May. From April 19th through May 30th the Cubs played 37 games. Olt played in 32 of them (5 days off over a month and a half) and started 27 of those 32. He put up a line of 153/246/388 over that time, striking out in 41 of his 114 PAs (that's 36% of the time!!).

So, if your definition of being treated fairly is starting everyday from day 1, and that anything less is "being fucked with," well then there is nothing we can say to convince you that he wasn't given a fair shot. But most would look at that and see that he had significant playing time over the first two months of the season, including a 6-week stretch in which he was essentially starting 6 days a week, and you can look at his game log and see that he was playing complete games most of the time.

At some point, when you are a guaranteed out 85% of the time and of those outs you don't even make contact nearly half (46%) of the time, the manager can't keep running you out there. In fact, many would say that doing so would be MORE damaging to his long term development than giving him some mental breaks and picking matchups (e.g. LHPs) in which he might enjoy some success and rebound somehow.

Over the next 6 weeks (June through July 22, minus the All-Star break), Olt basically served as a late inning pinch hitter, receiving the occasional spot start, accumulating just 67 PAs and batting an even worse 083/164/250. (This also corresponded with Valbuena's best play of the year; over the month of June he hit 275/320/451). 

Olt was then sent down to get regular playing time against easier pitching--where he did well, with a 933 OPS in 115 PAs. After he was called up again in September, he did much better, hitting 263/370/368 over 46 PAs in 17 games.

I don't have any issues at all with Olt's playing time over April and May. I think he got a fair shot and performed very poorly. I do think that the organization waited too long to send him back down to AAA. I think they should have done that in early to mid-June and given him 3 full months in AAA rather than the less than 2 he got. He needed regular at bats and to enjoy some success to build off. But Bryant was already in AAA by that point, so finding ABs for Olt was not going to be that easy.

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In reply to by WISCGRAD

"So, if your definition of being treated fairly is starting everyday from day 1, and that anything less is "being fucked with," well then there is nothing we can say to convince you that he wasn't given a fair shot" Seriously? All I've written for 10 months on this and this is what you hear? See O&B below.

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In reply to by WISCGRAD

Early on (through May or so), I was on the Carlito bandwagon in that I thought Olt should get absolutely every PA he could get. I figured the HRs were there, the BBs and average would come along. But by June I'd settled into thinking it was pretty justifiable to not play him--they just should have sent him down to AAA and left him there to recover both confidence and maybe trade value. Overall, I'd say the right call would've been for Olt to play in the minors for most or all of June, July, and August--not for him to get every available PA at 3B for the MLB club, although also not for him to be a bench player, which I don't think he's very suited to be.

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In reply to by WISCGRAD

I think you're missing the subtleties of what was going on. The stats don't tell you about how badly the timing sucked on some of his sit downs. Even if you look at it from a purely statistical analysis, 6 weeks is not a very long time to evaluate a rookie. What did Sandberg do with his first 6 weeks? Stats will tell you he should have been sent back down. I would even argue that given the quality of pitching these days, Ryno's early numbers would have been worse had he faced today's staffs. The Cubs were out of it by the time Olt started hitting the pine. It was stupid, based on the power he was showing, to not see what he could do for several months. If he hadn't displayed that kind of power, I could see your point on the weak stats. But that kind of power is hard to ignore. I myself am not suggesting he's the second coming of Mike Schmidt, who also struggled in his first year, albeit with a much higher OBP. As I mentioned, he swings at stuff, in the strike zone, and misses, a lot. It could really be that his eyes are just ruined after the concussion, although the end of the year numbers offer some hope. My only argument was that the window for evaluating him was there, and not taken advantage of. That window is basically gone. I can't imagine a scenario where Bryant is not the every day third baseman - whether it's 12 days in or not I don't know, but he'll be in there. So the end result is probably going to be he gets traded with little return unless he just kills it in spring training, and I don't think he's a good enough hitter to do that.

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In reply to by Old and Blue

- during those 37 games Olt only batted in 108 of the 152 plate appearances afforded 3B in the Cubs so it's hardly accurate to say he was handed the starting job. - starting 27 of 37 games additionally is only 73% - during that stretch the most games he played in a row at any given time without a day off or being pinch hit for was 3 games in a row. - he was removed from 2 games in which he had homered during that stretch and pinch hit for a total of 7 times in that stretch. - there were only 2 times all season when he had 6 game stretches with 3 or more AB. May 7 to May 12 in which he hit 4 HR in a 6 game stretch and then sat. And May 17 to May 23 when he sucked ass except for 5/20 when he pretty much single handedly gave Tanaka his first loss in 2 bazillion games. I have lots more stats like these but you get the point, it wasn't like Alcantara Baez or Soler where he got to play every day all day. He rarely finished a game he started - I have a log of his day to day AB and it reads like a convoluted mess. I challenge anyone to look at his daily box scores and not conclude at the very least that Renteria was over managing. As far as the subtlety I could write a book of course. This was a last place team with people like Barney playing and Renteria saying weird condescending stuff in the press every day about Olt needing easy matchups and shit. (So he'd sit for three days and pinch hit against Chapman haha. True story). Who says that? Why wasn't Alcantara Baez treated to such caring? Whole thing was bush league. I get the statistics and that he got some significant AB. But to just write it off like he had his chance I don't get. I should just post his season day by day (not just a game log) it's incredibly herky jerky and about as non conducive to getting into a groove or rhythm as one can imagine. Bottom line is he sucked so yeah it's hard to argue this without looking stupid but his season was hardly typical.

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In reply to by Carlito

"during that stretch the most games he played in a row at any given time without a day off or being pinch hit for was 3 games in a row."

As one example, he played a complete game on May 7 and on May 8, he also played complete games on May 10, May 11, and May 12. So what happened on May 9? Did he get pinch hit for? No. He started the game and played 8 innings. The Cubs were down 2-1 to the Braves in the 8th with Kimbrel warming up to pitch the top of the 9th for the Braves. In the bottom of the 8th Renteria subbed in several players to get the best matchups against Kimbrel and to get the picthers spot as far away from the batter due up as he could in case the Cubs rallied. As part of this, Coghlan came in, Bonfacio moved from CF-2B, and Valbuena shifted from 2B to 3B to replace Olt. The reason Olt was sat was because he was the second-to-last batter in the 8th (Baker was the last but was catching). The move worked, the Cubs rallied off Kimbrel, with Coghlan (who just came in) leading off the 9th with a single. The Cubs tied the game and forced extras. Of course, in predictable fashion the Cubs blew it and lost in the 10th. But the only reason Olt was taken out of the game was because of this slot in the batting order--he wasn't going to come up in the 9th anyway.

So if we create a new stat, let's call it a Fair Olt Game, or fOg, then we would count this as one, right? There is nothing shady here going on. Renteria is not messing with him.

And if look at it this way then we have 6 straight fOgs.

He was sat the next day against the Cardinals, despite doing well over that stretch.  Why?  Well, Adam Wainwright was pitching and Valbuena has a career 1.186 OPS off him. He got the start and went 3-6 with a R and 2 RBI in what turned out to be another extra inning game--one in which Olt was the first pinch hitter brought off the bench, and he walked.

He played the next day, on May 15 and played a CG.

Olt was sat on the 16th and Valbuena got the start against Kyle Lohse, but he came in for Valbuena in the 7th and played the rest of the game.

He played CGs on May 17, 20, 22 and 23. The only two games in there he did not play a CG (18th and 21st) he played 9 innings and was NOT pinch hit for. Rather, in both games, Barney came in at 2B in the 9th and Valbuena moved from 2B to 3B. This gave the Cubs their best defensive lineup on the field while protecting the lead, and the use of a double switch with the pitcher allowed Renteria to move the pitchers spot away from the batters due up in case the other did tie or take the lead. Again, nothing shady going on here. So that's another 6 fOgs in a row.

In those 15 games, he only had two in which he didn't start, the Wainwright game, which I see no fault in, and the Lohse game. And he pinch hit in both of them. He played CGs, or in three was removed for defensive purposes (NOT pinch hit for). In this time he hit .196 with 17 SOs (32% of this PAs). He did hit 5 HRs in that span and so his SLG and OPS were actually pretty good, but he only had one 2B and 5 BB, and so he was becoming a bit of an all or nothing hitter. He could wade into a mistake and crush it, no doubt, but he was K-ing at an alarming rate.

This idea that somehow Renteria was starting him, Olt was succesfull in early at-bats, and then Renteria was pinch hitting for him late in games, is simply not true--at least not in May.

From May 25 to June 1 he had 18 PAs and struck out in 10 of them, and that included a couple of full days off in there, perhaps to clear his head. And from there on out he played less consistently. But again, I would argue that sending a guy out there to K that much every day is perhaps not good for his development and psyhe. And Valbuena had a .902 OPS over May, and so it made sense to give him more of the ABs going forward in June.

Again, I think they should have just sent Olt down then, I think there the Cubs screwed up. 

 

 

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In reply to by WISCGRAD

I see what you are saying here. Also in my above post I talked about the two 6 game stretches (May 7 to 12 that you look at above) and the second stretch later in the month. Just my opinion but all of this adds up to a pretty tight leash and I don't think we saw Olt's potential. I hear your opinion. I agree with some of it and I disagree with some of it. We can cite data back and forth all day but as you know interpretation of the data is part of the equation and as fun as it is for me to have you invent something like Fair Olt Days (and I DO thank you) you are not gonna convince me that Renteria (intentionally or not) had a feel for how to use and evaluate Olt. I of course am factoring in non-numerical data like press comments and watching the evolution of Olt's plate apprarances which much like Baez did deteriorate for probably a variety of reasons, but I think it is highly debatable that getting 2/3rds of available 3B AB over a 37 day period for a last place team represents being 'handed the starting job'. I see what you are saying, though and thanks for the effort. Your interpretation may be the better one. I however consider it a lost opportunity but again Renteria and Valbuena are gone now which I think says something - or if it was just luck than I'm happy about that luck.

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In reply to by Carlito

"I however consider it a lost opportunity but again Renteria and Valbuena are gone now which I think says something"
What do you think it says exactly? Renteria is gone because one of the top managers in the game became available. Valbuena is gone because he used all that time at 3b last year to play himself into a valuable trade piece, one that just landed the Cubs a new starting CF. The real lost opportunity would have been allowing Olt to piss away another 2-300 AB at the major league level

The problem with the Olt argument is that both sides are right, so it's an infinite loop. The argument won't end until the season plays itself out. Renteria did wacky things like sit him after a really good day. So much for momentum for a young hitter trying to find his way. This is the stuff that drove me crazy. In April, he got to play pretty consistently. Out of 25 games played, he played in 21 of them. It was May where Renteria would do some things to wreck what I thought at the time was some good momentum. I don't think it was anything personal - I'm sure it was more influenced by Olt's overall April numbers - .172 .222 .397 .619. The objections to his sitting on the bench in May is not something that a statshead will understand. It's more nuanced than what stats can show. Olt would have a few good games, then maybe an 0-for, and sit. Or a good game, and sit. It's about momentum and confidence building, and Renteria, for whatever reason, didn't seem to handle it in a way that helped the player succeed. And although I understand the argument of "prove yourself", if the anti Olt crowd had applied that to Ryne Sandberg and his very Olt-like numbers in his first April in Chicago, he'd be benched: .203 .229 .304 .533. The idea that he has to "Earn" it is nonsense. He earned it. That's why he played. A team like the Cubs, which had a guy in Bryant on the way the next year, needed to get a full dose of Olt, playing every day, for three months AT LEAST, to see what he had. To not do that was just stupid and shortsighted. It's worth noting that Sandberg played every day in April and May, and at the end of May had these formidable numbers: 237 .257 .299 .556 (BA, OBP, Slugging, OPS). The Anti-Olts would have sent him packing, and TCR's Ryno would have a different screen name. But Olt also served up his share of stink. His power really is top shelf, but he also reminds me a bit of Brett Jackson in that he misses stuff that should be hittable for big leaguers. Maddon is a proven expert in personnel, however. So to me, the argument is over. Maddon will figure it out.

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In reply to by Old and Blue

I agree with all of this. I get the stats head points I just think this is a unique situation in other ways too. If one doesn't believe in psychological aspects, at the very least you must believe that players do. Got instance see Baez' recent comments. For whatever reason he felt too many people had his ear and he was confused. Not saying his take is right but head / focus / confidence is a factor that people don't seem to weigh much for Olt. When he played full time no questions asked in spring training and AAA he demolished the ball. Yes I know it's differnt in MLB but it's harder. Why be at a disadvantage as a rookie in the harder league?

This is from Sickels from last month. In the comments section. ----------- Olt is not the same after his concussion. He always struck out a lot, but after the concussion his defense collapsed along with his hitting. I know even now, more than a year later, that I am NOT the same as I was before I got hurt. My coordination is still slightly off and I cannot work as hard as I once did. I need more sleep and it takes me longer to write these reports. I can’t imagine how long it would mess up a professional athlete. Even a tiny reduction in processing speed for the brain could be crippling for a hitter or fielder. by John Sickels on Dec 7, 2014 | 10:18 PM up He always lived on the edge because of the contact issue, but the fact that his glove disappeared along with the bat just screams "neurological problem" to me. by John Sickels on Dec 7, 2014 | 10:25 PM up http://www.minorleagueball.com/2014/12/7/7351045/chicago-cubs-top-20-pr…

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In reply to by QuietMan

If this is really true then it would explain a lot about Olt's 2014 performance with Cubs & Iowa. I agree most with Old and Blue that both sides of the argument are true. Olt should have spent 100 games at Iowa in 2014 on his results with the big club alone. However, Renteria and Hoyer are to blame for hanging him out to dry on the end of the bench for what seemed like forever. The good news (as it appears now) for Olt is that he gets a chance to earn the 3B job in Spring Training. How long he keeps it depends on him, Bryant's development, and a LF of Denorfio/Coghlan. If Olt becomes the player closer to his ceiling, there's surely room in LF for Bryant........and that's how it should be.

Mike Olt, he's a guy who's known as Mike Olt. Other names for him including Michael Olt and just Olt. When he's on his game he's a baseball player Mike Olt. Otherwise in other situations he's just Mike Olt. En espanol es Mike Olt. Tambien en ingles es Mike Olt. Sometimes he does it well and then we all say Mike Olt, other times not so well and then we all say Mike Olt. Also, on TCR, people call him Mike Olt. Give him a number, number 30, number for Mike Olt. Swing and miss, Mike Olt. Take a walk, Mike Olt. Swing and miss again once and twice, he's still Mike Olt. Therefore hereby truthfully established as Mike Olt. End of discussion, discussion ending upon Mike Olt.

I would guess that the roster turnover from opening day last year to this year is going to be very high. I don't know how to easily find opening day 25-man rosters historically, or I might do some sort of examination over time. But I feel as though this is going to be a lot more than usual. A number of young guys were on the team last year but didn't get called up until later. Those guys combined with the free agents/trades makes for a very different looking team from one year to the next. Just looking quickly, and based on assumptions, that might prove wrong, that Castillo is traded, Lake doesn't make the team, Jackson is gone somehow, and including some guesses for the bullpen, it looks like 16 of the 25 slots to start the season could be different than last year? Maybe that is not particularly different than in past years, but it seems high to me.

2014 2015 Pitchers Pitchers Jeff Samardzija Jon Lester Jason Hammel Jason Hammel Travis Wood Travis Wood Edwin Jackson Jake Arrieta Carlos Villanueva Kyle Hendricks Hector Rondon Hector Rondon Pedro Strop Pedro Strop Jose Veras Neil Ramirez Justin Grimm Justin Grimm James Russell Tysuyoshi Wada Wesley Wright LOOGY? Brian Schlitter Jason Motte Catchers Catchers Welington Castillo Miguel Montero John Baker David Ross Infielders Infielders Anthony Rizzo Anthony Rizzo Darwin Barney Tommy La Stella Starlin Castro Starlin Castro Luis Valbuena Javier Baez Emilio Bonifacio Arismendy Alcantara Mike Olt Mike Olt Outfielders Outfielders Nate Schierholtz Jorge Soler Ryan Sweeney Ryan Sweeney Junior Lake Chris Coglan Justin Ruggiano Chris Denorfia Ryan Kalish Dexter Fowler

guessing a Maddon lineup is foolish, but maybe something like

vs. R: Fowler, Castro, Rizzo, Soler, Montero, Baez or Olt, Coghlan, P, Alcantara or LaStella

vs. L: Fowler, Castro, Rizzo, Soler, Denorfia, Baez or Olt, Montero, P, Alcantara or LaStella

don't matter much and no idea who is playing 2b or 3b at this point...when Bryant arrives, he'll obviously be in the #2-#5 mix

Hard to gauge a real pattern with Maddon on the #2 spot, analytics says put your best hitter there, Maddon used Zobrist a lot (good OBP rate, good contact, not much in speed), but also used Myers, Fuld, Upton, C. Pena, Longoria and a helluva lot of others. So we'll see...I'm guessing it'll very much be a hot hand/matchup thing for him all season in all spots.

I'm always an advocate of get the most PA's to the best hitters and try to alternate L/R as much as possible. The pitcher batting 8th is an odd one, it goes against that, but pitcher gets 2, maybe 3 AB's a game and then whomever you have pinch-hitting may very well be better than the 9th hitter, so if it sets things up a little better in the middle innings...sure, go for it.

Rasmus in Houston for a physical

Weird. Thought they'd go Gattis/Marisnick/Springer, plus they already have Presley and Grossman, but guess not. Not bad if he's cheap enough. Astros could be make things interesting if they get pitching.

Feldman, Keuchel, McHugh, Oberholtzer, Straily or Vogelsong (if he signs) at the moment...that's probably not gonna get it done though.

Trestman gets Baltimore OC job...

think that'll actually be a nice fit, Trestman can play X's and O's and Harbaugh keeps the team ready and prepared. Considering how well they played despite the Ray Rice fiasco, gotta give him credit there.

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In reply to by Rob G.

Huge white space on the right. A long column of blue hyper linked words going down the left for all of the top matter, then the tweet box comes below that (again, still on the right side), then the roster info, etc. (again, all in one long column). Finally, after all of that the stories show up and go across the entire page. Then below the last story the "Recent Comments" box shows up, but again, on the LEFT not the right. And the background is all white for all of it.  When I click on one of the stories those look fine, only the main page seems to be a problem. I tried it in Chrome and Firefox. Started happening like 2:45/3:00ish? 

North Koreans

Yes.....also, moment of silence for The Real Neal. (1 second) Thank you.

1/8M for Rasmus from Astros, save up to $2M on Fowler and get Valbuena and Straily as well.

Not a bad bit of manuevering...

Never know with Rasmus, but kind of guy that could easily go off for 30 HR's, especially playing for another deal.

Sweet...

Bears hired Vic Fangio as their defensive coordinator.

Both new Bears coach John Fox and Redskins coach Jay Gruden wanted Fangio to head up their defense. The consistently excellent Fangio, who fled from San Francisco after getting passed over for the head-coaching job, chooses to go for the unit with a little more talent. That's not to say he doesn't have his hands full however, as Mel Tucker's Bears fielded the league's No. 30 defense in both 2014 and 2013. But note that in four seasons with Fangio as the 49ers' defensive coordinator, they annually ranked in the top five -- including this year even though they played without Patrick Willis, Navarro Bowman, Aldon Smith and Tramaine Brock for extended periods. Expect the Bears to make a leap defensively next season. The Redskins may now have to settle for Chargers LBs coach Joe Barry.
Charlie Weis in play for OC duties.

Should the Cubs sign James Shields if the price drops to the $80M that Jayson Stark is predicting?

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In reply to by George Altman

Cueto, Fister, if Latos comes back healthy, Masterson, Porcello, J. Garcia (team option), Kazmir, I. Kennedy, Samardzija, Greinke (player opt out), M. Estrada, Y. Gallardo, C. Bucholz (team option)

and who knows who'll be available via trade as well....

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In reply to by Rob G.

If TheJedi ever considered Shields a fit for the team, as part of their due diligence they had to come up with a "Kelly Blue Book" value for him...not lowball but also not overpaying due to getting in a bidding battle. I'd like to see Theo send him a contract offer for precisely that number and say "we'd love to have you join us for X years at Y dollars". One offer, no substantial negotiation. If Shields takes the offer, the Cubs believe they got value. If he moves on, no harm done.

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In reply to by Rob G.

A group of investors who own two rooftops overlooking Wrigley Field today sued the Chicago Cubs and owner Tom Ricketts in federal court, accusing them of attempted monopolization in violation of the Sherman Act
The rooftop owners are absolutely right here. They do own at least a near monopoly on losing.

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In reply to by Rob G.

I'm pretty happy with the choices so far. Fox has shown an ability to adapt to personnel. Reputation for hard nose football and run style, but with Manning they threw the ball like crazy. One problem with bringing in a rookie coach from Canada was that he didn't have the pool of assistant coaches to choose from. If anything is a boy's club it's the NFL, and Trestman wasn't working daily with other guys in the league. I still thought it was an interesting hire at the time and was excited about the offense. I didn't expect things to get as bad as they did. Two years of watching teams go up and down the field on the Bears, unchallenged. Yecchh. That, at least, should come to an end with Fox and Fangio. Which sounds like a radio show.

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In reply to by Old and Blue

It's funny how things seem to have come full circle in the NFL -- the Bears hired the QB Whisperer because they thought they needed a high-octane offense to compete. Now, the top teams play smash-mouth football and physical defense -- the Packers could not stop Lynch and the Seahawks D repeatedly stuffed the Pack at the goal line, while the Pats physically dominated the Colts -- while the pass-happy teams like the Broncos (uh-oh) and Colts look kind of silly out there.

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In reply to by billybucks

This is the one thing I find kind of funny about Bears fans complaining about Trestman's offense (justfiably so this season as opposed to last season). For years we've, at least many of us, wanted a more exciting, diversified offense. We got it last year and this past season it was, "Give it to Forte, we don't run it enough."

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In reply to by billybucks

Apparently that's exactly how it went down ha ha. I love the coaching decisions being made. Fox is a proven guy - I could care less that he didn't win the Super Bowl. Bears can't even get into the playoffs something like 7 out of the last 8 years or so. Gace likes to pass, and is young and creative, so we don't lose anything in the offensive scheme in my opinion. Fox is showing that he isn't stubborn - he prefers a running game but Gace clearly is a modern offensive coach able to create a passing game. And Fangio had some really, really good years at SF. You could say he was helped by a bunch of all pro guys but maybe the coaching helped turn those guys into all pros. HIs coaching obviously didn't block their development - see Tucker, Mel. And, Gace could step in for Fox, and was very possibly told he had a very good chance of that, once Fox steps aside. If the Bears get good, that continuity would be nice. This is the first time I've been pumped about Bears coach hires. I didn't even like the Ditka move at the time. It seemed stupid and a silly reach. It turned out pretty well for a couple years, of course, and he was a lot of fun - remember the roller blading in Minnesota?

Curious how the Bears get so much ink here but we won't touch the Hawks or Bulls. Until playoffs occasionally.

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In reply to by Carlito

I pretty much steer away from non-Cubs topics but ever since I saw a comment thread started by Rob titled something like the Bear Truth - presumably named after the blog he started by that name (or something like it - can't remember now) I've considered Bears talk fair game here. I don't really visit other forums or have a presence on other comment areas of news sites so I'd love to talk about how dumb people who are bitching about Rose are, but I just don't really have the time and I figure at the end of the day, this is really just a Cubs site. I've sometimes contemplated starting a site for expat Chicago sports fans of all ilk, but if I don't have the time to comment on other forums I sure as hell don't have the time for that.

Rangers have been looking for a catcher, but it looks like they are now off the market.

From Rotoworld:

Rangers acquired C Carlos Corporan from the Astros for RHP Akeem Bostick.

Corporan will serve as the back-up to Robinson Chirinos behind the plate. The Astros had a glut of catching depth and decided to designate Corporan for assignment on Tuesday, but quickly found a taker in the Rangers. The 31-year-old won't hit much, as he has a career .226/.286/.350 triple-slash line as a switch-hitter, but his value will come in spelling Chirinos, handling the Rangers' pitching staff, and playing solid defense.

 

@pgammo NCAA Coaches and MLB officials met Monday, general agreement on a July 1 draft and July 15 signing deadline

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In reply to by jacos

I have no idea what kind of a guy he is but if I was dealing with the rooftop owners I wouldn't be as kind as Kenney is. A Sherman anti-trust act violation? Really? Those guys took a big risk with this type of business. When I was a kid (I somehow see Dana Carvey's old man talking now) they just had a bunch of folding chairs up there, then they got greedy and decided to create a parasite business. That was their risk, and anybody who invested in those businesses understood that they were parasites. So it's a bad investment. Stop trying to make Cubs fans pay for your dumb ass investments.

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In reply to by jacos

Awesome

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In reply to by jacos

You've got Chad, classic silent towel and an appearance by Real Neal. Then Rob G sneaking in one liners like: "Kendall's a vast wasteland of horridness."

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In reply to by Carlito

the world of ST was interesting. it's obvious that there's polar opposite ways to go about expressing things one believes in on TCR, but he seldom found an ally in his views...except for the universally loved, future cubs HOF trade partners "can of simoniz" + "infield rake." the thing that i could never figure out is why he felt the need to make things up and stand by them as facts. he would jump on cubs news like "dude mcdude traded for cash + minor leaguer" and he would come up with a dollar amount + the minor league player out of thin air...which would often be proven incorrect within a short amount of time. you could never tell when he had legit info about a non-opinion situation and when he was pulling it out of thin air.

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In reply to by jacos

The Real Neal: "Success is a better indicator of future success than physical skills. I don't think anyone has ever contradicted that." Never.

refreshing...when a manager can say stuff like this... ""There are actually times that I've gone to Chamber of Commerce events and I've had them write out the lineup. And I think they were 3-2 in Tampa. I get my information from all different sources -- the cab driver, the doorman, whatever."" ...and a blurb following can say this... "Which isn't surprising. After all, Maddon once set his lineup to match Tommy Tutone's masterpiece, "867-5309/Jenny."" ...and it doesn't turn into a world-ending cubs fan pile-on on the manager with the internet demanding his head. the things a fresh manager can get away with before the fans turn...ah, good times.

Baez continues to struggle, 0-9 with 6 SO in PR Winter League playoffs, following 43 ABs in the regular season there in which he struck out 21 times. 

While it is still way too early to call the ceiling on Baez, it is interesting that he was Wilken's last "guy". His other #1 picks were all busts pretty much for the Cubs.

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In reply to by crunch

One argument they almost seemed to be making (and I don't necessariky buy it) was to humble him so he'd make a few adjustments. The flip side of te coin was they were getting his rough period out of the way early when the games didn't matter. That said it doesn't appear to be waning at all ...

Baez still can't hit a broad side of a barn with his amazing bat speed - 0-9 and 6K in PR playoffs, 21K in 43AB. Sounds like a whole lot of the same. He won't be up for awhile. La Stella/Alcantara platoon will work out well.

Recent comments

  • 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. 

  • 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.