Matt Carasiti Headed for Japan
The Cubs have released RHRP Matt Carasiti so that he can sign with the Yakult Swallows (NPB). Since Carasiti was under MLB club control, the Cubs will likely receive a substantial release fee (perhaps as much as $1M) as part of the deal.
So the Cubs MLB reserve list (40-man roster) now stands at 36 (four slots are open), with the 2018 MLB Contract Tender deadline 8 PM (Eastern) tonight (Friday 12/1).
The 26-year old Carasiti was acquired from the Colorado Rockies last June for LHRP Zac Rosscup and was the closer for AAA Iowa the last half of the PCL season. He was named to the PCL All-Star team in July, and was added to the Cubs MLB 40-man roster last month after the conclusion of the World Series. He had been expected to compete for a slot in the Cubs MLB bullpen in 2018.
Recent comments
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Arizona Phil 9 hours 23 min ago (view)
Beginning in 2019, a club must wait a minimum of seven days before it can place a player who was claimed off Outtright Assignment Waivers during the off-season back onto waivers, so because he was claimed off waivers on Wednesday 11/27, yesterday (Wednesday 12/4) was the first day the Cubs could place LHRP C. D. Pelham back onto Outright Assignment Waivers, and so tomorrow (Friday 12/6) is the first day the Cubs can send Pelham outright to the minors (if he was placed back onto waivers yesterday).
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Arizona Phil 1 day 6 hours ago (view)
A Competitive Balance draft slot can be traded only during a period of time starting on December 2nd and extending up until two hours prior to the MLB First-Year Player Draft (MLB Rule 4 Draft), so don't be surpised if these draft picks are traded during the off-season.
Keep in mind that the slot cannot be traded for cash unless it is a financial adjustment made to offset the salary of one or more of the players involved in the trade.
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Arizona Phil 1 day 6 hours ago (view)
The active list roster limit changes scheduled to go in effect in 2020 have not yet been officially approved. Same goes for the three-batter minimum (or else record the third out in the inning) for relief pitchers.
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Arizona Phil 1 day 6 hours ago (view)
And then the active list roster limit will expand from 26 to 28 on September 1st (max 14 pitchers in September).
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Arizona Phil 1 day 6 hours ago (view)
The "26th man" who was added for doubleheaders will now be the "27th man" and he can be a pitcher.
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crunch 1 day 12 hours ago (view)
ATL signs cole hamels 1/18m...a'ite then.
also, z.wheeler 5/100+ to the phillies.
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Charlie 2 days 3 hours ago (view)
I think without the off-field issues, a front-office might at least be tempted to gamble on Russell's youth and dreams of his upside. But with what we all know about him now, the challenges of improving both on and off the field are too great to gamble on.
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George Altman 2 days 18 hours ago (view)
This was the easiest non-tender decision, maybe ever. As if there weren't enough off-field reasons alone, there were even more baseball reasons. He became a sub .700 OPS hitter with bottom of the order OBA results. His defense, formerly his strength, became inconsistent due to attention deficit issues. He turned himself into bench infielder with suspect skills which is someone you don't pay more than $1--1.5M/yr.
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crunch 3 days 7 hours ago (view)
he was due for a 3.5-4m payday (3.4m last year) at a minimum, anyway.
it's as good of a time as any to cut him loose. nico hoener's spring just became a lot more important.
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Craig A. 3 days 7 hours ago (view)
Addison Russell, to no one's surprise, was non-tendered. I still think he has the talent to excel in the major leagues, but it'll take a new attitude for him to realize his potential. It can't be easy to deal with his baggage in front of millions of fans. I won't forget his contributions in 2016, or that beautiful play that used to be the banner of TCR.
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crunch 5 days 2 hours ago (view)
keuchel doesn't have draft pick compensation attached to him and he's a decent enough ground ball pitcher...that will be attractive to a lot of clubs. that would put 3 lefties in the cubs rotation (pending a trade) again, though. not sure they want to go for that look again.
that said, i still imagine the cubs are probably looking to make this thing happen via trade. it's hard to tell what their $$ situation is, but they've done a great job signaling they're not looking to spend $$ this offseason.
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Dolorous Jon Lester 5 days 8 hours ago (view)
Looking for impact starting pitchers, but won't be shopping at the top of the market? So I guess they won't be in the market for impact starting pitching.
Still hoping they find a taker for Q.
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crunch 5 days 10 hours ago (view)
"Patrick Mooney of The Athletic writes the Cubs are in the market for impact starting pitchers but won't be shopping at the top of the market."
darvish, lester, hendricks, Q, (???, a.mills, t.chatwood)...pending trades
d.keuchel? r.porcello? trade target pitcher?
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Arizona Phil 5 days 10 hours ago (view)
HAGSAG: I suspect going into his age 30 season and coming off a great year as a pinch-hitter, LaStella wanted a chance to be an everyday player, and since that obviously wasn't going to happen if he stayed with the Cubs, TLS (or his agent) may have asked the Cubs to trade him somewhere he could get that opportunity.
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crunch 5 days 11 hours ago (view)
dunno any official reasoning, but his D is miserable and they decided to "upgrade" there with descalso for similar loot as well as getting a trade piece back. the whole a.russell thing was lingering over the team.
it's not like descalso is great with the glove, but la stella plays a miserable 2nd and meh 3rd.
i do wonder if things would have turned out differently if russell wasn't due to miss significant time.
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Sonicwind75 5 days 15 hours ago (view)
Was just thinking about this, maybe that isn't a good thing for TLS? I wonder if Maddon will use TLS differently after seeing his success last year. That's my gripe with people complaining about Theo trading away a player that turns into an All Star. If TLS had stayed with the Cubs, Maddon would most likely kept using him in the same manner and with the same results.
Comments
Surprised? I though he had a
BILLYBUCKS: Given the
Interesting.
Just as a point of
One million or so sure beats
welly returns to catch for
Welly had himself a year last
Hector Rondon non-tendered by
shocking/not-shocking.
Not sure why they're wasting
i would feel a lot better
So what will the bullpen look
addison reed and jake mcgee
With six slots now open on
With six slots now open on their MLB 40-man roster, I would expect the Cubs to sign as many as five or possibly even six free-agents, including at least one or maybe two SP (depending on whether or not the Cubs are able to acquire a second starter via trade), three established MLB relievers (including one closer and one lefty), and a veteran back-up catcher (possibly either Alex Avila or Rene Rivera).
Even after projected arbitration raises, the Cubs now have about $60M in available 2018 payroll to spend on additions to the club (if they are so inclined).
Also remember that although Shohei Ohtani will get a relatively small signing bonus, the MLB club that signs Ohtani has to pay a - $20M - posting fee to the Nippon Ham Fighters. So while Ohtani himself might not cost that much, the posting process does. (BTW, a posting fee paid to an NPB or KBO club does - NOT - count against a club's payroll when calculating the club's luxury tax liability).
Rivera seems like a smarter
Hope Grimm isn’t part of it
Assuming health and
Don’t know if I’d call Grimm
Hopefully, they tendered
How quickly it goes....Cards
Oh Noooooooo
https://clyp.it/zyqjmtng
Regarding the Ohtani mania...
last i checked, squaring up
Good coaching can help a
"FanRag Sports' Jon Heyman
"MLB.com's Jon Morosi reports
I must say I enjoyed Robbie
BB, I'm curious why you think
I don't think it matters how
VA Phil -- To me, losses
I have an advantage here, in
My take on Trubisky is that
George Halas must be rolling
My son just texted me a great
The Stanton and Ohtani dramas
as much as i wish the cubs
It appears the Cubs may be
+dodgers in the mix according
I am not getting my hopes up
What's the fun of not getting
None of those other teams on
Does Cubdom know how
Don’t follow the NFL so I can
Agreed. Theo only took job
Regardless of Darvish, I don
Most boring offseason evah.
Arizona Phil (AZP):
AZ Phil goes back to Cubs
You realize the Cubs got
Yes, "it happens", and what
I’d say one of the big
E-MAN: When the current Cubs
E-MAN: When the current Cubs regime took over post-2011, the Cubs hired long-time Vanderbilt pitching coach Derek Johnson to be their new Minor League Pitching Coordinator. Johnson was something of a pitching "guru," having developed his own unique pitching philosophy/ideology. He wrote at least one book (maybe more) on the subject of pitching, but it was a sort of "my way or the highway" type of approach.
So each pitcher in the system had his own unique "Player Development Plan" detailing his goals and objectives and how to get there. Minor league pitching coaches were no longer allowed to veer off the reservation and go rogue and impart their own personal ideas, as had often been the case previously.
Back in the day it wasn't unusual for a pitcher to receive conflicting information and instruction from different pitching coaches as the pitcher progressed up the ladder through the system or as pitching coaches received new assignments within the organization. It also wasn't unusual for pitchers who had been very successful in college or high school to be told to change what it was that got them to pro ball and try something else, sometimes for no apparent reason
. .
For example, Cubs 1997 1st round draft pick RHP Jon Garland was completely messed up by the Cubs within a year after he signed. Even though he was successful in his pro debut in the Summer of '97, the Cubs changed his arm slot and release point at Instructs post-1997 (with terrible results). He was traded to the White Sox for RHRP Matt Karchner in 1998, and the Sox immediately showed him video they had recorded of him when he was in high schoo (the White Sox had hoped to draft Garland with their 1st round pick, but the Cubs picked ahead of them), and told him to forget everything the Cubs had told him to do and go back to pitching the way he had pitched in HS. Within two years he was in the White Sox MLB starting rotation and he had a successful MLB career. There are other examples I know about that did not end happliy-ever-after for the pitcher (including other Cubs high draft picks), but I'm not going to go into them here.
So the hiring of Derek Johnson and the implementation of a Player Development Plan for each pitcher was supposed to avoid the missteps and bad decisions of years past.
The problem is that despite the change in philosophy and new instruction methods (to more of a college-type approach), the Cubs saw a couple or three of their pitching prospects either stall or flame-out in their system and then develop into effective big league pitchers in another organzation. It was especially troubling with regard to RHRP Tony Zych (who had been the 4th round draft pick of the Cubs in 2011),.because within a few months after he was traded to Seattle (in lieu of being released), he was in the Mariners MLB bullpen.
So after the 2015 season, Derek Johnson was hired by the Milwaukee Brewers as their new MLB Pitching Coach, and the Cubs hired Kansas City Royals AA Northwest Arkansas Pitching Coach Jim Brower to be their new Minor League Pitching Coordinator (BTW, Brower's influence in the Cubs organization in 2016-17 was one of the factors that led to the Cubs acquiring ex-KC pitchers Mike Montgomery and Alec Mills in trades), and Seattle Mariners Minor League Pitching Coordinator Terry Clark (who was credited with "fixing" Tony Zych) to be the new Pitching Coach at AA Tennessee.
The idea with assigning Clark to Tennessee is that AA is considered the make-or-break spot for legit pitching prospects (that's where the Cubs "lost" Zych), and so you want your best teacher at AA, in part to teach advanced pitching methods but also to fix problems and save the pitcher before things sprial out of copntrol..What happens before AA is important but it's just part of the process and AAA is a "finishing school," but AA is where the rubber meets te road, because (barring injury) talented pitchers almost always get to AA without a lot of difficuity.
What will be the ultimate result of the change from The Derek Johnson Method to Brower/Clark has not yet been determined, but hopefully it will result in more "home grown" pitching talent reaching Wrigley Field and helping the Cubs.
great read. thanks.
Thank you for the insight.
Speaking of the rubber
BRADSBEARD: I don't know what
BRADSBEARD: I don't know what happened to Clifton, but I haven't heard anything about an injury. He was doing fine for his first 60 innings (up until mid-June) and then he just seemed to hit a wall.
I do know he left the Smokies in August and did not return, so he may have been dealing with some off-the-field issue.
Any word on a Brower
Awesome PHIL. Zych certainly
TIM: No word yet, but the
TIM: No word yet on who the new Minor League Pitching Coordinator will be, but the Cubs will probably announce their 2018 minor league staff sometime within the next ten days.
I don't know who the Cubs might be looking at outside the organization, but if they go in-house the three most likely candidates would be AA Tennessee Pitching Coach Terry Clark (who was the Seattle Mariners Minor League Pitching Coordinator prior to joining the Cubs), Mesa Rehab Pitching Coordinator Ron Villone, and Assistant Minor League Pitching Coordinator Mike Mason.
Clark was hired by the Cubs specifically to be the AA Tennessee pitching coach because the AA pitching coach job is so critical, so I don't know if the Cubs would want to move him to the coordinator slot.
Villone took over the Mesa Rehab Pitching Coordinator gig in 2016 after Rick Tronerud retired and has done a very good job there, but as with Clark, the Rehab Pitching Coordinator is a critical rate and the Cubs might not want to move him to another slot right now.
Mason is a very good pitching coach (he was the pitching coach on the Angels/Cubs Advanced Instructs co-op team post-2015 and post-2016) and while he could get promoted to Minor League Pitching Coordinator, he also might be the guy to replace Clark at AA Tennessee or Villone at Mesa Rehab if either of them become the new Cubs Minor League Pitching Coordinator.
Maitan to Anaheim. Del
"not targeting pitching early
Abysmal?
You touched on something that
Correct if I am not
I just don’t agree that the
"Johnson still has a chance
Not sure Astros with their 1
Yeah, the Astros hit on
To be fair, they also hit on
I’ll start with the Dodgers:
Cardinals have a win in Wacha
BA Top 100
These are different
Cashner for Rizzo. Who ya
Yeah, but who do they have
The Cardinals and (especially
I guess my frame of reference
Prior was a very early choice
A team trying to win should
From what AZP says, Albertos
It could be a very big HOF
Chatwood. Three years.
Chatwood splits:
Don't let him pitch against
I was gonna say, that is a
i just noticed you posted
2016 did weird things to my
Yay, the Cubs made a move!
I think we just stuck our
I think we just stuck our hands on a hot stove.
Age 28 season coming up,
I like signings like this one
Love the C+C Music Factory
Hey, 1 hitters and pitchers
at this point, if ohtani didn
https://www.mlb.com/gameday
Just hope Chatty's transition
i'd like to see him throw
Hehe....Stanton only wants to
MLB TV network is reporting
rangers (who scouted him in
At least he's in the AL, so
Agreed.