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

The Baseball Draft: A Look Back At The Cubs Drafts

Trivia Question: Which player drafted by the Cubs, went on to have the most illustrious Cubs career(that should be easy), who would you rank #2 and #3 though (considering their Cub career only)? Tell me if this sounds familiar. The games wealthiest clubs, particularly one in New York, were outspending the more financially constricted ballclubs to sign available players. Salaries (actually bonuses) escalated out of control and something needed to be done to restore competitive balance. Proposals were introduced, arguments were made and rules were changed. And in 1965, the amateur draft was introduced, now known as the First Year Player Draft. On June 7th of this year, the 41st baseball draft will be conducted and the Cubs first selection of the day will be at the 20th spot. This is a rather low pick historically for the Cubs, whose first pick from year to year on average is around the 10th or 11th pick. Considering draft slots are selected in reverse order of win/loss records, this is a dubious distinction indicating the organization's futility over the years. All those upper round picks though should have been the fruits of a better tomorrow, but as you'll see, the Cubs drafting has been nearly as disappointing as their play. Thanks to some number crunching done over at Birds in the Belfry, 18.8% of players* selected in the first round of the draft go on to become major leaguers. On the surface it appears the Cubs trounced that number by leaps and bounds as 42% of their first round picks have reached the majors. Prior to 1987, the baseball draft was composed of 4 phases, a June and January draft, each with a primary and secondary phase. There was even a fifth phase the first two years of the draft, where ballclubs were limited to drafting only American Legion players. If we concentrate only on the June regular phase of each year's draft, the Cubs have had an outstanding 62% of their players reach the major leagues. Amazing how well our scouts have been able to evaluate talent over the years, isn't it? Not so fast! That lofty 62 percentile that the Cubs achieved includes every Tom, Dick or Joe that got a cup of coffee in the major leagues, such as the Cubs first ever draft pick in 1965, pitcher Rick James who managed to pitch all of 5 innings in his major league career. Le'ís adjust that number to players who were at the very least able to garner one win share in their Cubbies career. Hell, why waste time with percentages when I can just list them. Career Win Shares In Parenthesis 1967 P - Gary Ross (1) 1970 OF - Gene Hiser (2) 1970 1B - Pete LaCock (11) 1971 P - Burt Hooten (39) 1973 1B - Jerry Tabb (1) 1973 P - Donnie Moore (13) 1974 OF - Scot Thompson (14) 1977 P - Randy Martz (15) 1979 - INF Scott Fletcher (1) 1982 - SS Shawon Dunston (112) 1984 - P Drew Hall (1) 1984 - C Damon Berryhill (20) 1985 - OF Rafael Palmeiro (25) 1986 - OF Derrick May (31) 1986 - P Shawn Boskie (15) 1987 - P Mike Harkey (24) 1991 - OF Doug Glanville (11) 1993 - OF Brooks Kieschnick (3) 1993 - 3B Kevin Orie (14) 1995 - P Kerry Wood (72) 1998 - OF Corey Patterson (43) 2001 - P Mark Prior (36) That's 22 out of 105 players who contributed anything and if you eliminate the 4 players that only had one career Cubbie win share, you get 17% of 1st round picks who ever accomplished anything as a Cub. Let's take a brief detour and explain a few things. I'll be using the system of win shares throughout these pieces as I've found it the best tool in evaluating players performances particularly in a historical context. I encourage everyone to click on the link above to get an idea of how the system works and hopefully you'll see it's usefulness in such an exercise. Secondly, at the moment I'm only concerned with how players drafted by the Cubs did as Cubbies. Some may have gone onto long, illustrious careers somewhere else, let's call them Rafael Palmeiro's, but these Rafael Palmeiro's are currently not of interest in this article. I'll get to the Rafael Palmeiro's of the world in one of the subsequent articles. Also, when calculating Cubbie win shares, I only include the players first run with the team. So when Shawon Dunston left in 1996 and then came back in 1997 and earned 7 more win shares, those DO NOT get included in his Cubbie win share total. My thinking behind this is the player returned to the team, they were in essence a player from another organization. He might as well have been Jeff Blauser signed as a free agent, brought in to fill a roster spot and no longer a homegrown talent that was developed within the Cubs farm system. Now back to the fun stuff! Although it's historically been proven that the first round of the draft is far and away the most important, it doesn't mean there isn't talent to be found in the later rounds. Until recently the baseball draft ended once every team "passed" on their pick, meaning in theory a team could pick indefinitely. 2 years ago, a 50 round limit was instituted, although a team does not need to go that far. So which drafts proved to be the most fruitful? Here are the top 5 drafts in terms of players reaching the majors:
YEAR Total Players Drafted Players Who Reached Majors % of Drafted Players Who Reached Majors Notable Players
Once again quantity doesn't equal quality. How about the top 5 Cubs drafts in terms of production:
YEAR Total Win Shares Players Who Reached Majors Notable Players
The 1986 and 1984 draft were the best drafts in terms of depth for the big-league club. Other then Maddux, there were no real superstars in any of the drafts (at least not with the Cubs), but both drafts provided a few players who contributed regularly for at least a few seasons. No use looking at only the good when there is also the very, very bad. Amazingly two of the Cubs drafts provided not ONE major league player able to accumulate a win share as a Cubbie. Those 2 drafts were in 1990 and 1976. 1990 was the year when Lance Dickson was the 23rd pick of the draft and the Cubs first pick. A southpaw with a major league ready 12 to 6 curve out of the Univeristy of Arizona, Dickson managed 13.2 IP in the majors with a 7.24 ERA in 3 starts as a Cub before blowing out his arm. Those innings came in 1990, the same year he was drafted and why he was pitching in the majors the same year he was drafted for a team that finished fifth in its division is beyond me. The 1976 draft was just as pathetic, as shortstop Kurt Seibert played the most games of anyone from that draft class.....7.....with only 2 at-bats. And no look back at the Cubs draft is complete without looking at some of the biggest first round duds. Who's your favorite whipping boy? Here are some blasts from the past. 1965 - (P) Rick James 6th overall pick 1967 - (SS) Terry Hughes 2nd overall pick; Played 2 games with the Cubs 1976 - (P) Herm Segelke 7th overall pick; Pitched a few innings for San Fran 1983 -(P) Jackie Davidson 6th overall pick; Never played in the majors 1984 - (P) Drew Hall 3rd overall pick; Pitched off and on for 3 years with Cubs with disastrous results before being a throw-in on the Palmeiro for Mitch Williams trade. 1988 - (2B) Ty Griffin 9th overall pick; Robin Ventura was the 10th overall pick 1989 - (1B) Earl Cunningham 8th overall pick; 1990 - (P) Lance Dickson 23rd overall pick; 1991 - (CF) Doug Glanville 12th overall pick; Did turn into a useful Mickey Morandini 1992 - (P) Derek Wallace 11th overall pick; 1993 - (OF/P) Brooks Kieschnick 10th overall pick; Billy Wagner was 12th 2000 - (SS) Luis Montanez 3rd overall pick; Still in system with Peoria From 1988 to 1993 the Cubs did a wonderful job of screwing up their first pick in the draft and we wonder why the 90's were some lean years. Ty Griffin still gets my vote for worst Cubs pick ever, particulary since I went out and bought the Topps Traded Set with his Olympic Card just cause the Cubs drafted him. Drumroll please....So who holds the coveted top drafted Cub and the answer to our trivia question? Position Played/Round Taken/Career Cubbie Win Shares 1. Mark Grace (1b/24/269) 2. Rick Reuschel (P/3/155) 3. Shawon Dunston (SS/1/112) 4. Lee Smith (P/2/104) 5. Greg Maddux (P/2/102) 6. Ken Holtzman (P/4/75) 7. Kerry Wood (P/1/72) 8. Steve Trachsel (P/8/58) 9. Rick Wilkins (C/23/55) 10. Ray Burris (P/17/49) I won't get into how Rafael Palmeiro or Greg Maddux should be on top of that list, as I said before that's for another day. Rick Reuschel was a bit of a surprise to me, but then of course I wasn't even born when he was doing the bulk of his damage. The fact that Shawon Dunston is third pretty much tells you how badly the Cubs drafts have been or at the very least how quickly they've given up on their young talent. The best news though is that a recent crop of Cubs should find themselves in the top 10 in the near future. Kerry Wood is already there, Mark Prior has 36 career win shares, Corey Patterson has 43 and I like to think that if the Cubs stick with Jason Dubois through the next four to five years, he'll be able to get anywhere between 50 and 100. And one final list; The all-time Drafted Cubs team: C - Rick Wilkins (55) 1B - Mark Grace (268) 2B - Bobby Hill (5) SS - Shawon Dunston (112) 3B - Kevin Orie (13) LF - Dwight Smith (42) CF - Corey Patterson (43) RF - Scot Thompson (14) P - Rick Reuschel (155) P - Greg Maddux (102) P - Ken Holtzman (75) RP - Lee Smith (104) I had to fudge a bit as some of those win shares weren't accumulated at their respective positions. I'm sure everyone is thinking there has to be someone else at second, third or right field, but darn if I could find them. The futility of Cubs third basemen is well known, and second base has been anchored by Glenn Beckert, Manny Trillo and Ryne Sandberg for the bulk of those years. Since Sandberg's retirement, second base has been manned by Mickey Morandini, Eric Young, Mark Bellhorn, Mark Grudzielanek and Todd Walker. Thus Bobby Hill's 59 games in 2002 were enough to get him the nod. Right field has been another revolving door of players. Billy Williams, Jose Cardenal, Jerry Morales, Keith Moreland, and Andre Dawson all patrolled the right field well in Wrigley before the ever-entertaining Sammy Sosa was acquired in 1992. So 1974 first round pick Scot Thompson, mostly a utility outfielder who did manage 128 games with the Cubs in 1978, is reluctantly named to my team. The draft though is more then just developing talent for the big leagues. It's also an organization's best resource in acquiring talent from other teams. Next I'll take a look at how the Cubs general managers in the past used their coveted picks to help the major league club and how the first drafted player ever, Rick Monday, helped land one of the greatest Cubs ever. * Birds in the Belfry stopped their study after 2002, since most players drafted after that have yet to reach the majors. ^ Win Share totals do not include this season.

Comments

Luis Montanez!

Thanks for a well-written, well-researched, and interesting article. I just wish it were more uplifting!

>I just wish it were more uplifting! Look at it this way, and it will be: 1. The Cubs are by no means the only team to have lean draft years. Their drafts haven't historically been the best; they're also far from being the team with the worst picks in ML history. 2. Since 2001, basically the prime Hendry/Stockstill/Fleita years, the team has straightened out its draft difficulties. Their approach has been solid, selecting the best player available with their prime picks and choosing for need and a good blend of college and high school talent in the later rounds. 3. Drafted players, outside of overall #1 picks, are still uncertain commodities. You end up rolling the dice with most of the players you pick. And you need a fair amount of luck (especially with respect to avoiding injuries) to have what you can call a "good draft." For the past five years at least, the draft hasn't been a problem area for the Cubs.

Fun article. Scott Fletcher would definitely be the second baseman if you are going by career rather than Cub win shares. Rick Reuschel is in Bill James top 100 pitchers and had great command and guile.

Great article. Not really on topic, but Jerome Williams pitched six innings, walked none, struck out 4 and gave up one HR and two earned runs total last night in his debut for the Iowa Cubs.

thanks for the kind words.... I was going with Cubs win shares only. Fletcher only earned one as a Cubbie in 1981. A All Time Once-Drafted By The Cubbies team is coming up Friday....

Hmmm, making it tough for me. I remember Ty Griffin was the next 'Ryno.' Earl Cunningham was supposed to hit 50hr. I did not see him listed anywhere, but Jesse Hollins REALLY let me down! I remember seeing a game with my Dad and his 99mph 2-seamer was moving all over the strike zone! However, I suppose I'll go with The Duke of Earl.

Hmmm, making it tough for me. I remember Ty Griffin was the next 'Ryno.' Earl Cunningham was supposed to hit 50hr. I did not see him listed anywhere, but Jesse Hollins REALLY let me down! I remember seeing a game with my Dad and his 99mph 2-seamer was moving all over the strike zone! However, I suppose I'll go with The Duke of Earl.

Your article confirms what we've all thought -- the Cubs have tended to do a fair job drafting and developing pitching and not so much postion players. Reuschel was not a surprise to me, as he was an effective pitcher for so long. Indeed, he had probably his best seasons in 85-89, after he left the Cubs, when he was 40. An absolute horse who did not get as much respect and recognition as he deserved while he was pitching.

1. The Cubs are by no means the only team to have lean draft years. Their drafts haven't historically been the best; they're also far from being the team with the worst picks in ML history. Now that I've done the dirty work for the Cubs, assuming I'm around next year, I'll try to compare it more specifically to some other teams. the Cubs have tended to do a fair job drafting and developing pitching and not so much postion players Pitchers definitely dominated the top 10, some of that has to do with having to find 5 starting pitchers every year, while you only get one position player a year. So when a Sandberg or Sosa comes along, they can block a position for over a decade.

Top 15 players drafted by the Cubs, except they forgot to sign them: 1. Khalil Greene, SS (2001) 2. Darrell Evans, 3B (1965) 3. Bob Welch, RHP (1974) 4. Mark Langston, LHP (1980) 5. Jon Lieber, HHP (1991) 6. Ken Forsch (1967) 7. Tom Henke (1980) 8. Kevin Tapani, RHP 9. Ray Lankford, OF (1986) 10. Jeff King, 3B (1983) 11. Terry Francona, 1B-OF (1977) 12. Jim Otten, RHP (1971) 13. Dave Bergman, 1B (1971) 14. Tom House, LHP (1965) 15. Eddie Leon, SS (1966) 2001 was another REAL good draft: Mark Prior Khalil Greene Andy Sisco Brendan Harris Sergio Mitre Ricky Nolasco

And you can add Mike Easley and Jeff Cirillo (both 1987) to the Top 15 players (so make that Top 17 players) drafted by the Cubs, except theuy forgot to sign them. 1. Khalil Greene, SS (2001) 2. Darrell Evans, 3B (1965) 3. Bob Welch, RHP (1974) 4. Mark Langston, LHP (1980) 5. Jon Lieber, HHP (1991) 6. Ken Forsch (1967) 7. Tom Henke (1980) 8. Kevin Tapani, RHP 9. Ray Lankford, OF (1986) 10. Jeff King, 3B (1983) 11. Terry Francona, 1B-OF (1977) 12. Mike Easley, IF-OF (1987) 13. Jeffv Cirillo, IF (1987) 14. Jim Otten, RHP (1971) 15. Dave Bergman, 1B (1971) 16. Tom House, LHP (1965) 17. Eddie Leon, SS (1966)

Good point on pitchers and position-blocking, Rob. (It's also one of the reasons that teams tend to overpay for pitching in free agent market, but that's a different topic.) But Grace and Dunston are the only position players the Cubs developed that had any appreciable "blocking" effect. (In fact, Palmeiro did not block Grace.) There's simply not a Manny Ramirez or Carlos Beltran type position player among those the Cubs have drafted and plugged into their line-up for years and years. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just interesting. Pitchers are more scarce, expensive, and less-predictable year-to-year than hitters -- which means that a long-term strategy of developing your own pitchers and acquiring position players by other means should be very successful. Also, when reviewing any player development organization, you also have to look at amateur free agent signings. Some of the best players in baseball today were acquired by organizations through this process (Z, A-Ram, Vlad Guerrero, Carlos Delgado, Miguel Cabrera, David Ortiz).

Don't ruin my thunder AZ phil... The Woulda', Shoulda', Coulda' Cubs are coming Friday.

Also, when reviewing any player development organization, you also have to look at amateur free agent signings No doubt...but with the draft coming June 7th, I'm choosing to concentrate on drafted Cubs only.

Great posts, AZ Phil. But you know that "forgot to sign" is a bit harsh. Many of these guys elect to go to college. Langston (drafted in 1978) went to San Jose State for three seasons. He was drafted in the 15th Rd (377th overall) by the Cubs in 1978 and turned into a 2nd round (35th overall). Probably a good financial move for him. Khalil Green was a 14th rounder by the Cubs (408th overall ) after his junier season. He stayed another year at Clemson and became a 1st Round (13th overall). Again, a pretty good financial decision by him. Darrell Evans - interesting story, no fewer than four teams drafted him. Cubs in 1965, Yankees in 1966 the regular phase, Tigers in 1966 second phase, and the A's in 1967 regular phase...before he finally signed after being drafted by the Phils in the 1967 second phase. Your point for Lankford is legitimate -- a third-rounder we let go who spent the year at Modesto Junior College before re-entering the draft the followin gyear.

DC Tom- "Also, when reviewing any player development organization, you also have to look at amateur free agent signings." Great point... THe MLB draft is still important but becoming less and less so with the signings on so many players outside of US (Japan, Caribbean, etc.). A perfect example is in 1997 when the Chicago Cubs took a flyer on a 16 year old kid by the name of Carlos Zambrano. There are many more like him and a higher percentage of them to come in the future.

>Now that I've done the dirty work for the Cubs, assuming I'm around next year, I'll try to compare it more specifically to some other teams. Hey, unless "Rob G." is a pseudonym for Johnnie B. Baker, we want you back next year, bro! In terms of teams you'll be comparing to the Cubs, I'd be interested in Beane's A's, the Redbirds and the ChiSox, in particular. And you'll have to include a mention of the Mariners--draft-time bottom feeders who haven't signed a #1 pick since 1999.

In the "it's about damn time" catgegory, this from Will Carroll today on Woody: >Wood's rehab has gone slowly because he's working on what was described to me as a "major" mechanical change. The Cubs are resisting temptation to rush Wood back, letting him get healthy and let the changes set into the neuromuscular "memory." A late June return is looking likely, but do not be surprised by some minor setbacks.

"Jon Lieber, HHP (1991) " Does that stand for ham-handed pitcher?

With Koronka being called up today, who is going to get sent down? My idea is to "send down" Mitre. Don't actually send him back to Iowa but keep interchanging them on the roster when their spot comes up. Is that soemthing the Cubs can do?? If so, it makes the most sense. The Cubs can activate Koronka today and "send down" Mitre and then on Friday, activate Mitre and send down Koronka.

In terms of teams you'll be comparing to the Cubs, I'd be interested in Beane's A's, the Redbirds and the ChiSox, in particular. And you'll have to include a mention of the Mariners--draft-time bottom feeders who haven't signed a #1 pick since 1999. All those teams are interesting, but at least with the A's and recent Mariners it's a limited window. Teams like the Braves, Yanks, Mets and Cards interest me. Teams with "similar" budgets who aren't forced to develop talent and can use their farm system to trade for more established talent like the Cubs. Do we contribute the Braves success cause they've drafted well and given opportunities to those players? Most likely that's part of it.... For another day...

Manny, They could keep flipping Koronka and Mitre as you suggest, but that does not really do the Iowa Cubs any favors. It also costs the team money each time they send someone up and down, so I can't see them doing that through June. I suspect that Novoa or Ohman will go down for as long as we need Koronka. Probably Novoa, as we certainly don't need six righties in the bullpen. Novoa could use the more consistent work he will get in Iowa, rather than the mop-up work he is doing here.

DC Tom: "It also costs the team money each time they send someone up and down" How much does it cost them....I did not know there was a fee. Thanks!!

Koronkadunk- Cubs.com says his frst ever big league game was at Dodger Stadium when he was 10 years old. He got tickets "because his father knew former Dodgers pitcher Tim Crews."

Good article, but nitpicking: Herm Segelke did pitch with the Cubs in '82, three games.

Manny, In addition to travel costs for the player (which are spelled out in the CBA) the Chicago Cubs would have to compensate the Iowa Cubs for the player. I don't know what that figure is, as it is spelled out in the Professional Baseball Agreement between MLB and the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL). I have not been able to obtain a copy of that contract, which was rather recently negotiated (and I've looked in several places.) Moreover, to do this Koronka/Mitre shuffle, they would have to keep Iowa at a 24-man roster (or daisy-chain the shuffle all the way down to Boise), and that could violate the MLB-NAPBL contract (in which MLB clubs are required to provide their minor league affiliates with a full roster). In addition, I believe MLBPA could eventually file a grievance on behalf of the players -- each time you move Mitre down and Koronka up, they are liable to take a pay cut down from the Major League Minimum to whatever is in their contract. Essentially, MLBPA could argue that the Cubs are manipulating the option system to maintain a 26-man active roster. They would argue that the Cubs are not acting in good faith with regard to Mitre and Koronka. They could pursue that claim even if Mitre and Koronka do not press the issue.

I don't believe you can keep shuttling players back and forth. I believe there is a 10 day wait period once you send a player down to the minors, unless there is an injury. I used baseballcube.com for the bulk of my research and they very conveniently list in bold every player who has major league stats. My fault for trusting them. He did pitch 3 games but was awful, in essence still useless. Thanks for catching that...

The other thing about the shuffle is that, I believe, there are only so many times that you can send a player down to the minor leagues before the player has a right to demand free agency.

There is a certain time a player must spend in the minors before being brought back up. I forget exactly how many, but I remember that discussion floating around on here when Leicester came up for a start earlier in the year. ESPN has some pretty bad columnists, but I'm starting to lean closer to Steve Phillips being the worst. This article has some of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard in it. Meanwhile Joe Morgan is extolling the use of a relief ace. I wonder if he realizes how close he is suggesting something that *gasp* sabetmaticians think is good.

Rob G, this paragraph confuses me: "Right field has been another revolving door of players. Billy Williams, Jose Cardenal, Jerry Morales, Keith Moreland, and Andre Dawson all patrolled the right field well in Wrigley before the ever-entertaining Sammy Sosa was acquired in 1992. So 1974 first round pick Scot Thompson, mostly a utility outfielder who did manage 128 games with the Cubs in 1978, is reluctantly named to my team." I'm guessing that BillyW is the only Cub draftee among these players. And he didn't play much RF. I see the conclusion as good, but why are any of these other guys even mentioned? They aren't Cub draftees...I'm still confused...

Billy Williams signed as an amateur free agent in 1956 with the Cubs but was playing with the Cubs in 1965 and beyond, mostly in left, a bit in right. Thus he doesn't get counted in the all-drafted team. The other players all played right field for a few years, but all started with other organizations. I was basically trying to point out how the Cubs right field position has been filled with players who were not drafted by the Cubs and that's why Scot Thompson made the All-drafted Cubs team despite a rather useless career. Hopefully that clears it up for you.

Rob-- "I don't believe you can keep shuttling players back and forth. I believe there is a 10 day wait period once you send a player down to the minors, unless there is an injury." It's either 10 or 15 days, I forget which, but you're definately correct that such a rule exists. I'll look it up. The only exception, as you say, is in case of injury. Therefore, Manny's suggestion of rotating Koronka and Mitre isn't allowed under the rules. No doubt that exact scenario is why the rule was implimented in the first place. Brent-- "The other thing about the shuffle is that, I believe, there are only so many times that you can send a player down to the minor leagues before the player has a right to demand free agency." Not exactly. You can option a player as many times as you like in their three option years, an option year simply being a year in which you option them. The "out of options" phrase is misleading. It should really be "out of option years". I know what you're thinking of though - a player successfully outrighted off a 40-man roster more than once in his career (by successfully, I mean that they clear outright waivers) has the right to refuse the assignment and elect for free agency. That's normally only applicable to journeyman players though - you rarely see a good player outrighted once, yet alone twice, simply because by doing so they're exposed to other teams with nothing but a $20k waiver wire claim price tag.

Thanks RobG, it is clear now regarding RF. But then why isn't BillyW the LF?

RobG nevermind. BillyW was too early for the real draft, which is your focus here. Too bad I'm not as focused as this piece...

manny- i guess what i meant to say was to point out that on monday - "It was the first time the southpaw had ever attended a major league game." that seems very odd!

joe morgan absolutely doesn't realize that that's a sabermetric idea. he thinks that billy beane wrote the book moneyball about himself because his ego is so large. he is absolutely the last man i want to hear doing a baseball game. below brenly even. unfortunately, out here in new hampshire, i would assume i'm getting him and jon miller again tonight since they did the game on monday also. then tomorrow in san diego more espn, more of the same. not that i'm complaining, it's kinda cool to watch it on tv instead of the computer. chicago in 2 weeks and then i can go in person and it's not an issue.

As a 6-year old, I was pretty excited when the Cubs drafted Ty Griffin. All I remembered about him was he hit 2 HR's in the Pan-American games to beat Cuba 2-1 in Indianapolis. It was a game I was at as a 5 year old.

Re #35 (John Hill), John, if you find the rule regarding the 10 or 15 day waiting period for assigning a player to and from the minors, please let me know. I could not find it in the CBA, though I will admit I did not look that closely at it. There is a general rule in the CBA that minor league assignments are to "conform to past practices", which may in fact incorporate an older rule. The first pick overall in the real draft (1965) was the esteemed Cub Rick Monday, by the KC A's. MLB.com had a nice video of him the other day online in which they showed the famous but inexplicably-rare "Rescuing the Flag at Dodger Stadium" video footage.

Rob, I bought that Ty Griffin card too! Of course, I also had dozens of Earl Cunninghams, even more Mike Harkeys, Derrick Mays, Shawn Boskies, etc. I used to collect only Cubs cards, and give the rest away or trade them away. It probably wasn't a great financial decision, but I only valued Cubs cards. Everything else was trash to me. Oh well...

DC Tom, yeh, I couldn't find it in the CBA either. That really annoyed me. But it's 10 days, thanks Ruz. I'll have to remember that this time, I keep forgetting.

How Monday landed one of the greatest Cubs ever: That would be Ryne Sandberg. The Cubs traded Ken Holtzman to Oakland for Monday. They traded Monday to LA for Bill Buckner and Ivan DeJesus. They traded DeJesus to the Phils for Larry Bowa...and Ryne Sandberg! One of my favorite picks was Mike Harkey. USA Today reported the Cubs' made an excellent pick at the time. He moved quickly up the oraganization. He won 13 games his rookie year-losing the roy to David Justice. That was 1990. Unfortunately, he had a hard staying healthy after that. The Cubs lost patience with him when he got hurt goofing around in the outfield before a game in 1993. That was pretty much it for Mike Harkey...

The 1st round of MLB All-Star voting was announced today and the good news is that the Chicago Cubs have the starting SS in the NL right now, the sad part is that it is Nomar Garciaparra (235,899 votes), not the deserving Neifi Perez, who isn't even in the top 5. Also on a down note, Derek Lee is somehow not the leading vote getter, but also somehow not even the #1 1B. Pujols has 570,004 and Lee has only 268,189. For the people who think we were doing somekind of disservice for voting Neifi in, I hope you take a look at how horrible the system is now.

Great work. I remember the Cub minor league output being so meager through the late 60s-mid 80s, that we actually tuned over to catch each of Scot Thompson's ABs one Sunday when we were watching a Bears game. It was just exciting to see anyone from the Cub minors even get an AB in the majors.

I swear, I don't post solely to complain, it's just on the nights I'm posting, things like... Perez SS Wilson 3B Lee Burnitz Walker Patterson Hollandsworth Barrett Koronka happen. Other guys: Izturis (The Real All-Star) SS Perez Drew Kent Saenz Werth Phillips Edwards Lowe

Whatever happened to Hairston taking some ground balls at 3rd earlier this year?

Given the way Hairston fields second base - I would think third base would be a challenge. b/t/w great job Rob - chockful of info

You know what's funny? Nomar's the top NL SS votegetter thus far.

Or someone could have already posted that...

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Seconded!!!

  • crunch (view)

    another awesome spring of pitching reports.  thanks a lot, appreciated.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 90-92 
    CUT: 87-89 
    SL: 82-83 
    SPLIT: 81-84
    CV: 73-74 
    COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes...  if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...   
     
    JOE NAHAS
    FB: 90-92 
    SL: 83-85 
    CV: 80-81 
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...   

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 86 
    SL: 79 
    COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...   

    FRANKIE SCALZO JR
    FB: 94-95
    CH: 88 
    SL: 83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning... 

    MICHAEL ARIAS
    FB: 94-96
    CH: 87-89
    SL: 82-83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...   

    ZAC LEIGH: 
    FB: 93-94 
    CH: 89 
    SL: 81-83 
    CV: 78
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...   

    JOSE ROMERO:  
    FB: 93-95
    SL: 82-84
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...

  • crunch (view)

    pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"

    mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit.  nice.

    he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons.  he's not lean, but he looks healthier.  good for him.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.