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

Introducing Player/Coach Greg Maddux

Scroll down about halfway of this Trib article by Fred Mitchell and you'll find this tasty bite:
Sources say at least one Cubs official was floating the idea of asking veteran Greg Maddux to serve as pitching coach, as well as resuming his Hall of Fame career on the mound if Larry Rothschild had accepted an offer from the Detroit Tigers. It certainly would have been a way for the club to save some money. Maddux's brother, Mike, is the pitching coach for Milwaukee.
I'm sure it's just some rumor mongering, but does anyone have any doubts that Maddux would make an excellent pitching coach. I hope, no I pray that once Maddux retires, the Cubs forego the gold watch and instantly put him under contract as a coach in some capacity in the organization and put him on the fast track to being the major league pitching coach. Of course Maddux might decide he'd rather just golf then deal with a bunch of brainless Nuke LaLoosh's the rest of his life. Anyway, whoever this Cub official is, I like!!!

Comments

I think Maddux would make a great pitching coach, but he'll probably to it out west somewhere, if he goes that route.

Mark Prior: Coach, how do I keep the ball in the yard? The home run is killing me. Coach Maddux: ((( crickets )))

Mark Prior: Coach, how do I keep runners from stealing 2nd on me? Can you show me the slide-step? Coach Maddux: ((( crickets )))

At least he taught him how to have his very own special shitty hitting catcher.

Also in the Mitchell article was a brief interview with Milo Hamilton. Apparently he's written a book in which he stop can't bitching about Harry. He also talks about doing Sox games in the early to mid 60s. "The White Sox had Joe Horlen, Gary Peters and all those guys [in 1965]. But they stubbed their toe after Labor Day against the Washington Senators. They had a makeup doubleheader and got beat in both games. The Twins went on to be in the World Series." That's not how I remembered it so I went over to retrosheet to check. The Sox didn't even play Washington after Labor Day in '65. And of the three doubleheaders they did play, they won one and split two. Milo still sucks.

The value of a "coaching staff" is one of the myths of modern major league baseball. If anyone wants to know what major league coaches really do, read Jim Bouton's "Ball Four." Major league coaches are not instructors, they are SUPERVISORS. Their job is to tell a pitcher whemn to start throwing or when to stop throwing, or in spring Training, tell a hitter what group he's with and what field is supposed to be on. Coaches also hit fungos to outfielders and infieklders during pre-game fielding practice, Coaches also usually throw batting practice. The only coach that's rreally necessary during the game is the 3rd base coach, and that's because somebody has to be located in a place where a sign can be flashed simultaneously to both the hitter and the base-runner. And if a runner is running hard (likre he's supposed to), it's up to the third-base coach to decide whether to send the runner home or stop him. The main mission of the first-base coach is to hold Aramis Ramirez's shin guard if Ramirez gets on base, or to remind the base-runner how many outs there are, He is a FLUNKY and a REMINDERER. Anybody can do that. A bench guy or a pitcher on his day off between starts can do that. Even a fairly responsible bat boy could do it. The job of the bullpen coach is to answer the phone and tell the pitcher to start warming up, and then to take of his hat when the pitcher is ready. A beer vendor could do that. The job of the bench coach is to prepare and interpret statistical information for the manager, and to positioin the defense before each opposition at-bat. A high school kid familiar with computers and a guy with a white towel or a cardboard sign could do that. The job of the pitching coach is to make sure that pitchers get their throwing in between starrs, and to tell the manager which relief pitchers are "ready" that day and how many innings can be expected from each reliever. The pitching coach functions as a liason between the manager and the pitchetrs, because most managers don't understand pitchers, because most managers are not ex-pitchers. The job of the hitting instructor is to go over videotapes with hitters who request help. How often that occurs, otr whether the hitting instructor can actually provide much insight to a given hitter, depends on whether the hitter and the coach have the same hitting philosophy. The bottom line is, most of the six coaches on a major league coaching staff are not necessary. Up until the 1960's most teams had THREE-man coaching staffs... a third-base coach, a first-base coach, and a pitching coach. The #1 qualification for a coach was that he was either a drinking buddy of the manager, or if the manager could beat the coach in gin rummy. During the 1960's, a fourth coach was added to most teams. That would be the "bullpen coach," and it was usually an ex-catcher who could help to catch relievers warming up in the bullpen. (Up until that time, the back-up catcher and one of the utility infielders would warm up relievers in the bullpen). During the 1970's and 1980's, hitting instructors were added to major league coaching staffs. This began when hitting gurus like Charlie Lau and WAlt Hriniak developed radical hitting philosophies that they were able to teach to major league hitters. But the Lau and Hriniak philosophies are few and far between, Most hitting instructors today have very little to offer in the area of "instruction" or "consultation." Then we come to the "bench coach," the biggest joke of all. Prior to the 1950's, managers were usually their own third-base coach. Some managers were even player-managers and were out on the field on defense or on base during an inning. A manager should be embarrassed to have a "bench coach." I'm not even sure how much most managers even listen to their bench coach. Ideally, it is a tactical guy (a Gene Mauch or a Don Zimmer), somebody who is a former manager but who no longer wants to deal with the players, he just wants to manage the game. Except most managers have egos that preclude them from allowing somebody else to manage the game. When Dusty Baker said a few months ago that he expects players who come to the major leagues to not miss signs, or to hit the cut-off man, or to hit behind the runner, he was actually exactly rright. There is little or no instruction at the major league level during the season, and there is just a little bit of instruction (mostly pitchers covering first, and rundown plays) during the first few days of Spring Training. And it's always been that way. Major league players generally make lousy students. They think they know everything, and you can't tell them anything. Young Players learn more from their peers than they do from the coaching staff. Matt Murton will learn more about hitting spending a half hour hanging around the batting cage with Derrek Lee or Todd Walker than he would in ten hours of one-on-one "instruction" with Gene Clines. I agree with Dusty Baker when he said young players need to watch and learn from the better older players. Where I disagre with him is that I believe they need to watch the best players, learn from that, and PLAY. I believe a better solution would be to go back to the old three or four man csaching staffs (third base coach, first-base coach, pitching suprervisor, and bullpen supevisor), and let any player who wants one to hire his own hitting guru or pitching consultant or base-running instructor. And get rid of that damn bench coach!

I love AZ Phil (in a healthy man crush way)!!! Do disagree slightly about the pitching coach though, think they can be very beneficial, (Rick Peterson, Leo Mazzone, Orel Hershiser, and for the old school crowd Johnny Sain) do make quite a good impact on their teams. Most are probably pretty useless, or at the least, completely interchangeable. If Maddux was able to pass on whatever he learned from Mazzone, plus his own amazing abilities to stay healthy and how to study hitters, no doubt that would be beneficial for any staff. As for keeping runners on, it obviously has had NO effect whatsoever on his career. Get the guy out standing at the plate, is far more important and if Maddux isn't proof-positive, what else do you need? The home run ball is just an effect of age, which leads to a deterioation of his physical skills. What's he going to tell guys, Don't get old?

As someone who follows Maddux VERY closely and posted here and other Cub blogs on this, I am fairly sure Maddux will be a coach and later a manager. He will NOT be a player coach. Maddux puts all of his energies and thoughts into pitching and really does not want to comtemplate his post playing days. However he simply loves baseball too much to walk away when his playing days are done. It is extraordinary how many of his former teamates credit him with helping them improve mainly by seeing things they never saw and by thinking ahead. His knowlege of baseball extends far beyond pitching which is why I think eventualy he will end up a manager. As for his staying with the Cubs as a coach when he retires this is in fact very plausible depending on circumstances. Maddux is very, very much a creature of habit who does NOT like to move around or change. Other than going back to Atlanta to work with Mazzone ( which is also very plausible) the Cubs may offer the best opportunity for him. In any event I expect he wants to pitch till his arm falls off which may be several more years and who knows what will happen by then

#5 of 6: By tbone (October 13, 2005 10:58 AM) Also in the Mitchell article was a brief interview with Milo Hamilton. Apparently he's written a book in which he stop can't bitching about Harry. He also talks about doing Sox games in the early to mid 60s. "The White Sox had Joe Horlen, Gary Peters and all those guys [in 1965]. But they stubbed their toe after Labor Day against the Washington Senators. They had a makeup doubleheader and got beat in both games. The Twins went on to be in the World Series." That's not how I remembered it so I went over to retrosheet to check. The Sox didn't even play Washington after Labor Day in '65. And of the three doubleheaders they did play, they won one and split two. Milo still sucks. -- T-BONE: Milo was probably thinking about the 1964 season, when the White Sox finished one game behind the Yankees and lost a make-up DH and two-out-three in another series to the 9th place (100 losses) Washington Senators. He mixed the two seasons (1964 & 1965) up. Milo has been possed off at Harry Caray, WGN,, abnd the Cubs ever since Harry was hired by WGN in 1982. Milo quit his job as the #1 announcer for the Braves to come back to Chicago (he had been Bob Elson's radio partner with the White Sox in the 1960's) as Jack Brickhouse's sidekick for a year or two, until Brickhouse hit his mandatory retirement age, at which point Milo would become the Cubs #1 TV guy. But then just as Brickhouse retired, Harry Caray suddenly and unexpectedly became available, and WGN snapped him up (Jack Brickhouse and Harry Caray were old buddies going back many, many years). And so Harry (who actually was older than Jack Brickhouse!) became the #1 guy instead of Milo Hamilton. And Milo never forgot that. He felt that Harry got the job that had been promised to him when he left Atlanta and came to Chicago. The reason Harry could work as the Cubs announcer even though he exceeded WGN's mandatoru retirement age was that while Jack Brickhouse worked for WGN, Harry did not. There was some kind of a "firewall" that separated Harry Caray from WGN (he may technically have been a contractor), but I'm now sure exactly how it worked. Anyway, Milo left WGN to go to Houston when his contract expired after the 1984 season. It wasn't harry's fauilt, but Milo blamed him anyway. To this day. Milo Hamilton trashes Harry Caray, WGN, and the Cubs every chance he gets. The Sports Radio stations in Phoenix usually interview Milo whenever the D'backs play the Astros, and Milo never misses a chance to rip the Cubs, even if he isn't asked about them.

as far as dick pole's bench coach job goes...it seems his #1 job is going over the big ass books of stats prepared and feed the results for dusty to mull over. he's the guy running to the back of the dugout grabbing the books and checking the numbers. someone get that guy a laptop.

Hasn't Maddux been fairly clear about his disinterest in being somewhere to mentor younger players? When we signed him, he specifically denied interest or even value in that role. Management decided that keeping Rothschild makes most sense. What's that say about management? (I guess that they like LR, huh?)

I agree with AZ. Phil, for the most part. I think both pitching coaches and hitting coaches can have a huge effect on players, but mostly young players, and in the minor leagues. I was gonna mention Johnny Sain, Jim Bouton and Mike Marshall both credit him a great deal, and I believe that Leo Mazzone coaches in a similar way. For hitting coaches... I think they also have an effect, if a much smaller one. I always hear things like Sammy Sosa broke out after working with so and so... It's quite possible that people give credit to hitting coaches when a hitter has a breakout year, not thinking that the player could have just improved. I also think that coaches who have big effects of players are relatively few, and some coaches can only help some players...

Oh, and who would come to the mound and give Maddux advice after he gives up back to back bombs? Dusty: "Hey, Mad Dog... try not to do that"

As for keeping runners on, it obviously has had NO effect whatsoever on his career. I'm not saying that it didn't, in the big picture, affect Maddux's career. But just as good hitters adjust to things when the league works on weaknesses, this is a weakness now as his age makes him more vulnerable. It's definitely an irritant to see runners take liberties on him, and less crafty pitchers who mimic this behavior may not be so capable of focusing on the hitter with a distracting runner on base. Is there a way to quantify this? Are there any easy stats that we have handy to look at this? The catcher is the most obvious factor I can think of and that is why giving Maddux the better defensive catcher makes sense (see Blanco vs Barrett comment below). It would take analysis of: which pitchers get more batters out with men on first. which pitchers that allow runners who steal on them to score. I guess the key notion is how distracted can a pitcher get when a runner is trying to steal? Do slide step pitchers keep runners from stealing compared to those that don't use the slide step? Do pitchers who throw to first alot slow down basestealing? Those pitchers with catchers who control the running game more effectively do help. Just look at the Cub team ERA with Blanco behind the plate vs Barrett. Stealing bases may be overrated but the distraction factor that trying to steal causes is not (in my opinion).

Coach Maddux: ((( crickets ))) LOL If anyone wants to know what major league coaches really do, read Jim Bouton's "Ball Four." It's Office Space on a diamond. "Err, Carlos, we're going to need you to start on Saturday. Mmmkay? Yeah." If Maddux was able to pass on whatever he learned from Mazzone, plus his own amazing abilities to stay healthy and how to study hitters, no doubt that would be beneficial for any staff. Concur on Mazzone. There's got to be a reason that stiffs like Jaret Wright or Chris Hammond can go there and transform themselves. Perhaps Maddux would fall prey to the ego issues that sabotage superstar manager/coaches, but he has amazing credentials for a pitching coach.

Dusty: "Hey, Mad Dog... try not to do that" Which is pretty much what Rothschild says now.... I posted it in the weekly quotes once, but here it is again for fun: [Maddux] ìLeo, you havenít been out to the mound to see me for a couple of months.î [Mazzone] ìWell, thereís nothing going on.î [Maddux] ìOK, Iíll look in during the sixth inning and you come out and pay me a visit. Sometimes it gets lonely out there. I need somebody to talk to other than the catcher.î [Mazzone] ìSo I went out, just to visit.î

AZ Phil thanks for the inside on Milo. I enjoyed his work with the Cubs, and he was a much better announcer than Harry. And I saw that he ripped Harry again in his new book, but I didn't realize that he's still bitching about the Cubs in general. I think he's a deserved Hall of Famer, but after over 20 years he needs to get over this.

Kinanik: "I was gonna mention Johnny Sain, Jim Bouton and Mike Marshall both credit him a great deal, and I believe that Leo Mazzone coaches in a similar way." I could be wrong because it's been a while since I read it, but I though that in Ball Four, Bouton was disappointed at the coaching performance of Sain, his former idol...?

any opinions on upcoming free agency of Jerrod Washburn? He's a Scott Boras client which means Hendry isn't afraid of him unless they ask for Beltran prices. I think Hendry's last dealing with Boras was regarding 1st round pick Mark Pawalek, which worked itself out quickly even though that may have steered others away from him. Washburn would be a good lefty upgrade over Rusch, albeit much more expensive.

Washburn no good...trust me. Nothing more than an innings eater and he's too expensive for that. His K/9 rate is rather abysmal and he gives up a lot of homers while pitching the majority of his games in pitchers parks (Angel, Safeco, McAffee). Disaster as a Cub and he's even missed the last 2 seasons with injuries. Let him go to some team that thinks lefties are a necessity. As for Sain and Bouton, I think Bouton thought Sain was the only good pitching coach he ever had, he hated Sal Maglie of the Pilots. One excerpt I found:
Johnny's genius was that he would make you think. He would ask: 'What do you think is your most important pitch? What's your second most important pitch? What's your third? How much time do you have to spend on keeping your pitches sharp?' With those questions, you'd realize you were spending 70 percent of your time on your least important pitch. It would just give you a different perspective about where you were spending your time, & why." .
And I believe Sain was Mazzone's mentor and hopefully Mazzone rubbed off a bit on Maddux.

Thanks for that, Rob - I think I was thinking of Maglie all along, not Sain.

AZ PHIL, I'm sure he was thinking of the '64 doubleheader. But since the Sox went 14-5 from that double loss to the end of the season, his point that a Sox team was derailed by getting swept in a doubleheader by the Senators is still wrong. Now, the '67 Sox losing that doubleheader to KC with three days left in the season, that was a doubleheader that derailed a Sox team. I've heard Milo interviewed too and his nearly quarter-century grudge against the Cubs and Harry is embarrassing. He's really an angry guy.

For anyone who may be interested, here is a "thumb-nail" history of Cubs announcers on WGN-TV since 1960 (when I first started following baseball: A few things to note: 1. WGN-TV (Channel 9) did both the Cubs and White Sox games through the 1967 season. and Brickhouse & his "junior partner" did both team's games, including ALL 81 Cubs home games and all White Sox home day games. The Cubs and Sox were almost never home at the same time, and when they were, the White Sox would play a night game). 2. Jack was absent fairly often. WGN used to do a smattering of Cubs and Sox road games pre-1968 (Friday or Saturday night games only from certain cities, but never from Milwaukee, St. Louis, Houston, L. A. or San Francisco), and Jack would always do those games by himself without a "relief" guy. The #2 guy (Vince Lloyd or Lloyd Pettitt) would stay in Chicago and do the other Chicago baseball team's game on WGN while Jack was out of town. Jack also did Bears games on WGN radio with Irv Kupcinet, so he was absent from Cubs & Sox games on Sundays in September. In addition, Jack was WGN's correspondent at all political conventions (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1980). Jack knew EVERYBODY (both Republicans & Democrats), and all politicians liked Jack because he wasn't critical of them, so they would give him "scoops." Jack was also good friends with Richard Burton (Jack called him "Dick"), and whenver Richard Burton was in Chicago, he wouold sit in the booth with Jack and talk baseball. Despite growing up in the U. K., Burton was a big-time baseball fan, and (like our own John Hill) a FANATICAL Cubs fan! 3. Jack's sidekick (Vince Lloyd, Lloyd Pettitt, Jimmy West, or Milo Hamilton) would do the "Lead-Off Man" show (pre-game interview), and then Jack would do the intro ("Well, hi evetybody, this is Jack Brickhouse at beautiful Wrigley Field..."), giving the batting orders, and setting the defense, etc. Jack would also do the "Tenth Inning Show" (sponsored by Household Finance - "HFC") after the game from the broadcast booth. Jack would give the scores of other MLB games, and then interview a player. (The player did not stay on the field or sit in the dugout... he had to take an elevator up to the booth and he would sit next to Jack and be interviewed). 4. Jack would broadcast solo, just talking to the audience. The only other person in the booth with Jack was WGN "Sports Editor" Jack Rosenberg, who could be heard furiously typing up Jack's "ad libs" in the background. Vince Lloyd or Lloyd Pettitt might be sitting in the booth, but wouldn't dare to say anything while Jack was working. 5. Jack did the first three innings, the 6th & 7th, and the 9th. Remember, up until 1977, Jack Brickhouse worked play-by-play without a "color analyst." It was just Jack Brickhouse. Then while Jack went out for a break, his sidekick (Lloyd, Pettitt, or West) would do play-by-play solo in the 5th & 6th, and the 8th innings. But before leaving the booth and turning over the chair to Vince, Lloyd, or Jimmy, Jack would say: "And now here is our rally specialist, Handsome Jimmy West... get us some runs, Jimmy..." IN THE WGN-TV BOOTH: Up through 1964: Jack Brickhouse & Vince Lloyd 1965-1971: Jack Brickhouse & Lloyd Pettitt (Vince Lloyd replaced Jack Quinlan as Cubs #1 radio play-by-play announcer in 1965, after Quinlan was killed in a car crash on Country Club Drive north of Baseline Road in Mesa during Spring Training... Prior to this time, Vince Lloyd would replace Jack as the #1 guy, and Lloyd Pettitt would replace Vince Lloyd as second banana, whennever Jack was absent, so LLoyd Pettitt had some experience doing baseball games). 1972-1976: Jack Brickhouse & "Handsome Jimmy" West (In addition to being Brickhouse's 2nd banana on Cubs TV broadcasts, Lloyd Pettitt had been the play-by-play announcer for Black Hawks games on WGN-TV for many years, but he left WGN to form his own production company; West came to Chicago from Baltimore, where he had been doing minor league hockey play-by-play on radio and Orioles games on TV with Chuck Thompson, primarily to replace Pettitt on Black Hawks games, but he also replaced Lloyd Pettitt on WGN-TV baseball broadcasts) 1977-1980: Jack Brickhouse & Lou Boudreau (After the Black Hawks left WGN-TV, Jimmy West left WGN, too. Boudreau would come over from the radio booth during the middle innings to give Brickhouse a short one-inning break, and to answer dumb questions about baseball from Jack). JACK: Lou, what is the difference between a "hit & run" and a "run & hit"? Then Lou would patiently explain the differnce. What did Lou sound like? Have you ever seen the "Andy Griffith Show"? Remember Floyd the Bsrber? That's who Lou Boudreau sounded like. 1981: Jack Brickhouse & Milo Hamilton (see earlier post) 1982: Harry Caray (first three innings solo on TV, middle three on radio with Vince Lloyd,last three solo on TV), Milo Hamilton & Lou Boudreau (first three innings on radio with Vince Lloyd, middle three innings on TV, last three innings on radio with Vince Lloyd), Milo Hamilton really liked Lou Boudreau. They were buddies. 1983-84: Same as 1982, except Steve Stone replaced Lou Boudreau as full-time (all nine innings) TV "analyst," with Boudreau going back to radio full-time. 1985-89: Harry Caray, Dewayne Staats, and Steve Stone Staats came to the Cubs from the Houston Astros and replaced Milo Ha,milton, as Milo took Staats place in Houston. Same deal as 1984. 1990-97: Harry Caray, Thom Brennaman, and Steve Stone (Staats went to MSG Network in New York to do Yankees games--he is now voice of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, BTW--and Brennaman came to Chicago from Cincinnati. Same deal as Caray-Staats-Stone, except beginning in 1996, Harry Caray stopped doing radio and was replaced on WGN Radio by former Brewers broadcaster Pat Hughes). 1998-2004: Chip Caray and Steve Stone (Brennamann went to Phoenix to do play-by-play for the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998 after WGN refused to allow him to work Fox games on Saturdays, and Chip came to Chicago after doing Orlando Magic NBA games on TV, as well as a few Seattle Mariners MLB broadcasts with Dave Niehaus, The idea was for Chip to work with his grandfather, but unfortunately Harry died in February 1998 before they had the chance). 2005: Len Kasper & Bob Brenly

another homer for brandon wood (9). between him and kendry morales (who should be their 1st/LF next season if he can find a place to play) ANA's only getting stronger. wood's still got a bit of filling out to do, but he's definately got a sweet swing and has great command of the basepaths.

Will Maddux work with the pitchers to cover first base? That's the big question. AZ Phil- I remember as a youngling listening to Vince and Lou in a late season game talking about the wind changing during the game for about two innings. Which was the most interesting thing going on during that game. Classic radio.

Brandon Sing HR to Left...breaks up the no hitter whooboy (to quote Jack Brickhouse)

Top five favorite Jack Brickhouse lines: BASES LOADED, ERINE BANKS UP: "Back!... back!!... back!!!... Hey! Hey! That a boy, Ernie!!!!... Weeeeee!!!!!!!!" PEPITONE LEAPS AND CATCHES A LINE DRIVE: "He jumped higher than he knew how!!!" CUBS SURVIVE A BASES-LOADED SCARE IN THE TOP OF THE 8TH; "Next time you come by, bring my stomach!!!" PIRATES SCORE THREE IN THE 9TH TO TAKE THE LEAD: "What a revoltin' development THIS is...." BACK FROM COMMERCIAL AFTER CUBS FAIL TO SCORE WITH BASES LOADED & NO OUTS IN THE BOTTOM OF THE 9TH AND LOSE 3-2: "Well, the Cubs were just a day late and dollar short." AND MY FAVORITE: "Well, hi, everybody, this is Jack Brickhouse at beautiful Wrigley Field"...

between him and kendry morales (who should be their 1st/LF next season if he can find a place to play) ANA's only getting stronger. their system is sick, can't imagine they won't rank #1 by a longshot, beyond wood and morales, you have jared weaver, howie kendrick, casey kotchman, dallas mcpherson, jeff mathis, and erick aybar. But garrett is under contract until 2008 and erstad(scioscia's favorite) is under contract next year. They're talking about finding a new centerfielder for next year and possibly going after Konerko, but I'd just give the cf job to figgins, give mcpherson his job back at third. They'll likely let Bengie go, very reluctantly to let Mathis take over. It's going to be a battle for DH between Morales and Kotchman (or at least it should be). Scioscia just loves Erstad, so I doubt they're moving him. Kendrick should be groomed to take over for Kennedy in 2007. Wood won't see the majors for awhile. He's an exciting prospect, but still K's way too much and it was just lo-A last year. They'll take their time with him. Cabrera has a deal through 2008 as is....

AZ Phil, You forgot the 2 years of Joe Carter on your WGN broadcaster's history. Also did you get a chance to see Pawelek pitch in the ASL this year. If you have are his mechanics as bad as some people have said? Do you see him in Daytona or Peoria to start next year?

im still trying to forget 2 years of joe "chuckles" carter

More Brickhouse: CUBS GIVE UP A COUPLE OF RUNS BUT THE OTHER TEAMLEAVES BASES LOADED. "Well, it sure coulda been worse..." CUBS HEAD INTO BOTTOM OF NINTH TIED. "Any old kind of a run wins it for the Cubs." CUB WINNING RUN ON THIRD, JACK PLEADING FOR A HIT. "I don't care if it looks like you hit it with a rolledup Tribune!" WILLIE STARGELL HITS THE BACK BREAKING HOMER IN '69. "What a revoltin' turn of events."

Whenever there was a fight, it was a "good old-fashioned donnybrook". And two players going after the same ball with a little confusion thrown in was a "real Alphonse and Gaston act." Always loved "he jumped higher than he knew how" too.

MORE BRICK: "...so come on out to beautiful Wrigley Field and let Leo Durocher do the worrying for you."

Rob, Is Finley done or did he just have a hard time adjusting leagues or is it a little of both? If he could match his #'s this season he would ACTUALLY be an upgrade over C-pat. If we ate the contract we could probably get him for nothing in terms of prosecpts.

#30 of 30: By chifan3887 (October 13, 2005 02:27 PM) AZ Phil, You forgot the 2 years of Joe Carter on your WGN broadcaster's history. Also did you get a chance to see Pawelek pitch in the ASL this year. If you have are his mechanics as bad as some people have said? Do you see him in Daytona or Peoria to start next year? ======================================= CHIFAN3887: Actually, I am trying to forget Joe Carter... And I was doing pretty well until you brought up his name. But seriously... Yes, I saw Mark Pawelek pitch once for Mesa two or three months ago. He mechanics could use some smoothing out, but I would be surprised if the Cubs try to change him too much. Although I believe Pawelek could easily handle pitching Hi-A at Daytona nexr year, I suspect he will start 2006 at Peoria and maybe get moved up to Daytona by mid-season if he is dominating the MWL.

AZ Phil, No doubt referring to same Pirates game. I thought it was "revoltin' turn of event" but reading yours it sounds right. I think the Vulture gave up the homer.

The Anti-Brickhouse- Joe Carter CARTER TALKING ABOUT SPACIOUS COORS FIELD- "The outfield here is carnivorous" My all time favorite-- Jim McMahon celebrity conductor (2002) Joe-"So Jim have you talk to Pete Rozelle lately?" McMahon-"He's actually dead now." (for over ten years) Chip-"Thanks for stopping by Jim..."

Matt Murton singles in the 6th for an RBI, 1 for 3 on the day; .529 for the AFL. Sing 1 for 3 with a Homer; .429 for the AFL

another Murton RBI single. 2 for 4, 2 RBI's; .556 for the AFL and not to be undone, Sing Walks. Mesa Solarsox take the lead on Murton's Hit 6-5, working on a 3 run inning (7th)

"Man-crush", hell, put your money where your mouth is: If AZ Phil posts quality like this every day between now and spring training, I'll paypal another $50. Put that guy on SOMEBODY's payroll

well since we're all getting on the "riding AZ Phil's jock" bandwagon, move over, cuz im hopping on. that coaches stuff was and the announcer stuff was good. hey guys, am i the only one that thought damon would be a good addition? it was brought up mid-season by i forget who and tracking him in comparison to the first pitch wonder became an obsession..

ryno also recently wrote an article where he gives the STL starting pitching staff the advantage over houston's. he's written a few questionable things in his tenure at yahoo sports. his checks still cash. hehe... the part i did like, though..."This controversy will be talked about until Game 3 begins Friday. Then, all will be forgotten ñ at least from the players' perspective." amen. not even sciocscia was blaming this play for the game's downfall...he blamed the entire game and the lack of his players coming through.

speaking of selling... ``The only thing I'm down on myself is I should have sold it either way,'' Eddings told The New York Times for a story posted on its Web site Thursday night, a day after Chicago beat the Los Angeles Angels 2-1 to pull even in the best-of-seven series. ``I should have either said, 'No catch,' or, if I did have a catch, that he was out. Which I never said: 'He's out,''' Eddings said.

"not even sciocscia was blaming this play for the game's downfall...he blamed the entire game and the lack of his players coming through." Crunch, There stuck with that umping crew the rest of the series. The WORST thing Sciosia could do is blast them because that will not get them any judgement calls. Though it will be interesting to see what he will say about after the playoffs when he can be a little more honest about his feelings.

no doubt...it may take until sciosia is outta the game itself and writing a book about his life in baseball til we finally find out how he feels about it. woo...baseball.

Some notes: * According to Ken Rosenthal (so you should take it with a shaker of salt) the Padres and Giles are close to a long term contract. * The Cubs have the 13th pick in the draft. (here's hoping for Hochever) * According the FTL sun-sentential Giradi might return as NYY Bench coach because might want to wait for the cubs job.

I loved Lou Boudreau: "For all you young players out there ...."

*Is Finley done or did he just have a hard time adjusting leagues or is it a little of both?* He probably just went off the 'roids.

*Is Finley done or did he just have a hard time adjusting leagues or is it a little of both?* He probably just went off the 'roids.

#50 of 52: By kjk (October 14, 2005 06:19 AM) I loved Lou Boudreau: "For all you young players out there ...." -- KJK: I sat with Jimmy Piersall at a Spring Training game at HoHoKam a couple or three years ago, and he told me Lou Boudreau was the worst manager he ever had. (In Bill Veeck's autobiography "Veeck as in Wreck," Veeck said he didn't believe Boudreau was a good manager because he managed by "hunch," and that drove Veeck crazy!). Anyway. Boudreau was Piersall's manager in Boston when Piersall first came up with the Red Sox in 1952 (that's when Jimmy had his nervous breakdown, chronicled in his autobiography--later made into a movie starring Anthony Perkins--"Fear Strikes Out"). Jimmy said Boudreau wouldn't even let him leave the team for ONE DAY to be with his wife when she was having a baby! For those of you not familiar with Lou Boudreau, Lou was from Harvey and was a star athlete (baseball and basketball) at Thornton Township HS and then later at the University of Illinois, where he was an All-American basketball player and led Illinois to the Big Ten conference basketball championship. He had the nickname "Good Kid," because (like Willie Mays, the "Say Hey Kid") he frequently used that exprssion in conversation. In 1938, Lou signed with the Cleveland Indians after his sophomore year at Illinois. After just one year in the minors, Lou was up in the big leagues to stay (during the off-season, Lou served as assistant basketball coach at Illinois). He was appointed player-manager of the Tribe in 1942 at the tender age of 24 (needless to say, Lou was one of the youngest player-managers in baseball history!), and led the Indians to a victory over the Boston Braves in the 1948 World Series. He served as non-playing manager of the Red Sox (1952-54) and the Kansas City A's (1955-57) in the 1950's, and (briefly) with the Cubs in 1960. In fact, when Boudreau became manager of the Cubs in 1960, he switched places with Charlie Grimm, as "Jolly Cholly" went to the radio booth as Boudreau came down from the booth to the dugout. But by 1961, Boudreau was back in the WGN radio booth to stay. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1970. Lou worrked with Jack Quinlan, Vince Lloyd, Harry Caray, Milo Hamilton, Dewayne Staats, and Thom Brennaman, broadcasting Cubs games on WGN radio for 33 seasons (1958-90). He retired after the 1990 season (he was 73 at the time), and was replaced in the WGN radio booth by Ron Santo. The Good Kid passed away about five years ago.

Yeah, I think Finley's done but I don't think he was on the 'roids. Wouldn't be the worse guy to bring in if they just plan to hash it out in spring training between Korey, Pie, Hairston and whomever.... Hopefully they'll find something more reliable.

Move over Sam Smith you have a baseball collugue in the columnist who all they do is write trade scenrio articles that are pretty stupid. The guys name is Peter Scharger. He is a NYY fan who writes for foxsports.com. He wrote an article about how NYY needs to trade Arod because he sucked in the ALDS. Here is the link to the article: http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/4984978 One of his Trade ideas is Arod for Wood and Williams. Man we that be Hendry's best fleece job.

Two other facts about Boudreau: 1) He was Denny McClain's father-in-law 2) He pronounced DeJesus De-hey-soo

Denny McLain.

So who do you think blinked? Macha or Beane? I haven't seen any contract details other than the length so... I say Macha, he didn't get the Pittsburgh job and it didn't look like anyone else was intrested except maybe the D'Rays. So, perennial AL West contender with a heady GM or doormats of the AL East, who if they did everything right, would still most likely finish in third? "Uh, hey, Billy, about that offer?"

Phil, you sure have great recall. I absolutely loved listening to Jack Quinlan. I moved to S. Ill. in 1964, & could barely pick up WGN radio (and then only during the day) I could hear Vince, but Lou's voice was so mousey, I could never quite tell what he was saying. A couple of my favorite games were the 1962 All-Star game at Wrigley, in which, if I recall, they had to dig up an old record of the Nat'l. Anthem, since they DID NOT play it before games up til then. Two others I recall are the "Telstar" telecast, w/Jack telling us the baseball fans in Europe were watching, if only for a half inning. The 1962 Saturday when the Cubs & Sox played at home at the same time. WGN kept switching between games, and captured all the scoring save one run! It was my first taste of what would become the common (now) practice of sports channel surfing.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

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

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

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

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

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

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

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

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

  • Arizona Phil (view)

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

  • Arizona Phil (view)

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