The Cubs recently announced the Opening Day rosters for each of their farm teams as well as a few notable cuts. A couple of highly touted prospects received their assignments for the new season that begins this week. Jeff Samardzija, Donald Veal and Tyler Colvin will start the year in Double-A. Jose Ceda will start games for High-A Daytona with Tony Thomas backing him up at second base. Robert Hernandez, Ryan Acosta and Josh Donaldson were assigned to Ryne Sandberg at Low-A Peoria.
Brian Dopirak was the biggest of the cuts announced late last week, a couple of other notables included Chris Walker and Miguel Cuevas-Novas. Here are the Cubs minor league Opening Day rosters and the other cuts....
Iowa Cubs - 2008 Opening Day Roster
Pitchers
- Jose Ascanio
- Mike Burns
- Andy Cavazos
- Neal Cotts
- Sean Gallagher
- Mark Holliman
- Geoffrey Jones
- Randy Keisler
- Sean Marshall
- Juan Mateo
- J.R. Mathes
- Les Walrond
Catchers
- J.D. Closser
- Koyie Hill
Infielders
- Andres Blanco
- Luis Figueroa
- Micah Hoffpauir
- Casey McGehee
Outfielders
- Jake Fox
- Sam Fuld
- Josh Kroeger
- Matt Murton
- Eric Patterson
- Bobby Scales
- Andres Torres
Tennessee Smokies - 2008 Opening Day Roster
Pitchers
- Mitch Atkins
- Matt Avery
- Justin Berg
- Ed Campusano
- Michael Cooper
- Jesse Estrada
- Rocky Roquet
- Jeff Samardzija
- Chris Shaver
- Donald Veal
- Tanner Watson
Catchers
- Jake Muyco
- Chris Robinson
Infielders
- Robinson Chirinos
- Matt Craig
- Kyle Reynolds
- Issmael Salas
- Joe Simokaitis
- Nate Spears
Outfielders
- Matt Camp
- Corey Coles
- Tyler Colvin
- Ryan Harvey
Daytona Cubs - 2008 Opening Day Roster
Pitchers
- Esmailin Caridad
- Marco Carrillo
- Jose Ceda
- Darwin Downs
- Dumas Garcia
- Adam Harben
- Casey Lambert
- Alex Maestri
- Ryan Meyers
- Jeremy Papelbon
- Mike Phelps
- Jayson Ruhlman
- James Russell
Catchers
- Welington Castillo
- Steve Clevenger
- Mark Reed
Infielders
- Darwin Barney
- Russ Canzler
- Josh Lansford
- Ryan Malone
- Matt Matulia
- Tony Thomas
Outfielders
- Jim Adduci
- Yusef Carter
- Ty Wright
- Jonathan Wyatt
Peoria Chiefs - 2008 Opening Day Roster
Pitchers
- Ryan Acosta
- Zachary Ashwood
- Alberto Cabrera
- Hung-Wen Chen
- Robert Hernandez
- Jordan Latham
- Marcos Mateo
- Craig Muschko
- Blake Parker
- Dae-Eun Rhee
- Dustin Sasser
- Chris Siegfried
- Stephen Vento
Catchers
- Josh Donaldson
- Blake Lalli
- Mario Mercedes
Infielders
- Marwin Gonzalez
- Jonathan Mota
- Nathan Samson
- Jovan Rosa
- Marquez Smith
Outfielders
- Cliff Anderson
- Kyler Burke
- Dylan Johnston
- Drew Rundle
Minor League Cuts
Brian Dopirak was released late last week. The Cubs 2nd round pick in 2002 was not able to produce and the Cubs cut ties with him last Friday according to a report on Scout.com. Dopirak was named the Cubs top prospect by Baseball America before the 2005 season.
The other cuts include:
- Alan Rick - INF/OF
- Scott Koerber - LHP
- Chris Walker - OF
- Brian Leclerc - OF
- Tim Layden - LHP
- Tyler Parker - LHP
- Miguel Cuevas-Novas - RHP
- Simon Lee - RHP
- Yuri Higgins - RHP
- Matt Canepa - C
Whatever happened to Pawelek? Wasn't he a first round pick a few years ago?
Where is Vitters in single A?
vitters will start the year at extended spring training and will probably come up if someone gets hurt. he will more thsn likely stay in Arizona until short season boise. The same for Pawelek.
Petrick?
For those of you that follow the minor leaguers performances closer than I do, is there any chance that Pawelek turns out to be anything more than a huge disappointment? I heard he was in better shape than before and that he has started throwing the ball better, but I don't know how accurate that is.
Pawelek had a freak injury where he tripped over his PlayStation and broke something i think, so i think there is still hope. He needs to show improvement this season or maybe even just last a whole season.
TKS Raul.