From the Wire … Mateo Placed on 60-Day DL, Mather and Camp Added to Cubs 40-man Roster

April 5, 2012 By 30 Comments

According to the transaction page on Cubs.com, Marcos Mateo was placed on the 60-day DL on Tuesday with a sore right elbow. By placing Mateo on the 60-day disabled list, the Cubs created a spot on the 40-man roster.

The Cubs selected the contracts of Shawn Camp and Joe Mather from Triple-A Iowa and have added both players to the 40-man roster and activated both players. Camp and Mather will start the season with the Chicago Cubs. Blake DeWitt has not been added to the 40-man roster as expected. Tony Campana is listed on the 25-man roster and has not been optioned to Triple-A Iowa as expected. Campana is in Chicago and could be activated if Bryan LaHair is forced to begin the season on the DL.

In other roster moves, Gerardo Concepcion was optioned to the Daytona Cubs on Monday.

Stay Tuned …

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  • Ripsnorter1

    Who will play 1B today? 

    Joe Mather…..?

    • paulcatanese

      I don’t think they even know yet,Mather(the beaver)would be my choice,but who knows,another deal may in the works:)

    • Tom U

      Baker to start at first.

      • Ripsnorter1

        See why I hate Sveum already? Baker cannot hit RHP, and Strasburg is a RHP. 

        Idontgetit.

        • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

          Hate? A strong word.

        • Zonk

          Mather can’t hit either RHP or LHP.  .228 career hitter.

        • John_CC

           Wow.  Yesterday you proclaimed the stupidity of the Cubs because DeWitt was gonna start at 1B.  Now you “hate” Dave Sveum for starting Baker…

    • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

      Baker is starting at first

      • Redlarczykg

        Now the learning begins for our new elite, baseball geniuses.  Baker kills lefties.  Very, very bad (Billy Mum – Twilight Zone) against righthanders.  But this is again was a roster decision by the new guys in town.

        Happy learning curve Theo, Hoyer and Sveum!

        • John_CC

           Learning curve?  As if these guys don’t understand baseball.  A little full of yourself, aren’t you?

  • Ripsnorter1

    And no Manny Corpas, either….

    He’s got to be upset by all this…

  • cubtex

    DeWitt!!!!

    • The Maven

      Is that like “Newman!!!”?

      • cubtex

        ;)

    • paulcatanese

      The super-sub at first base, Baker, now why dosent that surprise me?

      • Ripsnorter1

        He cannot hit RHP. You have Mather on the bench who plays 1B…..and here’s Sveum…”Let’s start Baker.”

        DUH!
        DOH!

        DUMB!

      • Zonk

        Career OPS vs. RHP:

        Joe Mather:  .691
        Jeff Baker:  .656

        vs. LHP:
        Mather:  .638
        Baker:  .886

        Ultimately, it doesn’t make a huge difference either way.  Neither is very good vs. RHP.  If they go to the bullpen for LHP, Baker obviously rakes that, and Mather doesn’t and would probably need to be PH for.  Kind of balances out. 

        Either way, it doesn’t matter much. 

        • paulcatanese

          No, you are right, it doesn’t matter much, Strasburg would be tough either way.

        • RynoTiger

          Excellent analysis Zonk.  I’m glad you weren’t ready to throw Sveum off the bridge for one decision in the first game of a 160+ game season.  Folks were acting like he chose to start Lenny Harris or Eric Karros.

          • cubs1967

            explain dempster over garza theo lover??

          • http://chicagocubsonline.com/ Neil

            Please give it a rest. Thank you.

          • Scott

            Theo wouldn’t make that decision.  It would be Sveum’s decision.

            The only logic that I can come up with is that Sveum believes that the best chance for the Cubs to maximize their wins is to pitch Dempster vs. Strausburg then Garza vs. Gonzales.  That would give the Nationals an advantage in game one and the Cubs an advantage in game two instead of two coin flips.  That’s the only thing that I can think of.  Maybe Sveum thinks that the Cubs advantage that way is greater than the Nationals advantage and maximizes the Cubs chances of winning the first two games.

            After the first turn or two through the rotation, it doens’t matter really what the order is anyway.

          • Zonk

            I’ll make a guess on why Sveum made that decision (Managers decide pitching rotations)

            It’s because Dempster has been a consistently excellent teammate and overal Cubs citizen over a long career.  Cubs are showing some loyalty back, and rewarding a player who is a good role model for younger players.  It’s nothing against Garza.

            Garza is a better pitcher, but Dempster was pretty solid if you look at the peripherals.

            Many organizations do this in their starting choices.  How many examples would you like?

          • cubtex

            Wow! That is a different take :) A good citizen and good teammate warrants an opening day start? That is a new one

          • Jay from sandwitch

            Garza is looking for a new contract and Demster is not. Follow the Dollars. If Graza is the number one pitcher more Money.

          • RynoTiger

            am I a Theo Lover?…hmm…I could be…I am a gay baseball fan and Theo is a handsome guy.  That gives me something to ponder.  Thanks for the tip cubs1967.

            does anyone know if Theo is single?

          • Josh Man

            Haha. Sorry, Ryno, he’s married.

        • Zonk

          We are a long way from being good as a team.  To get there, we need impact talent.  Getting impact talent is not easy, and takes time and/or money. 

          I think we are on the right course, but until we get there, we have replacement level roster filler.  That is what Baker and Mather are, and for that matter, Reed Johnson, Dewitt, Clevenger, LaHair, we can go on and on. 

          I don’t care what we do with Baker or Mather or DeWitt, because by the time we get some impact talent, all 3 will be long gone

          Theo knows we don’t have the players.  Spending money or trading prospects right now to add 10 wins and finish in 3rd place would be foolish.  They can’t say it out loud, but that’s the fact, painful as it is in the near-term.

          Burn the bad contracts, get high draft picks, rebuild the farm system, and trade any valued vets we have to win-now clubs for their prospects.  Build new revenue streams in ballpark and TV deals to fund FA acquisitions once we get some young talent on the field.  This is the plan.  It will take more than a couple seasons.

  • The Maven
  • Tom U

    Today’s minor league starters:

    Iowa – To be Determined
    Tennessee – Nick Struck
    Daytona – Matt Loosen
    Peoria – Michael Jensen