The Cubs announced two more spring roster moves Friday. Two days after trimming the spring roster by ten players, the Cubs optioned RHP Dallas Beeler to Triple-A Iowa and reassigned RHP Marcus Hatley. With the two moves, the Cubs spring roster officially stands at 54 players. Neither roster move should come as a surprise. Beeler needs more time in the minors and Hatley could use a little more time as well but could see action in the Cubs' pen before the end of the season. Dallas Beeler made … [Read more...]
Bryant, Soler and Almora Among First Round of Cubs Spring Roster Cuts
The Cubs announced the first round of spring roster cuts on Wednesday afternoon. The Cubs reduced their spring roster to 56 with the ten moves that were made. The Cubs optioned Arismendy Alcantara, Logan Watkins, Jorge Soler and Matt Szczur to minor league camp. Alcantara, Watkins and Szczur will likely begin the season with Triple-A Iowa and Soler is ticketed to begin the season with Double-A Tennessee. Kris Bryant, Albert Almora, Eric Jokisch, Carlos Pimentel and Jeudy Valdez were … [Read more...]
Cubs Throw Away A Long, Sloppy Spring Training Game – Rockies 7, Cubs 5
Spring Training Game Six – Cubs 5, Rockies (ss) 7 WP – Chris Martin (1-0) LP – Chris Rusin (0-2) Save – Scott Oberg (1) Javier Baez and George Kottaras hit back-to-back spring jacks in the sixth inning that tied the game at three but Rosell Herrera hit a Little League Grand Slam in the seventh as the Cubs lost 7-5 to the Rockies on Wednesday afternoon at Cubs Park. The Cubs and the Rockies played a sloppy game that took three hours and 27 minutes to complete. The Rockies were charged … [Read more...]
Cubs Invite 24 Players to Spring Training Including Baez, Bryant and Almora
The Cubs released the list of players that will be in big league camp this spring on non-roster invitations. Among the 24 players that will join the 40 players on the Cubs' Major League roster includes Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Albert Almora, Kyle Hendricks and Eric Jokisch. The Cubs also invited relievers RHP Brian Schlitter, RHP Armando Rivero and RHP Marcus Hatley. RHP Chang-Yong Lim is not included in the Cubs list of non-roster invitees. According to Baseball America, the Cubs signed … [Read more...]
Cubs Retain Rights to RHP Chang-Yong Lim and Invite to Spring Training
According to a report from South Korea, the Cubs have retained the rights to RHP Chang-Yong Lim and he will report to Mesa on Feb. 13 to compete for a spot in the Cubs’ pen on a non-roster invite. The Cubs signed Chang-Yong Lim to a two-year minor league contract in December of 2012. The contract was structured with two different pay levels based on him pitching in the minors or majors. Lim spent a majority of the season recovering from his second Tommy John surgery before making his Cubs' … [Read more...]
Cubs Working on the Big League Roster, Focus on the Minors and Other News and Rumors
Weekend Update It could be a very busy 72 hours throughout the game leading up to Christmas, especially if the Rakuten Eagles finally make a decision, one way or the other, to post Masahiro Tanaka. Players prefer to know where they will be playing prior to the holidays and there are several free agents still unsigned for next season. The last high-dollar, long-contract, free-agent position player of the off-season came off the board on Saturday when Shin-Soo Choo agreed to a seven-year, $130 … [Read more...]
Minor League Signings and Other Cubs Notes from Down on the Farm
While the front office has not made many changes to the 40-man roster to this point of the off-season, the Cubs have signed 14 players to minor league contracts that include non-roster invites to Spring Training. Rick Renteria and his staff spent the weekend in Mesa planning for Spring Training. Cubs’ pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training on Feb. 13. The Cubs’ system made another headline during the Winter Meetings and both Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo checked in on which player … [Read more...]
Time for the Cubs to Shop at the Winter Meetings
Baseball’s Winter Meetings officially kickoff Monday in Orlando and the Cubs are reportedly looking to add relievers, at least one starter, an outfielder and players to round out the bench to the roster. But the big noise around the Cubs during the coming week will be about two starting pitchers … one Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer are listening to offers for and one the front office is waiting to see if he becomes an option to sign. The Cubs have maintained their desire to lock Jeff … [Read more...]
Cubs Re-Sign OF Darnell McDonald to Minor League Contract
According to a report from Baseball America, the Cubs re-signed outfielder Darnell McDonald to a minor league contract. The deal should include a non-roster invite to Major League Spring Training. McDonald spent last season in the Cubs organization and finished the year with the big league club. The 35-year old outfielder hit .302/.351/.434/.785 with four doubles and one home run in 25 games. … [Read more...]
Cubs Sign OF Casper Wells to Minor League Contract, Release OF Dave Sappelt
According to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy, the Cubs signed outfielder Casper Wells to a minor league contract. Wells' deal should include a non-roster invite to Spring Training so he can compete with Aaron Cunningham for a spot on the Cubs’ Opening Day roster The Cubs cut ties with outfielder Dave Sappelt, which should not come as a surprise. Sappelt was acquired along with Travis Wood and IF Ronald Torreyes from the Reds for Sean Marshall in December of 2011. Sappelt was not able to get his … [Read more...]