Word was out last week that nineteen Cubs not currently on the 40-man roster have been invited to spring training with the major-league team.
Infielders: Barney, Camp, Castro, LaHair, Lalli, Scales, Vitters
Outfielders: Jackson, Snyder
Catchers: Chirinos, Clevenger, Robinson
Pitchers: Cashner, Coleman, Diamond, Kennard, Mathes, Perkins, Russell
Say hello to your 2010 Iowa Cubs!–with the exceptions of under-22 prospects Vitters, [...]
The Rule 5 draft will take place next Thursday, December 10, on the last day of the winter meetings in Indianapolis. Arizona Phil has a list of Cub players eligible to be drafted–and lost to another team–that he maintains in the right margin of The Cub Reporter website. Of the names on that list, [...]
If a prospect is someone who has a good chance of making the major-league team in the not-too-distant future, I like the chances of these four unheralded players.
1) Steve Clevenger. A converted shortstop, Clevenger is a good defensive catcher who throws out over thirty percent of runners attempting to steal. He swings a good lefty [...]
One man’s injury is another’s opportunity. The Cubs were probably lucky to latch onto Ryan Freel just hours before Aramis went down; but Freel is something of a has-been, and ideally you would use the vacancy at third to give a farmhand some valuable exposure that is relatively low-pressure because unexpected.
There are three infielders at [...]
Lalli may be the most interesting recent undrafted free-agent signee in the Cub organization. Undrafted free agent: that probably means that a scout liked him but couldn’t convince Tim Wilken to use one of his several dozen draft picks on him. You have to love it when one of these walk-ons gives evidence that he [...]