2006 Iowa Cubs roster

[Bear Cub]

InsideTheIvy.com has the Iowa Cubs opening roster for 2006.

Pitchers

David Aardsma

Bobby Brownlie

Brandon Emanuel

Angel Guzman

Rich Hill

Robero Novoa

Ryan O'Malley

JK Ryu

Andy Shipman

Raul Valdez

Les Walrond

Mark Watson

 

Catchers

Casey Kopitzke

Geovany Soto

 

Infielders

Jeff Deardorff

Mike Fontenot

Casey McGehee

Augie Ojeda

Brandon Sing

Ryan Theriot

 

Outfielders

Buck Coats

Felix Pie

Mike Restovich

Jamal Strong

[Tracer Bullet]

That roster makes me wish I still lived in Des Moines.

[Bear Cub]

Does this mean good bye to longtime Cubbies like:

Nic Jackson

Cliff Bartosh

Phil Norton

Nate Frese

Jamal Spearman

Aron Weston.

[NCCubFan]

Bartosh is hardly a "longtime" Cub; last year was his first year with the Cubs. The only one from that list I'd miss (if, in fact, he's gone) would be Jackson. I still hold out hope that he can regain his form if healthy.

[abuck1220]

Does this mean good bye to longtime Cubbies like:

Nic Jackson

Cliff Bartosh

Phil Norton

Nate Frese

Jamal Spearman

Aron Weston.

 

jackson and weston were at fitch when i was in mesa in the middle of march. i thought that i'd seen spearman at some point this spring, but i haven't heard/seen anything about bartosh, norton, or frese.

[craig]

bear, thanks for the roster.

 

Is it your understanding that all of those are active roster, or might there be some Iowa DL also? I'm curious in part regarding Valdes, who was supposedly a big-league non-roster invitee, but never pitched an inning. I've been assuming he wasn't healthy, or something, but then here his name shows up on the Iowa roster.

 

I'm interested in valdes because I'm wondering who'll be the 5th starter.

 

Even assuming Brownlie is in rotation, it still seems like as long as Marshall is up, there are only 4 obvious starters: Brownlie (and even he is questionable), Guz, Hill, and Ryu. So, is #5 Valdes? O'Malley?

 

May not matter; maybe they don't really need #5 very often early, and if Wood and/or Prior are coming along, Marshall may be back soon enough.

[Bear Cub]

Valdez is indeed the mystory man here. He sure didnt throw an inning in big lge camp. Whether he is now throwing is a good question.

[abuck1220]

Valdez is indeed the mystory man here. He sure didnt throw an inning in big lge camp. Whether he is now throwing is a good question.

 

i saw valdez in mesa, but i didn't see him (or anybody for that matter) throwing.

 

 

guzman starts tonight for the i-cubs in an exhibition against the univ of iowa.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

guzman starts tonight for the i-cubs in an exhibition against the univ of iowa.

 

And my bold prediction is that Iowa will build a 17-run lead and will lose on a 3-run HR in the bottom of the 9th, 2 out, 0-2 count. You know, typical Hawkeye stuff.

[DesMoinesCub]

Does anyone find it odd that Guzman is pitching tonight? I kind of thought he would throw Thursday in the home opener.

 

Even if he pitches tonight, would he still throw on Thursay? I am guessing not. I thought I read somewhere that they would have him, Hill, or Ryu ready if/when they needed someone to come up.

 

What is everyone else's take?

[Jehrico]

I like seeing 4+ pitchers in AAA who could reasonably come up and do well for us if needed.

[RyCubsFan]

I like seeing 4+ pitchers in AAA who could reasonably come up and do well for us if needed.

 

 

Guzman, Hill, Novoa, and Ryu, (and Aardsma)?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Does anyone find it odd that Guzman is pitching tonight? I kind of thought he would throw Thursday in the home opener.

 

Even if he pitches tonight, would he still throw on Thursay? I am guessing not. I thought I read somewhere that they would have him, Hill, or Ryu ready if/when they needed someone to come up.

 

What is everyone else's take?

 

He's probably throwing tonight to stay on normal rest to make a start on April 15 at Pittsburgh.

[DesMoinesCub]

I miscounted when I was trying to calculate, so pitching tonight makes sense.

 

Pedro- are you going to the game tonight? I thought about it until I was reminded I volunteered to work a Jr. High track meet at the school I teach at. Stupid, Stupid me. Looks like Iowa is started to get going in the right direction. Dahm has made the program respectable. Do I want to mention he is a Hendry guy...

 

Any idea who is pitching for Iowa on Thursday? I think I may head down after school. I would only miss the first couple of innings...if it is not raining of course. Didn't there used to be a sight that would have the minor league pitchers listed as well and tell who was supposed to be pitching.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Unfortunately, I will not be able to go tonight either. I haven't been able to find pitching probables either, so my guess for Thursday is Hill.

 

And I think you're absolutely right about Dahm. The past couple of seasons are the first times I've heard anyone mention anything about Hawkeye baseball (even in Iowa City) since probably around 1990. It would be pretty darn sweet to see them in Omaha sometime.

[CubsMinorLeagueReport]

Dahm and the Hawkeyes have a long ways to go before they have any dreams of Omaha. This includes facilities, recruiting philosophy, and coaching. Count me as unimpressed with Dahm.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Dahm and the Hawkeyes have a long ways to go before they have any dreams of Omaha. This includes facilities, recruiting philosophy, and coaching. Count me as unimpressed with Dahm.

 

Did you see the program before Dahm? You're spot on with the facilities comment, but his coaching and recruiting is leaps and bounds better than his predecessors.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Sounds like Raul Valdes and Les Walrond are in the rotation and Bobby Brownlie is in the pen. It also sounds like Rich Hill will be starting on Thursday.

[texascub]

Wasn't Jamal Strong a one-time top prospect in the Mariners system that has torn up his knee more than a few times? Name sounds familiar, but I'm not great with names either.

[DesMoinesCub]

Cubs Minor League Report- Just curious as to why you are not really impressed with Dahm. Facilities there are terrible, yes, but I think he knows he isn't going to get top notch talent across the US, so he focuses on Iowa kids with a few others from the midwest. I agree that they are a long way from making a trip to Omaha, but Dahm turned them from a last place Big 10 team to a middle to upper pack team in the Big 10.

 

I have attended some coaching clinics (coach high school ball) with other people who do not like Dahm as well. Just curious as to why you aren't a fan. I do however think he has done a helluva job getting Iowa baseball back to a "respectable" team in the Big 10.

[Cubway]

A real sleeper on this Iowa team who never gets much publicity is 3b Casey McGehee (pronounced McGee). His stint with the Djaxx showed me a player who is very solid defensively and a clutch hitter offensively, has a good eye, and is very intelligent.

[CubsMinorLeagueReport]

Sorry guys I was away for a little bit...

 

About Dahm and the Hawkeyes Baseball Program:

As I mentioned before the program lags behind big time in facilities (which I could be wrong, but what has he done to change this? See Creighton), but what I dont like about Dahm is his recruiting philosophy and the idea that he should be signing as many local (and I dont mean just Iowa) guys as he does. Just because you are a northern school does not mean that you shouldn't recruit on a larger scale. And to say that you are in the top tier of the Big 10 is not impressive. Dahm may have improved them to be in the top tier, but Iowa had nowhere to go but up. The only major competition in recruiting that Iowa has in the state is UNI. Yet he still loses the big time Iowa recruits to Nebraska (Dan Jennings, Jeff Lanning, John Lee, and to a lesser extent Tony Watson) and other programs in the region. He has not been able to change the attitude of the promising young Iowa kids, THE KIDS DO NOT BELIEVE THAT IOWA CAN GET THEM TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

I have met Jack once when he was at Creighton and he is a very nice man that seems like he would be fun to be around, but I just dont think that he can get the job done at Iowa the way he is running the program.

[DesMoinesCub]

Fair enough-however with recruiting, you need to start somewhere. Iowa can't recruit with Nebraska, Texas, Florida, etc. I don't see them ever doing that, even if they win the Big 10. The southern schools have an advantage over any northern baseball program. I think Dahm is recruiting an area he knows well, and that is the midwest. Iowa football and basketball have a hard time getting kids from the south and west to come to Iowa. Why would they want to deal with below 0 temperatures and cold weather when they can go somewhere closer to home. Also, keeping in state talent in Iowa will be tough with a program like Nebraska so close. Iowa basketball lost three big time recruits to Kansas. The problem is when prospects leave to go to other schools (Creighton, Minnesota, Illinois, etc) that they can compete with.

 

I also agree that the Big 10 compared to other conferences is not that good, but for Iowa fans to make the Big 10 tournament and finish higher then 9 or 10 brings some life to a program that is dead. I admit I never have met Dahm, but I have actually been hearing them talk about Iowa baseball on sports radio, and I have never heard of that before.

 

Just my 2 cents-