Minor League Rosters, Pawelek in relief

[craig]

I thought I'd start a thread for popping in info as the minor-league team rosters come out over the next couple of dyas.

 

Pawelek is in Peoria's bullpen. Maybe he'll end up being a good reliever. But that can't be very encouraging about his career. Roquet as well at Peoria.

 

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/040107/KEV_BCQBB4UM.077.php

 

Berg and hart (ineffective 24-year-old Baltimore pickup from bynum)g both in Tennessee's rotation, along with Holliman and of course Gallagher and Veal.

 

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/smokies_baseball/article/0,1406,KNS_329_5456813,00.html

 

Samardzija was announced yesterday as at Daytona, and since Colvin is obviously there as well, given that's been expected and that he's not at Peoria.

 

http://www.daytonacubs.com/cgi-bin/dist/news.cgi?id=1

[Jon]

Hopefully he'll just be building up arm strength in the bullpen and move to the rotation shortly.

[cuubs4life]

this was the case last year as well. not much of a suprize to me. he should just be building up arm strength, expect him to be in the rotation sometime before the ASB.

[Bear Cub]

thanks Craig. You are the man. Some of my thoughts on this process. I would love to be a little fly on the wall when these decisions are made.

Does this mean that Chris Shaver and JR Mathis are going to Iowa?

I am surprized that Pignietello is going back to AA.

Is Grant Johnson in the Tenn. bullpen?

My guess on the Latin connection at Peoria. ( Ceda, Santo, Jimenez, Pina).

Starters at Iowa. ( Prior, Marmol, Marshall, Shaver, Mathis).

[Laura]

This doesn't fill me with enthusiasm (from the Knoxville article linked above):

 

Tennessee was affiliated with the Arizona Diamondbacks the past two years. Tennessee pitching coach Dennis Lewallyn, who tutored Arizona's minor leagues before coming to the Cubs in 2007, said the Smokies' arms compare favorably with the talent Arizona placed in Sevierville.

 

Lewallyn said "stuff-wise" Gallagher reminds him of Garrett Mock. Mock was 4-8 with a 4.95 ERA for Tennessee before he was traded to the Washington Nationals last summer.

 

"I'm hoping he has a little bit better command than Mock had," Lewallyn said. "I like Gallagher's aggressiveness. He seems to go right after them."

 

Mock's numbers would have been better if he wasn't pitching on a bad knee.

 

"In fairness to Mock, his knee was hurting," Lewallyn said. "They (Diamondbacks) didn't believe him and they never would scope it. They (Nationals) scoped it and found all kind of particles in there."

 

Doesn't the pitching coach play some sort of role in whether or not an organization would 'believe' a minor league pitcher has an injury issue?

[CubColtPacer]

This doesn't fill me with enthusiasm (from the Knoxville article linked above):

 

Tennessee was affiliated with the Arizona Diamondbacks the past two years. Tennessee pitching coach Dennis Lewallyn, who tutored Arizona's minor leagues before coming to the Cubs in 2007, said the Smokies' arms compare favorably with the talent Arizona placed in Sevierville.

 

Lewallyn said "stuff-wise" Gallagher reminds him of Garrett Mock. Mock was 4-8 with a 4.95 ERA for Tennessee before he was traded to the Washington Nationals last summer.

 

"I'm hoping he has a little bit better command than Mock had," Lewallyn said. "I like Gallagher's aggressiveness. He seems to go right after them."

 

Mock's numbers would have been better if he wasn't pitching on a bad knee.

 

"In fairness to Mock, his knee was hurting," Lewallyn said. "They (Diamondbacks) didn't believe him and they never would scope it. They (Nationals) scoped it and found all kind of particles in there."

 

Doesn't the pitching coach play some sort of role in whether or not an organization would 'believe' a minor league pitcher has an injury issue?

 

He wasn't the pitching coach last year-his position in the Diamondbacks organization was that of minor league pitching coordinator -the same question may still apply for him in that position though.

[Athletics36]

With info coming out about rosters, I guess its okay to add a few items. Shaver is still re-habbing and will stay in extended along with Harvey as it has been mentioned previously that he has a hamstring injury. I think that when Shaver is ready the plan is to send him to AA. I would take a guess that the Iowa staff would be Prior, Marshall, Omalley, Wells and ?. I think the cubs plan was to put Marmol in the pen to be the closer. I can also say that Fuld will also stay behind in extended and glad to see Colvin going to Daytona. I had the pleasure of meeting him while in AZ and it was the cubs intention to send him to Peoria but with his ST #'s moved him.

[Bear Cub]

This kinda reminds me of Christmas. Love it.

[Bear Cub]

Who will be SS at Iowa? It looks like the Smokies are going to be short of Of'ers with Harvey and Fuld being left at Fitch.

[Mephistopheles]

please let the pawelek in the bullpen be a sick april fools day joke

[Athletics36]

Its not an "April fools" joke had heard from son that this was going to happen and I to was surprised. As for Outfielders in AA I was told names and only one I knew was Chris Walker but I was also told that Jake Fox would be playing more positions in AA. I do know that Tony Ritchie and Chris Robinson will also be catching at AA.

[RichHillIsABeast]

please let the pawelek in the bullpen be a sick april fools day joke

 

Wow, I was really counting on him bouncing back this season. He's not off to a good start apparently.

[craig]

Disappointing that Harvey, Fuld, Shaver, Phelps, and Pawelek are all unfit to start the season as starters. I'm sure we'll hear about other unfit guys as we go.

 

If Pawelek is unfit two springs out of two, it doesn't speak well to the future health of his arm or his commitment or his career. Must be something wrong with one of those things.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Well, the Pawelek news is rather disconcerting and disappointing.

[Vinestal]

Well, the Pawelek news is rather disconcerting and disappointing.

 

*sigh* another high level pick gone to poop

[Bear Cub]

Sam Fuld must have gotten hurt during camp. I believe he played in a couple of parent team games earlier.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Its not an "April fools" joke had heard from son that this was going to happen and I to was surprised. As for Outfielders in AA I was told names and only one I knew was Chris Walker but I was also told that Jake Fox would be playing more positions in AA. I do know that Tony Ritchie and Chris Robinson will also be catching at AA.

 

I thought Chris Walker was headed to Iowa?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Official Smokies roster is out:

 

Pitchers

 

RHP Berg, Justin

RHP Gallagher, Sean

RHP Hart, Kevin

RHP Henderson, James

RHP Holliman, Mark

LHP Layden, Tim

RHP Mendez, Adalberto

RHP Mueller, Jon

LHP Pignatiello, Carmen

RHP Reinhard, Greg

RHP Schappert, Paul

LHP Veal, Donnie

 

Catchers

 

Fox, Jake

Richie, Tony

Robinson, Chris

 

Infielders

 

Cates, Gary

Craig, Matt

Dopirak, Brian

Salas, Francisco

Simokaitis, Joe

Spearman, Jemel

 

Outfielders

 

Cortes, Jorge

Kroeger, Josh

Walker, Chris

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I see a lot of low-scoring games for the Smokies this year.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Sam Fuld must have gotten hurt during camp. I believe he played in a couple of parent team games earlier.

 

You're right, he got 2 ABs in the Cactus League. Sam hurt an oblique muscle last week during a swing.

 

SeaCoastOnline.com[/url]"]Sam Fuld has waited most of his adult life to reach the Double-A level of minor league baseball. He figures he can wait a few more days.

 

The Durham native, whose All-Star season in Class A last year was cut short by what would turn out to be a sports hernia, got the message recently from the Chicago Cubs that he'd be starting 2007 with their Double-A affiliate, the Tennessee Smokies.

 

Then the 25-year-old outfielder pulled an oblique muscle while swinging last week. As a result, he'll remain at the organization's spring training complex in Mesa, Ariz., while the Cubs and their top minor-league teams break camp.

 

Frustrating?

 

"Absolutely," he said. "Especially the timing and having worked so hard to be healthy for this year. I was looking forward to getting back out there so yeah, it is frustrating."

[craig]

Tennessee looks to have interesting pitching. The one name that surprised me, other than Hart in rotation, was Greg Reinhart in relief. I'd guessed him to be in daytona's staff.

 

Boise is looking like it could be pretty good. Rundle, Anderson, Huseby, Robert Hernandez, that's possibly a rather good nucleus.

[Athletics36]

AA should be interesting with a few of the names that I expected to be there missing. I think once Harvey and Fuld are better they will join this team. As for low scoring games, they have a few bats with Fox, Dope, Craig and I expect Robinson to step-up. I noticed only 3 OF'ers on the roster and with Jakes "bat" he has to be in the line-up. I will be in Jacksonville for the entire series and really looking forward to seeing "Veal" throw. The one thing Son has told me as he progress'es is that the hitters will make you throw strikes. If you can't with all your pitches they will eat your fastball up..

[Brian]

Let Sean know we are wishing him the best.

[karenmac]

Sam Fuld must have gotten hurt during camp. I believe he played in a couple of parent team games earlier.

 

You're right, he got 2 ABs in the Cactus League. Sam hurt an oblique muscle last week during a swing.

 

SeaCoastOnline.com[/url]"]Sam Fuld has waited most of his adult life to reach the Double-A level of minor league baseball. He figures he can wait a few more days.

 

The Durham native, whose All-Star season in Class A last year was cut short by what would turn out to be a sports hernia, got the message recently from the Chicago Cubs that he'd be starting 2007 with their Double-A affiliate, the Tennessee Smokies.

 

Then the 25-year-old outfielder pulled an oblique muscle while swinging last week. As a result, he'll remain at the organization's spring training complex in Mesa, Ariz., while the Cubs and their top minor-league teams break camp.

 

Frustrating?

 

"Absolutely," he said. "Especially the timing and having worked so hard to be healthy for this year. I was looking forward to getting back out there so yeah, it is frustrating."

 

Raisin, thanks for the investigating. Sam being hurt bums me out more than anyone else, I think. Probably just because I already knew the others were hurt. Sam looked super during practices while I was down there, so I hope that, with the oblique, they can get him feeling ready to go soon.

[karenmac]

Based on the AA roster, I'm wondering where Alan Rick is going to land. Assuming that Muyco and Reed are both at Daytona, and that Rick's bat had not been bad at the end of last season, I'm wondering where he will land. As 3rd catcher in Daytona? I'll be anxious to see the rest of the rosters soon!