Minor League Signings

[NCCubFan]

According to the Iowa Cubs website the Cubs signed John Nelson and Michael Nannini as free agents and assigned them to Iowa. This is Nannini's secong go-round in the Cubs' organization; he was acquired from Houston as a PTBNL from the Flash Gordon trade and was then traded to Florida as part of the Derrek Lee trade.

NEW CUBS: The Cubs signed free agents John Nelson and Michael Nannini. Nannini was 1-1 with a 4.95 ERA at double-A Altoona with the Pirates and made one appearance at Indianapolis where he had a 54.00 ERA after .1 IP. The Cubs acquired Nannini in 2002 as a player to be named later for Flash Gordon. He was traded to Florida in the winter of 2003 with Hee Sop Choi for Derrek Lee. Nelson, who is expected to join Iowa tomorrow, hit just .162/.237/.333 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with five home runs and 14 RBI in 105 at bats with Memphis in 2007.

[karenmac]

Pretty sure this is the same John Nelson that the Chiefs had as part of the Cardinals organization in 2002(?)ish...

[NCCubFan]

Pretty sure this is the same John Nelson that the Chiefs had as part of the Cardinals organization in 2002(?)ish...

It probably is, since MiLB.com shows that he was drafted by the Cardinals in 2001 (and was still with the Cardinals' organization earlier this year). It looks like he can hit home runs but very little else. Last year in AAA he hit 21 home runs but had a .215 batting average. Earlier this year in AAA he had 5 home runs in just over 100 ABs but was south of the Mendoza line (.162). I suspect the Cardinals' organization gave up and released him.

[TruffleShuffle]

world series here we come