2008 Iowa, Tenn, Daytona & Peoria Rosters Announced

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Peoria's is out: http://www.peoriachiefs.com/news/current/index.html?article_id=668

 

C Josh Donaldson

C Blake Lalli

C Mario Mercedes

 

SS/2B Marwin Gonzalez

SS/2B Jonathan Mota

2B Nate Samson

3B Jovan Rosa

2B/3B Marquez Smith

1B-OF Drew Rundle

 

OF Cliff Andersen

OF Kyler Burke

OF Dylan Johnston

 

Starting Pitchers:

 

RHP Robert Hernandez

LHP Chris Siegfried

RHP Dae-Eun Rhee

RHP Alberto Cabrera

LHP Zach Ashwood

 

Spot Starters:

 

RHP Ryan Acosta

RHP Hung-Wen Chen

 

Relievers:

 

RHP Jordan Lathem

RHP Marcos Mateo

RHP Craig Muschko

RHP Blake Parker

LHP Dustin Sasser

RHP Steve Vento

[Guest]

Nate, is Chris Huseby hurt?

 

Disappointing to see Cabrera in the pen. Possibly Acosta too. Glad to see Gonzalez and Rhee (Acosta and Cabrera too, even in the pen) in full season. Glad to see no fillers in the Peoria rotation, all promising guys.

 

Mota keeps coming back to Peoria. :(

[Guest]

Knoxville News-Sentinel story on the Tennessee Smokies. And here's the News-Sentinel's roster in list form.

 

Starting Rotation:

 

RHP Jeff Samardzija

LHP Donnie Veal

RHP Tanner Watson

RHP Justin Berg

RHP Mitch Atkins

 

Bullpen:

 

LHP Ed Campusano

RHP Michael Cooper

RHP Rocky Roquet

RHP Matt Avery

RHP Jesse Estrada

RHP Greg Reinhard

LHP Chris Shaver

 

Catchers:

 

Chris Robinson

Jake Muyco

 

Infield:

 

Matt Craig

Joe Simokaitis

Robinson Chirinos

Nate Spears

Kyle Reynolds

Francisco Salas

 

Outfield:

 

Matt Camp

Corey Coles

Tyler Colvin

Ryan Harvey

 

Don't know how reliable a Knoxville newspaper would be on the Daytona Cubs but the last sentence sure was interesting:

 

Hard-throwing Jose Ceda will be part of manager Jody Davis' rotation in Daytona.

[Vinestal]

When does Daytona's season start and when will we get thier roster? Im on Vacation next week but Im guessing they wont have started by then. Im gonna get over there at some point this year to check them out. BTW I think its a bad sign that Vitters couldnt make the Peoria roster *sigh* early round highschool position draft picks never seem work out for the Cubs. "Give him time" is what they said about Luiz Montenez and Ryan Harvey for years, I just wish they'd pick guys out of college.

[Guest]

Daytona starts this Thursday and we're still waiting on their roster though we have a good idea on most of who will be there.

 

I'm not concerned with Vitters, I expected him to stay in extended over the winter. The Cubs had laid the seeds for that by saying they didn't think it was a good idea for a Southern Cali boy to go to Peoria in April and mentioning how young he was even for a kid drafted out of HS. I know most everyone else will be concerned and whatnot (and I can't blame you), but I have no problem with the Cubs not rushing guys for once.

[ChiefsVoice]

Raisin-

 

The possibly for Acosta was as a Starter. He is definitely on our roster but our trainer gave us 3 names for the 5th starter so I don't know until tonight who that #5 will be or if Rhee/Acosta may piggyback? No Clue.

 

Also, Alburquerque is not coming....Hung Wen Chen is taking his place.

 

I don't know what happened to Huseby or Pawelek, both were on our roster last week. Ditto Blackford and Leon Johnson hurt a finger on Wednesday and was the last player scratched from us as our CF/leadoff guy.

[Guest]

Raisin-

 

The possibly for Acosta was as a Starter. He is definitely on our roster but our trainer gave us 3 names for the 5th starter so I don't know until tonight who that #5 will be or if Rhee/Acosta may piggyback? No Clue.

 

Also, Alburquerque is not coming....Hung Wen Chen is taking his place.

 

I don't know what happened to Huseby or Pawelek, both were on our roster last week. Ditto Blackford and Leon Johnson hurt a finger on Wednesday and was the last player scratched from us as our CF/leadoff guy.

 

If Alburquerque is out and Hung-Wen Chen is in, that opens up a rotation spot for both Rhee and Acosta which is great (is the third name for the #5 starter Alberto Cabrera? Dustin Sasser? Hopefully Cabrera because he seems like an intriguing guy with potential.). HWC was seen as a late-inning reliever when he was signed and was a short inning guy last season. I can't see him starting. I'm glad to see him re-surface because it seemed like no one could find him in Mesa the last few weeks. That could mean (in no order) Hernandez, Siegfried, Ashwood, Rhee and Acosta in the rotation (w/ hopefully Huseby joining them soon).

 

Per CubsTalk, Pawelek was left in Mesa because they're re-doing his mechanics again and he's struggling with them. Since it looked like Huseby was locked into the Peoria rotation and was a late scratch, I'm going to assume injury and just hope it's not serious. Guess Al Alburquerque is hurt again, which is a shame since he's intriguing (I know you don't like him but he definitely has potential).

 

I was wondering about Leon Johnson, thanks for mentioning him. Blackford is probably still rehabbing from TJS.

 

Again, thanks for the answers.

[craig]

cal, thanks for the roster info.

 

Disappointments:

1. That Vitters wasn't so undeniably impressive that they couldn't keep him down.

2. Huseby. I'd had very high hopes for him. Either he's injured or he was unimproved this spring. Either way, that's bad bad bad.

3. cabrera in bullpen. I've gotten only limited scouting info on him. I know you've had him mid-90's and have thought he was serious, cal. That he's not in rotation tells me the Cubs aren't as high on him as I was. Probably my mistake, but disappointing nonetheless.

 

Puzzled:

1. Acosta. He's one of the somewhat limited number of rotation prospects the organization has. That the peoria reporter had his role uncertain seemed weird. I'd think either he'd be a starter, no-doubt-about-it, or he'd be in XST, cut-and-dried.

 

Interesting/Hopeful:

1. Wrigley and I are both delighted that Berg will take another crack at rotation. I'd thought they might have decided it was time to put him in relief.

2. The Daytona rotation is kind of intriguing; we don't have the official word, but it appears that 3 of their 5 are relief prospects being given rotation work. (Ceda, Maestri, and Papelbon.) That may speak to the depressing paucity of legit rotation prospects at that level. But for me it will be fun to see how they perform. (I actually have a faint hope that Maestri will surprise and excel, and may end up being reconsidered as a rotation prospect after all. Decent fastball, good slider, good control, throws strikes, those are some rotation-fitting qualities. Obviously he'll need to come up with something that works versus lefties. And who knows if his fastball is sustainably good given rotation innings. But I like rotation guys who throw strikes.) I'm enthused about Russell. Being an optimist, I'm also hoping that Hempy is in because he's throwing 90-95 now, a year further removed from arm issues. Rather than just because they didn't have anybody else suitable. Probably at 23-approaching 24 they just figured he'll either sink-or-swim; if he swims, nothing lost, but maybe you'll get really lucky and he'll step up.

3. Peoria rotation seems a puzzle (Acosta factor) and I wonder if that report will prove to be less than fully accurate. Huseby and Cabrera out are real disappointing. Rhee in is very encouraging. Acosta on the staff at all is rather encouraging, and I assume he'll be rotation when it plays out. Albuquerque, we'll see; he threw hard and with some K's on occassion last year, other times not. He could quickly go either way. Ashwood is interesting, who knows what he's got or how good he might be. Very intriguing is the claim that Siegfried is in there. I'd assumed Siegfried rotation was mostly talk and he'd be relief when it came down to it. He's probably rotation (if in fact he really is)_ the way that Ceda is; just for innings. But he was very good on good days, and his ground-ball extreme profile (on good days when he had a clue of control) was very interesting. As usual, at that level none of the guys are set. Anybody who actually performed really well, I'd be all fired up right away. The question is whether any of them really does have what it takes to perform really well. Heh, hopefully 6 or 7 of them!

 

 

3. Peoria rotation

[Guest]

cal, thanks for the roster info.

 

Disappointments:

1. That Vitters wasn't so undeniably impressive that they couldn't keep him down.

2. Huseby. I'd had very high hopes for him. Either he's injured or he was unimproved this spring. Either way, that's bad bad bad.

3. cabrera in bullpen. I've gotten only limited scouting info on him. I know you've had him mid-90's and have thought he was serious, cal. That he's not in rotation tells me the Cubs aren't as high on him as I was. Probably my mistake, but disappointing nonetheless.

 

Puzzled:

1. Acosta. He's one of the somewhat limited number of rotation prospects the organization has. That the peoria reporter had his role uncertain seemed weird. I'd think either he'd be a starter, no-doubt-about-it, or he'd be in XST, cut-and-dried.

 

Interesting/Hopeful:

1. Wrigley and I are both delighted that Berg will take another crack at rotation. I'd thought they might have decided it was time to put him in relief.

2. The Daytona rotation is kind of intriguing; we don't have the official word, but it appears that 3 of their 5 are relief prospects being given rotation work. (Ceda, Maestri, and Papelbon.) That may speak to the depressing paucity of legit rotation prospects at that level. But for me it will be fun to see how they perform. (I actually have a faint hope that Maestri will surprise and excel, and may end up being reconsidered as a rotation prospect after all. Decent fastball, good slider, good control, throws strikes, those are some rotation-fitting qualities. Obviously he'll need to come up with something that works versus lefties. And who knows if his fastball is sustainably good given rotation innings. But I like rotation guys who throw strikes.) I'm enthused about Russell. Being an optimist, I'm also hoping that Hempy is in because he's throwing 90-95 now, a year further removed from arm issues. Rather than just because they didn't have anybody else suitable. Probably at 23-approaching 24 they just figured he'll either sink-or-swim; if he swims, nothing lost, but maybe you'll get really lucky and he'll step up.

3. Peoria rotation seems a puzzle (Acosta factor) and I wonder if that report will prove to be less than fully accurate. Huseby and Cabrera out are real disappointing. Rhee in is very encouraging. Acosta on the staff at all is rather encouraging, and I assume he'll be rotation when it plays out. Albuquerque, we'll see; he threw hard and with some K's on occassion last year, other times not. He could quickly go either way. Ashwood is interesting, who knows what he's got or how good he might be. Very intriguing is the claim that Siegfried is in there. I'd assumed Siegfried rotation was mostly talk and he'd be relief when it came down to it. He's probably rotation (if in fact he really is)_ the way that Ceda is; just for innings. But he was very good on good days, and his ground-ball extreme profile (on good days when he had a clue of control) was very interesting. As usual, at that level none of the guys are set. Anybody who actually performed really well, I'd be all fired up right away. The question is whether any of them really does have what it takes to perform really well. Heh, hopefully 6 or 7 of them!

 

 

3. Peoria rotation

 

Nate's post really helps clarify a few things about Peoria's rotation. I've taken a few assumptions but I think it's safe to guess Acosta is in too now that Al Al is gone. I think Huseby is out hurt because I had heard from independent reports that he had looked good and was a Peoria lock - it doesn't sound like he was ineffective a la Pawelek. I'm also disappointed to see Cabrera head to the pen. Could be with the shoulder injuries, he's better suited for the pen.

 

On Daytona's rotation, the biggest disappointment is to see so that with so many career pen guys going to the rotation, Robert Hernandez couldn't stick in Daytona. On the flip side, I am pleased to see one pen guy with loads potential at each level end up in the rotation to get more innings - Siegfried, Ceda and Berg (assuming Ceda does start). Berg definitely has the stuff to be a big leaguer and I'd rather he rack up the innings to work on his slider. Ceda clearly needs as many innings as he can get too.

[Rob]

Since when is Dylan Johnston an OF?

[Guest]

Since when is Dylan Johnston an OF?

 

They made the move this spring since he couldn't hang defensively at SS.

[Rob]

Since when is Dylan Johnston an OF?

 

They made the move this spring since he couldn't hang defensively at SS.

 

Well that's a shame, since he doesn't seem to have the bat to hang anywhere else... at least not right now.

 

On the bright side of things, I'm really looking forward to seeing Donaldson, Rundle, Burke and Rhee in Peoria.

[Guest]

Hopefully Rundle gives you something to be excited about. So far it hasn't been too pretty.

 

Peoria Journal-Star write up on the Chiefs (not much really): http://www.pjstar.com/stories/033108/CHI_BG751LQQ.080.php

[craig]

Nate's post really helps clarify a few things about Peoria's rotation. I've taken a few assumptions but I think it's safe to guess Acosta is in too now that Al Al is gone. I think Huseby is out hurt because I had heard from independent reports that he had looked good and was a Peoria lock - it doesn't sound like he was ineffective a la Pawelek. I'm also disappointed to see Cabrera head to the pen. Could be with the shoulder injuries, he's better suited for the pen.

 

Yeah, that helps clarify a lot, although why AlAl is in one day and out the next, and what's up with Huseby, is unclarified. I wonder whether AlAl is gone because he's hurt; because he got released or sent down again; or whether they decided to push him up to Daytona. (Maybe somebody there got hurt in the pen, or they decided to start him there after all, or who knows what.)

 

I hope you're wrong about Chen as being obvious relief. He got paid 3rd-5th round money, IIRC, and scouted as a control pitcher. I'd be pleased if he threw enough strikes with enough movement, even if not 96 mph, to be a worthwhile rotation guy.

 

I'm guessing his "missing" status relates to the Olympics. I recall reading that Chris Robinson has missed camp for the Canadian Olympics team, and was just returned for the season. I assume the same applies for Chen. I'm also not sure his usage last year was predictive of his future or intended role now, either. He had an arm problem, so when he did pitch, IIRC, he may have been on a cautious rehab status, not necessarily the role they hoped for when they signed him. I'd wondered why he was missing; I'd assumed Olympics, but I'd also wondered if it was health. Some of these Asian teams practice a lot, so it may be that he's gotten in plenty of work, more he'd have gotten in our regular camp. So he may be good to go.

 

Obviously, though, popping him into relief as you say could clear up the rotation bundle. And it's also certainly true that his signing bonus may overvalue him. In Asia if you don't overpay somebody else will sign the guy, so it's not like I should expect equal value as what we'd sign in the non-free-market draft. And obviously he did have arm problems after being signed; so he might be 5 mph slower than he used to be. And obviously he didn't scout as a giant guy with mongo velocity potential in the first place, so he probably didn't have much he could afford to lose.

 

On Daytona's rotation, the biggest disappointment is to see so that with so many career pen guys going to the rotation, Robert Hernandez couldn't stick in Daytona. On the flip side, I am pleased to see one pen guy with loads potential at each level end up in the rotation to get more innings - Siegfried, Ceda and Berg (assuming Ceda does start). Berg definitely has the stuff to be a big leaguer and I'd rather he rack up the innings to work on his slider. Ceda clearly needs as many innings as he can get too.

 

I wonder if this is a developmental philosophy thing. A common plan has been to give innings to your best prospects, even if you assumed they'd end relief. It seems last year they didn't necessarily operate that way, and figured that it was fine to give a relief prospect 50+ 2 inning outings. I wonder if this reflects a change in philosophy/strategy? Or if it's just a matter of the specific prospects and the specific rosters and the specific alternatives.

[Guest]

In regards to HW Chen, I believe that Taiwanese blog had Wilson quoted as saying he projected as a late inning reliever (and that he threw a low 90s FB) which is primarily why I refer to him as a likely reliever. There certainly is a chance they can move him to the rotation to log more innings.

 

The Olympic thing makes sense too. Much better reason to miss camp than an injury, that's for sure!

 

In regards to IFA bonuses, I'm never a fan of comparing them to draft bonuses for the reason you state - you have the sole right to a drafted player while you don't with the IFA. Also there are a whole host of other factors that go into the a higher or lower bonus for an IFA (ages can be different than HS/college kids, looking to make inroads and relationships in a country or city, etc.).

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Ryan Harvey

never heard of him

[karenmac]

Dylan Johnston is going to give me an ulcer.

 

Raisin & Nate, thanks much for providing the updates - looking forward to seeing the guys in action!

[Wrigley Rat]

Knoxville News-Sentinel story on the Tennessee Smokies. And here's the News-Sentinel's roster in list form.

 

Starting Rotation:

 

RHP Jeff Samardzija

LHP Donnie Veal

RHP Tanner Watson

RHP Justin Berg

RHP Mitch Atkins

 

Bullpen:

 

LHP Ed Campusano

RHP Michael Cooper

LHP Darin Downs

RHP Jesse Estrada

RHP Grant Johnson

RHP Greg Reinhard

LHP Chris Shaver

 

According to the Tennessee Smokies website, Matt Avery should replace Grant Johnson. Johnson has a partially torn elbow ligament and is resting it - may need TJ surgery.

 

http://www.smokiesbaseball.com/team/roster.asp

[Guest]

http://www.smokiesbaseball.com/news/news.asp?newsId=881

[ChiefsVoice]

Dylan Johnston is going to give me an ulcer.

 

Raisin & Nate, thanks much for providing the updates - looking forward to seeing the guys in action!

 

You won't recognize Dylan when you see him. He looks like a middle linebacker! I'm really looking forward to seeing him in left field.

 

Looks like Rhee or Siegfried to get our opening day nod in Burlington Thursday night. Ryne said he would know for sure at our practice tomorrow.

[wvcbxl]

I actually have a faint hope that Maestri will surprise and excel, and may end up being reconsidered as a rotation prospect after all. Decent fastball, good slider, good control, throws strikes, those are some rotation-fitting qualities. Obviously he'll need to come up with something that works versus lefties. And who knows if his fastball is sustainably good given rotation innings. But I like rotation guys who throw strikes

 

So what went wrong when they tried him as a starter last year? Was it simply lack of preparation (it was somewhere in the middle of the season, IIRC)?

I do agree that it's worth another shot, and even if he ends up as a reliever, getting the innings (even if it is for lack of a legit starting prospect) is a good thing in the long run.

[TruffleShuffle]

According to the Tennessee Smokies website, Matt Avery should replace Grant Johnson. Johnson has a partially torn elbow ligament and is resting it - may need TJ surgery.

 

yeah you can pretty much stick a fork in him...

[Guest]

According to the Tennessee Smokies website, Matt Avery should replace Grant Johnson. Johnson has a partially torn elbow ligament and is resting it - may need TJ surgery.

 

http://www.smokiesbaseball.com/team/roster.asp

 

Good call. Also, Darin Downs is now out and Rocky Roquet is in (I was expecting Rocky would be up at AAA):

 

Roster Update: Oneri Fleita, the Cubs' vice president, player personnel, tweaked Tennessee's roster before the team left spring training.

 

Relievers Rocky Roquet and Matt Avery were added to the pitching staff, giving the Smokies 17 returnees on the 24-man roster.

 

Roquet, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound right-handers was 4-0 with a 3.63 earned-run average and seven saves for the Smokies last season. The 25-year-old Californian is expected to the be closer.

 

Avery, a 24-year-old right-hander, who pitched at the University of Virginia, was 2-2 with a 4.22 ERA in seven games with Tennessee last year.

 

They replaced Grant Johnson and Darin Downs.

 

The Smokies play Walters State in their exhibition tune up before the season tonight though there's a chance it could get rained out. The I-Cubs will play the Iowa Hawkeyes in an exhibition game tonight too.

[Guest]

Oh, and Cubs Talk has a story up that confirms Jose Ceda to the rotation.

 

So we're probably looking at Russell, Ceda, Papelbon, Maestri and Carrillo or Hempy in the Daytona rotation.

[ChiefsVoice]

We are looking like: Hernandez, Rhee, Siegfried, Cabrera as the first 4 in that order. Then Ashwood with Acosta and Chen as our long relievers/spot starters