2009 Cubs Releases

[Guest]

RHP Ezequiel Astacio

LHP Ryan Sontag

C Juan Medina

2B Jose Made

OF Glenn Cook

OF Jericho Jones

OF Jonathan Wyatt

 

Cook is the first 2009 draft pick in all of MLB to be released.

[Guest]

OF Jericho Jones

Was it wrong to be a fan simply because of his name?

[davell]

Jones kind of got a raw deal, in my opinion. He hit a ton in Arizona last year and I guess he got caught up in a numbers game this year. Putting him in Daytona was probably too much, too soon for him. And he never got a consistent amount of AB's either once he was there. Probably doesn't matter in the long run, but I was hoping he'd succeed too.....Mainly because of his name. :D)

[toonsterwu]

It did seem like that Jericho got the short end of the stick by moving up to A+ and not getting enough AB's to establish himself. I am a bit surprised that they just outright released him, instead of asking him to try pitching. Maybe they did ask and he rejected it, for all I know. IIRC, Jericho was a pretty intriguing pitching prospect in his own right.

[craig]

Cook turns 25 in December. He needed to be a natural pretty quick for it to be worth his time and the cubs.

 

On Jones, I don't think there was any numbers game that precluded him. The low minors wasn't exactly crawling with good OFers. If he'd been good, he'd have earned playing time, but he didn't.

 

My recall is that he demanded superslot, and it was rumored that teams liked him much better as pitcher than hitter but he wanted to hit. I'm totally speculating, but perhaps Cubs drafted and superslotted, figuring either he'd hit better than expected, or after failing for a while he'd agree to pitch. Perhaps when he didn't hit enough to merit full-season this year, and didn't do much in extended spring either, perhaps they figured he'd have to either surprisingly hit in Daytona (he didn't) or realize that it wasn't happening and he should switch to pitch. My guess is that as with Harvey, the Cubs asked him to pitch and he didn't want to, so they released him?

 

It's often been said that if you aren't a high-level prospect, your development doesn't take priority. When you're a roster filler fringe guy, you go to the roster that needs a body, and either sink or swim.

[Guest]

Uhh:

 

Voluntarily retired: C Matt Williams

 

An 18th-round pick from Duke in June, Williams spent 31 games with short-season Boise, batting .167/.237/.194 with three doubles. He went 9-for-25 (.360) in six games in the Rookie-level Arizona League. He was a four-year starter for the Blue Devils and batted .345 with five home runs as a senior.

[davell]

Uhh:

 

Voluntarily retired: C Matt Williams

 

An 18th-round pick from Duke in June, Williams spent 31 games with short-season Boise, batting .167/.237/.194 with three doubles. He went 9-for-25 (.360) in six games in the Rookie-level Arizona League. He was a four-year starter for the Blue Devils and batted .345 with five home runs as a senior.

 

Nice pick. :-))

[Wrigley Rat]

OF/IF Chris Weimer

[javy knows my name]

OF/IF Chris Weimer

I knew that kid when I was in elementary school and we went to rival high schools as well

[toonsterwu]

OOC, what was the story with Jordan Latham again? I remember trying to find out what happened, and then sort of lost track of it and just forgot.

[Wrigley Rat]

Released: RHP Erik Hamren, RHP Billy Muldowney, RHP George Pineda, LHP Jayson Ruhlman, LHP Melvin Vasquez

 

- as per BA.

 

Muldowney must not have recovered from surgery. Ruhlman is a bit of a shock for me, although his age caught up with him.

[toonsterwu]

I'm a tad surprised Ruhlman was released as well. That said, we have more than enough upper level pen arms for Iowa and Tennessee, at least, on paper.

[CubColtPacer]

I didn't see this posted...this was from Arizona Phil about who got released last week. I highlighted a couple that I know will be of interest to some:

 

CHUCK: The Grim Reaper tapped slick-fielding 21-year old Dominican SS Robert Bautista, 1B-C (ex-3B) John Contreras, 20-year old Dominican RHP Diego Encarnacion, 21-year old Venezuelan RHP Robert Hernandez (considered a fairly decent prospect a couple of years ago before a PED suspension sidetracked his career), 22-year old 5'8 Dutch 2B Dwayne Kemp, veteran AAA RHP Jeff Kennard (who got an NRI to big league camp but got cut early), RHRP Kevin Kreier (5-4 3.77 ERA at Peoria in 2009), RHP (ex-3B) Josh Lansford (son of ex-MLB 3B Carney Lansford), 21-year old Dominican RHP Dionis Nunez (3-3 2.84 ERA at Boise in 2009), 3B Jordan Petraitis (2009 28th round draft pick out of Miami of Ohio), Iowa Cubs RHP Gregory Reinhard (acquired from TB for RHP Jae-Kuk Ryu in 2007), 21-year old Venezuelan OF Kevin Soto, RHP Josh Whitlock (2008 26th round pick out of the U. of West Virginia), Australian OF Sean Williams, and RHP Hank Williamson (7-4 4.93 ERA with 87 K in 84 IP at Daytona in 2009, one of the two pitchers the Cubs got from Baltimore for Felix Pie prior to the 2009 season).

 

The Cubs then re-signed John Contreras (who was converted to catcher a year ago) and it appears that he will be a player-coach with Peoria.

[CubColtPacer]

Here's the follow up to why Kemp and Hernandez might have been released from Arizona Phil:

 

In the case of Dwayne Kemp, he has a LOT of self-confidence, but he was hurt a lot (leg), and was unable to stay healthy for an extended period of time to where he could show the Cubs what he could do.

 

Robert Hernandez has talent, but apparently the Cubs saw issues with him that made them think they should release him. Remember, minor league baseball players are just like other people, except they are under a lot of pressure and sometimes they make bad choices.

 

from this link (also where the previous post came from):

 

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2010/03/31/updated-minor-league-camp-rosters?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TCRfeed+%28The+Cub+Reporter%29

[Guest]

Here's the follow up to why Kemp and Hernandez might have been released:

 

In the case of Dwayne Kemp, he has a LOT of self-confidence, but he was hurt a lot (leg), and was unable to stay healthy for an extended period of time to where he could show the Cubs what he could do.

 

Robert Hernandez has talent, but apparently the Cubs saw issues with him that made them think they should release him. Remember, minor league baseball players are just like other people, except they are under a lot of pressure and sometimes they make bad choices.

Just curious, CCP, do you have any specific references for these other than the obvious?

[CubColtPacer]

Here's the follow up to why Kemp and Hernandez might have been released:

 

In the case of Dwayne Kemp, he has a LOT of self-confidence, but he was hurt a lot (leg), and was unable to stay healthy for an extended period of time to where he could show the Cubs what he could do.

 

Robert Hernandez has talent, but apparently the Cubs saw issues with him that made them think they should release him. Remember, minor league baseball players are just like other people, except they are under a lot of pressure and sometimes they make bad choices.

Just curious, CCP, do you have any specific references for these other than the obvious?

 

Oops. That was supposed to add in that is what Arizona Phil had to say when questioned about why those players were released. It came from the comments section of the link about rosters that was in the other thread:

 

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2010/03/31/updated-minor-league-camp-rosters?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TCRfeed+%28The+Cub+Reporter%29

 

Sorry for the confusion.

[Guest]

Disappointed to read about Robert Hernandez and Sean Williams.

[toonsterwu]

Well, no more harping on when Robert Hernandez will turn the corner from me. That said, he wasn't that good for me to get worked over. Just an intriguing arm.

 

A tad disappointed in the loss of Hank Williamson, but not something to get too worked up over either. The logjam of pen arms in the upper levels made it likely that we'd lose some decent arms. I could see Greg Reinhard getting to the bigs as a middle reliever someday.

 

Soto and Williams both seemed intriguing, but eh.

[wvcbxl]

In the case of Dwayne Kemp, he has a LOT of self-confidence, but he was hurt a lot (leg), and was unable to stay healthy for an extended period of time to where he could show the Cubs what he could do.

 

LOL at the self-confidence bit; he's Dutch, so that comes naturally.

I'll track which team he shows up with in the Dutch league (probably Rotterdam - his younger brother plays there)

[SouthSideRyan]

Man, did I hate that Josh Lansford pick.

[wvcbxl]

I'll track which team he shows up with in the Dutch league (probably Rotterdam - his younger brother plays there)

 

Officially confirmed: he's back with DOOR Neptunus in Rotterdam (the defending champions in the Dutch league)

[Wrigley Rat]

Signed: 1B Micah Hoffpauir*

Released: RHP Todd Blackford, RHP Dan McDaniel, RHP Arismendy Mota, RHP Julio Pena, RHP Jake Schmidt, 1B Kevin Millar, 3B Derek Helenihi

Added to 40-man roster: LHP James Russell, 1B Chad Tracy

Optioned to Triple-A: 1B Micah Hoffpauir, OF Sam Fuld

Option transferred: RHP Rafael Dolis and RHP David Patton (Double-A to high Class A); RHP Marcos Mateo (Triple-A to Double-A)

 

Of all the additions to 40-man rosters in the run-up to Opening Day, perhaps none caught me by surprise as much as that of big lefty James Russell. He enjoyed a terrific spring training, working 13 innings over 11 games, while allowing just nine hits (zero home runs) and sporting an 11-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The 24-year-old Russell pitched with similar effectiveness in the Arizona Fall League last year. A 14th-round selection from Texas in ’07, he features a high-80s—touch a 91 mph—cut fastball and the full array of offspeed pitches to avoid living life in a match-up millieu. Our ’08 Prospect Handbook notes that Russell "worked with independent pitching coach Tom House [after the Longhorns' ’07 campaign] to shape up his curveball before heading to the Texas Collegiate League."

 

The Cubs signed Helenihi in December as a nondrafted free agent from Louisiana State, where he played alongside Cubs' second-rounder D.J. Lemahieu.

 

Chicago acquired Arismendy Mota in the rare trade for a minor league Rule 5 pick. For more on the righthander, as well as a refresher on the minor league Rule 5 draft, click here.

[TruffleShuffle]

they released dan mcdan already?

[Guest]

Wow, Julio Peña must have done something (just like Robert Hernandez must have) to get the boot after a promising season.

 

And Dan McDaniel had a really strong first half of the last season. That's a real stunner.

[toonsterwu]

I'm disappointed in the McDaniel release, but not surprised. The stuff didn't show as well as it did out of the pen in Boise. There were reports that the Cubs weren't pleased. Now, the stuff isn't bad, so I expect him to latch on, and he was one of the final cuts, so the Cubs must have tried to hold off.