News from Fitch

[Guest]

Iowa's rotation is set and neither Jay Jackson or Chris Carpenter will be starting:

 

On the mound, Casey Coleman, Thomas Diamond, J.R. Mathes, Austin Bibens-Dirkx, and Roberto Coello will form the starting rotation.

 

In fact, I didn't see Jay Jackson on the Iowa roster period.

fueling the speculation that his reduced velocity in camp was injury-related.

[Guest]

Chris Robinson and Max Ramirez are the only catchers on Iowa's roster - no Welington Castillo. Is Castillo hurt? I read he was DHing at Fitch yesterday.

 

Looks like Tim is right about Jay Jackson being hurt:

 

In Iowa Cubs roster news, RHP Jay Jackson (shoulder fatigue?) will be remaining at Fitch Park, joining fellow I-Cubs DF Brad Snyder (oblique), INF Augie Ojeda (back), RHP Todd Wellemeyer (hip), and RHP Angel Guzman (2010 shoulder surgery rehab) on the 7-day day DL. While the other four are limited as to what they can do, Angel Guzman is progressing very well, and is on a rehab pitching schedule where he throws sim games at Fitch Park every 5th day. Over the weekend Gooz threw especially well, getting his fastball velocity up to 92 MPH for the first time since his surgery (he threw consistently 94-96 in 2009).

 

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2011/04/04/maxram-celebrates-end-minor-league-camp

 

Also, Ty'Relle Harris is staying back at Fitch and going on Daytona's 7-day DL.

[Guest]

I-Cubs Press Release

 

Smokies Press Release & Official Roster (PDF)

 

Daytona Official Roster & Get to Know the 2011 Daytona Cub Pitching Staff

[craig]

So, the missing/injured:

 

Welington Castillo

 

AJ Morris (I thought he was the best prospect in the Gorz trade)

 

Harman, the Clemson lefty

 

Jung

 

J Jackson, as already mentioned

 

Are there other noteworthies that are missing that I've overlooked? (I assume so...)

[Wrigley Rat]

Recently acquired pitcher Robert Coello (for Tony Thomas) pitched 4 innings yesterday (79 pitches). Maybe he is being converted to a starting pitcher? Something to watch.

[Guest]

Recently acquired pitcher Robert Coello (for Tony Thomas) pitched 4 innings yesterday (79 pitches). Maybe he is being converted to a starting pitcher? Something to watch.

 

Yes, he's in Iowa's rotation.

[craig]

Yes, I thought it was curious that a kind of soft-tossing 26-year-old guy with control problems like Coello would get moved into rotation. Just roster-filling? They think he can use the innings? They really think he's got a chance to make it as a big-league starter? He'll just fill in rotation for a while until Rusin or McNutt or Cabrera earn a promotion? He's 26 and has only like 13 pro starts.

 

That was rather surprising, I must say.

[Guest]

Arizona Phil[/url]"]SKAVOOVEE: Welington Castillo was left behind at Fitch Park and was the DH for the Daytona squad yesterday (Sunday) while his Iowa Cubs teammates played a road game vs Angels AAA Salt Lake Bees in Tempe, and he got four ABs and looked fine at the plate. But he was not in uniform at Fitch Park today, even though all of the other I-Cubs (including J. Jackson and Snyder) were. I guess I'll have to see if he turns up with the Fitch Park Rehab Group.

 

There are also several recently-active players who have disappeared from Fitch Park and from Opening Day rosters, including C Luis Flores, OF Alvaro Ramirez, LHP Polin Trinidad, OF Brandon Watson, and OF Jose Valdez. Flores was suspended for 30 days at the end of Minor League Camp last year for violating a team rule and I suppose it could have happened again, except if he violated the same rule again (and last year wasn't the first time, either), the Cubs would have probably just released him. So unless he is in Deep Rehab (which is possible if he suffered a major injury at the end of Minor League Camp), I would say he almost certainly was released.

 

And there are a number of pitchers who I have yet to see this year (even in limited activity drills) and so I presume some or all might be in Deep Rehab, including RHP Manolin DeLeon, LHP James Leverton, RHP Oswaldo Martinez, RHP A. J. Morris (acquired from WAS in the Gorzelanny deal), RHP Eric Rice (who had a sprained elbow lig at end of AZL last year), RHP Jhon Rodriguez, and LHP Brian Smith. It is possible that the Cubs may have given one or more of them permission to report late (both DeLeon and Rodriguez reported after the start of the regular season last year), however.

[davearm2]

This is a total aside, but does anyone (beside me) ever wonder how Arizona Phil recognizes all of these dudes, and keeps them all straight?

 

The Cubs had (or will have) something like 200 ballplayers in Mesa this spring. And none of them had names on their jerseys, right?

[ChiefsVoice]

Flores took a foul ball off the chin in one of the final Spring games, so he is in "Deep Rehab". Not sure about any of the others.

[Guest]

Thanks Nathan!

 

So, the missing/injured:

 

Welington Castillo

 

AJ Morris (I thought he was the best prospect in the Gorz trade)

 

Harman, the Clemson lefty

 

Jung

 

J Jackson, as already mentioned

 

Are there other noteworthies that are missing that I've overlooked? (I assume so...)

 

Justin Bristow

[toonsterwu]

IIRC, Bristow looked really bad, so I assume he's still rehabbing his shoulder(?) (or was it an elbow?) injury. One of the bigger disappointments of the last year for me.

[toonsterwu]

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ros&cid=443

Looks like it might be the real thing for Peoria.

 

Will be interesting to see who starts/piggy-backs of those pitchers. Simpson/Greathouse/Kirk/Antigua/Beeler/Lopez seem the most interesting.

 

 

Jeffry Antigua P L 6' 1" 170 6/23/90

Cameron Greathouse P L 6' 2" 230 7/29/90

Austin Kirk P L 6' 1" 200 5/22/90

Hayden Simpson P R 6' 0" 170 5/20/89

Dallas Beeler P R 6' 5" 205 6/12/89

Robinson Lopez P R 6' 2" 190 3/2/91

Eduardo Figueroa P R 6' 1" 185 11/30/88

Yohan Gonzalez P R 6' 4" 210 4/15/90

Marcus Hatley P R 6' 5" 220 3/26/88

Graham Hicks P L 6' 5" 170 2/9/90

Eric Jokisch P L 6' 2" 185 7/29/89

Juan Yasser Serrano P R 5' 10" 220 3/3/88

Bryce Shafer P R 6' 0" 180 11/14/88

 

 

Name Pos Bat Ht Wt DOB

Sergio Burruel C L 5' 11" 210 7/22/91

Micah Gibbs C S 5' 11" 223 7/27/88

Arismendy Alcantara SS S 5' 10" 160 10/29/91

Richard Jones 1B L 6' 0" 215 1/31/88

Pierre LePage 2B R 5' 8" 168 2/23/89

Elliot Soto SS R 5' 9" 160 8/21/89

Smaily Borges OF R 6' 3" 210 1/28/84

D.J. Fitzgerald LF R 6' 0" 190 12/20/88

Anthony Giansanti OF R 5' 10" 190 9/28/88

Greg Rohan OF R 6' 0" 205 5/11/86

Rubi Silva OF L 5' 11" 180 6/25/89

Matthew Szczur OF R 6' 1" 195 7/20/89

 

One guy that I'm hoping gets into the rotation is Graham Hicks. I thought he was the most intriguing asset that we got from the Nats in the Gorzelanny deal. He had a solid year in Low A in the Nationals system. It's possible the kid could still grow some more, but as of now, low 90's with a decent slider/change combination. That said, a lot of arms battling for spots. Antigua/Simpson/Beeler/Kirk seem like locks for piggyback duty. I'd imagine Lopez would be, but considering the reports this spring have been so spotty, it wouldn't stun me if he was used in the pen. That said, I anticipate he'll be a part of the piggybacking rotational duty. Not much intrigue on the positional front overall, although it could be a decent lineup for Low A. That said, the one thing I am curious about is whether or not Alcantara can take the next step and become a solid middle infield prospect. AzPhil sure talks up his defensive ability (and as an aside, that could be an excellent defensive positional grouping).

[toonsterwu]

Dave, it wouldn't shock if Ebinger was starting, that's a point. He'll turn 23 soon, so seems more likely to be a reliever. But they've got four lefties on the roster (Ebinger, Rosscup, Belliveau, and Lorick), so perhaps they want to have a lefty start or piggyback.

 

For righty rotation guys, I see Kurcz, Whitenack, Struck, Wallach, Rhee, and Searle all as possibilities. But who knows how they'll actually use them. And early when the pitch counts are so short they might be piggy-backing 8-10 guys, and sort that out as April goes on.

 

I think Whitenack is really the only guys who's 100% sure to be rotation. Kurcz probably, since he was starting and getting stretched yesterday (even if ineffectively). But it's not like Wallach, or 30-something round Struck, or 30-something-round Ebinger, or soft-tossing Rhee,

 

One other surprise I wanted to mention: I'm pretty surprised that Harman, the 22-year old lefty from Clemson, didn't make Daytona. Perhaps they figured Daytona is fairly packed with who-knows-if-they've-got-much-but-we'll-give-them-innings prospects, and that getting him 100+ innings will be easier starting at Peoria?

 

As a side note, even though Struck was 39th round, he did get top 10 round money (I'm too lazy to check what it actually is, probably top 5 round money). IIRC, Raisin noted that Struck's bonus was higher than McNutt's. I'm pretty bullish on Struck, low 90's, has a chance to inch up a bit more, good athlete, solid breaking and change combination, although it could improve. That said, performance has to meet the stuff. I'd guess Whitenack, Struck, Wallach, Kurcz as solidly in the rotation, with some combination of Rhee and a lefty for the last spot, or some sort of piggybacking.

[Guest]

Struck got $125,000 while McNutt got $115,000.

[craig]

..

Jeffry Antigua P L 6' 1" 170 6/23/90

Cameron Greathouse P L 6' 2" 230 7/29/90

Austin Kirk P L 6' 1" 200 5/22/90

Hayden Simpson P R 6' 0" 170 5/20/89

Dallas Beeler P R 6' 5" 205 6/12/89

Robinson Lopez P R 6' 2" 190 3/2/91

 

 

Marcus Hatley P R 6' 5" 220 3/26/88

Graham Hicks P L 6' 5" 170 2/9/90

Eric Jokisch P L 6' 2" 185 7/29/89

 

Juan Yasser Serrano P R 5' 10" 220 3/3/88

Eduardo Figueroa P R 6' 1" 185 11/30/88

Yohan Gonzalez P R 6' 4" 210 4/15/90

Bryce Shafer P R 6' 0" 180 11/14/88

 

One guy that I'm hoping gets into the rotation is Graham Hicks. I thought he was the most intriguing asset that we got from the Nats in the Gorzelanny deal. He had a solid year in Low A in the Nationals system. It's possible the kid could still grow some more, but as of now, low 90's with a decent slider/change combination. That said, a lot of arms battling for spots. Antigua/Simpson/Beeler/Kirk seem like locks for piggyback duty. I'd imagine Lopez would be, but considering the reports this spring have been so spotty, it wouldn't stun me if he was used in the pen. That said, I anticipate he'll be a part of the piggybacking rotational duty. Not much intrigue on the positional front overall, although it could be a decent lineup for Low A. That said, the one thing I am curious about is whether or not Alcantara can take the next step and become a solid middle infield prospect. AzPhil sure talks up his defensive ability (and as an aside, that could be an excellent defensive positional grouping).

 

It will be really interesting to see who and how many piggy-back. Almost any or all of them could. Probably Bryce Schafer and Yohan Gonzalez are almost the only guys who seem automatic relief. And actually I'd be pretty interestes to see how Yohan did given starter innings, he throws strikes, he's big, he's 20, he doesn't allow HR's, and he had a sub-3 ERA at peoria last year. Sometimes big guys at age 20 grow into more velocity, so even if he was an 88-92 guy before, for all I know he's ready to go Cabrera and be throwing 92-98 this year. That's the thing with A-, they are all so young that anybody might project into new and serious velocity, even if they didn't have it before.

 

I'd guess that Greathouse, Antigua, Kirk, Simpson, Beeler, and Lopez are all strongly probable for piggy-back. I assume Simpson will be on a very limited pitch count early. Hatley, Hicks, Jokisch, Serrano, even Figuroa, who knows? Any of those might be a surprise rotation/piggy.

 

Will be fun to see how it plays out.

 

Hitting is always hard to predict, and Peoria is unlikely to have much power. (Jones is the only guy with big power, I think.) But few A-ball teams hit with tons of power, so I don't think that's the big question in A-. We don't know who will or won't, but often minor-league offense is a function of the prospects and the roster fillers.

 

Rohan isn't a jazzy prospect, but he might be a pretty productive A- hitter. Jones might be solid. Szczur and Silva might be very productive average-and-extra-base-hits guys. Alcantara has some talent, if he emerged some he could be pretty solid too. And for A-, I wouldn't be surprised if the LSU catcher was able to support a decent OPS, too. Fitzgerald might be a pretty productive OPS guy, even if not much of a prospect. Wouldn't surprise me at all if that team ended up in the top 3rd of the league in both offense as well as pitching. Nor if they finished in the bottom third in both!

[Guest]

I haven't really paid much attention, but what has happened to Simpson? He seems to have disappeared.

 

Also where is szcur (sp?) going?

[Little Slide Rooter]

Iowa's rotation is set and neither Jay Jackson or Chris Carpenter will be starting:

 

On the mound, Casey Coleman, Thomas Diamond, J.R. Mathes, Austin Bibens-Dirkx, and Roberto Coello will form the starting rotation.

 

In fact, I didn't see Jay Jackson on the Iowa roster period.

 

Good thing Carpenters going to be in the pen when we will more than likely be in need of a new starting pticher in 5 days. Casey Coleman it is I guess.

[Outshined_One]

I haven't really paid much attention, but what has happened to Simpson? He seems to have disappeared.

 

He had mono either when or shortly after he was drafted. He's spent most of the offseason getting back into shape. He will be the opening day starter for Peoria.

 

Also where is szcur (sp?) going?

 

Also Peoria.

[karenmac]

This is a total aside, but does anyone (beside me) ever wonder how Arizona Phil recognizes all of these dudes, and keeps them all straight?

 

The Cubs had (or will have) something like 200 ballplayers in Mesa this spring. And none of them had names on their jerseys, right?

 

actually, in minor league camp they alllll have their last names on the back of their jerseys. I don't have a picture, but we get to Spring Training most years, and those jerseys have names...it's just when they go play in a MLB game, they get a different jersey with a different number. It's also not unusual for there to be several folks with the same number playing in the same group, so can't just yell "hey 8, get a move on". Coaches generally seem to use last name, and especially at the beginning of ST, there are a lot of guys around, so I'd think the names on the back would be a sanity saving measure for the coaching staff, if nothing else :D

[davearm2]

This is a total aside, but does anyone (beside me) ever wonder how Arizona Phil recognizes all of these dudes, and keeps them all straight?

 

The Cubs had (or will have) something like 200 ballplayers in Mesa this spring. And none of them had names on their jerseys, right?

 

actually, in minor league camp they alllll have their last names on the back of their jerseys. I don't have a picture, but we get to Spring Training most years, and those jerseys have names...it's just when they go play in a MLB game, they get a different jersey with a different number. It's also not unusual for there to be several folks with the same number playing in the same group, so can't just yell "hey 8, get a move on". Coaches generally seem to use last name, and especially at the beginning of ST, there are a lot of guys around, so I'd think the names on the back would be a sanity saving measure for the coaching staff, if nothing else :D

Cool, thanks for that Karen.

[Illini Iceman]

Thanks Nathan!

 

So, the missing/injured:

 

Welington Castillo

 

AJ Morris (I thought he was the best prospect in the Gorz trade)

Harman, the Clemson lefty

 

Jung

 

J Jackson, as already mentioned

 

Are there other noteworthies that are missing that I've overlooked? (I assume so...)

 

Justin Bristow

 

According to an article in this month's Vineline Fleira said the organization knew it was taking a chance on AJ Morris when they made the trade because he had a sore arm last year that forced him to the bullpen. Since then he has had shoulder surgery that could cause him to miss all of 2011. They still wanted him in the trade because they think he has good upside once he is healthy.

[craig]

According to an article in this month's Vineline Fleira said the organization knew it was taking a chance on AJ Morris when they made the trade because he had a sore arm last year that forced him to the bullpen. Since then he has had shoulder surgery that could cause him to miss all of 2011. They still wanted him in the trade because they think he has good upside once he is healthy.

 

Thanks very, very much, ice. Interesting that they new he probably had a bad arm but still were go. I agree with their take, that he has good upside if/when healthy. I thought he was by far the most interesting of the three guys, although I have hopes if more remote for Hicks. Hopefully Morris will be back and better than ever next year.

 

And hopefully Hicks will get off to a surprisingly good start and end up working out too.

[chattbaseball]

In his latest update, AzPhil notes that Kyler Burke is being transitioned to pitching. I'm quite intrigued by this, and we have until the end of 2012 to decide if he needs to be protected. Shame he couldn't make it as a positional player, but he's still young enough that he has a shot to develop as a potential pen arm if he works hard and can find his old pitching rhythm.

 

As a side note, didn't his brother use to post here, or someone close to him?

 

As I said before, I've been extremely busy and haven't really posted, but just wanted to stop in and gives you guys a quick update.

 

Kyler was scheduled to face his first live batter today in a round of live BP. He's been going through his daily routine and throwing bullpens every few days. Obviously what he tells me is all I have to go on, but he and the Cubs have been very positive about the transition to this point.

[Guest]

Here's a pretty promising update on Kyler from Arizona Phil:

 

The Cub Reporter[/url]"]Reggie Golden had three hits, scored a run, and knocked-in another, and LHP (ex-OF) Kyler Burke threw a 1-2-3 inning in his debut as a pitcher, as a split-squad of EXST Cubs played the EXST Rockies to a 6-6 tie in Cactus League Extended Spring Training action at Fitch Park Field #3 in Mesa this morning.

 

...

 

And Burke looked VERY sharp today, striking out the first Rockies batter he faced (swinging), and then easily retiring the next two hitters on a fly out to LF and a 4-3 ground out.

 

My immediate impression of Burke as a pitcher is that with his breaking ball being as good as it is, he should at the very least have a future as a lefty relief specialist. But he also has a quality fastball (he was throwing in the mid-90’s in bullpen sessions last month), and so if he can develop the stamina and endurance needed to throw 100 pitches in a game, he could possibly be a rotation starter. He just turned 23 last month, so he still has time on his side.

 

Burke was a two-way player (OF/LHP) in HS, and while the Padres drafted him as an outfielder (he was traded to the Cubs in 2007 in the Michael Barrett deal), some scouts had him rated higher as a pitcher. So it’s not too surprising that he looks like he knows what he’s doing out on the mound. Also, he had what was considered the #1 OF arm in the Cubs organization prior to making the move back to pitcher.