How Many New Players on the 25-Man Roster by March 31, 2014?

[HoopsCubs]

With the GM Meetings set to begin shortly, we should see transaction activity get some real lift-off this week. Exciting times over the next 2 months.

 

So, here's the question I have: How many players currently not on the Cubs' 40 man roster will be on their 25 man roster when the team opens the 2014 season in Pittsburgh on March 31? The current 40-man roster has 37 players.

 

Here are my predictions.

 

- I am forecasting that the team will have 7 new faces to start the season:

 

2 starting pitchers

2 relief pitchers (includng a closer)

1 back-up catcher

1 back-up 1B/corner OF (right-handed hitting)

1 back-up CF (right-handed hitting)

 

- I am forecasting these 18 guys from the current 37-man roster will be on the 25 man roster on Opening Day:

 

Position Players (8): Castillo, Rizzo, Barney, Olt, Castro, Lake, Sweeney, Schierholtz

Rotation (3): Wood, Arietta, Jackson

Bullpen (5): Strop, Rosscup, Parker, Grimm, Villanueva

Utility (2): Valbuena, Murphy

 

- And, I am forecasting that Samardzija and Russell will be dealt for pitching prospects during this offseason.

 

I am interested to hear your personnel forecasts for Opening Day 2014.

 

Best,

Hoops

[davell]

I think Olt plays 1B if Rizzo needs a day off. Definitely add a backup C. I think Bogusevic is on the Opening Day roster instead of Schierholtz, who I see being dealt. Don't see much action on Russell and I think Rondon will make the pen. Do see Shark being dealt.

 

Roster

 

Position players- Castillo, Jose Molina, Rizzo, Barney, Castro, Olt, Valbuena, Murphy, Lake, Sweeney, Bogusevic, Chris Young, Lorenzo Cain

 

SP- E-Jax, Wood, Arrieta, Suk Min Yoon,Yordany Ventura

 

Pen- Strop, Kelvin Herrera, Villanueva, Russell, Grimm, Rondon, Parker

 

Trade of Shark and Schierholtz for Cain, Herrera, Ventura, and Almonte.

 

6 new guys, in the end. Plus, a few moves that take Vitters and Brett off the Cubs.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

OK, I'll take a crack

 

Wood, Jackson, Arrieta in the rotation

Strop, Parker, Villanueva, Parker and Rosscup in the bullpen

 

Lake, Sweeney and Schierholtz in the outfield

Olt, Barney, Rizzo in the infield

Vitters, Bogusevic and Valbuena on the bench

No catchers

 

So I'm going with 17

[davell]

OK, I'll take a crack

 

Wood, Jackson, Arrieta in the rotation

Strop, Parker, Villanueva, Parker and Rosscup in the bullpen

 

Lake, Sweeney and Schierholtz in the outfield

Olt, Barney, Rizzo in the infield

Vitters, Bogusevic and Valbuena on the bench

No catchers

 

So I'm going with 17

Give us a Castillo trade.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Give us a Castillo trade.

 

Castillo for A-ball pitcher(s)

Cheap veterans to replace him

[davell]

Give us a Castillo trade.

 

Castillo for A-ball pitcher(s)

Cheap veterans to replace him

I know you don't really think thats what they'd do. If Castillo is dealt, I suspect it'd be for a ML ready starter or someone already there with control.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I know you don't really think thats what they'd do. If Castillo is dealt, I suspect it'd be for a ML ready starter or someone already there with control.

 

Enough with the "MLB ready starter" idea for trades. We keep predicting that and it hasn't happened since the Marshall deal. With all the near-ready MLB starters we've gotten in trades the last two years, our rotation must be overflowing. Except at the end of the day, if you want pitching, you have to choose between ceiling and readiness, and we're going to choose ceiling (and rightfully so).

 

You can have a CJ Edwards or you can have a Justin Grimm. Teams with near-ready pitchers with high upside have this weird tendency of actually putting them into the rotation instead of trading them. And the very few with surpluses in that regard want something more than Welington Castillo.

[davell]

I was thinking you'd use Castillo as a piece in a Price deal. Personally, I could see him as a major piece to get Matt Moore. Velo has dropped some, control hasn't come around yet......

[Guest]

There's so much fluidity with something like this, but if you're going to make us call our shot:

 

Wood, Jackson, Arrieta, Villanueva, Strop, Parker, Russell, Rusin, Lim

Castillo, Rizzo, Castro, Valbuena, Olt, Murphy, Schierholtz, Sweeney, Lake

 

So that means:

 

2 SP - 1 Trade/FA acquisition and another in return for Samardzija

1 RP - Could also be another from the Cabrera/Rosscup/Grimm/etc pile, or maybe they get two SP for Shark and Arrieta pushes to the pen

2 OF - Probably someone who will play CF, I imagine they'll do 1 trade and 1 FA for the SP and OF. Also a reserve OF(maybe Bogusevic if he fits w/ the other 4)

1 C - Backup catcher for a million bucks or so

1 IF - Could be anything from Infante to a guy whose only job is to pinch run and be a decent backup SS. Watkins also a possibility

 

So 18 guys, although if money becomes tight then it could be as many as 21 without materially changing the plan for the offseason.

[marc_foust]

Locks: Rizzo, Valbuena, Sweeney, Lake, Castillo, Arrieta, Wood, Jackson, Stropp, Villanueva,

Probable: Cabrera, Parker, Barney, Castro, Olt, Rosscup,

I think Bard makes the pen, Vitters is up instead of Bogesevuic(need a RH bat in the outfield), I think Shark and Russell are gone by opening day but Castro is still here. I could see Rusin in the pen as a LH longman to pair with Rosscup. I would prefer to see Grimm in AAA stretched out still.

 

So that being said I have those 19 so 6 new faces.

[marc_foust]

With the GM Meetings set to begin shortly, we should see transaction activity get some real lift-off this week. Exciting times over the next 2 months.

 

So, here's the question I have: How many players currently not on the Cubs' 40 man roster will be on their 25 man roster when the team opens the 2014 season in Pittsburgh on March 31? The current 40-man roster has 37 players.

 

Here are my predictions.

 

- I am forecasting that the team will have 7 new faces to start the season:

 

2 starting pitchers

2 relief pitchers (includng a closer)

1 back-up catcher

1 back-up 1B/corner OF (right-handed hitting)

1 back-up CF (right-handed hitting)

 

- I am forecasting these 18 guys from the current 37-man roster will be on the 25 man roster on Opening Day:

 

Position Players (8): Castillo, Rizzo, Barney, Olt, Castro, Lake, Sweeney, Schierholtz

Rotation (3): Wood, Arietta, Jackson

Bullpen (5): Strop, Rosscup, Parker, Grimm, Villanueva

Utility (2): Valbuena, Murphy

 

- And, I am forecasting that Samardzija and Russell will be dealt for pitching prospects during this offseason.

 

I am interested to hear your personnel forecasts for Opening Day 2014.

 

Best,

Hoops

 

 

I was under the impression that Alberto Cabrera had to be on the 25 man or he would be exposed to FA. Do you see him ending up somewhere else?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I was thinking you'd use Castillo as a piece in a Price deal. Personally, I could see him as a major piece to get Matt Moore. Velo has dropped some, control hasn't come around yet......

 

I have a feeling we're going to sell high on Castillo. Late-blooming catcher who was never expected to be a lot has an above-average season influenced by a high BABIP and a pretty crazy defensive number? I mean, they'll have a good scouting read on what they think of him, and maybe they like him and think he can keep it up, but I wouldn't be stunned to see them try to cash it in on a guy who was barely thought of as better than Clevenger two seasons ago.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I was under the impression that Alberto Cabrera had to be on the 25 man or he would be exposed to FA. Do you see him ending up somewhere else?

 

Waivers. Yes, if he doesn't make the team he ends up somewhere else, and that's pretty plausible.

[rawaction]

I'm going to go big.

 

2 new OF (starter/platoon and backup)

New starting middle IF. (Castro or Barney traded)

New backup C

2 new SPs (Shark traded, 1 FA)

2 new RPs

New backup IF

 

9 new players.

[jersey cubs fan]

I'm going to go big.

 

...

 

9 new players.

 

Why was raw the only one to figure out how to answer to question in the form it was asked?

 

 

I feel like there really won't be as much turnover as we may be expecting. Samardzija may be on his way out of town, but I wouldn't be sure it will happen by March. They can't accept anything less than top return for him.

 

I'll go with 5 or 6 new guys.

[HoopsCubs]

I'm going to go big.

 

...

 

9 new players.

 

Why was raw the only one to figure out how to answer to question in the form it was asked?

 

 

I feel like there really won't be as much turnover as we may be expecting. Samardzija may be on his way out of town, but I wouldn't be sure it will happen by March. They can't accept anything less than top return for him.

 

I'll go with 5 or 6 new guys.

 

:D

[HoopsCubs]

Don't know how the FO views Alberto Cabrera Edited November 11, 2013 by HoopsCubs

[KingCubsFan]

Enough with the "MLB ready starter" idea for trades. We keep predicting that and it hasn't happened since the Marshall deal.

Except when we traded Scott Feldman and Matt Garza last year?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Enough with the "MLB ready starter" idea for trades. We keep predicting that and it hasn't happened since the Marshall deal.

Except when we traded Scott Feldman and Matt Garza last year?

 

Arrieta and Grimm are not exactly what's being referred to by "MLB-ready starter" in these discussions. Assuming either of them can actually be starters.

[Guest]

Enough with the "MLB ready starter" idea for trades. We keep predicting that and it hasn't happened since the Marshall deal.

Except when we traded Scott Feldman and Matt Garza last year?

 

Arrieta and Grimm are not exactly what's being referred to by "MLB-ready starter" in these discussions. Assuming either of them can actually be starters.

 

The silliness of this statement aside(they've traded for 4 MLB ready starters in 2 years), they've pretty clearly prioritized getting players near the MLB level in trades. For a player with Castillo's trade value, claiming they'll get "A ball pitcher(s)" for him is more ludicrous than trying to spin semantical circles around "MLB ready starter".

[jersey cubs fan]

Enough with the "MLB ready starter" idea for trades. We keep predicting that and it hasn't happened since the Marshall deal.

Except when we traded Scott Feldman and Matt Garza last year?

 

Arrieta and Grimm are not exactly what's being referred to by "MLB-ready starter" in these discussions. Assuming either of them can actually be starters.

 

The silliness of this statement aside(they've traded for 4 MLB ready starters in 2 years), they've pretty clearly prioritized getting players near the MLB level in trades. For a player with Castillo's trade value, claiming they'll get "A ball pitcher(s)" for him is more ludicrous than trying to spin semantical circles around "MLB ready starter".

 

And I think it has been a mistake to place "near MLB ready" on the priority list when you have such a drawn out schedule for contending. Maybe they didn't think it would take this long, but my guess is they would have put more emphasis on ability and ceiling than MLB readiness if they realized we'd still be where we are going into 2014.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The silliness of this statement aside(they've traded for 4 MLB ready starters in 2 years), they've pretty clearly prioritized getting players near the MLB level in trades. For a player with Castillo's trade value, claiming they'll get "A ball pitcher(s)" for him is more ludicrous than trying to spin semantical circles around "MLB ready starter".

 

Sorry, but when we have these discussions, the "MLB-ready starters" being referred to are not fringy guys who may never stick in the majors or 27-year-olds with 1-WAR projections who probably fit better in the bullpen.

 

But regardless of the past, I believe HoopsCubs' rumor combined with other tea-leaf reading that we're going all out to fix the gap in the prospect wall this offseason, which would be CJ Edwards-quality starting prospects or better. Trading Castillo could easily be part of that effort.

[HoopsCubs]

The Cubs have 2 new additions to their 40-man roster: Arismendy Alcantara and Dallas Beeler. Both are now protected from the rule 5 draft.

 

Now, will either be on the 25-man roster Opening Day in Pittsburgh?

 

I suppose Beeler might have more of a shot than Alcantara given the perceived holes on the current roster. But, I admit, I would be excited if Alcantara won the starting 2B job in Spring.

[davell]

The Cubs have 2 new additions to their 40-man roster: Arismendy Alcantara and Dallas Beeler. Both are now protected from the rule 5 draft.

 

Now, will either be on the 25-man roster Opening Day in Pittsburgh?

 

I suppose Beeler might have more of a shot than Alcantara given the perceived holes on the current roster. But, I admit, I would be excited if Alcantara won the starting 2B job in Spring.

No. Not a chance on either. They'll both get a dose of AAA, Beeler would surprise me if he gets anything other than POSSIBLY a token September callup. Alcantara could be up mid season or so, depending on how he handles AAA.

[rawaction]

I don't see Alcantara getting called up before Sept. Seems to be a lot of potential MIF options before you get to him. He doesn't strike me as a guy that's going to completely dominate AAA and force the team to open a spot for him in the majors. Beeler becomes the guy who comes up if there are multiple injuries or trades of starters toward July/August.