NEWS: Pete Crow-Armstrong is Joining the Chicago Cubs Tuesday

So, will he be starting in place of Tauchman?  It will be interesting to see how they play this and how quick they are with the hook if he has any struggles whatsoever.

Ineligible for the playoff roster, or is that not how it works anymore? I think there were always loopholes that allowed you to sneak a player onto the playoff roster anyway as long as they were active in your system prior to 9/1, come to think of it. 

I think the player just had to be a part of the organization on August 31st, not on the 40 man to be elgible

Yeah, baby! 

Did someone tell Ross that PCA has to play? I'd really like to know the answer to that. 

42 minutes ago, Bote McBoteface said:

Ineligible for the playoff roster, or is that not how it works anymore? I think there were always loopholes that allowed you to sneak a player onto the playoff roster anyway as long as they were active in your system prior to 9/1, come to think of it. 

Correct. The restrictions on that have always been mostly a matter of minimizing shenanigans involving other teams dropping or swapping someone to you. Anyone who’s in the organization by 8/31 is playoff-eligible, and that’s not even really because of “loopholes”: the league was never trying to stop that from happening. They just wanted to stop a player acquired through some bizarre backdoor transaction in September from being eligible, and the best tool for that was the 40-man roster rule. It’s a really tangled web of rule breaking and rule changing because of weird moves over many decades, but that’s the short version.

20 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

Did someone tell Ross that PCA has to play? I'd really like to know the answer to that. 

I don’t think they called PCA up to sit. This is different from the Canario situation, as I noted—not least because, really, Canario didn’t have a clear role with this team. PCA does.

50 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

So, will he be starting in place of Tauchman?  It will be interesting to see how they play this and how quick they are with the hook if he has any struggles whatsoever.

Yep, that’s the big question. I suspect he’ll play more than most are fearing but less than most hope. Haha.

PCA can his lefties. We're talking about a freaking 250 ISO. I hope they don't platoon him. Throw him in the deep end. Half of the hitters suck right now anyway. 

I am very excited to see PCA play, especially with Tauchman's Ortega impression seemingly entering the 'found out' stage.  I am also worried about his relative lack of offensive success in AAA.  In particular I've tried to pay attention when I see highlights of his ABs and it's mildly worrisome how rarely he seems to get hits up in the zone.  Hopefully that's just bad luck in the clips that I've happened to see since I don't watch every AB, but I'm curious how quickly 'fastballs at the top of the zone' becomes the book on him and how quickly he adjusts or proves it wrong to begin with.

After a tough weekend, this is excellent news. 

I came here to ask if he would be eligible for the post-season roster but it looks like that has already been answered in the affirmative. LFG!

what's his k-rate in iowa? seems like he's been whiffing twice a game there

2 hours ago, sweetpeteman said:

I think the player just had to be a part of the organization on August 31st, not on the 40 man to be elgible

Playoff eligible players have to be on the 40 by Sep 1.  With an injury to a player on the 26 man roster, the Cubs could petition to the commissioner to put PCA on the 40 and make him playoff eligible.  But that player must have served his minimum time on the DL

1 hour ago, Matt Trueblood said:

Correct. The restrictions on that have always been mostly a matter of minimizing shenanigans involving other teams dropping or swapping someone to you. Anyone who’s in the organization by 8/31 is playoff-eligible, and that’s not even really because of “loopholes”: the league was never trying to stop that from happening. They just wanted to stop a player acquired through some bizarre backdoor transaction in September from being eligible, and the best tool for that was the 40-man roster rule. It’s a really tangled web of rule breaking and rule changing because of weird moves over many decades, but that’s the short version.

If a player was in the system on Aug 31st and not on the 40 by Sep 1, he is not playoff eligible.

A player who doesn't meet said criteria for postseason eligibility can still be added to a team's roster in the postseason via petition to the Commissioner's Office if the player was in the organization on Aug. 31 and is replacing someone who is on the injured list and has served the minimum amount of time required for activation. 

1 minute ago, 17 Seconds said:

what's his k-rate in iowa? seems like he's been whiffing twice a game there

A hair under 30%.  Hopefully his past week marks him turning a corner(.365/.385/.720), but it was still 26% then and that's just one week against the Royals affiliate so the risk remains.  I don't watch him as many as some but my big concerns are that he has some non-competitive swings on breaking stuff down(think Morel), and his swing path causes him to swing through some fastballs up in the zone(think pre-Cubs Bellinger).  He's also doing real damage when he is making contact and he's made improvements with his baserunning efficiency(10/12 SB at Iowa after 8 CS at AA), but the outputs may be pretty high variance to start with.

2 hours ago, CubinNY said:

Did someone tell Ross that PCA has to play? I'd really like to know the answer to that. 

Me too, seems the "we are going to play the guys who got us here" quote has been used by Rossi more than once, and specifically when asked about Canario not playing. 

54 minutes ago, thawv said:

If a player was in the system on Aug 31st and not on the 40 by Sep 1, he is not playoff eligible.

A player who doesn't meet said criteria for postseason eligibility can still be added to a team's roster in the postseason via petition to the Commissioner's Office if the player was in the organization on Aug. 31 and is replacing someone who is on the injured list and has served the minimum amount of time required for activation. 

Mhm. And absolutely every such petition is granted, and absolutely every team can find a player to use as that injured guy for replacement.

I'm sad the son of Reggie Theus hasn't panned out, but thrilled that the son of the mom in Little Big League has made it!

1 hour ago, thawv said:

If a player was in the system on Aug 31st and not on the 40 by Sep 1, he is not playoff eligible.

A player who doesn't meet said criteria for postseason eligibility can still be added to a team's roster in the postseason via petition to the Commissioner's Office if the player was in the organization on Aug. 31 and is replacing someone who is on the injured list and has served the minimum amount of time required for activation. 

As Matt pointed out, these petitions are always granted. And teams can ALWAYS find someone to put on the IL (and most already have multiple choices available).

If PCA plays well and the Cubs make the postseason, PCA will be on the roster if they want him there.

1 minute ago, UMFan83 said:

I'm sad the son of Reggie Theus hasn't panned out, but thrilled that the son of the mom in Little Big League has made it!

Davis ain't dead yet.

Just now, Brock Beauchamp said:

As Matt pointed out, these petitions are always granted. And teams can ALWAYS find someone to put on the IL (and most already have multiple choices available).

If PCA plays well and the Cubs make the postseason, PCA will be on the roster if they want him there.

And at this point, he's got a good shot to be.

The argument for a guy like Mastrobuoni over PCA was always that the overall value was similar, but PCA had some contractual issues if we brought him up in September. But that damage is done now.

If PCA shows he can play and Ross likes him at least as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement, I could very easily see him on the postseason roster.

2 minutes ago, Rob said:

And at this point, he's got a good shot to be.

The argument for a guy like Mastrobuoni over PCA was always that the overall value was similar, but PCA had some contractual issues if we brought him up in September. But that damage is done now.

If PCA shows he can play and Ross likes him at least as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement, I could very easily see him on the postseason roster.

Now that he's up, I don't see a reason to send him back down (or end his season) unless he completely falls on his face.

4 hours ago, Matt Trueblood said:

I don’t think they called PCA up to sit. This is different from the Canario situation, as I noted—not least because, really, Canario didn’t have a clear role with this team. PCA does.

I don't think he'll sit like Canario...but I don't think he'll play much at all. I expect it'll be defense late in games, pinch running, etc, especially after Ross' comments. I would be fine to see him play over Tauchman on a few occasions to begin with, personally (who's been pretty brutal for a while, and I had been kind of waiting for the clock to strike midnight on) and maybe getting more time after. I could also be fine if this means more Bellinger in CF, and Candelario/Madrigal more in the infield. 

PCA can help the Cubs win games and I hope they use him as such.

I wouldn't get too hung up on Ross's idiotic statement of "playing the guys who got us here". The moron was planning to keep Smyly in the rotation by asking people to give him some "grace". Ross is straight up a moron but Hoyer isn't, if needed he'll step in and force Ross's hand like he did with Wicks.