CaliforniaRaisin

Of course there's no audio for today's game. Garrett Olson, who was a Cub for a portion of the past offseason, will start for the Mariners. http://asthruz.mlblogs.com/_W4Z5790_A-thumb-600x399.jpg

Gaudin and Samardzija are expected to start for the Cubs. Brian Bannister for the Royals. The game can be heard on the Royals broadcast (KCSP) via MLB's Media Center or on XM Channel 178.

Cubs up 2-0 in the 4th. Marshall's a baller: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K. Milton Bradley is 1 for 1 with a single. My friend is at the game - says Ryne Sandberg is in the Cubs dugout.

Hope he can still break the regular season with Daytona.

LF Alfonso Soriano SS Ryan Theriot 3B Aramis Ramirez 1B Jake Fox RF Richie Robnett CF Reed Johnson C Paul Bako 2B Andres Blanco P Sean Marshall. Expect 3 innings from Marshall and Luis Vizcaino and Andrew Cashner's 2009 Cactus League debuts. MLB.com will have gameday audio.

Confirmed Signings (via BA, BP, MLB, ESPN, Eastwindup Chronicle, Taiwan Baseball Blogspot, etc.): Astros: SS Jonathan Mejia, Dominican Republic (age 16) - $370,000 bonus Astros: LHP Kilby Peña, Domincain Republic (age 16) - $350,000 bonus Astros: RHP Enderson Franco, Venezuela (age 16) Astros: RHP Alexander Martinez, Nicaragua (age 16) A's: SS Wilferdo Solano, Venezuela - $750,000 bonus A's: 3B William Jose "Junior" Martinez A's: OF Alfred Alejandro Sosa Brewers: OF Jose Alberto Peña, Dominican Republic - $400,000 bonus Brewers: RHP Heri Olivo, Dominican Republic (age 17) - low 6-figure bonus, signed in February Blue Jays: C Santiago Nessy, Venezuela Cardinals: OF Wagner Mateo, Dominican Republic - $3.1 million bonus Cubs: C Wilson Contreras, Venezuela - possibly $850,000 bonus (per Jorge Arangure's Twitter; no confirmation) Cubs: OF Kyung-Min Na, South Korea (age 18) - $725,000 bonus Cubs: OF Dong-Yub Kim, South Korea (age 18) - $550,000 bonus Cubs: RHP Tzu-An Wang, Taiwan (age 18) - $300-$350,000 bonus Cubs: IF Ping-Chieh Chen, Taiwan (age 17) - $300,000 bonus Cubs: RHP Yao-Lin Wang, Taiwan (age 18) - $260,000 bonus Dodgers: IF Tae-hyeok Nam, South Korea (age 18) Giants: OF Leonardo Fuentes, Colombia (age 16) - $280,000 bonus Giants: RHP Marvin Barrios, Panama (age 16) Indians: SS Jairo Kelly, Dominican Republic (age 16) Indians: RHP Noel Cabral, Dominican Republic Indians: SS Jorge Martinez, Dominican Republic Mariners: OF Guillermo Pimentel, Dominican Republic (age 16) - $2 million bonus Mariners: RHP Kim Sun-ki, South Korea (age 18) - $500,000 bonus Mariners: C Choi Ji-man, South Korea - $495,000 bonus Mariners: OF Alfredo Morales, Dominican Republic Mariners: OF Alexis Palma, Venezuela Mariners: 3B Andres Brito, Venezuela Mets: LHP Juan Urbina, Venezuela, $1.25 million bonus Nationals: SS Jean Carlos Valdez, Dominican Republic - $350 - $450,000 bonus Nationals: RHP Cleto Cabral, Dominican Republic Padres: OF Yoan Alcantara, Dominican Republic (age 16) - $135,000 bonus Phillies: LHP Lino Martinez, Venezuela - $325,000 bonus Phillies: OF Domingo Santana, Dominican Republic (age 16) - $330,000 bonus Pirates: RHP Jean Carlos Ozoria, Dominican Republic (age 16) Pirates: OF Daan Cornelissen, Netherlands (age 17) Pirates: OF Ping-Hong Chi, Taiwan (age 18) - $30,000 bonus Pirates: RHP Shen-Cin Hong, Taiwan (age 18) Pirates: 1B/LHP Chi-Wei Hsu, Taiwan (age 17) Pirates: RHP Dovydas Neverauskas, Lithuania Rangers: SS Luis Sardinas, Venezuela (age 16) - $1.2 million bonus Rangers: SS/RHP Jurickson Profar, Curacao (age 16) - $750,000 bonus Rangers: SS Luis Mendez, Venezuela Rangers: CF Chris Garcia, Curacao Rangers: LHP Luis Daniel De la Torre, Mexico Rays: 3B Cesar Perez, Venezuela (age 16) - $1 million bonus Rays: SS Juniel Querecuto, Venezuela Red Sox: SS Jose Iglesias, Cuba (age 19) - 4 years / $8.25 million ($3 million bonus) Red Sox: SS Jose Vinicio, Dominican Republic - $2 million bonus Red Sox: LHP Victor Payano, Dominican Republic - $900,000 bonus Red Sox: RHP Raul Alcantara, Dominican Republic - $500,000 bonus Red Sox: RHP Mario Alcantara, Dominican Republic - $350,000 bonus Red Sox: OF Raoell Kortstam, Netherlands (age 17) Reds: SS Humberto Valor, Venezuela (age 16) Rockies: SS Rosel Herrera, Dominican Republic Rockies: LHP Jayson Aquino Rockies: SS Juan Ciriaco Rockies: RHP Carlos Medrano Rockies: RHP Alberto Mendez Rockies: RHP Jose Belen, Dominican Republic (age 17), signed in January Rockies: RHP Ramon Hurtado, Dominican Republic (age 17), signed in January Rockies: RHP Manuel Montilla, Dominican Republic (age 17), signed in January Royals: 3B Chesler Cuthbert, Nicaragua (age 16) - $1.2 million bonus Royals: C Shin Jin-ho, South Korea - $600,000 bonus Tigers: SS Alwin Delgado, Dominican Republic Tigers: SS Daniel Carranza, Panama Tigers: 3B Jesus Ustariz, Venezuela Tigers: RHP Jose Mendoza, Venezuela Twins: OF Max Kepler, Germany (age 16) - $800,000 bonus Twins: SS Jorge Polanco, Venezuela (age 16) Yankees: C Gary Sanchez, Dominican Republic - $3 million bonus Yankees: SS Damian Arredondo, Dominican Republic - $850,000 - falsified age and name, contract nixed Yankees: RHP Chris Cabrera, Dominican Republic - $400,000 Yankees: SS Jorge Alcantara Yankees: OF Daniel Lopez Yankees: RHP Jose Pena. Top July 2 Prospects: OF Sandy Acevedo, Dominican Republic RHP Raul Alcantara, Dominican Republic LHP Noel Arguelles, Cuba (age 19) SS Amilcar Arauz, Panama (age 16) SS Damian Arredondo, Dominican Republic SS Santos Luis Aybar, Dominican Republic SS Jean Carlos Batista, Dominican Republic 1B/C Jacob Beltre, Dominican Republic (age 16) RHP Jochi Ogondo Bosio, Dominican Republic (age 16) RHP Noel Cabral, Dominican Republic RHP Cristopher Cabrera, Dominican Republic LHP Mariosal Cairo, Dominican Republic OF Amable Capellan, Dominican Republic LHP Leo Cardoso, Cuba SS Paul Carlixte, Dominican Republic - IRREGULAR INVESTIGATION, POSSIBLE SUSPENSION SS Juan Castillo RHP Alejandro Chacin, Venezuela (age 16) 3B Cheslor Cuthbert, Nicaragua RHP Jose de la Cruz, Dominican Republic RHP Rafael DePaula, Dominican Republic - http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias_det.php?id=186424&l=1 - SUSPENDED RHP Rafael Diaz, Venezuela RHP Jhonatan Escudero, Colombia RHP Anderson Encarnacion LHP Edgar Ferreira, Dominican Republic (age 16) OF Leonardo Fuentes, Colombia OF Michael Guzman, Dominican Republic - SUSPENDED SS Rosel Herrera, Dominican Republic SS Jose Iglesias, Cuba (age 19) RHP Johendi Jiminian, Dominican Republig (age 16) OF Luis Jolly, Dominican Republic SS Jairo Kelly, Dominican Republic OF Max Kepler, Germany (age 16) - best European prospect in the past few years SS Chris Mauro Lopez, Colombia SS/3B Wilfredo Lozano, Venezuela OF Wagner Mateo, Dominican Republic - hitting video: OF Eladio Moronta, Dominican Republic - SUSPENDED C Julio Morillo, Venezuela LHP Sung-Bum Na, South Korea - sophomore in college in Korea C Santiago Nesi, Venezuela RHP Jochy Ogando RHP Jose Osuna, Venezuela OF Alexis Parma, Venezuela LHP Victor Payano, Dominican Republic OF Eric Peguero (a.k.a. Junior Monteliz), Dominican Republic - IRREGULAR INVESTIGATION, POSSIBLE SUSPENSION OF Jose Alberto Peña, Dominican Republic LHP Kirby Peña, Dominican Republic (age 16) RHP Leonardo Perdomo, Dominican Republic 3B Cesar Perez, Venezuela RHP David Perez, Dominican Republic (age 16) OF Guillermo Pimental, Dominican Republic SS Jorge Polanco, Venezuela (age 16) RHP/SS Jurickson Profar, Curacao - former LLWS star C Dionicio Ramirez OF Alfredo Ramos, Dominican Republic - IRREGULAR INVESTIGATION, POSSIBLE SUSPENSION OF Jaider Rocha, Colombia RHP Daniel Sanchez, Venezuela (rumored to be 19) C Gary Sanchez, Dominican Republic SS Miguel Sano, Dominican Republic - http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3974952 RHP Amiro Santana, Dominican Republic RHP Gian Carlos Santana SS Luis Sardinas, Venezuela LHP Mario Sel Cairo 3B Wilfredo Solano, Venezuela 3B Gabriel Tenia, Venezuela RHP Chax Tomosina, Dominican Republic (age 18) LHP Juan Urbina, Venezuela - Ugueth Urbina's son SS Jean Carlos Valdez, Dominican Republic SS Humberto Valor, Venezuela SS Jose Vinicio, Dominican Republic 2010 (all Dominicans): SS Ramel Flores-García SS Claudio Baez SS Yan Cory Pimentel LF Dionisio Rosario Elvis Sanchez Frank Jimenez?

RHP Ryan Acosta :shock:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/prospects/prospect-bulletin/2009/267704.html Jose Ceda was the Marlins' "golden opportunity" but he has already been shut down with right shoulder aggravation.

With pitchers and catchers already reporting, Nathan Baliva, announcer for the Peoria Chiefs (low-A), has once again graciously agreed to have a thread where he will answer some questions about the Chiefs throughout the 2009 season! This will be a great opportunity to not only get to ask questions to a first hand source, but to get to know Nathan over the course of the season. Please note that Nathan is being very gracious to interact with us. With that being said, please understand that Nathan may or may not be able to get to your question right away and that there may be times where he is limited in regards to what he can say on certain issues. This session will be in accordance with the NSBB Q & A Guidelines. Thank you to Nathan for taking the time to visit with us here at NSBB. In addition, thank you to all of you for making NSBB such a wonderful posting community!

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090116/SPORTS1402/901160378/1053

The deadline for underclassmen to turn pro is January 15. The draft starts on April 25. Underclassmen Turning Pro: CB Asher Allen, Georgia DT Chris Baker, Hampton WR Kenny Britt, Rutgers OT Eben Britton, Arizona RB Donald Brown, Connecticut DE Everette Brown, Florida State CB Jairus Byrd, Oregon TE James Casey, Rice (sophomore) WR Jeremy Childs, Boise State RB Glen Coffee, Alabama WR Austin Collie, BYU S Emmanuel Cook, South Carolina TE Jared Cook, South Carolina WR Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech (sophomore) TE Andrew Davie, Arkansas QB Nate Davis, Ball State CB Vontae Davis, Illinois DE Maurice Evans, Penn State QB Josh Freeman, Kansas State RB Shonn Greene, Iowa WR Brian Hartline, Ohio State WR Percy Harvin, Florida WR Darrius Heyward-Bey, Maryland RB PJ Hill, Wisconsin G Greg Isdaner, West Virginia DT Rickey Jean-Francois, LSU DE Paul Kruger, Utah (sophomore) WR Jeremy Maclin, Missouri (sophomore) DT Sen'Derrick Marks, Auburn RB Brandon Mason, Stony Brook DE Aaron Maybin, Penn State (sophomore) RB LeSean McCoy, Pittsburgh (sophomore) LB Gerald McRath, Southern Mississippi WR Andrew Means, Indiana CB DJ Moore, Vanderbilt RB Knowshon Moreno, Georgia (sophomore) TE Cameron Morrah, UC Berkeley CB Captain Munnerlyn, South Carolina WR Hakeem Nicks, North Carolina WR Kevin Ogletree, Virginia CB Jerraud Powers, Auburn TE Robert Quinn, North Carolina S Anthony Reddick, Miami (FL) QB Mark Sanchez, USC OT Andre Smith, Alabama CB Sean Smith, Utah QB Matt Stafford, Georgia CB Donald Washington, Ohio State RB Chris Wells, Ohio State DE Brandon Williams, Texas Tech CB James Williams, Southern Connecticut Returning: DT Geno Atkins, Georgia OT Ciron Black, LSU QB Sam Bradford, Oklahoma (sophomore) CB Crezdon Butler, Clemson LB Reggie Carter, UCLA FS Kam Chancellor, Virginia DT Terrence Cody, Alabama DE Antonio Coleman, Auburn RB CJ Gable, USC (sophomore) WR Marshawn Gilyard, Cincinnati DE Brandon Graham, Michigan TE Jermaine Gresham, Oklahoma DE Greg Hardy, Ole Miss LB Mark Herzlich, Boston College DT Arthur Jones, Syracuse LB Micah Johnson, Kentucky RB Stafon Johnson, USC LB Sergio Kindle, Texas WR Brandon LaFell, LSU CB Trevard Lindley, Kentucky S Taylor Mays, USC QB Colt McCoy, Texas DT Gerald McCoy, Oklahoma (sophomore) S Demetrice Morley, Tennessee LB Eric Norwood, South Carolina DT Vince Oghobaase, Duke RB Charles Scott, LSU DE George Selvie, South Florida LB Brandon Spikes, Florida RB CJ Spiller, Clemson DT Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska QB Tim Tebow, Florida CB Alterraun Verner, UCLA WR Damian Williams, USC OT Trent Williams, Oklahoma LB Sean Witherspoon, Missouri S Myron Rolle of FSU is going to forgo his senior year of eligibility to go to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and will then turn pro.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/majors/organization-reports/oakland-athletics/2009/267365.html

Very in depth article: http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2898712 I didn't know Hak-Ju had TJS too. Seems a bit premature to say this: but I can hope! Shinsano at East Windup Chronicle commented on the article: The Steve there is Steve Wilson, the Cubs Pac Rim scout.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=1832 There have been rumblings of this since the HWB is so expensive to operate and Korean and Japanese teams haven't been sending as many players as they should. Hopefully this will allow more players to take part at this level and more Latin American prospects to be involved too.

Chicago Cubs Signed: RHP Angel Castro, LHP Jason Waddell, C Mark Johnson All 3 are minor leaguers Castro: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Angel%20Castro&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=502162 Waddell: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Jason%20Waddell&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=455730 Johnson: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Mark%20Johnson&pos=C&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=150322

http://www.japantoday.com/category/sports/view/pitcher-uehara-eyes-career-in-majors Looks like he had a bad season and has some injury problems too.

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=8296 Five-Star Prospects 1. Josh Vitters, 3B Four-Star Prospects 2. Jeff Samardzija, RHP 3. Jose Ceda, RHP Three-Star Prospects 4. Hak-Ju Lee, SS 5. Andrew Cashner, RHP 6. Tyler Colvin, OF 7. Dae-Eun Rhee, LHP 8. Ryan Flaherty, Two-Star Prospects 9. Welington Castillo, C 10. Donald Veal, LHP 11. Micah Hoffpauir, 1B Just Missed: Matt Cedra, INF; Jay Jackson, RHP; Logan Watkins, INF Ranking Challenges: The Cubs are a very tough team to rank. That said, the top three prospects on my initial snapshot never moved, and you see them exactly where they started. Everything after that is a bit of a mess however, as one could jumble up the players ranked fourth through eleventh in any order and make some kind of reasonable argument for all.

I fail to see how Jeremy Hermida isn't a starter.

They got started last week. So far, only a few Cubs on the rosters: Caguas: 3B Jovan Rosa Santurce: RHP Randy Wells Carolina: C Geovany Soto

These players filed for free agency: RRHP: Mike Burns (AAA), Hector Carrasco (AAA), Adam Harben (AAA), Billy Petrick (AAA) LHP: Carmen Pignatiello (AAA), Jason Stanford (AAA) 1B: Matt Craig (AAA) 2B: Robinson Chirinos (Hi A), Bobby Scales (AAA) SS: Andres Blanco (AAA), Luis Figueroa (AAA) OF: Doug Deeds (AA), Jason Dubois (AAA), Josh Kroeger (AAA), Andres Torres (AAA) The Cubs can still re-sign some of these guys. Hopefully Petrick, Craig and Kroeger will return.

Always a good time to link to Petrick's Baseball Cube page. :?

Talk amongst yourselves, non-Bull fans.

http://thecubreporter.com/2008/10/27/tyler-colvin-undergoes-tommy-john-surgery If it's TJS, he's probably going to miss half of the 09 season.

Iowa Cubs manager Pat Listach, who apparently has future big league manager potential (he was rated as the best manager prospect in 2008 in the PCL by Baseball America) will be the new third base coach for the Nats. Former Cubs manager Jim Riggleman will be the new Nats bench coach. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3662144

They got started last week but the box scores are updated very sporadically. Caracas SS Marwin Gonzalez C Carlos Perez Caribes RHP Carlos Rojas C Jose Guevara IF George Matheus La Guaira RHP Edilmar Infante RHP Hector Mayora Magallanes RHP Angel Guzman RHP Robert Hernandez C Carlos Romero RHP Larry Suarez