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ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE (AFL):
The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an MLB developmental league (approximately equivalent to "AA") that operates in the Phoenix metropolitan area for six weeks after the MLB-affiliated minor leagues have concluded their seasons. It was founded in 1992, the "brain-child" of long-time MLB executive Roland Hemond. The AFL operated continuously for 27 seasons, until the 2020 season was canceled due to the CoViD-19 pandemic. Games are played in MLB Spring Training stadiums.
2022 AFL Opening Day will be on Monday, October 3rd, and the AFL regular season will conclude on Thursday, November 10th.
The 2022 AFL schedule will continue to feature a 30-game "regular season." Each AFL team will play five or six games per week, with a total of six games (three home / three road) played against the other five AFL teams.
The 2022 AFL Championship Game will be played on Saturday, November 12th. For the first time, the six AFL teams wil play as one league (no divisions), with the second and third place teams playing a semi-final "play-in" game on Friday, November 11th, and then the winner of the "play in" game will face the first place team in the AFL Championship Game the next day.
An All-Star Game known as the "Fall Stars Game" will be played on Sunday, November 6th.
The Cubs (as well as the other 29 MLB clubs) usually assign some of their better prospects to the Arizona Fall League, and sometimes minor leaguers who are eligible for selection in the MLB Rule 5 Draft might be sent to the AFL to give them a chance to play their way onto the MLB 40-man roster. Others might be assigned because of missing significant time during the minor league regular season due to injury.
Here are the current (2022) AFL eligibility rules & restrictions.
1. There are six AFL teams, and each AFL team is affiliated with five MLB clubs. SEA & SD (Peoria Javelinas), KC & TEX (Surprise Saguaros), LAD & CHW (Glendale Desert Dogs), AZ & COL (Salt River Rafters), CUBS (Mesa Solar Sox), and SF (Scottsdale Scorpions) are the "host organizations" for the six AFL teams, but the affiliations of the other twenty MLB clubs can vary from year-to-year. MIA, OAK, TB, and NYY are the other four MLB organizations affiliated with the Mesa Solar Sox in 2022.
NOTE: BAL, MIA, OAK, and TOR were the other four MLB Organizations affiliated with the Mesa Solar Sox in 2021, the AFL season was canceled due to CoViD in 2020, CLE, DET, LAA, and OAK were the other four MLB organizations affiliated with the Mesa Solar Sox in 2019, BOS, DET, LAA, and OAK were the other four MLB organizations affiliated with the Mesa Solar Sox in 2018, DET, HOU, OAK, and WAS were the other four MLB organizations affiliated with the Solar Sox in 2017, and BAL, CLE, MIA, and OAK were the other four MLB organizations affiliated with the MSS in 2016.
2. Each MLB organization must assign a minimum of seven players under its control to its AFL affiliate, including a minimum of four pitchers (preferably at least one pitcher capable of starting) and a minimum of three position players (specific positions needed to be filled by each organization TBD by a conference call "position draft" between the Player Development Directors of the five MLB organizations affiliated with that particular AFL team).
NOTE: RHP Danis Correa, RHP Ryan Jensen, RHP Caleb Kilian, LHP Brendon Little, INF Luis Vazquez, OF Nelson Velazquez and INF Andy Weber, were the seven Cubs players assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox in 2021, the AFL was canceled due to CoViD in 2020, C Miguel Amaya, RHRP Scott Effross, LHRP Jordan Minch, INF Zack Short, RHSP Keegan Thompson, RHSP Erich Uelmen, and 1B-OF Jared Young were assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox in 2019, RHRP Bailey Clark, INF-OF Trent Giambrone, C-INF P. J. Higgins, SS Nico Hoerner, C Jhonny Pereda, LHSP Justin Steele, RHSP Erick Leal, LHRP Manuel Rondon, and OF D. J. Wilson were assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox in 2018, RHSP Adbert Alzolay, RHRP Pedro Araujo, INF David Bote, OF Charcer Burks, RHSP Alec Mills, C-1B Ian Rice, RHRP Jake Stinnett, and 3B-1B Jason Vosler were assigned to the Solar Sox in 2017 (RHSP Oscar de la Cruz was removed from the Solar Sox roster on 9/18 due to injury and was replaced Alzolay), and C-1B Victor Caratini, RHRP James Farris, 2B-OF Ian Happ, LF Eloy Jimenez, RHRP Ryan McNeil, RHRP Steve Perakslis, and RHSP Duane Underwood Jr were assigned to the Solar Sox in 2016.
3. An MLB organization can assign additional position-players to its AFL team's "Taxi Squad." Players assigned to an AFL team's "Taxi Squad" can play in no more than two games per week (it used to be Wednesday and Saturday games only, but now it's just no more than two games per week regardless of the day), but a player can be transferred from the Taxi Squad to the 35-man Active Roster to replace an injured or inactive player.
NOTE: INF-OF Trent Giambrone and C Jhonny Pereda were assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox Taxi Squad in 2018, C-1B Ian Rice was assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox Taxi Squad in 2017 and he replaced David Bote on the MSS Active Roster with about two weeks left in the AFL season after Bote left the team to attend to a personal matter, and while the Cubs initially did not assign any players to the Solar Sox Taxi Squad in 2016, OF-DH Kyle Schwarber was briefly assigned to the MSS Taxi Squad 10/22-10/25 while preparing to play in the World Series.
4. A player can be selected to play in the AFL more than once.
5. All MLB and minor league players under the control of an MLB organization are now eligible to play in the AFL.
NOTE: Prior to 2019, an MLB player (including players selected in a preceding Rule 5 Draft) with less than one year (1+000) MLB Service Time accrued (not including time spent on an Injured List) as of September 1st and players who were on the Active List, Injured List, or Temporarily Inactive List of an MLB minor league affiliate (regardless of classification) on August 15th were eligible, international players from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, and/or Australia were eligible only if the player was not on the reserve list of a Winter League club from the player's home country, and a player who was on a minor league or MLB Injured List at the close of the regular season was eligible to play in the AFL as long as the player had been reinstated, but there could be no special limits or restrictions placed on the player's playing time (other than the automatic restrictions imposed on a player assigned to an AFL team's "Taxi Squad").
6. A player must be invited by his MLB organization to participate in the AFL and then the player must accept the invitation before he can be assigned an AFL team.
7. A player on an MLB or minor league injured list of an MLB or minor league club that is still in the process of playing regular season or post-season games must be reinstated before he can be assigned to the AFL.
NOTE: OF-DH Kyle Schwarber was added to the 2016 Mesa Solar Sox Taxi Squad on 10/22 only after being reinstated from the Cubs MLB 60-day DL (so therefore it was NOT considered a "rehab assignment"), and he played in two AFL games before re-joining the Cubs for the World Series on 10/25.
8. A player on the Restricted List, Military List, Disqualified List, Ineligible List, or Voluntary Retired List is not eligible to participate in the AFL.
9. All players assigned to an AFL team receive the same salary and the salaries are paid out of a special fund managed by MLB.
10. Only players who are under control of an MLB organization are eligible to play in the AFL. A free-agent (unsigned player) is not eligible to play in the AFL.
Each MLB organization provides either the manager, a pitching coach, a hitting coach, or a bench coach to its affiliated AFL club (assignments rotate every year). The Cubs are providing the bench coach to their AFL club in 2022.
CUBS ASSIGNED TO MESA SOLAR SOX in 2023 (updated 9-16-2023):
Kevin Alcantara, OF
Alexander Canario, OF
Nick Hull, RHP
Adam Laskey, LHP
Jose Romerrp, RHP
Tyler Santana, RHP
James Triantos, INF
ARIZONA INSTRUCTIONAL LEAGUE (AZIL):
The Arizona Instructional League (known informally as "Instructs") has been in continuous existence for well over 60 years.
This year, Cubs AZ Instructs will begin on August 29th and conclude on October 7th.
Typically, clubs will only assign players with experience below the AA level to Instructs, although occasionally an older player will be assigned to work on one particular phase of his game or to rehab from an injury.
Clubs with Spring Training homes in Arizona are not required to operate a team in the AZIL, and MLB clubs that do operate an "instructs" team are not required to schedule games against teams from other organizations.
2023 CUBS ARIZONA INSTRUCTIONAL LEAGUE ROSTER
LAST UPDATED: 9-12-2023
* bats or throws left
# bats both
NOTE: Not all players have reported
PITCHERS: 30
Juan Bello
* Daniel Brown
Garrett Brown
Raino Coran (ex-OF)
Nick Dean
Luis Devers
Kenten Egbert
Will Frisch
* Carlos Garcia
Landon Ginn
Dominic Hambley
Ty Johnson
Scarlyn Lebron
Shane Marshall (ex-C)
Luis Martinez-Gomez
Mason McGwire
Grayson Moore
Koen Moreno
* Branden Noriega
Eligio Paredes
Kenyi Perez
Luis A, Reyes
Yenrri Rojas
Alfredo Romero
Jose Romero
Luis Rujano
Will Sanders
Tyler Schlaffer
Kevin Valdez
* Chase Watkins
CATCHERS: 5
* Jairo Diaz
Frank Hernandez (ex-OF)
Adan Sanchez
* Wally Soto
Carter Trice (ex-INF)
INFIELDERS: 11
Drew Bowser
* Jose Escobar
Alexis Hernandez
Ed Howard
Brian Kalmer
Geuri Lubo
* Yahil Melendez
Christian Olivo
Christopher Paciolla
Reggie Preciado
Josh Rivera
OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Jefferson Encarnacion
Leonel Espinoza
* Zyhir Hope
Alfonsin Rosario
GAME MANAGER:
Nick Lovullo
COACHES:
Collin Andrews
Carlos Chantres
Tony Cougoule
Yovanny Cuevas
Andrew Craig
Doug Dascenzo
Rachel Folden
Armando Gabino
Danny Higginbotham
Casey Jacobson
Mark Johnson
Ben Martin
James Ogden
Dai Dai Otaka
Edgar Perez
Chris Pieter
Steven Pollakov
Connor Rooney
Yovani Rosario
George Thanopoulos
Desi Wilson
Jose Zapata
Recent comments
crunch 09/24/2023 - 09:52 pm (view)
cubs win...so do MIA and CIN,. ARZ is close to winning (up by 6 in the 8th). total wash of a day.
off day tomorrow then it's the last week of baseball...not an easy one vs MIL and ATL. last-week drama...
crunch 09/24/2023 - 09:47 pm (view)
merryweather puts the first couple guys on with 0 outs...and smyly is up in the pen. back end of the pen situation is a mess.
crunch 09/24/2023 - 09:31 pm (view)
"Coming into the game, they were 0-819 when trailing by nine runs or more." damn.
Charlie 09/24/2023 - 09:48 am (view)
I wonder how many pitchers have missed this much time in a relatively short span with recurring forearm issues and not had it lead to surgery.
Cubster 09/24/2023 - 09:34 am (view)
Historic win for Pirates...
https://www.mlb.com/news/pirates-mount-historic-rally-to-beat-reds?part…
Arizona Phil 09/23/2023 - 09:02 pm (view)
The deadline for trading players on an MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) and players who were outrighted to the minors after signing a 2023 MLB contract was August 1st, but trades involving players on a minor league reserve list are prohibited beginning at 12 PM (Eastern) on the 7th day prior to the originally-scheduled conclusion of the 2023 MLB regular season (Sunday 9/24) through the last day of the MLB regular season (including a day on which a regular season game is played after the originally-scheduled conclusion of the MLB regular season).
Arizona Phil 09/24/2023 - 09:41 am (view)
jdrnym:
As you know, the abbreviation "DFA" stands for "Designated for Assignment."
There are three types of assignments:
1. Trade Assignment (when a player is traded from one MLB club to another)
2. Outright Assignment (when a player is sent to the club's minor league Domestic Reserve List after Outright Assignment Waivers have been secured).
3. Optional Assignment (when a player is optioned to the minors, subject to being recalled at a later time).
So when a player is Designated for Assignment, the player can either be traded, outrighted to the minors, or optioned to the minors.
Normally a player is not Designated for Assignment and then optioned to the minors, because the club could just option the player to the minors immediately without a DFA.
Back in the day It was not that unusual for a player to be Designated for Assignment so that Optional Assignment Waivers could be secured (Optional Assignment Waivers were required before certain players could be optioned to the minors, and just like the old Trade Assignment Waivers, Optional Assignment Waivers were revocable if a player was claimed).
https://www.thecubreporter.com/why-player-designated-assignment-and-the…
Optional Assignment Waivers were eliminated in 2016 and Trade Assignment Waivers were eliminated in 2021, so all revocable waivers have been eliminated. What's left are Outright Assignment Waivers and Outright Release Waivers, and both are irrevocable (cannot be withdrawn) once requested.
With the new five option limit whereby a player can be optioned to the minors no more than five times in a given season before Outright Assignment Waivers must be secured (and it - IS - Outright Assignment Waivers that must be secured, even though it is for the purpose of an Optional Assignment), it now might be necessary for a club to DFA a player to clear a spot on the MLB 26-man roster (MLB 28-man roster in September) for another player and to allow for the two days (actually 47 hours) required to run a player through waivers. After the two day "Waiver Claiming Period" concludes (and presuming the player isn't claimed), the player can be returned to the MLB 40-man roster and optioned to the minors (even after being Designated for Assignment). But for that to happen, the player can - NOT - be replaced on the MLB 40-man roster by another player after being Designated for Assignment.
However, in the case of Jordan Luplow, he had - NOT - been optioned to the minors five times in the 2023 season prior to be optioned to AAA St. Paul on 9/18, so the Twins did not need to DFA Luplow in order to secure Outright Assignment Waivers so that he could be optioned to the minors a sixth time. But because he was Designated for Assignment and not replaced on the 40 by another player after the DFA, the Twins could return him to the 40 and option him to the minors even after he was Designated for Assignment, because an Optional Assignment is one of the three types of assignments.
So Luplow was Designated for Assignment even though he didn't need to be, and then the Twins returned him to their MLB 40-man roster and optioned him to the minors a couple of days later (which they can do, since Luplow wasn't replaced on the 40 by another player after he was Designated for Assignment). What the Twins did (DFA Luplow and then return him to the 40 and option him to the minors a couple of days later) was within the rules. It's just very odd and doesn't make a lot of sense.
So I will offer what I believe is the most logical reason the Twins did this:
The Twins DFA'd Luplow because they intended to reinstate Chris Paddack from the 60-day IL, but then Carlos Correa suddenly needed to go on the 10-day IL and they recalled Trevor Larnach to replace Correa, but then they probably decided they should keep Luplow on the 40-man roster, too (and on Optional Assignment to AAA), and didn't want to risk losing him off waivers or by him electing free-agency after being outrighted. Luplow has Article XX-D rights (he has been outrighted to the minors previously in his career, so he would had the right to elect free-agency after he was outrighted). Clearly the Twins felt they might need Luplow's RH bat after losing Correa and with Royce Lewis having left a game with a hamstring injury that led to an IL assignment. And that meant that Paddack would remain on his minor league rehab assignment a few extra days, but the Twins will need him in the post-season, not now.
Also, if Luplow was outrighted instead of being optioned, he would no longer be automatically eligible to play in the post-season (except as a possible injury replacement).
Not only did Carlos Correa go on the IL, Royce Lewis went on the IL, too, two days after Correa went on the IL and two days after Luplow was optioned to AAA, so the Twins did in fact end up needing Luplow after all, and recalled him just a couple of days after he was optioned to replace Lewis on the MLB 28-man roster. (So both Larnach and Luplow were recalled within a couple of days of each other, replacing Correa and Lewis on the Twins MLB 28-man roster).
So that's all I've got. That is the only thing that makes sense. The Twins DFA'd Luplow because they had intended to replace him on the 40 with another player (probably Paddack) and hoped that they would be able to run him through waivers and that he wouldn't get claimed and that he would accept an Outright Assignment, but then they suddenly changed their minds because of the injury to Correa and the possibility that Lewis might also have to go on the IL (which did, in fact, happen the next day). Also, with the injuries to Correa and Lewis, the Twins wanted Luplow to remain automatically post-season eligible, which would not be the case if he was outrighted.
Again, the Twins were able to return Luplow to the 40 and option him to AAA because he hadn't been replaced on the 40 by another player after he was Designated for Assignment.
crunch 09/23/2023 - 09:00 pm (view)
CIN out here blowing a 9-0 lead they built through 3 innings. 9-9 tie in the 7th.
crunch 09/23/2023 - 09:05 pm (view)
boxburger 10d IL, k.thompson back up. it's his right forearm (again).
crunch 09/23/2023 - 09:12 pm (view)
merryweather got out of it, but he loaded the bases with 1 out. of course ross got cuas up in the pen...thankfully he didn't need to come in.
looks like cuas gets the 9th.