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37 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (three slots are open)

Last updated 11-17-2023
 
* bats or throws left
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PITCHERS: 20
Adbert Alzolay 
Michael Arias
Javier Assad
Ben Brown
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
Porter Hodge
* Bailey Horn
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Daniel Palencia
Michael Rucker
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 8
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
* Matt Mervis
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Luis Vazquez
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 7
Kevin Alcantara
Alexander Canario
* Pete Crow-Armstrong
Brennen Davis
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman

 


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Cubs @ Reds - Lester vs. Leake; Game 16 Thread

Submitted by Rob G. on

 Jon Lester vs. Mike Leake

#Fowler CF#Hamilton CF
Soler RF*Votto 1B
*Rizzo 1BFrazier 3B
Bryant CFPhillips 2B
*Coghlan LF*Bruce RF
Castro SSByrd LF
Ross C#Pena C
*Lester PCozart SS
Russell 2B*Leake P

Don't have a lot of time this morning, but a reminder that I'll have the chatbox up in the lower right around game time.  Kris Bryant playing in center field today is the pre-game buzz as Dexter Fowler tweaked his groin on a bunt attempt yesterday. They say Fowler's available to pinch hit if needed, so doesn't sound like he'll be out for long. In the meantime, Bryant shifts to center field today because either Joe Maddon has him on his fantasy team and wants to up his position eligibility or because Bryant played a literal handful of games there in college and claims it's the outfield position he's most comfortable playing.

Tags
Cubs 2015 Game Thread

Comments

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Submitted by Ryno on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:15 am

If either Lester were dominant enough to warrant his own catcher or if Ross hadn't choked in the previous at bats we might not have had to win that in extras. So no I do not care to edit. It was good that he came through though. I'll give him that much

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Submitted by Old and Blue on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:12 am

I'm not a big fan of this whole concept of "choking" in baseball, especially when it's a catcher. It is such an absolutely difficult sport, and hitting a baseball, especially against these nasty pitchers these days, who are, unfortunately, aided by inconsistent umps, is an art that I could never have hoped to master. David Ross is somewhat underrated on TCR. He has a career OPS of .753, which by catcher standards is really not awful at all. Buster Posey's career OPS is .855, if you want a quick comp. He's the batting equivalent of a crafty veteran. His career has been a mix of really, really good years, and really, really bad years. His most recent good year, admittedly, was 2010, but that was a very good year, with an OBP of .392. This year, small sample size, his OBP is .353. Small sample size, but trending nicely, and he's taken a couple of really big walks. Hitting is overrated. Show me a guy who can get on base. All that said, your squeamishness when seeing him come to the plate is understandable. He has an abysmal RISP OPS over the last three years. Anyway, I don't think he choked. He just got beat. Montero hasn't been any better so far this year, and Beefy is, well, not so Beefy with RISP, hitting at a .223/.317/.330/.647 over the last three years. To me, complaining about how a catcher performs at the plate is like going to McDonalds and bitching about the quality of the meat.

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Submitted by crunch on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:40 pm

unfortunately, the cubs didn't sign d.ross's career to be on the roster for 2 years...they signed d.ross as he is now. also, his ob% might not be so pretty without 0-100 lester behind him so much. the fact the team has to sign a guy like him to make up for their $25m pitcher's shortcomings that other teams are taking advantage of is kinda "dude really?" to some people. a 38 year old no-hit catcher got a 2 year deal to make the $25m pitcher work better...and he's not working better so far. i should amend this to say that it's not d.ross that's not making lester work better...it's lester. right now ross is doing all the runner checking (unfortunately after the pitch) on all the leads being taken and he's receiving well. his bat tool checked out long ago aside from the occasional power pop, though. sigh. it would be a lot easier if lester could check his own runners and he could work with a variety of catchers much easier. sure, technically he could work with any catcher, but who's doing to do the things lester doesn't do for himself?

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Submitted by mannytrillo on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:44 pm

I wouldn't have a huge problem if Ross was our second catcher and we only carried 2 catchers and he was Lester's personal catcher. It might have been part of the deal to get him to sign her is to bring Ross along. But carrying 3 catchers when this guys sucks is bad roster management. Yes he got a good hit last night, and he walks a lot as he bats in front of Lester, but hopefully we can move one of other catchers to ease the glut of catchers. I wonder if there is another team in MLB that carries 13 pitchers and 3 catchers.

Submitted by Old and Blue on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:19 am

So I looked up Kris Bryant's strikeout rate to this point and it's at 21%. Not tiny. I think it was closer to 30 in the minors, right? So two things about that. Maybe he was really much more interested in jacks in the minors. The other point: His strikeout rate is a bit deceiving. Without a doubt, he knows his strike zone. I've never seen a rookie know his strike zone so well. Speaking of knowing a strike zone, should there be a new word for that? Something with "Rizzo" as the first five letters? I lived in SF during Barry Bonds' career years, and, although Rizzo doesn't have that power, he's got a lot of it, and he is, possibly, even better at mastering the plate than Bonds was. My only worry is that he'll get hurt, but I did notice he was backing off the plate just a hair last night when Chapman was pitching, and he still managed to own the plate. I wouldn't mind seeing him do that with everyone. I think he'd be fine backing off just a bit.

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Submitted by sbwilliams on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:58 pm

He still has some swing and miss in his game, but I agree I think his approach has been really good past his first game. I'm WAY more concerned about Soler's approach. He is posting a near Baez level 35 percent K rate. The only reason we aren't talking about this now is because he's also got an incredibly fortunate .410 BABIP. Regression to the mean will come and it may be harsh to Soler. Can't remember when K-rate for hitters tend to stabilize.

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Submitted by The E-Man on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:02 pm

Ease up on the K rate. Nelson Cruz K'd 140x last season. Dave Kingman, with a career OPS of .780 in 16 seasons (including his best Cubs year at .900+!) also K'd over 100x a year or more, conservatively. Aggressive hitters meet the best pitchers and one has to win. Like CRUNCH says, it's not ez. But if Bryant collects 100+ RBI and league average 3B, that is AS level and fine by me.

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Submitted by sbwilliams on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:21 pm

Not really concerned with Bryant. Though I expect him to strike out more around 25-27 percent this year rather than his minor league averages. He is still going to be great at that rate with his power, which we sadly haven't had a chance to witness at the ML league level yet. I was mostly, as I said, worried about Soler. Bryant will be good. I don't care about strikeouts in a traditional sense. I care about them when I think they could debilitate a hitter's production. Bryant's aren't at that level, but Soler's are around that type of mark IF it were to continue.

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Submitted by Old and Blue on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:16 pm

Totally agree with you on the K rate. I brought it up because I see a lot of hyperventilating about it, and I was fascinated by the dichotomy between some of that hyperventilating about his K rate and his approach at the plate. With a guy like Baez, K rate matters because it is so stupendously high but even if he figures it all out he's always gonna have a huge K rate. The other issue with K rates is, when do they happen? If they happen with men on it's not as bad as a DP, and not as good as moving the runner over. So it's kind of a worthless stat for me.

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Submitted by Charlie on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:11 pm

Meh. They're focusing on getting him out with sliders out of the zone. I'll wait and see if he adjusts. That you can get him out with sliders down and away doesn't exactly illuminate some hole in his swing/approach, unless it turns out that he can't ever lay off that pitch. It stands out right now in part because Rizzo and Bryant are so hard to get out, so there's a significant contrast.

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Submitted by Old and Blue on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:48 pm

They've been doing exactly that for the last couple weeks. I'm not too worried about it. He's got a pretty good eye up there overall, and pretty soon he'll start recognizing the low and away slider and stop swinging at it. The other thing? You sure better get it low and away or he'll crush it.

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Submitted by Old and Blue on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:00 pm

Major league pitching has gotten so good that they can actually find a way to get a guy like Soler out. I was beginning to wonder if it is possible. I predict a full adjustment within a few weeks. Muskrat saying game time is at 3:35 CST. Maybe that's when the adjustment will start. #fingerscrossed

Submitted by crunch on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:43 pm

"Carrie Muskat @CarrieMuskat · 15m 15 minutes ago #Reds have had 3 rain delays this year, totaling 4 hrs 23 mins. #Cubs could wait that long today to play"

Submitted by mannytrillo on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:53 pm

Damn Trevor Bauer late scratch screwing over my Daily Fantasy Baseball Team. Ugh!

Submitted by billybucks on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:25 pm

Cubs team featuring Rizzo, Soler, Bryant and Castro is being led in HR by....Chris Coghlan.

Submitted by crunch on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:38 pm

"Carrie Muskat @CarrieMuskat · 9m 9 minutes ago #Reds expect a weather update at 4 pm ET/3 pm CT."

Submitted by johann on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:34 pm

Looked at weather map and looks like it should be blowing past by 3:45 PM central and then be good for several hours so hopefully.

Submitted by Charlie on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:12 pm

It'd be a heck of a day to take in a AA Tennessee game. Schwarber, Almora, and Vogelbach all in the lineup on the Smokies' side. Buxton and Sano in the Chattanooga Lookouts' lineup.

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Submitted by crunch on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:40 pm

it's $50 a year for streaming minor league games...mostly AAA/AA, but there's some from lower levels (even the south bend cubs). if you're into it, it's gotta be amazing. i keep wanting to pick it up, but i know i won't use it as much with the regular season going on. it's nice, though.

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Submitted by Old and Blue on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:36 pm

I've thought about getting it, too, but I'm also concerned about the streaming quality. The MLB version is still pretty bad sometimes. It barely works for my Fire TV and that puppy has a fast processor. The browser based MLB-TV have always been prone to the dreaded spin for me, and that seems especially true when something big is happening. The only thing that has worked really well for me is the new stand-alone Mac app. For some reason, it's been glitch free and no interruptions yet.

Submitted by The E-Man on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:29 pm

Fuck the Morans I think its wonderful that the Cards get to play the shitty Brewers every game so they can build up a nice win cache. And, of course, it is important that they get a competitive balance pick due to their extreme disadvantages.

Submitted by billybucks on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:14 pm

DRose with 2 dumbass plays in the last 3 seconds to cost the Bulls a playoff game. An "it's all about me" one-on-three turnover, then gets burned by a high school fake to give up the losing basket with less than a second left. Hey, dumbass-- Butler is the team's best player -- get the ball to him in crunch time. Really, really hard to like this guy.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Mon, 04/27/2015 - 04:43 am

Sounds a lot like speed at the top of the lineup and knowing how to win and other BS narratives people buy into because they're repeated ad nasuem. 

butler and rose had plenty of time off at end of season, playing together would probably be more useful to them. Maybe Mirotic and Taj, but they're minor pieces of the puzzle. and doesnt NBA have a sort of flex schedule in the playoffs? I mean Cavs swept and if Bulls swept, they probably would have started like Thursday. Right? Or do they have a rigid 2nd round start date? If they win Monday, I presume they start Saturday and probably get the same number of days off they would have had anyway.

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Submitted by mannytrillo on Sun, 04/26/2015 - 04:26 am

billybucks: "Really, really hard to like this guy." Impossible yo like him. Hopefully he can be traded this offseason. Bears and Bulls are in similar situation where they have 'superstars' who are almost impossible to like. The Cubs at least have likeable guys. Of course I would take winners over likeable, but Rose and Cutler are neither.

Submitted by Carlito on Sat, 04/25/2015 - 04:49 pm

Soler will bat well when the weather warms up. He clearly hates the cold and the ninja outfits aren't conducive to comfort. He'll be fine ... Hard to be patient and focussed when you are freezing, out of your element, and dressed like an astronaut ...

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    morel played somewhere besides 3rd and SS...he got 8 innings in CF, 2 putouts and an assist.

  • crunch (view)

    ryan flaherty new cubs bench coach.

  • crunch (view)

    bellinger wins comeback player of the year.  the AL winner was liam hendricks and his 5ip before he got tommy john...setting himself up for a 2025 shot at the award.

  • Bill (view)

    I hope that Perlaza goes on to have a successful career.  On most Cubs teams prior to the current administration, he would have been one of their more highly ranked prospects.  As far as the others are concerned, one or more may well go on to be much better than expected, but unfortunately there is no way to tell which one at the present time.  You can't keep everyone.

  • crunch (view)

    s.gray signs with the cards...3/75m

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Another one of the nine Cubs post-2023 Rule 9 minor league 6YFA has signed, as RHP Carlos Guzman (acquired from the Tigers for Zack McKinstry at the end of Spring Training) signed a 2024 minor league contract with the Mets. 

     

    So RHRP Yovanny Cruz (SD), C-INF P. J. Higgins (CIN), and now Carlos Guzman (NYM) have already signed 2024 minor league contracts with new MLB organizations, and OF Yonathan Perlaza is headed for Korea (Hanhwa Eagles).

  • crunch (view)

    ...and back to 3rd for another game.  at this point i'm gonna hang back and when/if he actually plays 1st then i'll find it notable.  i am glad he's playing a good amount of 3rd, though...give the club one more good look at him there.  shrug

  • crunch (view)

    morel played SS last night (no errors)...hit a homer and a double.  he's got 2 of both in 19PA.

  • crunch (view)

    e.escobar was throwing 95-97mph on his fastball in 2023.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    One more thing about Edwin Escobar. Even though he had accrued less than one year of MLB Service Time prior to signing with Nippon Ham in 2017 (he ended up eventually with Yokohama), he will have Article XIX-A rights by virtue of the seven seasons he spent in Japan. So he will be essentially locked on the 40-man roster (or at least he can't be outrighted without his consent), and he will be a FA whenever his contract expires. 

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