The First Cut is the Deepest: Nine Players Get the First Spring Axe

Spring cuts are upon us, but there’s actually little news here – none of the nine guys who comprise the first set of cuts were expected to actually make the Cubs. It is no reflection of how the Cubs think about these guys’ future – in fact, two of the guys cut were former number one picks Josh Vitters and Brett Jackson.

Mitch Atkins was optioned to Triple-A Iowa and David Patton, whom the Cubs acquired in December 2008 in the Rule 5 Draft, was optioned to Double-A Tennessee. Both are right-handed pitchers.

Jackson, Vitters, catchers Steve Clevenger and Blake Lalli, infielder Matt Camp, and pitchers Jeff Kennard and Vince Perkins all were assigned to the Minor League camp.

Jackson, an outfielder, was the Cubs’ No. 1 Draft pick last June, while Vitters was the top pick in 2007. Vitters, who was bothered last season by a wrist injury, hit .316 at Class A Peoria and .238 at Class A Daytona. cubs.com.

Vitters is likely to start out at Daytona again this year, but could move quickly. Jackson, having only played a half season of professional ball, will probably start out in regular A ball.

Spring Training Participants

Here’s a helpful recap of the players participating in Spring Training with the Chicago Cubs this year – pitchers and catchers report this week. Thanks to Bruce Miles for putting this together.

Pitchers: Mitch Atkins, Justin Berg, Esmailin Caridad, Ryan Dempster, Rafael Dolis, John Gaub, Tom Gorzelanny, John Grabow, Jeff Gray, Angel Guzman, Ted Lilly, Carlos Marmol, Sean Marshall, Marcos Mateo, Mike Parisi, Blake Parker, David Patton, Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Silva, Jeff Stevens, Randy Wells, Carlos Zambrano

Catchers: Welington Castillo, Koyie Hill, Geovany Soto

Infielders: Jeff Baker, Andres Blanco, Mike Fontenot, Micah Hoffpauir, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Ryan Theriot

Outfielders: James Adduci, Marlon Byrd, Tyler Colvin, Kosuke Fukudome, Sam Fuld, Xavier Nady, Alfonso Soriano

Nonroster invitees

Pitchers: Andrew Cashner, Casey Coleman, Thomas Diamond, Jeff Kennard, J.R. Mathes, Vince Perkins, James Russell

Catchers: Robinson Chirinos, Steve Clevenger, Chris Robinson

Infielders: Darwin Barney, Starlin Castro, Blake Lalli, Kevin Millar, Chad Tracy, Josh Vitters

Outfielders: Matt Camp, Brett Jackson, Bryan LaHair, Bobby Scales, Brad Snyder

Obvious player to watch: Starlin Castro

Dark-horse candidates to watch: Darwin Barney, Blake Parker

Pitching prospect to watch: Andrew Cashner

Annual Rule 5 pick: Mike Parisi

I’d also suggest watching John Gaub, a lefty with a chance to make the pen, Jeff Stevens, a righty with a chance to make the pen (received from the Indians, together with Gaub and another prospect for Mark DeRosa), and Casey Coleman – the Cubs’ minor league pitcher of the year last year, whom I think could have a very outside shot at landing the fifth spot in the Cubs rotation.

The Rule 5 Draft is Today

The Rule 5 Draft takes place today, and the Chicago Cubs are expected to consider drafting a player or two. You would have to believe if a solid-looking outfielder were available, for example, the Cubs would take a chance.

“My gut feeling is we have a few people we would consider,” GM Jim Hendry said. “We won’t draft somebody just to draft somebody. If we feel there’s somebody with a realistic chance, we’d consider it.”

The Cubs were able to protect five players on their 40-man roster, but among the names who could be selected are catchers Steve Clevenger and Chris Robinson, infielder Matt Camp, and pitcher Thomas Diamond. Muskat Ramblings.

Add reliever Alex Maestri to the list of players who might be plucked from the Cubs’ system. Recall, Maestri burst onto the scene after a dominating performance in the World Baseball Classic. The native Italian has pitched well for the Cubs – he was at AA last year – and could be stashed in a small market team’s bullpen for the 2010 season. Think Donald Veal. In fact, when this happens to the Cubs, we’re going to say that the Cubs just got “Veal’d.”

For the Cubs part, if they’re going to take someone, let us hope that it’s not another David Patton – a guy that simply doesn’t have the abilities yet to contribute meaningfully to the big club, but whom the team hopes to stash. Patton struggled, understandably given that he hadn’t pitched above A-ball before last year, but the Cubs were determined to keep him. He thus created a black hole on the 25-man roster until he had been on the roster the bare minimum of days, when he conveniently developed some kind of injury, and was sent to AA to rehab for the rest of the year.

Rule V Draft Primer: Cubs Add 5 to 40-Man Roster

Early December marks the arrival Major League Baseball’s other draft, commonly known as the Rule V draft. The gist: unlike THE draft, this one makes players on other teams available to the Cubs. Basically, players who are not on a team’s 40-man roster, and who have been in the organization for at least four years (or five years, if they were signed when they were 18 or younger), are available for selection. The selection costs $50,000.

The catch is, the selecting team then has to keep the selectee on the 25-man (i.e., Major League) roster for the entire next season (unless you pull disabled list shenanigans, like the Cubs did with David Patton), otherwise, they have to offer that player back to the original team for $25,000.

So with that super cursory primer, this news makes sense: yesterday, the Cubs added five younger guys to their 40-man roster, some of whom were added specifically to “protect” them from the Rule V draft. In theory, the additions are also the first line of call-ups during the season. The guys added: relievers John Gaub and Blake Parker, starting pitcher Rafael Dolis, catcher Welington Castillo, and outfielder James Adduci. If you’re wonder who you’re most likely to see this year, it’s probably Gaub or Parker in the bullpen at some point. Adduci could make a nice reserve outfielder eventually, and Castillo looked close to breaking out in 2008, before falling flat last year. Dolis is a talented kid, but still a bit away. Read the full press release, if you’d like, after the jump.

Cubs Complete the Patton Ruse

When the Chicago Cubs took reliever David Patton in the Rule V draft, no one believed he would remain with the Cubs for long. After all, to stay a Cub, he had to stay on the active, 25-man roster virtually all year, and the Cubs were loaded with quality relievers.

Ah, but the Cubs are a crafty bunch.

As we noted previously, Patton needed to remain on the active roster just 90 days if the rest of his time was spent on the disabled list. But how realistic is it to count on a guy getting injured?

And then it happened. Patton turned up with a bum groin (or hamstring, or elbow, or nose, whatever), and he was on the disabled list – the day his time on the Cubs clicked over to 91. Nice.

Now with rosters expanding to 40, the Cubs can activate Patton from the disabled list – you know, now that he’s all “healed” – and they will be able to keep him for good. And that’s what they did yesterday, with Patton heading to Chicago to join the big club.

It was a clever ruse, and one that frankly, not enough teams take advantage of. Now, if only the Cubs could have done it with a slightly better player.

September Call-Ups

As the calendar flips to September tomorrow, the Chicago Cubs’ roster will expand from 25 to 40, and the team can therefore call up a whole bunch of youngsters to join the big club. That, they will do, but the faces are expected to look familiar.

Eventually, manager Lou Piniella expects to bring up seven or eight players.

“I think you’ve seen them here before,” Piniella said Friday. “I don’t think there will be any surprises.”

There are several players on the Iowa roster who have spent time with Chicago this season, led by pitcher Jeff Samardzija and first baseman-outfielder Micah Hoffpauir.

…

Other pitchers who could be in line for a callup include Justin Berg, Esmailin Caridad and Jeff Stevens, who all have appeared in relief for Chicago this season.

Rule 5 pick David Patton, who pitched a scoreless inning for Iowa on Sunday, was with Chicago until the team placed him on the disabled list with a groin strain on July 5. He could return as well.

The Cubs also are expected to recall infielder Andres Blanco, a defensive specialist who hit .237 in 93 at-bats and has been rehabbing a calf injury in Iowa. Infielder Bobby Scales, who was first called up in May after 11 seasons in the Minors, also could be back. cubs.com.

The Cubs may not add anyone else who isn’t already on the official 40-man roster, no wanting to start the arbitration clock of such players.

The Cubs Pull a Fast One with David Patton’s Injury

Facts:

1.) David Patton was a Rule V pick from the Colorado Rockies.

2.) A team must keep a Rule V pick on the Major League roster (aka the 25-man roster) for the entire season or they must offer him back to his original team.

3.) A team must keep a Rule V pick on the active Major League roster (aka, not on the DL) for 90 days or they must offer him back to his original team.

4.) When David Patton’s horrible, awful, nightmarish groin injury developed last Sunday and the Cubs were forced to place him on the disabled list, he had been on the active Major League roster for… 90 days.

Nicely played.

Sam Fuld and Kevin Hart to AAA Iowa, David Patton to DL

Outfielder Sam Fuld did everything that was asked of him and did it well, but sometimes the numbers just don’t work. Micah Hoffpauir would have been an equally good choice, but Fuld makes sense.

Hart makes sense to be sent down from the pen, as well. With Patton heading to the DL, that means the Cubs finally – finally – will go with 11 pitches and 14 position players. Odds are that this week is just a test run, and the team will go back to 12 pitchers after the All Star break. Still, it will be nice to have that extra bench bat.

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