He hasn’t yet pitched with the team, and he’s not even on the 40-man roster yet, but top Chicago Cubs pitching prospect Brailyn Marquez is going to be ELIGIBLE to be included on the postseason roster.
That’s the report from the Sun-Times:
#Cubs expected to add top prospect and hard-throwing LHP Brailyn Marquez to postseason 40-man roster along with 11 other taxi squad players, sources tell @suntimes and @suntimes_sports. Marquez is the No. 64 prospect in MLB, according to @MLBPipeline.
— Russell Dorsey (@Russ_Dorsey1) September 24, 2020
Some clarity on what this does and does not mean: this is not the postseason roster. Marquez isn’t being put on the playoff roster. This is not that.
Yet.
Instead, because of the pandemic, MLB required teams to create 40-player lists (not to be confused with the 40-man roster) from which they are permitted to create their playoff rosters. In order to be on the ultimate playoff roster, you first have to be put on that list.
SO THEN, what this means: the Cubs are are holding out the possibility that Brailyn Marquez, who throws 100 mph and hasn’t pitched above High-A, could wind up included on the postseason roster. That’s cool to me, even if it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s likely to appear.
I’d be very surprised if Marquez gets a POSTSEASON inning before he even pitches in the big leagues. That’d be some of the most ultimate sandbagging ever by a big league team. It’d be a helluva story, though.
That is all to say, unless Marquez debuts, shockingly, this weekend against the White Sox, I think you’re going to find that Marquez is in the playoff pool only in case of emergency. I’d love to be pleasantly surprised, though. Keep in mind, Marquez has to be added to the 40-man roster after this season anyway, so … you never know …