Roster Moves

The Cubs sent three of the most promising prospects in baseball to the minor league camp today.  The big one, of course, was Bryant, who tore up the Cactus League, and, were it not for the strange rules employed in counting major league service time, would almost certainly be the starting third baseman on Opening Day.  This move was inevitable from a business standpoint.  I noted in an earlier post that the question of Bryant hinged on how many early April wins the Cubs were willing to trade for an extra year of control.  Lets hope it does not backfire.

Addison Russell and Javier Baez were also demoted.  The Russell move was no surprise, as no one expected him to make the team in the first place.  The Baez move was a little more controversial, but Baez really made the move inevitable with his performance during spring training.  This guy looks so totally over-matched and so out of control that it is a wonder Cubs management even toyed with the idea of bringing him north.

The time is not far off when his career will be on the bubble, at least with the Cubs.  I mean, lets just face it, Baez was a complete disaster in his two months in the big leagues last year.  He went down to play winter ball and was a flop there as well.  Now he looked pretty bad in spring training.  Last year he looked good in Arizona, so it is impossible not to conclude he has regressed.  There has been a lot of talk about changing his mechanics, but he looks just the same as when he came up last August and the results have been the same.  We'll see what happens in Iowa.  It is not as though the Cubs cannot come up with championship caliber middle infielders without Baez.  They have Castro already, with Russell waiting in the wings.  They have Alcantara and LaStella (who really looked good) as well.

The Cubs have some other roster issues to sort out.  It looks, with the demotion of Bryant and Baez, that the Cubs will start the season with Rizzo, Castro, Olt, LaStella, and Alcantara as locks on the infield.  As the Cubs will start the season with three catchers and probably twelve pitchers, that leaves room for five outfielders.  Denorfia will start the year on the DL, so that leaves an opening for probably a couple of youngsters to join Fowler, Soler, and Coughlan in the mix.  Based on spring training alone, that should give Lake and Sczcur the inside track, but, of course, Sweeney is unfortunately still around, at least until he injures himself again.

There are similar puzzles as far as pitching goes.  Wood will almost certainly be the fifth starter.  Since Wada and Turner are hurt, the Cubs are off the hook there for the time being.  The bullpen looks reasonably set as well.  Rondon, Strop, Ramirez, and Grimm have surely earned their spots, as has Coke.  Motte has looked awful this spring, and he was awful last year as well.  I could never understand why the Cubs signed him, but he is likely to come north with the team.  That leaves only one spot.  Britten is out of options and has pitched well this spring.  He should be the second lefty in the pen.  If not Britten, Rosscup is the next choice.  That leaves Jackson as odd man out.  Jackson has been a disaster in his stint in Chicago.  He has certainly earned a one-way ticket out of town.  It will be interesting to see if the Cubs can engineer a deal or if they will eat his contract.  Notwithstanding all the talk of creative solutions, the Cubs cannot afford to limit their bench by carrying the extra pitcher.