Cubs roster updates

In Commentary And Analysis by dmick8927 Comments

Last Update (2/21/2013): Removed Tony Campana from the 40-man roster. Added Scott Hairston to the 40-man roster.

Earlier this week the Cubs re-signed Shawn Camp to a 1-year, $1.35 million contract. They also made a series of moves in preparation of protecting players from next month's Rule 5 Draft. They added Logan Watkins to the roster along with Trey McNutt, Christian Villanueva and Robert Whitenack. They traded Jake Brigham to the Rangers for former top draft prospect Barrett Loux and a player to be named later.

Brigham was on the 40-man roster and Loux is not so that saved them a save. They also sold Bryan LaHair to Japan to aid them in their battle against ham. The Cubs roster now sits at 40 players.

While Loux was highly thought of prior to the draft, he wasn't expected to go in the 1st round and definitely not in the top 6 picks. He did and my guess would be it was so the Diamondbacks could save a little money. Been there, done that. Usually doesn't work out.

Here was Loux's scouting report at the time of the draft:

The Tigers spent heavily to sign high school pitchers Rick Porcello ($7 million contract in the first round) and Casey Crosby ($748,500 in the fifth) in 2007, and thought they also met the $800,000 asking price of Loux, their 24th-rounder. He changed his mind about signing and instead opted to attend Texas A&M, where his 2009 season was halted by bone chips in his elbow. After having the chips removed, Loux is healthy again and racking up strikeouts with a 90-92 mph fastball that touches 95. The 6-foot-5, 220-pounder throws with such ease that his fastball appears even harder. If he had a standout second pitch, he'd be a first-round pick, but he may have to settle for the sandwich round because his curveball and changeup are merely effective. His curveball was his best pitch in high school but hasn't been as sharp since his elbow surgery. He'll show an average changeup, though not on a consistent basis. Some teams have medical concerns about Loux, who missed two months of his high school senior season with a tender shoulder.

Loux will be 24 in April so he's not really a young prospect and has only two professional years of experience. He did perform rather well in AA last season, but the sub 20% strikeout rate could be a concern. He does throw strikes. He had a decent 3.48 ERA and the same is true for his 3.66 FIP. He was not ranked in the Rangers top 10 last year and may not find himself ranked in the Cubs top 10 this year.

However, he does become one of the more interesting starting pitching prospects in the Cubs organization simply because they lack anyone else who could be ready before the end of the century.

Below is the updated 40-man roster with salaries for each player through 2020.

Pitchers DOB B/T Ht Wt 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Scott Baker 9/19/81 R-R 6'4" 215 5.5              
Michael Bowden 9/9/86 R-R 6'3" 215                
Alberto Cabrera 10/25/88 R-R 6'4" 210                
Shawn Camp 11/18/75 R-R 6'0" 205 1.35              
Casey Coleman 7/3/87 L-R 6'0" 185                
Rafael Dolis 1/10/88 R-R 6'4" 215                
Scott Feldman 2/7/83 L-R 6'6" 230 6              
Kyuji Fujikawa 7/21/80 L-R 6'0" 190 4 5.5            
Matt Garza 11/26/83 R-R 6'4" 215 Arb 4              
Edwin Jackson 9/9/83 R-R 6'3" 210 11 11 11 11        
Carlos Marmol 10/14/82 R-R 6'2" 215 9.8              
Trey McNutt 8/2/89 R-R 6'4" 220                
Brooks Raley 6/29/88 L-L 6'3" 185                
Hector Rondon 2/26/88 R-R 6'3" 180                
Chris Rusin 10/22/86 L-L 6'2" 195                
James Russell 1/8/86 L-L 6'4" 200 Arb 1              
Jeff Samardzija 1/23/85 R-R 6'5" 225 Arb 1              
Carlos Villanueva 11/28/83 R-R 6'2" 235 5 5            
Arodys Vizcaino 11/13/90 R-R 6'0" 190                
Robert Whitenack 11/20/88 R-R 6'5" 185                
Travis Wood 2/6/87 R-L 5'11" 175                
Catchers DOB B/T Ht Wt 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Welington Castillo 4/24/87 R-R 5'10" 210                
Steve Clevenger 4/5/86 L-R 6'0" 195                
Dioner Navarro 2/9/84 S-R 5'9" 205 1.75              
Infielders DOB B/T Ht Wt 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Darwin Barney 11/8/85 R-R 5'10" 185                
Starlin Castro 3/24/90 R-R 6'0" 190 5 5 6 7 9 10 11 16
Junior Lake 3/27/90 R-R 6'2" 215                
Anthony Rizzo 8/8/89 L-L 6'3" 220                
Ian Stewart 4/5/85 L-R 6'3" 215 Arb 2              
Luis Valbuena 11/30/85 L-R 5'10" 195                
Christian Villanueva 6/19/91 R-R 5'11" 160                
Josh Vitters 8/27/89 R-R 6'2" 200                
Logan Watkins 8/29/89 L-R 5'11" 170                
Outfielders DOB B/T Ht Wt 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
David DeJesus 12/20/79 L-L 5'11" 190 4.25 6.5            
Scott Hairston 5/25/80 R-R 6'0" 205 2.5 2.5            
Brett Jackson 8/2/88 L-R 6'2" 210                
Dave Sappelt 1/2/87 R-R 5'9" 195                
Nate Schierholtz 2/15/84 L-R 6'1" 205 2.25              
Jorge Soler 2/25/92 R-R 6'3" 205 3.33 3.33 3.33 3.33 3.33 3.33 3.33 3.33
Alfonso Soriano 1/7/76 R-R 6'1" 195 18 18            
Matt Szczur 7/20/89 R-R 6'1" 195                

I used to enjoy taking a look at how much the Cubs were scheduled to be paying out and how much they might have left based on a realistic estimated payroll. This was fun for me becuase if I knew how much money they had, I could estimate how many wins they could buy. Buying wins is a lot more fun when the wins actually mean something and the Cubs have no intention of buying wins now. They're trying to buy wins for later through the farm system and maybe getting lucky here or there.

Knowing how much the Cubs already have under contract is kind of irrelevant at this point except unless I'm interested in bookkeeping. I'm not.

This will probably be my last look at the Cubs roster in this way. I was never very good at updating it throughout the season, but it had always been available on the menu here and at ACB. And I had always taken a thorough look prior to the next season. Usually more than a couple times. This post will find its way onto the menu until later in the 2013 season. I might again be interested in this, but it won't be until keeping track of the money provides some incentive for me to do so. The Cubs will suck in 2013 and in all reality 2014 too. Maybe in 2015 and 2016. It's going to be awhile before this team contends and there's no point in figuring out how many wins the Cubs can buy. It just doesn't do anything for me when the Cubs won't be buying those wins.

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  2. Mish

    However, he does become one of the more interesting starting pitching prospects in the Cubs organization simply because they lack anyone else who could ready before the end of the century.

    (dying laughing)

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  7. mb21

    @ Berselius:
    Also, each player has had two teams give up on them in part because of their injuries. In the case of Vizcaino, the Yankees flat out got rid of him because of his high chance of injury and the Dbacks refused to sign Loux after they drafted him because he failed his physical.

    Then there’s Maples and Underwood who have a combined 19 innings in rookie league as the next top starters in the system. To make it even worse, they’ve allowed 13 runs, 10 earned, walked 16, struckout 19, hit 4 batters and have thrown 8 wild pitches. Maples will be 21 next year with all of 10.1 professional innings and none of it above rookie league.

    Underwood will only be in his age 18 season next year so there’s reason to believe he has a better future than Maples though Fangraphs ranks Underwood 14th in the Cubs system (Maples 5th).

    The Cubs have more position player prospects than this time a year ago, but they don’t really have any more starting pitching prospects. Maples was already here and Underwood is so far away from the big leagues that there are a million things that can and probably will go wrong.

    It’s safe to say this about the Cubs starting pitching in the minor leagues: there is none.

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  8. Suburban kid

    Aisle424 wrote:

    That’s a nice picture of your son and grandson, SK.

    Ha ha yeah I know I’m old but I’m not 100 and fucking 10. That pic reminded me of my dad and me when he took me on a business trip to NY around that same time period.

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  25. Suburban kid

    @ wpbc:
    I couldn’t find that on their site. Too many ad pop-ups, unwanted video streams, and a web font from 1996 making my eyes bleed and my ears close.

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  26. Andrew

    @ mb21:

    I gotta disagree with you on the complete lack of pitching prospects. Besides Vizcaino and Underwood, they also added Paniagua and Pierce Johnson, both have pretty high ceilings. Also Vizcaino is at the least a potentially dominant closer and possibly could be an ace if his tommy john recovery goes well (which seems to be more and more likely these days). Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is plethora of good pitching in our minors, but it definitely got a boost in the last season with high ceiling guys of Paniagua, Johnson, Underwood and Vizcaino

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