Roster Cuts

We got another round of roster cuts that trimmed the roster down to 31 players. It’s broken down to 16 pitchers, four catchers, six infielders and five outfielders.

The players cut:

Fernando Perez
Bobby Scales
Scott Moore
Augie Ojeda
Matt Camp

Discuss.

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Buddy

No real surprises so far.
walterj

who?
Joel

No surprises really , and it is a rough take for Bobby Scales who played pretty well this spring, but I am pleased with the way that Darwin Barney has played at 2B to this point. I think I would actually prefer the Barney/Castro infield combination to either DeWitt or Baker. Barney’s a solid defender with quick hands and he can hit a little bit. As he showed against the Sox, he can use the whole field at the plate. It just seems like Barney and Castro have the chemistry to be a great DP duo for the Cubs and I’m excited to see it more often.
Buddy

Take a look at Barney’s minor league career and I think you’ll change your mind about him starting. If the Cubs want to keep him as a reserve infielder, that should work out OK. Hopefully they do everything possible to limit his at-bats.
Chuck

Baker is the perfect platoon partner for Pena. Over the last three years Baker has been just as good against LHP as Pena has been against RHP. Pena can’t hit a lick against southpaws.
It looks like Reed has won the 5th OF spot over Perez. That sort of surprises me because now the Cubs have about zero team speed now. I hope it is more of the team seeing more development potential in Perez than going with “the proven veteran”.
“broad”
Randy

Sad to see Scales get cut. He played extremely well but his age works against him. There is nothing really surprising here though, none of these folks were expected to make the team.
Benjamin

There’s nothing here that surprises me either. the only real battle left was with Perez/Johnson and despite his speed Perez didn’t hit well enough to prove he could be effective
http://swantron.com jswanson

Boo.
Deezer

that’s too bad about Scales, I always liked him. Everyone else makes sense – Perez will be good at some point (I believe), but I think needs more time out of the majors. I don’t think I even knew about any of the other guys, really…
mastrick

Hopefully Moore will accept his demotion to Iowa knowing that neither Baker or DeWitt will be adequate replacements for oft-injured Aramis Ramirez. We could use his depth!
http://swantron.com jswanson

I’ll chime in one more time, and then drop it. I promise. Scales is still our best option at second. It is going to be painful to watch DeWitt do whatever he does until they figure this out.
Joel

Buddy, I’m not sure I understand why Barney’s minor league numbers would make me second guess wanting him to start. He’s a career .286 hitter who only strikes out once every 7.85 ABs. His on base percentage of .334 isn’t going to blow anyone away, buts it’s certainly comparable to the .272 and .326 the Cubs got from Baker last year.
Buddy

Poor onbase pct. and disgusting slugging pct. are what scare me about Barney. If he couldn’t hit in the minors, it seems very unlikely that he will hit in the majors. However, I would love to be wrong about that. As for Mr. Baker, what were his numbers vs. LHP? Those are the numbers to look at because he will only start against LHP (barring injuries of course). Will he get the occassional at bat vs. RHP? Sure. But that shouldn’t happen often.
Larry Sproul

Just about how I thought it would play out .
Doc Raker

I remember watching a game late last season when Bobby Scales was playing 3b and made an error. I could see the disappointment in his demeanor, not at not making that one play but by knowing his chances of becoming a big leaguer were declining. When you understand how much work these guys put into making the bigs it is sad when they start to realize their dream won’t happen. When I was in school everyone who did the work became an Optometrist, there wasn’t a situation where you made the grade but didn’t graduate. But pro sports is different, there are only so many roster spots, it’s about being better than everyone else, not just about a passing grade. When we go to spring training we always go and watch the minor leaguers, you see a mass of ball playing humanity and only a few make it up for any length of time. It is a ruthless business and I feel for these guys that get cut, especially as they grow older and their chances diminish.
Mr. David M. Beyer

Barney’s ceiling is about as high as the 7 1/2th floor in “Being John Malkovich.” He’s perfect as a bench player. DeWitt can’t play defense and hasn’t lived up to the potential he showed in the low minors in the Dodgers’ system. Why not let Bobby Scales get 450 at-bats? Maybe a cult hero will be born…
http://swantron.com jswanson

Very well put, Doc.
Buddy

MLB Network is reporting that Cashner is the 5th starter and Silva won’t make the 25-man roster.
Seymour Butts

Holy Hendry! The Batmobile has an ejector seat.
Seriously, Silva was a better than expected way to get out of the uncle Miltie situation. I feel for him, but it’s nice to see that even with the big bucks involved, the roster is a meritocracy. If you look at the starting 5 of the Yankees, it’s hard to belive Fatman (nee Batman) doesn’t find a home soon. If Hendry gets anything at all for him, it will be a win. Otherwise the Rickett’s show they are willing to eat a bad contract to field a winner.
The Kool aide looks even tastier today.
Joe

@Seymour – I agree, but I’m sad to see Silva go. I wish he would have handled things better, but then again, I can’t blame him. Sending a pitching coach (and a rookie one at that) to do the job Jim Hendry or Mike Quade was too afraid to do is classless. It will be interesting to see if he makes his final start on Monday. It would be in his best interest for him to do it and do it well to showcase himself.
Joe

and as I typed that, I Cubs just announced that they have released him. So much for that experiment.
Doc Raker

I believe Quade is the catalyst behind the meritocracy. I am happy to see Hendry and his big contract bias is not winning out. I don’t feel for Silva like I do a Bobby Scales since Silva has his big contract. Maybe he stinks because of injuries, maybe because he ate himself out of shape, maybe a combination of both but who really cares any longer, he isn’t a Cub problem any longer. Now the Cubs can break north without the distraction of one overweight petulant Carlos, still one more to go.
Buddy

Silva will hook up with somebody. There are too many pitching-starved teams in the league.
BuckeyeLakerCub

I’m glad Silva is gone. He sucks. Thank god we are done with the Hasbro saga. Hendry did come out ahead in the end, but still an awful move. Because we didn’t sign Adam Dunn.
Buddy

Quade’s reply to Silva’s comments:

“People need to know, whether he was upset with Riggs or whatever, everyone needs to know that this was my call. It wasn’t Jim Hendry’s. If [Silva wants] to be irritated with somebody, this is on me, OK. It was my decision, complete and totally. I was really disappointed when I heard [Silva's comments]. First of all, he’s dead f—ing wrong, OK, about my pitching coach. And I have no f—ing time for that. Respect is a two-way street. I don’t want to hear anything about respect. If you ain’t giving it, you ain’t getting it.”
Chuck

Buddy: Here are Bakers numbers vs LHP over the last 3 years and my reasons why he should be Pena’s platoon partner.
.316/.362/.545 AVG/OBP/SLG in 301 ABs.
Not exactly a huge sample size, but large enough to determine that he is far superior to Pena’s lousy
.194/.299/.397 AVG/OBP/SLG in 501 ABs Yuck!

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