25 man roster

[CSF77]

I'm going with:

SP:
Shark, Jackson, Hammel, Wood
There will be 4 off days in the first few weeks so I believe they will use Villanueva as a swing man until Arreta gets off of the DL.

Pen:
Veras, Strop, Wright, Russell, Rondon, Cabrera, Grimm

Catchers:
Castillo, Kottaras

IF:
Barney, Castro, Murphy, Olt, Rizzo, Valbuena

OF:
Lake, Ruggiano, Schierholtz, Sweeney

Leaves 1 spot for either NRI Ryan Kalish or Emilio Bonifacio to grab.

Now if they do the wise thing they demote Sweeney to AAA and add both Kalish and Bonifacio to the 40 man roster. I would cut Vitters and Watkins off of the 40 man at that point. Neither have proven enough and should get through wavers.

 

[czman]

I have not seen much Watkins, but he has always had a very good OBP compared to BA. He is only 23 so I think someone would grab him. I don't know if he can ever amount to anything, but he probably has the next ~3-5 years to find out.

There are a lot of decent players who never come up they are ~25.

 

[dabynsky]

Here is the roster I predicted prior to the last two cuts. Still looks pretty good:
Rotation
1. Jeff Samardzija
2. Edwin Jackson
3. Jason Hammel
4. Travis Wood
5. Carlos Villanueva

Bullpen
Closer-Jose Veras
Setup-Pedro Strop
Setup-James Russell
Middle Relief-Wesley Wright
Middle Relief-Alberto Cabrera
Middle Relief-Hector Rondon
Middle Relief-Justin Grimm

Lineup
Catcher-Wellington Castillo
1st Base-Anthony Rizzo
2nd Base-Darwin Barney
Shortstop-Starlin Castro
3rd Base-Mike Olt
Left Field-Justin Ruggiano
Center Field-Junior Lake
Right Field-Nate Schierholtz

Bench
George Kottaras
Ryan Sweeney
Emilio Bonifacio
Luis Valbuena
Donnie Murphy

 

[CSF77]

Here is the roster I predicted prior to the last two cuts. Still looks pretty good:
Rotation
1. Jeff Samardzija
2. Edwin Jackson
3. Jason Hammel
4. Travis Wood
5. Carlos Villanueva

Bullpen
Closer-Jose Veras
Setup-Pedro Strop
Setup-James Russell
Middle Relief-Wesley Wright
Middle Relief-Alberto Cabrera
Middle Relief-Hector Rondon
Middle Relief-Justin Grimm

Lineup
Catcher-Wellington Castillo
1st Base-Anthony Rizzo
2nd Base-Darwin Barney
Shortstop-Starlin Castro
3rd Base-Mike Olt
Left Field-Justin Ruggiano
Center Field-Junior Lake
Right Field-Nate Schierholtz

Bench
George Kottaras
Ryan Sweeney
Emilio Bonifacio
Luis Valbuena
Donnie Murphy

That is a safe bet. Sweeny got a 3 year deal but with Kalish out performing him and his ties to Theo in Boston I'm not sure if they eat that deal right now. Kalish has proven to be the better player so far with a better arm.

I can see happening is Castro hitting the 15 day DL to get into playing shape. Bonifacio moving to SS and Valbuena and Barney in a platoon at 2B. Valbuena is leading the Cubs this spring with a 1.310 OPS. It is really not even close. He has deserved a starting job this spring.

Barney's days are numbered this year with Baez promoting later. Might as well win some games until then.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Why is Barney starting over Valbuena?

 

[dabynsky]

That is a safe bet. Sweeny got a 3 year deal but with Kalish out performing him and his ties to Theo in Boston I'm not sure if they eat that deal right now. Kalish has proven to be the better player so far with a better arm.

I can see happening is Castro hitting the 15 day DL to get into playing shape. Bonifacio moving to SS and Valbuena and Barney in a platoon at 2B. Valbuena is leading the Cubs this spring with a 1.310 OPS. It is really not even close. He has deserved a starting job this spring.

Barney's days are numbered this year with Baez promoting later. Might as well win some games until then.

I see a Castro DL stint a much safer bet than Sweeney being cut. Sweeney also has ties to Theo in Boston as well though, and he has more guaranteed money tied to him. Either way there are some interesting decisions to make at the end of the day, and Olt breaking camp with the big league club is probably the biggest domino.

 

[dabynsky]

Why is Barney starting over Valbuena?

Because as much as I and many others would prefer Valbuena at this point, every public statement has been that Barney is still the starter at 2B. This isn't what I want to happen, but what I think will happen to start the year.

 

[CSF77]

Because as much as I and many others would prefer Valbuena at this point, every public statement has been that Barney is still the starter at 2B. This isn't what I want to happen, but what I think will happen to start the year.

He has also been playing SS this spring.

I can see a new line up daily with Boni moving between CF/2B/SS.

But last nights line up of Boni CF, Barney SS, Valbuena 2B, Olt 3B, Lake LF could become a norm until Casto is playing every day.

 

[CSF77]

I see a Castro DL stint a much safer bet than Sweeney being cut. Sweeney also has ties to Theo in Boston as well though, and he has more guaranteed money tied to him. Either way there are some interesting decisions to make at the end of the day, and Olt breaking camp with the big league club is probably the biggest domino.

We will see. .083/.108/.083 is really not a justification.

 

[dabynsky]

He has also been playing SS this spring.

I can see a new line up daily with Boni moving between CF/2B/SS.

But last nights line up of Boni CF, Barney SS, Valbuena 2B, Olt 3B, Lake LF could become a norm until Casto is playing every day.

That would be an interesting group. I could see Castro being held back for a week or so to sort this out. Wouldn't be a terrible lineup, but ultimately when Castro is healthy I think there are only two spots that get 150 games in the lineup (1B and SS). Everything else is mix and match which will give Renteria a lot to handle in his first year. Hopefully he is up to the task because there are some pieces that could do well in the right situations.

 

[chibears55]

He has also been playing SS this spring.

I can see a new line up daily with Boni moving between CF/2B/SS.

But last nights line up of Boni CF, Barney SS, Valbuena 2B, Olt 3B, Lake LF could become a norm until Casto is playing every day.

Castro will be back with team this week and will be there opening day.
If Barney still with team opening day, he will be starting to keep his trade value up.. If he struggles out of the gate , he will be benched .
Valbuena will get starts at 3B, Olt will get the nod opening day but will get days off early on to rest shoulder til fully recovered.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T217A using Tapatalk

 

[patg006]

I'm going with:

SP:
Shark, Jackson, Hammel, Wood
There will be 4 off days in the first few weeks so I believe they will use Villanueva as a swing man until Arreta gets off of the DL.

Pen:
Veras, Strop, Wright, Russell, Rondon, Cabrera, Grimm

Catchers:
Castillo, Kottaras

IF:
Barney, Castro, Murphy, Olt, Rizzo, Valbuena

OF:
Lake, Ruggiano, Schierholtz, Sweeney

Leaves 1 spot for either NRI Ryan Kalish or Emilio Bonifacio to grab.

Now if they do the wise thing they demote Sweeney to AAA and add both Kalish and Bonifacio to the 40 man roster. I would cut Vitters and Watkins off of the 40 man at that point. Neither have proven enough and should get through wavers.

I'm going with.....

The worst 25 man roster in baseball, so who cares about the rest.

 

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

Aside from him 3 HR game the other day, Junior Lake has had a pretty awful spring, looking very overmatched at the plate. If it were up to me, I'd option him down to Iowa and add Ryan Kalish to the roster. However, I don't see that happening. Kalish will be up later this year, when the Cubs move Schierholtz. That said, here's my Opening Day roster:

ROTATION
Jeff Samardzija
Edwin Jackson
Jason Hammel
Travis Wood
Chris Rusin

BULLPEN
CL Jose Veras
SU Pedro Strop
SU James Russell
MR Carlos Villanueva
MR Wesley Wright
MR Hector Rondon
LR Alberto Cabrera

INFIELD
C Welington Castillo
C George Kottaras
1B Anthony Rizzo
2B Darwin Barney
3B Mike Olt
SS Starlin Castro
2B/3B Luis Valbuena
IF Donnie Murphy
IF/OF Emilio Bonifacio

OUTFIELD

LF Junior Lake
CF Justin Ruggiano
RF Nate Schierholtz
OF Ryan Sweeney