18 players moved to minors, Spring Training update

The Chicago Cubs just recently made their first roster move by sending 18 players down to the minor league.  Of those who were sent down are impressive enough to be called up during the season if needed.  Centerfielder Brett Jackson, third baseman Josh Vitters, pitchers Jay Jackson, Chris Carpenter, and Trey McNutt are all the future of the Cubs franchise after all the high priced players go to free agency in the next few years. Vitters, a former number one pick, has improved his overall game since last year.  His progress has greatly improved compared to the 2010 season.

 The players that will be free agents at the end of the year are Carlos Silva, Carlos Pena, and Kosuke Fukudome.  With another start today (Tuesday) Randy Wells has the opportunity to claim the fourth spot in the rotation.  So the fifth and final spot in the rotation leaves Andrew Cashner, James Russell, Braden Looper and Carlos Silva as the only contenders.   If Cashner doesn’t make the rotation then that means that he will be in the bullpen with Casey Coleman and Todd Wellemeyer, but that also doesn’t mean that Coleman won’t be in minors to start the year.  Silva will most likely be in the bullpen in the fifth and final spot doesn’t go to him.

Also up for grabs is second base.  Blake DeWitt nor Jeff Baker has the spot locked up but Darwin Barney is impressing the coaching staff with his Ryan Theriot like batting at the plate.  Barney is also the better defender than when Theriot was with the Cubs at certain points of their career.

The battle in the outfield that is still evolving since current backups Fernando Perez nor Reed Johnson have hit with a consistent average this spring.

Currently the Chicago Cubs are 8-11 in Spring Training.  The first four games were a struggle for them as they had 14 errors.  Also in the first few games Carlos Silva and Aramis Ramirez got into a dugout brawl over Silva giving up two homeruns and Ramirez having two errors.  This also happened last year when Carlos Zambrano and Derek Lee also had similar incidents.  Today (Tuesday) the Cubs are playing a split squad games against the Colorado Rockies and the Oakland A’s.  For those of you that don’t know what spilt squad is; Split squad is where the manager splits the team up and they both play at two different stadiums to help figure out who will make the opening day roster.  The roster will be cut to the top 25 players by April 1^st.  Until next week blog comes out.  GO CUBS