Less than a week before the season starts and the roster is coming into shape. The Cubs have moved Yovanni Gallardo, Noah Lowry, and Mark Prior to the DL to start the season. In response the Cubs have signed Jason Isringhausen, Brian Wilson, and Derek Lowe and and activated them to the major league roster.

“We are really looking forward to the coming season and hope to have these guys back as soon as possible, but we were also able to fill some needs with these moves and some tough decisions will need to be made in the near future on roster spots. All will have to perform well to stay on the roster as we have some new faces that will be pushing to stay with the team” GM Jason Hoover said on Monday. The two biggest needs that were filled were the additions of Isringhausen and Wilson to a bullpen which was the major weakness of the team last year. Both are solid closers that, along with Bobby Jenks, should produce much better numbers than last year.

The Cubs also made a minor league move, dropping OF Ryan Sweeney and signing 2B German Duran. Duran fills the need of having some IF help in the farm system.

With a little over a week to go, the Cubs have finalized their roster.  Most of the roster from last year’s team is coming back, with headliners like Derek Lee, Aramas Ramirez, Eric Byrnes, Torri Hunter, Alfonso Soriano, Ben Sheets, and Carlos Zambrano.  And like last year, few players are in a contract year with only 5 players not signed through 2009 and two of those were free-agent acquisitions this last winter while another was a free-agent pick-up last summer.

Added to this roster are some prominent rookies and minor leaguers from last year, including Evan Longoria, Joey Votto, and Yovanni Gallardo. Gallardo is scheduled to start the season on the DL so the Cubs are actively looking for a pitcher who can contribute immediately.

Stay tuned for more update as the season nears.

The Cubs add middle infielder Yuniesky Betancourt after the league approved the retirement paperwork of Craig Biggio. “Craig was a pro’s pro, and we are very thankful for the year the gave the Cubs.  His leadership and personality will be missed in the clubhouse” GM Jason Hoover said on the Friday.

The Cubs added a young but very talented shortstop to the roster with the addition of Betancourt.  “We were looking to get younger and have some spaced out contrats, Yuniesky has the chance to start right away for our team” manager Ron Santo told reporters at the news conference.

I promise to update my blog, I promise to update my blog!

The Cubs have announced the promotion of 4 players from the minor leagues to take open roster spots. Joey Votto, a big powerful prospect, has been moved up to the major league roster, filling the spot left vacant by Scott Hatteberg. Evan Longoria – 3B and Yovanni Gallardo – SP have also been added to the active roster. Mark Prior was moved up when Kris Benson was given his outright release. “We wish the best to Kris and his family, but we needed to move in a different direction”, said pitching coach Ferguson Jenkins.

Right now the Cubs have 5 open minor league spots and will look to be filling those in the next week. “We really need to build back up the farm system that has sent 5 players to the big club in the last year” said Jody Davis, minor league coordinator on Friday morning.

The Cubs currently have one open roster spot, an outfielder, which will be filled in the coming weeks. “We are really looking hard at the available free agents, but don’t rule out a trade if the depth is better at other positions”, said GM Jason Hoover. The Cubs have about $50 to spend on that open roster spot or to take on some additional salary if needed in a trade. “We’re happy where we are at right now”, said Hoover.

The Clarksville Cubs got off to a rough start in the opening week of the opening season of the URL.  The Cubs dropped 8 of 14 games while splitting two others.  “Obviously, this isn’t what we had in mind when the season started” manager Ron Santo said on Monday afternoon.  “Our starting pitching took a good beating in the first week and we just were not able to make up for it at the plate”.

The Cubs won only two batting categories and two pitching categories, splitting one of each as well.  With a team ERA of almost 6.00, the Cubs were easily beaten by the Style’s league leading 1.71.  “Wow, they had some good arms last week” hitting coach Andre Dawson said in an interview on Sunday.  “We will spend a little more time in the cage this week to get ready for the Alley Cats next week.”

The hitting star for the Cubs last week was Eric Byrnes.  Eric had 11 hits in 31 at-bats for a .355 average while hitting two homeruns and driving in 7.  Eric also was credited with 4 of the Cubs 13 stolen bases.  “He really kept us from being shut-out,” Santo said.  “What a great pick-up he was for our team in the off-season.”  Not to be overlooked was a pair of former Cubs, Aramis Ramirez and Derek Lee, who each went 11 for 25 last week for averages of .440.

The pitching staff took a beating in the ERA category, however, a few pitchers did stand out.  Ben Sheets opened the season with a complete-game two-hit shutout.  For the week, he did wind up with an ERA of 3.60 because of the rough start on Saturday.  Starting pitcher John Maine had a very good game, throwing 7 innings of shutout baseball, allowing only 1 hit while walking two and striking out six.  “He really did his job out there” pitching coach Ferguson Jenkins told reporters after the game.  We just didn’t do too much more to help him out.

In this week for the Cub’s home opener are the Atkins Alley Cats.  The Cats will make the 35-minute drive up I-40 to take on the Cubs starting on Monday.

With the coming of the new new year, the Clarksville Cubs are coming very close to filling out their roster. As of this writing, only 4 positions are remaining on the 35-man active roster.

“We are extremely happy with our team so far,” coach Ron Santo stated early last week. “With the multitude of front-line pitchers and the addition of closers at the end, we believe pitching will be a strenth of our team.” Not to short the line-up, however. The Cubs have plenty of pop in their line-up with Michael Young, Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Marcus Giles, and Vernon Wells and homerun’s should not be in short supply.

Also, finalized on December 29th and announced on December 31st, the Cubs have completed their first trade of the year, sending Dontrelle Willis to the Atkins Alley Cats for Kris Benson, Noah Lowry, and Torri Hunter. “We were very sad to lose the D-train (being a former Cub farm-hand), however, we were able to add young depth to the pitching staff and a big-time player in Torri,” owner and GM Jason Hoover stated on New Year’s Day. This move also opens up a little more cash space as the Cubs make a push for a few more quality free-agents.

“We are in no way done in our pursuit of adding quality players to the Cubs organization”, said Hoover.

On Friday, the Cubs announced another signing away from the other Cubs and have inked Matt Murton for 5 years and $55.  “Matt really came on at the end of last year and we expect big things from him in the future”, Coach Ron Santo said on Monday.  Murton joins an outfield that already consists of another former Cub, Jacque Jones.

The Cubs have been very active in the outfielder market recently, however, the turn now will be to add some arms.  Only 3 pitchers have been signed roughly half way through the free-agent period.  “I am very pleased with the quality of players added to the staff, I just need to see some quantity and soon” pitching coach Ferguson Jenkins pleaded on Sunday afternoon.

The Cubs have continued the trend of adding quality players to the roster along with having all singed to multi-year contracts. The recent signings include:

Michael Young – SS – 5 years for $225
Vernon Wells – OF – 5 years for $220
Aramis Ramirez – 3B – 5 years for $165
Aubrey Huff – 3B/OF – 4 years for $68
Juan Rivera – OF – 5 years for $60
Mark Prior –SP – 4 years for $56
Emil Brown – OF – 2 years for $6

“Wow, what a great group of players!” GM Jason Hoover was heard as saying as he signed the last deal. “We are very happy in the amount of talent that is being assembled here in northern regions of the I-40 corridor of the URL”. Young, Wells and Ramirez bring a lot of pop to a line-up that already included Jacque Jones. The average season for these 3 new players over the last 3 years is a .304 average, 30 homeruns, and 105 RBI’s.

With the addition of Prior to the staff that already includes Jose Contreras and Mike Mussina, the hurlers for the Cubs are looking strong as well.

On Monday, the Clarksville Cubs announced the signing of outfielder Jacque Jones to a 3 year, $54 dollar contract, the league average.  “It’s great to have Jacque on board and we know he will bring enthusiasm and a good all-around game to our team”, Owner Jason Hoover stated.

Jones hit .285 and 27 homeruns last year with an .833 OBS and was successful on 90% of his stolen base attempts in his first year with the other Cubs.  Jones joins an outfield with Garret Anderson, who was singed last week.

The Cubs are near the back of the pack in players signed so far this year with 4 through the first 3 days.  Only the Peffercorns and Outlaws have signed fewer players, while the Cardinals have also signed 4.

As if the I-40 corridor rivalries needed more juice, the Atkins Alley Cats have pulled rug out from the Cubs feet and have stolen Mark Buehrle after it was believed and announced that Buehrle had signed with the Cubs.

“We have submitted a formal request to the commish to look into this situation”, said owner Jason Hoover. “We believe the Alley Cats were getting worried about the pitching strength we were building here inClarksville and contacted Mr. Buehrle’s agent late and got a deal done after the deadline.”

This leaves the Cubs with 3 players signed on Day 2 of the free agency period instead of the reported 4.

“It was obviously all about the money and we hold no ill regards toward Mark, however, the agent and the Alley Cats better straighten up”, Hoover demanded.