The minor league season has been cancelled

Although it was merely a formality at this point the minor league season has officially been cancelled. 

"These are unprecedented times for our country and our organization as this is the first time in our history that  we've had a summer without Minor League Baseball played," Minor League Baseball President Pat O'Conner said in a statement.

Obviously this hurts the Cubs, along with every major league team, in terms of player development. Young players need to get their at-bats/innings in and not being able to do so could be very damaging to their development. 

This is going to have a devastating effect on the future of the minor leagues. Major League Baseball had already been looking at shrinking the size of the minor leagues and with every team facing significant financial losses due to no season being played it gives them an even bigger reason to want to cut down.

Cubs reveal initial Summer Camp roster

MLB teams were required to submit their initial rosters to MLB by 3 PM yesterday, and the Cubs announced theirs last night having 50 out of a possible 60 players on their roster.

Most notably the roster does include both Anthony Rizzo and Jon Lester, both of them would have been considered at-risk due to their previous battles with cancer and could've chosen not to play and would've received their full salary.

On the positional player size there isn't any surprises. P.J. Higgins and Josh Phegley are still in the catching mix but are unlikely to win a backup job with Victor Caratini on the roster and Willson Contreras entrenched as the everyday starter.

The infield competition is likely going to be between Nico Hoerner, Daniel Descalso, and Jason Kipnis for the final spot. Descalso and Kipnis are likely to have the edge thanks to their big league experience and Hoerner still a little bit away from being fully big league ready.

The outfield is mostly set, but there figures to be a competition between Ian Miller and Steven Souza Jr for the final spot. Miller was brought in on a minor league deal, while Souza signed a one-year major league contract after a devastating knee injury wiped out his 2019.

The summer roster includes 22 pitchers competing for only 13-14 spots. The starting rotation is mostly set with Yu Darvish, Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester. and Jose Quintana locked in with the fifth starter spot likely still between Alec Mills and Tyler Chatwood.

The bullpen has several locked in players including Craig Kimbrel, Rowan Wick, and Kyle Ryan, but will also have guys like Casey Sadler, Trevor Megill, and James Norwood who will have to earn their way onto the big league roster.

The South Bend portion of the roster includes top prospects Brailyn Marquez, Brennen Davis, and Miguel Amaya who will look to get some valuable development time in a very unusual set of circumstances.

It's interesting that the Cubs have left some roster spaces open, we'll have to see if they choose to add more players.

Who are the Cubs DH options?

With the 60 game season a reality, it has also brought a significant change to the National League: the addition of the designated hitter.

Momentum had been heading this way for a while, and while this is just a 2020 thing. It's possible that this will soon become a permanent change. The question is who will fill that role for the Cubs?

Kyle Schwarber, OF

From the outside looking in, this is the obvious choice. Schwarber fits the bill of a stereotypical DH, he is a pure slugger with good on base skills, and has had some well publicized gaffes in the outfield, but he actually is not that bad of a defensive outfielder.

In 2019 Schwarber posted a -3 defensive runs saved (DRS), which while still slightly below average, it was completely acceptable for a player with his offensive prowess. That was a drop from his 2018 number where he was worth +3 DRS. He's also got a strong arm in the outfield as threw out 8 baserunners in 2019 after throwing out 11 the year before.

Schwarber is an absolute beast at the dish though, his .871 OPS  was a career high along with his 38 home runs. He is one of the best at hard contact as his 92.7 average exit velocity ranked in the 97th percentile of the National League and his 51.2 hard hit percentage ranked fourth in all of baseball behind just Miguel Sano, Aaron Judge, and Nelson Cruz.

Schwarber does also swing and miss a lot with a 25.6 percent strikeout rate and a whiff at 28.1 percent of pitches he sees, but he makes up for that with a 11.5 percent walk rate and a 23.7 chase percentage.

Although Schwarber fits the bill of a typical DH, he is also a competent defender in left and has some value for the Cubs there. He will likely see a share of starts at DH, but it is unlikely he would be the everyday starter at the position.

David Bote, IF

David Bote is likely to receive a chunk of starts at second base, but he would also be a viable option for the designated hitter position.

Bote had a solid season in 2019 hitting .257/.362/.422 with 11 home runs in 356 plate appearances. He still strikes out a lot, with a 26.1 percent rate, but he walked an impressive 12.4 percent of the time which ranked 33rd in the MLB, sandwiched between Anthony Rendon and Robbie Grossman, for all hitters with at least 350 plate appearances.

Bote didn't make as much hard contact as he did in 2018, but his 89.7 MPH average exit velocity still ranked in the top half of baseball, and while his .165 ISO would rank as below average for the position he would still be a viable option with the bat thanks to his solid plate discipline.

The other side of the equation is that Bote is a solid defender at second base with a DRS of 2 in 270.2 innings at the position and according to Baseball Savant he was one out above average last year. Certainly not an elite defender, but he is good enough with both the bat and the glove that the Cubs should be thinking long and hard about possible losing that value from the position.

Ian Happ, IF/OF

Ian Happ is a very interesting player for the Cubs in 2020. He went from being a surprise demotion to the minors in 2019, to playing fairly well in a 58 game sample and has been primed as a potential break out candidate for the squad.

In 58 games and 156 plate appearances Happ hit .264/.333/.564 with 11 home runs and 39 strikeouts to 15 walks. This followed up a 99 game stint for the Iowa Cubs where he hit .242/.364/.432 with 113 strikeouts and 65 walks complimenting that with 16 home runs.

The problem with Happ is where to put him on the field. Happ was poised to start at center this year, and it's very likely he still well, but he is also a viable candidate to take the DH role.

Happ has shown huge power potential with his bat, his .300 ISO ranked 17th among hitters with 150 plate appearances, and he also cut down his strikeouts to a career best 25 percent.

It's worth noting that his big league numbers are over a small sample size, but Happ has always had big time power, the problem is that he had way too much swing and miss in his game and it seems like he has put forth significant effort at cutting it down.

Defensively it's a much more mixed bag. Happ has seen playing time at several positions during his time at the big leagues and has been serviceable at best. He has only gotten significant playing time at center in 2018 and in 403.2 innings cost the Cubs seven runs in the field.

On paper he looks like a perfect candidate to fill the role, his big bag and defensive struggles make him the perfect candidate, but the other side of the equation is who would take his place in center? The other option would be Albert Almora Jr, but his hitting is such a question mark that it's fair to question his placement in any lineup.

The Platoon Option

It's also possible, and probably the most likely option, that the Cubs don't have a full time DH and instead just use it as a way to give guys a rest from playing the field in order to give their legs a rest.

Guys like Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo could very well get a good chunk of playing time at the position as the Cubs would like to keep them as fresh as possible for a potential postseason run. 

It would be similar to what the Dodgers are doing, using the DH as a way to give players a "partial off day" 

Being able to get an extra bat in the lineup is a huge advantage, especially for a team that has as much potential firepower as the Cubs have. The ability of a platoon DH will give the Cubs the ability to mix and match their lineups much more to get more favorable matchups.

Baseball. Is. Back

After months of negotiations there has finally been an agreement and there will be baseball in 2020. Although it's a shame the process couldn't go more smoothly, there is much to rejoice about baseball being back.

The season will be 60 games long and it will bring the designated hitter to the National League. The agreement will also bring the controversial extra inning rule where any extra inning will begin with a runner at second base.

According to Jon Heyman each teams schedule would consist of 40 games against their divisional opponents and 20 games against their cross league counterpart. For the Cubs this would mean games against the AL Central (Indians, Royals, Tigers, Twins, White Sox).

Although the circumstances of all this is not ideal, and is likely a set up to a huge labor fight after the current CBA expires in 2021. It is baseball at the very least so embrace the chaos, and enjoy the 60 game sprint.

MLB, MLBPA nearing an agreement?

Just days after all hope seemed lost Jon Heyman of MLB Network is now reporting that an agreement is near just shortly after reporting Rob Manfred and MLBPA chief Tony Clark had a meeting Arizona.

Although that has been slightly backtracked by Evan Drellich of the Athletic and the MLBPA itself, it seems like at the very least there is some sort of momentum towards an agreement. That is confirmed by Manfreds own words who says in a statement "We left that meeting with a jointly developed framework that we agree could form the basis of an agreement and subject to conversations with our respective constituents,"

Obviously there is still work to be done, but this is definitely the most positive news for baseball in recent days. Buster Olney of ESPN says the new proposal is for 60 games at full pro rated salary that would start on July 19. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the deal would also include 16 playoff teams.

60 games is still not enough games, as Robert Murray says, but the full pro rated salary is a significant change and one that could potentially spark the momentum towards a deal and bring baseball back.

This post will be updated as information unfolds

Update: Joel Sherman of the New York Post adds some more information on the proposal, including a universal DH for both 2020 and 2021 and a $25 million postseason pool.

The universal DH is the most notable addition, and it's addition would likely end up being a permanent one. There was already momentum towards it leading up to CBA negotiations after the 2021 season, so it appears like that will be coming a few years early.

Rob Manfred: "Not confident" in baseball season

Just days after saying he was 100 percent confident in a baseball season Rob Manfred has now changed his tune. In a interview for the ESPN special "The Return of Sports" Manfred said ""I'm not confident. I think there's real risk, and as long as there's no dialogue, that real risk is gonna continue,"

This is further backed up by Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times who said the MLB sent a letter to the players saying there will not be a baseball season unless the players waive their right to any legal claims against the league.

Being quite frank, that is complete bullshit.

The owners continue to offer proposals that are either a insufficient amount of games or don't pay the players their full pro-rated salary, and not only that, they now want the players to waive any right to file a grievance over negotiating in bad faith in order to play a season at all.

The players want to get paid for the amount of games that they play and to play as much of the season as possible, whether it was 114 games, 89 games, or 76 games.

The owners, however, do not want to do that. Their final proposal included 72 games with players being paid 80-85 percent of the prorated salary depending on whether the postseason was completed or not.

Imagine being asked to work 10 hours and being told you would only get paid for eight of those hours, you wouldn't be happy right? So why should the players be expected to play games that they wouldn't even be paid for?

The players are not budging on their belief that they should be paid the full pro-rated salary for the amount of games they end up playing.  That is completely justified, if they were to end up playing 82 games then they should be paid for those 82 games.

The only proposal the owners made that involved paying the players their deserve, full pro-rated salary involved playing around 50 total games, which, if you know anything about baseball is not a sufficient sample size to determine who the best team in the league is.

It's an embarrassment to the game of baseball, the owners are crying cheap when they have no justification to, the players should be paid for the amount of games that are played, and trying to force a 50 game season is a farce.

Cubs draft SS Ed Howard

The Cubs used their first round selection last night on a local kid drafting Mt. Carmel shorstop Ed Howard with the 16th overall pick.

Howard, 18, stands at 6' 2" and weighs 185 LBs. He hit .421 with three home runs during his junior year, but lost the entirety of his senior year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was named first-team Class 4A All-State along with appearing in the Perfect Game All-America Game, Under Armour All-American Game, and the MLB High School All-Star Game.

MLB Pipeline  had him ranked as their 15th overall prospect and describes his swing as "Using a simple right-handed swing and a calm approach, Howard makes repeated hard contact." He is considered an excellent defender being described as "A smooth defender at shortstop, Howard definitely will be able to remain at the position. He can make all the plays with athletic actions, quick hands and a strong arm capable of making throws from a variety of angles,"

Howard is years away from any sort of significant impact on the big league level, but this is an extremely solid pick by the Cubs. His defensive prowess on top of his potential to be a solid offensive contributor will easily make him one of the top Cubs prospects immediately.