Eloy Jimenez Among Seven Reassigned as Cubs Trim Spring Roster to 43

The Cubs’ Spring roster was formally reduced from 50 to 43 players today with the reassignment of seven players to minor league camp. This means these guys will get more playing time on the backfields which, at this point is what they need.

Previous pitcher-heavy cuts of 16 players had contained mainly unknown prospects, but this is the first of the moves with a bunch of recognizable names. That doesn’t mean it was any less expected, as none of these guys were going to break camp with the big club.

Top prospect Eloy Jimenez headlines a group that also includes Pierce Johnson, Victor Caratini, Chesny Young, and Victor Caratini. Gee, now I’ve gone and pretty much taken all the steam out of the official press release. I guess there are a couple more names listed there, so have a gander.

MESA – The Chicago Cubs today assigned seven players to minor league camp, reducing their spring roster from 50 to 43 players.

Right-handed pitchers Pierce Johnson and Felix Pena, catcher Victor Caratini and outfielder Jacob Hannemann have been optioned to Triple-A Iowa.

Three non-roster invitees have been assigned to minor league camp: Infielder Chesny Young and outfielders Eloy Jimenez and Mark Zagunis.

Chicago’s spring roster of 43 players consists of 22 pitchers (four non-roster invitees), five catchers (two non-roster invitees), 11 infielders (four non-roster invitees) and five outfielders (one non-roster invitee).