FRIDAY: J.J. Cooper of Baseball America tweets the full list of players the Cubs have released.
THURSDAY, 10:11pm: The Cubs have let go of 30 minor leaguers, according to Maddie Lee and Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago. However, aside from Stewart and Asuaje, the identities of the players aren’t yet known.
7:16pm: There are minor league cuts happening across baseball, and though the Cubs’ full list isn’t out yet, right-hander Brock Stewart and utilityman Carlos Asuaje are among the players they have released. Stewart announced his fate on Twitter, while Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reported on Asuaje’s exit (via Patrick Mooney of The Athletic). Those two and the rest of the minor leaguers the Cubs have parted with will be paid through the end of June.
Stewart, 28, is an Illinois native who attended Illinois State and was then a sixth-round pick of the Dodgers in the 2014 amateur draft. He went on to pitch for the Dodgers from 2016-19, but the club lost him on waivers to the Blue Jays last July. Stewart didn’t last long with the Jays, who lost him to the Cubs as a Rule 5 pick last winter. Between Los Angeles and Toronto, Stewart has pitched to a 6.05 ERA/6.25 FIP with 7.41 K/9 and 4.09 BB/9 during his 105 2/3-inning major league career.
Success at the game’s highest level has also been hard to come by for Asuaje. The 28-year-old amassed 586 plate appearances as a Padre from 2016-18, but he only managed a .240/.312/.329 line with six home runs with San Diego. Asuaje joined the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization last year, and he hit .252/.356/.368 with a pair of homers in 194 PA before the club released him. He finished 2019 with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate.
These are guys had likely no impact on the Cubs in 2020, but still stinks. I wish them the best.
It’s hard to hear about the lowest paid guys in the game losing their jobs right now because we are fans of sports but they join a long list of unemployed…hopefully Rudy Gobert doesn’t lick a bunch of microphones again and ruin anyone else’s life
Thankfully they still get the stipend through whenever the releasing club promised to pay their minor leaguers. Still sucks but not heartless from the team.
I’d call it heartless. Unnecessary too
I’d call it life.
Damn players still getting fired even without playing smh
Baseball is dying, and it breaks my heart.
I agree the owners and the players are both cooking their own goose! Worst part is they are both to greedy to understand it! I’ll be damned if I ever buy another ticket!
Baseball beware back in 94 fans had a hard time coming back after the strike if no baseball is played in 2020 baseball is history most of the owners brought this on themselves for giving out these horrible contracts to these grease ball players and the way the economy is the average fan is not going to the ballpark ( baseball is doomed)
Mlb acts like it is still America’s Pastime. Sorry, but that left in 1994.
One can look at the bright side and not see thugs from MLB getting arrested once a month for shooting someone, or some loser trying to gain attention and become a disgrace by not kneeling for the national anthem.
Perhaps the game should begin selling it’s soul to the CCP, as has the NBA? Would that make it more popular to some of the “in” crowd? Me? I’m fine with the game retaining as much of the integrity as it has over the years, same with the NHL. NFL and NBA sold theirs years ago and to me are both dead.
Does the bright side consist of domestic violence, unlawfully unloading firearms, using illicit drugs and crashing boats or airplanes, drug addiction, driving an automobile while intoxicated, attempted murder, sexual misconduct with minors, etc? The list could go on for not just baseball but for EVERY pro sport. With all due respect, Your whole post makes you sound like a bigot. Especially the part about CK, considering what just took place in Minneapolis.
“Thugs” and a dig at Kap. Your racism is showing johnsilver
I don’t agree with his post… but I still hate Kap
Why would any half-awake and aware person kowtow to “kneeling” for the national anthem? It’s a disgusting militaristic, pro-war and pro-violence tribute to U. S. imperialism. Athletes aren’t necessarily all the same type of hare-brained, mindless sycophants to power, authority, and non-stop U. S. terrorism and bloodshed that you apparently are. Along with the anthem and the flag-symbol of U. S. state-terrorism, you can take a flying leap right off the planet. ***-hole.
Why would someone so bitter and spiteful like yourself continue to live in this country you so despise?
Privileged people hate protests. They like feeling power over those who are oppressed. Can’t do it peacefully, can’t do it violently. It’s a real cancerous world we live in with people who think like that. It really sucks that people here in the US hate what it stands for when they’re trying to take away the right to protest peacefully.
Again, MOST of those releases would have happened at the end of Spring Training if it had been completed…how many bites at the apple did Carlos Asuage want?
Add to it (a) the likely elimination of the minor league season this year and (b) the likely contraction of 40 or so minor league teams next year, and all these moves are perfectly understandable. In normal times, nobody would have noticed that Brock Stewart got released. In the restaraunt business, Stewart and Asuage are what’s called the ninth and tenth waiters on an 8-waiter floor.
Ya, it’s lousy PR, but so are most layoffs and terminations.
This is probably good, since there’s probably not going to be a minor league season, even if MLB plays, and they’re almost certainly going to stop paying them sooner or later like the A’s, so as released players they can probably collect unemployment.
Unfortunately, minor leaguers are considered seasonal apprentices and are ineligible for unemployment.
Guessing they’ll do something eventually for prospects so they are getting reps in – maybe in the Arizona complexes. But roster filler guys will likely be released en masse to save a nickel.
I haven’t had time to verify, but I’ve heard that the minor league players are eligible under the COVID-19 Federal unemployment policies.
If this keeps happening and these teams are making these massive minor league cuts, can you imagine the tryouts next spring for these minor league squads? Heck, I might even get out there…,there’s plenty of jobs open LOL
Gary these cuts happen every single year. The draft is coming and they make room for the new kids. They are only reporting because there is no other baseball news to report
Ok thanks… I didn’t realize that they cut all these guys. I figured they would hold onto their rights and the kids would stay in the system in the off-season. Thanks again.
I know now that baseball is in deep trouble.
10 comments were made on this story so far….
I like the Cubs but I never of heard of these guys !
I was thinking teams are cleaning out their farm system to take on future players after the draft. Majority of MLB players came after the 5th round….so for $20,000, many teams will get lucky.
Exactly. Teams routinely “clean out” their system at the end of Spring Training, when minor league rosters have to be finalized; there are limits to minor league rosters, and you can only “bury” so many players in Extended Spring Training (usually about 10 or so domestic players). Then, after draft picks are signed, another purge happens.
Lots of minor leaguers are held onto simply because, say, your team in Peioria needs a 2B. The minute you acquire soembody else to play that posistion, they get released.
I got caught with job layoffs in the past….
I was not the lowest paid employee…..
But the guy who did not have a family to support….
Yes,being Single was my pink slip at several jobs back in the 80s & 90s…..
I was let go because some guy and his wife were going to have a baby and he needed a raise……..or some guy got a larger house with a larger mortgage and he needed a raise…..
I kid you not…….
I was Single and the Boss always said a family man needs more help than a single guy…..so I was let go………meanwhile, the married guys wife is a teacher or a nurse .who is pulling in $45,000 with the husbands salary of $60,000.
Brock Stewart pulled in over $1.1 million in the last two years…….I think he will not hit the food stamp line. He should be fine.
All that written diarrhea to get to the last 2 sentences. Thanks. Appreciate it.
It was written in-hopes you find employment someday.
No, it is as written to show double income couples always make out better than single people.
Right. Double income couples don’t have extra expenses that single people typically don’t – raising kids, college, etc.
Two incomes give you a better chance at affording a home, transportation and more. Having children is a personal choice. Two incomes are better than one. Mark that one down Dave.
These cuts are power moves. The owners want nothing more than to salvage as much season as possible, and maybe if the MLBPA sees players being cut during economic times they might be willing to take what they can get.
Exactly, a well timed PR move.
i doubt it. the more ive thought about this the more ive just figured this is routine. most teams make minors cuts before the season or before the draft anyway to clear some room for new players.
It’s not power moves, it’s finally having the opportunity moves.
Remember, previous agreements required complete transactional freezes on the rosters. This is the first opportunity for mlb clubs to reevaluate needs and pare down rosters the way they would have in march had things not been frozen.
that’s actually a few players of note this time Charcer Burks, Oscar De La Cruz, Corban Joseph, Bryan Brickhouse, Jordan Patterson, Jake Stinnett, Noel Cuevas
De La Cruz was supposed to be one of their big pitchers coming through the system along with the position players. He had a pretty good bounce back season last year and would be a fairly intriguing arm to take a look at moving forward.
it all seemed to go down hill after the failed PED test
Oscar De la Cruz & Jake Stinnett were high on the Cubs chart.
Stewart had a good cup of coffee with the Dodgers. He then struggled in his second year in the majors and has been bouncing ever since. I hope he gets a shot but he may have to go overseas.
The Twitter list has 28 players. Arizona Phil of Cub Reporter is speculating that Brandon Morrow and Jason Kipnis are the remaining two. The Cubs may be renegotiating with them to avoid paying a retention bonus or a player opt-out.