The Cubs are in agreement with outfielder Forrest Wall on a minor league contract, reports Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register. He opted out of a non-roster deal with the Padres last week.
Wall had spent the entire season in Triple-A with San Diego. He hit .298/.384/.429 while going 21-22 in stolen base attempts. Wall only hit four home runs but reached base at a strong clip behind a high batting average and a solid 10.4% walk rate. That wasn’t enough to get an MLB look from the Padres. Wall did get brief big league stints with the Braves and Marlins last year, combining for 16 games. He had eight hits (all singles) with a trio of walks and eight strikeouts in 35 plate appearances.
A former supplemental first-round pick, Wall has played parts of six Triple-A seasons. He owns a .273/.360/.391 slash in nearly 1900 trips to the plate. Wall is a plus runner who has played all three outfield positions, but his big league experience has mostly come in left field. He’s a patient hitter but doesn’t have a ton of power and only makes contact at a league average rate.
The Cubs have a crowded outfield picture. Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker have the spots secure. Seiya Suzuki is at designated hitter but would play the corner outfield in the event of an injury. Kevin Alcantara and top prospect Owen Caissie are on the 40-man roster and on optional assignment. Wall’s best path to a big league job is probably as a September call-up who could serve as a pinch-runner. He has more than 300 steals in nearly 1000 career minor league games.
Redundant, Cubs already have a forest wall for their outfield
Career .311 hitter up for grabs!
People still write about the September call-ups as though teams can call up several players. They seem to forget that the limit is only 28–one more player and one more pitcher.
The idea that the Cubs have any chance at all of finishing first in the division is an insult to our intelligence. They might be 10 or 11 games behind the Brewers BEFORE the 5-game series. They might be 15 behind at the end of the series. It really is time for us to stop talking nonsense. Sciambi and JD are paid to do so; what is your excuse?
@Alan: I doubt anything would be an insult, to your intelligence Alan.
Thanks, Dog. I’m pretty smart, I’ve been around for a while and I have contexts. What I have noticed here is that a lot of people don’t have contexts, it’s all new to them. But you’re too kind.
When my dog farts, it’s more eloquent than you.
Cubs are fine as far as a WC spot. In the overly expanded playoffs, that’s all you need even though Milw/LAD/Philly would be clear favorites against them.
Cubs are far from “fine” for a WC spot. With no offense, shaky rotation and bullpen, the collapse is well underway. I think the Reds take the last WC spot, with the Cubs 2+ games behind them.
@CubsAreMid: That’s what I see too. Cubs could finish behind a couple more teams too. But the thought is too painful for some of our friends here to think, so they are not thinking it.
If anyone wants to see what might happen, take a look at the game-by-game from 1973–a year that should be infamous in Cubs fans’ minds, but for some reason isn’t.
Probably true, but if there’s one team with a history of wetting the bed more than The Cubs, it’s The Brewers.
There is only one player who should be called up in September. Owen Caissie. Anybody else will be not only an insult to him, But to us as Cub fans also.
@Uncle: Agree, but it might be Ballesteros.
I don’t wish anyone to be injured, but what the Cubs need is a position player injury or two–so they could bring up Caissie or Ballestros or someone who might awaken the offense.
Or they could send down PCA and call up ONKC. The league seems to have found PCA’s weakness (just above the zone).
Send down PCA? Really? That’s absurd. He needs MLB AB’s. He needs to figure it out up here. He either does or he doesn’t but either way he’s needed for his defense.
Yes, if we accept that this season is gonna be another 83-79. That might be the case anyway. Cubs fans have been badly misled.
I said before the season this team was built to win he division and that’s all. I honestly don’t remember actually saying they WOULD win the division but if I did that’s not aging well obviously. The team started the season without a legitimate Ace( Apologies to Steele) and without a legitimate Closer( Sorry Palencia). Once again they eat money on a reliever who was supposed to do that job and have to turn to Rookie to deliver in key situations. It’s been tried before and failed, I see no reason for that to change under Gollum. Harris and Breslow have moved on and are better than Gollum in just about every way and guess who we’re stuck with now. The offense carried the team early and now it’s failing because of not swinging at good pitches like they were up to now.They’ll either come around or they won’t but either way they are about what they were expected to be. Lacking in the key pieces to move up or on in the Playoffs. I turned the game off when Brasier gave up the moonshot that made it 5-0 because I knew there was nothing left to see. And now, We have more years of it. Thanks Ricketts
The offense is failing also because when they DO swing at good pitches, they miss them or foul them. I’m looking at you, Tucker.
Mike and Alan, get a room. You’re both annoying AF.
Somebody holding a gun to your head to read it? He asked curiously.
I’m convinced the entire Cubs team all ran into the forrest and keep hitting walls trying to find their way out. Atrocious to watch these days.
Yeah great idea. Because there is absolutely nobody in the entire Cubs Minor League system who can run fast. Atta Boy Gollum.
Run Forrest Run
Rum Forrest rum
Hey man. Now show me that crazy little walk ya do while I strum along here on my guitar. You ain’t nothing but a hound dog……
Taking advantage of scoring opportunities is, I think, partly a matter of confidence–coming up to the plate *knowing* you’re going to drive that run in. The Cubs seem to lack confidence right now. You can see the fear of failure in the faces of PCA, Happ, Swanson, others. The pendulum might swing back, but it is also possible that the swings have just gotten slower as the season has gotten older. If that is the case, they might have quite a steep drop in front of them.
AAA depth at best.
If I were a fan of the White Sox, I likely would be smart enough not to insult another team’s leadership and fan base.
Can’t you at least try to come up with something more original to blab besides this worn out, tired garbage?
Leave him alone Rondon, it’s most White Sox fans obsession to care about the Cubs more than the Sox.
It is remarkable how, whenever a team makes the kind of minor move that ALL TEAMS MAKE ALL THE TIME, some naive or foolish fan makes what he think is a clever remark about “dumpster diving.” They aren’t getting this guy to bat cleanup, WhiteSx2924. He is minor-league depth.
It’s a fan base that cheered for the Cubs during the Wisdom and Bote era and ownership has always known people show up for bad baseball. It’s just a continuation of a team that forgets it’s a 6 month season and hands out awards in June.
Good luck Treeline!
And now we know why the Cubs cannot see the forest through the trees. There’s a Wall!
Run Forrest, run!
The heck with wall! As for the brewers just signing,merrieweather, here’s anticipating Julian coming back to haunt the cubbies shortly because the brew crew know what they’re doing unlike the cubs.
Buckle up Cubs nation gonna be a fun summer and October.
Figuratively and literally I guess
Wall will not matter. Brewers won’t lose again because adding a Jansen and a Vaughn they still find ways to win with lesser talent than cubs. Wall will not see the friendly confines.
It isn’t lesser talent, Bruce. It is much better pitching, and a group of hitters with extremely good bat-to-ball skills and that ability, very rare in the majors, to intentionally bat the ball so it lands beyond the infielders and in front of or between the outfielders. That is an ability that a few players have, and the Brewers management stocked the roster with them. Thus their unprecedented success, which is going to continue. They might not lose 10 games the rest of the way. Maybe not close to ten.
R. I. Is on track to win their 90 games for hoyer to view it as successful goal