Cubs minicamp opens as CBA talks make slow progress

MESA, Ariz. – Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer stood up the third baseline chatting with third base coach Willie Harris. Shifting his feet, Harris tossed the ball back to quality assurance coach Mike Napoli, the rhythm of their game of catch matching the laidback air around the first day of minicamp on Tuesday.

In between the lines, prospects took turns hitting off a pitching machine and shagging balls in the field.

“I’ve been smiling ear to ear all day,” Cubs vice president of player development Jared Banner said Tuesday in a conversation with the Sun-Times, “just being out here with all these guys, seeing them and just the joy they’ve had on the field. It’s pretty amazing.”

For the first time in two years, minor league camp is shaping up to be normal. The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out their 2020 season, and last year health and safety concerns pushed back spring training for Double-A and Single-A players.

On the major-league side, however, this spring is anything but normal. Big-league players were conspicuously absent from the Cubs’ Mesa facilities on Tuesday, and members of the 40-man roster will remain barred from spring training until the league ends the lockout that it imposed on Dec. 2, when its Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players association expired.

MLB announced last week that spring training games would be postponed until at least March 5. But the start date hinges on a series of meetings in Juniper, Florida this week. Tuesday marked the second consecutive day of bargaining sessions between Major League Baseball and the MLBPA.

The meetings so far have produced only marginal movement toward an agreement. According to multiple reports, the league on Monday raised its pre-arbitration bonus pool offer by $5 million and increased its amateur draft lottery proposal to include four clubs.

The players union had been proposing that eight clubs enter the draft lottery. On Tuesday, they reportedly lowered it to seven. They also lowered their proposal for early arbitration from 80 percent of players to 75 percent, while making some increases to their minimum salary offer.

In the meantime, minor-league camp carries on.

“Right now, we’re just focused on the guys that are here,” Banner said. “And we’re excited to help them get a little bit better every day, give them all the resources they need, prepare them for the season. … Can’t control the things that we can’t control.”

While some of that is by necessity – MLB has instructed team personnel not to contact or discuss 40-man roster players – for the Cubs, there is plenty to get excited about. Along with prospects additions from the amateur draft and international signing periods, trades over the past year have swapped established players for young talent.

About 70 prospects are at Cubs minicamp, not including the expected big-league non-roster invitees, who can mix into workouts as well. The players broke out into groups across the complex Tuesday, working with coaches from both the major- and minor-league sides.

Shortstop Ed Howard, the Cubs’ 2020 first-round draft pick, could be spotted among infielders taking ground balls off a machine. Later, Cristian Hernanadez, a top international signee last year, and Owen Caissie, one of the prospects the Cubs acquired in a trade for Yu Darvish a year ago, drew eyes to their hitting group.

To finish up, players gathered in the bleachers to watch part of a simulated game. Outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who the Cubs acquired at the deadline in the Javy Baez trade, was among those who stepped in the batter’s box against live pitching.

Those are just a few of the Cubs’ Top 10 prospects, as ranked by mlb.com, to start minicamp. As camp continues, and players show off their offseason progress, more will establish themselves as names Cubs fans need to know.

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