“I am starting to feel some momentum from within the system that there are going to be some big moves coming. Whether that’s today or not, I’m not sure. But they are coming.”

Todd Johnson

I wrote that last night before the Canario promotion news broke. It seemed prophetic at the time.

Today could be a busy day in terms of movement in the system as a result of the Canario move. How busy? We are going find out.

Over the last two weeks we’ve seen Brandon Hughes, Nelson Velasquez, and Nelson Maldonado move up to Iowa and Dalton Stambaugh and now Canario got the bump up to Tennessee. In addition, Riley Martin is now at South Bend but we have several other players who are worthy of moving up to the next level still waiting their turn and biding their time.

Myrtle Beach – Pete Crow-Armstrong is in desperate need of a promotion. What more would the Cubs have him work on in Myrtle Beach? Cole Roederer looks like he is healthy enough to return to his roster spot in South Bend but I don’t know if his “rehab” continues for another three weeks before he can “officially” get called back to South Bend. In the Pelicans’ bullpen, Sheldon Reed, Jake Reindl, and Walker Powell are all set and ready to go. In addition, relievers Adam Laskey and Luis Rodriguez are also not being challenged much either. In the rotation, I don’t think there’s a rush to get anybody moved up to South Bend just yet except for maybe Richard Gallardo. His second go round in Myrtle Beach is going better than expected. He is still just 20-years-old and will be until September of this year. That’s a big list of names who probably should move pretty soon.

South Bend – When it comes to position players, Canario might be the only one moving up for a while. Matt Mervis has an outside shot, but he’s really going to have to keep his game consistent over the next two months to get a call. When it comes to the pitching side of things, we could see half the starting rotation and some of the bullpen head to Tennessee at some point the next month or so. Chris Clarke, DJ Herz, and Max Bain are all close to being ready (but not quite yet) along with Nicholas Padilla and Jeremiah Estrada, who looks more than ready to move to Double-A.

Tennessee – Darius Hill, Chris Morel, and Bryce Ball are all putting together three very good seasons at the top of the order. Andy Weber is starting to come along and he could also earn a promotion as well. The same is true for Cam Sanders and reliever Bryan Hudson. I am a little on the fence with Eury Ramos going up right now, but he definitely put himself in the conversation to make it to Iowa this year in the bullpen, possibly sometime later this summer.

Iowa – Once June gets here, transactions to and from Iowa will start to speed up. And then once July arrives, we’re going to see a lot of moves before the August 2 trade deadline. Right now, Jared Young, Dixon Machado, and Ildemaro Vargas look to be the only position players who may have a shot in case of an injury but not one of them is on the 40-man roster. Brandon Hughes looks unhittable while Ben Leeper is starting to round into shape. As well, neither of them are on the 40-man. There are going to be some tough choices to be made as a result.

While we might not see wholesale changes and promotions today, we are getting pretty close to that time when things happen in bunches. In order for a lot of these promotions to happen, somebody’s going to have to take somebody else’s place. The Cubs do have several players still out in Arizona waiting for an affiliate position to open. It’s not necessarily going to be one guy moves out from one level to another; it’s going to be a mix-and-match of roster construction.

I’m not expecting a lot of things to happen today maybe just a couple of moves. You never know, though, the Cubs could surprise me.

I will be back around 10 AM Central with an update or sooner if there is a move.

UPDATE 8:25 AM

I woke up to a few notes that were sent to me and let’s just say today is going to be a busy day. I am hearing rumblings of more movement between South Bend and Tennessee which would also mean that there would have to be some positions filled in South Bend. Where those players come from is something I haven’t heard yet. We could either see them come from Myrtle Beach or from Arizona.

There also are several players who are close to being ready to rejoin a full season affiliate. We need to keep that in mind today and there could even be a few players released or put on the injured list. Thankfully, today’s lesson plans include a test, a WebQuest, and an educational film. So, I will have my transaction pages open and my email ready to receive new mail from the athletes. Myrtle Beach is usually the first but, the transaction wire could happen anywhere between now and 6 o’clock tonight.

UPDATE 9:23 AM

Cam Balego, Ryan Jensen, and Riley Thompson have been transferred to the Development List at Tennessee. That opens up a couple of spots.

UPDATE 9:33 AM

Here come the moves – South Bend Cubs released OF Edmond Americaan.

South Bend Cubs activated RHP Jose Albertos and LHP Didier Vargas.

UPDATE 9:53

Max Bain is on his way to Tennessee. Word leaked on this yesterday but the team had not confirmed it as of this morning. Well, Max rewteeted his promotion to make it official.

11:03 UPDATE

FYI – All the transactions were backdated to yesterday. So, we have not gotten today’s move. For example, the Max Bain move. Myrtle Beach should send out its moves about 1 central.

1:17 PM

And going to South Bend are 3B/OF Jake Slaughter, OF Cole Roederer, RHP Walker Powell

It is now official – RHP Max Bain, RHP Chris Clarke, and RHP Nicholas Padilla assigned to Tennessee Smokies from South Bend Cubs.

5 PM UPDATE

No new news yet. No additional moves for Myrtle Beach as of yet. I am still waiting on game notes from Iowa. Those might be a game time thing.

5:18 And I’m DONE!!!

Iowa added  LHP Bryan Hudson and RHP Cam Sanders (from Tennessee)

I can now take it easy for a day!