Today saw the Chicago Cubs announce the 26-man roster that will make up the initial 2009 Boise Hawks.  Or will it?

After days of speculation, an original roster had the names that Treasure Valley fans will cheer for – including five players (Sean Hoorelbeke, Josh Whitlock, Jose Made, Ryan Sontag, Josh Lansford) who have played at Memorial Stadium before.

However, just as soon as the roster was announced – the changes began.  First, it was the removal of a player from the roster and addition of another, then came the announcement that manager Casey Kopitzke will not be in uniform on Opening Day (Cubs Minor League Infield Coordinator Franklin Font will skipper the club on an interim basis, with Minor League Field Coordinator Dave Bialas serving as team spokesman), and finally, when the numbers of the players were revealed, a 27th player (Yohan Gonzalez) magically appeared on the roster.

The big question is, who will be coming off the plane at Boise Airport tomorrow?

On the roster were three draft picks, but none higher than the 14th round (Danny Keefe 14th, Cody Shields 15th, Greg Rohan 21st) – which this will definitely change as the summer rolls on.

Welcome to the first of many blogs here with BoiseHawksRadio –  it should be a lot of fun here in 2009

 

Four days an counting until the newest version of the Northwest League season begins on Saturday – but for the Boise Hawks, fans (and all of us with the club) wonder – who are the Hawks.

Hopefully by the end of today we will know – as the Cubs are expected to release the initial list of players for the team (typically anywhere from 25-28)…however, 45 players total played for the Hawks last year, so it won’t take long for a carousel of roster moves to begin.

Couple of neat things – Steve Holley from cubs.scout.com has reported that the Cubs 5th round pick, Wes Darvill of Langley, B.C. has signed with the club, but will not report to Mesa until July – as he is playing for Team Canada.  Also, look for a story coming up on the Hawks website boisehawks.com on former Hawk, Joel Peralta, who is having a nice summer with the Colorado Rockies – as I got to sit down with Troy Renck, the beat writer for the Denver Post.

I look forward to hearing all summer from the fans and look forward to talking to you each night on 1350 KTIK The Ticket.

Mike