As Chicago Cubs Online notes, there have been some recent moves in the Cubs' minor league system, in addition to the demotion of Jae-kuk Ryu and the signing of Tony Womack. The Cubs have promoted 1B Micah Hoffpauir and OF Luis Montanez to triple-A Iowa and demoted 1B Brandon Sing and OF Adam Greenberg to double-A West Tenn.

Hoffpauir has certainly taken advantage of Brian Dopirak's broken foot. Hoffpauir was hitting .268/.362/.594 for West Tenn, with 10 home runs. Hoffpauir's career high for homers is 11, set in 2004 with West Tenn. Last year Hoffpauir mostly played at Iowa, hitting just .268/.334/.342, with 3 homers. I have not heard anything about Dopirak, but according to the original timetable of how long he would be out, he should be returning soon.

Montanez, the Cubs' 2000 1st round draft pick, has come a long way from what he was, a weak hitting and poor fielding shortstop. He was hitting .369/.438/.489 in 141 at-bats and 15 walks for West Tenn. He doesn't have a lot of power for a corner outfielder, so it will be interesting to see how well he hits for Iowa.

Sing, added to the 40-man roster in the offseason, has been a big disappointment. After having 970 and 942 OPSs the past two seasons at Daytona and West Tenn, respectively, Sing had just a 651 OPS with Iowa this year. He may find himself on the bench, or playing some outfield, when Dopirak returns.

Greenberg has shuffled between West Tenn and Iowa this year, unable to find an open spot in the outfields of either team to get regular playing time. When he has played, he hasn't hit well. Is it too soon to worry that Greenberg will be the answer to a trivia question some day?

The other significant move was that the Cubs released starting pitcher Raul Valdes. Valdes had a 5.93 ERA in 98.2 innings for Iowa last year and a 7.59 ERA in 32 innings this year, despite a hot start. Before spring training 2005, there was talk that Valdes would have a chance to make the big league roster.