Brandon Guyer, Chris Archer, Kyle Smit and Alberto Cabrera were added to the 40-man roster; with Micah Hoffpauir heading to Japan, the 40-man roster now stands at 39.
Some of you here have said that Guyer has a shot at making the 25-man roster in 2011; I was skeptical at the time, but his addition to the roster means a guaranteed spring training invitation and a shot to impress Mike Quade. Guyer hit .344/.398/.588 in 369 at-bats for Double-A Tennessee last season with 39 doubles, 13 HR and 58 RBI in 102 games. He will turn 25 in January and has already hit a home run at Wrigley Field -- for Peoria in 2008, when the Chiefs played the Kane County Cougars there.
Archer played for the USA team in the baseball World Cup qualifying tournament in October and is considered one of the team's top pitching prospects. He was a combined 15-3, 2.34 between Daytona and Tennessee in 2010 with a 1.17 WHIP. He just turned 22 in September; he'd be a longshot to make the 2011 rotation, but with a 40-man roster spot will also get some spring training playing time.
Smit was acquired from the Dodgers in the Ryan Theriot deal. After the deal he went 5-1 with one save and a 1.96 ERA (4 ER/18.1 IP) in 12 relief outings with the Smokies. He turned 23 last month.
Cabrera, who turned 22 last month, split the 2010 campaign between Daytona and Tennessee, combining to go 7-9 with a 4.24 ERA (64 ER/136.0 IP) in 28 appearances (26 starts). He struck out 125 batters and walked only 50 in 136.0 innings pitched.