Cubs Minor Leaguers Offseason Plans

Just a few quick hits here on some Cubs prospects and what they'll be up to this offseason. I'll pass along any more that I hear about.

- Chris Carpenter has returned to Kent State to finish up a degree in business and train with the baseball team. Interestingly, only 26 current MLB players and managers (out of nearly 800) have college degrees, per a Wall Street Journal article in June. For a lot of reasons, many baseball careers don't work out, so it's great to see a kid get a degree to fall back on.

- DJ LeMahieu has had a busy offseason, which started at instructs after the season ended. Earlier this month he travelled to Washington D.C. with his teammates from LSU to meet President Obama at the White House as the College World Series Champions. The ring ceremony for the team will take place Saturday.

- LeMahieu also has been training in the Dominican Republic with several of his Peoria teammates, including Brett Jackson, Ryan Flaherty, Rebel Ridling, and Kyler Burke, along with a few other Cubs prospects including Logan Watkins, Sergio Burruel, and Matt Cerda.

- Justin Bour also will return to his alma mater of George Mason also to train with his brother Jason Bour, a catcher in the Reds system, along with the college team.

- Ryan Flaherty on his plans: "I'd like to gome, see my family back in Maine. I'm sure I'll maybe spend a little time in Nashville (at Vanderbilt, his alma mater), work out with some guys there, a couple other things I could do."