Each with his own story: Cubs invite 21 nonroster men to camp

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One of my favorite spring-training features — and one I try to write every year — is a story on nonroster invitees.

These are the guys on minor-league contracts who get invited to big-league spring training. Some of them are prospects not yet on the team’s 40-man roster, such as the Cubs’ Brett Jackson, Jay Jackson, Marco Carrillo, Jae-Hoon Ha and Dae-Eun Rhee.

Those are among 21 nonroster men announced Monday by the Cubs, who open spring training in Mesa, Ariz., in just over two weeks.

There always are some interesting stories among the kids, but even more interesting are some of the veterans in camp for a look-see, maybe the last of their careers.

Among the older guys going to camp this year is left-handed reliever Trever Miller. The 38-year-old Miller will get a reported $800,000 if he makes the team. He has appeared in 694 major-league games, all but 5 in relief, over 13 seasons for eight organizations.

Let’s get the list out of the way before we cherry-pick what could be a few interesting names to watch this spring.

Catchers: Michael Brenly, Jason Jaramillo, Blake Lalli.

Infielders: Alfredo Amezaga, Edgar Gonzalez, Jonathan Mota, Bobby Scales and Matt Tolbert.

Outfielders: Brett Jackson, Jim Adduci, Jae-Hoon Ha and Joe Mather.

Pitchers: In addition to Miller, Carrillo, Jay Jackson and Rhee, the Cubs also have invited prospects Trey McNutt, Blake Parker and Chris Rusin, along with veterans Rodrigo Lopez and Manny Corpas.

Lopez was in the Cubs’ rotation last year, and the Cubs are taking a chance on Corpas, the former Rockies closer who underwent Tommy John surgery in late 2010.

Just for fun, here is a mishmash of guys we’ll keep an eye on and maybe talk with at length this spring, for various reasons:

The hot prospect:

Brett Jackson says he believes he’s ready for prime time, but the Cubs don’t seem to think so. Both team president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer have said they’d like Jackson to begin the season at Class AAA Iowa.

At Class AA Tennessee last year, Jackson had a hitting line of .256/.373/.443 with 10 homers. He moved up to Iowa and went .297/.388/.551, also with 10 homers.

The Cubs still have Marlon Byrd for one more year. But if they trade Byrd, Jackson may be ready to step in.

All in the family:

Michael Brenly is the son of TV analyst Bob Brenly. The Cubs didn’t give catcher Welington Castillo much of a shot last year when they called him up. Steve Clevenger finished the season on the September roster.

The younger Brenly spent last year at Class A Daytona, going .206/.248/.248 with 1 homer.

Speaking of family ties, Edgar Gonzalez, 33, is the brother of Adrian Gonzalez, the star first baseman of the Red Sox.

The perennial:

Bobby Scales spent 11 years in the minor leagues before making his big-league debut with the Cubs in 2009.

He played in 68 games for Iowa last year before heading to Japan. Scales is a schoolteacher in the off-season, and the Cubs have said they’d like him to coach in the minor leagues when his playing days are done. This could get him started on that path.

The comp list?

The Cubs and Boston Red Sox still have not agreed on compensation for Epstein, who left the Red Sox for Chicago last fall.

Commissioner Bud Selig will arbitrate. The Red Sox reportedly want “significant” compensation for Epstein, who brought Boston two World Series titles.

New Red Sox GM Ben Cherington may have asked for Cubs ace pitcher Matt Garza. The Cubs will argue vociferously against giving up Garza, but they may be willing to gulp and agree to at least one of the pitchers on the nonroster list: McNutt or Rusin.

If not for some blister problems last year at Tennessee, McNutt may have made it to the big leagues when the Cubs desperately needed pitching. He went 5-6 with a 4.55 ERA in 23 games, 22 starts. The 22-year-old McNutt was a diamond-in-the-rough 32nd-rounder in the 2009 draft.

Rusin was 3-2 with a 3.91 ERA last year at Tennessee and 5-2 with a 4.02 ERA at Iowa. The 25-year-old lefty was a fourth-rounder out of Kentucky in 2009.