Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full) 

28 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, and twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors. 

Last updated 3-26-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 15
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
Alexander Canario
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Ben Brown, P 
Alexander Canario, OF 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Keegan Thompson, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

2015 Hall of Fame Predictions

This year’s Hall of Fame ballot is stacked with 34 players total, including 17 newcomers, for voters to consider. New rules, announced in July, reduced the number of years a player can remain on the ballot from 15 to 10, but failed to expand the maximum number of names a voter can list on their ballots from the current 10. Many voters will be faced with more than 10 worthy candidates. This is in part because a number of players with Hall of Fame numbers are linked to PEDs and are languishing in no man’s land, far away from election but with strong enough support to avoid falling below the 5% threshold and being removed from the ballot. Ballots were due by December 27, and the results will be announced on Tuesday (January 6). A player must appear on 75 percent of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballots to be inducted. The big question this year is whether or not the change from 15 to 10 years will cause voters to reconsider PED players and candidates nearing that 10-year mark more quickly, perhaps upping their totals. Therefore, there could be far more volatility in the vote totals this year than there typically is from year to year, making them difficult to predict. With that caveat, below are my brief thoughts on each player on the ballot and my prediction for the type of general support they are likely to receive.

(95%) Randy Johnson – A sure bet first ballot Hall of Famer, Johnson should sail in on his debut. Far more dominating than Tom Glavine, but perhaps seen by a few as a tick below Greg Maddux, I expect that Johnson will come in somewhere between their vote totals (97.2 and 91.9% respectively) from last year, somewhere around the 95% mark.

(85%) Pedro Martinez – It is difficult to find a good comparison for Pedro. He doesn’t have the career wins that first ballot hall of famers typically have, but his other stats and awards and dominance during his peak suggest he will get in this year. I think enough traditional voters who look at counting stats like wins will refrain from voting for him though, at least on the first ballot, to prevent him from reaching the 90+% mark. Maybe a good comp is Bob Gibson, who was elected on the first ballot with 84.4% in 1981?

(80%) Craig Biggio – Last year, on his second year on the ballot, Biggio gained steady support from 68.2 to 74.8%, and should be in this year. When a player is that close, voters tend to converge and push him over the next year. But it is interesting that Biggio only jumped 6% last year. Many players see significant jumps from year 1 to year 2 as some voters simply refrain from voting for them the first time around because they are not “First Balloters.” Barry Larkin went from 51 to 62 to 86%, Roberto Alomar from 73 to 90%, Ryne Sandberg from 49 to 61 to 76%. In comparison, Biggio’s support seems stable, suggesting he will get over the hump this year but not jump significantly.

(70%) John Smoltz – This will be one of the more interesting ballot debuts in recent years, likely with repercussions for other pitchers going forward. Smoltz was part of the iconic Braves’ trio with Glavine and Maddux, who were both elected last year. He is also widely liked around the game (in contrast to Schilling who rubbed some people the wrong way). His 3+ seasons as closer give him 154 saves to go with his 213 wins. But if Smoltz gets in, then what does that mean for Schilling with a nearly identical W-L record and much higher WAR, or Mussina with 59 more wins and an even higher WAR? David Schoenfield has a nice write-up on ESPN comparing the three, along with Kevin Brown and David Cone. The case for Smoltz being better than Schilling/Mussina is weak, yet many pundits are already calling it for Smoltz, claiming that he will easily get in this year. An article on Grantland called him a “lock” based in part on the tabulation of 122 “public” ballots collected here, which has Smoltz receiving 90.2% of the vote currently. The Grantland article makes a mistake, however, of referring to this as “polling.” A poll is based on random sample of a specific size relative to the entire population to be able to accurately predict overall percentages within a specific margin of error. This is definitely not a random sample of voters. Those who make their ballots public are younger, more active in covering the game today, and work for particular outlets. These voters have been shown in the past to vote for more players per ballot than non-public voters. And there were 571 returned ballots last year, so this represents only about 20% of what the total will end up being. So Smoltz certainly won’t get 90% of the overall vote. Roughly, he would have to appear on over 70% of non-public ballots to creep over the 75% threshold—so the non-public voters still hold the sway. I am going to go against the prevailing views on this one and predict he will fall a bit short. I think enough traditional voters will not view him as a first balloter and keep him off the ballot. Whether he makes it or not, however, his high totals will likely impact Schilling and Mussina, who both polled under 30% last year. I thus expect Schilling and perhaps Mussina as well to gain votes this year too, with even larger gains next year.

(68%) Mike Piazza – Piazza was the only player besides Biggio on last year’s ballot to gain support from the prior year, rising from 57.8 to 62.2%. This demonstrates a clear growing support and I expect a moderate increase this year preluding a 2016 or 2017, at the latest, induction. It took Gary Carter 6 years to get in and he was as low as 33% at one point, so Piazza is doing well and should get in soon.

(60%) Jeff Bagwell – He has remained relatively steady the last few years (56.0-59.6-54.3%) and so it is difficult to see him rising or falling much this year. But Thomas being on the ballot last year likely hurt him given the obvious comparisons, and perhaps support for Biggio will shed more light on his teammate this year; so I expect a modest increase.

(56%) Tim Raines – After climbing to 52.2%, Raines fell to 46.1% last year. With fewer years to consider him given the new ballot rules, I anticipate a slight increase for Raines this year.

(42%) Curt Schilling – See my note above on Smoltz. I think Schilling will rise a bit with Smoltz’s support from voters given their similar careers.

(35%) Roger Clemens – Clemens debuted at 37.6% and dropped to 35.4%; I expect his support to remain about the same.

(35%) Barry Bonds – Bonds debuted at 36.2% and dropped to 34.7%; like Clemens, I expect his support to remain about the same.

(33%) Mike Mussina – Debuting at just 20.3% last year, Mussina demonstrates the importance of “magic numbers” in the Hall of Fame debate. He finished his career with a solid 20-9 season, leaving him with 270 wins overall. He had the potential to stick around for a few more years and try to march to 300—which almost certainly would have gotten him in, eventually—but chose instead to retire on top. I think Mussina has a chance to get in eventually, but it will be a while before that happens. This year I anticipate a slight increase from last year given that he was not viewed as a “First Balloter” and likely left off last year by some for that reason, and because of the natural comparisons to Smoltz and Schilling.

(36%) Edgar Martinez – The great DH dropped nearly 10% points last year to 25.2%. Part of this was due to the crowded ballot, but part also was likely due to a side-by-side comparison with Frank Thomas on the ballot. I expect a slight bounce back this year.

(25%) Lee Smith – I wrote more extensively about Smith in a separate post, but his slippage to 29.9% last year does not bode well for him. Typically, when support starts to slip to this point you start to see some voters abandoning the candidate since they feel the vote is wasted until you are left with a remaining “core” of supporters who will always vote for him. Smith will have his supporters to the end, but I expect a few more to slip away this year.

(20%) Alan Trammell – Sadly, the ship has sailed on Trammell. After gaining support from the mid-teens to mid 30s, he slipped to 20.8% last year and with only this year and next year left, he won’t be able to gain any momentum. With so many worthy candidates, some voters likely chose to abandon a lost cause in favor of those who still have a chance to build a case.

(15%) Gary Sheffield – With over 500 home runs and a career slash line of 292/393/514 there is a lot to like here, but he bounced around, was not well liked by the press, and is linked to PEDs, so it is difficult to see Sheffield getting much support. He should debut along the lines of Sosa, Palmeiro, and McGwire at well under 20%.

(14%) Larry Walker – Perhaps the most undervalued player on the ballot, Walker dropped all the way to just 10.2% last year. He should continue to have some support and remain on the ballot, but it would be a very long and unprecedented build towards election.

(14%) Jeff Kent – With a low (15.2%) debut last year, Kent has a long way to go and suffers from a comparison to a ballot full of offensive stars from a hitter’s era.

(11%) Mark McGwire – Another PED-linked star whose support has been steadily declining, McGwire may last a few more years than Sosa, perhaps even until the end of his ten years, but has very little chance of gaining election.

(9%) Fred McGriff – With just 11.7% of the vote last year, McGriff is quickly becoming irrelevant on the ballot and will be in danger of falling off completely in the near future as more worthy candidates continue to come on the ballot.

(7%) Don Mattingly – This is Mattingly’s 15th and final year on the ballot, and he’ll pass to the Expansion Era Committee.

(4%) Sammy Sosa – This will likely be the last year for Sammy. Support was low at his debut at just 12.5% and dropped to 7.2% last year. He will likely follow Palmeiro, who went from 12-8-4% in falling off. He could eek by and last another year, but voters have clearly made up their minds on Sammy.

The following players are appearing on the ballot for the first, and almost certainly, only time. Many will receive a handful of token votes, but none should achieve the 5% threshold needed to stay on the ballot. Fine careers, and an honor to make the ballot, but not Hall of Famers. Nomar Garciaparra and Carlos Delgado have the best cases in this group, and there is a chance they might creep above 5%. Bernie Williams and Juan Gonzalez did so recently, only to then be dropped in year two. But I think with the number of players with better careers ahead of them, voters simply won’t have room this time around.

Rich Aurilia
Aaron Boone
Tony Clark
Carlos Delgado
Nomar Garciaparra
Jermaine Dye
Darin Erstad
Cliff Floyd
Brian Giles
Tom Gordon
Eddie Guardado
Troy Percival  
Jason Schmidt

 

Comments

I see Raines finishing closer to Smoltz and Piazza. This is the year he gets his biggest bump.

Tribune writers votes: Mark Gonzales' ballot: Jeff Bagwell, Randy Johnson, Jeff Kent, Edgar Martinez, Pedro Martinez, Mike Piazza, Tim Raines, John Smoltz. Paul Sullivan's ballot: Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Tim Raines, Lee Smith, John Smoltz. Teddy Greenstein's ballot: Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Don Mattingly, Pedro Martinez, Mike Piazza, Tim Raines, Curt Schilling, Lee Smith, John Smoltz. Philip Hersh's ballot: Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Pedro Martinez, Don Mattingly, Mike Mussina, Tim Raines, Lee Smith, John Smoltz, Larry Walker. Fred Mitchell's ballot: Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Jeff Kent, Pedro Martinez, Mike Piazza, Tim Raines, Gary Sheffield, Lee Smith, John Smoltz.

I'd go:

Big Unit, Pedro, Biggio, Raines, Smoltz, Piazza, Bagwell, Clemens, Bonds, Trammell

Definitely vote for E. Martinez and Schilling and probably Mussina, Sosa and Walker if it was unlimited

Based on even more public ballots, there is a good chance I'm probably going to end up way low on Smoltz. I like the guy and think he has a strong hall of fame case, but if he gets 80+ on the first ballot, jeez...  A lot of more deserving guys took far longer or never got in. 

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

I keep looking at the play and have no idea what could possibly spur them to pick up the flag. After the game, the ref said the head linesmen overturned the call saying all he saw was face guarding which isn't a penalty. But the LB clearly knocked Pettigrew's arm down before the ball got there and did appear to make some body contact as well without turning his head (plus tugged his jersey well before all that).

and beyond all that Dez Bryant ran 15 yards onto the field without his helmet to argue the call which is another penalty.

What a shame for Lions fans.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

Agree all around -- because of that ridiculous decision, I was actually rooting for the cheap-shot artists from Motown. An obvious penalty that was correctly called, and they pick up the flag for no reason? That's the type of thing to get the conspiracy folks cranked up -- and, given the year Goodell has had, I'm sure he'd rather see the Cowboys win than the dirty team from a bankrupt city.

Baseball America @BaseballAmerica · Cubs Top 10: 1) Bryant 2) Russell 3) Soler 4) Schwarber 5) Edwards 6) McKinney 7) Almora 8) Torres 9) Johnson 10) Underwood

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

thanks for the find...

Re: Baez

John Manuel: Those players (Jackson and Vitters) are reasons to worry about Baez. In our staff meeting today, Ben Badler pointed out that Baez also struck out 21 times in his first 43 at-bats in the Puerto Rican League. The scouts I have talked to about Baez do believe he has the aptitude to adjust and not swing like every pitch is the last one he'll ever see, but the history says guys who swing and miss that much don't live up to expectations. So I'm not terribly confident. I'd say guardedly optimistic.

Apparently the Hendry era had to give us one more failed hyped prospect before signing off :)

I need to pay closer attention, didn't realize Soler didn't qualify last season as rookie. Imagine he'll be hands down favorite to win it this year in preseason predictions.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Ah, didn't mean it that way, just wanted to point others who were curious to my longer discussion there on public vs. private ballots. They also do a nice job tracking individual ballots over time so they can determine how many specific votes candidates have gained or lost from year to year. All very interesting. I just wish it was more than 25% [edit, they have 33% now] of the ballots and not such an unrepresentative sample.

Results will be announced at 2:00 PM EST today. I'll watch it live and put up a short post about it as it develops. 

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

smoltz being a 1st round HOF'r is...interesting. i wouldn't lose sleep over him being in the HOF eventually, but wow...1st round HOF? a'ite... dude only had 5-6 full (healthy) seasons one would consider great as a starter and 4 nice years in the pen surrounded by a decade+ of average-to-good. mike mussina is probably all "dude...c'mon" and shilling probably thinks obama is holding back his votes.

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

Smoltz was having arm problems and TJ surgery (missed all of 2000 and ineffective as a starter in 2001), so they tried him as a reliever. The round numbers don't mean much to me, but I think his level of dominance is a bit understated. 10+ seasons of ERA+ over 125. I think he sits in nicely with Mussina and Schilling, but with a better award resume. His overall WAR is lacking, but that's because of the pen move.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

True, they tried him as a reliever, but he actually chose to stay in the role and even turned down a Yankee contract to start. He only moved back into starting when the Braves asked him to do so. I understnd relieving a bit after the surgery, but part of that was him choosing a role that was less valuable, so some of the WAR defecit is on him. And looking at WAR for dominance, he had just 3 seasons above 5.0, compared to Schilling, for example, with 8.

And again, I am happy with him in the Hall, I just think many pundits and voters are going a bit overboard on him, especially compared to other candidates they have given no love to in the past.

Here are some interesting observations from John Manuel’s BA chat of Cubs prospects today: 1) Manuel really likes Jake Stinnett. He almost ranked him as the Cubs top pitching prospect. 2) He thinks C.J. Edwards will be a starter (2 or 3), not reliever. What he finds most impressive is Edwards’ ability to throw quality strikes and not give up HRs. He must improve off-season prep work. 3) Kevonte Mitchell (13th round pick in 2014) is in the top 30 and a dark-horse candidate as a high-ceiling guy. 4) Thought Russell/McKinney was a rare bad trade for A’s, but praised A’s scouting for drafting both higher than expected. 5) Called Schwarber’s debut LOUD and compares it to Evan Longoria’s minor league debut in 2006. 6) Manuel says that Bryant is so unique physically (tall, thin and narrow hips) that scouts are having a hard time finding any comparison athlete who has played 3B. Troy Glaus was as tall, but much thicker. This is the reason why scouts cannot, definitively, say Bryant is/isn’t a future MLB 3B. His actions at 3B say yes, but can he do it every game for many years? 7) Manuel says that Addison Russell is, by far, the better talent over Yasmany Tomas. He has high impact contact ability and rarely gets beat with a good fastball. Power is all that separates Russell and Bryant as impact talent. 8) If Cubs sign Cuban uber-talent Yoan Moncada, he would rank only behind Bryant and Russell (ahead of Soler).

hard to find much on what Ballard was responsible for, but found this...

 Ballard served as a southwest area scout in the college ranks for 11 years before Emery promoted him to the pro side last year. The Bears leaned on Ballard in a big way under former GM Jerry Angelo, drafting Charles Tillman, Johnny Knox, Nathan Vasher, Matt Forte and Tommie Harris from his area.

He was bumped up to pro personnel director for Bears when they hired Emery and promptly left the next year to KC and it was said he just didn't like working for Emery.

and this...

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bears/post/_/id/4696822/a-capsule-look-…

One scouting director who has worked directly with Ballard said: “If [the Bears] don’t hire Ballard, they would be making a big mistake. He knows players, but the underrated quality about Chris is the way he deals with people. He's second to none. One of the best evaluators around. Has deep knowledge because he has played college in the Big Ten (at Wisconsin), coached college (Texas A&M-Kingsville) and did both pro and college scouring. He’s more qualified than anybody I have ever been around in this business."

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I don't think it would be a bad hire, but then, I didn't think Emery was a bad hire, so that shows my acumen there. I'm intrigued with the idea of Toub coming along afterwards - very creative special teams guy and they played good football for him, but it does seem risky not to find a proven HC. But I also can't think of any existing and available HC that thrills me. Shanahan? What was his non-Elway record? I doubt it was any better than .500. They say he can work with Cutler, but I don't remember any dominant Denver teams with Cutler taking snaps.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Typo or not, this Ballard guy has me worried. Angelo and Greg Gabriel swear by him. That's great, but they're the guys who got us in this mess. When Emery took over in 2012, the Bear roster included three defensive linemen and two linebackers who were drafted by Angelo et al. The linemen were Melton (2009), Wootton (2010) and Paea (2011). The linebackers were Briggs (2003) and J.T. Thomas (2011). Only Paea and Briggs were still there in 2014, and now Briggs is leaving. That's a poor output of heavy-duty football players over eleven drafts. How was Emery supposed to fill a roster of 46 men? With one exception, Tommie Harris, all I see on Ballard's resumé are lightweights. I mean that literally. There are some good players, but they're finesse players. There's no muscle. Johnny Knox is one of his successes?

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

I liked Knox, they never had the offensive system to utilize him, but if he was in New England or Green Bay, he'd be an excellent slot receiver like Welker or Cobb imo. Neck injury ruined his career of course.

An area scout responsible for 1/4 of the country over the course of 10 years is going to be at best responsible for about 18 picks if it all evened out. If you're lucky, 50% of those hit. It's not like he made the final calls. He did have a defensive back background and no surprise he seemed to be pretty good at that.

http://voices.suntimes.com/sports/inside-the-bears/if-bears-turn-to-bal…

Regardless, putting too much weight into the guys he recommended, which seem to be the only good players the Bears drafted while Angelo is there doesn't really quite sum up the GM job. I think Hester would be in his territory as well fwiw. Apparently he had a lot to do with signing M. Bennett and getting B. Marshall from what I read.

The front office is more than one person, just want the right guy making the final decisions. I have no idea if Ballard is it, no one will really know until he gets his shot and trust me, going back to a guy that worked so long under Angelo doesn't get me overly excited, but the Angelo years were better than the Emery/Trestman years to be honest. At least the teams were prepared. No one wants to go back to the days of inept offensve they had back then either, but those defenses were good. Seems well respected though and if people like working for him (which apparently no one did under Emery), it'll help a lot there. We'll see if he has the creativity to fix the Cutler/salary cap mess and the defense.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Sorry, can't focus on the Cubs with all this Bear stuff floating around. Pro Football Reference is, not surprisingly, a good tool. One of their table columns in the Draft section is named "ST," for "number of years as primary starter for his team at his position." Going back to the start of Angelo's tenure, I looked at the players who scored 5 or higher (five or more years as a starter) in that column. Below are the results by position or position category. (Players in parens are more recent draft picks who look like they might get to 5.) Defensive line: Alex Brown 8 Tommie Harris 6 (Paea 3) Linebacker: Briggs 11 Defensive back: Tillman 10 Danieal Manning 7 Chris Harris 6 (Conte 4) Offensive line: Mike Gandy 7 Marc Colombo 6 Chris Williams 5 (Lance Louis 2) Quarterback: Orton 5 Running back: Forte 7 Benson 5 Receiver: Berrian 5 (Hester 3) Tight end: Olsen 6 Hester doesn't get the credit he deserves here because the "returner" position is not recognized. Just thought this might be an interesting take on the draft history under Angelo and in a few years might help us judge Emery's draft acumen.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

Don't know how much draft authority Ballard had in KC, but here are his 2014 picks (he was hired after the 2013 draft). They had the #23 pick. DE Dee Ford (5 games played, 1.5 sacks) CB Philip Gaines (9 games) RB De'Anthony Thomas (12 games, 156 yds receiving, 113 rushing, 833 return yds) QB Aaron Murray (0 games) OL Zach Fulton (from my local HS! 16 ST) OL Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (0 games) Obviously impossible to judge so far, but not a bad draft at first glance.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

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    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

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  • crunch (view)

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    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

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    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

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  • Arizona Phil (view)

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