Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

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

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

OPTIONED: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Roosevelt Rides Again!

Submitted by Dr. Joseph Hecht on

CSN's Patrick Mooney broke the news that Theodore Roosevelt Lilly III is back with the Cubs. No, the 38 year old crafty one, who retired last November isn't being brought back from the netherworld to be another soft tossing lefty to flip at the trade deadline. He's there in a new capacity, per Rotoworld:

Ted Lilly has been hired as a special assistant for the Cubs front office. He will work with young players in Cubs camp during spring training and then help the organization with scouting for the draft.

Then there is this quote from TL upon making the decision to take the Cubs gig:

Ted Lilly: "I want to be around the game and I feel like I have something to offer. This is the organization I would prefer to be with.”

A little more from Gulliver and the Voyage to Lilliput after the jump...

Carrie Muskat at cubs.com says that Lilly, Theo and Jed started discussions about a role with the Cubs during the recent January Cubs Convention.

"His reputation with the Cubs is sterling, which is fantastic, and not only as a person but as a competitor," Hoyer said. "I really liked what he had to say. A lot of guys want to get back in and don't want to work that much, and he made it clear he wants to work and wants to get involved in scouting. I think we'll use him in a variety of ways. He feels he has a pretty good eye and likes to try to evaluate but also was really humble and knows he has to learn how to do it. He was excited to get back involved and I think we'll feel out how to use him."

The terms of this contract have to be less stressful than when Lilly signed on for 4/40 in December 2006. GM Jim Hendry was on the stretcher to get an angioplasty when that deal was closed.

My thought is he's being brought back to teach those who will listen on how to slide into catchers given the new rules that are being invoked. Yadier Molina still aches from this lesson. Of course there are many reasons to love Ted Lilly. The TLFC, the TL Supercomputer, TCR has a long track record of showing some Ted Lilly love. Given that link showing some of Lilly's best Cub outings, maybe Travis Wood will learn a trick or two from the master crafty-sman.


Samardzija had better watch out if he gets too pranky, cause TL is THE master prankster.

Tags
Ted Lilly

Comments

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 03:47 pm

boni got the start at SS today. they're giving him every chance to be the 2nd/SS "supersub" along with his CF/LF capability. he came up as a middle IF'r and has always gotten shots there with various teams, but he's never been able to stick there because of his D.

Submitted by Cubster on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 03:41 pm

Almora rbi single (shortly after Vitters gets picked off 1st), then a 2 run blast by Olt. 6-3 Cubs over A's in the 8th.

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Submitted by Newport on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:15 am

Since you are talking about boners, I was at the game today, sitting in the front row maybe 30 feet from 3b. Bryant looks STIFF out there on D. I don't see his glove working at 3b long term. If anyone is interested in two of these seats(face value) for the 3/11 game, let me know. I have 6 but only need 4. They are in the front row right next to the cubs dugout. It's actually a row in front of the dugout. Look to your right and you have a nice view right into the dugout. It's hot as fuck(for a person who has spent this winter in Chicago) until about the 3rd inning.

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Submitted by crunch on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:19 am

it's early spring arizona sun...get a wide brim hat that has ventilation to breathe and you'll be all good. i haven't been to AZ in a year and 1/2...one of my favorite places to visit and hike (even more than hawaii). i wish they still had full-time spring training games in tucson (one of my favorite places on this planet). i had some fun times at TEP and Hi Corbett Field watching games. i understand why teams left (and why many vets would skip the phoenix-area to tucson bus trip), but i'd rather be in tucson for anything but the games.

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Submitted by Ryno on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:23 pm

"It’s not so much that Baez's approach is overly aggressive. I think that comes off as a pejorative statement at times, and being aggressive isn’t always a bad thing. You want to see hitters take advantage of opportunities and drive the baseball with authority. I think Baez’s biggest problem at the plate is that his confidence with the bat/swing creates an environment where everything thrown in his general direction is considered an opportunity for him to drive the ball out of the park. It’s often hard to distinguish between being aggressive and being overly confident, but in Baez’s case, he’s not a grip-it-and-rip-it hitter; rather, he’s a guy who thinks he can turn around whatever a pitcher has to offer and send it out of the park." I think this is a distinction without a difference. And if this is true, I mean I'm kind of tired of free swingers... meh.

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Submitted by Jackstraw on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:06 pm

There is a difference, at least in my mind. To this point Baez's view is that nobody can beat him consistently. To this point his stats suggest he's been proven correct. Moving forward he's surely going to come across guys who can beat him more often than not. What he does in response to that seems to be the key as to whether he's a AAA flameout or a perennial MLB All-star, and why the consensus is he has more space between his ceiling and floor than other high-end prospects. I read into the BP guy's definition of grip it and rip it that he thinks that condition is un-alterable.

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Submitted by crunch on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:18 pm

some guys can get away with it...we'll find out if he can when he's exposed at higher levels. we may have to live with his high-K tradeoff, though. unlike some load-and-release hitters, he at least has the "unteachable skill" of extremely quick hands/wrists through the batting zone...just like soriano was so quick for many years with his hands/wrists he could stand in the front of the box hoping to feast on breaking stuff that was breaking late as well as being able to respond to fastballs. age caught up with soriano...but so did the learning curve of adapting and he's tweaked his approach a little bit. i'm not trying to say soriano and baez hit the same, but they're both aggressive swingers with extremely quick hands/wrists (at least soriano in his youth, anyway). no one's ever called soriano's swing nice/pretty/etc...baez at least has better praise in that department.

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Submitted by Ryno on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:01 pm

And if you only had one guy like that in your lineup, you can get away with it. For several years now we've had a lineup chock full of free swingers and the results are dozens of 5-10 pitch innings from opposing pitchers. If you don't have the other 90% of your lineup working the count, you will never realize the benefit of a free swinger.

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Submitted by crunch on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:39 pm

cross your fingers and hope d.vogelbach can play LF in the future with the drop in weight. soler and almora seem to be guys heavily prone to swing even if they don't K much. bryant might be patient...hard to tell at this point. a.alcantara showed great improvement with his walk rate last year even though he still K'd a lot. that's at least a bit promising (especially for a 21 year old playing in AA).

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Submitted by Charlie on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:21 pm

I'm not sure the quote is particularly clear, but I would draw a distinction between the Javier Baez aggressive approach and the Starlin Castro aggressive approach. Castro gets into trouble when he swings at a pitch out of the zone just because he knows he can dump it into RF just beyond the 2B. Baez gets into trouble because he thinks he can drive anything. I'd call Baez's approach aggressive and in need of refinement. I'd taking Baez's aggressiveness of the type we see in Castro at times. But, obviously, they'd both be better off if they were a bit more selective and put themselves in situations to take aggressive swings on good hitters pitches/counts. It'll be interesting to see how badly and how long Baez struggles against polished pitchers who can locate their breaking balls, which he hasn't faced yet. That part of his game might not become apparent until he spends a while in the majors, and that'll be when we see how his "aggressiveness" plays or gets adjusted.

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Submitted by crunch on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:20 pm

heh...he turned that "hole away" weakness into "whatever, i'll swing at that, too...just make better contact off the bat" he was the best bad-ball hitter i've ever seen. even when you pitched him correctly he would swing at something stupid to swing at and do something with it.

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:36 pm

b.brenly calling the KC/ARZ game...spots henry blanco in the dugout...calls him "hank white" ...now he's calling KC pitcher francisley bueno "frank good" i miss brenly.

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Submitted by Carlito on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:58 pm

Agreed. I think JD might be a bust, but gotta give him a couple more years I guess. I remember being skeptical of Brenly early on too. But JD and Kasper were two ships passing in the night as far as chemistry last year ... I hope they learn each other's sense of humor because so far it's just been awkward.

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Submitted by crunch on Thu, 03/06/2014 - 03:22 am

JD was rather awesome with the astros...but he knew the team rather well and that helped a lot in his banter. it really seems like he came on board with the cubs without doing a lot of homework. i hope it gets better as he spends more time around the team (and i hope he's getting exposure to the kids in spring training). bob not only came on board having done his homework, he dove head-first into getting to know what's going on in the minors (beyond what his kid was doing) as well as the major league team. i totally agree on the point about jd and len not matching wits well even though they were both trying to joke around...it was painfully awkward too many times for far too long. len/bob were great at setting each other up for jokes and playing off each other's commentary. len/bob had great chemistry and bob was a strong color guy for the cubs.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    cubs getting crazy good at not having player moves leak.

    taillon we 100% know is pitching tonight.  who he's replacing and any additional moves are unknown as far as i can tell.

    p.wisdom was not in today's lineup in iowa (rained out) and he was removed from the game last night mid-game, but not for injury.  good bet he's with the team in the bigs, too.

  • Bill (view)

    A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return.  Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention".  Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."

     

    Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost.  But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.  

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions.  Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022.  I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
    I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
    I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
    That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
    I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
    We'll find out soon enough!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa? 

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