Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
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 

 



 

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Rule 5 Draft 
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Cubs @ Reds: Arrieta vs Romano (Game 126)

CHC (68-57): RHP Jake Arrieta (13-8, 3.63) 
CIN (53–74): RHP Sal Romano (3-5, 5.32) 
First pitch: 6:10pmCST

Arrieta reeled off his third straight win on Friday against the Blue Jays, giving up 1 ER over 6.1 innings. In case you haven't had time to read through the dossier Scott Boras sent you, you might not know that since the All-star Break, Jake is 5-1 with a 2.00.

Arrieta is 2-0 with a 2.77 in 2 starts against the Reds this season. Overall, they are 30-146 (.205) against him. Votto, the only real danger spot, is 6-19 with 2 HR.

Romano is the 85th starter to pitch for the Reds this season—or something like that. The rookie is 23y/o, 6’5”, 270 pounds, and from some place called Syosset in NY, which sounds like it’s on Long Island but who really cares.

He won in Atlanta his last time out (7 IP, 1 ER, 3 K, 2 BB). After seeing what the Cubs have been doing to his colleagues, he can’t be too excited to take the mound. Hang in there, Sal; as long you’re breathing, you have a spot in the Reds rotation.

Tomorrow in Philly, it’s Quintana (8-10) against Eickhoff (3-7) at 6:05pmCST.

Go Cubs!

Comments

Not relevant right now, but I suspect the Cubs will target FA RHSP Alex Cobb this coming off-season. He has returned 100% from May 2015 TJS, he was one of Maddon's guys in Tampa Bay, and he's a year younger than Darvish and Arrieta. The Cubs will have about $50M in 2018 payroll available to spend, so they should be make a substanial offer to Cobb if they decide he's their guy and still have $$$ available to address other needs. The only question would be if Cobb is interested in pitching for the Cubs. 

Zobrist 2B, Schwarber LF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Happ CF, Baez SS, Heyward RF, Rivera C, Arrieta P

heyward robs votto with a great catch in RF...a single turns into an out and heyward gets 0.5 more WAR. seriously, that was a hell of a catch.

Anyone surprised our offense goes cold when Zobrist is back in the leadoff spot? Cubs would be 162-0 this year if the 8th inning didn't exist.

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

Yep -- 2nd half ERA in the 8th inning must look like the first half ERA in the first inning. Two outs, nobody on....then bad things happen. It really is bizarre -- whoever pitches the 7th does fine, whoever pitches the 8th messes up. Doesn't seem to matter who pitches when -- it's the curse of the 8th. Too bad Happ couldn't make the play.

[ ]

In reply to by billybucks

Well, Edwards will be promoted to eighth-inning guy pretty soon--I guess they're called "stoppers"--and the long nightmare (reminiscent, to me, of the Marmol era) will end, or at least get pushed back to the 7th inning. Maybe Wilson can help out there. I still have hope for him. Edwards might still have some jitteriness to overcome, but a tremendous upside. Beautiful form, easy gas, killer breaking stuff.

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

Justin Wilson had a seven-pitch save his last outing with Detroit before the trade, and he comes to the Cubs and it's like he was kidnapped and replaced by a body-double who can't throw strikes. 

Last night's game is an example of why the Cubs acquired Wilson, to pitch the 8th and get the game to Wade Davis and close on days when Davis in unavailable. 

WTF happened to Justin Wilson between his last outing with the Tigers and his first for the Cubs??? 

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

You should check out Carl Jr's splits by inning. He is an absolute stud ... with the exception of one inning, in which he's pitched 18.1 total innings and given up 15 earned runs for a 7.36 ERA. I'll give you EIGHT guesses which inning it is.

barf. time to sit strop for another 10 days or whatever. CIN leads in the 8th.

Why in the hell are the Cubs trying to steal down 2 runs in the 9th???? I just don't get it. They've done some stupid situational crap on the bases this year. that run meant nothing, that out meant everything.

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

Joe must have started on the wine a little early tonight. What the hell? And, it's not like Jay has wheels. He is remarkably slow for a CF. Oh, well -- started the week with a 2-game lead and bumped it up to 3 by winning 2 of 3 on the road. Not all bad. Same again in Philly, please.

Just another "well, that's baseball" kind of night -- Cubs lose to the Reds, Cards lose to SD at home to lose the series, and Sale gives up 7 runs in 3 innings. Sometimes, our game is not linear and predicable. What fun would that be?

I barely got to watch because I was doing tons of cleaning around the house, but had the game on and rewound for big plays. In the 8th when the Reds hit that ball to CF just out of Happ's range, I watched as the play happened and actually thought Albert will catch it, just assuming he was in the game with a 2-1 lead. I was dumbfounded as I realized it was Happ still out there!! Why wasn't Almora out there!?

The official Joe reason is that he wanted to preserve a lefty bat in case the Reds tied it as Iglesias was gonna pitch th 9th. Fucking stupid if you ask me.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Seconded!!!

  • crunch (view)

    another awesome spring of pitching reports.  thanks a lot, appreciated.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 90-92 
    CUT: 87-89 
    SL: 82-83 
    SPLIT: 81-84
    CV: 73-74 
    COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes...  if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...   
     
    JOE NAHAS
    FB: 90-92 
    SL: 83-85 
    CV: 80-81 
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...   

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 86 
    SL: 79 
    COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...   

    FRANKIE SCALZO JR
    FB: 94-95
    CH: 88 
    SL: 83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning... 

    MICHAEL ARIAS
    FB: 94-96
    CH: 87-89
    SL: 82-83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...   

    ZAC LEIGH: 
    FB: 93-94 
    CH: 89 
    SL: 81-83 
    CV: 78
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...   

    JOSE ROMERO:  
    FB: 93-95
    SL: 82-84
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...