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 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
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Submit, Reader! A look at Cubs Pitcher Comparisons

Part of what makes TCR great is the knowledgeable and active participation of the readers. I mean, it's a very SMALL part, of course, but still a part. Keep sending stuff in, and we'll keep reading it. And maybe, just maybe, posting it. - Trans YOUR 2007 AVERAGE BATTING PARTNERS (ABPs) By Lawhide Being bored recently, I decided to work on some statistical tomfoolery: I decided to find out who was the ABP for each Cubs pitcher in the majors. What’s an ABP? I took the OBP- and SLG-against for each pitcher and tried to find the most comparable 2007 MLB hitter. For instance, batters hitting against Will Ohman in 2007 hit a line of .355 OBP and .436 SLG (an OPS-against of .791). Luis Gonzalez (the old one) hit .359/.433/.792 this year, making him Will Ohman’s Average Batting Partner, or ABP. Keep in mind that there’s not really any useful statistical information in an exercise like this, it’s purely for fun (at least, fun for those of us who are into the numbers side of things). That being said, here are your 2007 Cubs Pitcher ABPs.
CUB Carlos Zambrano .329 .372 .701
ABP Nomar Garciaparra .328 .371 .699
There was a time where having Nomar as your ABP would make you a candidate for highest SLG-against in the league, but 2007 saw the man who slugged over .500 seven times in the last ten years hit only 7 home runs. Previously, Nomar’s lowest SLG was in his injury shortened stint with the Cubs in 2005 (aka “Groingate”) where he still slugged for a respectable .452 Nomar’s batting average this year was .283, while Big Z’s BA-against was .233, a full fifty points lower. However, I decided against including batting average in this exercise because I’m a scout-hating, Harvard-graduating*, Billy Beane-worshipping pencil-neck geek (sarcasm fully intended).
CUB Ted Lilly .286 .406 .692
ABP Danny Richar .289 .406 .695
Danny Richar only had 206 PAs for the crosstown White Sox in 2007, his rookie year. With Tad Iguchi gone, he appears to be leading in the running for the starting 2B job, as his minor league numbers project improvement on his first taste of the majors, but he doesn’t project into anything special. If Ted Lilly’s making the average batter look like a middling rookie middle infielder, I’ll take it.
CUB Jason Marquis .335 .409 .744
CUB Angel Guzman .339 .409 .748
ABP Kaz Matsui .342 .405 .747
Marquis and DL-mainstay Guzman share almost-Cub Kazuo Matsui as their ABP, This is a good example of how useless this exercise really is, since the two pitchers have really nothing else in common in terms of pitching style and pitching stats. But its good to know that Matsui is going to be around our division next year to help Marquis keep up his trend of lots of groundballs and too many walks.
CUB Rich Hill .305 .394 .699
ABP Richie Sexson .295 .399 .694
Like Nomar, Richie Sexson’s power disappeared off the face of the earth in 2007, the only season EVER where he slugged under .500. But as they say, one Richie’s dregs are another Rich’s riches… or something like that**. Sexson also hit for an average of .205, thirty points below what Rich Hill’s opponents hit.
CUB Sean Marshall .326 .424 .750
ABP Jason Bay .327 .418 .745
Notice a trend? Well, it’s just coincidence, but Bay, like Nomar and Sexson above, lost his bang in 2007 after slugging well over .500 in every season before. Just as notable, his OBP dropped into average territory, below .400 for only the second time in his career (.358 in 2004). However, this is largely a product of his .247 batting average. Bay was an average hitter this year, and Sean Marshall was a comparable average pitcher. I think Jim Hendry should use this information and make an even swap with the Bucs (oh right, Littlefield works for us now. Damn). Here’s the rest of the gang:
CUB Bob Howry .292 .377 .669
ABP Jay Payton .292 .376 .668
CUB Michael Wuertz .320 .392 .712
ABP Elijah Dukes .318 .391 .709
I’m a big Wuertz fan, so I was sorry to see his ABP be Dukes. He shouldn’t be anyone’s partner in anything.
CUB Carlos Marmol .282 .226 .508
ABP Andy Gonzalez .280 .249 .529
No, I hadn’t heard of him either. He plays for the White Sox. Marmol’s ABP was tough because there aren’t that many players who have an OBP that low, and a SLG even lower, and who don’t end up as car salesmen.
CUB Ryan Dempster .323 .394 .717
ABP Melky Cabrera .327 .391 .718
CUB Scott Eyre .399 .433 .832
ABP Ichiro! .396 .431 .827
CUB Kerry Wood .310 .299 .609
ABP Robert Fick .309 .305 .614
I didn’t bother to find the ABPs for the Cubs pitchers who faced less than 100 batters. Except for one:
CUB Steve Trachsel .416 .647 1.063
ABP Alex Rodriguez .422 .645 1.067
Hey, to be fair to Trax, ARod hit .368 this year, and Trachsel held hitters to a Mendoza-esque .314 during his brief stay at Wrigley. Oh, whoops. Scratch that and reverse it. -LH *Lawhide did not actually go to Harvard. **Lawhide hears your groans and apologizes.

Recent comments

  • 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...

  • crunch (view)

    pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"

    mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit.  nice.

    he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons.  he's not lean, but he looks healthier.  good for him.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.

  • videographer (view)

    AZ Phil, speaking of Jordan Wicks having better command when he tires a bit, I remember reading about Dennis Lamp 40 years ago and his sinker that was better after 3 or 4 innings when he would tire a bit and get more sink with a little less speed on the pitch.  The key for Lamp was getting to the 4th inning.