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 
Minor League Free-Agents

A's Big Hits Doom Cubs

Jack Cust hit a solo homer run and a two-run double, and Bobby Crosby slugged a three-run homer, leading the Oakland A’s to a 6-4 victory over the Cubs this afternoon at warm and sunny HoHoKam Park in Mesa.

box score  

 

Carlos Zambrano got the start for the Cubs, and worked four strong innings (61 pitches, 38 strikes, 2/6 GB/FB). For the day “Z” allowed four hits, one run, no walks, and three strikeouts, and one HR (Cust lead-off dinger in the 2nd) in his four innings of work.

Kerry Wood followed Zambrano, pitching the 5th inning (ten pitches, ground single to CF, a 4-6-3 DP, and F-7).

Scott Eyre came into the game in the 6th and could not finish his inning. He threw 27 pitches in 0.2 IP, allowing a single, a walk, and a three-run HR to Crosby, followed by a double and a walk, before being relieved by Bob Howry. Eyre had nothing today.

Howry got out of the 6th without further damage, but then he got yanked with one out in the 7th after allowing two singles and going 3-2 on every hitter.

Michael Wuertz relieved Howry, and immediately gave up a ringing two-run double to Cust that scored both runners. Wuertz then retired the next five in a row, two on strikes, and three on pop ups.

Carlos Marmol worked the 9th, (26 pitches - 16 strikes) and struck out the side, although he also allowed a single and a walk along the way.

Offensively, the Cubs scored two in the 5th, and two in the 8th.

Facing A's closer Huston Street in the bottom of the 5th, Geovany Soto drew a two-out walk, and scored on a triple lined into the right-field corner by Sam Fuld. PH Casey McGehee then lined a single to CF, scoring Fuld.

In the 8th, Alfonso Soriano led-off with a double into the left-centerfield alley of LHP Gio Gonzalez. Ryan Theriot followed with a triple to right-center, and The Riot scored on a hard-hit L-8 Sac Fly by Kosuke Fukudome.

For the day, Soriano went 2-4 with a CS, Theriot went 2-3 with a walk, a single, an RBI triple, and a run scored, and Sam Fuld went 1-3 with a walk, an RBI triple, and a run scored.

Fuld also made two outstanding catches in CF, one a back-handed diving catch in right-center to end the 1st, and the other a running catch in left-center to save a run in the 8th.

Soriano misplayed a line-drive in the 1st for a two base error, but chased the ball into the left-field corner, recovering just in time to throw a one-hop strike to Aramis Ramirez, getting Carlos Gonzalez in a “bang-bang” play at 3rd base.

Comments

AZ Phil, What have you seen from Casey McGehee's improved hitting? Is he in consideration for a 25-man roster spot at all, or is he doomed to "organizational player" status?

Submitted by SheffieldCornelia on Tue, 03/11/2008 - 6:59pm.

 AZ Phil, What have you seen from Casey McGehee's improved hitting? Is he in consideration for a 25-man roster spot at all, or is he doomed to "organizational player" status?

====================================

SHEF: I think McGehee has the bat to make it as a back-up C-3B-1B-RHPH, but whether that would be with the Cubs or (eventually) someplace else would depend on the Cubs roster configuration as far as the make-up of the bench is concerned.

He doesn't fit right now, but that could change in 2009, especially once Blanco is gone. .

cubs should put all their money in pitching and have ty wiggington, mark derosa, and casey mcgehee play all 8 fielding positions. YOU DROPPED THE BALL HENDRY...OR SHOULD I SAY....FAILDRY...LOL...FAILING...THAT MEANS HE SUCKS.

great. now that theyve cut takatsu im going to have to suffer through the usual barrage of close-ups on japanese TV that will highlight his valiant stint trying to hang on with a MLB club, only to fail and be faced with what to do in this stage of his career, with heart-rending comments from his supporting wife and ex-teammates and yadda yadda yadda... ....wait a minute, its the cubs! fuggin sweet! whoo-hoo!!

and the LouPa quote from the above Yahoo sports link: “I’m getting a little concerned about a couple of our guys,” Piniella said. “Look, we don’t have much longer. I’m going to have to start getting them in there a little more often. Forget these days off.” Piniella had been using his regulars for two days in a row and then giving them a day off.

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

dlee's having a quietly horrid spring training. his batting cage workouts are probably the only thing keeping the press from talking about it too much. hell, have they even touched on it? then again ichiro's 0 for 21 and called it "fun" today. =p to take the spin outta that comment and take the full quote for what its worth... "To tell you the truth, some of this is kind of fun," he added. "To be in a situation this early, in spring training, and have this kind of a little bit intense environment is something I couldn't experience before. Basically, it's a situation where I need to battle within myself mentally. That's something I haven't experienced this time of the year. ... This is great for me."

Joe Sheehan, from baseball prospectus, really has it in for Dusty in this latest piece titled, "The Teflon Manager" http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7219 a few excerpts: I also see a team with a manager completely and totally ill-suited to his personnel, with an outsized reputation that far exceeds his actual performance and more control over the roster than he should be allowed. Sometimes I think I’m too hard on Dusty Baker, given that he has managed successful teams, made postseasons, won a pennant, owns a career .527 winning percentage from the dugout. Maybe I make him a caricature, a toothpick-chewing, OBP-hating Luddite who doesn’t trust anyone under 30. Then he starts talking… “On [Joey] Votto: ‘He needs to swing some more. I talked to him about that. Strikeouts aren’t the only criteria. I’d like to see him more aggressive.’ “’A lot of this on-base percentage is taking away from the aggressiveness of some young kids. Most of the time you’ve got to put handcuffs on a young to keep him from swinging.’” (A nod to John Fay at the Cincinnati Enquirer.) ----- One other important trait about Baker is that he’s the Teflon manager. The local press fawns over him in a way that would be embarrassing if it wasn’t just slightly worse than par for the course in the profession. Baker’s anti-intellectualistic approach to baseball dovetails nicely with the pervasive press backlash against reality-based coverage and administration of baseball teams. So it’s a new city, a new team, a new roster, and the same naked emperor...He picks the wrong players to play, teaches an offensive approach that is counterproductive, and emphasizes secondary and tertiary traits such as speed and experience over primary ones such as getting on base and power.

AZ - Assuming the Cubs don't try an make a trade by opening day What are the chances that Sam Fuld makes this team as the 4th outfielder option?

Anyone know what the standard cutoff date is for a player's age? When they talk about his age 31 season, there's usually a cutoff, which I think is July 1st or August 1st. Let's say it's August 1st and a player's b-day is July 30th and he turns 32. They call it his age 32 season. But if it was August 2nd, they'd still call it his age 31 season. Any help would be appreciated...

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.