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

(Cubbie) Blue Dominates Red Once Again

The Cubs won their third in a row and take the opener versus the Cincinnati Reds on a cold and windy night at Wrigley. Rich Harden and Aramis "Two-out RBI" Ramirez did the heavy lifting with some assistance from Micah Hoffpauir and Chris Dickerson's glove.

Why the Cubs Won: From what I was able to watch, Rich Harden rebounded quite nicely from his last start, needing just 92 pitches to get through six innings while fanning eight. If the Cubs weren't already up by five, you have to think he could have easily come out for the 7th inning. The mid 90's velocity still isn't there as he sat in the 89-92 range (topping out at 93 mph), but he dazzled the Reds with his lethal fastball/change combo. There was a bit of a scare in the fifth when  Wily Taveras hit a sharp grounder up the middle off Harden's glove that ricocheted to his right. Harden scampered to try and make the play but his cleats failed him and he landed face down in the grass, groin and shoulder still in tact though.

Aramis came through with the big hits tonight, a two-out RBI single in the fifth - an opportunity that was only afforded to him thanks to Chris Dickerson dropping a Derrek Lee flyball two at-bats earlier. Then in the 6th, he picked up Reed Johnson who struck out with the bases loaded to drive in two more - once again with two outs - which pretty much put the game away. Hoffpauir kept up his torrid start with his first home run of the season in the second and then hit a sac fly to center before curiously being pinch-hit for in the sixth.

Fail: After Harden showed off his speed beating out a well-placed sac bunt attempt to load the bases in the 2nd, Alfonso Soriano struck out and then Kosuke Fukudome flied to center to end the threat. Neal Cotts faced three batters, giving up a hit, another walk and striking out one.  Geovany Soto air-mailed a throw to second base that Ryan Theriot made a nice play on to keep from going to the outfield and almost got the swipe tag out on a stolen base attempt by Joey Votto. Replays made it look like he did get Votto on the hand, but the bad throw by Soto made it a tough call for the ump. After Jay Bruce fouled a ball to the Bartman seat where a fan made the catch, Bruce immediately singled in the Reds second run. The crowd, for no good reason, booed the fan who caught the ball although Soriano wasn't going to make the play, and the ball was farther in the stands than in Game 6. A rogue calico cat launched from the bleachers took a swipe at a grounds crew member before getting tossed by its tail. And the MLB.tv delay that is about 10 pitches behind this year.

Armchair Managing: In the 6th, with the bases loaded and Micah Hoffpauir due up, Lou pinch-hits with Reed Johnson when the Dustinator goes to lefty Daniel Herrera. A reasonable move with Johnson's .837 OPS vs. lefties in his career, plus with the Cubs up three at the time, a defensive upgrade. But Hoffpauir already hit a home run plus a deep sac fly to center and has been scorching hot since about 2007. Johnson unfortunately struck out, although Ramirez picked him up with a 2-out, 2-RBI single, but I'm not sure you want to take the bat out of a hot hitter's hands.

Death Pool: Neal Cotts leads the way but  0-for-2009 Joey Gathright is making a strong case for the first player to get dropped from the original 25-man roster.

(Photo credit: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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Comments

think gath is probably safe...he's supposedly a great clubhouse guy and doesn't mind bench work. lou seems to like him, he's got speed, and he can adequately play all 3 OF slots. i dunno if the guy will get 200ab, but i bet he'll see 80+ games. gath is 0 for 4...1bb, 8 games.

What a shame we couldn't get through a 7-2 game without having to go to Marmol.

Re: the Dickerson error... I think Kasper had it right--Dickerson had to be affected by how close the ball came to hitting the edge of the basket. Too bad D-Lee hit that ball into that wind, but worked out for us anyhow.

Did that cat really get chucked from the bleachers? How the hell do you get into the stadium with an adult cat? And furthermore, how do you sit in the bleachers for a good hour and a half with a cat without getting mauled or noticed by security? Crazy. I've got Cotts in the first to be DFA'd pool. Lou didn't look very pleased with him. At least the car jumper can pinch run, Cotts offers nothing at this point.

How long is it going to take before Lou moves Aramis up to 3rd in the batting order. Having the 1.000+ OPS's of Soriano, Fuku and Ramy at the top of the order to get the most at bats makes sense doens't it? Watching DLee bat these days hurts my eyes, he's got to get moved down in the order.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Well, I just learned a new word. I agree, Lou does have a short leash with his pitchers and it's exacerbated when they walk guys, but what is he supposed to do? Just let Cotts keep failing? If he leaves him in to walk the bases loaded last night and someone manages a hit or a HR, all of a sudden we're looking at a real tight game that should have been a blow out. Right now, the only time I trust Cotts is if we're already losing by 10 runs or so. Lou can try to help him succeed all he wants, but if you can't get the job done there's only so much positive reinforcement a manager can give. We know Cotts can be effective, but he's not right now and Iowa is the right place for him to get it back together.

[ ]

In reply to by CPH2133

From AZ Phil, a couple of threads back. Q-BALL: Neal Cotts is only making $1.1M, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Cubs DFA him and see if anyone is interested, and if nobody is interested, the Cubs could try to outright him to AAA. He can refuse an outright assignment because he has three-plus years of MLB service time, but if he refuses, he terminates his contract and the Cubs don't owe him any termination pay. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personally, I'd have given Cotts one more hitter last night. He'd actually recorded an out, so he was having a great outing (for him). Single was a roller up the middle. It seems to me as a manager you need to have a range of responses, from pat-on-the-back to ass-kicking. Also seems to me that Lou has a pretty small range of responses to struggling pitchers.

Lou has always liked Cotts--at least theoretically--and has been unusually patient with him considering what he's gotten from Cotts in return. One of my first impressions of Lou was him raving about Cotts' arm in spring training '07.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

For the money he's making, it would be a shame to give up on Cotts. He had a great spring training, so I'm not sure what happened mentally between then and now, but you can tell he is fighting himself just to throw strikes. I've seen Cotts pitch in a game 3 times this season, and every time there has been a shot of Lou Piniella in the dugout bitching at Rothschild after a walk. I'm sure Lou's already tiny level of patience he normally has is wearing razor thin, but I think we are better off having Cotts work through his issues rather than jumbling our roster and moving Marshall to relief so we can bring Samardzija up to start. I'm not sure why we didn't make a Cotts-like offer to Joe Beimel. Since he signed a $2MM contract with Washington, he probably could have been had for less to play to a contender (you would think).

http://espn.go.com/chicago/columns/blog?post=4086195&name=levine As far as the possibility of trades, some teams have contacted the Cubs about their relief corps. The Cubs can't send either David Patton or Angel Guzman to the minors without going through the waiver process. Guzman is out of options; Patton, because of the Rule 5 draft in December 2008, must stay on the big league team all season or be subject to waivers before he can return to the minors. The Cubs would lose both pitchers without compensation if they tried to put them through the waiver process. In the short term, look for Samardzija to be called up as soon as the Cubs can trade one of their relievers.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I think it is time to start giving Vizcaino some more high leverage innings. He is our 3rd best reliever, IMO (outside of Gregg and Marmol).

[ ]

In reply to by mannytrillo

That really scares me. Vizcaino has a history of catastrophic late inning collapses. I mean really epic stuff. He's got good stuff, but when he gets excited or in trouble, that slider tends to REALLY flatten out.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I would hate to see Guzman go, after all the work and time the Cubs have put into him and the quality of stuff he has, it seems like we are just now seeing what he can do. If they can trade Patton for a lefty specialist or AAA prospect, it would seem to be worth it.

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.