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

Cubs Provide the Healing the Cardinals Require: Birds 3, Cubs 0

Tuesday night in St. Louis...

Joel Piniero, coming off three consecutive losses, recorded the Cardinals' first complete-game shutout of the season. He faced only 28 hitters, threw only 28 non-strikes (never reaching a three-ball count), only allowed one man into scoring position, and dispatched the Cubs in 125 minutes, the Cards' fastest game in almost three years.

Rookie Colby Rasmus, who had just two singles in 25 AB against lefthanded pitching this season, bashed a 2-run homer off of Ted Lilly.

And the Cardinals, who lost three straight to the Brewers in their just concluded series and overall had lost 10 of their previous 14 games, won.

Glad we could help.

Out-of-town scoreboard note: Cubs closer Kevin Gregg, who pitched one shutout inning Tuesday night, now has an ERA of 5.71; former Cubs closer Kerry Wood, who pitched just two-thirds of an inning Tuesday night—and a rollicking two-thirds of an inning it was—now has an ERA of 8.31.

Comments

This news sucks: (Rotoworld) Triple-A Iowa's Brad Snyder suffered a broken hand on Monday. It's a tough break for the former prospect, who is considered out indefinitely. Snyder was getting his career back on track the first six weeks of the season with a .317/.351/.669 line highlighted by 12 home runs and 35 RBI in 35 games.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

I think a lot of fans are concerned about that as well. That said, in Vitters favor is the fact that most reports suggest that this isn't a case of a lack of discipline. Most reports suggest he understands the zone real well. It sounds like it's a case where the pitching at the lower levels haven't challenged him enough. For that reason, now that he's heated up, I'd like to see Vitters in Daytona soon. I'm a big Rosa fan, but he's been struggling (and they can shift him to first anyways, which may be Rosa's best spot). But Vitters is the one guy in our system that clearly has stud potential (others may but need more time), and as a fan, I'd like to see if he can adjust in Daytona.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

His strikeouts project to 75, which is not a high number, especially if, as you contend, he swings at everything. In A ball, Felix Pie struck out 98 times in 505 at bats. He had four home runs, so he wasn't swinging for the fences. Vitters projects to 28 home runs. I just don't think Pie and Patterson are useful here. Vitters is a line-drive hitter, while Pie has trouble putting the bat on the ball. Patterson hit .261 in AA, worse in AAA, but since he flashed speed and power, they promoted him. Vitters was a singles hitter till about a week ago when he "broke out," so he should start to get more respect in the form of pitches out of the strike zone. I imagine his walks will go up, as will the strikeouts.

(Rotoworld) According to SI.com's Jon Heyman, the Indians are "now fielding offers" for utilityman Mark DeRosa. The Indians are reportedly seeking major league-ready pitching. DeRosa, 34, is batting .242/.312/.412 in 153 at-bats this season and is owed about $4.15 million for the rest of 2009. Heyman suggests the Mets might be a good fit.

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

I would definitely ponder it, but I don't think we match up with them. If we got DeRosa back (and found a way to move Miles), a bench of Fontenot/Hoffpauir/Freel/Johnson (with DeRosa's flexibility factored in) looks solid. The Indians are a mess, though. I thought they were a bit overhyped entering the year (I thought the Royals would win the AL Central ... very surprised on the Tigers putting it together ... that said, I thought the AL Central was wide open and all 5 had a shot). They put one of their top prospects in the pen for about a week (Hector Rondon) with the idea that he might help them in the pen, but then changed their mind a week later. Grady's been bad. I imagine they'll start shopping folks, starting with DeRosa, maybe Cliff Lee, maybe Victor Martinez. I could see them shop Kerry if the price was right. I'm not sure we match up on DeRosa if the demand is ready pitching, though. There's no way I'd fork over any of the top guys in AA/AAA (Jay Jackson/Jeff Samardzija). The rest I'd ponder, but much as I love DeRo, I'm not sure if I'd go hard on him. ___________________________ Here's another Indians thought - would you try to make a run at Cliff Lee? I'll be the first to say I thought he would slide back this year, but he's been solid. With another year on the deal (8 million 2010 club option), if the price was right, I'd ponder it. That said, I wouldn't fork over Josh Vitters, and I dopoubt this would happen without a t level talent involved, so consider this more of a hypothetical.

Some people have gotten up and played baseball already, while we're sitting here blogging. Casey Lambert (Tennessee) with back-to-back shutouts. (Somebody still has to pitch the ninth). Lambert's pitching line today: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

Twas certainly a nice start for Casey. Statistically, it seems to be a bit smoke and mirrors right now for him, but hey, I didn't have high expectations when he moved into the rotation, so I am very pleased with how he's done. IIRC, Lambert was supposed to start at UVA, but they needed him in the pen, and he was so good, they just kept him there. I imagine we'll see more K's as he gets more time starting. I still think his future is in the pen as a late inning lefty (and I still think he could help us this year), but very pleased with what he's done so far. Maestri came on for 2 shutout. Walks are still a concern, but I've long thought he was similar to Wuertz, and I think Maestri could, in a year or two, be a solid MLB middle relief guy. Clevenger went hitless, Thomas/Barney each had a hit. Blake Lalli had 2 hits, a double. I like Blake. He's a fringe prospect, a bench guy if he makes it up, but he seems like a do-it-all type of guy and I think his bat will play for the upper minors. He got some heat for ARL, which I didn't think was justified since this was is his 3rd full pro season.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

ARL = age relative to league. A lot of people attributed Lalli's success in the lower levels to him being more advanced than the youngsters, and figured that his bat would catch up with him as he moved up the minor leauge levels (one fairly prominent online guy was certain of that a few years ago). I'm not suggesting Lalli will make it in the bigs (if he does, it's as a backup, as he doesn't have enough power, imo, to start at first), just saying I am a fan and I think his bat plays for the upper levels of the minors. Clevenger's defensive work has improved leaps and bounds by most accounts. He might not have Castillo's upside defensively, but I think he's more consistent right now, based on the reports. If he's solid behind the plate, he has a future as a big league backup backstop. If his power this year is "real", then he might be more than that. I think he's definitely jumped ahead of Castillo as the top catcher in the system. The timeline of Vitters and Aramis actually meshes well enough that we probably wouldn't need a guy to cover b/w them (barring Vitters tanking). Of course, this assumes Vitters sticks at 3rd, but for now, it looks likely (timeline - Vitters ends this year at Daytona, does some sort of Daytona/Tennessee with an outside shot at Iowa in 2010, outside shot at bigs in 2011). Depending on the next few weeks, I'd like to see Thomas/Clevenger/Barney at AAA by July. I think the MI's are possible. Not sure about Clevenger, but I wouldn't mind seeing him up there. That said, Hendry likes his older guys at AAA.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.

  • 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.