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

Cubs Hitting Coach Jaramillo Gets 3/2.4

Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!

It looks like Jim Hendry accomplished the first splash of the offseason. Rudy Jaramillo is the new Cubs hitting coach. The highly respected Jaramillo has signed a 3 year, $2.42 million deal (according to a David Kaplan tweet and a Bruce Levine/ESPN post) to spin his 5 point hitting magic on Cub hitters both young and old ($800K a year, but we all know you-know-who likes to write back loaded contracts). Bruce Levine reports that Jaramillo will fly to Chicago Wednesday to meet with Cubs officials and after he officially signs his new contract, will attend a mid-afternoon press conference. Jaramillo has spent the last 15 seasons with the Texas Rangers and sports the resume of helping the likes of Mark DeRosa, Michael Young, Lee Stevens and early in their careers, Sammy Sosa and Jeff Bagwell. He won the Baseball America's Major League Coach of the Year in 2005.

The Cubs hope he can fix whatever was broken last year with Alfonso Soriano who still has 5 years left on his contract. Soriano in his 2 years with the Rangers loved working with Jaramillo.   Soriano said, ‘We had very good communication because he speaks Spanish. He’s very good and smart. He works very hard, too.’’

Although the media doesn't want to hear or write about it, he's even left his magic touch on Milton Bradley who parlayed the 2008 season into "feeling like $30 million bucks". It was one of Bradley's best hitting seasons and propelled him to his first All-Star game. I'm not sure the Jaramillo signing will restore any of the burnt bridges Bradley left in his wake but who knows, especially if Hendry can't pull a Todd Hundley for Karros and Grudz trade out of his tush once again.

Jaramillo has broken his batting instruction into 5 tenets to hitting and he explains it in detail in this video.

• Rhythm.

• Timing the arm and the ball.

• Separation of hands and front foot.

• Staying square to the plate.

• Weight shift.

Hopefully the Cubs newest coach can bring back our 2008 rookie of the year's swing, working with Geo Soto and putting special emphasis on Weight Shift. I'll hope Jim Hendry will include a copy of the Rosetta Stone software, Japanese edition, so we won't see so much SPIN-A-RAMA next season. Remember that after the season, when the Cubs didn't re-hire Von Joshua, Derrek Lee said neither Perry not Joshua deserved any blame.  "I hate to say it, but a hitting coach is overrated,"

So expecting tangible evidence that Jaramillo will make a difference in 2010 is a lot of magic to expect out of just a hitting coach. Still, if he does to hitters what Cardinal's pitching coach Dave Duncan does to pitchers, next summer just might be fun once again at Wrigley.

 

Comments

Derrek Lee can say that because he's not Mike Fontenot or Geo Soto or Alf Soriano (who hit like Alf the alien last year). If I was Lee I wouldn't want anyone fucking with my swing, either.

Rudy Jaramillo was the highest-paid hitting coach in MLB last season ($500K) and the Rangers supposedly offered him a 10% pay raise for 2010, so even though the Rangers had a down year offensively in '09, they apparently didn't put the blame on Jaramillo.

Hendry probably feels that other teams took advantage of the Cubs' ownership instability the last two years, and now he finally gets to have some revenge by taking advantage of the Rangers' cash-poor ownership situation.

3/2.4 has a nice ring to it. It reminds me of 3/44 If Soto bounces back, it's going to be credited to RJ. Same with every other down year, so he will certainly be considered "worth the money" if anyone gets better. Not sure he'll be the difference, but if he's as good as everyone says it will be like making a trade for 7 all stars. I wonder what we should expect from Zambrano at the plate?

You could make up a decent staff of guys that are making a living off being around the right group of 'roiders. Billy Beane as your GM Rudy as your hitting coach Dusty as your manager Mel Stottlemyre as your pitching coach yet Leo Mazzone can't get a job....

anyone hear the rumor that Soriano's goal is to become a neurosurgeon once his baseball career is over? --- Back in the day, he was..."He’s very good and smart. He works very hard, too.’’ So the opposite is bad, dumb and...rich? Works for Soriano and the WWF.

Submitted by Cubster on Wed, 10/21/2009 - 4:02pm. mlbtraderumors has their offseason outlook on the Cubs...says non-tender candidates are Heilman (woo...), Fontenut and Cotts (duh). Not much else amused me.

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

CUBSTER: I think the Cubs will very likely non-tender Neal Cotts, but then try to re-sign him to a minor league deal with a Major League split ($150K base pay while he is on a minor league roster, and maybe a pro-rated $900K MLB salary if he gets added to the 40-man roster prior to the end of the 2010 season).

And if offered that deal, Cotts is likely to take it, too, since he is in the middle of an off-season rehab at Fitch Park, and I doubt that he would want to change trainers, facilities, and routine in the middle of that. Also, he has got to know that he is unlikely to get an offer of much value from any club given his lack of leverage (TJS rehab).

And while I think the Cubs may end up trading Aaron Heilman and/or Mike Fontenot (the Giants supposedly claimed Heilman off waivers at the end of August, so he could get traded there), I doubt that either will get non-tendered. Tendered and then traded prior to Spring Training or Opening Day? Yes. Non-tendered on 12/12? Probably not, unless the player's roster slot is desperately needed, which probably won't be the case since minor leaguers likely to get added to the 40-man roster next month (W. Castillo, Gaub, Parker, and possibly Dolis) will just take slots opened by the five free-agents leaving (plus roster slots for the minor leaguers are needed on 11/20, three weeks before the CTL date on 12/12), plus the Cubs probably won't be too active in the free-agent market this year so roster slots won't be needed for MLB FAs, and also if the Cubs make a trade, it would probably be a two-for-one or a three-for-one, rather than the other way around (which would require open roster slots).

I also think the Cubs will offer John Grabow arbitration if they don't re-sign him by 12/1.

Grabow was brought into a game the last Friday of the season, a meaningless game where the Cubs were down 10-3 after seven. It was Grabow's 75tn appareance of the season, the significance of which is that Grabow had a performance bonus in his contract that paid him $25K if he appeared in 75 games, and the Cubs could have avoided that just by not pitching him once he hit 74 games (the Cubs had been eliminated), but they brought him into the game on 10/2 and Grabow picked up an extra $25K.

I suspect that was not lost on Grabow, since other clubs don't always do that. For instance, the Twins optioned RHP Glen Perkins to AAA AFTER September 1st to keep him from becoming a "Super Two" (although Perkins will probably file a grievance). But I think the Cubs were letting Grabow know that they liked him, and wanted him back in 2010.

So I wouldn't be surprised if the Cubs offer Gtabow arbitration on 12/1 (the only FA I believe they will offer arbitration) and that Grabow will accept (presuming he doesn't re-sign with the Cubs prior to that date), since clubs would be less-likely to sign Grabow as a FA of it costs them a 1st or 2nd round draft pick (Grabow is a Type "A" FA). And a one-year contract (even if it goes to an arbitration hearing) wouldn't be bad for the Cubs, since Grabow would probably get $3.75M (max) via arbitration, or even less per year if it's a multi-year deal (like maybe two years plus a club option).

Thanks AZ PHIL. I like the spin of baseball politics between team and player that you share. It is interesting. We will see. But during the Hendry regime, I would have to say it is a rare occurrence to see a player get "stiffed". In fact, you have shown us that Hendry bends over and takes it way too much with respect to arb., managing options, adding bonus clauses in an absurd way, etc. I was always wondering why, for example, Hendry did not insist on a "loco" clause with Bradley? Since you see much of the farm hands more regularly, it will be interesting to see your thoughts on what younger players COULD be dealt in the 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 scenarios. Do you think Starlin Castro is ranked ahead of Darwin Barney, for example? Oh, after all of this, I just wanted to express to everyone that now with this new hitting coach, I am supremely confident that we are making the World Series in 2010 without a doubt! I heard we have scheduled 81 games with the Pirates, as well.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-22-cubs-rudy-jar… The signing of Jaramillo does not signal a thawing in the Cubs' relationship with Bradley, who is expected to be traded this offseason after spending the final 15 games on the suspended list. But Hendry is unlikely to be willing to eat most of the remaining $21 million on Bradley's contract, so if he can't unload the outfielder, it will be Jaramillo's job to fix him.

Major League Managers who made less in 2007 (the last year this information was available) than Jaramillo is getting to be the Cubs hitting coach each year for the next three years. Charlie Manuel, PHI $800,000 Willie Randolph, NYM $700,000 Fredi Gonzalez, FL $650,000 * Jerry Narron, CIN $600,000 * Grady Little, LAD $600,000 * Sam Perlozzo, BAL $600,000 (((Ron Washington, TEX $600,000))) Bud Black, SD $550,000 Joe Maddon, TAM $550,000 John Gibbons, TOR $500,000 Manny Acta, WAS $500,000 Bob Geren, OAK $500,000

Off topic. I found a really nice site to watch illustrated techniques for some of the ortho procedures we hear about, such as knee meniscus tears and ACL reconstruction, shoulder labral and rotator cuff repairs, achilles tendon repairs as well as a few other procedures. Since it's just illustrated videos it's easy even on the eye since it's not live video. http://www.orthoillustrated.com/

Rosenthal says...SHOCKED, I tell ya...and some RUDY stuff. --- Multiple teams are in contact the Cubs about outfielder Milton Bradley, with one source saying, "You would be shocked at the level of interest." The Cubs remain confident that they can trade Bradley without assuming the vast majority of the $21 million remaining on his contract over the next two years. New owner Tom Ricketts has set a limit for how much money the Cubs will include in a deal, one source says. The Cubs can take back a contract but pay only a fixed amount of cash. --- Former Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo might be a steal for the Cubs, even at more than $800,000 per season over three years. Players rave about Jaramillo, and an executive who knows him well says that Jaramillo works hard, instills confidence in hitters and excels with mechanics. Another exec says that Jaramillo also relates exceptionally well to Latin players — good news for the Cubs, who need left fielder Alfonso Soriano and catcher Geovany Soto to bounce back from subpar seasons. --- http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/10254444/La-Russa-will-have-options,…

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In reply to by Cubster

Did anyone else key in on the following quote from the article above? "New owner Tom Ricketts has set a limit for how much money the Cubs will include in a deal, one source says. The Cubs can take back a contract but pay only a fixed amount of cash." There has been a lot of talk about how much money the Cubs pay out in contracts each year, and how their consistently high payroll has helped them be able to make mistakes. No one has really let out yet any word of how much the Cubs are capping their 2010 payroll at. I'd love to believe that Ricketts is capping the cash spent on the MB deal out of common sense, because he and Hendry think they shouldn't have to pay much of MB's contract in order to trade him. But what if this is a sign to come, of frugality from Ricketts?

[ ]

In reply to by SheffieldCornelia

In this current economy, there is no reason the Cubs can't contend every year with a 130 MLB payroll. The 140+ million payroll of last year housed maybe 100 million of actual player talent. It was more an effect of years of Peter/paul backloaded contracts coming home to roost. I'd be more than ok with Ricketts keeping a 130ish payroll, provided that he. A) Spent among the top tier teams in scouting/drafting/ML system coaches B) Would make whomever the GM is, actually negotiate deals as opposed to the blank check method we've been employing since 2006

ESPN's Keith Law on Starlin Castro. Hopefully not a kiss of death. http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=law_keith Comps him vs Soriano: Soriano has a longer swing and always has been a bit of a hacker, while Castro has better bat control and ability to adjust to changing speeds. --- He is, though, one of the best shortstops in the minors. At shortstop, he has good lateral range, especially to his right, and a 65-70 arm on the 20-80 scale. --- On hitting: ...one of the best and most impressive hitters I saw in Arizona. He has excellent hand-eye coordination and can keep his hands inside the ball even when pitchers try to work him inside. His swing can get long on balls away, and he wraps his bat, but he makes a ton of contact and squares up on a lot of pitches out of the zone. He showed he can stay with sliders from right-handers -- this is good, because I saw way too many guys last week who could hit fastballs but not same-side breaking balls -- and showed signs of future power even to the opposite field.

I found this odd, in the Sullivan piece on Jaramillo (link above from Rob). Regarding Bradley. The "that's not my choice" quote. Does it mean the "choice" isn't up to him? or does it mean he's not looking forward to working with Bradley, but he'll put up with it? Methinks it wasn't meant from RJ to be put in a negative context (especially after quoting him as saying they got along great) but because the writers hate MB... --- Jaramillo helped Bradley have his best year in 2008 in Texas, and said, "We got along great ... we knew what buttons to push." And if he had to work with him again? "That's not my choice," he said. "But I'll work with anyone."

Sun-Times/Wittenmeyer writes it a bit differently, with his distaste for MB stamp still applied. Just implying Bradley wasn't a part of the RJ hiring discussion: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/1839274,CST-SPT-cub22.arti… --- Among his success stories was a strong working relationship with Milton Bradley, who in his lone season in Texas (2008) had the best year of his career. That doesn't mean Bradley is any more likely to return to the Cubs than he was when the Cubs suspended him the final 15 games of the season. They still are looking to move the remaining two years on his three-year, $30 million deal. ''Hiring Rudy had nothing to do with that,'' Hendry said. ''We didn't talk at all about it in the interviewing process or ... over the weekend.''

this caught my eye...BP's Kevin Goldstein on future prospects. Dope on the rebound, now with Toronto where he just might get a chance. Brian Dopirak, 1B, Blue Jays (VEN: Magallanes) Is he a prospect again, or isn't he? Once the top prospect in the Cubs system after nearly setting a Midwest League record in home runs as part of a .307/.363/.593 line at Low-A Lansing in 2004, Dopirak went from hitting 39 home runs to just one in Double-A two years later. Picked up off the scrap heap by the Jays, he had a 959 OPS for High-A Dunedin last year, but it was mostly written off as a 24-year-old vet in a league where he was bound to overmatch far less experienced pitching. This year was another story however, as between Double- and Triple-A, he kept on mashing, racking up a final line of .317/.371/.549 with 42 doubles and 27 home runs. He's kept it up in Venezuela, going 3-for-5 with a double, home run, and four RBI on Sunday, and he just might get a real look in the big leagues at some point in 2010. While all the calls and notes to review are still a long way off, he's on the short list of Blue Jay prospects to inquire about come Top 11 time.

BP's Kevin Goldstein with another Starlin Castro update (and a Donnie Veal mention): Starlin Castro, SS, Cubs (AFL: Mesa) Yesterday's stats: 4-for-5, 2 R, RBI Generating a ton of buzz right now in the desert is Castro, the 19-year-old shortstop who, after Tuesday's outburst, is now 12-for-23 in six games for the Solar Sox without a strikeout. His ability to put the bat on the ball is remarkably advanced for his age. While he's not the next Ozzie Smith, he is a true shortstop who also has surprisingly solid defensive fundamentals for such a young talent, as he's also yet to make an error in Arizona. Is he the top prospect in the system? You could at least make the argument. --- Donald Veal, LHP, Pirates (AFL), 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K: If he keeps throwing strikes, he could end up being a Rule 5 steal, as the size and stuff were always there. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9682

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.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • 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.