Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 





Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Ted Lilly is Broken

As we know, Ted Lilly was battling through some shoulder issues through 2009 and still delivered a fantastic season with a 3.10 ERA. It didn't seem like it was too serious and something a little offseason rest may take care of, but instead he went under Dr. Yocum's knife.

Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly underwent a left shoulder arthroscopy and debridement on Tuesday by noted orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Lewis Yocum in Los Angeles. During the surgery, Yocum found no major damage to Lilly's shoulder and the procedure consisted of a washout and clean up of the shoulder.

Hopefully Dr. Hecht can chime in later on this post with what the hell all that means, but Lilly will start motion and range exercises almost immediately and go back for an exam after January 1st to figure out a throwing timetable. Let's go to Bruce Miles for the kicker.

They say they're hopeful he can be in the rotation within the month of April.

This rarely ends well for our Cubbies, does it? On the other hand, if you're going to miss a month of baseball as a starter, April is the month to do it as a team can get away with four starters for a good portion of it. In the Cubs case, they don't need a 5th starter until April 19th at New York. But who knows if there will be complications or lingering problems...which is all a convoluted way of me saying the Cubs should probably offer Rich Harden arbitration or load up on some starting pitching depth before spring training.

 

Comments

Fuck. Our best starter gone. Likely not for a month either -- if he's back contributing by the ASG, it'll be better than how these things normally turn out. Seems like we've got two choices: A) unload Castro and Vitters and everyone else for Halladay or B) start the rebuilding now. Is that too dire? I vote B.

Hendry better at least offer arbitration to Harden at this point. The worst case scenerio that he accepts it is far less un-appealing right now. Maybe go for a buy low type of rebound guy this offseason. Rich Hill Fausto Carmona for Milton Bradley trade? Jeremy Bonderman for Milton Bradley trade? Ben Sheets

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

you know Bradley's not going back to Cleveland...Shapiro isn't going to go through that PR shitstorm even with Wedge gone.

we'll see how Sheets is throwing but I'm all for a 1 yr/$5M deal with incentives if he shows anything, Smoltz is a FA as well although he said he wanted to back to St. Louis...

couple other potential cheap options...

Washburn, Penny, Pedro, Duchscherer, Hampton

more than likely, Sean Marshall gets another shot at it...

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

He probably waited a couple weeks to see how it felt, decided it didn't feel great, had to schedule an appointment, have the appointment, discuss it with the Cubs staff and Yocum, schedule surgery, have the surgery, that adds up to about a month. How old is Yocum anyway? Seems like someone should have taken over for him by now.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

here we go..

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/david-kaplan-chicago-sports/2009/11/ted…

"At the conclusion of the 2009 season, Cubs team doctors prescribed a conservative approach to managing Ted's shoulder in preparation for the 2010 season and, following a second opinion, Dr. Yocum agreed," Hendry continued.  "At the end of last week, Ted decided that undergoing a surgical procedure was the course of action he wanted to pursue, a decision the club supported.  We're glad the surgery did not reveal any major damage to Ted's shoulder and look forward to his return to our rotation."

so Ted said enough with you quacks....

 

 

The AP called it "arthroscopy and debridement procedure" http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/11/04/cubs.lilly.ap/… Wikipedia's definition of "debridement": Debridement is the medical removal of a patient's dead, damaged, or infected tissue to improve the healing potential of the remaining healthy tissue. Removal may be surgical, mechanical, chemical, autolytic (self-digestion), and by maggot therapy, where certain species of live maggots selectively eat only necrotic tissue.

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/david-kaplan-chicago-sports/2009/11/ted…

Hendry joined us soon after Ted was done. One question that came up was whether this would have an effect on whether the Cubs would try to keep Rich Harden. Jim didn't want a whole lot to do with that question.

About all he said was that he has talked with the agents for Harden and reliever John Grabow, whom he'd like to re-sign. "We haven't made any decisions yet on who's coming back or not from the club we ended the season with," Jim said. "This wouldn't alter our plans about adding another starter because Lew Yocum is one of the best in the world. If he felt that...if the rehab went according to plan, the way Ted goes about his business, that there's a good possibility Ted will be pitching in April. We certainly don't want to take that spot away from Ted if he's ready."

nope, carry-on....everything will work out perfectly.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

to me...apple's greatest triumph is not getting all bent out of shape about having a low market share compared to "Windows machines" and just working around it rather than trying to trample all over it. they managed to make a market of very loyal people to sell overpriced machinery to. i mean, seriously, they sell VERY expensive hardware...it's not because it's of higher quality, either. Those days are coming to an end now that you can run apple's newer OS's on x86 machines, though. they also were at the forefront, even though not the first, to define the 00's portable music industy, too. adaptable...

joking aside, there should be plenty of vets and one year stop gaps available anyway if Lilly is behind schedule in March...so no real rush to make sure you get someone, unless they are actually planning to pursue Lackey, which I of course doubt...

This seems like a familiar story doesn't it. The Cubs once again will be hoping that one of their top starters will be ready for the beginning of the season. It usually doesn't turn out well. The last time we went through this with Prior and Wood we blew 2 or 3 seasons while we waited. Maybe this time we need to be more proactive so we don't get stuck with a big hole next Spring. www.thescatman.com

This whole thread would have been much more on-target with an open and supportive background from Dr. Hecht instead of complete conjecture from every poster. Let the experts "do their thing". That is ther beauty of this blog, imo.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

how about we drag out the instances of people who have this surgery in november and see how often they actually come back in april to determine whether the doc's opinion matters at all. then we can blame hendy for his higher-than-normal DTDCBIA% (dudes that don't come back in april percentage).

or they will in about 12 more outs... guess Hideki earned himself the MVP tonight as he already 2 HR's going into the game...

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    cubs getting crazy good at not having player moves leak.

    taillon we 100% know is pitching tonight.  who he's replacing and any additional moves are unknown as far as i can tell.

    p.wisdom was not in today's lineup in iowa (rained out) and he was removed from the game last night mid-game, but not for injury.  good bet he's with the team in the bigs, too.

  • Bill (view)

    A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return.  Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention".  Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."

     

    Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost.  But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.  

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions.  Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022.  I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
    I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
    I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
    That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
    I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
    We'll find out soon enough!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa?