Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

39 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (one slot is open), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL and one player has been DESIGNATED FOR ASSIGNMENT (DFA)   

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, and nine players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, three players are on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-23-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Hector Neris 
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
Christopher Morel
* Matt Mervis
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

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

OPTIONED: 9 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL: 3
Kyle Hendricks, P 
* Drew Smyly, P 
* Justin Steele, P   

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

DFA: 1 
Garrett Cooper, 1B 
 





Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Gone With the Wind?

Is it just me or has the number of good old fashioned slugfests at Wrigley Field dwindled in recent years? Even throwing out the fact that this year's Cubs couldn't hold up their end of one, my sense is that there are lots less of the 10-9, 11-7, 14-10 type scores that used to tax the old green abacus on a regular basis once the summer wind started to blow out of the south.

Who else listened to or saw the Cub-Phillie classic that I think was 8-7 after one and ended 23-22? I remember moaning that the Cubs were the only team that could put up 22 and still get beat.

There's a site called Ballpark Factor that's up under the auspices of The Worldwide Leader in Sports. It lists an index that rates the MLB venues in terms of hitter friendliness year by year for the last decade. Wrigley Field ranges from a high of #2 in 2007 to a low of #25 in 2001. This year it stands at #11 so far. The average ranking over that span is 10.6.

Has the intersection of Clark & Addison gotten caught in the crosswinds of Nino & Nina? Has the slugfest fallen victim to global warming? Am I just imagining things?

All I know is that losing despite homers from Williams, Santo & Banks was more entertaining than dropping two out of three while mustering a not so grand total of four runs to a team that blew into town on the heels of a 17 game road losing streak.

The Cub hitters are vagrants scavenging at a dumpster. Maybe the new regime could install a gigantic fan behind the home plate screen and turn it on when the home team hits, sort of in the spirit of tailoring the groundskeeping to suit your strengths and weaknesses. I'd love to see Theriot crank one off the Toyota sign [which I saw in person for the first time Monday night and kind of like, by the way]. Of course that would require the removal of at least a few seats; ones that there are still people sitting in at every game.

Comments

Personally I think we've lowered standards. Aramis is good, but is he really a reliable cleanup hitter? Castro is good, but do we really need to field 4 minor leaguers every night? Etc. etc.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

yeah, it's a bit of an overstatement, but the day chris richard is comparable to brennon boesch just because of numbers is a sad day. actually, it's just stupid because they don't even swing a bat similarly. chris richard is a long-time durham (tb AAA) flunky. guy will probably end up being a coach when they get tired of hiring him to fill in at 1st and be the cleanup hitter.

Mike, Your post brought to mind Piniella's quote the other day to the effect that the Cubs need some more athletic players if they're going to succeed in games where the wind is blowing in and home runs are less likely and also, in some of the new, big parks like CitiField. I find logic in what he said but was more struck by how, yet again, he seems to be calling out Hendry in public for having pieced together the wrong team. Hendry's support of Piniella seems unwavering even as the manager throws up his hands and says, essentially, "What do you expect me to do? This is the team they stuck me with." Is Hendry afraid that if he canned Piniella he would force Ricketts to decide whether he wants Hendry picking the next manager and that the owner's decision would be no, he didn't?

Honest question... who is the most valuable player (batters and pitchers) on the Cubs right now?

I'm so glad that we have Koyie Hill in the lineup today, due to his great defense. I mean, what would the Cubs have done without his bad throw to 2nd on a sb and his passed ball?

2 hits..7 runs...still only 2 outs and a guy on 2nd. now that's quality cubbery.

before this day is over piniella may have to be referred to zambozo's medical team...what a postgame presser this should be! what a line score! i can hear the boos - i can see the beer cups on the warning track...

buyers remorse? but hey, let's not forget about those new pee troughs...

Okay.At the moment I'm living in the Cincy area and this is brutal. An hour hasn't gone by where some jackass stops by to say "Let's Go Cubs." We haven't even made it to the AS break and the locals are all ready getting insufferable. Blow this team up, please. teh suck

[ ]

In reply to by Mike Vail

It's bad here in Chicago too, with the faux Dusty love all over the media and the Cubs TV guys for some reason. While they're falling over trying to pat Dusty on the back, they forget that the Reds are in second place because someone has to be, and the Cubs and Brewers are having crap years while the Astros suck as expected and the Pirates are, well, the Pirates, when they take their "Cubs Dominator" belts off. Bottom line, Dusty and the Reds are in second place much more because the rest of the division sucks than because Dusty is doing such a great job. He has their second best hitter leading off, and a stiff with a .285 obp batting second. Dusty is still Dusty. What troubles me the most is that Lou seems to be taking lineup advice from Dusty.

The other day Bruce Levine said Hendry was on a plane when the Soriano deal went down. I saw this in the comments section of Bruce Miles blog today (Bruce is responding to someones question): "I wish I had an easy answer for you. This was painful to watch today. And we all see the same game every day. There's not a whole lot of defense for this. With Bradley, they had the right thing in mind with a high-OBP, high OPS guy. They overpaid way too much for a bad personal fit. Fukudome? Bad scouting. Soriano? Add an assist to Kenney, McDonough and the Trib. Ultimately, it lands at Hendry's feet." http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/4325#comments

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

You know, for all the Hendry bashing, I have a hard time blaming him for this team's struggles. This year we have seen Soto and Soriano rebound and Byrd play very well. With a decent Lee and Ramirez, this team's offense looks very different. Silva has obviously been great, and the rest of the starting pitching (sans Zambrano) have been quite good. The bullpen has some holes, but hasn't been terrible, especially lately. What it comes down to is that no one thought that Lee and Ramirez would perform the way that they have. Here is what I mean. In the TCR prediction contest, 85 of 99 people chose ARam or Lee to lead the team in home runs. 97 of 99 chose one of them to lead the team in RBI. 55 of 99 thought one of the two would lead the team in OBP (with the other votes mostly going to Theriot or Fukudome). 68 of 99 thought they would lead the team in WAR. 92 of 99 thought one of them would be the top Cub in MVP voting. Pretty much everyone that participated in the prediction contest thought that ARam and Lee would clearly be the Cubs two best players, and put up significant numbers. What it comes to is that you a) can't really predict that your two best players would be downright awful, and b) be able to weather the storm when your two best players are that bad. Don't get me wrong - Hendry has made some bad decisions (Z, Grabow, Howry, Soriano), but he can't (at least fully) be blamed for the mess this team is in right now.

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

As an avid AZ Phil reader, I really didn't expect ARam was ready to go this spring, and I really hope Hendry didn't think so either. The dude hasn't been right since Day 1. DLee ... totally different story. To respond directly to the point: Between ARam and Lee, they're about 50 RBI off the pace where they would be if both were healthy and productive. If you add 50 to the run differential, it would put the team overall at +8. Sure, that would make a difference, and probably put the team right about where most Web commenters thought they'd be ... on track for 84 wins.

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

I agree with you, and would extend the same amnesty to Jaramillo. One would think that a hitting coach on a team that simply CANNOT SCORE RUNS would have some explaining to do; but mostly, the hitters who have been working with Jaramillo are doing okay. I can't prove it, but I have an impression that Lee and Ramirez do not work with hitting coaches. When asked about the two floundering sluggers, Jaramillo has said things like, I'm working to gain their confidence, just give it time. Translation: they don't give me the time of day. The truth is that both of them need help and should accept it.

We've heard that Tom Ricketts has been using the Redsox management as his road map to the Cubs longer term future. Right now I'm hoping that Tommy boy considers using the Diamondbacks as a role model to the immediate future. Except for Gibson. Although the Gin with a pearl onion sounds about right. http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjQ0NzUwMTY=.html

By Kaz Nagatsuka, Japan Times, Tokyo July 03--Matt Murton is no longer known as just a carrot-topped player but also an exceptional hitter for the Hanshin Tigers. Murton, an outfielder in his first year in Japan, played in all 69 games for the Kansai club (through Thursday), leading the Central League with a .355 batting average and 105 hits. He tops Hanshin with a .407 on-base percentage, 54 runs scored and nine stolen bases as well. Murton is on pace for 219 hits this season, which would overtake Ichiro Suzuki for the Nippon Professional Baseball record achieved in 1994

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Guys like Murton and Rhodes, and on the other side of the coin, Fukudome and Kaz Matsui, always raise the question, how much easier is it to hit in Japan than in MLB? I still think Murton is a fringe starter in the majors. He's just a very boring fringe starter, whereas there are plenty of other fringe starters who "have a lot of upside" because they have tools they aren't capitalizing on. But I never understood Murton's ground ball love.

Whatever the record is for guys left on base while getting shut out - looks like the Cubs are going to break it today.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

I was just pointing out what our GM is going to be thinking. Remember this is the guy who wasn't "going to trade Maddux for someone fans have never heard of". It may be better to hope that Lee and Lilly qualify as type A or B free agents and we get picks for them over getting another Cesar Izturis.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Lee has fallen to a low B in the latest Elias rankings, and if he keeps playing like this he'll slip out of the B compensation completely. However, it makes no difference if he is an A or B, the Cubs won't risk offering him arbitration and having him take it.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Agreed. As trade speculation goes, this one doesn't make any sense. We already have a glut of outfielders, so why deal for another? Soriano, Byrd, Fukudome, Nady, Colvin, and Jackson on his way. We'd have to get rid of both Byrd and Fukudome for an outfielder acquisition to make any sense. And the Cubs will want to keep Marmol. We'd need 3 or 4 quality relievers within ready to push Marmol, or we would have to have a glaring need in a contending year to trade Marmol. This writer's not even trying to make sense. This, of course, isn't criticism of you, QuietMan. I realize you didn't write the story.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

The guy has updated things in his comments section. "One of my sources just called and said that the Cubs were now asking for Travis Wood rather than Boxberger or Joseph. Looks like the deal may fall through. We'll find out in the next couple of hours." My apologies to BigBird and the Cookie Monster for dropping their names in with this bozo.

Players in organization with 50 RBI on July 4: Hoffpauir 54 Wright 51 LeMahieu 51 Rohan 51 That's Greg Rohan, Peoria. His teammate Justin Bour has 47. Brett Jackson is next with 45.

psst... i think ted lilly might be done with the 7th. maybe go take him out?

[ ]

In reply to by SheffieldCornelia

- D. Stubbs flied out to right - M. Leake flied out to right - B. Phillips homered to deep left - O. Cabrera singled to shallow left - P. Janish singled to shallow center, O. Cabrera scored - P. Janish to second on balk - J. Gomes homered to deep left, P. Janish scored - J. Stevens relieved T. Lilly - C. Miller homered to deep left - J. Bruce walked - M. Cairo walked, J. Bruce to second - J. Bruce to third on wild pitch - D. Stubbs homered to deep right center, J. Bruce and M. Cairo scored - M. Leake walked - B. Phillips singled to shallow right center, M. Leake to second - B. Howry relieved J. Stevens - O. Cabrera lined out to center wow. damn u dusty...or barrett...or some black cats...or something. that's some 2-out failure and then some. impressive follow-up to that 9 unearned-run inning.

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In reply to by crunch

"Boston had one of its top talent evaluators watching the Cubs earlier this week. The Phillies’ Gordon Lakey, their top scout, has been in and out of Chicago the last two weeks. And Detroit’s vice president of player personnel Scott Reid, one of Tigers' GM Dave Dombrowski’s top lieutenants, is watching the Cubs this weekend." -- http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/1358/cubs-infielders-cou… Why do the talent evaluators have to actually show up physically? How are the Cubs supposed to impress them with their immense talent pool if the scouts actually show up and watch them play?

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

Submitted by Old and Blue on Sun, 07/04/2010 - 2:47pm. Why do the talent evaluators have to actually show up physically? How are the Cubs supposed to impress them with their immense talent pool if the scouts actually show up and watch them play? ========================================== OLD & BLUE: So they can schmooze with the other scouts and pad their expense accounts, go out to dinner with somebody they know from the organization and get some inside dope on the team. Maybe do some shopping. It's kind of like when "scouts" from bowl games attend a football game where they could just as easily stay home and watch the game on TV. It's because they aren't actually scouting the game, they are being rushed by the alumni.

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In reply to by Arizona Phil

Well here's to hoping they're schmoozing so much they aren't paying any attention to what's going happening on the field. If they ARE paying attention, the Cubs aren't gonna get squat for the players they try to move.

at least the reds held up their end of the bargain to answer the question, "whatever happened to the wrigley slugfest?"

after taking a look at what the managers did with the expanded roster...they can go screw themselves. we don't need a roster expanded big enough to allow a useless amount of bats to participate. omar infante is a f'n allstar for christ's sake...

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

Jacque Jones was traded even up to the Tigers for Omar Infante after the 2007 season. Jone hit just .147 between the Tigers and Marlins in 2008, played Independent ball in 2009, and is now a 35-year old in AAA for the Twins. Infante was then shipped to Atlanta with Will Ohman for Jose Ascanio. Ohman has been inconsistent; he had a decent season for Atlanta in 2008 (3.68 ERA), but then sucked in 2009 (5.84 ERA in just 21 games), but then has been solid this year for Baltimore (2.88 ERA, league-leading 41 games so far). Infante has performed well as a utility infielder for the Braves, but that's all he has been. His career OPS is .702 (Theriot for example is .711) and he has no power or speed (just 38 HR and 39 SB in a career of over 2,200 ABs). Ascanio averaged nearly a strikeout an inning in AAA Iowa in 2009 and then posted a 3.52 ERA in 15 games for the Cubs that season out of the bullpen before he was traded to the Pirates with Kevin Hart and Josh Harrison for John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny. Ascanio struggled in 2009 before having shoulder surgery. He is currently on the 60-day DL rehabbing. Hart struggled in 2009 after the trade and then again in spring training, and recently discovered he has a torn labrum. He is now on the DL. Harrison currently has a .782 OPS in AA as a second basemen, and has 23 doubles, but has no speed or home run power. And of course we are all familiar with how bad Grabow has been and how pretty good Gorzelanny has been. Overall, the value of Gorzelanny as a lefthanded 5th starter on a good staff is probably slightly greater than the combined value of what the Cubs lost in all of these deals - 2 minor league pitchers with serious arm problems, a minor league second basemen with no real upside, a washed up outfielder, an inconsistent middle reliever (Ohman), and a utility infielder (Infante).

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In reply to by The E-Man

Well Ascanio and Kevin Hart turned into Gorzelanny and Grabow. Grabow was fine last year--signing him to a 2 year contract this off season was a separate mistake. And Gorzo has given us absolutely no reason to complain. So it's been okay, I think. But I can't remember how we got Hart.

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In reply to by Charlie

Bynum as Neal said... we got Bynum in a 3-way trade for Jon Koronka with A's and Rangers. March 31st: Cubs received INF/OF Freddie Bynum from Oakland Athletics and sent LHP John Koronka and cash to Texas Rangers as part of a three-team deal. The Rangers also received LHP John Rheinecker from the Athletics. The Athletics received RHP Juan Dominguez from the Rangers. we got Koronka from Reds for Phil Norton August 25: Traded LHP John Koronka for LHP Phil Norton. Norton was drafted by the Cubs.

Recent comments

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Things I've been wrong about:

    -Tauchman is fine as a 4th OF. I knew that. I just want a better LH DH option and he was really the DH for us until Seiya got hurt. I'm glad Mervis is getting a chance at it. Caissie is coming for that job for sure. But Tauchman continues to be highly useful as a 4th OF with Seiya being hurt

    -I wanted Yency to go to get guys at Iowa a chance. Guys like Palencia and Sanders or RileyT. Maybe even Hodge! But Yency has been better the last two plus weeks. He did hit 96 the other day. He was 93 in Texas to open the season.

    -Leiter has his split working enough. It just needs to stay there

    -I was surprised Jed picked Wisdom over Cooper. I wonder if this happens if Seiya wasn't hurt. Wisdom has more power. Cooper is the better hitter. Jed picked Wisdom and Wisdom had an option left as well.

    -Palencia just doesn't miss enough bats. Similar to ManRod, just two yrs younger. ManRod is killing AAA for TB right now!

    Things I got right so far:

    -Hendricks. Sorry Kyle. You got paid though!

    Jed, you missed there.

    -Smyly. If Jed could've traded him before or during ST, then he should have and saved some cash.

    -Mastro.  Not a LH DH. Pinch runner. Defensive utility. Maybe he's better than Madrigal but didn't get a legit chance to prove it.

    -Luke Little is good. He's had one bad outing. That's it. Needs to get better entering with guys on base. But he needs to stay in MLB.

    -Oh yeah....Morel is doing fine at 3B! He'll get better as well!!

  • crunch (view)

    bellinger "right rib contusion"

  • Childersb3 (view)

    South Bend just lost the lead in the bottom of the 9th on the weirdest scenario, ever.

    It's absolutely pouring rain....men on 1st and 2nd, 1out....JPatterson asks for a new ball, but no time out was called....he throws the old ball toward the dugout (not sure if it rolled out of play).....the ump declares the runners get two bases each so one run scores. Then a single up the middle ties the game.

    The rain was coming down in buckets at this point.

    Just weird

  • crunch (view)

    ...and bellinger is gone in the 7th because of that 2nd blown chance and the wall he bounced off of...

    hopefully his rib cage/shoulder feels better tomorrow, we just got happ back.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Phil,

    Any thoughts on Y. Rojas' stuff and Y. Melendez's game (I believe I've asked about him before, sorry)?

  • crunch (view)

    wow, things are moving fast.  hopefully it continues.

  • crunch (view)

    morel with 4 clean plays in 4 innings...showed off his 100000000mph arm a couple times.

    cody bellinger not having a good 4th, though...5 run leads are handy when your CF is making your pitcher have a 5-out inning.  2nd blown chance was ruled a hit even though it went in/out of his glove...1st was lost in the lights, also ruled a hit.

  • crunch (view)

    welcome back happ!  double off the wall 1st PA back.

  • crunch (view)

    oh yeah, totally, i was just chiming about why i fan like i fan.

    i would like nothing more than hendricks to keep on hendricks'ing.  guys with his stuff can throw for a long, long time as long as it works.

    he velocity is actually up a minor amount this year.  it's really "damn" when a guy like him not only has gas in the tank, but it's looking like it was years ago.  he added a curve a few years ago and it helped a little bit, but he's throwing it less and less while the fb/change combo are less effective.

  • Alexander Dimm (view)

    CRUNCH—There is no one person in this community I’m talking about.  My remarks were not directed at you or anyone, but at a tone I’ve noticed lately. 

    You have a great, dry sense of humor and there is thought behind your comments.   You and I don’t always agree but I always understand your position.  

    Lastly, and I’ll be quiet, I agree with you on Hendricks.  We can dislike the recent performance but still love the guy.  Lots of questions about his future.