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

Game Preview: Cubs (48-67) @ Cardinals (64-49)

Derrek Lee is back, Hoffpauir gets sent back down...okay, why not?

With Soto on the DL, Aramis still out, Colvin in the penalty box and Soriano incapable of moving spots in the batting order without the Earth's magnetic fields being reversed, we get to witness the following lineup featuring Blake DeWitt batting 5th.

Fukudome, Castro, Lee, Byrd, DeWitt, Soriano, Barney, Hill, Diamond

vs.

F. Lopez, J. Jay, Pujols, Holliday, Rasmus, Molina, Schumaker, Westbrook, Ryan

In happier news, Castro is just 17 plate appearances short of qualifying for the batting title race, in which he'd currently be third, just two points behind Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies.

Cubs get to play the role spoilers this weekend or more likely the role of roadkill. Happy weekend everyone!

Comments

Does anyone see any rationale for DeWitt 5th and Soriano 6th? Ay Caramba! A batting title for Castro would help my morale a bit.

5th pick in the draft is here, and we're making our run to go higher. The biggest plus is we've got the most negative velocity of any team (2-8) going into the final 6 weeks! Looks like we have a definite shot at the 2nd pick given how much better the O's and M's and even DB's are playing after manager changes. And we have the dreaded Pirates for 3 more games, so I'm thinking...we can go for the first pick as long as Lou and Trammell don't both take bereavement leaves at the same time, forcing Hendry to call up Sandberg. MLB Standings, Draft Standings...8/14/10 Pittsburgh 39-76...last 10 (3-7) Baltimore 41-75...last 10 (8-2) Seattle 45-71...last 10 (6-4) Arizona 46-71...last 10 (6-4 Chicago (NL), 3 way tie at 48-68...last 10 (2-8) KC 48-68...last 10 (3-7) Cleveland 48-68...last 10 (3-7)

Ah yes. One of my favorite times of the year. A weekend series against the Cardinals. The drama! The excitement! Two arch rivals fighting like the Cullens and the Blacks. Clear your schedule everybody!!!!

Only the Cubs would be a day late and a dollar short trying for the #1 pick after Strasburg and Harper the last 2 years. But hey we draft really well in the 1st round, we should get a sweet backup infielder or 5th OFer in 3-4 years.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

TRN: FWIW, Peter Gammons disagrees: "In a wood-bat league, the 220-pound Harper hit .443 with 31 homers and 98 RBIs. There have been five previous high school-age position players taken as the first pick in the country in the last 25 years. Three -- Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Justin Upton -- were All-Stars by the age of 21. Chipper Jones was an All-Star at 23, a rise delayed by injury. Josh Hamilton is the one exception because of his detailed personal struggles, but he now can make the case to being the best player in the sport." So at the very least, he's in company with those 5 dudes? Let's see, 3 sure-fire HOF'ers, one 5-tool stud and Justin Upton... not bad company... And on a semi-related note: How can you realistically say that the #1 overall pick is "not all that great a prospect. He's good but..." Fuck seriously?

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Dunston was drafted more than 25 years ago (the stat was "in the last 25 years") (though there are other counterexamples you could have cited). But the fact is that you are discounting Harper based on, approximately, nothing. Prospects can only be valued and graded at their projected level and graded strengths and there are few prospects ever who have been graded as high as Harper. This value is based on rather amazing stats. For example, he more than doubled the previous home run record at his school. And this record was set with aluminum bats and he did it with wood. And he did it during should have been his junior year in high school. He would be a higher rated prospect that every player the Cubs have drafted (at the time they were drafted) other than Mark Prior since the draft was instituted. But he is not a great prospect? You have pretty high standards for great.

[ ]

In reply to by springs

25 years was an arbitrary number, there have been plenty of other high school position players drafted first during the last 30 years that haven't gone on to HoF careers. "That great a prospect" - as in not as great as Strasburg, he'll probably be the #1 prospect on most lists headed into 2010, but Korey Patterson was the #1 prospect on some people's lists at one point as well. As to the numbers he put up - he did them in JUCO as essentially a professional baseball player. If Ken Griffey Jr. Shawon Dunston and Arod played in the same league, blew off their classes and concentrated on baseball 24/7, I am going to go ahead and speculate they would have put up some pretty good numbers too.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

TRN, you're married to your idea here, and that's fine, I get like that sometimes too. The point was that, even taking your explanation into account, there's a pretty big difference between "not all that great a prospect" (comment 13) and "not as great as Strasburg" (comment 77). As you also pointed out, Van Poppel was considered a better 'prospect' than Jones... goes to show that being a great 'prospect' does not always equate with a great career. But back to the discussion at hand. 25 years is an arbitrary number that Gammons picked to back his point--agree, numbers can often be skewed to prove one side or other in a debate. But let's state it differently; "Over the course of the last 25 years, teams have been much more reluctant to spend the first overall picks on high school players unless the team is fairly certain that player is a lock to have a solid career; Harper falls into this category." I didn't say anything there that Gammons didn't state or imply, I just said it differently, and the numbers Gammons provides back up my statement. And so did you. So if I put Jr, Arod and Dunston in Harper's JUCO league, they'd have put up some pretty good numbers? Agree. Are 66% of your examples going to be in Cooperstown, probably all 66% on the first ballot? Yes, unequivocally (the first ballot part for Arod is the only debate). Would they have put up the numbers he did at AGE SEVENTEEN, with the physical attributes of a 17 y/o? Hard to say, but the point is that Harper has accomplished quite a bit in his young life, whether or not he's a complete ass (and that could be blamed on the 'roids, just sayin'). No offense dude, but here's your entire comment: #13 Re: Game Preview: Cubs (48-67) @ Cardinals (64-49) Submitted by The Real Neal on Sat, 08/14/2010 - 3:11pm. Harper's not all that great a prospect. He's good but not on the Strasburg level - like comparing Ken Griffey Jr to Shawon Dunstan. * reply and the fact is, none of that statement is true, for several reasons and from several different angles, and I called you out on it. If you thought I was rude, my sincerest apologies, none of this is personal. But it is what it is. *edit And coincidentally re #71, I think "high school-age" (and I'm sure Gammons as well, although I shouldn't speak for a Hall of Fame baseball writer) is, approximately, THE AGE PEOPLE NORMALLY ATTEND HIGH SCHOOL. Not sure where the confusion is...anyone? "Born October 16th, 1992 (1992!!) Bryce Harper is a 17 year old left-handed hitting catcher currently playing for Southern Nevada Community College." (February, http://mopupduty.com/index.php/bryce-harper-bio/) "Bryce Aron Max Harper[1] (born October 16, 1992, in Las Vegas, Nevada) was selected by the Washington Nationals as the first pick of the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft.[1] ...Harper earned his GED after his sophomore year in December 2009, making him eligible for the June 2010 amateur draft in order to begin his professional baseball career earlier.[4][5] For the 2010 college season, Harper enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada of the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC), a league that uses wood bats in conference play. In 66 games, he hit 31 home runs, 98 RBI, hitting .443/.526/.987 (AVG/OBP/SLG).[6] His 31 home runs broke the school's previous record of 12." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryce_Harper) And just in case... "In the United States a high school is an upper secondary school which educates children from grade nine or ten through grade twelve[4], in other words, from the age of 14 or 15 to 17 or 18...Students will generally graduate from high school in the year of their 18th birthday if they were born between January 1 and August 31, but this varies by state depending on the kindergarten cut-off date, which ranges from August 1 in Missouri to January 1 in Connecticut and December 1 in California[7]...As a practical matter, while laws in most states mandate school attendance at least until graduation or age 16, many require attendance until age 17 or 18 (unless the student earns a diploma earlier, usually around age 16)." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_school) So that's probably what the hell us two "think is "high school aged"". Questions? Concerns? Comments?

9th inning cubbery... Leadoff error on horrible throw by aramis, miles (no less) gets to 2nd KHill misses a popup on a slide catch, then triumphs on a 2nd popup, this time in front of the plate Inf popup for 2nd out vs Marmol Then K's Craig. Attaboy Carlos. 20 saves.

It was a nice game today. I was talking to my friend on the phone about it, and we were talking about how 2-3 years ago, when Z was on the mound against the Cardinals you just assume the Cubs were going to win. Z could have blown up in the 6th when AramRam's shoddy fielding got him into some trouble, but he kept it cool. It was sort of odd to behold.

Sun Times: Piniella said he and pitching coach Larry Rothschild have discussed putting rookie Casey Coleman in the rotation in place of rookie Thomas Diamond (0-3, 8.31) next time through, but a decision won't be made until at least today. ''I was impressed with Coleman [Friday] night,'' Piniella said of the right-hander's two innings of score

That was a fun half-inning to watch (top 4th). Cubs bat around, Cards' MacDougal (and even better, Molina) looked like they wanted to cry and go home. Was that the Cubs' 2010 highlight right there?

seen tyler colvin walking around the dugout for a 2nd time this game with gum hanging out bunched up on the end of his tongue. looks like he's walking around chewing on a red condom.

phew...draft pick milton "ty cobb" bradley...i mean bryce harper...got a bit of lip from stephen strasberg (both have the same agent, btw) “if he doesn’t want to play here, then we don’t want him here.”

"What can we say about Miguel Cairo? This guy has been a savior for us," Baker said. "He's been great. He stays ready all the time. I'd hate to think where we'd be without him."
Rings a bell?

steve stone did sox game solo yesterday,hawk had hemroids, he did a pretty good job.

Randall Simon (Cubs 2003) is now playing independent minor league ball with the Gary, IN Railcats. I went to see their game Saturday night (the band I play in provided pre-game entertainment). Man, does he have a vicious swing. Brought back memories. He nailed a two-run HR and really didn't even get all of it.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • 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...