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

Should They Stay or Should They Go?

Now that the gauntlet has been dropped and there will be a new sheriff in town - eventually - let me take a look at what a new statistically inclined general manager may think of the current crop of Cubbies with the predisposition that the Cubs are not going into some full 3-year rebuild mode. That may be a faulty assumption on my part, but I assume the Ricketts would at the very least like to make the appearance of contending and with nearly $50M coming off the books and even more after 2012, no reason a savvy GM could not make things a lot more interesting, rather quickly.

Let me preface this with the explanation that this is intended more as a look at who may stay and who may go, then who will they try to bring in, although they'll certainly be some of that mixed in.

Catchers

  • Geovany Soto
  • Koyie Hill
  • Welington Castillo

I assume the second pen is laid to paper to sign the new GM's contract, Koyie Hill ceases to be on the Cubs 40-man roster. Soto's patience and power should be appealing as well as his low cost and he has improved his defense a bit this year. He's certainly worth dangling in a trade, but hard to see anyone that could be found that would be a worthy replacement. Castillo's power the last two years in Iowa has been intriguing, but what little I've seen at the major league level has me questioning that his defense would be any better than Soto's to justify what would likely be an offensive drop. And Castillo has shown little ability to stay healthy. If the new GM feels like committing to Soto as the catcher for the next 2-3 years, looking to trade Castillo and leaving back-up duties to Clevenger, Robinson or the like would suit me just fine.

First Base

  • Bryan LaHair
  • Carlos Pena

I only added LaHair since it seems inevitable he'll be added to the 40-man for a September call-up. But I can't imagine he's part of any future plan despite the gaudy AAA numbers this year. Bringing back Pena next year on another one year deal wouldn't be the worst thing, nor the best thing, but his patience and pop would likely be welcome. Jonah Keri suggests the Cubs pass on Pujols or Fielder because they likely won't be contending next year. This line of thinking always confuses me. If you're signing a guy for 6-8 years, I think you're intending to try to contend beyond just the first season of the contract and I doubt anyone as good as Pujols or as good and young as Fielder will be available anytime soon. There's something to be said about not spending your resources on a 32-year old that no one believes is 32 or a big-boned vegetarian who plays terrible defense and runs the bases poorly, but that something shouldn't be, "well we don't see ourselves winning in the first year of their contract".

Second Base

  • Darwin Barney
  • Blake DeWitt
  • DJ LeMahieu
  • Jeff Baker

With the asssumption that no one is going to move Starlin Castro from shortstop anytime soon and my own reservations that Barney would be all that great of a defensive shortstop, I'm guessing one of the first jobs of the new GM would be to let everyone know that barely nipping at a .700 OPS is not good production from your second basemen, regardless how awesome his defense is suppose to be (awesomeness that hasn't really reflected in the defensive stats) or how dirty his uniform gets. I have no idea what kind of trade value Barney has, but I'd certainly look into it, cause guys like Barney run the risk of impressing their managers into playing time with their intangibles rather than their production when they're on the roster. Or to put it another way, do the Red Sox, Yankees or Phillies employ a Darwin Barney as a starter? Marco Scutaro is the closest comp I could think of, but his patient approach fits in better with the Red Sox philosophy and his defense (at least on reputation) is much more well regarded.

That being said, with all of Wilken's middle-of-the-diamond draft picks over the years, it's not a position you want to tie up with an expensive free agent contract. I would hope, just by sheer odds, that one of those picks should inevitably result in a decent enough regular. A Baker/Flaherty platoon would interest me the most for next season,  but I could also see Flaherty struggling mightily out of the gate. I guess we'll find out how strong the committment to player development is, when the Cubs are losing lots of games with some of these youngsters.

Shortstop

  • Starlin Castro
  • Darwin Barney
  • DJ LeMahieu

At age 21, Castro is 10th among shortstops in total WAR and 7th in wOBA. I assume that he stays where he's at and continues to get better. Barney as a bench guy makes more sense to me. LeMahieu seems more like a future utility guy and doesn't really have the approach that I care for, but I'm not sure what the the trade value is for a barely top-10 prospect, if any exists at all.

Third Base

  • Aramis Ramirez
  • Jeff Baker

Is Ramirez worth the $16M next year in a bare free agent market for third basemen? This might be one of the tougher decisions for a new GM. The Cubs have the money to keep him and his production, and even with declining defense, he should justify the cost (for the most part). On the other hand, is it worth taking that $16M and putting it toward Fielder or Pujols contract as an investment for the future.

Left Field

  • Alfonso Soriano

If Ricketts is feeling generous, he'd say the sins of the past are not the burden of the future GM. Pay whatever it takes to make Soriano go away as quickly as possible. What that entails I don't know yet. The chatter is that Soriano is suited to be a DH, but I feel the demand for right-handed hitting DH's with wOBA's of .316 and falling and owed $54M for three years is pretty sparse. There's always the swap of bad contracts (Vernon Wells?), but what does that really solve? A deferred buyout or outright release would be the last ditch options. The other option is making him earn his playing time and benching him regularly, something I feel a certain Hall-of-Fame second basemen wouldn't be opposed to doing.

Center Field

  • Marlon Byrd
  • Tony Campana

On the last year of a rather cheap deal, Byrd should have some suitors in the offseason trade market. The sort of leader type with good enough production that a contending team might look at. It's not a move that needs to be made, but the market should be explored. He certainly doesn't bring the trifecta of patience, power and good defense that a saber-inclined GM would want. Campana could be a perfectly reasonable last man on the bench, or not.

Right Field

  • Tyler Colvin
  • Reed Johnson

Bringing Reed back again to hit lefties would be fine, he does it well enough and cheap enough, but that's a January decision. I think Colvin truly has 30-HR potential in him if he played everyday, but he'll never have the patience that you'd really want to make him an above average player. With the year he had, his trade value amounts to whatever lies above completely non-existant, so I assume he stays and maybe he earns his full-time shot in spring training.

Starting Pitching

  • Carlos Zambrano
  • Ryan Dempster
  • Matt Garza
  • Randy Wells
  • Casey Coleman
  • Andrew Cashner

Before Hendry got fired, I'd say Ryan Dempster picking up his $14M player option was inevitable. No such loyalty may exist now and Dempster could look to explore a multi-year deal. With a 3.62 FIP, the new GM would probably prefer Dempster stay, unless they'd want the financial resources to play around with. Z seems as good as gone if they can find a team, get Z to waive his NTC and eat some money. Good luck with that new GM.  Garza's 3.01 FIP says he should stay, but he's also worth dangling in a trade to see what's available. No doubt he'd be one of the top 3 free agent pitchers if he was available, but I assume he stays a Cubbie. Wells and Cashner really depend on what else may be brought in, but both have their appeal to stay as Cubbies. I mean Cashner's not going anywhere, it's just whether he moves to the pen or sticks with being a starter. Coleman just needs to go away.

Relief Pitchers

  • Carlos Marmol
  • Kerry Wood
  • Sean Marshall
  • Jeff Samardzija
  • James Russell
  • Chris Carpenter
  • Scott Maine
  • Berg, Cabrera, Caridad, Dolis, Gaub, Mateo, Schlitter, Smit

Unfortunately Marmol's second half implosion is likely to hurt his trade value, as is his declining fastball velocity. That makes trading him in the offseason, likely a poor proposition. If Kerry Wood wants back for $2M or less, that's a no-brainer. Marshall should of course stay, they can even try him out in the rotation or as a closer, but it's also worth seeing how much someone would overpay for him in a trade. I'd probably see if someone is just looking at Samardizja's ERA and not notice his walk rates. The rest are a case-by-case basis that I don't care to delve into today.

P.S. I highly recommend Chris Jaffe's very balanced take on the Hendry years at THT.

Comments

Reason #1053 why Q-Ball needed to be fired along with Hendry gives Castro a "mental day off" because of yesterday's lack of attentiveness

Nice article, Rob. I was talking to a friend last night about the prospect of being able to trade Soriano. I said that even if they ate half of his contract, he's still a $9 million a year DH for another team, and free agent DH's didn't get contracts like that last off-season. Thome got $3 mil, and Godzilla got $4.25 mil. Manny got what, $1 mil? Only Ortiz got more, but that was an option picked up by Boston. True DH's have gotten big contracts for a few years, as the owners have pushed most of the older players without actual positions out of the game. The Cubs would probably have to eat enough of Soriano's contract that he only costs a new team something in the $3-5 mil per year range, I would think.

[ ]

In reply to by Paul Noce

Thome only got one year. $1-3 million sounds about right for Soriano, but only for a year. But then the Cubs are paying 95% of his salary. Only Hendry (who recently agreed to pay 84% of the rest of Fukudome's contract) would be motivated to make a face-saving deal like that. The new GM and Ricketts will mull this over for about five minutes and then decide to just release the guy. The money is already spent, as Levine has been saying. That's true when the new guy gets here, and it was also true when Ricketts arrived.

not everyone a fan of the great Szczur http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/39752/mlb-insider-keith-law from last Friday, Keith Law chat Would you please explain your comparison of Matt Szczur to Juan Pierre a little more? Obviously they both make easy contact and have great speed, but Szczur's upside seems considerably different than what Pierre has done. Szczur is bigger and stronger now as a very young man than Pierre was/is as a fully developed man. Szczur is hitting for more power in the minors at the same stage than Pierre did. Szczur also shows big power in BP, which I don't remember ever hearing about Pierre. Despite Pierre's speed he didn't provide the defensive value that Szczur projects. Why wouldn't Jacoby Ellsbury be a more appropriate comp? Do you honestly think that Szczur's power will be as limited as Pierre's? Klaw (1:54 PM): Let's ignore for the moment that Szczur has been terrible in high-A. He has one of the shortest, slappiest swings I've seen on a "prospect" - no leverage, no rotation, just flicks the bat at the ball and meets it out front. Until that changes, I don't see him hitting for any meaningful power in pro ball, and it's not like he's got great plate discipline. He'll be lucky to have Pierre's career. and then he just gets snippy an (Chicago)Can we maybe chalk up Matt Szczur's dip in batting average at high-A to fatigue considering he's playing his first full season of pro ball ON TOP of a full football season.....also, he's 6 for 6 in stolen bases and was voted the best defensive outfielder by midwest league managers, so assuming he's carried that defense over and is playing plus defense at a premium position while stealing bases is it still fair to say he's been "terrible" at high-A? Klaw (2:12 PM): He has a .289 OBP, too. Maybe while you're chalking it up to fatigue, we can talk about your massive need to rationalize bad performance by a prospect in your favorite team's farm system, coupled with your need to get me to say something positive when the stats are so negative.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I've always wondered this: How come whenever someone describes the "prettiest swings" it's almost always a lefthanded batter. I can't think of one righty with that tag attached to them. I doubt this is the case, but is there some physical reason lefties would have a prettier, or more ideal, swing than a righty? Or is it just coincidence? Thanks. Klaw (1:15 PM): Josh Vitters is right-handed, and his swing would qualify.

Colvin or Sori at first next year. You can write off next year with lack of starting pitching available and on Cubs. If Dempster goes, you only have Garza. /next year rebuild should have been this year // F U Hendry

Gammons tweet Any Cubs list has to include Larry Beinfest, who has done a remarkable job in Florida on a dime store budget Twitter for iPad • 8/22/11 5:42 PM

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

Nope, the rule has to be nothing prior to 2004 can be considered because otherwise you wind up hiring Hendry back. And the irony involved with asking Beinfest to be the GM is just too heavy. There's the whole 2003 RoY-Dontrelle-Willis Juan-Pierre D-Lee come and gone thing. What's more, Beinfest has the title of President at Florida so Ricketts might have to offer him his job and abdicate.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

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If they really care to fuck with Soriano, a Colvin or Jackson platoon in LF might be worth something. Soriano still has good splits versus lefties.

A minor correction on the Ramirez decision. It's really a $14 million savings if they let him go, because of the buyout. It's hard to see Fielder coming over without Aram to hit behind him, though. Unless they just blow the competing offers away, they're going to have to do some selling to get him signed.

Recent comments

  • 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...

  • crunch (view)

    pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"

    mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit.  nice.

    he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons.  he's not lean, but he looks healthier.  good for him.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.

  • videographer (view)

    AZ Phil, speaking of Jordan Wicks having better command when he tires a bit, I remember reading about Dennis Lamp 40 years ago and his sinker that was better after 3 or 4 innings when he would tire a bit and get more sink with a little less speed on the pitch.  The key for Lamp was getting to the 4th inning.