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

Does That Hill Turn a Corner?

The AZL Cubs defeated the AZL A's 3-2 at Fitch Park Field #3 this morning.

box score

The game featured another fine outing by RHP Julio Pena, and the victory was probably saved by a nifty 6-4-3 DP to end the top of the 8th inning, started with a super stop by SS Junior Lake, then a quick flip with a fast turn by 2B George Matheus, and completed with a nice stretch by 1B Sean Hoorelbeke. Too bad AZL games aren't televised, because that one would have made the highlight reel!

Today's AZL Cubs offensive heroes were RF Nelson Perez (a double and an RBI single) and catcher Jose Guevara (a double and RBI single through a drawn-in infield).  

Prior to the game, Rich Hill threw a simulated game that featured his new delivery, and it looks like he may actually have found the cure for his version of Steve Blass Disease. 

He no longer tilts his shoulder and head back to the exent he had been doing (a la Fernando Valenzuela), which allows him to keep his eyes on the catcher's target. That might sound like a simple thing to fix, but we're talking body memory here, and that can be a stubborn force to work against.

And the results this morning were that he was able to throw his fastball and curve over the plate pitch-after-pitch, just like he was doing in 2006 and into Spring Training 2007 and through most of last season. He was absolutely unhittable today.

The curves literally buckled the knees of the young AZL Cubs hitters, and (probably more importantly) he was able to consistently throw his fastball for strikes  And maybe most importantly, Hill looked relaxed and he even was able to crack a smile at one point. (One of the telltale symptoms of Steve Blass Disease is the inability to smile).  

Now the key is whether he can keep the new delivery in his head and make it repeatable from outing-to-outing. If he can, the Cubs might have the rotation starter they think they need for the stretch run right in their own backyard (Fitch Park).

Kudos to AZL Cubs pitching coach Rick Tronerud and Cubs Minor League Pitching Coordinator Mark Riggins for getting Hill as far along as they have in just ten days. How much longer Hill will remain at Fitch Park is probably still TBD, but I would think getting him back to Iowa ASAP to build up his pitch count, face tougher hitters, and work with umpires who can call balls & strikes a little bit more consistently than is the case with the "rookie" umps who work in the AZL, would be a priority.  

In case you are wondering what AZL umpires are like, they work in two-man crews, and most of them are in the early to mid-20's (think Richie Cunningham and Potsie), and they tend to make more mistakes than do umps at the higher levels. They can also sometimes be a bit overly thin-skinned.

Like today, in the top of the 5th inning, the home plate umpire called time and stepped out in front of the plate to announce (for all to hear) that the Cubs were trying to show him up and they better stop that and get back to work.

What happened to cause this interruption? 

Well, at Fitch Park, the scoreboard is operated by one of the Cubs pitchers who is not scheduled to pitch that day. The pitcher operating the scoreboard, as well as another Cubs pitcher who is "charting" the game and a third Cubs pitcher who operates the radar gun, all sit behind home plate in a cage. (The opposing team has two or three guys back there, too)

And after a pitch was called a ball that everybody in the park thought was a strike, the error light lit up on the scoreboard. And the umpire saw it. And he got mad. Blew a gasket. Had a cow. 

Or as Governor LePetomane would say... "Harrumph!!"  

On the injury rehab front, Angel Guzman (September 2007 TJS) expects to be at Fitch Park another two or three weeks. This actually makes sense and it explains why Guzman has remained at Fitch Park even though it's pretty clear he is ready to move on up.

See, the Cubs can send Gooz out for a maximum of 30 days on a minor league rehab assignment, and then they have to make sure that he doesn't spend more than 19 days on optional assignment to the minors after that (that's a total of 49 days maximum combined), in order to preserve his 4th minor league option for next season (in case the Cubs need to send him to the minors for some work at the end of Spring Training or any other time during the '09 season).

So operating under those parameters, the absolute earliest the Cubs can send Guzman out on a rehab assignment would be July 14th (with the rehab ending on August 12th, followed by no more than 19 days on optional assignment, 8/13 through 8/31), and that's only if they are planning to recall him from his optional assignment immediately when rosters expand on September 1st.

And the Cubs have signed their 2008 2nd round draft pick, RHP Aaron Shafer (Wichita State). Shafer received a $625K bonus, which is right about exactly what he should have expected to receive based on his slot (overall pick #65). 

So the Cubs have now signed 25 of their first 27 2008 Rule 4 Draft picks, with RHP Andrew Cashner (1st round pick out of TCU) and RHP Alex Wilson (10th round pick out of Texas A&M) the only two picks out of the first 27 left outstanding.

The deadline to sign players selected in the Rule 4 Draft--as well as non-drafted free-agents (NDFA) who were eligible for selection in the Rule 4 Draft--is August 15th.

 

Comments

That's great news about Rich Hill. If Riggins and Tronerud have fixed him they should both be made Vice Presidents. Next project: Carlos Marmol. If he were Rich Hill he'd be packing his backs today. He says he feels fine, same as Hill, but that delivery.... It's all over the place and so is his command. A trip to the home of AzPhil might just be what he needs. Rich Hill's 19.2 IP for the Cubs this year that got him optioned to Iowa: 2 HR 9 ER (4.12 ERA) 18 BB Carlos Marmol's last 20.0 IP (goes back to May 19) 5 HR 15 ER (6.75 ERA) 15 BB Marmol's ERA by the month April 1.69 May 1.93 June 7.36 July 36.00

With Marmol coming down to earth and the so-so performances of Weurtz and Cotts & the "injury" to Eyre - the bullpen's smelling kinda shitty. So if Hill came back into form it would allow either Gallagher or Marshall to go to the pen. Gallagher would certainly be an upgrade over Ascanio, though he's done very well as a 22 year old MLB #5. I'm sure Lou won't want to wait for Hill to prove himself before getting an extra pitcher, so if CC is a Brewer and Burnett or Harden becomes a Cub, the potential pitching staff is something like this: (If Hill comes back and pitches like last year, you can move Marquis to the pen. His family will starve, but Lou won't care.) Z Demp Lilly Burnett/Harden Marquis/Hill Wood Marmol Howry Eyre/Cotts Gallagher Marshall/Weurtz/Marquis Lieber Down to minors: 2 of Weurtz/Cotts/Marshall (or all 3 if Hill is back) Keep it up Rich. That would be a helluva rotation for the second half

It makes a lot of sense keeping your eyes on the target throughout the windup and delivery.Arizona Phil......did any of the AZL Cubs get any decent hits off of Hill or was he really unhittable as you described? I bet they hit a few of his 91 mph fastballs.I hear that his curveball is nasty. Best of luck to him with his newfound mechanics on the mound.

Does anyone know what is up with 2006 35th overall supplemental draft pick (Padres) Kyler Burke? In 2007 he split his season at Ft. Wayne and Boise and batted .233. This year after 35 games in Peoria he was batting .206. Now after 14 games back in Boise he is batting .111. Is he possibly bothered by some sort of nagging injury? If not, what is the outlook for a once promising career?

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • 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.