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 
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Game 120 Recap: Cubs 12, Reds 4

Living in Zeno's Paradox - just a half-step away...

Game Center, Play by Play, Box Score, Photos

W- Marquis (10-7) , the Pignatiello clan, division pennant races, Peter Cetera.

L- Livingston (3-3)

Things to Take from This Game: 1. The Big O Derosa went 5-5, Ramirez and Jones had 4 hits, and Theriot 3. D, J and T in particular were smacking the ball all over the yard. Theriot excelled from the leadoff spot, and Len and Bob noted on several occassions his aggressive baserunning. We ended the game with 20 hits, a high for the year. 2. Marquis settles down Marquis looked terrific in the first and horrid in the second, giving up our early four-run lead. But he shut the door from the third onward, and with the relievers gave the bats a chance to stake the team to an authoritative lead with a 7-run 8th inning. Nice work by Marquis today. 3. Pignatiello's debut I can't say that it looked pretty, but Pignatiello pitched an effective eighth inning in his major league debut. His family seemed very excited for the long-time Cubs fan. Congratulations to Carmen. With the Cards clobbering the Brewers, the Cubs are once more a half-game out of first place. Like Zeno traversing the stadium, will we ever take the final half-step? Details, details, details, below.
  • Marquis makes quick work of Hamilton to start off the game, getting a called strike three. An easy ground ball to Ramirez, a shattered-bat single to Griffey, and another ground ball out, and Marquis gives us a much-needed good start to the game
  • Brenly commenting on how many players don't understand the double-switch, and he had to spend a spring training talk on explaining the double switch to his players, that it wasn't annything personal when they get removed from the gmae mid-inning. Can MLBers really be that ignorant of basic strategy? Upon further reflection of Cubs managers, I guess I am not so surprised.
  • Theriot walks, and Derosa doubles just inside the third-base line, for a quick 1-0 lead
  • Lee sends one to the warning track in right, which Griffey catches, with some difficulty, near the metal doors. Gets turned around and has to jump and twist for it. Derosa tags to third, at least.
  • and Ramirez rolls one to the vines in right. Another double
  • Jake Fox with the third double of the inning, this one down the left-field line again. 3-0 lead, with lots of well-hit extra-base hits. Livingston throwing some real meatballs.
  • Murton works the count before flying out to deep center.
  • Jones then hits one off the wall in the left-field well, another RBI double. That's four doubles in the inning, and a 4-0 lead at the end of 1.
  • Take one guess at the name of the Red who hits a HR to lead off the second. 4-1.
  • Hatteberg walk and Encarnacion double down the left-field line, and runners are on 2 and 3 with an out in the second.
  • From an 0-2 count, Marquis walks the opposing pitcher, Livingston, loading the bases.
  • Hamilton HBP, a high pitch, not that inside, that catches him on the back fore-arm. 4-2.
  • Keppinger with an infield hit, Theriot does a good job going into the hole to stop it from reaching left field. 4-3. Griffey up, bases still loaded.
  • Weird play. Griffey hits one off the RF wall. Fox plays it reasonably well, and when Hamilton goes back to second to tag, then holds at third, it causes a chain reaction where Griffey is caught too far off of first, needing to head back - was looking at the ball, not the other baserunners. Gets tagged out on the relay, 8-4-3, and it goes as an RBI single!
  • When Phillips grounds out, we someone escape without having given up the lead. 4-4 after 2.
  • After a Marquis out to start the bottom of the second, Theriot and Derosa single, starting another rally.
  • Lee grounds sharply to second. With the runners going on the pitch, no GIDP. Theriot rounds third quite aggressively on the play. Runners at 2 and 3 with 2 outs for Ramirez.
  • Ramirez grounds one to SS, likely an easy 6-3, but it hits Derosa on the way. Runner out, Ramirez credited with a hit but the inning is over.
  • Valentin hits a fly ball towards the line in left, Murton overruns it, and when it takes a high hop, he can't field it. Ball scoots away a bit, and Valentin takes second. 2 outs in the third. No harm done in the inning.
  • Jones with another opposite field double, this one right down the line. A couple of really good swings today, on those two doubles. Hill strikes out, so nothing comes of it. End of the third.
  • Much-needed quick 4th inning for Marquis.
  • Griffey makes an ugly-nice catch on a sinking line-drive by Marquis. MAnds hard on his knee to make it, taking a huge divot out of the Wrigley grass. Stomps the divot back into place, to the fans' approval.
  • Theriot follows with a double, on base all three times today.
  • and Derosa with his third hit, a single to right that scores Theriot. It appears that Quade was trying to hold Theriot. But Theriot, who has been running really aggressively all day, goes through it to score with ease. 5-4
  • Griffey with another sliding catch on a sinking liner, this time on Lee.
  • Griffey then doubles to lead off the fifth. DeRosa makes a nice diving catch to his left, to take a potential RBI away from Phillips. Dunn now up.
  • Dunn smokes one down the first-base line, but Lee leaps and catches it. Nearly doubles off Griffey at second, but not quite. Cubs get out of inning a couple ABs later.
  • Game really settling down in the mid-innings.
  • Other than that 4-run fourth, Marquis has really pitched a great game. Marquis is allowed to start the seventh, but walks Keppinger. That brings in Eyre to face Griffey. Griffey is 8/22 with 4 HR against Eyre, previous to this AB
  • Eyre gets Griffey to line out to right field. A botched hit and run leads to a Phillips strike out, Keppinger throw-out. Remarkably, Marquis is in line to win this game, 5-4 into the bottom of the seventh.
  • Ramirez and Murton singles against Majewski put runners on first and third with one out in the seventh. Stanton in to face Jones.
  • Jones rips one off of Stanton's leg, it rolls to just over the first base line, allowing Ramirez to score. 6-4.
  • Hill hits a blooper just beyond the reach of Phillips in shallow right field. Bases loaded.
  • Four straight balls from Stanton to Kendall (pinch-hitting for Eyre). 7-4. Peter Cetera, guest conductor, is our good luck charm.
  • Theriot doubles in two runs to left-center. Peter Cetera, whatever else he might be, is a homer, cheering on the Cubs. 9-4
  • Derosa then singles in the runners from 2nd and 3rd, with a bullet up the middle. Throw gets away from the catcher, and he takes second. 11-4, it's suddenly a laugher. Gosling in for Stanton, strikes out Lee.
  • I'm running out of verbs that colorfully describe hard-hit baseballs. Ramirez whacks one down the left field line for a double, scoring Derosa. 12-4. Fontenot, who had pinch-hit earlier in the inning, strikes out to end it.
  • Pignatiello in for his first MLB appearance. He gets to face Adam Dunn to start things off.
  • Dunn grounds one to what should be the second baseman, but Fontenot is playing so deep on the shift, that he can't get there in time. Infield single. Hatteberg up.
  • Pignatiello strikes out Hatteberg on a high, rolling curve ball.
  • He hangs another curve, and Valentin flies out to the well in Left. Pignatiello hasn't topped 87, and hasn't shown a lot of bite on the breaking stuff.
  • And he gets Encarnacion, on another rolling breaking ball. No runs scored in his debut, we'll take it.
  • Jones with his fourth hit, a single, but he rolls over on his ankle a bit with the swing, comes up limping. Pie pinch-runs, and Jones leaves with a nice cheer from the crowd. 20th hit of the game for the cubs. Inning ends with a DP on the first pitch to Hill.
  • Dempster closes out the game.
Parachat Recap Inning 1 Hangover effects of yesterday's game. Everyone in the minors is better than anyone in the majors. What it means to be a good/trust-worthy catcher. How hot is it? Cheering a good bottom of the first. Inning 2 With no other Cub currently eligible for bashing, Koyie-bashing. PTI. Is Santo for or against bad pitching? Moaning. Crying. Who is the long-reliever, today? The Griffey/Hamilton baserunning. Yahoo Mail. Inning 3 The Derosa hit-by-live-ball play, and other ball-in-play scenarios. News hoaxes. Marquis as a number 5 starter. Yadier Molina. Food to eat at the Fair. David Wells and Deep Fried Snickers. Just how bad IS Marquis? Inning 4 Return of the "mom" jokes. Mocking Quade. Evaluating Lee's season and month to date. Inning 5 The all-TCR Cubs roster. Today's Two Minutes of Hate exercise. Inning 6 The worthlessness of a Mass Communication degree. Pregnancy due-dates. Dave Matthews Band. Was Violent Femmes pre-emo? What the hell is pre-emo? The headaches of running fantasy-leagues. Inning 7 Piniella's use of relievers. Lip-biting. Brain-storming everything we know about Peter Cetera. Bands named after places. The Cards/Brweers game. Is Kendall the right choice to pinch-hit? Cheering. Inning 8 Pignatiello's first appearance, and the first appearance of Pignatiello's girlfriend: which was more impressive? Would Pignatiello's wife be Ms. Piggy? Upcoming games. Inning 9 Bullpen, Koyie Hill, pennant race, celebrating.

Comments

Reading about Lance Niekro trying the knuckleball reminds me of a Monty Python sketch where the father was a writer and his son wanted to be a coal miner and how they fought over it. It was Graham Chapman and Eric Idle, probably on you tube. I imagine the elder Niekro's being upset with Lance deciding, at first, to be a firstbaseman.

Holy crap. Brews, Cubs 0.5 GB, Cards 2.5 GB... Cards series on deck. It's really looking like an Astros series win, or a Rockies series win, or a Reds series win would have been really beneficial for the Cubs right now. :(

As Mr. Cetera sang: Oooh, other places fade away blocking memories of unhappy hours In this division, today's win earns them the title "the surging Cubs."

See, just about as soon as I got on that plane and we crossed out of Colorado, the Cubs scored big and the pen held 'em for once. Remind me to stay out of that state during playoff races. On another note, I didn't watch the game, clearly, but the 1, 2 and 4 hitters combined for 12 hits, and Lee went 0-5. Is this merely a slump, or is something wrong? Good game. Go Cubs! 3 of 4 from STL would be mighty fine.

ANDY: Do us all a favor - do not see any Cub games in-person the rest of the year. T.V., fine. But "Mojo" is an importing thing that needs to be observed! So, we would love to see you here during Bears season (well after October), and even until April - but that's all. I will personally let security know at Wrigley should you attempt to break this Mojo...

E-MAN: I didn't actually go to any of the games at Coors. I was in the mountains at a conference. Nonetheless, they lost every game that was played in its entirety while I was in Colorado. I'm 1 for 3 at Cubs games I've attended in person this year...I will probably go to another one or two when Cubs come to St. Louis next month...unless someone's got a real mojo-based objection...

Am I the only person who missed the Zeno reference? Is it possible that I skipped that day in Mythology class to get drunk in my underwear?

fun one from rotoworld... Marlins president David Samson said he doesn't want Scott Olsen in the orgnaization if he's convicted of driving under the influence, resisting an officer with violence and fleeing and eluding an officer. -------- Samson is still fine with Dontrelle Willis, though, of course. There is a substantial difference, as Olsen is up on felony charges and Willis' DUI was a misdemeanor. Still, Samson had little to gain here from opening his mouth. He's alienated Olsen, who could be acquitted or potentially plea down to a misdemeanor, and probably further damaged the left-hander's trade value in the process. He's also made an enemy of Olsen's agent, Matt Sosnick. "[Samson] is the last man on earth who has the right to comment on the moral barometer of another person," Sosnick said.

"Still, Samson had little to gain here from opening his mouth." he had little to gain by crying about ichiro's contract a few months ago, too. he's like a 1/10th value steinbrenner. neat.

Must give congrats to Jason Marquis. He's got a very average arm, but his heart and moxy has led him to 2 wins in a row. Especially after the 2nd inning, he showed a lot of courage today, something that the Zman can definitely learn from not to mention Mr. Hill and Mr. Marshall of late. Good game, Jason

personally, all i ever wanted outta marquis/lilly was 200 innings and 3.50-4.25era ball. rather, that's all i really expected based on what the organization seemed to want outta them. marquis still giving up too many longshots for my taste, but he's showing up every 5 days to throw 100 pitches.

heh...marquis is at 4.25 after today's game in ERA. i thought he was still in the 4.40s+

Not to be nitpicky but, I think what Marquis showed today was something other than courage. You have to be risking more than embarrassment, which is all that's on the line for an athlete making millions each year, to have acted with courage. Words like courage, warrior etc. are stripped of their meaning when applied to people playing a game.

I saw this transaction recently: transferred RHP Jason Schmidt from the 15- to the 60-day DL. [8/14] so was 3/44 wrong? it seems that the more accurately number is 15/60

tbone, I get your point--and agree with the sentiment behind it that we place too much emphasis on the cultural significance of sporting events. But in a culture where the vast majority of the (affluent) population will never find themselves in a combat situation, who else can we call warriors? And, to nitpick the nitpicker, though, I do disagree with your assertion that one needs to risk more than embarassment to qualify as courageous. For many, the fear of looking bad in front of people is the primary thing that stops them from doing the things they've always wanted. When I played little league, I suffered from extraordinary stage fright every time I came up to bat... and I only had maybe thirty people who were, for the most part, too polite to boo me when I struck out. I can't imagine doing that in front of 35,000 people every day, even if I got paid a million dollars to do it. So--yes, I would call Jason Marquis courageous.

i like the fact that cardinals best pitcher lately pitched today and will not face cubs.

So–yes, I would call Jason Marquis courageous. Based on your logic, every professional athlete would be "courageous," because they get up in front of thousands of people who could get upset if the fail.

I’m running out of verbs that colorfully describe hard-hit baseballs. Ramirez whacks one... Trans, here's to hoping you have many more opportunities to run out of words to describe hard-hitting Cub at-bats. Thanks for the update. I'm ticked I stayed up way too late to watch Wednesday's loss and missed yesterday's showing. Oh well, let's kill some birds.

Dave, Yup. I'd say that. It takes balls to put yourself on the line like that--it takes no balls to sit in the stands and boo.

Recent comments

  • 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...

  • 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.