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

Golden Gloves

Awards season has started and a Cub walked away with some gold glove hardware. This is Derrek Lee's third glove of the golden variety and while he probably didn't deserve it (most metrics show Albert Pujols as the superior NL first basemen), he won nonetheless. The full list: American League P - Johan Santana C - Ivan Rodriguez 1B - Kevin Youklis 2B - Placido Polanco SS - Orlando Cabrera 3B - Adrian Beltre OF - Torii Hunter, Grady Sizemore, Ichiro Suzuki National League P - Greg Maddux (Gold Glove #17, you have a sense he'll still be collecting these after he retires) C - Russ Martin 1B - Derrek Lee 2B - Orlando Hudson SS - Jimmy Rollins 3B - David Wright OF - Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones, Jeff Francouer/Aaron Rowand (the two tied in voting) I don't have access today to the usual defensive metrics I follow, but for the most part that seems about right other than Ryan Braun should have won for NL third basemen (I kid, I kid). Last time I did check, Troy Tulowitzki was way ahead among NL shortstops but they don't give Gold Gloves to rookies. Congrats to Derrek Lee! ----- Also a quick update that Bruce Levine on ESPN 1000 is reporting that Ryan Dempster will be moved into the starting rotation for next season. I'm going to just hope that he gets traded before it ever actually gets there. UPDATE: What some of the defensive metrics say about the NL gold glove winners after the jump.... The Hardball Times RZR: NL 1B - Pujols (Lee was 5th) 2B - Brandon Phillips (Hudson was 9th) SS - Omar Vizquel (Rollins was 9th) 3B - Pedro Feliz (Wright was 5th, Aramis was 4th) OF - Andruw Jones, Carlos Beltran, Eric Byrnes Defensive Win Shares calculated at The Hardball Times C- Chris Snyder (Martin 2nd) 1B - Derrek Lee (Pujols 5th) 2B - Brandon Phillips (Hudson 2nd) SS - Troy Tulowitzki (Rollins 9th) 3B - Ryan Zimmerman (Wright 3rd, Aramis 2nd) OF - Andruw Jones, Chris Young, Carlos Beltran Baseball Prospectus RAA2 (Runs Above Average) (I don't know a way to sort this so I just checked some of the top players, if you find someone that rates higher, let me know.) C- Yadier Molina (21) 1B - Albert Pujols (24) 2B - Brandon Phillips (27) SS - Troy Tulowitzki (31) 3B - Aramis Ramirez (25) OF - Eric Byrnes (22), Jacque Jones (13 in CF), Alfonso Soriano (21) John Dewan's +/- System 1B - Albert Pujols (+37) 2B - Chase Utley (+22) SS - Troy Tulowitzki (+35) 3B - Pedro Feliz (+27) OF - Eric Byrnes (+28), Carlos Beltran (+25 ), Andruw Jones (+24) Some of these aren't very fair comparisions as they'll compare left fielders to other left fielders and so forth and I bunched them up like the Gold Glove awards do into just outfielders. I think the awards should be separated into LF, CF and RF myself, but for some reason the Gold Glove committee hasn't caught on quite yet.

Comments

David Wright gold glove---that's a joke---21 errrors and fielding % of .954-----ARam---10 errors and fielding % of .972----I know Wright had 100 more chances, but the fielding % tells the better defender

background for those that may not know... in 99 palmeiro won the GG (after winning it 2 years prior somewhat legitimately) after playing a grand total of 28 games there. the people who claimed the voters barely paid attention to the game, itself, and voted on name-brand popularity were given a gift of proof that couldnt have been more properly packaged and delivered than that incident.

GG is a joke for the most part but David Wright did deserve it. Fielding percentage/errors are an extremely flawed way of measuring defense.

In the ESPN article, it says Managers and coaches... so, how many coaches, I wonder? Is it just the pitching coach, or would it include the hitting coach, first base coach, third base coach, roving baserunning instructor, etc?

I'm looking at some of the defensive numbers and I might have been wrong about David Wright, seems Ryan Zimmerman or Pedro Feliz were better options. And Aramis and him were neck and neck.

Trading Dempster sounds fine to me. Or if Dempster is moved into the rotation, I would be fine also if that meant Marquis gets traded. Otherwise, I'm not so hot on that idea. The rotation would then be Z, Lilly, Hill, Marquis, Dempster? That's not as good as the 2007 rotation, is it?

oh yeah, apparently that same radio report said Wood, Howry and Marmol would battle for the closer duties in spring training if Wood is re-signed.

Romero: "Trading Dempster sounds fine to me. Or if Dempster is moved into the rotation, I would be fine also if that meant Marquis gets traded." I agree. Having both Marquis and Dempster in the rotation is a recipe for disaster, IMO. I think next year Marquis will only get worse and Dempster will be right in line with his previous career starting numbers.

one of the cub starters are get traded probally marshall although there are a couple others that would be better. maybe we can attach marshall to either dempster or marquis

if hendry wanted to trade dempster he could probably find 29 takers (unless he's injured). guy makes 5.5m and is on the hook for 1 year...j.piniero started off the 08 FA season snagging a 2yr/13m deal.

The thing about fielding metrics for first basemen is that they don't include error prevention of the other infielders, where Lee reigns supreme. My recollection is that the Cubs had very few throwing errors. I don't know a site that shows that but I would be extremely suprised if they didn't have the fewest in the league.

Real Neal, you may be right on that and maybe that explains it. I was actually a bit surprised when I found out DLee won. Maybe I'm getting jaded from watching him play, but he seemed to be a step slow all season around the bag. There were many plays in which I thought to myself, "he would have made that play two years ago." Maybe he just raised the bar so high in '04 and '05 that even his '07 version couldn't measure up.

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.