Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus one player is on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Should the Cubs Have Signed Orlando Hudson?

Los Angeles Dodgers general manager has made some questionable moves in the past - *cough* Juan Pierre *cough* - but you have to admire his creativity with contracts. The latest such deal is for Orlando Hudson and today we get the details via MLBTR and Tony Jackson of the L.A. Daily News. Ultimately it boils down to $3M in guaranteed money this year, $380K in bonus money that has been deferred WITHOUT INTEREST until an unspecified time and up to $5M in incentive bonuses, some of which are also deferred without interest if they are reached.

Early on in the offseason, I hypothesized that the Cubs would get in on Hudson, but there was never much more than a whisper and that came late in the offseason. When the Cubs dealt Mark DeRosa to the Indians, I think it was clear that they didn't have $5M or more for a second basemen this season. The days and weeks dragged on and by February Hudson was going to take whatever he could get and that seems to be $3 to $8M, much of it not due until some ambigous future date. The Dodgers did have to give up their first round pick next year for the privilege of having Hudson turn double plays for them next year and at number 17, that's a pretty steep price. The Dodgers though did get a second round and supplemental pick when the Braves signed Derek Lowe, so not as big as a loss as it could have become for them.

The question though is if Hudson would have made the Cubs better?

2009 Projections...

Players
 PECOTA Warp-1 PECOTA PA
Marcel OPS
CHONE OPS
Hudson
2.6
524
.788
.755
Fontenot
1.7
259
.816
.773
Miles
0.4
265
.695
.693

 

Offensively, the advantage goes to Mike Fontenot, but when you factor in playing time and defense it superficially appears that Hudson has the advantage.

Then we have the all important defensive side of the diamond. Rate2 is a Baseball Prospectus metric on the same scale as OPS+ where 100 is average. UZR/150 is Ultimate Zone Rating defined as the number of runs below or above average per 150 defensive games. Generally, the systems tend to agree with each other, but there's a substantial disparity on Hudson in 2008. 

Player
Career UZR/150
2008 UZR/150
Career Rate2
2008 Rate2
Hudson
3.2
-9.3
 114 112
Fontenot
14.1
16.8
 108 112
Miles
 -2.3 1.2
 95 100

My eyes tell me that Hudson is by far the superior defender and I doubt there's many people in baseball that would disagree. I also tend to believe that, like any metric, small sample size tends to skew the results and Mike Fontentot just hasn't played that many games at second base and I've seen nothing to justify that he's one of the best defensive second basemen in the game as those numbers suggest. 

But I do think it's close enough between Fontenot and Hudson that the Cubs didn't have to spend the extra money here, that is until they decided that Aaron Miles was plan B and Lou would try to get him 400 AB's. Now I'm wishing that Hendry stole one from Ned Colletti's contract playbook.

Comments

Wasn't Lowe a type A? Even if the Braves have their pick protected, don't the Dodgers get a sandwhich pick for that? I agree it would have been neat to have Hudson, but not at a contract that could cost up to $8 million and a first round draft pick. We got Miles (admittedly, yeck) and those pitchers from Cleveland for our $2.5 million. Or we could have Hudson, who's skill set may be similar to the Fontenaught (and I don't buy those defensive numbers either) for $5.5 million and a first round pick. Hard to see where Hendry made a mistake there.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

depends how far along the incentives he gets, but Fangraphs has him at worth $13.9M in 2007 and $8.7M worth of performance the last 2 years and that's with 601 and 455 PA's. So it certainly seems like the Dodgers got a deal if he perfoms like he did the last 2 seasons. Of course, with wrist surgery that's probably why he went unsigned for so long. He also doesn't play shortstop which gives Miles an advantage.

Nonetheless, if Miles is getting the bulk of his AB's at 2b, I think that asking Ricketts if he could find $4M if Hudson hit some incentives wouldn't have been too much to ask.

not that big a deal as I said...

and Hudson is coming back from wrist surgery...so even if his wrist is OK, there would be some serious worries about full recovery and re-injury. This is not a common procedure for someone who's career is based on wrist flexibility and strength. I don't know any other mlb player as a comparison. If the ligament repair stretches out his carpal bone anatomy will lead to arthritis over time. Further surgery is also possible and the next step involves limited fusions of involved carpal bones where he could miss a full season. Given our infirmary roster (Harden's shoulder, Soriano's hamstrings, Heilman's knee and Bradley's brittleness), I'm glad we don't have to worry about this one. This is from Aug 10th, 2008: Dr. Michael Lee performed the procedure, putting a dislocated bone back in place. Hudson will have another surgery today or Tuesday to repair ligaments. He was injured after colliding with Braves catcher Brian McCann near second base in the sixth inning Saturday. Hudson was attempting to catch an errant throw from Juan Cruz. The recovery time is expected to be three months. http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/122766

Are people concerned on this board about our Middle Inf and CF? Miles/Fonty, Theriot and Fukudome/Reed? Just doesnt scream best in the NL does it. 2 platoons and a 2B playing SS? I hope for Fukudome to bounce back and bat 1st or 2nd. I'd like to Orlando Cabrera signed after draft pick compensation has passed or some deal can be worked out.

[ ]

In reply to by HendryIsClueLess

there's 5 power hitters surrounding them. it's a 140m team. even with a manager nodding wanting to get miles 400ab's this season it's enough of a team to keep people from screaming bloody murder on the manager. we're playing with a whole new set of concerns as a modern cubs fan...esp. the past couple years. i can't believe the quality of team we have right now...the past 2 years i've never seen this amount of pre-season talent on the cubs in my lifetime. even when a key guy slumps and some other key player is injured the team is still a threat.

[ ]

In reply to by HendryIsClueLess

Being a huge fan of defense, I would have loved a move for Hudson. It's disconcerting to hear money was an issue. Money hasn't been an issue for the Cubs for some time. HendryIsClueLess: Are people concerned on this board about our Middle Inf and CF? Miles/Fonty, Theriot and Fukudome/Reed? Just doesnt scream best in the NL does it. OH YES. This team absolutely needs a legit SS. I've thought that ever since they got rid of... *shudders* Izturis. Izturis wasn't pretty, but at least he was a big leaguer. Don't get me wrong, I like Theriot, but I truly believe Theriot on the bench is more valuable to the team than Theriot as a starter. He's very patient and bats for average. Exactly what you want in the 8th inning with the tying run at 3B. As far as CF goes, I think Fuku will be fine. Fuku's numbers from last year were not all that surprising. In fact, I had projected his OPS nearly right on before last year started. I also expect he'll bounce back with "better-than-Jacque-Jones-in-a-good-year" production this year, albeit he'll produce runs rather than RBIs.

If the choice is O-Dawg getting 400+ at bats or Aaron F%*N Miles getting 400+ at bats, then is there really a question. I know one guy is really gritty and scrappy. But the other guy is actually a productive Major League hitter. And draft comp cannot be an excuse. If it mattered then Woody would have been offered. Not to mention Hudson will net that pick back next year if he leaves. Too late now. Oh well. Go Aaron Miles!!!

First, "Should the Cubs Be In On John Smoltz?" and now this. I wonder if you actually have built a shrine to Hendry like any decent self-respecting Cubs fan should. If Hendry says Pie, Koyie Hill and Hudson for Gathright, Bako and Miles is a good trade or that his shit tastes like doughnuts, I have to say I agree.

Muskat: "Why didn't they pursue someone like second baseman Orlando Hudson? One reason was that he's a Type-A free agent, and teams that lose players with that designation receive the top Draft pick from the signing team in addition to a supplemental pick." Now let's break precedent and actually pick someone who doesn't completely wash out by the time they see the ivy!

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    I think if you had ranked players by how much the team could ill afford to have them miss significant time, Steele would be right at the top of the list.

  • crunch (view)

    steele MRI on friday.  counsell expects an IL stint.

    no current plans for his rotation replacement.

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1. 

  • crunch (view)

    amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.

    neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.

  • Eric S (view)

    Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it). 

  • crunch (view)

    boo.

  • crunch (view)

    smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.

    this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

    like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.

    anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.

    I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.

    If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.

    Give him a chance. 

    But Wesneski probably gets it