Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

39 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (one slot is open), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL and one player has been DESIGNATED FOR ASSIGNMENT (DFA)   

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

Last updated 4-23-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Hector Neris 
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
Christopher Morel
* Matt Mervis
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 9 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL: 3
Kyle Hendricks, P 
* Drew Smyly, P 
* Justin Steele, P   

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P

DFA: 1 
Garrett Cooper, 1B 
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Carlos Zambrano - Opening Day Starter and Could Still Pitch in the WBC

Submitted by Rob G. on

The headline pretty much says it all as Lou made it official today on the Cubs' Opening Day starter. If Lou skips the 5th starter as he mentioned, the rotation for the month of April could look like this.

4/6 @ Houston: Zambrano
4/7 @ Houston: Dempster
4/8 @ Houston: Lilly
4/9 Off-day
4/10 @ Milwaukee: Harden
4/11 @ Milwaukee: Zambrano
4/12 @ Milwaukee: Dempster
4/13 vs. Colorado: Lilly
4/14 Off-day
4/15 vs. Colorado: Harden
4/16 vs. St. Louis: Zambrano
4/17 vs. St. Louis: Dempster
4/18 vs. St. Louis: Lilly
4/19 vs. St. Louis: Marshall or Heilman
4/20 Off-day
4/21 vs. Cincinnati: Zambrano
4/22 vs. Cincinnati: Dempster
4/23 vs. Cincinnati: Lilly
4/24 @ St. Louis: Harden
4/25 @ St. Louis: Marshall or Heilman
4/26 @ St. Louis: Zambrano
4/27 @ Arizona: Dempster
4/28 @ Arizona: Lilly
4/29 @ Arizona: Harden
4/30 vs. Florida: Marshall or Heilman

You have to assume that if Marshall ends up winning the 5th starter spot, that Lou will want to break-up the lefties and put Lilly third and Marshall fifth. He runs into a little dilemma the first time he needs a 5th starter though on the 19th, but I recall him mentioning last year that the Cardinals were weaker against lefties (.796 OPS vs. righties, .753 vs. lefties), so he might not mind doubling up against them and then he can reset the rotaton the next day. Of course, Harden might have a setback and be the 5th starter that gets skipped. If that happens, I could see Lilly getting moved up the second spot with Dempster dropping to the third.

Also, if the Cubs do go with four starters for the first two weeks, they can carry an extra bench bat which would be a nice bonus when starters are even less likely to go deep in games.

In other Zambrano news, the Venezuelan players are under the assumption that Carlos will be available for Round 2 of the WBC according to an article in the Edmonton Sun. I assume Hugo Chávez has assured him he can play first base and hit.

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Cubs News of the Moment

Comments

Submitted by The Joe on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:43 pm

Why would Harden pitch the 15th and the 19th? Trying to break him sooner rather than later?

Submitted by MikeC on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:03 pm

Nice article on Mark Prior over at Yahoo http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-prior031109&prov=yhoo&type=lgns I found this interesting... You’d hope so, though the universal consensus is that Cubs manager Dusty Baker abused Prior at the end of the 2003 season simply because he knew no better. In Prior’s last nine games, including three in the playoffs, he logged the following pitch counts: 131, 129, 109, 124, 131, 133, 132, 115, 119. House believes the overuse by Baker doomed Prior. Eight pitchers this decade have thrown 109 or more pitches in nine straight games, and half of them needed reconstructive arm surgery. The only other pitchers this decade to throw at least four 130-plus-pitch games in a season, let alone in two months, are Livan Hernandez and Randy Johnson. Prior is in some elite company for throwing 130 pitch games. You might be able to survive it if your a seasoned veteran like Livan or Randy, but making a rookie do it was border line criminal. I said it during these 130 pitch games, i don't care how perfect his mechanics seem to be, he is not a robot. His body has never experienced this kind of stress and he needs to be taken out of games to rest. Even Prior admits he didn't have perfect mechanics but no one (*cough* Dusty's Cubs *cough*) listened.

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Submitted by George Altman on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:12 pm

I couldn't agree more with you Rob and always contended that the only thing Dusty ever knew about pitching was how to hit it reasonably well. A writers comment during the 2003 NLCS put it best about his managerial ability -- one guy was managing every game like the 7th game of the World Series and the other guy was managing it like the rubber game of 3 game series in August. Guess who was who? Dusty was and is a monumental dumb-ass. On top of that, he gives every oral indication that he is an apologist, enabler, and plays the race card every time it suits the position he favors. Half the posters on this board could manage a MLB team better than Dusty dumb-ass.

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:11 pm

if they do go with a 4-man rotation through the 19th... C- Soto, Bako INF - Lee, Hoffpauir, Miles, Fontenot, Theriot, Ramirez, (one of) Rivas, Koskie, Scales OF - Soriano, Fukudome, Bradley, Johnson, Gaithright SP - Z, Dempster, Lilly, Harden Pen- Marmol, Gregg, Cotts, Heilman, Marshall, Vizcaino, Gaudin or Guzman then they can figure out a roster move on the off-day on the 20th...

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Submitted by George Altman on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:17 pm

Would love to see Ascanio or Samardzija replace Vizcaino unless can start finding home plate without a search party. Also, I'm not necessarily with the great Gathright experiment. I'm not convinced he can outhit Fuld and probably isn't measureably better with the glove or on the bases. It's the 25th player on the roster, so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.......I'm just saying. Also, I wish the Angel Guzman from 2003 would show up between now and April 5th.

Submitted by HendryIsClueLess on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:24 pm

To me it makes sense to save Harden till April 19th. Why waste him in April vs September? Unless holding him back will make no difference in terms of wear at the middle or end of season. I would assume Lou and Rothchild have an idea. I think Vizcaino is gonna get dealt or released or "DL'd"

Submitted by kmokeefe on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:07 pm

What sort of leash do you think Harden will be on to start the season? I would imagine he gets pull at 70-80 pitches his first few starts. Being a strikeout pitcher, this puts him at maybe the 5th inning. What I'm getting at is: Could we see a Harden/Marshall tandem at the 4 spot and Heilman throwing 5 for the first month? I don't think Lou would want to go into a game knowing he needs at least 4 innings out of his bullpen. Marshall is used to coming into games anyways. And I personally think their styles clash tremendously, which could result in 8 great innings.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:18 pm

not a bad idea, but I think if Harden makes it through spring training w/o any setbacks he will be on a 100 pitch count limit and probably 100-110 for most of the year.

my guess is they'd like to back off on Harden in the summer and September more than April. Cubs have a couple of big head-2-head series in April vs. Cards, Brewers, Astros and Cincy.

 

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:25 pm

looks like Darvish is getting the start for Japan, Fukudome batting 6th.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:27 pm

oh, you think the Cubs facing one of Japan's biggest prospect and one of their teammates would be interesting television?

I mean who would want to watch that when you can get scrub Cubs vs scrub White Sox in Las Vegas instead.

so yeah, don't think it's on anywhere...lame.

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Submitted by The Joe on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:26 pm

Yeah. You're right. Who'd want to see that? Who wants to see Ichiro, Darvish and Fukkakedome play the Cubs? But, to be fair, the D-Bags game was on MLB.TV at the same time, which is almost good enough. But seriously, who decides this shit? It's fucking unsmarted.

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Submitted by crunch on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:05 pm

they could have picked a better subject to tie that rant into... "Skybox on Sheffield last week began offering 12- and 18-game packages. The packages, which range from $1,740 per person up to $3,150, include admission to the rooftop overlooking right field, plus food and drinks." sitting 800ft. away from the game paying $150-$300 per game isn't exactly going to bring too many socio-economic levels of society together.

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Submitted by crunch on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:10 pm

good luck wasting their money on that. hopefully i won't have to pay higher pay tv rates to support the hole they're going to throw money down. there's many more powerful and bankrolled who can't do what they propose. you know what the main issue is...that too many of these people don't get... THE USA ISN'T THE WORLD...good luck pushing that lobbying and lawmaking in Brazil, Nigeria, Germany, Uruguay, etc. i know a place online that streams games during the season...it's from japan or korea or some area where they have a language that looks like a bunch of stick houses.

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Submitted by CPH2133 on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:12 pm

While they can't stop P2P in other countries, I wonder if they can make some sort of law banning watching things on P2P in the US (even if it's being broadcast from China, Brazil, Japan...) much like Internet gambling in the US. Not that I'm too worried, I still download music and movies illegally, so I'm not going to stop watching P2P sporting events.

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Submitted by crunch on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:25 pm

P2P has many legit uses and users...not to mention forms of P2P are the "way of the future" vs. single-server driven file serving. the only way to effectively stop it is having your ISP watch your online activity. aside from government spook computers that run themselves with no on-site technician aside (yes, they really exist) ISPs don't want to be in the business of hooking spooky crap up to their services to scare away customers. They even fought the govt. computers pretty damn hard.

[ ]

Submitted by The Joe on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 03:07 pm

That's fucking ridiculous. Like I said previously, I pay for MLB.TV every fucking year. Then they call my using P2P to watch games that they've decided not to show me as 'piracy'? Fuck all. God forbid I get to watch games of the team I support financially with subscriptions and merchandising.

Recent comments

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Things I've been wrong about:

    -Tauchman is fine as a 4th OF. I knew that. I just want a better LH DH option and he was really the DH for us until Seiya got hurt. I'm glad Mervis is getting a chance at it. Caissie is coming for that job for sure. But Tauchman continues to be highly useful as a 4th OF with Seiya being hurt

    -I wanted Yency to go to get guys at Iowa a chance. Guys like Palencia and Sanders or RileyT. Maybe even Hodge! But Yency has been better the last two plus weeks. He did hit 96 the other day. He was 93 in Texas to open the season.

    -Leiter has his split working enough. It just needs to stay there

    -I was surprised Jed picked Wisdom over Cooper. I wonder if this happens if Seiya wasn't hurt. Wisdom has more power. Cooper is the better hitter. Jed picked Wisdom and Wisdom had an option left as well.

    -Palencia just doesn't miss enough bats. Similar to ManRod, just two yrs younger. ManRod is killing AAA for TB right now!

    Things I got right so far:

    -Hendricks. Sorry Kyle. You got paid though!

    Jed, you missed there.

    -Smyly. If Jed could've traded him before or during ST, then he should have and saved some cash.

    -Mastro.  Not a LH DH. Pinch runner. Defensive utility. Maybe he's better than Madrigal but didn't get a legit chance to prove it.

    -Luke Little is good. He's had one bad outing. That's it. Needs to get better entering with guys on base. But he needs to stay in MLB.

    -Oh yeah....Morel is doing fine at 3B! He'll get better as well!!

  • crunch (view)

    bellinger "right rib contusion"

  • Childersb3 (view)

    South Bend just lost the lead in the bottom of the 9th on the weirdest scenario, ever.

    It's absolutely pouring rain....men on 1st and 2nd, 1out....JPatterson asks for a new ball, but no time out was called....he throws the old ball toward the dugout (not sure if it rolled out of play).....the ump declares the runners get two bases each so one run scores. Then a single up the middle ties the game.

    The rain was coming down in buckets at this point.

    Just weird

  • crunch (view)

    ...and bellinger is gone in the 7th because of that 2nd blown chance and the wall he bounced off of...

    hopefully his rib cage/shoulder feels better tomorrow, we just got happ back.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Phil,

    Any thoughts on Y. Rojas' stuff and Y. Melendez's game (I believe I've asked about him before, sorry)?

  • crunch (view)

    wow, things are moving fast.  hopefully it continues.

  • crunch (view)

    morel with 4 clean plays in 4 innings...showed off his 100000000mph arm a couple times.

    cody bellinger not having a good 4th, though...5 run leads are handy when your CF is making your pitcher have a 5-out inning.  2nd blown chance was ruled a hit even though it went in/out of his glove...1st was lost in the lights, also ruled a hit.

  • crunch (view)

    welcome back happ!  double off the wall 1st PA back.

  • crunch (view)

    oh yeah, totally, i was just chiming about why i fan like i fan.

    i would like nothing more than hendricks to keep on hendricks'ing.  guys with his stuff can throw for a long, long time as long as it works.

    he velocity is actually up a minor amount this year.  it's really "damn" when a guy like him not only has gas in the tank, but it's looking like it was years ago.  he added a curve a few years ago and it helped a little bit, but he's throwing it less and less while the fb/change combo are less effective.

  • Alexander Dimm (view)

    CRUNCH—There is no one person in this community I’m talking about.  My remarks were not directed at you or anyone, but at a tone I’ve noticed lately. 

    You have a great, dry sense of humor and there is thought behind your comments.   You and I don’t always agree but I always understand your position.  

    Lastly, and I’ll be quiet, I agree with you on Hendricks.  We can dislike the recent performance but still love the guy.  Lots of questions about his future.
     

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