Cubs MLB Roster

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

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* 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: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

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




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Should the Cubs Retire #21 and Other Off-Day Musings...

Submitted by Rob G. on

With the Cubs announcing that #31 will be retired in honor of Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux, waxpaperbeercup recently asked if the Cubs should retire #21 in honor of Jason Marquis? Suprisingly, 40% thought the Cubs should do so...which I thought was a bit high for someone that was a Cub for just two years. 

All kidding aside, it's an intriguing question and I imagine I'll get a similar response here, but let's try it anway. For anyone who reads this site regularly, they'll know where I stand when it comes to Sammy Sosa. The man deserves far more gratitude from Cubs fans than the vitriol that seems to be prevalent, but let's put it to a vote and see if we can up the sample size.

 

- Fangraphs has been ranking the franchises using ownership, front office, major league and minor league talent and has the Cubs at #7 with an overall A- grade. There's not much point to quibble over some rather arbitrary ranking system other than the Brewers are #6. Let's get this straight Fangraphs, the only time Milwaukee finishes ahead of Chicago is if they have an all-city weigh-in.

- Baseball Digest Daily with a visual pleasing preview of the Chicago Cubs. Once you get past the obligatory 100-year and Billy Goat references (nails them right in the first few paragraphs), it's one of the more thorough previews I've read.

- The wife of Angels pitcher Rich Thompson has a blog on what it's like being the wife of a player trying to make the major league roster. Next up, the Angel Fan Wife starts a blog about what it's like married to a baseball blogger.

Last night around 11pm as I was dozing off, Rob started writing an article. When I woke up at 7:30 this morning, he was in bed still with his laptop. I'm not sure if he just woke up early or never went to bed.

Today, I banned the laptop from the dinner table so Rob doesn't read his baseball site during dinner.

It's Sunday afternoon and the Cubs are on TV which means my husband will be chatting with his anonymous online "friends". Every once in awhile I hear a random chuckle and I smile and tell him how cute I find him. In reality, I'm plotting my escape.

Rob suffers from what I call his male menstrual period. For women, it only lasts a few days, for my husband it goes from April to October and his mood shifts depending on the outcome of the Cubs game that day. One day, I'll go through menopause and be done with it, Rob's will last forever.

Rob didn't put on pants all day.

...a week and a half of this god-forsaken spring training left to go...

Tags
Sammy Sosa
Links
Cubs Retired Numbers

Comments

Submitted by The Joe on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 03:39 pm

That's a hilarious blog entry. My wife feels the same sometimes. Ok, most of the time. ...oh yeah, and I voted yes. [edit] BUT, I'm offended by 'friends' in quotes. Remember when you and I went to the park and flew kites together, Rob? Our tandem bike trip? Our tickle fights? What does she expect of me?

Submitted by CincyKid on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 03:16 pm

Yes from me... I still get goosebumps thinking about those years... juice or no juice, it was still the best Cubs years of my lifetime. I ate up every bit of it and washed it down with gallons of Kool-Aid to boot. If I were to regret the Sammy years because of the juice, then I’d be forfeiting all those great years of being a diehard Cubs fan. Sammy meant just as much to the Cubs in his Era as Banks, Santo, Ryno, etc... and if were going to throw Maddux his number... Sammy certainly is more worthy to have his Cubs number retired than the Mad Dog...

Submitted by CincyKid on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 03:26 pm

...oh and a few days back... the wife was doing laundry in the other room and caught wind of multiple dolphin cackels, grizzly bear roars, and sealion barks after a HoffPower HR... that she let out a huge groan and a "are you fucking kidding me, already?"....

Submitted by Sweet Lou on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 03:32 pm

I'm a big Greg Maddux fan, but Sammy Sosa meant way more to the Cubs than Maddux did. Of course, I think retiring #31 has a lot more to do with Fergie Jenkins than it does with Maddux. Having said that, I don't think enough time has passed for Sammy's #21 to be retired. Give it some time and let some of the hard feelings pass. When the time is right, #21 should be retired.

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 03:33 pm

i'd imagine they'd wait until... 1- the whole 'roids' era thing blows over (believe he is or isn't...he's a huge part of the era and it's not cuz you can say he was 100% clean). 2- he's old/sick (hopefully old before sick) enough to forget any "well, maybe" and just remember what the dude did at face value

Submitted by Transmission on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 03:36 pm

I think I'd vote for Sosa to join the Hall of Fame before I'd vote in favor of retiring his number at Wrigley.

IF we can set aside the Steroids' cloud, (and Sosa is well, less conclusively guilty than McGwire, Clemens, Bonds, Palmeiro and Tejada. At least based on what we know right now,), then he clearly is a Hall of Famer. Operative word being If.

But retiring a number is in some ways an even higher threshold than the Hall of Fame. A retired number isn't just honoring a player's skill on the field, it's honoring their place in the team and city's history and identity. There's a sense of legacy in it that is different from the more-or-less fuzzily defined standards of the Hall.

And there, I just don't see Sosa as having made the same sort of contributions to the Cubs' identity and legacy as a Jenkins or Banks or Santo or Sandberg or Williams or for that matter, Caray. Granted, this is an exceptionally subjective, idiosyncratic value-call I'm making, but deciding to retire a number IS a value-judgment in a way that evaluating say, Schilling's place in the Hall, is not. I can't tease out the good part of Sosa's tenure with the Cubs from the bad, and there's enough bad that I vote for letting the Hall honor his contributions. Subjectively, T.

Submitted by Chad on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 03:37 pm

They should wait a few years but there is no question that Sammy Sosa deserves to have his number retired. He did more for the Cubs than Billy Williams, Ryne Sandberg or Ron Santo ever did. And yeah, I'll say it, Ernie Banks too. Sammy filled the stadium better than any Cub ever.

Submitted by Transmission on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 03:40 pm

Also, I should add a defense of the Fan Graphs rating: they're evaluating the franchises in their ability to regularly contend for a world championship from here on out, not on what was done in 2008 or earlier. The disparity between the minor league systems is pretty significant. And the grade of the Cubs' ownership basically was an "incomplete."

Where in your wife's diary does she get around to mentioning Carlos? ~ducks~

[ ]

Submitted by Doug Dascenzo on Thu, 03/26/2009 - 03:04 am

You like that he topped out at 92? Less than a year ago he was topping out at 99. I know he has to ease his way into it and all, but the dude lost a TON of velocity since July. Let's hope it comes back.

Submitted by JoePepitone on Thu, 03/26/2009 - 03:47 am

Re: #1 -- I'm not against it, but I voted no. I think there are still a couple fresh wounds. Let's wait a few years. Right now, I'm with Ryno here. I'll even go a little farther: I want the Cubs to with the World Series. I want them to have players who want to do whatever is necessary to win the World Series. Right now, when I think of Sammy, I remember all of the missed cut-off men on throws, the dodgy defense, the "sometimes I feel like using all of my tools to win and sometimes I don't give a fuck about anything but swinging like an idiot 'cause I might hit the ball 500 feet". I loved the talent I saw in Sammy Sosa when he first joined the White Sox. I used to watch for the News highlights for Cubs replays and for anything spectacular that Sammy might have done while playing for the Sox (this is the only Sox player I can think of whom I can say that about). I don't want to spend the time to recount all of the energy I invested in watching him over the years. In the end, I wanted Sammy to want to win more than anything. I think that, at the end, this was not his focus. After the Cubs win the World Series, I may be willing to give special recognition to his achievements by retiring his number. Right now, I only want to honor players who just wanted to win, baby. And in my opinion, Sammy was not one of those players by the time he left. He probably brought more heat on himself by wearing #21, Roberto Clemente's number, and claiming it was because of how he idolized Clemente. Sammy is hurt by the comparison. If you idolize Clemente, then play like him. Use all of your tremendous talents all of the time for the single purpose of winning. I saw Clemente play. He was one of those fucking bastards who did something to hurt the Cubs anytime he was involved in any play, anywhere on the field. Players who got a hit to right field habitually NEVER rounded first out of fear of getting picked off from a throw behind them. It was the weirdest, most cautious baserunning I've ever seen. Fielding, throwing, baserunning and especially hitting -- he was fucking disgusting. You hated seeing the Pirates come to town in the late 60's & early 70's because of him. It was like Pujols -- less power but he could effect the game in more ways. Sammy had the talent to be that kind of player -- plus the extraordinary power -- and I believe that kind of talent -- disciplined and dedicated to winning in all facets of the game -- could have taken the Cubs over the top. Sorry, man. The Cubs gotta win the Series first before I can look back to honor the individual achievements of a player who had the talent to take them there but lost the focus and discipline and commitment to get them there. That's just how I feel right now.

[ ]

Submitted by Stevens on Thu, 03/26/2009 - 03:09 pm

I respect your opinion--a world series win would cure a lot of old ills. Kind of like how Boston brought Buckner back after their 2004 win. But I have to note that one of the reasons I respect Sammy's time with the Cubs is outside his talent and results, which were both considerable. I also have tremendous respect for how hard he played and for how often. Following his injury-shortened 96 season (with 40 homers!), he never played in less than 150 games until 2003. Those years, of course, correspond to his most productive, with the exception of the disappointing 1997. What was great about Sosa was not only that during his prime, every at-bat held the possibility for great things, but also that he played in almost every game. In fact, I agree with something Rob Neyer once wrote--the only legitimate claim that Sosa had over McGwire for the 1998 MVP is that he played in many more games, thereby providing greater value to his club. It's something that gets overlooked with all the steroid suppositions, corked bat critics and manufactured rage over his skipping a meaningless day of work--but Sammy Sosa played hard and often for his team.

Submitted by Angel Fan Wife on Thu, 03/26/2009 - 03:57 am

Wow Honey, you really nailed this one! Pretty much right on. But, I would like to add that I am waiting for the day that our twins ask me if the Cubs won that day before you walk in the door at night. Better yet, I'll make a sign on the fridge and post a W or L. It will let them practice their letter/sound recognition as well as serve as a daily horoscope. They'll know whether they can attack you when you walk in the door, or go color a pretty picture to cheer you up. You know this is coming... All kidding aside, I appreciate your passion for the Cubs and I'm not plotting my escape...yet. ;)

Submitted by Cubster on Thu, 03/26/2009 - 03:37 am

Vote no for Jason's bid to enter the HOF. The 2008 season's #21 had an interesting day starting for the Rockies (vs Angel Fan Wife's team)... Marquis (L, 0-3) IP 3.1 H 10 R 12 ER 11 BB 4 SO 1 HR 0 ERA 14.1 Final Rocks 11 Angels 18 ...and Orange Guy was 1-5 (single), as a DH

Recent comments

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention".  Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."

     

    Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost.  But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.  

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions.  Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022.  I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
    I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
    I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
    That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
    I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
    We'll find out soon enough!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa? 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Pro teams have to play their "big money" guys if they are healthy and not "locker room" issues.
    The Cubs wanted to deal JHey off well before they bought him out. They just didn't want to pay him to play for someone else for that long. Jed did give him 20+mil to play for LAD last yr.
    Jed might also let Kyle walk at some point this year. Similar scenario to JHey, except Jed thought Kyle was going to be good/solid in '24!!
    You'd think Smyly is in the same book as well. Same with Neris (he's a 1yr vet RP, so he's not really in this convo too much).
    That's ~35mil between those three and those three are going to get opportunities until at least late June) over younger guys even if their performance is "iffy".
    But, Jed is going to play Taillon a lot. They have to try and justify that contract and hope a veteran works out.
    So, Taillon, Imanaga, and Hendricks are locks for the rest of April and probably May.
    Assad, Brown and Wicks handle the last spots until Steele is ready.
    Now, you're question has real merit when Steele comes back. That will interesting if Brown is still good and Hendricks is still bad. But Taillon is entirely safe as long as he's healthy.

    And the bullpen moves were "money" based as well. Smyly has actually been okay. But he hasn't been clearly better than Little. Little had one bad outing. But Smyly makes 9mil. If they needed another RHRP and one of Little and Smyly had to go, it was going to Little. But that doesn't mean Smyly is one of the best 13 arms for the team. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Childersb3: I think there was an issue with Luke Little coming into a game with men on base. He seems to need a "clean" inning to be dominant. So he is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AAA. Same goes for Michael Arias. He needs to come into a "clean" inning, and is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AA. Porter Hodge is a more versatile pitcher, a better version of Keegan Thompson (multi-inning RP). But Little, Arias, and Hodge (probably in that order) are the Cubs top three RP prospects (all three are Cubs Top 15 prospects).

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