Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

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

What the Fox!?

Submitted by Mike Wellman on

Ordinarily I have little to say while the I-Cubs are on the road. My commentary usually takes the form of eyewitness accounts. But one big club is wandering the desert [both literally and otherwise] which means a long day's journey into gametime and another big club is in Nashville laying waste to PCL pitching staffs. I thought we might kill some time with a closer look at the latter.

After last night's two-homer game Jake Fox has a pile of stats like the stack of chips in front of the big winner at a poker game.

In 18 games he's hit 11 trotters and knocked in 29 runs! 19 of his league-leading 31 hits have been for extra bases. He's batting .443 with an OPS of 1.549. He already has amassed 73 total bases, just over four per game! True, he's fanned 20 times against only eight walks, but he's also played errorlessly so far at 1B.

For the sake of some perspective it might be useful to note that Big Jake's competition at the top of some of the PCL's hitting categories is none other than Matt Murton. Murton's off to a .411 start with Colorado Springs but 20 of his 30 hits have been singles. His OPS is 1.133 but he has, get this, swiped five bases without being caught. Fox is 1-1 in that category, he being more of a distance runner than a sprinter.

Last year Micah Hoffpauir totaled 100 RBI in just 70 games with Iowa. Will Fox be here long enough to find out if he can equal or surpass that remarkable rate of run production?

IN OTHER NEWS:

Jason Waddell, the bullpen lefty, is pure no more. He gave up his first three runs of the season and took the loss in Saturday's road trip opener...Is Jose Ascanio being stretched out or just exiled? Last year's sometimes I-Cub closer has had four starts and leads the league with a somewhat misleading ERA of 0.54. But his innings pitched have been four, four, four and two thirds and four. The corresponding pitch counts were 55, 54, 74 and 68. Are they extending him to be a long reliever? Mission accomplished...Bobby Scales has played 3B in all three games since Aramis Ramirez was hurt on Saturday afternoon in St. Louis...MW

Tags
Iowa Cubs update

Comments

Submitted by majcne on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:13 am

Another Fox is tearing it up at AAA. Chad Fox is 2 for 2 in saves and has an E.R.A. in the low 2's. Dump Patton and bring up Chad Fox. The Cubs bullpen is not great.

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:33 am

The difference between the Cubs current bullpen and a great bullpen is Chad Fox? If we lose Patton and bring up Fox, who do we bring up next Tuesday when Fox is out for his bi-annual TJ surgery?

Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:39 am

What about former Indians pitcher Jeff Stevens? Please no more Chad Fox..no more broken down 36 year old pitchers...

Submitted by Doug Dascenzo on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:42 am

The Cubs need to either bring up Jake Fox now or trade him while his value is somewhat high. Instead, the Cubs will probably wait another few weeks and bring up Fox just in time for him to completely cool off. This type of production can't last forever, and it's being wasted in minors.

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Submitted by Charlie on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:29 am

Oh, voice of reason, go away. This was a fun video game before you got here. Ryno: Color me uninterested in Joe Beimel. Yay! A loogy! My life is complete. I just don't see how a loogy is all that important. I like AZ Phil's idea of letting some Cubs minor leaguers compete for that role. John Gaub seems like he might be able to make something of it.

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Submitted by Doug Dascenzo on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:28 pm

Yes, I think 11 HRs in 70 ABs will raise your value. I don't think he's suddenly a top prospect, but I'm sure other teams have noticed what he's doing and would be interested in having a cheap power option to pinch hit or fill in at 1B. If you replace Fox with Soto or Hoffpauir in this scenario during their breakout years in the minors you could have said the exact same thing. Sometimes guys just finally put it together. I'm not sure Fox has put it together 100%, so that's why I suggested trading him while his value is at its peak. There's no spot for him on the Cubs current roster, so why not send him to some small market team looking for a cheap power option in return for a decent middle reliever?

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Submitted by big_lowitzki on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:40 pm

I'm sure other teams have noticed what he's doing and would be interested in having a cheap power option to pinch hit or fill in at 1B. If you say so. But I am also sure that other teams know about hot streaks and sample sizes and bad defense. If you replace Fox with Soto or Hoffpauir in this scenario during their breakout years in the minors you could have said the exact same thing. Sure... but again, no team is going to give more value for Fox after 15 games or so.

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Submitted by Ryno on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:02 am

Trade him. You bring him up, he hits a mediocre 265 with little power and then nobody wants him. Trade him to DET for Nate Robertson. Or to the Nats for Joe Beimel. Not sure why the Nats would want a 3rd DH, though.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:16 am

Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 9:33am.
The difference between the Cubs current bullpen and a great bullpen is Chad Fox?

====================================

REAL NEAL: It's not that the difference between the current Cubs bullpen and a great Cubs bullpen is Chad Fox (or anybody else at Iowa). It's a matter of trying to improve the current Cubs bullpen to make it better.

BTW, I was at the Cubs game last night, and it was not good. As usual, there were a lot of Cubs fans at Chase Field to help cheer them on ("Let's Go, Cubbies!!!") and give them a road game "home field advantage," but the Cubs played like they were in the Astrodome circa 1968.

On the brighter side, Aramis Ramirez took pre-game ground balls at 3rd base and looked OK, making solid throw after solid throw to 1st base, and then he hit some bombs in BP, and Milton Bradley took BP from both sides of the plate and ran the bases a bit, too, between his BP rounds. No sign of Derrek Lee, though, although Carlos Zambrano hit with the position players in BP and put on quite a power display from both sides of the plate. He's fun to watch.

 

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:33 pm

Everyone can see that the Cubs bullpen is bad. If Hendry's intention was to pitch Patton in high leverage situations, he should have never drafted him. He should only be pitching in games like last night, where we have little to no chance to win. As long as he's not facing Pujols with the game still in question he's been fine. You don't draft a Rule V guy out of A and expect him to dominate in the big leagues. You expect him to be your mop-up guy. He hasn't done anything, in my mind, to merit losing him for the privilege of watching Fox give up home runs to Albert Pujols.

Submitted by Hagsag on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:23 am

Az. Phil, I am dying for one of your fabulous Fitch reports.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:32 am

Submitted by Ryno on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 10:02am.

Trade him. You bring him up, he hits a mediocre 265 with little power and then nobody wants him. Trade him to DET for Nate Robertson. Or to the Nats for Joe Beimel. Not sure why the Nats would want a 3rd DH, though

==========================================

RYNO: As an Article XX MLB FA who signed after the conclusion of the post-2008 Free-Agency Filing Period, Joe Beimel got automatic "no trade" rights through June 15th. He can waive this right, but even if he did do that, he could only be traded for cash and/or player contracts with a maximum aggregate value of $50,000. And as a player on a 40-man roster who is on optional assignment to the minors, Jake Fox is making at least $65,000.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:43 am

Submitted by Charlie on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 10:29am.
Oh, voice of reason, go away. This was a fun video game before you got here.

Ryno: Color me uninterested in Joe Beimel. Yay! A loogy! My life is complete. I just don't see how a loogy is all that important. I like AZ Phil's idea of letting some Cubs minor leaguers compete for that role. John Gaub seems like he might be able to make something of it.

=======================================

CHARLIE: The Cubs have three legitimate LOOGY candidates at AA and AAA (John Gaub, Jeremy Papelbon, and Jayson Ruhlman), and since there are six slots open on the 40-man roster and since all three will be eligible for selection in the Rule 5 Draft post-2009 anyway and would need to be added to the 40 by 11/20, might as well give one of 'em a two-week try-out right now to find one if he can get big league left-handed hitters. And if the first one doesn't work out, option him back to the minors and try one of the other ones.

Ruhlman just got promoted to Iowa, so it will be interesting to se how he fares against the more-experienced hitters he will face in AAA (especially left-handed hitters).

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:45 am

In Fox's shadow, Brad Snyder is having a good first month: 5 homers and 18 RBI.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:01 pm

Daytona got no-hit today, by a Brevard County (Brewer) pitcher named Anundsen. Nine innings, one walk, 10 K's. Final score 1-0 (8th inning run).

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:34 pm

the problem with Jake Fox is everyone else in baseball knows he's no more than a DH and only 14 teams need one and most of them already have DH's. We went through this with Dubois.

Submitted by Aisle 424 on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:33 pm

The problem with guys who can't play the field is that to have any value at all, they better be seen as potential 40 HR, .900+ OPS guys. Frank Thomas is still sitting around waiting for his phone to ring and I would bet that Frank is probably still just as good a hitter as Jake Fox will ever be.

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Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:40 pm

Not a big Fox fan, but I can count. If he hits 40-50 this year, he'll get a shot somewhere. For one thing, there will be a lot of pressure to move Derrek Lee. Fox hit his twelfth this afternoon, BTW.

Submitted by Mike Wellman on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:26 pm

half a dozen more TB's; all in a day's work...as for defense, there aren't many more gold glove winners than there are DH's...I see Fox as a RH Matt Stairs

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Submitted by Ryno on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:32 pm

Dude is he bashing everything or is he picking on fastballs? Also, is he a strict pull hitter? The kind that extends on the outside pitch and yanks the ball or does he go with it and put it over the RF fence? Any idea where this power came from? I wish I had paid more attention to Fox during ST now. Anyways, you can bet if he saw big league time he'd see, at least initially, a ton of breaking balls on the outside corner.

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Submitted by Charlie on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:07 pm

Fox has always had power. In 2006 he hit 21 homeruns between A+ and AA. In 2007 he hit 24 homeruns between AA and AAA. In 2008 he hit 31 homeruns between AA and AAA. He's hit a new level with the 12 homeruns in the first month AND this is the first time he's really hit much at AAA. Well, he did pretty well in 2007, but he stank up Iowa in 2008. Should we be surprised that he's hitting better now that he no longer has to worry about catching?

Submitted by Mike Wellman on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:31 pm

also today, Ruhlman, the newly promoted lefty, got tagged for 3 in 1/3 of an inning & Scales was again @ 3B [0-5]; C. Fox tossed another scoreless frame w/ 2 k's...

Submitted by Jace on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:44 pm

The Rockies had this guy, Jack Cust, that Jake Fox reminds me of. It took him years before he made the majors, because all he could do was hit... He plays for the A's now. Certainly is good for plenty of power, but I don't think anyone can say that he has set the world on fire...

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Submitted by Charlie on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:37 pm

Cust and Fox's power output in individual minor league seasons is pretty comparable. So is their defense, I think. But this year Fox is on pace to completely outdo any of Cust's seasons. Of course, that on pace thing is kind of ridiculous; he's also hitting over .440. But Cust really has more in common with Adum Dunn. They both posted .425ish and .520ish OBPs and Slugging percentages in the minors. Jack Fox has a .351 OBP and a .521 slugging percentage--he's always been up there looking to hit the ball. Cust and Dunn leave the bat on their shoulders a lot more often, and though Fox strikes out a lot, he doesn't strike out at the rate that Cust does. Hmm. This was off point. Just carrying the example farther, I guess.

Submitted by The E-Man on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:13 pm

As I recall, Cust K's a lot. Thanks Lou, for sitting Soto. I did not think I'd be saying that for a while. Anyone think Pudge would have come to back-up in Chi if he was offered a contract by Hendry?

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Submitted by Jace on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:44 pm

Back when he was with the Rockies, Cust could play OF like Fox could play catcher. I don't care what anyone said about his arm, you have to get the ball for the arm to come into play. He rarely did...

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Submitted by crunch on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:58 pm

just saying...the guy has more than 1 tool at his disposal besides his bat. his arm really is that "plus" that it's part of his game when you consider placing him somewhere. that said, yeah, he's not exactly a gazelle going after the ball.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:09 pm

This is not purely about minor leaguers. There's a DeRosa connection. Besides, this is a minor-league thread. The Peoria Chiefs played two 7-inning games today, and Cedar Rapids put up 14 goose eggs. The starters for Peoria were Chris Carpenter and Chris Archer. Archer's line: 5 innings, 1 hit, no runs, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts.

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 04/28/2009 - 04:30 pm

Carpenter has got about a K and inning and a 1.71 GO/FO ratio after four starts. Looks like Hendry may have finally hit on one of his injured pitcher drafts.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    cubs getting crazy good at not having player moves leak.

    taillon we 100% know is pitching tonight.  who he's replacing and any additional moves are unknown as far as i can tell.

    p.wisdom was not in today's lineup in iowa (rained out) and he was removed from the game last night mid-game, but not for injury.  good bet he's with the team in the bigs, too.

  • Bill (view)

    A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return.  Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.

  • 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? 

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