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

The Other End of Humerus

In an embarrassing conclusion to the saturday night game against the Brewers, the Cubs bullpen literally and figuratively exploded.

In a highlight on TV for Mr. Brenly, he went out on the ledge and predicted the two run HR from Micah Hoffpauir in the 5th inning as the big first baseman strode up to the plate. Brenly had given a handsignal to Hoffpauir before the game indicating his swing was just a pinch off the night before and he expected a sweet spot power shot tonight. Hoffpauir's blast to right was on the first pitch, making that a magic moment in the booth and both Len and Bob were somewhat giddy. Len Kasper couldn't recall any such prognostication from his partner in their 5 years together. It brought a game that felt like the Cubs were behind by a million runs actually back to a 3-2 defecit and made me realize that Ryan Dempster was having quite a solid outing.

Brenly the Prognosticator? Ryan Dempster deftly lasted into the 7th inning although on TV, Len and Bob thought he was done after 6 and they expressed their surprise to see him out on the mound beginning the 7th after over 100 pitches. After back to back HR's to Counsell and Braun, Dempster was done at 121 pitches. Cotts and Patton made the really ugly 7th a six spot for the Brewers.

During the disgusting 7th and 8th innings, the walkmasters paraded their stuff including walk(s) from Cotts, Patton, Fox and Heilman. I was suffering along with Ron Santo who said on the radio: "anytime you have 7 walks you don't deserve to win." Six of the nine walks the Cubs pitchers gave up came from the bullpen.

In the top of the 8th, the Cubs brought it back to  9-6 defecit with a 4 spot including back to back doubles by Fukudome and Bradley but the bullpen was yet to complete pouring kerosene on the ballgame.

The bottom of the 8th started with Chad Fox on the mound who promptly walked Braun (on 7 pitches) then blew out his right elbow on a pitch that was five feet high and wide above the strike zone. As we all know Fox's elbow has had multiple reconstructions and after his last term with the Cubs in which his usage by Dusty Baker drew criticism, he didn't get another surgery...just a miracle feeling that he could pitch on scar and duct tape. Apologies to Mr. Baker, time didn't heal that wound. In a 24 hour period the Cubs have exposed both the proximal humerus and the distal humerus. Ouch.

Chad Fox is now on the DL and the Cubs have called up Jose Ascanio from AAA Iowa as the bullpen parade continues.

Injury Delay...photo of Chad Fox after icing his elbow postgame.

Aaron Heilman replaces Chad Fox

Heilman promptly wets his pants by walking Fielder (4 pitches), Hardy (4 pitches) and Hart (6 pitches), with Hart's for the second run of the inning. Nobody to the rescue (Mets fans must be laughing their asses off). The cliche coaching visit to the mound does no good and then Duffy singles for another run and Kendall hits a sac fly for the Brewer's12th run.

As Arizona Phil has explained, Chad Fox was brought to the majors so that the Cubs will have roster flexibility if they get to the post-season. The Boy Scouts 60 day DL mastery merit badge goes to Jim Hendry.

 

Comments

Soriano, Miles(SS), Fukudome, Bradley, Hoffpauir, Soto, Fontenot (3b), Scales (2b), Marshall vs Weeks, Hart, Braun, Fielder, Cameron, Hardy, Hall, Kendall, Suppan

Nice article Cubster. Jose Ascanio (0.94 WHIP), who just turned 24 on May 2, has been outstanding with the AAA Cubs this spring. Hope it translates to the majors. But how can a guy who stands six feet tall with this gut (http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/A/jose-ascanio.shtml)only weigh 150 lbs.? Re: the game notes: you failed to mention that "Genius Jim" traded a healthy, although he plays baseball like a wounded cockroach, Joey Gathright for a terminally injured whiney-assed pariah with a hamstring as tight as a piano wire (not to be confused with Uncle Milty) who had to be scratched from the starting lineup yesterday on his first day with the Cubs. (Is that a record?) On a positive note... Nice to see Fukudome break out of his 3/25 funk with two hits and DPLee continue to sit allowing Micah Hoffpauir to start at first base.

time to move fox from the "cubs bullpen usage" chart to the no-doubt-soon-to-be-created "cubs dl chart". z-aram-lee-fox; quite the talent pool there. here's hoping kosuke, bradley, and hoff get revved up. is soto enduring the sophomore blues? or was he a one-year wonder? still, i don't miss gabor the great. go cubs! no sweepage today, please.

As Arizona Phil has explained, Chad Fox was brought to the majors so that the Cubs will have roster flexibility if they get to the post-season. The Boy Scouts 60 day DL mastery merit badge goes to Jim Hendry. As I am sure AZ Phil was saying that tongue-in-cheek, it still cost Hendry around $500K for that flexibility. And of course then there is Lou who is undoubtedly going to get blasted for hurting Fox's arm. I guess we can add Fox to the name of Lou's arms he has killed. :)

Pretty big win here, after 2 bullpen disasters. Guzman really came through with those 2 big innings. I think its time to move him into Heilman's spot give him the 7th inning. Marshall had nothing the first 2 innings but righted the ship. Fontenot had some nice plays at 3rd. The offense was good enough. Soto still looks bad. Freel did his best Gathright impression by being picked off lol Moving forward I think the next 2 series vs the Padres and Astros are pretty big 4-2 or even 5-1 would look pretty nice.

Marshall's MO this year is he gives up 2 or 3 early on, then pitches well for tje next 5-7 innings. he is still young, amd I hope he finds a way to rid himself of this. i recall Marquis did the same thing for us.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

I'm too lazy to back this up with stats so this is just a thought but it seems like Marshall would have a decent game one outing and really suck the next last year. This year he's been pretty consistent. This is almost 3/44 cuz I have said it so much but I'll never forget when Maddux was here and Marshall would park his ass next to him. Did it on more than one occasion. Students of the game often do well when they have some talent to mix in with it. And he does have a nice curve and moves around the plate nicely when he's on.

gwwaaaa.... ESPN crew is about to drive me nuts talking about roids rather than...oh...calling the game. blah blah blah blah blah.... guess what crew...these roiders keep getting contracts, they're for huge money, and so far...all i can tell...the downside is you might miss 1-2 months of pay and not get in the HOF. making 10m dollars vs. 1m and no chance at HOF anyway. get caught and stay employed and pursued by other teams...giambi approves...sarge jr. definitely approves. lemmie see...what would i do...

ESPN crew is about to drive me nuts -------- solution = mute button I miss fire Joe Morgan.com

The ESPN Crew is designed for the sports jocks who watch ESPN all day. For true baseball fans, they are brutal.

Does anyone know if Soto's still hurt? Could be my imagination, but his swing looks like he's favoring his lumbar or something.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • 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.