Cubs MLB Roster

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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

Oswalt Loses Mind, Will Still Start Against Wells, Cubs

The Astros and Cubs meet in a 12:05 game at Wrigley following yesterday's washout.

The pitching matchup is a reset of what was scheduled Friday, with Roy Oswalt opposing Randy Wells. Oswalt (1-2) fell to the Cubs on Opening Night and didn't notch a win until his most recent and eighth start of the year, versus the Padres.

From mlb.com:

Oswalt, mainly a fastball-curveball pitcher, admitted he's using his slider more, for no other reason than "I don't know what I'm doing right now. I've kind of lost my mind."

Wells is coming off his first Major League start, in which he completed five scorless but event-filled innings against the Brewers. In his brief Major League career, spanning 5 games and 10 1/3 innings for the Blue Jays and Cubs, the 26-year-old righty is still unscored upon.

With Wells going today, Sean Marshall moves into the bullpen until Thursday, when he will go against the Cardinals.

About the Theriot story...I'm no great fan of Rick Telander, but I think he's dead on when he says that MLB owners and players have wrought a situation in which any and every player can find himself the subject of suspicion simply for displaying a sudden power surge or otherwise seemingly uncharacteristic jump in performance.

For the record, Telander said he was pretty sure that the notion was Theriot was a steroids-user was "ludicrous," but that's just the point: none of us, not the fans, not the reporters can be certain any more about anybody. And for that, we can thank Mr. Selig, the owners, Mr. Fehr, and the members of the players union who have opposed testing.

 

Comments

Besides RANDY WELLS' start today, if you're like me, you'll be interested in following the Orioles/Royals game featuring the return of RICH HILL and the Mariners/Red Sox game where GARRETT OLSON (0-0 2.57) gets a spot start. BTW, after bouncing around MLB for awhile, DAVID AARDSMA (0-1 1.53) has taken over the closer role for the Mariners.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

I'll never forget seeing Aardsma pitch in the bullpen one time, we had some really good bullpen seats. His fastball is wicked live. He had great stuff, his problem had always been control. Clearly he's solved those problems?

Cubnut - I agree with you about Tealander. I've never been a fan. Even so, like you, I agree with his take on the Theriot/steroids association. It's ridiculous, but unfortunately, everyone is a suspect now. And you're right, the players only have themselves to blame. If someone would have had the nads to speak up and demand testing at a time when the Players Union was fighting testing, maybe this situation could have been avoided. Unfortunately, the players and the Union were more concerned with protecting their limited concept of privacy, which also meant protecting the PED offenders.

[ ]

In reply to by Cubnut

Theriot hit 0 HR in March, 0 HR in April. He started yanking them out only after Lou asked his healthy players to try to elevate the ball to fill the power gap resulting from injuries to UNCLE MILTY, DEPLETED LEE, and ARAM. To believe that Ryan Theriot is a roider you have to believe that all you have to do is pop 'em and the next day you turn into Sammy Sosa. Of course that's not how they work, but Telander went with it anyway. What a jerk. His career and his loser newspaper cannot die soon enuf.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

Yet, here we are talking about Wittenmyer's racism article and Tealander's Theroid article. Their shameful attempts at sensationalizing news to drum up more interest works.

thanks jeebus for LaTroy Hawkins...Scales would have been out by about 5-10 feet if Pence didn't airmail the throw home on the last play. Better to be lucky than good...

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Or...maybe Mike Quade is so good that he knew Pence would airmail the throw. Or, more likely, Scales is SO GOOD that he actually made Pence's throw fuck up in the middle of the air. Bobby Scales = Baserunning Jedi.

Well that was way more exciting than it has to be but chalk it up as a W. Gregg is that guy, he's either lights out or has nothing. Lets hope he goes back to being good the next time. Randy Wells has been impressive working on a big scoreless streak to start his career.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

Are you really that suprised? I called it back when the Ricketts were chosen as would-be owners that the whole "by opening day" was nonsense. They've been talking about this for so long, before the Ricketts' name even came up. I'd be surprised if it's done by the end of the season, or even the end of the calendar year. It doesn't really matter except for: 1) it will be a convenient excuse to not make a deal at the trade deadline. Not that they would necessarily make a deal anyway, but that will be the excuse. 2) then we get to hear the tired line of "getting player x healthy in July will be like getting a new player but for free." *sigh*

Fun stat of the day -- Gregg gives up back-to-back homers and loads the bases with no outs, putting the tying run on 2nd and the go-ahead run on first, but Heilman gets the BS despite not being charged with a run. Gregg, who blew the lead, is not charged with a BS. That's the rule, I guess, but it seems odd. Gregg has never been a lights-out closer, so we shouldn't expect him to become one now. But, still...that was ridiculous.

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

"You didn't answer my question." I believe I did answer your question, you just must not like the answer. I don't think Gregg has the mental makeup to be a very good closer. I believe there is a big difference from pitching in the 7th or 8th innings, versus coming in and closing games in the 9th, especially playing for the Cubs vs. Marlins. "Kevin Gregg has had success as a closer. You claim that he cannot be a good closer, but he can be a good setup man." He had success in 2007, but in 2008, Gregg was tied for the lead in all MLB in blown saves with 9. He only closed 29 games, so he had a 76% save rate last year. So far in 2009, Gregg has 1 blown save in 7 chances, so that is an 85.7% save rate, definitely improved, but it is a small sample size. I do hope he keeps it up, but I doubt he will. Of course that does not take into account his non save situations where he has been horrible this year. In fact his numbers for save situations have not been good either, but has has held on for saves for the most part Also, IMO, saving games for the Cubs in front of a a packed house everyday is tougher than closing out games for the under the radar Marlins in front of 10,000 people. I think Gregg would be a fine setup man, but when it comes to a closer I think the Cubs have a better option (Marmol). I hope that answers your question.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 90-92 
    CUT: 87-89 
    SL: 82-83 
    SPLIT: 81-84
    CV: 73-74 
    COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes...  if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...   
     
    JOE NAHAS
    FB: 90-92 
    SL: 83-85 
    CV: 80-81 
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...   

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 86 
    SL: 79 
    COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...   

    FRANKIE SCALZO JR
    FB: 94-95
    CH: 88 
    SL: 83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning... 

    MICHAEL ARIAS
    FB: 94-96
    CH: 87-89
    SL: 82-83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...   

    ZAC LEIGH: 
    FB: 93-94 
    CH: 89 
    SL: 81-83 
    CV: 78
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...   

    JOSE ROMERO:  
    FB: 93-95
    SL: 82-84
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...

  • crunch (view)

    pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"

    mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit.  nice.

    he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons.  he's not lean, but he looks healthier.  good for him.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.