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

Morelli Strikes Out A's

RF Jesus Morelli threw a strike to catcher Matt Cerda with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, nipping the potential tying run at the plate and preserving the victory, as the EXST Cubs edged the EXST A's 4-3 in Extended Spring Training action at Papago Park Field #2 in Phoenix this morning.

18-year old Australian RHP Adam Spencer entered the game in the bottom of the 9th after the Cubs had come back to tie and then take the lead with two outs in the top of the 9th, thanks to a two-base error by the A's shortstop and a clutch RBI single by Jose Guevara.

Spencer gave up a lead-off triple into the left-field corner, before getting the first out of the 9th on a pop-up to short CF, with the runner holding at third. The next A's hitter lofted a lazy fly ball to medium deep RF, and Morellii got a good read on it, getting himself into position to throw by circling behind the ball, and getting all of his momentum moving forward, before throwing the game-ending strike home to just barely nab the runner trying to score.  

Morelli has struggled with the bat, so I'm sure he feels great having contributed to a victory with his defense. The 19-year old Dominican was all smiles as he high-fived his teammates milling round the pitchers mound after the game ended.

RHP "Big Jon" Nagel got the start for the Cubs today, and allowed one run in three innings of work. He was not as sharp as he had been in his previous couple of outings, as his sinker just wasn't sinking like it usually does, but he still managed to get four punchouts along the way with a nasty slider.

The Cubs tied the game in the 4th and then took the lead 2-1 in the 6th, with 18-year old Australian LF Sean Williams scoring both of the runs after getting on base to lead off both frames. once by walk and once by single. Like Morelli, Williams has struggled with the bat, so he has to feel good about reaching base three times and scoring twice today.

But the A's rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 7th when Cubs lefty reliever Marcos Perez had control issues, and the A's took the one-run lead into the 9th.

John Contreras led off the Cub 9th with a line-drive double into the left-center alley, but PR Alvaro Sosa couldn't move up as Jericho Jones fanned and George Matheus popped up weakly to the second-baseman.

Then Sean Hoorelbeke hit what should have been a routine game-ending 6-3 grounder, but the ball caromed off the shortstop's glove into short LF, allowing Sosa to score (just barely) from 2nd base with the tying run. Morelli was hit by a pitch, and then Guevara lined his game-winning RBI single to CF.

In EXST Cubs injury news, 18-year old Korean OF Jae-Hoon Ha is listed as "day-to-day" with a sore wrist.

Here is today's abridged box score (Cubs players only):

LINEUP:
1. Jose Valdez, CF:         1-2  (1-3, 5-3 SH, 1B, BB)
2. Logan Watkins, 2B:     2-4  (1B, 1B, 4-6 FC, K - 1 RBI)
3. Matt Cerda, DH-C:        0-4  (L-3 DP, 6-4 FC, 4-3, 1-3)
4a. John Contreras, 3B:   1-4  (P-3, 6-4 FC, L-7, 2B)
4b. Alvaro Sosa, PR-3B:   0-0  (1 R)
5. Jericho Jones, DH #2:  2-4  (6-3, 1B, 1B, K - 1 PO)
6a. Hak-Ju Lee, SS:         0-2  (F-8, 5-4 FC)
6b. George Matheus, SS  1-2  (1B, P-4)
7. Sean Hoorelbeke,  1B: 0-4  (F-7, L-5, 4-6 FC, E-6 - 1 R)
8. Jesus Morelli, RF:         0-2  (4-3, K, BB, HBP - 1 SB)
9. Jose Guevara, C-DH:    1-4  (K, 6-3, K, 1B - 1 RBI)  
10. Sean Williams, LF:     1-2   (1B, BB, BB, F-9 - 2 R)

PITCHERS:
1. Jon Nagel -              3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 3/2 GO/FO
2. Rogelio Carmona -  2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 2/2 GO/FO
3. Marcos Perez -        1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 2 K, 2/0 GO/FO
4. Melvin Vasquez -     1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/2 GO/FO
5. Adam Spencer -      1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 0/3 GO/FO

ERRORS: NONE

CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Matt Cerda - 1 PB

WEATHER: Hot & sunny, temperature in the high 90's

ATTENDANCE: 9

Comments

It's deja vu all over again. 1 measly run...woo hoo. Poor Wells. Welcome to the bigs Scales & Fox, tough AB's in the 9th.

[ ]

In reply to by mannytrillo

Yeah, that's the way you really, really hate to go down, especially with the bases loaded. Just make SOME contact somewhere. But, it's been that kind of season so far. Didn't even have to face Broxton, either.

This team is just so frustrating. When will they break out? Still lots of games to be played but the offense is just so sluggish. The pitching has been fine. Hoping to split this series now seems optimistic. Tonight was the night to get that first W.

I hate Sam Zell. He represents everything I hate about 21st century leveraged capitalism. It's not enough he bought the Trib with a heavily leveraged package? Now, he's trying to squeeze the Ricketts family for a few hundred million more than the damn team is worth, and he wants it financed. The dude is a douche bag.

Tonight loss is on Pinella, how do you keep your best Lefty off the bench in your pocket? Hoffpauir should have taken Scales at-bat. Who cares about 10th inning defensive allignment when you are losing. If Hoffpauir crushes a double game over and you dont even have to worry about it. You play to win the game and at that point in the game you needed to tie the game and Hoff gave us the best chance.

[ ]

In reply to by Jeff_Pico

If your tied I can see the point in keeping Scales in to play defense, but when your behind you need to play the percentages to tie the game. If you only get one run and your stuck with Fox and Soriano playing infield in the 10th so be it. Put in Marmol in the 10th hope he strucks out the side and then hope the top of the lineup scratches one across. I can handle losing in 10 because of a Fox or Soriano error, I cant handle losing in the 9th if your best PH not getting a chance to try to tie or win it.

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

Yeah, the guy who put up wiffle ball numbers in AAA and had been 2 for 2 in the bigs to that point sucks because he struck out in his 3rd at bat. Maybe had he started he would have done better aganist Wolf than Blanco or Fontenotagoodeverydayplayer did striking out pathtically both times they faced him.

[ ]

In reply to by Chifan

that's cute...problem is Bobby Scales just accounted for the only run the inning before and although he seems a little better from the right hand side than the left, the Cubs needed another pinch-hitter if Fox or Scales got on and it was still tied. Plus with one out, Hoffpauir is a better double play candidate.

The actual screw-up was whatever happened that they announced Koyie Hill and lost him for the game in the 8th when they used Fukudome.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

"plus the Cubs needed another pinch-hitter if Fox or Scales got on and it was still tied." This is the same kind of logic that caused us to lose the Monday game. It's flawed at best. If you lose a game because you don't use the best player you have at your disposal, hoping that later you will get to use him... sorry, but that's just stupid. You don't put Cotts in to protect a one-run with a fresh Angel Guzman twiddling his thumbs in the bullpen and when you have the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th down by 1 run, you don't worry about getting a big inning.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

I agree about the Angel Guzman incident, not about this. Transcosco (sp?) is a sinker ball pitcher and Hoff and Scales have in their brief appearances struck out at similar rates (20 to 25%) this year (16 versus 20% in the minors). You want to stay out of the DP there and Scales just hit a home run and so far has been hitting better than Hoff.

Of course, he's not a better hitter, but he has been so far and there's no reason to pinch-hit there and replace him with a guy that's 4 for his last 23.

Fleeting as it may be, Scales has hit so far in the majors...I don't think you pinch-hit unnecessarily there. I'm not as worried about burning Hoff there, although I think you need to take it into consideration, I don't think you pinch-hit there because it doesn't get you much more.  When you're talking about just one at-bat, how much of an advantage is it really to replace Scales with Hoffpauir considering Scales has a much better chance to avoid a double play and has been hitting better and all you need is a single.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

We have widely differing opinions on the hitting abilities of Scales and Hoffpower. For their minor league careers Scales hit groundballs about 50% more often than Hoffpauir has. That alone more than makes up for the difference in foot speed. I also disagree that a single wins the game (though I can't remember who was on 2nd off the top of my head). A flyball ties the game, and double definetly wins the game and Hoffpauir is vastly more likely to delivery either of those events than Scales was. Scales HR came off a pitcher who was gassed. He was over matched by this Troncosco chap. In short, Micah is a major leauge hitter, and Scales is not.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

so did Jake Fox, they should have pinch hit for him too...

Hoffpauir just looked like a school girl versus the backup to the backup closer...he should never hit either.

Soriano looks like a school girl about 100 times a year...usually with people on base.

but back to the original point, phitting with Hoff there wouldn't have been the right move.

Phil, is there any news on Julio Castillo, the Animal.? I saw in the BA trans. that he has been reinstated. Thanks.

Submitted by Hagsag on Fri, 05/29/2009 - 7:02am.
Phil, is there any news on Julio Castillo, the Animal.? I saw in the BA trans. that he has been reinstated. Thanks.

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

HAGSAG: Julio Castillo is on the EXST Cubs Active Roster (which presently numbers 45 players - 26 pitchers, five catchers, eight infielders, and six outfielders), but he has pitched only sim games at Fitch Park so far.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    steele leaves the game with a hamstring or knee injury.  sigh.

  • crunch (view)

    ...and a madrigal "non-error" leads to a sac fly for a tie game.  nice.

    having a ball clank off your glove, but still getting it count as a hit because it was hit hard is a nice stats gift.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    For sure. This lineup isn’t exactly stacked as is, and subbing out a Cooper or even a Tauchman for Madrigal won’t do it any favors.

  • crunch (view)

    the ESPN bottom graphic taking up 1/8th of the screen sucks.

    i only use ESPN during baseball season and i'm forced to watch a baseball broadcast designed to be broadcast in sports bars and betting parlors where the news/scores of other games is as important as what you're actually tuned in to watch.

  • crunch (view)

    morel triple to start the season....yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    LHP Blake Weiman appears to have been the last cut from the AAA Iowa roster. He is with the Tennessee group at Minor League Camp.

     

  • crunch (view)

    bruce bochy is hobbling rather badly for a guy who's had 2 hip replacements.  his gait is extremely wonky taking the lineup card to the ump.

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.