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 Blind Cub Squirrel Finds a Nut and Friday Notes

I watched not one second of Friday's affair. I managed about 10 minutes of Internet access and caught the 2-1 score, posted this premature comment and then later flipped on my XM radio to catch the final 5-2 win. The good news is the Cubs got a win and Milton Bradley and Alfonso Soriano went a combined 6/6 with 1 HR, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 2 Runs Scored and 2 BB's. The bad news was the comedy of errors from the offensive heroes and the Cubs needing a dramatic come-from-behind win against a team missing their five best players.

Some links and notes after the jump...

- Bruce Levine is sticking with the Minnesota Twins as the team awarded the claim on Rich Harden. How he got past the entire NL is a little confusing with the way he's pitching and the rather minimal committment left on his contract.  I don't hold high hopes that the Twins would take the rest of his contract and give up top prospects for Harden. And it looks like the San Francisco Giants were awarded the claim on Aaron Heilman. The Sun-Times says a few more Cubs were claimed, but doesn't offer up any names.

- In minor league news, 2009 first round pick Brett Jackson has been placed on the disabled list with inflammation in his right wrist. He should be back for Peoria's playoff run as they have already clinched a playoff spot in the Midwest League. As of this writing, Iowa is a 1.5 back of Memphis and tied with Nashville with just over a week left in the PCL season. In Double A, Tennessee is tied with West Tennessee and the two teams finish the season with a five-game set.

- The Daytona Cubs aren't going to be repeating as FSL champs, but they've thrown their second combined no-hitter in the last two weeks. Both times  20-year old pitcher Oswaldo Martinez was involved and he has not given up an earned run in 10.1 IP since joining Daytona.This time he combined with Mike Perconte on the no-hitter, last time it was a four pitcher effort with Martinez, Craig Muschko, Chris Siegfried and David Cales.

- Alfonso Soriano is set to have his MRI on Monday.

- I've got some Internet troubles at home, so dont' expect much from me this weekend, hence this hastily done post.

 

Comments

Completely off-topic, but it's good to see former Cub Felix Pie getting some PT in Baltimore with Adam Jones on the DL. .271/.332/.442, 6HR and 21 RBI in 201 PA's. If he'd done even this with the Cubs, he'd still be here.

Also off topic. How does ANY pitcher in a big league organization get a second look if he only has 2 pitches? A fastball and slider won't do, yet you hear all the time about some guy with a blazing fastball (Marmol) and he's "working on his" slider (Marmol), or slurve, or whatever? How does a 'Marmol' survive if any batter has a 50-50 chance of guessing right? I think I know the answer but somebody help me to know why a guy is the closer when he can't find a location with his fastball and his slider moves only 10-12 inches down from up (and ironically, a 40 year old guy named Sheffield was completely fooled by it yesterday). So is that why Samardzija was sent down? To work on a 3rd pitch? Finally, wouldn't it be cool if we had a guy like Angel Pagan leading off and batting .295 with his speed? "WAIT 'TIL NEXT YEAR!"

[ ]

In reply to by artskoe

"How does ANY pitcher in a big league organization get a second look if he only has 2 pitches?" The vast majority of effective big league relievers feature... two pitches - a fastball and something else. Mariano Rivera throws a fastball and a cut fastball, that's his two pitches. Trevor Hoffman, fastball and changeup. Bruce Sutter, fastball and split finger. Dave Steib was a good to great STARTER for years throwing just two pitches, fastball slider. As long as you have a pitch that you can throw for strikes and the opposing hitter may not hit it, you're in pretty good shape. "So is that why Samardzija was sent down? To work on a 3rd pitch?" Samardzija was sent down because he has little control and command. None of his four pitches he throws are going to get as many swinging misses as Marmol's slider.

There is also the length of time a pitcher is used. A relief pitcher can get away with 1 or 2 pitches because they only go one inning. You really need the 3rd or 4th pitch as a starter because your going through the lineup 3 or 4 times.

fwiw: the Daytona Cubs' combined no-hitter yesterday was a 7IP affair (2nd game of a double-header) -- i know its official and all that, just doesn't feel like a genuine no-no Daytona Cubs beat Tiger starting pitcher prospect Chuck Furbush the day before. Would be nice to swing a deal for Furbush and get him in the Peoria rotation with Bibens-Dirkx before the playoffs. Hendry gets this done, and i'll give him a pass for 2009.

no soriano today. countdown to DL. his knee is toasty as hell. laziness in the OF aside (damn u dusty...we need a real manager to make soriano blah blah blah), some of his recent laxness in chasing down stuff can be tied to his knee. sori's knee, aram's shoulder...hope 2010 is better. oh yeah, and the healthy guy with a near .400 ob% is being driven out of town cuz he doesn't want to make the OF bleacher creatures feel like he's part of their social club. -edit- and as i type that milton hits a game tieing RBI double...2 for 2 on the day. what a bum. he didn't wave to my girlfriend. trade him.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

So another Milton 400 AB season means he was healthy? Thats about 2 months of missing AB's. Same goes for last year. Last 2 years 4 months of AB's missing without ever reaching the DL. Sorry but no one can depend on a 400 AB starter for anything, ever. And his 35 or 36 RBI are good for like 97th place among OFers. Besides does anyone give a shit that he started hitting when the season is over? It only took him till August to do anything remotely productive lets just forget about April, May, June, and July when he was helping us dig a hole. Hey thanks Milton for showing up its only the end of the August, season started in April. Whoooopeeee. Shittiest RFer in baseball this season.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Nope, I just think that it's funny that your defense of MB is so....enthusiastic? Now...if he'd been brought here, put in the #2 slot in the lineup, and had been walking his ass off there all season, and getting driven in regularly by DLee, Aram..even Jake Fox...then I guess I could see it. I just don't know if I'd want the #5 hitter in the lineup looking so hard to take a walk all the time. MB has had a really good second half. .310/.429/.484 is awfully good. 5HR and 15 RBI in only 156 PA's is okay I suppose. I hope he can do that the rest of his time here. I hope. Soriano? He should have got the knee MRI months ago. I can't argue that he has been brutal except for April and July, where he was superb at the plate. He is awful in the field, and you can visibly see him gimping around the bases. I'd love to see Jake Fox in there the rest of the season. The difference is, you don't see Soriano bitching about the umps/showing them up at the plate, bitching about the fans, bitching about the media. He came out and said "I stink." Your smartass comment notwithstanding, I agree with you that Soriano hass been a bigger issue this season than Bradley. How ever, let's not sugarcoat Bradley's season as a success just yet. Maybe he could be the MVP of OBP?

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

I could care less who's bitching to the press and the bitching to the umps milton is doing isn't keeping him from getting his walks or calls at the plate...besides it's not even meltdown ump bitching. the media means NOTHING to me...the bleacher creatures, NOTHING...the baseball social experience, NOTHING. also, you've missed a few dozen times of milton taking responsibility for his actions as well as avoiding situations that invite a fight...most specifically with the guy who's job is to keep that stuff from happening, his manager. soriano not bitching isn't making him any better of a player. soriano being nice to the OF bleachers isn't making him a better player.

Mitre, Yanks combine on 1-hitter vs. White Sox Btw, can you guys refresh me on the Mitre movement off the club? To Florida I remember. Derek Lee? I could have googled it in this time but I'd rather watch people talk.

1 hitter belonged to Mitre and Chad Gaudin postgame Lou said Soriano's MRI didn't show anything bad and expects them to give him a cortisone shot...I'll get better detail if I can also on radio they said Jeff Baker's little finger xray was negative for a fracture

muskat article and a video interview from Soriano: An MRI of Alfonso Soriano's left knee on Saturday revealed inflammation, and the outfielder will likely get a cortisone shot and be sidelined a few days. http://cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090829&content_id=6679804&vk… --- Inflammation can be localized to a specific part of the knee (i.e. patellar tendon) or it can be generalized as in increased joint fluid (an effusion) so it's a very limited amount of information we're getting again. Still, if he had a meniscus or ACL tear (aka something structural) they probably would not have omitted those as specific findings.

t could be arthritic, though? --- could be...a common source of inflammation on an mri. the term for early arthritic changes is chondromalacia (essentially translates to soft or worn articular cartilage) and mri's can see that if it's severe but if it's fairly mild it's a tougher call. It is something easily identified arthroscopically

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • 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.