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

Milton's Really, Really Sorry

"I chose Chicago as a free agent," Bradley said in the statement, "because I wanted to be part of finally bringing a championship to Cubs fans. I expected to have a great season and I am deeply disappointed by my performance and the team's struggles. I played every game with everything that I had and wanted to desperately win.

"My frustration and disappointment boiled over and I said and did certain things that I regret," he said. "In hindsight, I wish that I had handled certain things differently and I apologize for those things that did not work out for the better.

"The air has been cleared," he said, "and we all want to move on and look forward to better days."

The union will not file a grievance and Milton will be paid for the rest of the year, but not rejoining the team.

Comments

I always love the transparently ghost-written quality of these apologies, though Milton's has a juco quality to it with the misplaced "desperately" modifier. Imagine him shaking hands with Jimbo and saying, "The air has been cleared." Maybe I've finally found my way into a baseball job. I'm off to see if sportsapologist.com has been registered yet.

I envision that the apology was co-written on a napkin during a dinner meeting between MB and Jimbo. ..."and wanted to desperately win" Jim: yeah, like Desperado...my favorite Eagles album MB: Eagles? Never heard of em. I listen to Rage Against the Machine ..."The air has been cleared" Jim: sniff, sniff (looks around) MB: who cut the cheese? "and look forward to better days". MB: What else ya got? Jim: That's all we got (to write).

more Muskat... cubs players didn't know about Milton Bradley's apology until shown the statement handed out to media Wednesday cubs broadcaster Bob Brenly on life w/out Bradley: "The last 3 days have been better than any of the days he was here"

Speaking of missing and the grass-is-greener, what is the Cubs record 2009 w/o Sorry-ano. He should apologize too!!!

Interesting that Bruce Miles (Miles mannered reporter for...) article in the herald has a Hendry quote to follow the Bradley statement. Also Hendry hasn't talked to Bradley, just his agent Seth Levinson. "It's done," Hendry said. "There's nothing. It's over. There's no story." http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/2647 --- Poof. No story? Unless that quote was in the recovery room after JH's frontal lobotomy.

"The air has been cleared." So there. Nuff said then. That fixes everything. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming, which is already in progress (Cut to Andy Griffith Show, in medias res, which, by coincidence, is one of the episodes with Howard Morris playing Ernest T. Bass).

Here's the sun-times/Wittenmeyer take: The Cubs have filed the required written notice of the suspension, and they expect no grievance from the players' union. Hendry said speculation of a grievance was a non-story. When asked about Bradley's future with the team, Hendry said: "We'll worry about next season when this one is over." By all accounts, next season will not include Bradley in a Cubs uniform. Or, for that matter, ever. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/1786928,cubs-milton-bradle…

Alright, that's a respectful enough apology. In other news, has he been traded yet? What's the hold up? In all seriousness, this is a rather boilerplate apology from a PR point of view. Take ownership of the bad behavior, apologize for it, look forward to better days ahead... And I can understand why he wouldn't want to do this in person in front of the Chicago sports media. I guess for me the news isn't so much his apology, but the fact that he's working with someone from the Cubs to improve his image for the trading block this off season.

I saw MB's last game (9/17) as a member of the Cubs in person. As the only game we got into this year, it's an interesting distinction. I'll remember that and Jody Gerut's slam. Typical. Oh, and I had Wells in my fantasy lineup. Maybe I should have kept the stub. Before the game, I was dumbfounded to find myself trying to defend MB in conversation (in the "it's not all his fault" kind of way). I still feel that way to an extent, but his season has really been a comedy of errors. When I think of the game where he threw the ball into the RF bleachers with two outs, I truly believe he was told to do it and had it in his head so much that it led to the timing faux pas. "Toss a ball to them the next time you get a chance." Doh! Has it been said that MB has a persecution complex? There is something called that, right? If not, we coin it after him. But there seems to be some bad luck in there, too. Oh well. I realize it's petty to look back now, but how did we not sign Abreu? That one still puzzles me.

I thought Shark looked OK, and was the victim of some bad luck -- Prince hit a high, harmless foul pop-up that the lumbering Jake Fox couldn't get to, then Prince whacked the next pitch for a 2-run HR to LF. Nice consistent 95+ fastball, but he still needs other pitches. Still seems to have bullpen stuff, to me. Come in for an inning, air out at 97-98 mph, have a seat.

Per Bob Brenley: The league has figured Jake Fox out. Slider that starts in the middle of the plate and breaks low and away is "kryponite" to Fox. Jake is hitting .234 in Aug/Sept.

Lol...a slider like that is kryptonite to a lot of hitters... Let's see if he can adjust to what they are doing to him?

Samardzija is still not a guy you want to depend on in the rotation or bullpen right now, but he has a future in the rotation and no better time to give him some MLB experience than when your team is out of it anyways. Loved the homer. And I agree on Jake Fox, too. Now is when you find out what a guy is made of... It's not uncommon to see a guy come up and have some success right away. The question is how does he handle a struggle? Can he rediscover success? I'd like to see Lou play Jake Fox the rest of the year just for this reason. Sure he's seen some difficult sliders, but that's not an excuse it's part of the game.

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In reply to by Old and Blue

As awful as the Bradley signing looks in hindsight, I wonder if things would have been different if the Cubs had gotten off to a good start and Bradley had played well out of the gate. I suspect that Bradley's psyche can only function in either very positive or very low-pressure situations. But once the Cubs and Bradely both got off to a slow start and the fan frustration began to boil over, Bradley began to crumble and Hendry's gamble was cooked.

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.