Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus one player is on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Rhee Keeps Laying Goose Eggs

Dae-Eun Rhee tossed three shutout innings as the Cubs took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the 4th at Diablo Park Field #3 in Tempe, but the Angels came back to win this afternoon's AZ Instructional League contest by a score of 5-1.

Rhee's three shutout innings followed his last start on the very same field last week, when the young Korean threw three perfect innings at the Angels. Rhee, who is in the final stages of rehab from 2008 Tommy John Surgery, once again did not throw any of his killer splitter/change-ups (his strikeout pitch), instead mixing a sinking fastball with a curve, throwing both for strikes and pitching to contact. The Angels hitters did not get good wood on the ball, and Rhee was able to get seven ground outs (he had no strikeouts). Both of the hits he allowed were singles.  

The key for Rhee in his last two starts at Diablo Park has been control, something he lacked in his rehab outings at Mesa and Boise over the last few weeks of the 2009 minor league regular season. I would presume that Rhee will add the splitter back to his repertoire next season, giving him the array of stuff needed to once again be a Top Ten Prospect. Kudos should go to Cubs Minor League Pitching Coordinator Mark Riggins and pitching coaches Rick Tronerud and Jeff Fassero for getting Rhee to the point where he can once again throw strikes consistently and be successful on the mound.

Hard-throwing RHP Trey McNutt (2009 32nd round pick out of Shelton State CC) followed Rhee to the mound and gave up an opposite field game-tying home run to the first batter he faced in the 4th, and then RHP Nick Struck (2009 39th round pick out of Mt Hood CC) was the victim of an Angel rally in the 7th, as the Halos turned a walk, two singles, and a stolen base into two runs, giving the boys from the O. C. a 3-1 lead.

The Angels led 3-1 after the Cubs went down in the 9th, but the game was extended an extra half-inning to allow 18-year old Taiwanese RHP Yao-Lin Wang to get his pre-scheduled inning of work. Wang was not very impressive, showing just pedestrian stuff while allowing two runs on two hits and a walk.

The Cubs signed not one but two Wangs out of Chinese Taipei this year (Yao-Lin and Tzu-An), and both were invited to Instructs, where they join fellow countryman 2B Pin-Chieh Chen making their U. S. debut. 

Yao-Lin is a stocky kid, with the same body-type as Sean Gallagher and Ryan Searle, while Tzu-An is a lanky 6'6 with a body more like Chris Huseby or Toby Matchulat. Tzu-An is (supposedly) the better prospect of the two, and I would expect him to get a shot at throwing an inning or two sometime later this week.

The Cubs offense was mostly dead today. They scored their only run in the top of the 1st, as D. J. LeMahieu lined a single to CF with one out, and, after LeMahieu advanced to second on a PB and to third on a WP, Brandon Guyer got the only RBI of the day with a run-scoring ground out.

The Cubs did get the potential tying run to 2nd in the top of the 9th with no outs (Blair Springfield and Hak-Ju Lee ripped singles, and then both runners advanced a base on a PB), but LeMahieu and Guyer fanned, and Kyler Burke popped out to the shortstop in shallow LF to end the threat, as the Cubs came up empty. 

2008 4th round pick Matt Cerda returned to the lineup after a three-month absence due to a broken hand suffered at Boise, and  played 3B. He made one nice play on a slow chopper, but on a couple of others he was slow to react to hard-hit balls that skipped past him for base-hits. Cerda may not have the split-second reaction time and one-step quickness needed to play the hot corner.  

Josh Vitters and Welington Castillo are working out at Fitch Park in preparation for the Arizona Fall League, and they might get an AB or two in an Instructs game to help them get ready for the start of the AFL season next week. 

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

LINEUP:
1. Hak-Ju Lee, SS: 1-4 (4-3, L-8, K, 1B)
2. D. J. LeMahieu, DH #1: 2-4 (1B, 1B, 1-4-3, K), R
3. Brandon Guyer, CF: 0-4 (6-3, K, F-9, K), RBI
4. Kyler Burke, RF: 1-4 (F-7, 1B, K, P-6), PO 
5. Richard Jones, DH #2: 0-3 (3-1, K, 4-3)
6a. Jae-Hoon Ha, C: 0-2 (4-3, 5-3)
6b. Brandon May, C: 0-1 (5-3) 
7. Justin Bour, 1B: 0-2 (K, L-5, BB)
8. Matt Cerda, 3B: 1-3 (F-7, 3-1, 1B)
9. Pin-Chieh Chen, 2B: 1-3 (1B, 4-3, 4-3)
10. Blair Springfield, LF: 2-3 (6-4-3 DP, 2B, 1B)

PITCHERS:
1. Dae-Eun Rhee - 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 GIDP, 7/2 GO/FO, 31 pitches (21 strikes)
2. Trey McNutt - 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 1/3 GO/FO, 34 pitches (23 strikes)
3. Julio Pena - 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/1 GO/FO, 13 pitches (9 strikes)
4. Nick Struck - 2.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 2 K, 1 PO, 2/1 GO/FO, 33 pitches (19 strikes)
5. Yao-Lin Wang - 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 0 K, 2/0 GO/FO, 16 pitches (10 strikes)  

ERRORS (2):
1. Jae-Hoon Ha - E-2 (overthrow at 2nd base on stolen base attempt, allowing runner to advance to 3rd) 
2. Hak-Ju Lee - E6 (bobble allowing batter to reach base).  

CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Jae-Hoon Ha - 0-2 CS, E (see above)
Brandon May - 1-2 CS

WEATHER: 80's, sunny, breezy

ATTENDANCE: 14 (mostly scouts)  

Comments

I hope the web site keeps stats on how many viewers each page has, as opposed to the site in general. What I'm trying to say is that it would be a shame if one would just looked at the amount of comments on each article as an indication of that article's readership. I, for one, rarely add a comment to AZ Phil's articles simply because I usually have nothing to add to his fine observations but I always look forward to his reports and consider his contributions as immediate "must read" material. In my opinion, AZ Phil adds a dimension (and a source of information) to TCR that none of the other Cubs sites I've seen can match. Just my $.02.

Thanks, AZ, for yet another fantabulous update. Maybe you've answered this before but I'll ask anyway. Often, a decent prospect is shifted to another position because of a weakness in the field. Jake Fox comes to mind of course, but I've seen you mention several others. I'm getting the impression, though, that Hak-Ju Lee is a genuine shortstop prospect. Is that on the spot? How far away is he from a spring training visit with the parent team?

We don't keep any stats, we prefer to go by our guts and intuition when deciding how to payout our meager revenues. My guts tell them Arizona Phil is first ballot HOF'er. Almost all are articles get roughly the same hits, most of it depends on how long we keep one up before the next one since we have so many return visitors and comments. Occasionally we get a link from a major website that boosts an article. If you go up to the navbar and Arizona Phil's latest articles, that gets a lot of hits...

Submitted by Old and Blue on Wed,
10/07/2009 - 6:37am.

Maybe you've answered this before but I'll ask anyway. Often, a decent prospect is shifted to another position because of a weakness in the field. Jake Fox comes to mind of course, but I've seen you mention several others. I'm getting the impression, though, that Hak-Ju Lee is a genuine shortstop prospect. Is that on the spot? How far away is he from a spring training visit with the parent team?

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

OLD & BLUE: Depending upon what other players get through the system to the big leagues (Castro, LeMahieu, B. Jackson, et al), Hak-Ju Lee could stay at SS, or he could end up at 2B, or he could play CF. He is the fastest player in the organization, and a really good hitter who should develop some power as he matures (he's only 18).

As for when he gets an NRI to Spring Training, that depends on who the manager is in a couple of years and how Lee does at Peoria and Daytona, but if all keeps going according to plan, probably ST with the big club in 2011 or 2012, with Castro probably getting an NRI next year.

[ ]

In reply to by toonsterwu

AZPhil, I was wondering the same thing! I was fortunate enough to see Campana at Peoria this past summer and the kid was blazing fast. He was a complete disruption to the opposing pitcher when he was on the basepaths. If Lee is anywhere near as speedy as Campana, I can't wait to see his stop in Peoria! BTW - Thanks for the great updates! Everytime I read one, I want to jump a flight to AZ and take in a game!

AZ Phil What is the inside scoup on Kyler Burke? Coming off a great year and being named the Minor League Player of the year, do you have any ideas about the Cubs plans for him? thanks BBPassion

Recent comments

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1. 

  • crunch (view)

    amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.

    neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.

  • Eric S (view)

    Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it). 

  • crunch (view)

    boo.

  • crunch (view)

    smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.

    this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

    like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.

    anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.

    I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.

    If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.

    Give him a chance. 

    But Wesneski probably gets it

  • crunch (view)

    alzolay...bro...

  • crunch (view)

    wow.  what a blown call.  go cubs, i guess.