Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus two players are 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 4-21-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 14
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

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

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL: 
* Justin Steele, P   

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Addition by Subtraction; The Sequel

Submitted by Rob G. on

After the Cubs disappointed in 2004, the offseason motto was addition by subtraction as the Cubs let Moises Alou and Matt Clement leave and desperately tried to move clubhouse cancer Sammy Sosa.

As we recall, the Cubs just got worse in 2005 and now baseball's worst organizational strategy is about to be revisited.

...Instead, the Cubs' biggest splash leading up to the 2009 season was signing switch-hitting outfielder Milton Bradley to a three-year, $30 million contract in January.

On Monday, when baseball executives gather in Indianapolis for the Winter Meetings, there will be much less neon. The Cubs' goals have changed, too. Now, it's addition by subtraction, as Hendry tries to move Bradley.

They usually don't let you make sequels after the first movie fails, but that's not stopping the Cubs.

"Last year, we had about 10 changes here," Piniella said. "If we have half that, that's a nice number. Some changes [last year] were out of necessity. I see us being selective in what we do."

The necessity was created because Lou threw a temper tantrum about a left-handed power bat and then his enabler Jim Hendry had to make a bunch of unnecessary and superfluous moves to fit Bradley's contract into the budget. Now that their problem child has acted up and made them look bad, the Cubs are doing what any rich, narcissistic parent would do...pay to send them away so he's someone else's problem rather than actually dealing with it and trying to make it work.

Tags
Cubs offseason

Comments

[ ]

Submitted by thedirtbag on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 12:08 pm

It is scary to say, but I think that the Cubs turnaround is largely placed on the shoulders of Soriano. Soto will obviously need to be better and based on Fangraphs analysis, he will be, but Soriano coming off of surgery will need to bounce back showing no ill effects and that his numbers are not deteriorating with age. Need a healthy year from everyone obviously, but the line up can be stretched out if Soriano finds his stroke again.

Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 12:31 am

I am starting to think the Cubs may be coming around to a reconciliation with Bradley as we move further away from the end of the regular season. You see the Hendry quote and the Wells quote and Lee's comments, and though you could say that they are more about trying to rebuild trade value for Bradley, it could be that as the memories of the clubhouse tensions fade cooler heads are starting to prevail. The main "problem" with bringing back Bradley from a baseball perspective is the outfield defense. Marlon Byrd, however, isn't going to be a significant upgrade there - and he is also going to again load the bottom half of our lineup with right handed hitters. Coco Crisp would be a defensive upgrade, and if you buy into his walking tendencies last year a pretty nice leadoff hitter. I would guess that he could be had for less than Byrd, based on his option not being picked up at "Byrd" type money.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 12:06 am

How in the hell did the Cubs not have some sort of "Behavior Clause" in that Bradley contract? You outbid everyone else by an extra year and probably 14-16 million dollars. You wouldn't try to build any safeguard into a deal with a guy with Milton's history?

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 12:41 am

$7M in 2010, $6.5M vesting option for 2011 if he pitches 50 innings

Submitted by Cubster on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 12:53 am

thinking out loud, such a deal could fit nicely into Tampa Bay's plans, particularly if they decide to trade Carl Crawford, which would relieve the payroll of $10 million for 2010. --- Carl Crawford would make me likee this one. Hmmm...Burrell and Crawford for Bradley (to even up the $$), add in one of Marshall or Gorz, 1 of Berg/Stevens, and 1-2 A/AA Pitching prospects. Then flip Burrell for something else that is contract neutral wrt Burrel (Castillo?)l.

[ ]

Submitted by GO CUBBIES on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 12:37 pm

"Crawford $10 million For Marshall,Stevens and Carpenter. Would you make that deal?" I wouldn't, but why wouldn't the Cubs show interest in throwing in a couple of good prospects (Vitters, Cashner?)+ Marshall (or whoever) for Crawford? They want Granderson, but not Crawford? I know Crawford plays leftfield, but you would think with his speed he would be fine in center (definitely better than Byrd or K-Fuk, IMHO), plus he brings a leadoff bat that can hit lefties & righties.

[ ]

Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 12:43 pm

I was thinking the same thing. McCann, Bradley and Jones back-back-back in the lineup would give a lot of opposing managers fits. The problem is that they're going to want to trade Lowe for him (if they'll take Bradley) and Lowe is owed a lot of money. He had a high BABIP last year, but his K rate dropped over 1K/9. I'd guess he'd probably have around a 4 ERA next year playing in front of the Cubs infield defense. If the Braves were to even the salary for the next two years, I'd probably do the trade. It would come back to bite us in the butt in 2012 though.

[ ]

Submitted by Sweet Lou on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 12:10 pm

At least in theory, this may not be too far fetched. Atlanta owes Derek Lowe $45 million over the next three years. The Cubs owe Bradley $21 million over the next two years. That's a difference of $24 million. Of course, the Cubs are likely going to have to pay another team a good chuck of change to take on Bradley. The rumor was that they would have to eat $16 million for Texas to consider a trade. So if you subtract whatever the Cubs will have to pay to get rid of Bradley from the difference between Bradley's and Lowe's contracts, it becomes much more workable. Oh yeah, and Atlanta would have to agree to a Bradley for Lowe trade.

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 12:34 pm

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2009/12/granderson-still-a-tiger.h… since it's Rogers I assume none if it is true
MLB sources indicate that the Tigers are asking for multiple major-league-ready players to move Granderson or right-hander Edwin Jackson. The Cubs, according to team sources, would love to fill their center-field vacancy with Granderson, but aren't willing to part with top prospect Starlin Castro, a 19-year-old shortstop.

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 12:46 pm

Jake Fox and Mike Fountainout are MLB ready... They can have Stevens too, I am feeling generous. Seriously, though, they need a SS, a CF, a 2B and a catcher, right? Depending on how strictly you apply the term "MLB ready" we have all those things, except a catcher.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 12:02 pm

that's 4 2-3 star/C prospects that aren't planned to compete for any jobs with the Cubs this spring. Atkins and Colvin I guess have a small shot... if they really like Colvin then maybe...I know Dambrowski is in love with radar gun readings like Hendry, so I think you need Jackson, Cashner or Dolis in there Barney or Lee, Jackson or Cashner, one of Castillo, Colvin, Flaherty seems a little more reasonable to me if I were the Tigers. They certainly have no reason to be desperate to move him this season, they can do this all again next year when he actually gets expensive.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 12:22 pm

they have Ordonez, Robertson and Willis coming off their books next year, they can be patient for something worthwhile. he's never been worth less than $14M by Fangraphs rudimentary value system and he's set to make $5.5, $8.25M and $10M with a $13M club option. He's gonna be cheap relative to his contributions and Tigers can certainly afford to be patient dealing him.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Fri, 12/04/2009 - 12:52 am

it's a half season worth, that's like thinking Jeff Baker is good at hitting after his August I would guess Jones would be a lot like Fukudome if he played a few full seasons out there, he could handle it, but you'd want someone better. but that's all kind of moot point, because he didn't play much CF in his career and everyone thinks of him as one of the whiny losers that tried to follow Sosa in RF. Had he and presumably played as well as he did in that half season the entire time, he would have been a more valuable player during his career.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Sat, 12/05/2009 - 12:37 am

Catching fly balls over a few months or a year could be explained by the randomness of a ball coming off a bat, some might just come right at you or you were better positioned at a luckier rate... general rule of thumb is a season worth of defensive stats is worth about 2 months of PA's... on a somewhat related note, a pretty good explanation of why all the advanced defensive metrics(although the article focuses on UZR) are problematic if use them in isolation, mgl makes an appearance in the comments to essentially say he's right.

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Sun, 12/06/2009 - 12:20 pm

I'm not sure I follow. Don't the 'advanced metrics' all just basically say "if a ball is hit here, on this trajectory you catch it"? Obviously there's some sample size things - like if there's only one line drive hit to a zone in and you happen to catch it, perhaps for one of the reasons you mention, that's going to look good. Have you got a link for your rule of thumb? It's not very intuitive, it's the exact opposite.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Players on the 40 can be recalled and be placed on the MLB Taxi Squad for one day, like for example if a club is unsure if a player might or might not be placed on the IL ("game time decision"). Like maybe Happ, for example. 

    Also, a player on the MLB Taxi Squad must be returned to his optional assignment the next day if he is not officially recalled to the 26-man roster. 

    The player is NOT paid at the MLB split rate and does NOT accrue MLB Service Time while he is on the Taxi Squad. Also, it is not considered to be an official recall / option back if he is not added to the 26-man roster. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Wesneski has not spent 15 days on optional assignment since he was optioned so he cannot be recalled unless he is replacing a player being placed on the IL or other MLB inactive list (Paternity, Bereavement / Family Medical, et al), a player who is traded, or a player who is claimed off waivers.

  • crunch (view)

    excited to see more power in the lineup.

    HOU going with 3 righty starters vs the cubs and their only lefty pen arm is hader.

    unless busch has a mystery injury, we should see busch+mervis working all 3 games.

  • fullykräusened (view)

    More than 50 years ago (I'm old), I was in the audience when my HS choir performed the whole thing. (It was a really elite choir and director.) That was my first exposure to the piece. You're right, Sonicwind75, there is a lot more to it than "O Fortuna," just like there's a lot more to Beethoven's Ninth than the Ode to Joy, etc. Much if it, as you say, is bawdy: "O! O! Totus florio! Iam amori virginali, totus ardeo!" Basically, "I'm really horny for these virgins!" And the guys in the choir adopted the "Skoal"- type greeting from the tavern scene: "Wafna!" 

  • crunch (view)

    i would have pause if the cubs had a pitching squeeze.   as it is, they have more guys than they have roster.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Maybe Brewer

    He'd be able to leave the Cubs. He's out of options. That would open up a 40man spot.

    I don't think Jed would do that.

  • crunch (view)

    brewer has done nothing to keep him on the big league roster...imagine that's 1 guy gone.

    yeah, it's only 2 appearances, but they were both unimpressive.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Yeah it is.....sorry......closers don't throw 89mph

    It would be unique for sure.

    But CP can't be HR susceptible

    That's what Alzolay has right now and that's what Kyle has no matter the situation.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Supposedly Happ said on a radio show he's good to go

    I hadn't read that anywhere from the usual accounts, so this could be off.

    If true, Canario goes down.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Hmmm. Maybe my idea of transitioning Hendricks into a closer role isn’t so crazy.

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