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

Cubs Win At Something

The little LSU engine that could was defeated by the almighty Cubs Inc. today in their arbitration case. Theriot will take home a cool $2.6M instead of $3.4M in his final year as the Cubs shortstop and probably with the Cubs.

"I've known Ryan since his LSU days," Hendry said. "He's a good kid. He'll be an important part of the club this year. It's a matter of what side of the fence, business wise, you happen to be on right now. We'll get through it. Ryan Theriot's going to be playing on Opening Day here, and we need him to play well."

And Lou:

``Everything I've heard, he's a can't-miss kid. But this year, Ryan will be our shortstop,'' Piniella said. ``Remember, Castro is young, and there's nothing wrong with putting a good foundation under him at AAA.''

(H/t to Wrigleyville 23 for the find and formatting)

We'll see if that extra $800K is enough for the Cubs to bring in a reliever. There was some rumors by Bruce Levine if the Cubs won the case they might be able to afford Chan Ho Park, who is still looking for $3-4M.

Comments

They should have just split the middle. Yeah it's more than he deserves, but it's not like Hendry is real thrifty with money.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Theriot's value (i.e. salary) and production (made the routine plays at SS) were fine in 2007/2008 when the Cubs had enough offensive production coming from other spots in the lineup. If we had a GM with foresight, he would be looking to seriously find another team for Theriot to play for by mid summer. It appears Castro may be ready by then and has more offensive and defensive upside than Theriot will ever have. Unless a bottom third MLB team needs and everyday 2B or even SS, his future is a $750,000 to $1.25M backup middle infielder. Unless they form a high OBA 1-2 in the lineup/defensive keystone stars, I'm not sure how much of a 2B/SS upgrade that Castro/H. Lee would be.

It occurs to me that Ryan is a victim of his time. That 800K would be his right now if he had been born, oh, let's see...about 12 years earlier. Under the influence, he'd be at 25 HR's a year and slugging .700, and his locker would be right next to Slammin' Sammy. Yes, all that extra money we spent on watching McGuire, et. al., was well spent, eh, folks?

[ ]

In reply to by artskoe

OH MY GOD. Are you saying that some people benefited financially from the use of performance enhancing drugs during the 90s? And that some of those people were baseball players? Is that the implication here? Let's all us fans file a class action lawsuit against Sammy Sosa for delighting us so much that we bought tickets! Then we can give some of that cash to the scrappy, skinny guys that are screen surrogates on WGN.

http://www.baseballmusings.com/cgi-bin/LineupAnalysis.py?Player0=Therio… using the 1998-2002 method (no idea the difference) and CHONE 2010 projections: ideal lineup: Fukudome, Lee, Fontenot, Ramirez, Soto, Soriano, Byrd, Pitcher, Theriot 2nd best had Byrd and Fontenot flipped Putting Baker in:Fukudome, Lee, Byrd, Ramirez, Soto, Soriano, Baker, Pitcher, Theriot the 1959-2004 method (no idea): Fukudome, Lee, Byrd, Ramirez, Soto, Pitcher, Baker, Soriano, Theriot I used the composite 2009 numbers for Cubs pitchers.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

yeah, not sure where the pitcher batting 6th is a good idea, although I guess they only get up 2, maybe 3 times a game before being pinch-hit. A long time ago when Dusty was fucking up lineups every day and I cared, I read something that your best hitter should bat 2nd, not 3rd (worked for the Cubs with Ryno for awhile)...but don't recall the articles now or the reasoning.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

following your "best" hitter with fontenot or byrd is a great way for your "best" hitter to see something not worth swinging at. these kinds of projections that treat players as if they play in a single batter vs. pitcher vacuum are flawed right out of the gate.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

im just saying what was spit out by that process is flawed... i don't think byrd is horrible...i think people that thought j.jones was the worst thing since hitler won't be pleased with him, though. i don't think him or fontenot belong anywhere near the 3 slot. it's odd something had to churn stats to arrive at that decision. ...and this... "...Pitcher, Baker, Soriano, Theriot" i'm not touching that.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

The only problem, to me, with the ideal lineup is the pitcher/theriot thing at 8/9, but when Z plays that wouldn't bother me. I think the Brewers manager went with this logic but then realized that the impact to the 7th hitter wound up screwing up the spreadsheet math.

showing a 1969 game between Cubs and Phillies; Fergie vs. Rick Wise

college baseball on MLB Network? laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame. well, i guess it's cool as hell if you're a fan. *ting* *ting* *ting* *ting* *ting* *ting*

Does Starlin Castro not being in camp yet say something about the kid? His first invite to big league camp with people saying he's going to push Theriot. And he doesn't show up early like the majority of the other players.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Not so QUIET MAN: "Does Starlin Castro not being in camp yet say something...?" You have information on this? There is no evidence that Castro is not abiding by Fleito's wishes at all. If he has been playing basically the whole winter, and will be playing for the next seven months without a break - than I'd WANT him to have a little R&R if I was running things. I agree w/CRUNCH - "...and he did play the offseason in 2 leagues."

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

It may say that he is having visa issues. If he is always late to camp, I'd worry about it, but not being there early after having played for 4 teams over the previous 10 months is the definition of mountain of a molehill.

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

I saw Moises Alou on BBT Wednesday afternoon. He said the Cubs asked Castro to take more time off this winter, Castro asked Alou to talk to his contacts with the Cubs and ask if he could play more and not rest. Cubs said no. Based on that, I'd imagine Castro's absence is not because he doesn't want to be there.

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

Or that Starlin Castro isn't even remotely ready for the big leagues and is young enough and needs the minor league seasoning while we already have a perfectly acceptable SS. In other words, only a dumb ass franchise with no clue how to develop talent would rush him to the majors this season only to watch him fall flat on his face. So maybe he will replace Theriot, and we can trade his worthless ass just like Pie for nothing. All for the sole purpose of rushing a prospect because people don't like Theriot. Some times you just got to let them develop so they won't be eaten alive in the majors.

The Cubs' team may be quite different in 2011. In addition to a replacement for Theriot at shortstop, the Cubs may need to replace Ted Lilly, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez. Ted Lilly and Derrek Lee will be free agents after then 2010 season and and Aramis Ramirez could opt out of the last year of his contract and become a free agent after the 2010 season. Even if Lilly, Lee and Ramirez are re-signed, their ages and injury histories make it unlikely that they will all be productive players in 2011 and beyond. I used Baseball Reference to identify players with comparable statistics through the same age. Then I examined how productive the comparable players were in future years. Derrek Lee will be age 34 during the 2010 season. He has experienced neck and back problems since 2006. Three comparable hitters through their age 33 seasons are Kent Hrebek, Fred McGriff and Will Clark. Hrebek played one final season at age 34 in 1994, playing 81 games with 53 RBI’s. McGriff was productive through age 38 during the 2002 season when he played for the Cubs. Will Clark had a fine season in 1998 at age 34 with 102 RBI’s. In 1999, he played in only 71 games with 29 RBI’s. His last season was 2000, when he had 70 RBI’s in 130 games. Aramis Ramirez will be age 32 during the 2010 season. In 2009, he had a reoccurrence of shoulder problems. Three comparable hitters through their age 31 seasons are Scott Rolen, Greg Luzinski and Gary Sheffield. At age 32 in 2007, Rolen had 58 RBI’s in 112 games. Subsequently he had 50 RBI’s in 115 games in 2008 and 67 RBI’s in 128 games in 2009. Luzinski had 95 RBI’s in 1983 at age 32 and 58 RBI’s in his final season at age 33. Sheffield was very productive through 2005 when he had 123 RBI’s at age 36. Ted Lilly will be age 34 during the 2010 season. He is recovering from 2009 knee and labrum arthroscopic surgeries. Last year, at age 33, Lilly was 12-9 with a 3.10 ERA in 27 starts. Comparable starting pitchers through their age 33 seasons are Kevin Tapani and Shane Reynolds. In 1997 at age 33, Tapani was 9-3 in 13 starts for the Cubs with an ERA of 3.39. At age 34, his ERA increased to 4.85, but he was 19-9 in 34 starts. At age 35, he was 6-12 in 23 starts with an ERA of 4.83. At age 36, he was 8-12 in 30 starts with an ERA of 5.01. In his final season at age 37, he was 9-14 in 29 starts with an ERA of 4.49. At age 33 in 2001, Shane Reynolds was 14-11 in 28 starts with an ERA of 4.34. At age 34, he was 3-6 in 13 starts with an ERA of 4.86. At age 35, he was 11-9 in 29 starts with an ERA of 5.43. In his final season at age 36, he was 0-1 in one start with an ERA of 4.50. Will Derrek Lee be productive through age 38 like Fred McGriff, or will he decline more rapidly like Kent Hrebek and Will Clark? Will Aramis Ramirez be productive through age 36 like Gary Sheffield or decline more rapidly like Greg Luzinzki or Scott Rolen? Will Ted Lilly make 29 starts at age 37 like Kevin Tapani or will he decline more rapidly like Shane Reynolds? I think it is unlikely that Lee, Ramirez and Lilly will all be productive in 2011 and beyond.

[ ]

In reply to by Rick- Houston TX

that's great info..thanks. one of the big worries with the team in 2010 is their age, at least for me. one thing I'll say is that BR.com ref index isn't as good as the BP one imho. Top 6 BP Comps: Lee: J. Torre, J. Olerud, E. Karros, B. Watson, F. McGriff, J. Adcock Ramirez: M. Lowell, D. Money, B. Robinson, S. Bando, B. Melton, G. Gaetti Lilly: F. Bannister, J. Koosman, Gary Peters, Chris Short, George Brunet, R. Guidry

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.