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

Your 2010 Cubs: What To Expect

Hello, everyone! I'm Lizzy: Native Virginian, devoted Cubs fan, and author of a blog called The Fair Base Ballist. I was supposed to make a guest post here when Rob G. was on vacation, but technical difficulties prevented my doing so. I spent a good chunk of time hammering out individual player projections for 2010, and Rob has been kind enough to let me go ahead and post them. I hope you'll enjoy, and please contribute your own ideas to mine (especially for the mystery bench player who is likely to be announced 5 minutes after I publish this. I have omitted the 4 candidates for brevity's sake.)

Without further fanfare, your 2010 Chicago Cubs previews. They are all 100% serious.

 

Carlos Zambrano: Big Z is going into the 2010 season with an improved physique and attitude. I say he tallies 4 homers before the All Star break and starts to take up knitting.

Ted Lilly: Will hit a home run this season... possibly his first game back. BELIEVE IT.

Ryan Dempster: 14-7, 3.69 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 19 QS, 190 K, 206.2 IP, 24 QP (Quality Pranks,) 13 NSQP (Not-So Quality Pranks.)

Randy Wells: Will pick a road alias based on a Will Ferrell character and think he's soo-ooo clever for it.

 

Tom Gorzelanny: The slack jawed southpaw will sneak undetected into Wrigley several times in the middle of the night to catch lightning bugs.

Carlos Silva: I'm not going to name any names, but certain Cubs beat reporters are already looking forward to writing pieces on Carlos' hitting under the headline “Silva Slugger.”

 

Jeff Samardzija: The Shark will fall in love with a charming south-side shopkeeper who knows nothing about baseball. This will inadvertently put his career on the right track. Ah, the power of love!

Sean Marshall: Write this down: On August 17th Randy Wells will eat some bad pasta primavera at a sketchy San Diego bistro (he will have heard that the chef there was reputable, a sad bit of misinformation.) Violently ill on August 18th, Randy will be unable to make his scheduled start. Sean Marshall, unsurprisingly, is the last minute replacement. He will take a no-hitter into the 8th inning. With 2 outs, he will lose the bid on a blasted infield single to stupid Will Venable. He'll still end up with a 2-hit shutout.

Carlos Marmol: Here's your daily dose of optimism, courtesy of Dr. Liz: Not only will Marmol hold down the closer position for the entire 2010 season, he will be the second best closer in our division and we'll all be angry in July when he isn't selected as an All Star.

John Grabow: Will watch “Memento” and get all weirded out, because he's John G., too!

Esmailin Caridad: That smile will take him far.

Justin Berg: May we please call Justin “Pika-Cheeks” for obvious reasons?

 

Geovany Soto: Y'know, I think, y'know, that's Geo's gonna have a much better, y'know, year this year. Because, y'know, he lost all that, y'know, weight, and just seems really motivated, y'know?

Koyie Hill: At one point in '09, video footage surfaced of Koyie standing atop Wrigley's scoreboard and tossing off frisbees. Remember that? Well, stay tuned, 'cause this year Koyie's gonna try the same thing with bowling balls!

Derrek Lee: Will continue to make striking out look good.

Mike Fontenot: Font and Z will go on being special buddies.

Jeff Baker: Would rather not make a prediction as it might turn out to be wrong.

Ryan Theriot: Things will get awkward between The Riot and several of his teammates as they catch him interviewing himself in the bathroom mirror multiple times.

Aramis Ramirez: I can't say what I'm thinking or I'll jinx it.

Alfonso Soriano: In the time that Soriano spends on the DL this season, he will learn to play the glass harmonica and release his own self-titled album. All profits will go toward the preservation of endangered sea turtles.

 

Marlon Byrd: Will smile, and make merry, and win over the masses whether he performs well or not. Because Marlon has won me over already, I am thoroughly convinced he's gonna be awesome.

 

Kosuke Fukudome: Kosuke will hold a press conference in mid-May and divulge that his young son suffers from an extremely rare disease which causes his face to resemble that of a cute animated bear.

Xavier Nady: I will doodle his name all over everything for as long as he is donning Cubby blue.

Tyler Colvin: With any luck, Mr. Colvin will prove that his spring performance has not been a fluke, and none of us will feel too bad when Soriano inevitably pulls, strains, sprains, and/or fractures various parts of his body.

*Starlin Castro: Although he was raised in the Dominican Republic, you may not know that Starlin was actually born on the “Lost” island... under a rainbow... on Christmas. He is endowed with a bat of silver, a glove of gold, the mind of a wizard, and the heart of a Newfoundland puppy. He will descend upon Chicago like an enormous trophy-shaped cloud on a scorching summer day. He will win you over with a flash of his bat, leather, and boyish smile. Within 2 weeks of his debut, Baseball Tonight will quit selecting the day's top Web Gems (what's the point when all 10 belong to the same player?) Over the second half, Starlin will become the owner of a 70-game hit streak and a .464 batting average. A few journalists will question the naturalness of these feats, but Starlin will click his heels together 3 times and they'll all vanish into thin air. If, after all this, you are one of Starlin's few remaining doubters, he will fly to your home on the back of a magical rocking-horse and sprinkle you with an enchanted mixture of star dust and goat ash while you're sleeping.

By 2020, he shall have a World Series ring for each finger, 10 MVP awards, and a lovely alcove reserved for him in the Hall of Fame. He will play every year at the league minimum salary, continually rejecting colossal pay-days, because he just wants to play for the love of the game. When Starlin's career finally concludes, his jersey number will be universally retired (Not just from baseball, but from all mathematics.)

 



Comments

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

as long as you don't take it personally and as an attack on your intelligence by labeling someone a sub-human incapable of understanding humor it's all good. i know my brand of humor wouldn't play out for everyone and i don't think my critics just "don't get it" because they incapable of it. you can "get it" and still think it's a pile of aggro ego driven crap that's not funny...kinda like some people find artie lange funny...

"Silva Slugger"...nice. well-done all around and thanks for the guest post. not sure why everyone else is so serious today...maybe I need to bring up Fox News again.

@ The E-Man: I wasted 3 HOURS of my life writing it. Ha Ha! I win/lose! @ Charlie: Actually, as far as Theriot goes, I probably should have considered the fact that it's entirely possible that has *already* happened. Thanks to everyone for the feedback. :)

Excellent job, Elizabeth K! I loved how you finished it up with Starlin Castro (may he live forever). I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I loved this piece before we got a glass harmonica reference (saw one in a museum a few months ago and was blown away--I'd buy Sori's album!). Anyway, this one went to 11!

Jeff Samardzija Frustrated by his inability to master a breaking pitch and fatefully being placed next to Koyie Hill's locker, Samardzija in inspired to chop off two fingers on his right hand Mordecai Brown style...takes over closer duties by August. Jeff Baker released May 1, 2010 Carlos Silva first MLB player to be DL'd for obesity

http://milb.scout.com/2/958151.html Vitters is 2nd behind Alvarez
Vitters is a contact hitter that has plus power and high average potential. While he won’t draw many walks and will swing outside the zone, getting himself out, Vitters is a pure hitter that will do damage in the middle of a lineup. He has tremendous baseball instincts and innate ability but struggles putting learned knowledge into application. His progress defensively has been slow, and it is possible that Vitters ends up in the outfield.

We dodged a dud. Goodbye Kevin Millar, AKA "Anthony Friese" "Carlos Ahearn" "Ivan Jimenez". "Kyle Morgan" "Great Johnson" "Dave Herman" and "Kane Matthews." Your time is up. You wore Cubbie Blue, but you'll never be a Cub.

I like how we've re-imaged this team, to one with a lack of patience and poor defense. We may lose a lot, but at least it will be quick and sloppy, just the way most guys like it.

My favorite guest post in a while. TCR's great but it's always needed a woman's touch. I look forward to reading more of Lizzy's stuff.

I realize "bubbly" is misogynist-speak, but that's just what this post is... bubbly. But bubbly is not entirely a bad thing after what's happened in the "Colvin 4-hit" post comments, mind you.

last COL ST game at High Corbett field televised on MLB TV live right now. it's a nice field even if it's almost all in the sun and the facilities are "meh"...and they have to share a parking lot complex with a zoo amongst other buildings. the backdrop/view over the RF/CF is really nice. goodbye pro baseball in Tucson...

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

#1, the fans... wtf? Dumb.

off Gorzelanny 3-2 in the 6th, at least no walks by Gorzelanny

gives Cubs the lead with a 2-run HR in 8th, Marmol a scoreless inning with no K's but a walk.

I think that this is an interesting social experiment. If the byline had been, like Ralph, I bet the comment count would have been a little smaller.

mitch williams on MLB Tonight Live was doing a demo on throwing a spitball and blatently admitted he'd use it when his fastball wasn't having a good night. it was pretty matter-of-fact and not a joke/laugh thing. my personal favorite was john rocker's arm sweat ball wetting method which was pre-gripped on the bottom while he shook sweat down his arm to his grip fingers. they didn't touch on that one, though. don't think rocker's admitted to it. don't think people wanna talk about him much, either.

hehe...yeterday's catcher for the A's game...all 9 innings... jake fox. they REALLY want a reason to keep him on the big league roster.

lou on cubs 30/30 (mlb network)...paraphrased "we have a young bullpen" "need fuku/sori to drive in more runs" "need marmol to be closer-quality" "less injuries" ...seems to love how colvin is hitting the ball (he went non-monotone)

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • 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.

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  • 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...