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

The I-Cubs Have Hit a Sandberg; Not Much Else

Whenever the Iowa Cubs finally win a game they will be the last team in the Paciifc Coast League to do so in 2010.

This afternoon they dropped their 4th straight to Nashville, 4-2, on a sunny blustery day in Des Moines. The team managed only eight runs while being swept by the Brewer wannabes.

The flags were waving like pretty girls on parade floats all day and Jason Dubois rode the wind way out of the ballpark into the parking lot beyond the leftfield wall to give the I-Cubs a 1-0 lead in the 2nd. It was his 70th career homer for the team, a total which has him second on the club's all-time career list. The only thing worse than being second on a minor league team's career HR chart is being first. Dubois needs 21 more to pass the forgettable Joe Hicks. Later in the game he made a tumbling catch in left, looking like a fleeing gunshot victim as he made the play to end the top of the 4th before he, naturally, led off the bottom.

Micah Hoffpauir made a similar play in RF that became a sacrifice fly and tied the game in the top of the 3rd.

Hoffpauir was also involved in a play that offered a chance to see the team's manager, #23, do some managing.

Perhaps being overly aggressive in an effort to shake the team's dormant offense awake, Sandberg eagerly beckoned the slow-footed Hoffpauir to 3rd in an attempt to stretch a run-scoring double into a triple with two outs in the home half of the 3rd. He was out on a close play to end the inning.

The other obvious button Ryno pushed worked better. His hit & run call in the 2nd resulted in a stolen base for an otherwise dead to rights Bryan LaHair when Marquez Smith whiffed at the pitch and Nashville catcher Ben Johnson threw the ball into center field, but that was as far as LaHair got.

Casey Coleman got the start on account of Ted Lilly's aching back and looked solid. It took him only 78 pitches to log six innings. Only two of the three runs he allowed were earned and he walked nobody while fanning four, three of them looking on a nice breaking pitch.

Sandberg patiently signed autographs before the game until 1:00 with a 1:05 start scheduled. It looked like a majority of the fans queued up for a signature were old enough to remember him from his playing days. He still looks in fighting trim in his uniform.

Most of my attendance was from the left field corner which is where the wind was blowing everything. The Dubois homer slalomed around the foul pole on its way to Kenmore, er, the parking lot, and both the hot dog & t-shirt bazookas recorded casualties in our picnic seating area. The hot dog gun bounced one off the back wall and took out a guy's brand new beer and a couple frames later a t-shirt made a direct hit on a tub of popcorn. It takes such measures to draw even momentary attention to the game itself. Such is the investment in winning and losing at the minor league level.

Next in town are the Memphis [F]Redbirds and our old friend Rich Hill, who used to do some of his best work at this ballpark, is slated to pitch on Thursday afternoon. I'll have to pass on account of work, but if Lilly actually does pitch on Wednesday night I'll try to be there.

Comments

I hope management reads that quote. i would rather see a solid prospect than Sori 4 x a week, plus Nady. What on earth will Ricketts do with this contract? It is strangulating.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

there's not much to do with the contract right now besides DFA him and that has a veeeeeery small chance of happening. even if he's slumping his contract size and length warrants playing time until he's showing he's in an epic slump. given his play in LF it seems he's the 1st baseman of the future for the cubs, but i haven't heard a word of him even playing there in any practice or spring workouts. plus, i doubt they're looking to shift dlee unless they're out of it or they can somehow work some magic epic trade that would balance things out early and still leave the cubs competitive.

I took the liberty as a STH to write Tom Ricketts today saying in essence that while I appreciate the Bison Burgers, new facilities, the PNC Rich-Man's club, and new paint, if he were to survey all STHs, the vast majority would opt for a talented bullpen addition (see Matt Capps and Chan Ho Park) and still just pee in the old trough. It is about winning. I have been sold the "Great Tradition of Wrigley Field" for 30 years! In checking Bruce Levine's blog today, he said the following - "Rickets and his family are excited about the April 12 opener at Wrigley, but a friendly reminder to the group: Don’t forget about adding a player or two in the bullpen if you want to see the grand old ballpark dressed up for postseason.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

Don’t forget about adding a player or two in the bullpen if you want to see the grand old ballpark dressed up for postseason. Yep, that'll do it. I would be okay with spending money on the park if it were in areas that might actually allow the Cubs to play there longer, not making crowded public bathrooms slightly fancier. I would've liked to see the Cubs get Capps, though, so I'm with you there.

man alive. this team is shaping up as the kind that makes me want to stick my head in the sand for the season. As Crash Davis would say, they can't hit water if they fell out of a fucking boat.

A reason to smile: Milton Bradley's hitting .048. Bradley for Silva = the steal of the decade (which decade, I'm not exactly sure. Is 2010 the last year of the 00's or the first year of the '10s?) But, oh, baby, it would have been a scene in RF tomorrow if Uncle Milty had come home from the road trip hitting under .050, then blamed it all on Chicago. Still, props to Milt -- fleecing Hendry for $30 million by batting his eyelashes was a vey impressive feat.

I think a lot of Cubs fans, though pretty alarmed by the length of Soriano's contract, were pretty happy with the acquisition at the time. It was a gamble that contributed to 97 wins one year. Then came the playoff disaster. Following of course, the one before that. When that second one happened, I just sort of went, "uh-oh" and have just been shrugging my shoulders ever since. It was during that second playoff that I noticed that Soriano really just can't hit breaking stuff, especially sliders. I know, I'm a little slow. This talk about Soriano being the first baseman of the future is nonsense. Can you imagine him scooping shit out of the dirt? Stabbing line drives in the middle of one of his bounces? Hitting a slider? This albatross of a contract is not going to end well no matter what, but it is beginning to look like it may end badly sooner than we thought. As mentioned by another poster, he's completely untradeable, to anyone for anyone, and will become more so as his career continues its death spiral. The slider he hit for a homer the other day wasn't a slider. It was an attempted slider and it doesn't count. I guess we can hope he'll keep finding a way to connect on some mistake pitches but I have a strong gut feeling this guy's career is about over. The scary thing is that there really isn't anyone waiting around to take his place. I suppose they could try Colvin but as much as like his swing he's about as unproven as you can get. I liked Hee Seop Choi, too, and look what that got me. The bottom line is that the bottom half of Hendry's tenure will be a disaster unless Lee, Ramirez, and, unfortunately, even Soriano step up and start earning their money. Ugh.

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

Unless Dh rule comes in he's moving to 1b. My scenerio is he the opening day 1b in 2011. He sucks and at the end of the years Cubs try to pawn him off to an AL team and eat half the contract, which at that point would be a $ 30 million shit sandwich over 3 years.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.

  • videographer (view)

    AZ Phil, speaking of Jordan Wicks having better command when he tires a bit, I remember reading about Dennis Lamp 40 years ago and his sinker that was better after 3 or 4 innings when he would tire a bit and get more sink with a little less speed on the pitch.  The key for Lamp was getting to the 4th inning.