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

When Stats Add Up to Poetry

I haven’t read too much John Updike. And I never saw Ted Williams play ball live, even on television. But honest to God, Updike’s famous essay on Williams’ last game [“Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu”] is on my list of favorite things. I already have a recorded version on CD which I listen to occasionally just as I re-watch “Hoosiers” every now and again as an antidote for creeping cynicism. And now, thanks to the Library of America, I have it bound in hardback too. I regard it instantly as a prized possession, a piece of me the heirs shall have to fight over in my aftermath. Why do I value it so? Because it marries a couple that were meant for each other and each of whom mean a lot to me - baseball and writing.

Updike was no baseball fan. But he saw the essence of the game’s appeal more clearly than just about all of the game’s most ardent followers are able to and articulated it. His insights are there for the taking in his reflections on the very last at bat in the career of the enigmatic Teddy Ballgame.

This newly minted edition is prefaced with some background and context about the author which he himself penned just a few months before his death last year. Also included is an afterword fashioned in part from the obituary Updike wrote of Williams for the New York Times when the latter died in 2002.

Of all the praise lavished upon the essay and its author, perhaps none is greater than to note that Williams himself, upon reading it, asked Updike to write his biography, an invitation that was declined despite the flattery of it. That may have been the only time the press-shy Williams ever asked anyone to write anything about him.

The occasion for this little publishing gem is the 50th anniversary later this year of the game and the player that inspired the essay and the author.

Put it this way. Once you’ve read “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu,” if anyone ever asks you why you love baseball, just point to it and tell them, “Updike said it best…”

 

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Not the fans' fault, but definitely the M's and especially their GM are to blame. Acquiring him is like burning your hand on the stove after watching 6 or 7 people do it first. He was ejected at least twice during ST and a week in already has flipped off fans on the road. If Silva doesn't throw another pitch for the Cubs I consider this a successful trade.

Thanks Mike, I will be buying. I was born in 1970 but the stories my father told me and the stats about Williams put him right behind Ruth as my favorite and best ball player.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/2154939,CST-SPT-cside13.ar… Lou getting impatient, so Marshall now going to get 8th innings...
''Marshall is a real nice option for us in the eighth inning,'' said Piniella, who watched rookie right-hander Esmailin Caridad and veteran John Grabow struggle in the eighth much of the first week. ''We can use him that way. He's throwing the ball as well as [anyone] we have in the bullpen.''
Russell getting upgraded too...
Russell, who pitched another scoreless inning in Monday's home opener, has stayed away from the walks that have plagued others in the pen. ''We've been holding him back a little bit,'' Piniella said of the son of former All-Star pitcher Jeff Russell. ''He's throwing the ball well. So we're going to give him an opportunity, too.''
but Lou's got that stubborn streak, too (who is chuck?)...
''We've relied basically on what we thought would be our shorter people [Caridad and Grabow] the first week. Those were the plans we had coming out of spring training. And certainly you don't chuck them after a few days. You stay with it.

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

That last quote is actually one of the more reasonable things I've heard Lou say. Who goes down when Gray is ready to contribute? Who goes down when Lilly is back in the rotation? Does Gorzo go to the pen, or does Silva? These are the questions I have right now. You kind of have to stick with Grabow and Caridad for at least another week (not necessarily in the 8th, but you've got to pitch them). Berg, Samardzija, and Russell (because of the glut of lefties) have to be the first on the bubble when we need room on the active roster, right? I wish Ninja could locate. His splitter was all over the place yesterday, and he's not exactly precise with the fastball.

david cone on MLB Network dismissing pitch counts on pitchers who are established...he brought up a game he threw 160 pitches in april once. yow...

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

The hell with rotator cuff tears, labrum tears, ulnar collateral ligament tears. 160 pitches/outing correlates with getting an aneurysm of the subclavian artery!
Date: 05-11-1996, Saturday NEW YORK -- David Cone has cleared the first obstacle in overcoming an aneurysm in his upper right arm. The Yankees right-hander underwent successful surgery Friday morning at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. The doctors who performed the procedure said Cone should be able to pitch again, but refused to speculate on whether he would be able to return …
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-22508027.html

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=372636
A Cubs source says Soriano has been put on notice that he must show something of value at the plate and in the field soon.
~snip~
Piniella apparently intends to field the best team possible - veterans be darned - knowing this could be his final season.
believe it when I see it...

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

if he goes 3 for 4 tomorrow he adds 75 points to his average. g'luck dawg...6 starts in. i also notice the section in that article about the sport of boo'ing...the new wrigley field tradition for anyone not immediately doing everything right. also... "Top of the seventh in center field, a few rows in front of the scoreboard, one guy in a Santo jersey throwing absolute haymakers over a security guard at a guy in a 17 jersey. Several patrons were escorted from the yard." yeah...bleacher "creatures"...where the game is that other thing going on at the park. also...also... "Lou Piniella, when asked if the Ricketts family helped spur the Cubs to victory Monday: "Well, I don't think they got any basehits."" bwhahah. awesome.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Ryno, I think you're misidentifying the source of the pressure to play Soriano. The Cubs' front office and a very high percentage of fans would love to be rid of that blight. I mean, the guy can't catch a moving baseball. What did he, miss three easy catches on Saturday and Sunday? A large number of fans have kids in little league who can do better. The problem is that they owe him $90 million. They'd like to trade him and get back some of it. Even if they pay 2/3rds of what's left of his contract, they save thirty million. I think they would take that deal in a minute, and swallow $60 million. Sixty million dollars! My recollection is that the Zell-Ricketts deal got held up for months over fifty million. But to trade him at all, first they have to prop him up and lay on the lipstick. It's not that the fans want to see Soriano, they don't.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

And to further confuse the situation (potentially), I don't see Lou and Hendry necessarily being treated similarly. If Ricketts decides to re-sign Lou, I assume Lou would want a 2-3 year deal so "in again would be in for a while". Ricketts will let Hendry (I think) finish out the year no matter what and may keep him around one more year for stability's sake. I see Hendry having a longer leash, mostly because (I think) he doesn't come up for a new contract first.

[ ]

In reply to by Jackstraw

bah... Hendry has repeatedly said if he's the GM, he wants Lou as his manager. If Hendry goes, Ricketts will hire a new GM and let him make the decision on the manager. By that point, I'm sure Lou will retire not wanting to deal with it. as for Lou staying past this year, it's up to him, but it does seem like this is his last go-around.

http://vimeo.com/10868478 said he never felt like Mr. Cub while playing for the Cubs, not until he was inducted into HOF...intriguing stuff. day games were a problem, but not because of the heat, but because they didn't eat lunch.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

That interview with Ernie Banks was interesting. In Ernie's day, racism was easy to spot. It was blatant and obvious. Today, it's much more subtle. In fact, it's not always clear if a given action or situation is racist. That brings me back to Orlando Hudson's charge that Jermaine Dye doesn't have a contract because he's black. To me, it seems like Dye doesn't have a contract because 1) he's older and his defense is bad, and 2) he has turned down 2-3 contracts that would have paid him multiple millions of dollars to play in 2010. I don't see a racist angle to the story. And I guess that's the point. A charge of racism is made in situations where seemingly there is no racism at all. Does it seem like there is no racism because I am blind to it or is there truly no racism involved?

[ ]

In reply to by Sweet Lou

hudson just seems bitter cause he's been strung along on one-year deals the last 2 years when he was expecting a multi-year deal. of course, I have no idea why he's not getting a multi-year deal. are there a lot of white, 35+ right-handed hitting defensively-challenged corner outfielders that got jobs over the last few offseasons over the Sheffield's and Dye's of the world? And as mentioned, pretty sure I read that Dye was the Cubs first choice for 4th OF'er over Nady.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I completely agree with what you are saying. Dye seems to me like a guy who doesn't have a job because he thinks his current skill set is worth more than the market is willing to pay. But when the racism charge is made, it just makes me stop and examine my own beliefs and assumptions. Because I tend to take racism very seriously, it really bothers me when the race card is played in situations where no racism exists. The only problem is, it's sometimes tough to tell when there's racism and when there's not.

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.