Cubs MLB Roster

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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 

 



 

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There's Ugly and Then There's Cub-Ugly: Mets 6, Cubs 1

Here's the ugly box score, and here are some details...

The good: Randy Wells allowed just one scratch run over six innings, yielding six singles and a couple walks while fanning five. At the plate, Wells delivered two singles of his own, one of which figured in the mini rally that netted the Cubs' only run of the game. Also, Marlon Byrd, moved up to the leadoff spot in Lou Piniella's new-look batting order against southpaws, collected three hits and the only Chicago RBI of the night.

The bad: Where to begin?

Cub hitters went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and blew a chance to salt the game away before it would have ever had a chance to get away. The 5th inning was especially galling, as the Cubs had men at first and third with Lee, Nady, and Ramirez due up and failed to score. (Ramirez, by the way, went 0-for-4, personally stranded four runners, and is now hitting .157.) In all, the Cubs left 12 men on base.

And of course no Cub fail in 2010 would be complete without some imprint from the bullpen. In tonight's installment, the relief staff took over the game from Wells in the seventh and promptly allowed the Mets five runs, their biggest offensive inning of the season.

James Russell, unscored upon before tonight, served up a two-run, go-ahead homer to Angel Pagan; Jeff Samardzija allowed a walk, a double off the base of the left-field wall by Jason Bay, and a smash by Jeff Francouer that resulted in an error by Aramis Ramirez; and even Sean Marshall got into the act by allowing a run-scoring single to heralded Mets rookie Ike Davis and tossing a wild pitch that accounted for the fifth and final Mets run in the inning.

Lastly, I heard the radio account of, but did not see, Alfonso Soriano's second-inning double. Pat Hughes and Keith Moreland (especially Moreland) were unequivocal in saying that the only reason Soriano didn't end up with a triple on the play was that he lingered at home plate to admire what he assumed was a home run.

I guess as infrequently as Soriano hits the long ball these days, he must figure he needs to get in the self-admiration whenever he can.

Comments

guess as infrequently as Soriano hits the long ball these days, he must figure he needs to get in the self-admiration whenever he can. --- Ah fond(?) memories, I remember the 2004 version of Sammy Sosa admiring a few blasts that hit high off the wall that ended up being singles he admired very much.

" In tonight's installment, the relief staff took over the game..." This is really, pathetically funny. I have stated even during ST, that I believe A-Ram is injured, or just not 100% recovered from his injury last year. Barring a one-year rental for next year, we really do not have a viable alternative at his position until Josh Vitters is ready to play (IF he is ready). If I was GM in 2011, I would not re-sign A-Ram, but then again I would not have the choice b/c no other team will give him what the Cubs are on the hook for at HIS OPTION. FUCK YOU JIM HENDRY!

If this is Year 1, one shudders at the thought of what Year 2 might bring. - Drafting more Notre Dame football players? - Signing more impotent free-agent outfielders? - Really believing that "the bullpen will sort itself out" is a successful strategy? This feels like it's going be to ugly for a long time.

The Samardzija delusion has to end. The guy was never better than mediocre in his short minor league career and is obviously in way over his head. I'd be beyond annoyed if I was any of 10 other guys in AAA or AA who has put up better numbers over a longer time frame than Samardzija. The organization's promotion of this guy is a joke and the extreme denial exhibited by Hendry in this case is almost pathological. Positives on the farm: Cashner another excellent start: 7 IP, 2H, 1R, 1BB, 5K. Jay Jackson at Iowa was dominant: 8 IP 2H, 0R, 1BB, 4K (only 86 pitches). Lilly tossed a great game as well in Peoria: 7IP 3H 1R 1BB 9K. Two hits again for Castro (now raking at .370 with three triples and two two-baggers in his first 10 games). Brett Jackson 4 for 8 in a twin-bill, including a triple and three knocked in.

Samardzjia needs to go away. Russell i like what he brings but if a lefty goes to bullpen (Gorzo) russell will be sent down. Ramirez looks lighter to me does not look the same. Lou is not giving Colvin his 3 starts a week he needs consistent work. Is there a NFL team that owns wide outs rights?

The Cubs should be using Samardzija in red zone situations. With his height he can out jump most corners. But I'm still pissed that Hendry got rid of DeRosa who was, of course, the Cubs' best QB. This is no way to run a football team.

There's Ugly on occasion, and then there's Ugly all the time. Russell's performance last night, while utterly infuriating, reeks of rookie-ness...up 0-2, come too far inside, hit (THE F'ing) leadoff hitter...pay too much attention to him, get lit up. One can only hope he learns from it. But it's his first remarkably aggravating appearance in front of Lou. Samardzija was bad for the third time in four appearances this year. On top of the bad appearances last year. My guess is Lou is tired-er of Samardzija than he is of Russell. Of course, maybe I'm just projecting.

I noticed that Fonzie's doing his hop in the OF again - thought he was doing away with that crap, you know, in the attempt to actually field his position. Old habits die hard, apparently - he better get used to the boos at Wrigley if he keep that schtick up.

[ ]

In reply to by Dmac

From the Tribune: Another problem is the daily saga of Alfonso Soriano, who brought back the hop when catching fly balls that he said over the weekend he had ditched, and also stood at the plate admiring a long fly ball in the second inning. He wound up with a double but could've had a triple if he had run out of the box. Soriano wound up stranded at third. "He probably thought it was a home run, didn't he?" Piniella said. "This is a big ballpark. Yeah." Doesn't that anger Piniella? "I'm going to talk to him," he said. Soriano said he "hit it very good," and realized he had to run after a few steps out of the box. "The more important thing was I made a very good swing at that ball," he said, adding he didn't think he could've had a triple. Soriano also conceded he did the hop to "feel comfortable" in the field.

"What kind of trade value does Soriano have? Surely some team would like to have him. I wonder how much of that massive contract the Cubs would have to eat." Leverage does not come to mind from a Cubs Management perspective.

Well Okay I will add that right after spring training was over I did say that this team is crap. Nothing up the middle, no defense to speak of, Soto obviously was a one year wonder (I'd rather see Hill everyday right now). Although, Soto does have great eyebrows if he can keep them up. Bring up castro, move Theriot to his rightful spot at 2b or the bench, shore up the damn defense. Eat Sori's contract since it is already eating the team. The Ricketts are too much like the Wrigleys for my liking. Shall I go on? This is gonna be a good season for Rob's blog. The bitching and moaning should bring in at least one new solid advertiser.

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.