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

kcab si yaraC yrraH (That's "Harry Caray is back," spelled backwards)

Years before most of the English-speaking world was convinced it could do a passable Harry Caray impression, Jim Volkman was a regular on Chicago radio and had established himself as the master Harry mimic.

Well, Harry (Jim) is back now, at 1908worldchampions.com, where he recently started a game-by-game commentary on the Cubs season, with assistance from two other great voices from the Cubs past, who, like Caray, happen to be dead: Jack Brickhouse and Lou Boudreau.

Comments

From baseball prospectus' Postseason Odds Report. As I understand it, they simulate the season 1 million times every day to see how many times each team won/qualified/etc. The Cubs are given a 98.88866 percent chance of making the playoffs as of today, for example. If they simulate it a million times exactly, how in the world can they need five numbers to the right of the decimal point? Sorry, I guess this outs me as a math geek.

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In reply to by djchi

The answer to your question lies in their descriptions below the results: "Champions is how often, in percentage terms, this team won the championship of their division. Ties are not broken, but credited as 0.5 championships apiece (for a two-way tie), .333 apiece for a three-way tie, .25 for four-way, etc. This is why the final decimal place is not an error!"

http://espn.inside-edge.com/reportcardrosters.aspx?enc=CsNdTaN2SU4lzc+z… Perhaps most of you have already seen this, but the ESPN Inside Edge (free) has some pretty cool stats for each player on a player report card of sorts. For instance, 86% of Kerry Wood's 2 strike at-bats become outs. Lots of interesting percentage stats like that compared to league averages, and given letter grades. Interestingly no Cub batter is rated any higher than a B overall, and I think Wood is the only one on the entire team over B+.

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In reply to by WISCGRAD

Another interesting one... % runners faced who score. Cubs only have one pitcher who is above league average in this department. Howry many guesses do you need? A few other notes: * Some of the grades are likely to be fluid because A through F differs over only a few percent. * I'm not sure how the overall grade is computed, but if it gives equal weighting to all of those factors, then it's suspect. * The individual item grading is based on the assumption that certain actions are always desirable. For example, throwing strikes: while this is generally true, it doesn't take into consideration the value of a setup pitch outside the zone. I suppose there are lots of nits we could pick with this data, but it is very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

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In reply to by Rob Richardson

Thanks for posting. Stark does a great job manipulating his email to advance the debate .

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In reply to by Rob Richardson

Nice delusional Brewer fans there. Best is the Cardinal fan talking about "when Carpetner comes back"

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In reply to by jacos

You should reply to him and say something like, "yeah, bro, when Carpenter comes back it will be like making a major trade for a top-tier starting pitcher."

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In reply to by Rob Richardson

I agree that the Cubs have the best overall playoff rotation depth. But the D-backs still scare the heck out of me for a 5 game series where Webb will pitch 2 of 5. Doesn't give us any margin of error. It's all about game 1 in 5 game series, and I would say that Webb has the advantage over anyone in that game.

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In reply to by Rob Richardson

From article... Can't overlook Tampa Bay's Big Three -- Scott Kazmir, Matt Garza and James Shields... I love how everyone talks so matter-of-factly about how obvious it is that the Rays are so good this year. Let's get real about it for a minute... the Rays are defying the laws of physics and Kazmir, Garza, and Shields is not a rotation that warrants a first place ranking in front of the Yankees and Bosox. The Rays are rubbish that refuses to lose.

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In reply to by Ryno

"The Rays are rubbish that refuses to lose." The Cards are rubbish that refuses to lose. The Rays are a team of good athletes outperforming their career lines and winning tight ball games. Their roster isn't intimidating, but they aren't all scrubs either.

That guy does a wonderful Caray impression, but his material sucks. True, Harry would occasionally say the wrong name, but not every other sentence. He would also get it right occasionally, so it was obvious that he had made a mistake (rather than the Jim Rome-esque approach of intentionally renaming people). He also wouldn't have ever said "Ryne" Dempster. "Rick Dempster" or "Rick Dempsey", maybe. *shrug* Seems like this would be great if they would dial it back a bit.

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In reply to by nohit

You're definitely right about it being over the top, but I think that's what makes Volkman's take on Harry his own and some of the forced misnaming is pretty funny. In a recap of one of the Cubs/Reds games last week he referred to Johnny Cueto as Jose Cuervo, which Harry clearly would never have done in real life. Anyway, thanks for listening and offering the comment.

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In reply to by Chad

I've heard a lot of different people parody Harry over the years. Most of them just make me wince. This is the first guy I've heard who can do him convincingly enough to really fool me. But then he takes that mystique away by saying things that Harry wouldn't say. I understand that he's just trying to be funny, but every Harry joke has already been told a million times. I'd rather just hear more realism. It's probably just me, but I was disappointed, depsite this guy's mad impersonation skillz (and certainly props are due for those).

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In reply to by nohit

I have a buddy who does an awfully good Harry. The best component of my guy's impression is the same one Volkman gets right: remembering that Harry had a lower vocal register. For the life of me, I will never understand how Will Ferrell got over with that head-voice, breathy nonsense of his. It bore no relationship to the real Harry, to my ears; and yet his is the impression everyone rips off. This all makes me sound like a Harry devotee, when really my heart is along the Brickhouse/Boudreau/Lloyd axis. The impression of Brickhouse on Volkman's website needs work.

The Twins just got Eddie Guardado from the Rangers to help their bullpen down the stretch. Who did they have to give up for him? None other than the Twins Rookie League closer Mark Hamburger - you can't make this stuff up.

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In reply to by WISCGRAD

twins are disgusting...one of the worst organizations in baseball, imo. so many years they're in competition...so many years they get it done spending next to nothing...so many years they get to the trade deadline and DO NOTHING EXCEPT TOKEN PICKUPS. yes, they dont need/want to pick up someone they have to pay 15m the following year and they dont need/want to give up a ton of kids...but they constantly do...nothing. a team legacy full of blown opportunities (or a least a chance to better their opportunities).

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In reply to by crunch

On similar lines...it's mind-boggling to me that they let Johan Santana go this year, then inked Joe Nathan to a 4-year/$47 million contract. Nathan was signed for $6 million for 2008 before they renegotiated. They dealt Santana for a replaceable part for 2008 (Carlos Gomez, .256/.291/.348) and some down-the-road minor leaguers. Imagine this team with Johan Santana on it instead of Carlos Gomez. Spend part of what they committed to Nathan down the road on a CFer. And at the beginning of the year, they were counting on 600 AB's from Michael Cuddyer too. The Twins not trying to win this year in particular is shameful. Santana, Nathan, Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer is a good enough nucleus to take a crack at it.

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In reply to by djchi

a nice argument until you consider the fact that Santana was gonna ask the Twins for a contract 2-3 times the value of what Nathan got. They just couldn't afford that and hope to hold on to the other players you mentioned as nucleus.

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In reply to by 10man

I mean make a run in 2008. Santana would have gotten an arbitration contract this year, then would have left as a free agent at the end. They had a real shot to make a run this year. Now, by the time the guys they got for Santana are good enough to be major leaguers, Mauer/Morneau/Cuddyer will get expensive and be gone. This was the Twins' window year.

Schedule Check: Brewers 31 games 16 home/15 away 15 .500+/16 .500- Cubs: 32 games 13 home/19 away 26 .500+/6 .500- Cardinals: 30 games 15 home/15 away 21 .500+/9 .500- Based on schedule alone, we should have no problem holding off the Cards by a significant amount. But the Brewers have by far the easist September schedule of the 3 teams.

fluff... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/08/25/pitcher.toogoo… " NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player -- too good, it turns out. The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said." ...and more... btw, look how small his hands are in relation to the baseball to gain a little respect for a "40mph fastball".

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In reply to by crunch

I read that and it's sad really how adult politics get in the way of the kids having fun. If that boys parents were really concerned about letting him develop his "gift" then they should find a more competitive league for the boy to join so that he could be challenged more to get even better.

White Sox are finishing a suspended game today from April when the Sox and Orioles ended tied 3-3 after 11. Random question. Do the stats for this game including the final score count as an April game or August game? It's a pointless question, but I'm curious if the final score will be reflected in April when the game began, or August when the game finished?

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    LHP Blake Weiman appears to have been the last cut from the AAA Iowa roster. He is with the Tennessee group at Minor League Camp.

     

  • crunch (view)

    bruce bochy is hobbling rather badly for a guy who's had 2 hip replacements.  his gait is extremely wonky taking the lineup card to the ump.

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • 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.