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.

[ ]

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+.

[ ]

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.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

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

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

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

[ ]

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."

[ ]

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.

[ ]

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.

[ ]

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.

[ ]

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.

[ ]

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).

[ ]

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)

    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.