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

Game Preview: Cubs (19-23) @ Rangers (24-18)

First things first:

Earlier this afternoon, the Cubs officially signed 36-year-old Bob Howry, demoted Justin Berg to Iowa, and designated David Patton for assignment.

Howry has been well analyzed here and elsewhere, but just in case you've missed it...

The now-ex-former-Cub appeared in 14 games for the Diamondbacks before his recent release, was scored upon in 8, and was cut loose by the D-Backs with an ERA of 10.67 and 6 home runs allowed in just 14 1/3 innings pitched. He was coming off a decent season last year in San Francisco, where he had a 3.39 ERA, a 2:1 K/BB ratio, and allowed fewer home runs in 63 IP (5) than he did in just a few weeks this season in Arizona. (Park effects at work, both ways, maybe?)

As for the game tonight...

The Cubs open the interleague portion of their 2010 schedule—which matches them with teams from the A.L West in addition to the home-and-home series with the White Sox—in Arlington, Texas against the AL West-leading Rangers. A coming home for Marlon Byrd and Cubs hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo.

The teams have met six times before, with the Rangers winning four of the six. Since interleague play began 13 years ago, the Cubs are 90-97 against AL clubs. They have not had a winning interleague record since '07.


Cubs Lineup:
Fukudome 9, Theriot 4, Lee 3, Soriano 7, Byrd 8, Fontenot 5, Nady DH, Soto 2, Castro 6 

Aramis Ramirez sits again, and if I'm reading Baseball-Reference.com correctly, Soriano is hitting clean-up for the first time ever as a Cub.

Rangers Lineup:
Andrus 6, Young 5, Kinsler 4, Guerrero DH, Hamilton 8, Cruz 9, Murphy 7, Smoak 3, M. Ramirez 2

Pitchers:
Ted Lilly (1-3, 4.65) v. Colby Lewis (3-2, 3.68)

Lewis is winless in his last four starts, though mixed in there was a damn impressive ND against Cliff Lee and the Mariners, in which Lewis blanked Seattle for 9 innings in a game the Rangers ultimately won in 12 innings, 2-0. Overall, Lewis has gotten Cub-like support from his mates, who have scored just four runs for him in his last 27 innings pitched.

Lilly is coming off an ND against the Pirates (7IP, 6H, 3ER). He last pitched against the Rangers when the Cubs were in Texas back on June 21, 2007. In that game, Lilly spotted the Rangers a 5-0 lead but the Cubs came back to tie the game at 5-5 with a rally of their own. Lilly wound up with an ND and the Cubs wound up with a loss when Frank Catalanotto smacked a run-scoring, game-winning, walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth against...

Bob Howry.

 

Good history:

Among Cub regulars, only Marlon Byrd (4 AB's) and Alfonso Soriano (7 AB's) have ever faced Lewis. Soriano is 4-for-7 against him with three singles and a double, all when Fonsie was a Yankee.

The Rangers haven't seen much of Lilly either. Vlad Guerrero is 3-for-11 with 3K's (though 2 HR) against the Cub lefty and Ian Kinsler is just 2-for-9.

Bad history:
The Rangers have won six in a row at home and are 11-1 in Arlington in the month of May. The Cubs have lost 11 of the last 12 games they've played on AL fields. 


Comments

from curry muskrat's twooter feed... rf fuke, 2b riot, 1b lee, lf sori, cf byrd, 3b font, dh nady, c soto, ss castro what's that...guys in RBI slots who can produce RBIs? excellent...

"Braves prospects Gerardo Rodriguez, Yoel Campusano and Amadeo Zazueta were all suspended for 50 games Friday after testing positive for amphetamines." yow...all 3 were on the same A-ball team, too. i wonder if they have to keep all 3 on the roster during the suspension. i'm not sure how that works in the minors.

Maybe Rothschild sees something he thinks he can turn around. Howry is a pretty simple pitcher to understand. It's basically fastballs and location. He has a dinky slider, but nothing really offspeed. If he no longer has the velocity needed to be effective, the Cubs should be able to find that out pretty quickly, and then move on to Plan C (or whatever it is they're up to).

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Oswalt may be out of luck. St. Louis is pretty happy with their rotation and they are saving their pennies so they can afford Pujols after next year. The Rangers ownership situation will probably prevent them from trading for him. It's my understanding the MLB is paying Tom Hicks bills until the new owner can be approved. The Braves were crying poor earlier this year, although a Derek Lowe for Oswalt trade may be to their liking (Of course, why would Houston do that deal?) The Dodgers are a possibility. I wonder what impact the McCourt's divorce will have on adding $16 million a year to the team payroll. I don't know if he would go to either Arizona or San Diego, but I don't think either would be in a position to pay his contract. Ditto with the two Florida teams. That about exhausts all of the Southern teams.

D Lee is really on his game. If you throw him anything but a slider, fastball, curve or changeup, you're likely to get hurt. Rangers announcers still have a hard on for Byrd and Jarmarillo.

Wow. Lou really believes in the platoon. Not one lefty in the lineup tonight vs. LHP Holland, despite the DH. And is Aramis really more of a defensive liability at third right now than Nady is in RF? I kind of hate this team right now. Good thing I have plenty of distractions this summer.

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.