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 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
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Game preview: Dodgers (26-20) @ Cubs (22-25)

Going for two of three against the Dodgers and some semblance of momentum as the Cardinals come to town over the weekend.

Dodgers against Ted Lilly (1-4, 4.30):
Martin 2, Paul 9, Kemp 8, Blake 5, Loney 3, Johnson 7, DeWitt 4, Carroll 6, Ely 1 

Cubs against John Ely (3-1, 3.41):
Theriot 4, Castro 6, Lee 3, Byrd 8, Fukudome 9, Nady 7, Baker 5, Soto 2, Lilly 1

Lilly hasn't won since his first start of the year (4/24) in Milwaukee though he's coming off a strong effort last week against the Rangers: two runs on six hits over 6 2/3.

Ely, going for a fourth straight win, has sparkled for the Dodgers in his rookie season. Until issuing a first-inning walk last time out against the Tigers, he had gone 89 batters without giving up a base on balls and for the season, he has fanned 28 against just three unintentional walks.

The 24-year-old Ely also hails from Harvey, Illinois--former home of the great Lou Boudreau--but his wheelchair-bound father won't be in attendance.

"It's part mobility issues, because Wrigley isn't wheelchair-friendly," said Ely, "and partly because he's a die-hard White Sox fan and he doesn't come here."

Comments

They have ramps, elevators, and special wheelchair seat for his dumb crippled ass. Not wheelchair friendly my ass, he sounds mentally handicapped as well. If he doesn't want to go see his son pitch in the show in his hometown against the Cubs, then he is just a terrible father.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/chc/ballpark/guide.jsp sure reads like they have plenty of wheelchair accessibility, although I'm sure it's not quite as convenient as most ballparks. Sounds more like Mr. Ely just needed an excuse not to go. the link Cubnut put up indicates it's more of the White Sox fan in him:
But his proud dad won't make the short drive. Being wheelchair-bound is part of the reason, given old Wrigley Field's access issues. A small part. The bulk of it is that Mr. Ely is a fan of the city's other team.
never know how much of that is the writer taking liberties or how it was conveyed to the writer by the kid that didn't make the quote.

Why doesn't he play more.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

He's been pretty lucky on BABIP, but I think with more playing time he's probably going to strike out a little less. If you project his current rates over a 650 PA season it comes up to 181 strikeouts. If you slug .600, though, 181 strikeouts isn't the end of the world.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Muskat wrote in 2009: "His daughter, Jada, was initially misdiagnosed with LCA, and he and his wife Christina were told there was no cure. Jada now has been determined to not have LCA, an inherited form of blindness. The Lee family is still committed to helping identify the estimated 3,000 people who have LCA in order to offer genetic testing in an attempt to find treatment and a cure. "I'm excited to be part of this project at every level -- as a participant and, even more important, as a parent who knows how much it will mean to other families who are struggling with this devastating disease," Lee said in a statement." Last year, he also took part in introducing a wine where the sale proceeds were donated 100 percent to the charity. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-06-15/news/0906140181_1_tasting… Can you produce a source that says in the last year he's abandoned this charity effort?

if Jeff Baker (righty, 2B-3B-OF) hits the dl (I know it's too early to speculate) would it be Darwin Barney (righty) or Chad Tracy (lefty bat) who gets the call up? Methinks Tracy even though it makes the bench less balanced, but the ARam issues outweigh the lefty-righty ones.

Kyle Lohse out with forearm surgery > 2 months. http://twitter.com/Fox_Sports_MW/status/14860823226 it's an unusual diagnosis (because it's the upper extremity), Chronic Exertional Induced Compartment Syndrome in the forearm. I've seen this entity in the calf in marathon runners but it's rare in the forearm and apparently there are no comparisons in mlb level pitchers. The problem is a forearm muscle swells with exertion so that it makes the fascia that encases the muscle group so tight it cuts off blood flow to the muscle. It can be very painful but resolves with rest, unfortunately it returns with the exertion. The treatment is to divide the encasing fascia so that the muscle swelling doesn't affect the blood supply. here's a link to the diagnosis, symptoms, causes, etc (from Mayo Clinic website) http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chronic-exertional-compartment-syndrom…

muskat's last two tweets http://twitter.com/CarrieMuskat/ 3B Jeff Baker examined by team eye doctor. He couldn't see out of right eye and pulled from game in 8th Cubs Carlos Zambrano hospitalized with lower abdominal pain today. He felt ill just before game. No word on if he'll be available Fri --- just saw the replay on the single that went to Baker's left. He didn't even reflexively move toward the ball so his depth perception must have really been gone, Lou in postgame said it was his right eye that lost vision ("no vision at all in his right eye") and is being evaluated by team opthalmologist. Bruce Miles article: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=384094

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100527&content_id=10504416&vk…
Said Lilly: "There were a couple times I would get it and throw it. I think I was a little bit ahead of the rubber. I don't know if it was that much. It wasn't one of those things where I was thinking about it. [First baseman] Derrek Lee told me what he was saying to the umpires. If I was doing that, I might have done that a couple times, but I wasn't real conscious of it. I was just trying to get good footing."
third base ump says he didn't see anything after Bowa asked him to look, from the replay at the link Lilly sure doesn't just get the ball and throw it, he digs in there pretty good when Blake notices it.

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.