Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus one player is on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

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Rule 5 Draft 
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The Opposable, Not Disposable Thumb

 

Little Jack Horner

Sat in the corner, eating a Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum...

Just to take our minds off the train wreck that the 2010 season has become, I'm going to tangent into just what made Aramis Ramirez so miserable this year. His left thumb injury (diagnosed as a deep bone bruise) may or not have been related to his season long slump or it just may have prevented him from coming out of it as the weather warmed up. He's been 'missing', even when present for most of 2010 which is somewhat different than his absence last season, starting on May 9th, 2009 from what happened at a similar point in the season, when he dislocated his left shoulder diving for a ball on May 8th in Milwaukee.

From a Gordon Wittenmeyer, Sun-Times article:

Ramirez, mired in a two-month slump, first hurt the hand on a swing-and-miss May 9 in Cincinnati. When it got worse two weeks later, the Cubs considered putting him on the DL, ''but I didn't want to do it because I thought I was good enough to play,'' said Ramirez, who got a cortisone shot instead. Manipulating his bat handle to take pressure off the top of the left hand also didn't work because it was uncomfortable, he said.

''This is the right time to do it. This is the right thing to do,'' he said.

He'll be eligible to return June 23 in Seattle, but a return then is anything but certain considering the down time that'll require before he is even allowed to resume normal baseball activities.

Supposedly, his injury was a deep bone bruise. I have not read any reports about an injured ligament. He has tried to play through the soreness but his thumb kept getting re-traumatized from his attempts at hitting. He didn't want to go on the DL until it was clear he couldn't shake the injury.

This does remind me of the way the Cubs handled Soriano's knee problems last year. Supposedly Soriano's knee was injured around April 22nd but he/they kept playing him with an injury that wasn't dramatic enough to take him out of the lineup. It took months of underperformance compared to his career stats (.241/.303/.423/.726 vs. .278/.327/ .511/.838) to  finally acknowledge it was his knee that was the problem. Maybe they learned something, since it took only a month of struggling with this Ramirez injury before he hit the DL vs. Soriano's 4 month struggle. I believe that some of these situations develop because a team can not put a player on the DL unless he agrees or the team gets the medical staff to document that it's not medically advisable for a player to be on the field. Hockey-like warrior mentality doesn't seem to work in modern baseball, at least not as far as the Cubs are concerned.

The opposable thumb may have been, regarding humanity, the single most important evolutionary development.

When the hands developed dexterity advantages, that freed the front limbs from four limb gait. The opposable thumb literally gripped the development of tools, hence civilization and...dare I ultimately conclude, Baseball.

An animal species is said to have opposable thumbs if the thumb is capable of bending in such a way that it can touch all the other digits on the hand. Most species do not have opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs are a signature feature of the primate family, and played a large role in the ancient humans' invention and use of tools.

Thumb anatomy is unique when using comparative anatomy to the other fingers and certainly the human big toe. The thumb can be rotated (opposed) from around 50 degrees at rest to as much as 110 degrees of rotation when in a position of opposition against the other digits.

There are unique sets of muscles and tendons (abductor, adductor, flexor, opponens and interosseus of the thumb) that accomplish thumb opposition. This is a complex of movements that include what is called pronation, radial deviation and adduction/abduction and specific muscles match the individual movements required. The bones at the base of the thumb (first metacarpal, trapezoid and trapezium and proximal to them, the carpal navicular/scaphoid bone) have developed to accomplish this opposible movement and the type of joint is called a sellar joint.

Thumb functions include pinch and grasp but the rotation that opposition creates makes it possible to make grip have advanced functionality. There are three types of pinch grips, key (digit side by side, as in holding a key), tip (the end of the digit, where opposition is possible) and palmar pinch (thumbless grasp).Two aspects of grip help hold a baseball bat, span grip and power grip.

There are many common injuries around the thumb. A bone bruise is just what the term sounds like, it's not a fracture but the injury to the bone involves damaged bone cells without structural disruption. A fracture implies there is a definable structural crack/disruption that bridges one of the bones of the thumb (first metacarpal, proximal and distal phalanx). There are many fracture patterns and if a fracture involves an adjacent joint (CMC, MCP or IP joints), it usually is a more serious problem. If an X-Ray shows a fracture, an MRI isn't often needed but when the X-Ray is normal an MRI can be very helpful. Nowadays, MRI imaging can see signal changes in a bone and adjacent soft tissues (ligaments, joint capsule and tendons) that indicate there is damage to the bone and/or soft tissues. Even a bone bruise sets off a healing reaction until the bone structure returns to normal, essentially a "fracture-lite", but still painful and can last many weeks. Other significant thumb injuries involve soft tissue damage. One well known injury is called Gamekeepers Thumb. It involves a torn or stretched ulnar collateral ligament of the metacarpal-phalangeal joint or MCP joint (at the base of the web space, the thumb equivalent of the Tommy John elbow injury). This can be treated conservatively unless the ligament is fully torn or significantly stretched so that the thumb pinch activities become painful. There are surgical repair/reconstruction options when that situation is diagnosed (watch out if you are squeemish, this link is a surgical video).

So when one compares small joint/bone injuries to big joints, Aramis Ramirez has got them covered. If his thumb becomes a lingering problem, the sellar joint of his thumb just might be a major cause of the Cubs entering a seller market.

Comments

"The opposable thumb may have been, regarding humanity, the single most important evolutionary development." That was one thing that pissed me off about the movie District 9. The aliens had claws. How the hell do you build stuff if you have claws? Even if they found a way, I bet they were lousy baseball players.

@CarrieMuskat: #Cubs lineup Sun nite is 2b riot, rf colvin, cf byrd, 1b lee, lf sori, 3b tracy, c hill, ss castro, p lilly

CarrieMuskat: #Cubs manager Lou Piniella says time is right to have Tyler Colvin play and "we want to see this kid in the lineup more." ...who is "we", Lou and Stoney?

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

That maybe true Rob, but come on, let me get this straight. Steve Stone comes out and BLASTS Lou for not playing Colvin. Lou blasts right back, essentially saying Stoney has no idea what he's talking about because he's never managed. Lou then proceeds THE NEXT DAY to start Colvin and talk about how Colvin is going to see some more pt because he's earned it.... Somewhere Steve Stone is laughing to himself, and I don't blame him.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Not in your wildest dreams. That said, I too am beginning to believe it's time. I tell you what though, I'd just as soon see Lee, Sori and Fuk gone in July and dust off my 'Wait Till Next Year' T-shirt...(and actually, throw in Z while I'm rebuilding, I'm sick of head cases). Actually trying to think about the Lou thing for a minute. IF the Rickettses are such huge fans of the game, they no doubt have seen and heard the unwritten rule about managers, that if you fire one sometime mid-season the team often goes on a miraculous tear. That'd also be a lot quicker and easier (although more expensive) than trading the guys I listed above (if that'd even be possible, which it may not). Makes me wonder just how safe Lou's job may (or may not) be right now....... (Does anyone have Eric Wedge's number? Or does Ryno take over mid season? They don't go with Trammel, do they??)

Recent comments

  • Charlie (view)

    I worry that Morel will lose starts at 3B as long as this roster lacks a compelling DH.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    I think if you had ranked players by how much the team could ill afford to have them miss significant time, Steele would be right at the top of the list.

  • crunch (view)

    steele MRI on friday.  counsell expects an IL stint.

    no current plans for his rotation replacement.

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1. 

  • crunch (view)

    amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.

    neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.

  • Eric S (view)

    Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it). 

  • crunch (view)

    boo.

  • crunch (view)

    smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.

    this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

    like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.

    anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.