Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus two players are 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 4-18-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

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

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL: 
* Justin Steele, P   

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Game #66 Preview: A's (33-34) @ Cubs (29-36)

Submitted by Cubnut on

Though it sounds like Jim Hendry truly couldn't care less, it's the first day of the Ari Kaplan Era at Wrigley Field. As for the game on the field, mlb.com reports that Randy Wells is looking at today's start against the A's as hitting the reset button on his thus far rocky season.

The irony, of course, is that Wells's employers might not be able to overlook the past quite as easily: since the beginning of May, the righty is 0-5, 6.47. His first-inning troubles have been especially ugly. In 13 Wells starts this year, opponents are hitting .357 against him in the opening inning and Wells's first-inning ERA is a Grabow-esque 11.25. (Stats from Baseball-Reference.com.)

Moreover, all of this is happening while Tom Gorzelanny collects dust in the bullpen—since his last start 22 days ago, Gorzelanny has pitched just three times (1 2/3 IP) and thrown a total of 52 pitches.

The lineups have been posted. You'll note that with the A's starting another lefty, the Cubs' "everyday" right fielder will be sitting for a second consecutive day.

A's vs. Randy Wells (3-5, 5.15; first appearance vs. A's):
Davis 8, Jackson 7, Barton 3, Suzuki 2, Kouzmanoff 5, Cust 9, Ellis 4, Pennington 6, Braden 1

Cubs lineup vs. Dallas Braden (4-6, 3.95; first appearance vs. Cubs)
Theriot 4, Baker 5, Byrd 8, Lee 3, Nady 9, Soriano 7, Soto 2, Castro 6, Wells 1

From the FWIW Department, Marlon Byrd is the only Cub to have faced Braden and has gone 6/16 against him, including 3 doubles. As for Braden, he's 0-4, 4.75 in six starts since his perfect game against Tampa Bay.

Tags
Jim Hendry
Randy Wells
Tom Gorzelanny
Marlon Byrd
Ari Kaplan

Comments

Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 06:07 am

That Hendry comment from that Herald link is bothersome. "Look at Carlos Silva's stats from last year, who needs stats?" Far too long overdue to get a shift in philosophy in the Cubs Front Office.

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Submitted by Cubnut on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 06:03 pm

Bruce Miles is characterizing the hire as more than just a functionary/assistant to Wasserstrom: "Cubs owner Tom Ricketts put his first stamp on the baseball department with the hiring of Ari Kaplan as manager of statistical analysis." From my own, limited, business contact with the Cubs front office, I know that the line between the baseball people and the business people is a significant one--more like a wall than a line. If Ricketts really had a hand in this hire and has chosen to impact the baseball part of his business, as Miles writes, I think this is a newsworthy development.

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Submitted by crunch on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 06:17 pm

hendry and crew didn't know what they had...as late as a few weeks ago hendry said when he snagged silva he didn't know if he'd be a innings eater out of the pen or a starter. there's nothing in the stats that point to what he's doing this year and the "inevitable collapse" of his "luck" is moving into the 1/2 way point of the season. it's not good stuff in this era for a GM or manager to even look like they're dismissing stats even if they're not. scouting + stats are used by every team, but a lot of people seem to have the idea that only a handful of team have clued-in to the stats thing and it's all happened recently.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 06:46 pm

"Using advanced statistics for player evaluation and valuation is just now fully taking hold in the major leagues, primarily due to Moneyball and the success of the Red Sox" that book has a lot of dramatically blown up mistruths. mlb teams have actually been developing and using priority stats for a long time. a lot of the work was subcontracted out to Stats Inc. or an in-house manager of stats much like IBM takes contracts to do "custom solutions" for customers. when we got beane we got a GM in the fold of the game who didn't suddenly realize something new...we got a guy who championed and brought closer to the top advanced stats. there's more respect for advanced stats, but very few teams were clueless, not using them, or ignoring them. those books of stats on are not just raw data of baseball-card stats left for a bench coach/manager to do quick evaluations in-game. there's notes/words/links on how the data can be best used along with those stats. chuck w. isn't just making a binder full of stuff printed off from the internet the past 20 years. he's working with the data and analyzing trends...

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Submitted by Stevens on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 06:17 pm

i think hendry is trying to point out stats aren't the end-all-be-all and guys like silva are doing things numbers say they probably won't do. That's fine. But the point is there's also no way any scout would suggest Silva would do this either. If Hendry implies that, it's inaccurate. the jim edmonds scrap-heap pickup was a nice one, too. Joe Borowski. Ryan Dempster. Taking a flyer on cheap guys is smart management, but it's just luck. Didn't work for Wade Miller or Chad Fox. just like scouting can "lie" numbers aren't absolute, either. it's not a war, it's a partnership. Agreed.

Submitted by Mitterwald on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 06:49 am

I'm not sure if this was talked about, but why did the crowd give Soriano an ovation for laying down a sacrifice bunt last night? It's Soriano's job to drive in runs, not Soto's or Castro's. That was as selfish a play as Soriano has made in a Cubs uniform, and I have no idea why he received an ovation. The only way that's a good play is if Soriano beats it out, which he didn't.

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Submitted by Charlie on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 06:58 am

Short answer: Fans like "Hustle." Long answer: Soriano was trying to bunt for a hit and would have had it if he could get the ball just a little farther down the third base line. The pitcher had to a make a fairly difficult play to get him, barehanding and spinning to throw to first. It's also pretty much the opposite of watching a high fly ball as if it was homerun and then getting a double on what should've been a triple, so I think Soriano's history has to be taken into account when trying to understand the fan reaction. It turned out all right, but I wouldn't want to see Soriano try it more than two or maybe three times a year.

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 06:36 pm

I don't what he exactly does, but if it's putting the binders with splits and batter vs. pitcher matchups together, probably get someone here from TCR to do that for $15 p/hour He's probably the genius that tipped Hendry to sign Aaron Miles because he was good in day games. All in all, if he's been there for 20 years, he's probably not helping much or not being listened to and sounds like his idea of stats is just basic splits and stuff. As for Kaplan, sounds like a database administrator more than anything, but maybe he'll give the Cubs a fresher take on stuff. None of it matters with Hendry as GM, who will always defer to his scouts cause that's his background. For the most part it's served him well to be honest, Bradley and Fukudome being the major exceptions.

Submitted by Old and Blue on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 06:40 pm

I dunno if this is a shift in philosophy or anything, but I do know that, in my job, if some young gun got hired under me, a guy who reports to me, no less, who sort of is well known for something I'm known to be indifferent to, I'd be stupid not to notice. If I was Hendry I'd have a hard time not looking at this as kind of a statement being made by his boss. I don't think it matters much whether this new guy is a stats guy or what the hell he does. The fact the owner hand picked a guy Hendry should be responsible for hiring is a pretty strong statement.

Submitted by The Joe on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 06:24 pm

BTW: "Randy Wells is looking at today's start against the A's as hitting the reset button on his thus far rocky season. The irony, of course, is that Wells's employers might not be able to overlook the past quite as easily" What exactly is ironic about this? Just curious.

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 06:37 pm

Fukudome's hitting coach security blanket seems to be working again. They need to flag him as a terrorist so he can't leave the country again. I wonder if the Cubs can package Fukudome for $1-$2M each, but if you want him to work, you need to add his hitting coach at $12M a year.

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Submitted by crunch on Fri, 06/18/2010 - 06:57 pm

i have read...and it still makes no sense. any time you have a power hitter with more or as much power hits as RBIs you should re-evaluate a player's role. high K rate, low walk rate, speed declining (it was just silly when he was hobbled and still leading off), 30+hr power, 30+ double power yeah, let's get that guy his 70+ rbis and pay him 15m to do it. what you guys like out of leadoff hitters don't jive with soriano's use over a couple years. i've heard the "he can't hit there because he can only hit in 1 and 6 slots or whatever" excuses which are laaaame as hell...

[ ]

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Sat, 06/19/2010 - 06:38 pm

Yes, he had a .330 OBP by the end of the season. Fine, but season stats can cloud major in-season variation. He was absolutely dismal early in the year and contributed greatly to the season going south. Through June 9th he was at: .231/.277/.295/.572 - and getting the most at-bats on the team. It was brutal. At that point the Cubs were 12 games under .500, and 12 games out of first already. From then on out he put up a nice line of: .326/.359/.440/.799 , which brought his season stats up. But at that point, it didn't matter. People here have been on the Cubs to bench or get rid of Theriot, and to give you an idea of how bad Pierre was, Theriot's OPS was nearly 40 points higher on June 9th than Pierre's was in 2006. And at least Theriot has been moved down to 8th in the order a few times and sat a few games. Pierre started and led off basically every game.

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Indeed they do TJW!

    For the record I’m not in favor of solely building a team through paying big to free agents. But I’m also of the mind that when you develop really good players, get them signed to extensions that buy out a couple years of free agency, including with team options. And supplement the home grown players with free agent splashes or using excess prospects to trade for stars under team control for a few years. Sort of what Atlanta does, basically. Everyone talks about the dodgers but I feel that Atlanta is the peak organization at the current moment.

    That said, the constant roster churn is very Rays- ish. What they do is incredible, but it’s extremely hard to do which is why they’re the only ones frequently successful that employ that strategy. I definitely do not want to see a large market team like ours follow that model closely. But I don’t think free agent frenzies is always the answer. It’s really only the Dodgers that play in that realm. I could see an argument for the Mets too. The Yankees don’t really operate like that anymore since the elder Steinbrenner passed. Though I would say the reigning champions built a good deal of that team through free agent spending.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    The issue is the Cubs are 11-7 and have been on the road for 12 of those 18.  We should be at least 13-5, maybe 14-4. Jed isn't feeling any pressure to play anyone he doesn't see fit.
    But Canario on the bench, Morel not at 3B for Madrigal and Wisdom in RF wasn't what I thought would happen in this series.
    I was hoping for Morel at 3B, Canario in RF, Wisdom at DH and Madrigal as a pinch hitter or late replacement.
    Maybe Madrigal starts 1 game against the three LHSP for Miami.
    I'm thinking Canario goes back to Iowa on Sunday night for Mastrobuoni after the Miami LHers are gone.
    Canario needs ABs in Iowa and not bench time in MLB.
    With Seiya out for a while Wisdom is safe unless his SOs are just overwhelmingly bad.

    My real issue with the lineup isn't Madrigal. I'm not a fan, but I've given up on that one.
    It's Tauchman getting a large number of ABs as the de factor DH and everyday player.
    I didn't realize that was going to be the case.
    We need a better LH DH. PCA or ONKC need to force the issue in about a month.
    But, even if they do so, Jed doesn't have to change anything if the Cubs stay a few over .500!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Totally depends on the team and the player involved. If your team’s philosophy is to pay huge dollars to bet on the future performance of past stars in order to win championships then, yes, all of the factors you mentioned are important.

    If on the other hand, if the team’s primary focus is to identify and develop future stars in an effort to win a championship, and you’re a young player looking to establish yourself as a star, that’s a fit too. Otherwise your buried within your own organization.

    Your comment about bringing up Canario for the purposes of sitting him illustrates perfectly the dangers of rewarding a non-performing, highly paid player over a hungry young prospect, like Canario, who is perpetually without a roster spot except as an insurance call up, but too good to trade. Totally disincentivizing the performance of the prospect and likely diminishing it.

    Sticking it to your prospects and providing lousy baseball to your fans, the consumers and source of revenue for your sport, solely so that the next free agent gamble finds your team to be a comfortable landing spot even if he sucks? I suppose  that makes sense to some teams but it’s definitely not the way I want to see my team run.

    Once again, DJL, our differences in philosophy emerge!

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    That’s just kinda how it works though, for every team. No team plays their best guys all the time. No team is comprising of their best 26 even removing injuries.

    When baseball became a business, like REALLY a business, it became important to keep some of the vets happy, which in turn keeps agents happy and keeps the team with a good reputation among players and agents. No one wants to play for a team that has a bad reputation in the same way no one wants to work for a company that has a bad rep.

    Don’t get me wrong, I hate it too. But there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

    On that topic, I find it silly the Cubs brought up Canario to sit as much as he has. He’s going to get Velazquez’d, and it’s a shame.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Of course, McKinstry runs circles around $25 million man Javier Baez on that Tigers team. Guess who gets more playing time?

    But I digress…

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Seems like Jed was trying to corner the market on mediocre infielders with last names starting with "M" in acquiring Madrigal, Mastroboney and Zach McKinstry.  

     

    At least he hasn't given any of them a Bote-esque extension.  

  • Childersb3 (view)

    AZ Phil:
    Rookie ball (ACL) starts on May 4th. Do yo think Ramon and Rosario (maybe Delgado) stay in Mesa for the month of May, then go to MB if all goes "solid"?
     

  • crunch (view)

    masterboney is a luxury on a team that has multiple, capable options for 2nd, SS, and 3rd without him around.  i don't hate the guy, but if madrigal is sticking around then masterboney is expendable.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    I THINK I agree with that decision. They committed to Wicks as a starter and, while he hasn’t been stellar I don’t think he’s been bad enough to undo that commitment.

    That said, Wesneski’s performance last night dictates he be the next righty up.

    Quite the dilemma. They have many good options, particularly in relief, but not many great ones. And complicating the situation is that the pitchers being paid the most are by and large performing the worst - or in Taillon’s case, at least to this point, not at all.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Wesneski and Mastrobuoni to Iowa

    Taillon and Wisdom up

    Wesneski can't pitch for a couple of days after the 4 IP from last night. But Jed picked Wicks over Wesneski.

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