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

Looking at Lou

Submitted by Cubnut on

In preparation for the Cubs' three-game series beginning tonight in Seattle, Larry Stone of the Seattle Times interviewed former M's manager Lou Piniella over the weekend. The use of the word "weary" in the headline gives you a pretty good idea of the portrait which Stone paints. I thought this passage stood out.

I reminded Piniella of a quote he gave me back in 2007, when the Mariners played at Wrigley during his first season. Noting the difficulty of the Cubs' challenge, he said, "It ain't going to drive me crazy. I want to get it done, but it's not going to drive me crazy." That's still his story, and he's sticking to it. "Our organization hasn't won in a long time," Piniella said. "Because of that, there's a lot more scrutiny here. And because of it, it makes managing probably tougher than it should be."

What struck me about that quote was how perfectly it captures the difference between being the Cubs manager and being a Cubs fan. As manager, your inclination is to say, "I don't care about the 102 years or the goat or Steve Bartman. None of that happened on my watch. We're going to look forward and not dwell on all the misery." As a Cub fan, at least a devoted one, you have no choice. If you're in for the fun, you have to bear the pain, all 100-plus years of it.

Yes, Lou, it does drive us crazy. And there's nothing we can do about it except hope for the pain to end. 

Finally, here was another piece I came across from the Seattle Times, written in 2002 right after Piniella was granted his release by the Mariners, after ten mostly very successful seasons. This story, written by Bob Finnegan, paints the manager in an extraordinarily positive light, as the chief shaper of what was, and what remains, the brightest time in the history of the Seattle Mariners.

Tags
Lou Piniella

Comments

Submitted by jacos on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 06:29 pm

another over paid manager not expecting the pressure . So it will be upto ryno or brenley to answer the siren's call.

Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 06:45 pm

Wasn't Pinhead actually traded to the D-Rays for Randy Winn?

Submitted by The Joe on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 06:03 pm

On a lighter side, this made me laugh: "Orioles acquired 1B Jake Fox from the Athletics for RHP Ross Wolf. Fox was designated for assignment by the A's last week after posting a dreadful .214/.264/.327 batting line over his first 98 at-bats. He's shown flashes of power in the past and the O's like his versatility..." This is via rotoworld's player update feed, so I haven't got a link.

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Submitted by crunch on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 06:50 pm

3 months ago it was just fine when beane was saying it. hell, he was even pushing playing him at C. yeesh. i guess they were hoping to have someone on the team capable of hitting 20HRs without K'ing 150-200 times.

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 06:47 pm

Cubs should drill Milton Bradley the first two times too see how his anger management classes are going.

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Submitted by MikeC on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 06:38 am

I will spend the rest of my life correcting people about the 2003 playoffs, Moises Alou and Steve Bartman did NOTHING to cause that collapse. Shoulder your blame on Alex Gonzalez, everyone's favorite shitty SS whose only real skill was playing defense and on the biggest defensive play of his life he fucks it up and costs the Cubs the game and the series. Everyone always forgets about Alex Gonzalez's epic fail in the playoffs and wants to concentrate on a foul ball hit into the stands. The foul ball didn't mean jack shit, but Alex Gonzalez's play meant everything.

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Submitted by WISCGRAD on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 06:33 am

Since when is Alex Gonzalez anyone's favorite shortstop? That's going a little far. But yeah, he blew it. But I think in general it is difficult to place blame on something like this all on one person - whether it is Bartman, Alou, or Gonzalez. Any number of things could have went differently to change the inning and the game. A double, walk, wild pitch, and single set up the Gonzalez play, and a double followed to actually tie the game. Then five more runs scored after that. Plenty of chances to get out of there with the lead, tied, or down by a run. Plenty of blame to go around.

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Submitted by MikeC on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 06:28 pm

Alex Gonzalez was a teflon SS for the Cubs, he was sooooooooo awesome because he could hit for power. I guess if 15-20 HR's is power and a .240 average was something to praise, Alex Gonzalez got a ton of love on the message boards. You know why i like Ryan Theriot? Alex fucking Gonzalez and his .240 and .220 average with an OBP hovering around .300. He was god awful at the plate. He was your prototypical April hitter who then disappeared till August then disappeared till next season. Those were the only meaningful months in his career where he did something positive and it was still shitty. But it was just enough to remind Cubs fans of how awesome he was and he was ready to bust out in a big way. EPIC FAIL. At least he did play some decent D, but when that play happened, any positive thing left to say about that man was gone. The one thing he was good at it, and he finds a way to kick you in the nuts, its bad enough he couldn't hit his way out of a paper bag, but he misses the easiest grounder of his life? F him, F him till the end of Cubs history.

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

He was your prototypical April hitter who then disappeared till August then disappeared till next season. Don't you hate when facts get in the way: Alex Gonzalez, career OPS splits: March/April: 678 May: 656 June: 745 July: 653 August: 770 September/October: 659

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Submitted by Paul Noce on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 06:55 pm

Hahaha, read the Dusty quote to end the article: "Like my dad told me when I was going to quit Little League: He said no son of his is going to quit any league," Baker said. "That's what kept me going in Chicago. At the end there, I didn't have the team that I started with. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter in the overall count of 101 years, or whatever it is." I didn't have the team I had when I started with? First, grammatically, that's wrong. Second, it was 4 years later, nobody has the same team 4 years later. Third, he had a better team with more talent at the end of his tenure than the crap fest 2003 team that had guys like Karros and Grudz and a bunch of fill-ins. Cubs c-ss in 2003: damian miller, karros, grudz, alex gonzalez. Cubs c-ss in 2006: michael barrett, dlee, todd walker, ronny cedeno. With the exception of Cedeno, the other 3 had more talent then their predecessors. Cubs 2003 bench included .218 hitter hee sopp choi, .209 hitting mark bellhorn (with 2 hr's), then tom goodwin and troy o'leary. Cubs 2006 bench included hank white, .254 hitting neifi perez, ryan theriot, and 12 hr hitting phil nevin. it wasn't great but it was better then 2003. Dusty has his head so far up his ass he's blind. And if he wants to complain about the pitching being different, that's what happens when you stomp on your young pitchers' arms, they get hurt. He's such a dumb asshole. Still doing the same shit in Cincy.

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Submitted by WISCGRAD on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 06:57 am

I just don't think this is an accurate picture of 2003-2006 at all. Barrett over Miller, yes, but D-Lee played in 50 games in 2006. Compare John Mabry and his .205 BA to Karros. Not even close. Walker and Grudz are pretty much the same player career-wise, and Grudz's 2003 season destroyed Walker's 2006. Cedeno sucked. Ramirez is on both teams, but clearly better in 2006. But would you rather have Sosa-Alou-Lofton, or Jones-Murton-Pierre? I mean, really? That's not even close. The 2003 OF had a combined 19 All-Star appearances compared to ZERO for 2006. As for the bench, I'd say it's a push. You can give Blanco the edge over Bako, but Ramon Martinez (whom you left out) hit .284 compared to Neifi's .254. Nevin had more HR because he had more at-bats (again, D-Lee injury), but for rate stats Randall Simon is right with him. And Tom Goodwin, though you knocked him, hit .287 with 19 SBs off the bench.

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Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 06:25 pm

Agreed, Baker absolutely sucked and I hated this style and constant lineup changes. I blame Hendry for hiring these guys and not having the nuts to deal with them. I've heard Lou bitch about wanting a "Left-handed right-fielder who can bat 5th" since he got here. And he has used it as a built in excuse for every playoff loss that followed. At some point you need to shut up and manage the team you got.

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Submitted by Paul Noce on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 06:32 pm

Not a single Cubs OF in 2003 made the all star team, so saying they had 19 all star appearances is deceiving. They didn't have all star years in 2003. Phil Nevin was one of the replacements for DLee in 2006, and he hit 12 hr's in limited ab's.

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Submitted by WISCGRAD on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 06:09 pm

You started the conversation by talking about "talent" rather than performance, so in that sense All-Star appearances is not deceiving, but rather indicates the relative talent in the OF. But let's take a look at actual performance of that outfield in a "non-star year" (2003) compared to the 2006 outfield, measured by OPS+. 2003 Sosa: 133 Lofton: 120 Patterson: 114 Alou: 111 2006 Jones: 108 Murton: 104 Pierre: 82 Pagan: 76 By that measure, the 2003 team had 4 outfielders better than the best of 2006.

Recent comments

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    I don’t see Tauchman as a weak link in any position. He simply adds his value in a different way.

    I don’t know that we gain much by putting him in the outfield - Happ, Bellinger and Suzuki and Tauchman all field their positions well. If you’re looking for Taucnman’s kind of AB in a particular game I don’t see why it can’t come from DH.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Tauchman gets a pinch hit RBI single with a liner to RF. This is his spot. He's a solid 4th OF. But he isn't a DH. 

    He takes pitches. Useful. I still believe in having good hitters.

    You don't want your DH to be your weak link (other than your C maybe)

  • crunch (view)

    bit of a hot take here, but i'm gonna say it.

    the 2024 marlins don't seem to be good at doing baseballs.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Phil, will the call up for a double header restart that 15 days on assignment for a pitcher? Like will wesneski’s 15 days start yesterday, or if he’s the 27th man, will that mean 15 days from tomorrow?

    I hope that makes sense. It sounds clearer in my head.

  • Charlie (view)

    Tauchman obviously brings value to the roster as a 4th outfielder who can and should play frequently. Him appearing frequently at DH indicated that the team lacks a valuable DH. 

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Totally onboard with your thoughts concerning today’s lineup. Not sure about your take on Tauchman though.

    The guy typically doesn’t pound the ball out out of the park, and his BA is quite unimpressive. But he brings something unique to the table that the undisciplined batters of the past didn’t. He always provides a quality at bat and he makes the opposing pitcher work because he has a great eye for the zone and protects the plate with two strikes exceptionally well. In addition to making him a base runner more often than it seems through his walks, that kind of at bat wears a pitcher down both mentally and physically so that the other guys who may hit the ball harder are more apt to take advantage of subsequent mistakes and do their damage.

    I can’t remember a time when the Cubs valued this kind of contribution but this year they have a couple of guys doing it, with Happ being the other. It doesn’t make for gaudy stats but it definitely contributes to winning ball games. I do believe that’s why Tauchman has garnered so much playing time.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Miles Mastrobuoni cannot be recalled until he has spent at least ten days on optional assignment, unless he is recalled to replace a position player who is placed on an MLB inactive list (IL, Paternity, Bereavement / Family Medical). 

     

    And for a pitcher it's 15 days on optional assignment before he can be recalled, unless he is replacing a pitcher who is placed on an MLB inactive list (IL, Paternity, or Bereavement / Family Medical). 

     

    And a pitcher (or a position player, but almost always it's a pitcher) can be recalled as the 27th man for a doubleheader regardless of how many days he has been on optional assignment, but then he must be sent back down again the next day. 

     

    That's why the Cubs had to wait as long as they did to send Jose Cuas down and recall Keegan Thompson. Thompson needed to spend the first 15 days of the MLB regular season on optional assignment before he could be recalled (and he spent EXACTLY the first 15 days of the MLB regular season on optional assignment before he was recalled). 

  • 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!

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