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

TCR Tuesday Notes

Just a few things that have been lying in my "in" box...

- Updating the August Player of the Month race, DeRosa and Ramirez didn't do much to help themselves this weekend. Ramirez did end up with the most RBI's in August, but his .975 OPS for the month is good for only 16th out of players with at least 50 PA's. DeRosa ended up 5th in OPS, 2nd in Runs Scored and 3rd in extra-base hits. Manny Ramirez had the highest OPS and his .415 BA along with 9 home runs(tied for 2nd) is going to look appealing as will Ty Wigginton's 12 HR's(1st), 26 RBI's(2nd) and 19 XBH's (1st).

- Fred Mitchell teases Cubs fans that Geovany Soto could have been an Orioles as part of the Sammy Sosa trade back in 2005.

- For those worried about the Cubs collapsing in September, don't forget Lou does his best work in September. The numbers in that article don't account for 2007, where the Cubs were 17-12. 

- Alex Eisenberg, who runs things at Baseball Intellect, does some video breakdowns of 2008 draftees at The Hardball Times. Here's Andrew Cashner's and Ryan Flaherty's videos. 

Comments

Good news: The Cubs' best hitter returns to the lineup tonight. Bad News: He will likely bat 9th.

So when does Koyie Hill get to play? I can't wait for out pitchers to add 5 mph to their fastballs.

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

This comment has been posted so often lately that I have to ask exactly how it originated. Is it merely a mocking response to some fans'/analysts' arguments that infielders throw harder to a strong defensive first baseman (because they just let it fly and are less worried about being wild), or did someone at some point actually argue that the same would be true of a pitcher throwing to Koyie Hill? I'm not sure if I ever read the comments where this started or picked it up after it was well on its way to an independent being.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I knew last year that Dempster had a good fastball--which we all know today--and wondered why he didn't throw it more. I noticed that Dempster got better, and faster, in the month when K. Hill did a lot of the catching. It's certainly a pattern on Rothschild's staff that relievers overdo it with their offspeed stuff. That's why Kasper and Brenly have come up with phrases like slider-mania and slider-happy in reference to Marmol. Sometimes a catcher can help when the pitching coach can't or won't.
The change didn't happen at the break. Marmol and catcher Geovany Soto actually began talking about mixing in more fastballs before the break because it seemed as if hitters had figured out the right-hander's slider. "He's been pitching real good with his fastball," Soto said. "Before the first half ended, he was using the slider a little more, and teams were starting to hit him a little bit. Now he uses his fastball more. He's got two pitches instead of one.
I don't know about a love-fest but I liked Hill for the same reason the Cubs do, the way he handles pitchers, i.e., the way he calls a game. There was more at issue at catcher before Soto came along.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

I think this is where it got started:
Wes says: June 20th, 2007 at 1:47 pm CERA clearly has everything to do with how well the catcher plays and absolutely nothing to do with how a pitcher pitches from start to start and what teams he faces when Catcher A is behind the plate as opposed to Catcher B. For instance, Z’s 4 or 5 mph increase in velocity, ability to add, subtract, and, in general, control the 4 seamer has everything to do with Koyie Hill being behind the plate as opposed to Barrett. Duh. Silly dave. You should know better by now.

[ ]

In reply to by Wes

I think the 'Hill stands up like a pitch out and calls for a high fastball' thing bothered me the most, because Barrett had been doing it for about 18 months at that point. At one point it was that pitchers were afraid to throw Barrett breaking balls, and then it was he didn't call enough fastballs. Sort of the reverst effect of winning gold gloves because you're a good hitter. For the record, the radar gun in Houston is the 'hottest' I've ever seen. Farnsworth and Dotel used to trade innings where they never dropped below 99.

[ ]

In reply to by Wes

Aren't some setup to take the speed out of the pitcher's hand (fast ones) and some as it approaches the catcher's mitt? I think the big league ones like to read fast so the fans can go 'ooh', too. There's an equivalent in another sport that's eluding me right now to this... it's not wrestler's heights and weights either... though I remember duing the WWF hay days, they used to say Hulgan was 7' tall and weighed 300 lbs.

With Koyie Hill's finger surgery and subsequent stiffness, it's probably hard for the pitcher to tell if he's calling for a fastball, slider, curve or changeup. Since the signs all look the same the pitcher thinks, aw hell, must be calling for the heater...so now he's getting 7 mph more on the average compared to the other catchers. no wonder the I-Cubs had such a sensational season...legendary stuff methinks.

got in one game this weekend as Daytona tried to hold off Jupiter to win the 2nd half in the FSL. Went 2.2 IP, walked 4, struck out one and gave up 4 earned runs. Daytona ended up clinching on Sunday with a 9-2 win, a game that was suspended Saturday due to rain.

Soto:9 XBH's, 1.010 OPS, 21 RBI's, 3 HR, 17 R

Dickerson: 13 XBH's, 1.072 OPS, 10 RBI's, 4 HR, 14 R

Stewart: 12 XBH's, .939 OPS, 20 RBI's, 5 HR, 18 R

A few pitchers to consider as well I guess

Samardzija had 14.1 IP, 13 K's and 0 ER.

Johnny Cueto had a 2.66 ERA as well.

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • 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.