Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
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

Warm Thoughts from Snowmageddon Central

Submitted by Dr. Joseph Hecht on

Happy Groundhog day (again and again). From the heart of Snowmageddon this surgeon gets his first "Snow Day" since the big snow of 1967. So here comes an impromptu odds & ends post.

The first order of business is to remind those digging out from the Thunder-Blizzard (and to warm them up) that the CUBS PITCHERS and CATCHERS report to Mesa in 11 DAYS, officially on February 13th (per Carrie Muskat at mlb.com). Position Players report on Feb 18th and the FIRST SPRING TRAINING GAME is in 25 DAYS as the Cubs play Oakland on Feb 27th at Mesa.

Snow Angels and more, after the jump...

Apparently some debris from the Wrigley Field roof landed on the pavement outside the ballpark in front of the Red Marquee and police have roped off the sidewalks. Fortunately the Ernie Banks statue is unharmed. Some reports said the debris was from the press box. Pat Hughes missing sweater may have just been found. CSN had a video report from in front of the ballpark. I wonder if Tom Ricketts pre-purchase inspection report said he might need a new roof?

Per the SF Chronicle's website, Lou Piniella has been hired by San Francisco GM Brian Sabean to be a consultant for the Giants from his Tampa home.


Piniella, 67, is joining the Giants' front office to consult in a variety of ways, whether it's evaluating or advising on player movement or scouting or . . . well, whatever a baseball lifer of 48 years can provide.

 

According to a Tribune/Paul Sullivan tweet, the Cubs passed on offering Piniella a similar deal. Sabean and LouPa have been buddies since they were both Yankee employees. Sabean was the Yankees director of scouting in the 1980's. Previous rumors had expected Lou to get signed on in a similar capacity with the Yankees but it looks like they spent their last dollar on bringing Bartolo Colon to spring training camp. The price of their training table buffet must be exorbitant. Sabean is collecting relics of baseball past in a similar role as to what Lou will be expected to be doing, including Ron Perranoski and Felipe Alou and they all get to meet in his Florida trophy room.

Finally, the weekly tuesday Bruce Levine chatfest can be found here. He starts by reminiscing about the blizzard of '67 so maybe Brrruuuce's been nipping at the sherry a bit (but hey, anything goes when you know a Snow Day's a-coming):

Watch for Jeff Jackson out of spring training. He's got a live arm and can start or relieve.

Time to sing along with the Boss: "Sherry Darling."

Tags
Spring Training
Lou Piniella
Wrigley Debris

Comments

Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 02/02/2011 - 02:31 am

What sites have you been reading? There is zero chance that the Cubs have the money for Figgins or the players it would take to get Kinsler from Texas. Just stick to ESPNChicago.com
Yes, where you can read more about the meteoric rise of Jeff Jackson, and not know that the Phillies are too capped out on Payroll to add another $20 million.

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Submitted by navigator on Wed, 02/02/2011 - 02:54 pm

The Mariners are looking for a third baseman and a pitcher in return for Figgins. The Cubs need a leadoff man who can play second/third. So here's the offer the Cubs should make. It will only cost Hendry $4 million this year. Send Silva back to the Mariners. Cubs give Baker+Silva+$1.2 million in 2011 +$2 million to cover Silva's buyout in 2012 For Chone Figgins ::Mariners owe the Cubs $5.5 for Silva this year anyway. That leaves $6 million to cover. But by shedding Figgins $9 million contract for 2011 they net $3 million. So by making the trade the M's would get Baker, Silva and $1,2 million this year, $2 million more in 2010 and save $17-26 MM on the remainder of Figgins' contract.

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Submitted by Paul Noce on Thu, 02/03/2011 - 02:03 pm

Figgins is an upgrade at 3B over ARam. ------------------------------ Defensively. But if you replaced ARam's bat with Figgans' no-power leadoff bat there won't be anyone to drive Figgans in. ARam is a huge part of the power resurgence we are hoping for this year. Other than him and Pena, who is going to hit a lot of HR's on this team? Soriano has the ability but for various reasons he's never clicked here. Colvin is still a question mark. That leaves below avg. power at 2b/ss/cf and Soto's 15 or so hr's at C. Figgans would make more sense at 2b for the Cubs.

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Submitted by Paul Noce on Thu, 02/03/2011 - 02:05 pm

The speed is still there, but he's 33 this season, signed for 3 more years (plus an off chance the 4th year vests with enough plate appearances in 2013). The biggest problem dealing with a contract like that with his age is that he's a speed guy, once that speed starts to decline, either by age or injury, he's not very valuable since he has no power. He can play multiple positions, but as a weak hitting middle infielder type making $9 million per year, that's not that appealing. If he had only 1-2 years left on his contract he would be more attractive. If Juan Pierre could play 2b/3b and had this contract, would you want to trade for him?

Submitted by Cubster on Wed, 02/02/2011 - 02:19 pm

saw this bit of silliness on mlbtr...
Executives around the game believe that Albert Pujols will sign an extension with the Cardinals. If the sides don't reach a deal by Spring Training, Pujols will be a free agent after the season, in which case the Cubs may be "best positioned" to pursue him, in the opinion of one executive.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Wed, 02/02/2011 - 02:38 pm

Saw this in an unsigned piece in the Sun Times today: "Lou Piniella, who shocked the Cubs last summer by abruptly retiring during the season, has accepted an offer," etc. My sense is that, far from being shocked by any Piniella announcement, the Cubs let him go, first by announcing that he wouldn't return in 2011 and then by just cutting him loose. Maybe that's a tendentious reading, but I base it on items like this one, reported by Wittenmyer in the same Sun Times on 12/7:
Piniella was forced home twice for a few days to help with his mom, and by mid-August it reached a point where he and general manager Jim Hendry met to try to resolve it. Even then, Piniella’s instinct was to keep working to get the team playing better. Eventually it was Hendry who suggested Piniella should do what he knew he must for his family.
Emphasis added.

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Submitted by crunch on Wed, 02/02/2011 - 02:02 pm

in recent history, every time i accept a job i either give up on it or ask to be sent somewhere else closer to my offseason home. seattle, i wanna go somewhere else and be closer to home...tampa bay, im sick of managing and wanna retire early...cubs, i wanna go home late-season to hang out with mom. contracts are for losers. changing your mind about your contract or giving up is for winners. sorry none of this has any basis in realty and it's pulled out of no where without any basis for the accusations...i'll never make these assumptions again. sincerely, ike farrell

Submitted by The E-Man on Thu, 02/03/2011 - 02:10 am

On a slow day, CCO has some depressing, and interesting stats: http://chicagocubsonline.com/ The lowlights: "The 2010 Chicago Cubs had arguably the worst defense in the Major Leagues. The Cubs tied with the Atlanta Braves for the third most errors in the league (126) ... only one more error than the Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates." "The Cubs led the majors last season in the one category that no team wants to lead the league in, unearned runs. The Cubs allowed 99 unearned runs last year, by far the worst in the majors."

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Thu, 02/03/2011 - 02:51 pm

BP did research a couple of years ago, and came up with the conclusion that pitchers were partially responsible for un-earned runs. I cannot remember their exact methodology, but essentially bad pitchers gave up more unearned runs than good pitchers did (everything else being equal). It's intuitive, but it's rarely addressed by the media that covers MLB. That may be part of the reason why the Cubs starting staff felt worse to me than the ERA numbers indicated last year. The average team gave up 57 unearned runs, and the second worst gave up 84. The Padres and Twins gave up a third of what the Cubs did (32 and 33).

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Submitted by Cubster on Thu, 02/03/2011 - 02:24 pm

I'm no saber metrics guy but I'm putting some basic numbers out there to think about and the more complex fielding stats people can teach me something. Unearned runs only come when an error is charged so I'm thinking unless the official scorer is giving someone a break, the raw numbers don't show that the Cub pitchers in 2010 had a disproportionate number of errors compared to better fielding teams. Cub pitchers with errors in 2010: Dempster (1), Grabow (2), Lilly (2), Wells (5), Zambrano (3) Total 13; Team Errors (126); Cub Pitchers had10.3% of team errors. Team fielding % .979 The team stats may not reflect on TRN's premise of " bad pitchers gave up more unearned runs than good pitchers"...cause it looks like Randy Wells had a problem with errors. I quickly looked at two "good" fielding teams for comps: CIN and SFG CHC 126E, fielding % .979, Pitcher errors 13/126 = 10.3% CIN 72E, fielding % .988, Pitcher errors 13/72 = 18.0% SFG 73E, fielding % .988, Pitcher errors 17/73 = 23.2%

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Thu, 02/03/2011 - 02:23 pm

Biggest problem was the left side of the infield, where I count 53 errors, compared to 32 the year before. 2010 errors: Castro (SS) 27; Ramirez (3B) 16; Baker (3B) 7; Theriot (SS) 3 2009 errors: Theriot (SS) 15; Ramirez (3B) 10; Fontenot (3B) 4; Fox (3B) 2; Baker (3B) 1 Castro will improve. Will Ramirez/Baker?

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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