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

Warm Thoughts from Snowmageddon Central

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."

Comments

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.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

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.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

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.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

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?

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.

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.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

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

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."

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

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).

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

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%

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

  • 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. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Seconded!!!

  • crunch (view)

    another awesome spring of pitching reports.  thanks a lot, appreciated.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 90-92 
    CUT: 87-89 
    SL: 82-83 
    SPLIT: 81-84
    CV: 73-74 
    COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes...  if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...   
     
    JOE NAHAS
    FB: 90-92 
    SL: 83-85 
    CV: 80-81 
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...   

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 86 
    SL: 79 
    COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...   

    FRANKIE SCALZO JR
    FB: 94-95
    CH: 88 
    SL: 83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning... 

    MICHAEL ARIAS
    FB: 94-96
    CH: 87-89
    SL: 82-83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...   

    ZAC LEIGH: 
    FB: 93-94 
    CH: 89 
    SL: 81-83 
    CV: 78
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...   

    JOSE ROMERO:  
    FB: 93-95
    SL: 82-84
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...