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

12 More Cubs Pitchers Go "Live" at Fitch

12 Cubs pitchers threw "live" BP this morning at Fitch Park in Mesa. Each pitcher threw 25 pitches, and each hitter saw five or six pitches befiore rotating out of the batting cage.

The "live" BP was fairly uneventful, as no batters were hit by pitches, no hitters knocked a ball over the fence, and no pitchers were shut-down in the middle of an "inning."

Starlin Castro (who played winter ball) had the best swings.

Aramis Ramirez did not take "live" BP (he did not take "live" BP last year, either), and the hitting group consisting of Jim Adduci, Matt Camp, Brad Snyder, and Max Ramirez did not get a chance to face "live" BP today. However, M. Ramirez did put on quite a power display in a later BP session on Field #2 with a coach throwing "soft toss."

Priior to the "live" BP session, Aramis Ramirez did take infield practce on Field #3, and Marquez Smith was worked out at 2B and Scott Moore at SS on Field #2. Although Moore was drafted as a SS (1st round pick by DET in 2002 out of the same HS that produced Josh Vitters) and played there his first year in pro ball, he lacks the range to play there except in a pinch. And M. Smith both lacks the range and fluidity needed to be an everyday 2B, although playing 2B in addition to 3B could help to get him to the big leagues if he is unable to make it to the bigs as an everyday 3B.   

PITCHERS

FIELD #2

1. Randy Wells
2. Andrew Cashner
3. Casey Coleman
4. Esmailin Caridad
5. Justin Berg
6. John Gaub

HITTING GROUP #1
Marlon Byrd
Tyler Colvin
Alfonso Soriano

HITTING GROUP #2
Reed Johnson
Bobby Scales
Geovany Soto
Josh Vitters 

HITTING GROUP #3
Starlin Castro
Blake DeWitt
Koyie Hill
Scott Moore
Carlos Pena

FIELD #3

PITCHERS
1. Kerry Wood 
2. Todd Wellemeyer
3. Robert Coello
4. Thomas Diamond
5. Marcos Mateo
6. Jay Jackson

HITTING GROUP #1
Steve Clevenger
Brett Jackson
Marquez Smith

HITTING GROUP #2
Kosuke Fukudome 
Bryan Lahair
Lou Montanez
Fernando Perez (batted LH)

HITTING GROUP #3
Jeff Baker
Darwin Barney
Welington Castillo
Augie Ojeda
Chris Robinson

Comments

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/3928036-419/cowley-hendry-deserves-chanc… Soriano, Fuku deals not Hendry's fault " Insiders have said those deals, which happened on Hendry’s watch, were out of Hendry’s hands. " Not his style to speak up about it (hello Brian Cashman) but sure is his style to collect the GM paycheck for which he was not obvisouly due. F'him and F'Crane Kinney Get these clowns out of here!!!!!!!!

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

i don't get it. should we assume zell was trying to blow his load and get a trophy before he sold the team or something? he was the man on point leading into 07 and through 08. i know hendry and crew wouldn't make friends calling out anyone, especially some guy in a suit who's already gone...and one who took a f'n bath on buying the tribune co...but it's a weird hand washing of the situation.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

i'm not defending anyone because the rumors didn't come from anyone who bothered to be named...especially hendry. it's known that hendry has always had a hard-on for soriano except when he soured on him in WAS. i imagine hendry wanted bradley, though...as flaky as his attitude and health has proven to be, he is (was) a good ob% guy with a good bit of pop and an arm to play RF. that said, i can't imagine anyone else pulling those strings except for zell. i had the impression he was a hands-off guy that for some reason was pumping money into the team, though. rumors aside, zell's legacy did include bumping the payroll...though it really didn't "bite" until the 2009 season.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

Soriano rumor was the deal was finished by Kenney and McDonough, while Hendry was on a plane somewhere else. They allegedly tacked on another year or two to the deal then what Hendry thought was fair. And since the universal cry from just about everyone was, "that's too fucking long", I kind of buy it. Fuku not so much... That being said, doubtful Hendry didn't like either player, just probably (like Cashman) didn't want to overpay by as much as they did on Soriano. Rumor on Fukudome was White Sox offered more anyway, Cubs just promised him RF...at least for a year.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

BTW, the Suntimes article Jacos linked to is written by Joe Cowley, who has covered the White Sox for years and publicly ripped the Cubs on The Score (a local Chicago sports radio station for you out of towners). The Suntimes swapped their baseball reporters this year, Cowley is now covering the Cubs. This is the first of many articles Cowley will write that 'stirs things up'. He had a long history of doing the same crap with the White Sox, emphasizing on Ozzie's cursing, Ozzie's kids ripping the team, etc. He loves to write negative articles.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Sorry, my bad, digging around, Cowley is now a columnist, I thought they had flipped his beat, like newspapers do every few years (Sullivan has covered the Sox before). So now Cowley can write about all the low life crap he loves so much. Here's a great quote from a Sox fan about Cowley: "His constant name calling and little attacks on people he doesn't like or actually have the audacity to one up him on a story are extremely unprofessional for someone in his line of work." That's from the link I posted above/below, wherever it goes.

seeing a number of "positive" stories this morning on b.webb (tex) throwing long toss and it being a good sign for him. they should probably look at a little video of him actually doing that tossing. it was hard to watch and honestly kinda amazing they didn't shut him down immediately. aside from barely-to-not-at-all being able to make those 200ft. tosses, he was in obvious pain and his form was awful. at this point im glad the cubs didn't take that bait.

head over to deadspin to read about how marlon byrd is getting his supplements from victor conte and how he wants to restore his good name and gives props for him not being a snitch. i guess thats good for us right?

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

That link is actually quoting Dusty from a story on Fox, who can't even get their facts straight. The Fox story says, "In 2006, he was fired." No, he wasn't fired. His contract ended and he wasn't offered a new one. There's a difference, and any fact-checking journalist would know that, but Fox doesn't even check facts for sports stories. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/mike-quade-chicago-cubs-excited-but-… In the Fox story, Dusty continues to rip the Cubs...(but he's moved on!) =============== He said the team “didn’t have the personnel” to win in the second half of his four-year tenure, citing injuries to stars Aramis Ramirez (2005) and Derrek Lee (2006). “It really hurt my reputation,” Baker said. “Ever since then, all of a sudden, ‘I don’t know how to manage. I don’t know how to handle pitchers. I don’t like young players.’ … They don’t even have a clue about it. I never heard that in San Francisco. “I was one of the top managers around, supposedly, and then all of a sudden I don’t know (expletive), know what I mean? They (the critics) were always looking for something critical, ever since I went there (to Chicago).”

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

One, the first things journalists are taught is, "If your mother says she loves you, check it out." You fact check EVERYTHING. Two, if you're going to write an article bashing a team by a former manager who keeps claiming he's "moved on", yet 5 years later is still bringing up new shit (no pun intended), I would want to double fact check everything. Dusty Baker wasn't fired. In fact, I'm sure you'll remember, Hendry told reporters around the All-Star break in 2006 that Dusty would finish out the season, despite constant rumors he was going to be fired at any minute. Manager and player jobs are not the same as everyday normal working class stiff jobs. Was Carl Crawford fired by the Rays? Was Jayson Werth fired by the Phillies? No, their contracts expired and the teams chose not to resign them. Dusty Baker became a free agent and the Cubs chose not to resign him, because he had 3 crappy years in a row.

The right to depreciate player's value is extremely important when a franchaise is sold, but that has nothing to do with the player's contracts, which are allowed to be expensed in the year incurred. The depreciation they are referring to is the portion of the total price of the transaction that is allocated to the value of the current players. This is the value of the player system that is over and above the cost of the individual contracts, and represent the value of that part of the team as a "going concern". Giving Soriano a couple of extra years on his contract had no tax ramifications other than to increase the perceived value of the team to a prospective buyer if he looked upon having Soriano tied up for that period of time as a good thing, rather than a bad thing. What Veeck was referring to was essentially the "goodwill", which in general is the amount of the purchase price that is in excess of the book value of the corporation, which can generally be depreciated. To take a oversimplified example. Assume that the Cubs had NO assets other than the ball park and it's real estate, and the player's contracts. And assume that the ball park could be sold on the open market for 100,000 dollars. And finally assume that the capital and retained earnings of the corporation were 100,000 million dollars. If the corporation was sold for 1 billion dollars, 100,000 million dollars would be assigned to the real estate, 100,000 million would be assigned to the capital and retained earnings, and 800,000 million would be assigned to "goodwill". This goodwill can be depreciated over the estimated life of the goodwill, which can be written off against the annual profit. If the corporation is not sold, there is no goodwill to be written off, and the tax burden is much higher.

[ ]

In reply to by DavidP

I am not sure I agree. Player salaries are not goodwill because the players are in fact assets and the value of that asset can be calculated, in the same way the value of the real estate and other assets are determined during an acquisition. Additionally, the value assigned to the players’ salaries is depreciable, and I believe at a faster that the goodwill is amortized. Thus, assume a fixed purchase price, the buyer would prefer a higher payroll or rather the impact of the high payroll has lessened by its beneficial tax effect. I also believe this also explains why the Cubs aren’t in a big hurry to eat player salaries. They aren’t in fact experiencing the full impact of those contracts, and writing them off would create a negative tax effect.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

Payroll is not depreciated. It is expensed. Player's salaries are not goodwill. The value of an ongoing business sold at a value over book value assigned to the value of the player's contracts IS goodwill (actually, it isn't really goodwill, since goodwill is no longer able to be depreciated), and is depreciated based upon the estimated future life expectancy of all the players' value. Players contracts are valued on the books at their face value for the current year as a current liability and future year's obligations are simply noted as a footnote in the liabilities section. In short, signing Soriano to a long term contract had no effect on this depreciation, and was of value to the selling company only to the extent that the presence of that player at that salary for a specific period of time. In the case of Soriano, by the time the team was sold, he was performing at a level below that which was probably expected of him, and probably caused a decrease in the selling price, rather than an advantage to the seller. Players are no more assets of a ball club (in the bookkeeping sense) than are the salaries payed to any employees.

Recent comments

  • 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...

  • crunch (view)

    pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"

    mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit.  nice.

    he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons.  he's not lean, but he looks healthier.  good for him.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.

  • videographer (view)

    AZ Phil, speaking of Jordan Wicks having better command when he tires a bit, I remember reading about Dennis Lamp 40 years ago and his sinker that was better after 3 or 4 innings when he would tire a bit and get more sink with a little less speed on the pitch.  The key for Lamp was getting to the 4th inning.