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 

 



 

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Cubs Drop 5-3 Decision to Brewers in Mesa

The Cubs left the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th and in the bottom of the 8th, as a split squad of Milwaukee Brewers hung-on for a 5-3 Cactus League victory in front of a sparse crowd at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in cool & sunny Mesa, AZ, this afternoon.

box score

Randy Wells got the start for the Cubs, and he pitched well, throwing two shutout innings (23 pitches - 14 strikes 3/2 GO/FO). He struck out one while allowing just two harmless singles, with one of the runners being erased when Wells induced Ryan Braun to rap into an inning-ending DP. 

Competing with several others for a job in the starting rotation, Andrew Cashner followed Wells to the hill and struggled with his command, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk in 2.0 IP (42 pitches - 25 strikes). Cashner did not rack up any strikeouts today, but he did throw one wild pitch, and he also commited a throwing error on an errant pick-off attempt at 1st base. 

Jay Jackson had an easy 1-2-3-4 inning (he had to get four outs thanks to a Jeff Baker dropped infield pop-up that prolonged the inning). 

Kerry Wood had a poor outing, allowing two runs on three hits (a single, a double, and a triple) in one inning (19 pitches - 13 strikes). Wood's control was a bit out of whack in his "live" BP session at Fitch Park last week, and he just didn't look comfortable on the mound today, either.

Both John Gaub and (especially) Chris Carpenter had control issues. Gaub allowed a run on two hits, a walk, and a WP in the 6th, and while Carpenter did pitch a shutout inning in the top of the 7th, he walked two and threw 22 pitches (but only nine for strikes).

Sean Marshall had a 1-2-3 9th that featured outstandng defensive plays by SS Augie Ojeda (ranging behind 2nd base to corral a grounder seemingly headed for CF before making a strong throw to 1st to cut down the batter-runner) and CF Fernando Perez (a diving catch in right-center).  

There wasn't a whole lot of Cub offense today. Tyler Colvin ripped a triple into the RF corner to score Reed Johnson (who had led-off the bottom of the 1st with a single) with the Cubs first run, Alfonso Soriano doubled and scored on a two-out line-drive RBI single by Scott Moore in the 6th, and pinch-hitter Bobby Scales walked with the bases loaded to force-in a run in the bottom of the 7th. (Bryan Lahair followed Scales to the plate and had a chance to perhaps tie the game or maybe even give the Cubs the lead, but he struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch to close the inning and leave the bases loaded).

The Cubs loaded the bases again in the bottom of the 8th. Scott Moore and Welington Castillo lined singles to the outfield (both Moore and W. Castillo had two hits today), and after Fernando Perez walked with two outs, Augie Ojeda was robbed of what would have been a bases-clearing extra-base hit when Brewers speedy CF D'Vontrey Richardson made a fine running catch in right-center to close out the inning. The Cubs then went down quietly in the bottom of the 9th.

The Cubs play the San Francisco Giants at Scottsdale Stadium tomorrow.

 

Comments

Something to keep in mind about the Cactus League box scores at mlb.com is that the pitch counts attributed to the pitchers are way-off, not even close to being accurate. I have noticed this problem in the box scores for both Cubs games so far.

AZ Phil: Thanks for the update. I noticed JJackson was lifted for Adducci when the cubs stranded a runner at 3B. You have menioned that JJ is an excellent hitter, so I was curious if you were ever thinking they would just let him hit? Also, since the team has been pathetic the last two years at picking up runners in scoring position, do you believe Quade will give preference to the bubble players who can buck this trend?

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In reply to by The E-Man

Submitted by The E-Man on Mon, 02/28/2011 - 8:21pm. AZ Phil: Thanks for the update. I noticed JJackson was lifted for Adducci when the cubs stranded a runner at 3B. You have menioned that JJ is an excellent hitter, so I was curious if you were ever thinking they would just let him hit? Also, since the team has been pathetic the last two years at picking up runners in scoring position, do you believe Quade will give preference to the bubble players who can buck this trend? ======================================== E-MAN: I think the Cubs allow pitchers to hit in Cactus League Spring Training games only if they are being primed to be starting pitchers at the big league level and/or if the pitcher is staying in the game to pitch another inning. Although they both will likely end up in the starting rotation at Iowa, at present it appears that the Cubs see both Jay Jackson and Chris Carpenter only as candidates for the bullpen should they make the big club, but once they are sent to Minor League Camp (and I think both of them will be in the first cut) I would expect them to get stretched out as starting pitchers and then they will get some ABs in games, too. But Jay Jackson is a very good hitter. He's kind of a right-handed Rick Ankiel (back when Ankiel was still a promising young pitcher). I'm not really sure what Quade is looking for in his five bench players. At present it is almost a given that the five will be Koyie Hill (back-up catcher), Jeff Baker (2B-3B-1B-LF-RF-RHPH), Darwin Barney (SS-2B-3B-RHPH-PR), Tyler Colvin (RF-CF-LF-1B-LHPH), and either Reed Johnson or Fernando Perez (RHPH and late inning defensive replacement for Soriano if it's Johnson, and PR, SWPH, and late inning defensive replacement for Soriano if it's Perez). As I have mentioned before, the Cubs could opt to keep an offensive-first C-1B-RHPH like Max Ramirez (who is out of minor league options) as a third catcher, but that would mean either Jeff Baker or Johnson/Perez doesn't make the team, and right now I think Baker is a virtual lock and either Johnson or Perez are near-locks, although Colvin could function as the late-inning defensive replacement for Soriano if the Johnson/Perez slot is junked. I just don't see Koyie Hill not making the team as the back-up catcher, and there is no way the Cubs will go with an 11-man pitching staff. There is always the chance that somebody like Max Ramirez, Scott Moore, or Brad Snyder could have a huge Spring Training and force himself onto the Opening Day 25-man roster at the expense of Johnson/Perez, but I suspect for guys like M. Ramirez, Moore, and Snyder to really have a chance to stick around, a position player already assured of a roster slot will have to get hurt in Spring Training.

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.