Cubs MLB Roster

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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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Zambrano Answers Questions About Arm Issues with No-Hitter

Well that was kind of awesome...except I walked out right before Derrek Lee's double in the third. So I'll have to relive the glory through those who were witness.

I found out about the no-hitter when I opened my email and one of our readers sent me the parachat screen grab from the end of the game.

As you can see, Mister Whipple was particularly enthused. Thanks to reader Andy for the pic.

You can see the video higlights as well at ESPN.com.

With the Brewers getting swept by the Phillies and the Cubs win, the Cubs magic number has been reduced to seven for both making the playoffs and winning the division.

Well damn that was fun, too bad I missed most of it.

Comments

It is amazing how much energy Zambrano brings to this team (and city). I think Soriano and Zambrano are the spiritual leaders of the club. Both of them add far more than their stats could ever reflect (even though their stats are good, and particularly Zambrano's tonight). Understatement. THey're just the guys you want on the field. I think Z has a competitive spirit perhaps only matched by Walter Payton and Michael Jordan.

Watching the game in retrospect, various thoughts: When Soriano hits the 3rd pitch of a game for a home run: We win! When they mention Hunter Pence's 13 game hitting streak: Not for long... Long littany of excuses about travelling and playing etc: Tough luck, you could have come to Milwaukee Friday with your families (most of you are millionares, you know), if you wanted. 96 on the game score, two better than Lester's No hitter for highest score of the season.

rally pink was in full effect on parachat. hehe...wes was rocking the rally teal and everyone was cap'd up for the hell of it. ah, pointless stupidity. great game...glad the 9th was on ESPN even if i had to follow the rest online.

out of the ashes of prior and wood emerges a guy who has pretty much cemented his place in the "legend" area of cubs history. he was that "other guy" lost in the prior/wood mix for too long. about time he got a piece of history to go along with his obviously superior play.

Hey, I won't be embarrassed or apologize for my unbridled enthusiasm after watching one of the greatest baseball games of my entire life. That I got to share it with crunch, Andy, Brick, Chad, ryno, bizmarquis, and all the other PChat all stars made it that much better. I even woke up my kids cheering on the last pitch!

I was watching on TV when Holtzman no-hit the Braves. Went the next day and the Cubs lost. I was watching on TV when Holtzman pitched his second no-hitter. Was going to go to the Hooton no-hitter but the weather was so crappy that we stayed home thinking the game would be cancelled. Watched the final four innings on TV. For some reason was sitting inside with my Dad and watched the final four innings of the Pappas no-hitter. Watched the first and final five innings of the Z no-hitter. And these were just a few of the sad number of notable games. The rest of my life is filled with images of Mike Vail flying to the warning track and Bill Bonham giving up gargantuan homers to Mike Lum.

Just from the comments on this blog, it's so obvious already what kind of a psychological and emotional impact Z has on Cubs fans when he is on the field and playing well. I can just imagine what the impact is in that clubhouse. Electric!

I'd never seen a no-hitter before, but I always imagined that the 9th inning would be nerve-wracking. It kind of was, but I had a rock-bottom confidence in Z's ability to do it. I think that feeling started on the play in the 8th where he came over to catch that pop fly by himself; he looked like he was going to catch the ball, then eat it. Fantastic. I got to see part of the game with my 5-year-old son. He went to bed at 8 or so, but for some reason, he was awake when I was getting ready for bed, so I told him: "Hey, buddy, when you were watching the game, did you see any of the Astros get a hit off Zammy?" (thinks) "No." "Yeah. Neither did I." (thinks)(grins)

Yeah, the Cards are now out of it and the Cubs have a chance to put the Astros down another game after today. Also the Brewers denied the Phillies' request to play a game on their off-day today and instead insisted on a double header yesterday. The Phillies of course gave them the big F-U by sweeping the DH and the series. Living in Wisconsin I would love to see the Brewers not even make the playoffs, especially considering all of that crap Sabathia said about them being the best team in the league. But in the same sense, I'm not sure what playoff scenario I like better: Dodgers, then winner of Brewers-Mets or Phillies, then winner of Dodgers-Mets

Watched the last three innings. He just dominated. As Brenly said, when he missed, he didn't miss by much. Had velocity, movement, command. Looked composed and focused out there. As for his arm, who knows? "I don't know, man, my arm is weird, for real," Zambrano said. "Sometimes I give all I have in my arm. I even go back and try to throw harder and I just see 92-93. And sometimes I just kind of play catch with [ Geovany Soto] and see the scoreboard and it's 97-98. "I don't know. I think it's because if you use your leg like Larry [Rothschild] tells me all the time, use your leg perfectly, you throw the ball harder. It's not just your arm, it's how you throw." http://www.thecubreporter.com/2008/09/14/zambrano-answers-questions-abo… I'd like to see this Z all the time. It seemed that me that he was really driving of the rubber last night, at times practically bouncing of the mound on his follow through. Did anyone else notice this? This off season, I'd like to see him pay more attention to conditioning, perhaps lose a little weight and try to be better able to keep his legs throughout the season.

THE HOME RUN BY CHICAGO LEFT FIELDER ALFONSO SORIANO LED OFF THE GAME. CHICAGO PITCHER CARLOS ZAMBRANO HAS A NO-HITTER THROUGH SIX INNINGS. CHICAGO PITCHER CARLOS ZAMBRANO HAS A NO-HITTER THROUGH SEVEN INNINGS. CHICAGO PITCHER CARLOS ZAMBRANO HAS A NO-HITTER THROUGH EIGHT INNINGS. CHICAGO PITCHER CARLOS ZAMBRANO HAS A NO-HITTER THROUGH EIGHT AND 1/3 INNINGS. CHICAGO PITCHER CARLOS ZAMBRANO HAS A NO-HITTER THROUGH EIGHT AND 2/3 INNINGS. CHICAGO PITCHER CARLOS ZAMBRANO HAS THROWN A NO-HITTER. Couldn't have said it any better.

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...