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

Game 11 Recap - Cue the Banjo Music

Box Score | Highlights

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9   R H E
Cubs 0 0
0
0
0 0
1
0 1
  2
11 3
Astros 3
2
0
2
0
0 0 4
x   11
16
1

The Gist: The odds were pretty low heading into the game that the Cubs could win it with the Astros best pitcher going and the Cubs going with a guy on a 45-50 pitch count limit. At least they didn't waste our time making it suspenseful. It started with the first batter for the Astros with Michael Bourne taking advantage of the lefty making his first major league start. Knowing that he's going to be falling off to the third base side of the mound and probably just worried about throwing strikes with that pitch count limit, Bourne executed a perfect bunt to the first basemen that Russell had no chance to get to the base in time. And then they did the exact same thing with the next batter. Give 'em some props for the smart baseball.

Then the little league defense, starting with Soriano's muffing a single and Barney missing a tag that gave the Astros another run. The Cubs made three errors on the night and really four although they gave Quintero a triple instead of Reed Johnson an error late in the game. Samardzija was asked to pitch three innings and he got his first four batters, but ran into trouble in the 4th giving up two runs. He got in more trouble in the 5th before Jeff Stevens bailed him out. I feel that whatever the team needs out of Samardzija, he'll always deliver one less. You need two innings out of him, he'll give you one good, one bad. You need two outs, he'll get you one. Anyway, Stevens, Marcus Mateo (struck out the side), Tyler Colvin and Marlon Byrd were about the only bright spots in the game.

Z vs. Wandy in the rubber match on Wednesday. The Cubs have an off day on Thursday so Q-Ball can probably push the bullpen a little tomorrow if needed with only Samardzija being unavailable. I wouldn't be too surprised if Russell or Stevens gets sent down in the next two days for a bullpen arm. The team won't need another 5th starter until Tuesday, April 19th next and I suppose I could see Ramon Ortiz getting that nod.


 

Hitter Results for April 12
Name Level Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SO BB SB CS
Michael Burgess A+ RF 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0
Welington Castillo A+ DH 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
Matthew Cerda                          
Ryan Flaherty                          
Reginald Golden                          
Brett Jackson                          
DJ LeMahieu                          
Marquez Smith AAA 3B 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Matthew Szczur A RF 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Josh Vitters                          

Pitcher Results for April 12
Name Level IP R ER H 2B 3B HR SO BB
Christopher Carpenter                    
Jay Jackson                    
Austin Kirk                    
Kenneth McNutt                    
Christopher Rusin                    
Hayden Simpson A 5.0 5 3 8 0 0 0 2 1

Scores

Tennessee had the night off.

Comments

quick, elias - last time a team started a game w/ consecutive bunt hits...more errors than runs last night & now magic wandy against the starless team w/ the starry payroll...

It's not really Q-Ball's fault. How could anyone have predicted that the Cubs would lose a starter or two and Casey Coleman and Russell wouldn't be effective? The music was playing too loud at the time, but I was sorely tempted to yell out "Bring in Silva!" as Q-Ball went out to pull Russell. I realize the talent is probably less, but this dipshit has soured me even more quickly than Baker and Pinhead did. Looked like about 10K actual at the game last night.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

I think Coleman isn't going to pitch that poorly all season (his starts won't all be at Milwaukee after all). Grabow and Samardjiza have done a bit of good work this season, but counting on Grabow to be more than a middling reliever and Wide Outside to do anything more than mop-up duty is basically insane. It would help if the big three in the rotation could get their ERA's, I don't know, in the 4's maybe? The only good starts we've had are from the two guys who are hurt - and we're 11 games into the seson.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Outfield depth is questionable? Don't we have Colvin currently riding the bench a few days a week? Plus, Brett Jackson (and soon Brad Snyder) ready to come up and fill in for a time at least? Plus you've got the Tony Campana's and James Adducis of the world. I agree on the pitching depth, but I'm not sure what you're looking for if our outfield depth isn't enough for you. However, if we're criticizing the quality of our starting outfield, I could probably get on board with that.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=13566 2 cubs mentioned: Jae-Hoon Ha, OF, Cubs (High-A Daytona): 3-for-4, 2B, R, RBI, CS. Four straight multi-hit games for 20-year-old Korean; has line-drive bat and the speed to stay in center field. Robert Whitenack, RHP, Cubs (High-A Daytona): 6 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 12 K. Arguably the best pitching line of the day; six-foot-five righty has solid velocity and plenty of deception.

Pierre being Pierre bunt single, then picked off first then single in 3B and picked off again reached on FC in 5th, see if he can not get himself out this time also an error in the game

Castro SS, Barney 2B, Byrd CF, Ramirez 3B, Baker 1B, Soto C, Soriano LF, Colvin RF, Zambrano P

#Rays Fuld joking he couldn't stop the rain: "This is me washing my planet."

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Levine criticizes Silva for not accepting the minor league demotion for the Cubs, apparently not realizing that Silva didn't know what 29 clubs thought they had at the time the decision was made. He makes no mention of Hendry, keeping 3 useless guys in the major league bullpen so he could do his de-facto cut of Carlos Silva, who he probably would have kept had he known Wells and Cashner were going to be hurt. Ass kissing and hypocrisy - the keys to Chicago sports writing.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

why does silva matter anyway? he needed to go. you can put all the off-field stuff aside and just point to his horrible performances this spring. you can even take those numbers away and point at his lack of velocity and perhaps more importantly...his lack of movement on his pitches. it would have been nice if silva accepted his minor league assignment, but it seems that was a non-issue once both sides decided to trash each other.

From the handy-dandy game notes the Cubs send out: "Since the start of the 2010 season, Geovany Soto, Jeff Baker and Marlon Byrd rank 1-2-3 in the National League in batting average against left-handed pitching. Soto leads the league with a .370 batting average (44-for-119), followed closely by Baker (.361, 56-for-155) and Byrd (.353, 65-for-184). Soto's .469 on-base percentage vs. lefties since the start of last season is the best in the majors."
Also: "Carlos Zambrano has 14 career wins against the Houston Astros, by far the most of any active pitcher in all of baseball. Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang are next closest with 11 wins apiece against the Astros.
http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/5469

Iowa: Bibens-Dirx P Smokies: Jackson 8, Samson 4, LeMahieu 5, Spencer 9, Vitters 3, Clevenger 2, Ridling 7, Lalli 0, Ma. Gonzalez 6 Rusin P Daytona: Watkins SS, Cerda 3B, Ha CF, Bour 1B, Castillo DH, Burgess LF, Perez RF, Brenly C, Opitz 2B P-Struck Peoria: LePage 4, Silva 8, Rohan 3, Borges 9, Fitzgerald 7, Giansanti 5,Burruel 2,Soto DH,Alcantara 6, Kirk 1

I solved my issue although with no help from the Parachat folks. It just happened that the login window was popping up behind all my other windows for whatever reason. I did contact them and they suggested that since every problem is unique to contact them directly and they will try to help you out. Please let me know how it works out if you do try. Try here: https://service.parachat.com/ click on "Submit a Ticket" The Url of the chat is: http://www.thecubreporter.com/chat The site id is: 9124 Please contact me with any questions or concerns or use the comments.

I attended the game on Tuesday night. Here are my observations: Colvin had trouble tracking fly balls during the first two innings. The roof was open, the sun was shining and the lights were on. The double by Quintero was a routine fly ball that Colvin couldn't track properly. Colvin also had trouble tracking Myer's base hit down the right field line. When Russel was removed in the second inning, Colvin walked over to centerfield and talked to Byrd about his trouble tracking the ball. Ramirez waived at a double play ball that went past him one step to his left. Russell needs to work on covering first base. He was not running parallel to the first base line. It cost him two outs. Russell also needs to work on holding runners. Bourn stole second and third in the first inning. When Samardzija replaced Russell in the second inning with the score 5-0, I think he was told to throw nothing but fastballs in hope that he could throw several innings. In the fifth inning, the pitching coach made an appearance on the mound and then Samardzija starting mixing in some breaking balls. I think he could have been more effective mixing pitches, but I think Quade's main objective was for Samardzija to throw three innings. Reed Johnson (CF) and DeWitt (3B) were horrible defensive replacements. Johnson made several belly flops without making a catch. The triple by Quintero was a double that was misplayed by Johnson. Still, Quintero would have been out at third, but DeWitt dropped the ball. Subsequently, DeWitt muffed a double play ball and didn't even get one out. Later, be bounced a throw to Pena. Russel was victimized by bad defense by himself, Colvin and Ramirez. Grabow was victimized by bad defense by Reed Johnson and DeWitt. Stevens and Mateo had good relief appearances. The positive news is that nobody got hurt and Marmol, Wood and Marshall did not have to make meaningless appearances.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

If it had been a fastball, do you think they would have thrown him out? He was safe by a mile--not because he guessed right, but because Russell doesn't have a good move so runners know when he is throwing home and his delivery to home, with the high leg-kick, is abysmally slow, especially for a lefty. Same thing on the steal of third, Russell gave him one look, turned, and then immediately went into his slow delivery home. Easy steals for a guy like Bourn.

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.