Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full) 

47 players are at MLB Spring Training 

33 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE at MLB Spring Training, and seven p;layers are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors
14 players are MLB Spring Training NON-ROSTER INVITEES (NRI) 

Last updated 3-9-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 18
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
Daniel Palencia
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

NRI PITCHERS: 6 
Colten Brewer 
Carl Edwards Jr 
* Edwin Escobar 
* Richard Lovelady 
* Thomas Pannone 
Cam Sanders 

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

NRI CATCHERS: 3  
Jorge Alfaro 
Joe Hudson 
* Bryce Windham

INFIELDERS: 8
* Michael Busch 
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
* Matt Mervis
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

NRI INFIELDERS: 4 
David Bote 
Garrett Cooper
* Dominic Smith
Chase Strumpf 

OUTFIELDERS: 5
* Cody Bellinger 
Alexander Canario
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

NRI OUTFIELDERS: 1 
* David Peralta

OPTIONED:
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Ben Brown, RHP 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, RHP 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

 



Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

A's Score Often and Late to Trump Cubs at Fitch

Chris Bostick, Kelvin Rojas, Rhett Stafford, and Miguel Marte ripped consecutive two-out RBI hits in the top of the 8th to turn a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 lead, as the AZL Athletics scored six runs over the final two innings to defeat the AZL Cubs 8-4 in Arizona League action at Fitch Park Field #3 in Mesa this morning.

box score

Cubs 2011 17th round draft pick John Andreoli (U. Conn) made his pro debut today, playing RF and batting 6th. He reached base in each of his first three plate appearances, lining a first-pitch opposite-field single into RF in his first pro AB, grounding a single sharply between short and third in his second AB (and then stealing 2nd base), and walking and later scoring a run his third time up. He popped out to the catcher on a bunt attempt on his 4th PA.

Andreoli displayed a strong arm in RF and plus-speed on the bases. The big question with him is how much he will hit at the higher levels, and whether he will ever hit for power. He reminds me of a RH version of Jim Adduci.

18-year old LHP Brian Smith (Cubs 2010 40th round draft pick - Canadian Junior National Team) got the start for the Cubs today, and worked three innings (59 pitches - 40 strikes). He allowed two first-inning runs with one out on a single, a double, and a triple by Bostick, Rojas, and Stafford (respectively), but left Stafford stranded at 3rd and threw shutout ball in the 2nd and 3rd. Overall Smith allowed two runs on five hits and a walk, while striking out five (all swinging). He threw a lot of pitches (59) in his three innings, but he also got a couple of big strikeouts when he needed them.

In 12 games (10 GS) in what is definitely a hitter's league, Smith is 3-3 with a 3.66 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP, with 19/37 BB/K and only one HR allowed in 39.1 IP.

After having a 16-game hitting streak stopped last Thursday, Marco Hernandez has started another one, this time five games and counting (and 21 out of 22). Hernandez smacked an RBI double (near HR) down the RF line and off the fence in the bottom of the 3rd today (although he was thrown-out trying to stretch the double into a triple), and is now 9-22 over his last five games. Overall he is hitting 354/392/516, and is tied for second in the AZL in doubles, is 3rd in RBI, 6th in runs scored, 7th in batting average (teammate Gioskar Amaya is 6th), and is tied for 8th in the league in triples.

Comments

Hey AZ Phil, thanks for all the great recaps and the in-depth info. How long does it usually take before a draftee shows up to play in a ball game? How long do you expect it to be before players like Baez, Vogelbach, Maples, Dunston, etc., appear in an AZL ball game? And, this is a separate topic, what do you think of Eric Jokisch? Also, any thoughts on Yao-Lin Wang? I haven't seen much of anything about him, but he's been used primarily as a starter and he's K'd around one batter an inning in his two years in Rookie and A- ball.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

Submitted by Charlie on Wed, 08/17/2011 - 8:45pm. Hey AZ Phil, thanks for all the great recaps and the in-depth info. How long does it usually take before a draftee shows up to play in a ball game? How long do you expect it to be before players like Baez, Vogelbach, Maples, Dunston, etc., appear in an AZL ball game? And, this is a separate topic, what do you think of Eric Jokisch? Also, any thoughts on Yao-Lin Wang? I haven't seen much of anything about him, but he's been used primarily as a starter and he's K'd around one batter an inning in his two years in Rookie and A- ball. ================================================== CHARLIE: It's unlikely that Baez, Vogelbach, Maples, or Dunston will play in the AZL. It's much-more likely that they will make their pro debuts in the AZ Instructional League next month. Besides John Andreoli (who made his pro debut today), the only other 2011 draft picks I have seen at Fitch Park in uniform who have not yet played in games are 1B Rock Shoulders and INF Danny Lockhart. BTW, 2011 Cubs 38th round draft pick RHP Casey Lucchese (College of Charleston) either had his contract voided or the contract did not go through for some reason. Because he is a college senior with no eligibility left, Lucchese would (like 37th round pick RHP Steven Maxwell) ordinarily remain on the Cubs Rule 4 Negotiation List until one week prior to the next June draft, but if he signed and then the contract was voided, he is a free-agent. As for Eric Jokisch, I have seen him pitch only twice, once last year (one inning, and he struck out the side using change-ups & curves) for the AZL Cubs, and then once in Minor League Camp this past March in a "live" BP session where he threw only fastballs while getting in shape for the start of the 2011 season. (Jokisch did not attend AZ Instructs last Fall). I have seen Yao-Lin Wang pitch a lot over the past two seasons, though, because he was at Extended Spring Training both last year and this year, and there is no question that Matt Loosen, Luis Liria, and Yao-Lin Wang were the top three pitchers at EXST this year. Both YL Wang and Boise CF Pin-Chieh Chen were members of the Taiwan Junior National Team prior to signing with the Cubs, and so they are more advanced (polished) than a player or a pitcher their age would normally be. Because Wang frequently piggy-backed with Jin-Young Kim this year at Extended Spring Training I had a chance to compare the two more closely than I otherwise might have been able to do, and Wang was just flat-out the better pitcher of the two, even though Kim got the bigger bonus. Now there are various reasons why Wang might have looked better (Wang is a year older than Kim and has experience in international competition), but I do believe Wang is going to be an MLB pitcher, and I'm not so sure about Kim. At the very least I would say Wang will be another Hung-Wen Chen (who returned to the Iowa Cubs this week from Campeche after developing into one of the top closers in the Mexican League and helping to pitch Campeche into the MEX playoffs). YL Wang throws a fastball, curve, slider, and change, and he pitches aggressively and really tries to seek & exploit a hitter's weakness. Despite a bit of a pitch-to-contact philopsohy he apparently learned to help depress his pitch-count and maximize his efficiency, he still manages to miss a lot of bats. I really like Wang a lot.

[ ]

In reply to by Jumbo

It's funny, I was playing slow pitch softball the other week, first time I played in years and first pitch I swung at I missed. From that point on, I was panicking about striking out (only 2 strikes in this league) and so anything that I thought was hittable, I whacked at, regardless of whether I could really drive it... all the time knowing in the back of my mind, that working a walk is probably a better outcome than hitting the ball into 10 defenders with a no HR rule. Vitters is just the type of hitter who would benefit most from not making "poor" contact. He's not fast, and he doesn't have enormous power. Hopefully he gets it over his next 8 months of baseball.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

I posted that link because I've seen people comment the exact thing that Vitters stated - improving his quality of contact. I don't think he can't tell a ball from a strike. I think he just goes up looking to get a hit and gets the bat on the ball. He's clearly looking to improve his approach, so we should all at least be pleased with that notion. The first step is to not hit a ball into play. The next step is to take a pitcher's strike and wait out a better pitch. Based on his numbers he's making progress, but I'm not sure if he's completely tackled step 1 yet. Someone who sees him routinely would be able to comment on that

[ ]

In reply to by Jumbo

A lot of the time though people who talk about "quality of contact" are really just saying "I don't understand how chance plays into baseball". Just because someone has a low BABIP doesn't necessarily mean that they're making poor contact, or the inverse. Many times, I would even go so far as to say it's more often than not, they're just having bad luck. There's a huge amount of observation bias that goes on when you talk about "quality of contact" and BABIP. When Slappy Campana had a .423 BABIP in the PCL, it wasn't because he was rifling line drives all over the place, and when Vitters had a .240 one in the SL it didn't necessarily mean he kept tapping out to short.

This might be a dumb question (and I am in no way trying to defend Z), but why is it such a big deal for a guy to leave the clubhouse in the middle of a game? In some blowouts, guys will go shower and get dressed before the game is over. Is it a baseball etiquette issue or is there some functional reason a player has to stay until the end of the game?

Nice come-from-behind win on the road for Iowa last night. I'd like to say that B. Jackson got the big hit, but it was Montanez with a three-run double in the ninth. Jackson did walk ahead of Montanez and score the winning run. Jackson also had a triple and a single on the night. This probably goes without saying, but LaHair hit another four-bagger.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Thu, 08/18/2011 - 10:03am. Nice come-from-behind win on the road for Iowa last night. I'd like to say that B. Jackson got the big hit, but it was Montanez with a three-run double in the ninth. Jackson did walk ahead of Montanez and score the winning run. Jackson also had a triple and a single on the night. This probably goes without saying, but LaHair hit another four-bagger. =================================== VA PHIL: A scout from another organization (not TEX and not CUBS) was at Fitch Park the other day talking about "4-A" guys who have emerged from AAA and have developed into everyday players in recent years, and he mentioned Nelson Cruz, who had a break-out year in his 4th season in AAA (2008) after he was out of options and had been outrighted to the minors and had been basically written-off. Cruz was 28 (same age as LaHair) when he put up almost the exact same numbers in the PCL as LaHair has put up this year. It doesn't mean LaHair will necessarily be another Nelson Cruz, but it also means it's not automatic that he won't be, either, but we'll never know if he doesn't get a chance to show what he can do. There is a widespread prejudice against "4-A" players that can blind a team from seeing that what they actually have is a "late-bloomer," whether it be a minor league 6YFA like Ryan Ludwick or Garrett Jones, or non-tendered guys like Jayson Werth.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

they did nothing for decades. i hope every broken record stays the property of the drug users and the suits have to constantly defend it. this has been an issue since the 70s, and horrible since the early/mid 90s...critical mass didn't hit til some people dared to mess with historical numbers. yawn. almost everyone involved saw no reprocussion aside from a personal hit to their pride. people should throw shit at guys like mark mcgwire for the people/reporters/etc he dragged through the mud defending his lies to the game...instead he gets a coaching job and standing ovations.

twins "wtf do we do with joe mauer" fun-time continues...they're trying him in RF tonight. what a horrible leash they tied themselves to with the guy...unless he starts hitting soon he won't be getting many more contracts for dandruff shampoo and video games.

i'm either blind or dumb or both, but noticed that firstinning has added a "show season stats' on your player list page which is neat. For all I know it was there the whole time. Seems they've lost all data for 3 days though earlier this week. anyway, didn't really notice how good Welington Castillo's numbers were on the year, granted he's been injured a lot. Really showing power though over the last 2 seasons.

In a subscription only article posted today at Baseball America, Oneri Fleita says he hopes Trey McNutt can pitch in the AFL post-2011 to get his innings up over 100 (he presently has thrown only 72 IP). Each MLB club contributes four pitchers to it's AFL-assigned team, with one of the pitchers designated as a starting pitcher (which would be McNutt). Each of the designated starters usually gets one (occasionally) two starts per week (throwing about 30 innings total) over the six-week long AFL schedule.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Submitted by crunch on Thu, 08/18/2011 - 10:23pm. about time the cubs sent a guy to the AFL worth following closely...i don't remember being too excited about anyone getting AFL work in the past few years. ================================== CRUNCH: Jake Muyco was the Cubs designated starting pitcher sent to the AFL last year, but Andrew Cashner was the Cubs designated starting pitcher with the Mesa Solar Sox in 2009 and he was one of the best starters in the AFL that year. Then the Cubs moved him back to the bullpen in 2010, before moving him back to the starting rotation this year. With Josh Vitters having played in the AFL twice already he probably wouldn't be assigned there again (he's more likely to play winter ball in Mexico or Venezuela), but some combination of LHRP Jeffrey Beliveau (a virtual lock), RHRP Kevin Rhoderick, LHP Chris Rusin, RHP Jay Jackson, RHP Nick Struck, and/or LHP Brooks Raley, 1B Rebel Ridling, 2B D. J. LeMahieu, IF-OF Ryan Flaherty, and/or IF-OF Logan Watkins, and OF Brett Jackson, Matt Szczur, Evan Crawford, Matt Spencer, and/or Ty Wright (depending upon the needs of the Solar Sox) could be there this year. Like Vitters, C-1B Steve Clevenger has been there twice, so he probably wouldn't go back there again either. There are exceptions, but Latin players usually don't play in the AFL because they are expected to play winter ball in their home country, but occasionally you will see a Cubs Latin player on the Solar Sox (Starlin Castro and Welington Castillo in 2009, Esmailin Caridad in 2008, Angel Guzman in 2004, et al). If that happens this year, I would think IF-OF Marwin Gonzalez is the most-likely candidate, since he is on the bubble as far as whether he gets added to the 40-man roster post-2011. (I would say he would be more of a lock to get added to the 40, but the Cubs might not feel that way).

If Ricketts brings Hendry back, at the very least they have to replace Quade. Q-ball is awful. Bring in someone who is going to stress fundamentals and playing prospects over journeymen, and who has some comprehension of how to work a pitching staff.

LHP (ex-OF) Kyler Burke threw 3.2 IP of hitless/shutout ball with six strikeouts piggy-backing with Ben Wells at Boise tonight. In his last ten games at Boise: 1.86 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, .171 Opp BA 29 IP, 18 H, 8 R (6 ER), 11 BB, 26 K Despite his potential as a pitcher, Burke is unlikely to be added to the Cubs 40-man roster post-2011 because he hasn't pitched above short season ball and because he still has control lapses from time-to-time. But the Cubs will probably add him to the 40 after next season (even if he hasn't made it past Daytona), because otherwise Burke can be a minor league free-agent (6YFA) post-2012, and I doubt that the Cubs will want to lose him. BTW, Burke will probably attend Instructs next month, and he is the type of "mystery" pitcher scouts from the other MLB organizations will be watching closely to see how he develops. So if he pitches lights-out at Instructs it would not be inconceivable that Burke could get lifted in the December 2011 Rule 5 Draft. Lefties who throw in the mid-90's are worth their weight in gold.

A great day in Cubs history. Jim Hendry FINALLY gets fired. Long overdue!! Nice to see the Ricketts Family wake up. I am so happy right now and excited for the future of the Cubs, even without knowing who the next GM is. The past few years have been such a downer and I have barely watched many games as my interest has waned after knowing the Cubs would NEVER been able to win a WS with Jim Hendry as the GM. I was 100% correct. I called for his firing years and years ago and t took many of you a long time to join the train, but finally saw what I saw years ago. Now the Cubs can start fresh, get a competent GM, rebuild and look 3 years down the road to start contending again. This team/organization is in disarray and will take some time to rebuild from the mess Hendry created. No more Teflon Jim!!!! Ding dong the witch is dead!! Go Cubs!!!!

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

While it would have been nice to save a few bucks and get some B/C level prospects for our trash, it doesn't matter too much. This team has only a couple pieces on it that will be long term answers for a team intending to win a WS. This team needs to be gutted. Bye Z, Bye Aramis, Bye Fukudome, Bye Soriano, Bye Pena, etc. All those players are not going to be an asset in helping the Cubs win in the future. They are only weighing us down at this time. I understand this is going to be a long ugly road for the next 2-3 years, but with the right GM and a solid payroll, there is no reason 2015 couldn't be our year! Go Cubs!

Tom: "Jim, have a donut and explain to me why Carlos Pena is still on the roster, and we are paying for it." Jim: "*garbled* feel like he's going to be a key part for us next year." Tom: "He hit .196 and cost me $10 million, what do we have to pay him for hitting .225?" Jim: "Well, I think we could get him for probably $12.5. He oozes leadership and winningness, you know." Tom: "But we could have traded him, saved, say, your salary for this year, and then re-signed him anyway, right?" Jim: "Technically yes, but you know, that's a lot of paperwork to go through." Tom: "OK, clean up out your office, we'll do the press conference Friday morning."

Ricketts on Two reasons for change -not enough wins -needed new leadership to win WS Looking for new Gm " today" No time line Candidates will be outside of organization Search will be "private process" no updates or comments Wants to continue to build players through organization Wants world series champ for fans. Questions? Why 7 /22? "respect for Jim" and help thru draft and trade deadline

Let the months of speculation begin! Go TCR! Heard B Levine (who must be crushed), who opined that Rick Hahn fits the bullet points Ricketts discussed. Turned down a Cardinals GM job apparently, and a Mets finalist.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitcher reports from Thursday's A's - Cubs game at Sloan Park in Mesa, for anyone who might not have seen it: 

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 92-95
    CT: 89-91
    SPLIT: 81-84
    SL: 79-82 
    CV: 71-73 
    COMMENT: Second consecutive masterful and dominating performance by a Cubs LHSP at Sloan Park... threw 4.1 IP of shutout ball, scattering three singles, issuing no walks, and striking out nine (all nine swinging), with the other outs being four weak-contact "straight up the elevator shaft" infield pop outs... threw 70 pitches (51 strikes - 19 swing & miss!!!)... he did not throw too many pitches in any one inning (16-16-18-15-5) so he was able to avoid getting gassed... he had all of his pitches working so he was able to mix it up really well and keep A's hitters off balance...      

    CAM SANDERS
    FB: 95
    COMMENT: Relieved Imanaga with one out and a runner at 1st base in the top of the 5th, and immediately induced a slick 3-6-1 DP on his very first pitch (Sanders is an outstanding athlete)... 

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 92-94 
    SL: 78-81 
    COMMENT: Threw a shutout top of the 6th... issued a lead-off walk and then struck out two (both swinging) and got a P-5 to end the inning... 19 pitches (12 strikes - five swing & miss)... despite the lead-off walk this is the best Almonte has looked so far this spring... a few noteworthy items about Almonte are that he is making $1.9M, he is out of minor league options, he can elect free-agency if he is outrighted (but if he is outrighted and then elects free-agency he will forfeit his $1.9M salary), and if he is not outrighted by April 26th he will have accrued five years of MLB Service Time by that date and can't be sent to the minors without his consent starting on that date... 

    CARL EDWARDS JR
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 85-87
    CV: 77-78 
    COMMENT: Walked the lead-off hitter on four pitches in the top of the 7th with the Cubs up 2-0, then got a 1-3 come-backer (runner on 1st base advanced to 2nd)... an RBI single plated a run, then a K-swinging on three pitches for the second out, followed by two consecutive walks to load the bases (and end his day)... he really labored throughout the inning, needing 27 pitches - only 11 strikes (41% strikes) -  five swing & miss, three on FB, to get just two outs... also threw a WP... if he doesn't have impeccable command, CJ's his stuff is too marginal for him to be of any use to the Cubs in 2024... as a post-2023 Article XX-B MLB free agent who signed a 2024 minor league contract, Edwards gets an automatic opt-out on Opening Day, but if he doesn't exercise the opt-out, the Cubs will probably make him a free agent anyway.., this was a bad performance by a pitcher who was on the wrong side of the bubble the day he signed with the Cubs in February... 

    DANIEL PALENCIA
    FB: 94-97
    SL/CT: 87-89
    COMMENT: Relieved Edwards with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the 7th and came back from a 2-0 count to get an inning-ending F-7 FO to the warning track in LF (near grand slam)... came back out and threw a shutout top of the 8th (K-swinging on a SL, a 6-3 GO, then a two-out single, and finally another K-swinging on a SL to end the inning)... 21 pitches (14 strikes - three swing & miss)... threw eight SL/CT and two of his three swing & miss were on that pitch... FB velo was down a couple of ticks from last outing when he was hitting 99... I really like Palencia better as a multi-inning "bulk" reliever than as a one-inning "high-leverage guy," because he has the stamina for it, and he is essentially stuff over command at this point in his career... 

    EDWIN ESCOBAR
    FB: 93-94
    CH: 86
    SL: 82-83 
    COMMENT: Pitched a shutout 9th to pick up the save... Induced a 3-1 GO to start the inning, then after surrendering a single that brought the tying run to the plate, a L-4 DP that doubled the runner off 1st base saved the day... 12 pitches (8 strikes - no swing & miss)... he got the save but he didn't fool anybody...

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    The spring training GOAT is at it again!

  • crunch (view)

    bote with his 5th homer of the spring. maybe he'll get better if they send him to AA rather than AAA. meanwhile, madrigal hits singles sometimes.

  • crunch (view)

    morel HBP on the foot. he stayed in the game. he also hugged the catcher afterwards because he does stuff like that.

  • crunch (view)

    at this point i honestly believe the problem is him, not the public allegations that got dismissed or some of the other accusers that never materialized in charges.  it has to play a role in public perception and is the end of the line for some teams, but it's icing on the cake that is bauer.

    even last year in japan it got to the point a teammate had to publicly call him out on Twitter for being disrespectful.  it's like he never learns.  dude is in his 30s and he's still the self-absorbed guy he was as a 21 year old in ARZ...his only year in ARZ after pissing off everyone he could and getting traded well below his value.

    once social media became a thing beyond posting stuff on MySpace or Facebook, things only got worse for exposing his way of doing things beyond the clubhouse and field.  you can't contain the jerk-ass stuff from the public at large when he's out there showing his ass on every piece of media he can access.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Oakland A's are probably the one MLB club that could sign Trevor Bauer and not have to worry about incurring push back from their fans, since they already have alienated their fan base and don't seem to care.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    And now Ian Happ is facing RHP JosE Romero, so he is batting LH. 

  • crunch (view)

    it was reported by The Athletic that no MLB scouts were in attendance for his performance.

    i gotta imagine someone with the dodgers was paying attention to how their minor leaguers were faring vs a former cy young winner who still has stuff in his arm even if it wasn't a known MLB scout, though.

    bauer is publicly offering his services for league minimum.  it's not the money keeping him from a contract.  he just wants his foot in the door again.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Ian Happ is taking "live" BP right now on Field # 6, facing LHP Blake Weiman (so he is batting RH).

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    If a minor league player under club control does not have his minor league UPC renewed by March 15th, the player is automatically released.