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 157 Thread / Cubs @ Mets (3 of 4)

Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview

SP Carlos Zambrano
SP *Oliver Perez

14-6, 3.77, 128 K, 68 BB, 184 IP
10-7, 4.10, 168 K, 97 BB, 184.1 IP
       
LF
Alfonso Soriano
SS
#Jose Reyes
SS
Ryan Theriot LF
*Daniel Murphy
1B
Derrek Lee
3B
David Wright
3B
Aramis Ramirez
CF
#Carlos Beltran
RF
Mark DeRosa 1B
*Carlos Delgado
CF
Reed Johnson
RF
*Ryan Church
2B
Ronny Cedeno
C
*Brian Schneider
C
Henry Blanco
2B
#Argenis Reyes
P
#Carlos Zambrano
P *Oliver Perez

 

After a lifetime spent listening to ballgames on the radio, I have come to associate certain parks with a certain tone, a certain pitch in the crowd sound. Obviously, my ear is well attuned to the way that Wrigley Field crowds come across on-air. Same with Dodger Stadium, Fenway Park, and the Metrodome. (Loved hearing all those Twins fans Tuesday night!)

Shea Stadium is another one of those parks. Unlike what you hear over the radio from those other parks, however, the crowd sound that goes out over the airwaves from a raucous Shea isn't one of collective joy. It's much more coarse, much more dangerous, a wild, unruly roar—like the sound of inmates rooting on two guys aiming to shank each other in the middle of the yard.

I was reminded of that while listening to Pat Hughes last night, in the sixth inning, when Chad Gaudin came unglued, the big Mets rally took hold, that awful, awful Shea crowd came to life, and I lost all hope of following a game the Cubs didn't have to win with any sort of detachment.

Goddamn those Mets.

In tonight's showdown before the inmates, Carlos Zambrano returns to the mound after that ghastly, eight-run, 1 2/3-inning outing against the Cardinals last Friday, which led to renewed speculation about the Cubs' NLDS rotation and the most spirited discussion of the nature of jet lag in the history of The Cub Reporter.

Here's Lou Piniella on The Man Who Used To Be Ace:

"He missed two starts prior to the no-hitter (because of tendinitis in his right shoulder), and the last start was an inning-plus. He needs work, it's obvious. We've got him on his fifth day, and we'll let him work as much as possible Wednesday."

Sure doesn't sound a description of the guy you're going to hand the ball to for Game One.

Mets starter Oliver Perez hasn't pitched against the Cubs since 2005, when he was a Pirate and he was busy giving up homers to Neifi Perez and Jason Dubois. He has only won once in his last seven starts, but pitched well enough the last time out to keep the Mets bullpen out of the game until the seventh inning as the Metropolitans collected a much needed victory at Atlanta.

Rob G. says that a Zambrano/Oliver Perez matchup takes him back to a particular game in 2004, in which Sammy Sosa made an amazing catch in right-center field with the bases loaded in the last of the 8th to preserve a Cubs win.

Rob G's memory is good. Scary good.

Two last items:

Congratulations to Sean Marshall, who, on the strength of Tuesday night's outing, has assured himself of a place in Lou's bullpen during the playoffs.

And lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to officially endorse the Milwaukee Brewers as my emotional favorite to win the NL Wild Card. I thought last night's comeback, walk-off victory against the Pirates demonstrated a lot of resolve from a team that has played itself into quite a hole. Plus the Brewers aren't the Mets, and that's enough for me.

Comments

"—like the sound of inmates rooting on two guys aiming to shank each other in the middle of the yard." Fantastic description! I happened to attend the 2002 Mets-Yankees game at Shea, which was Roger Clemens first at bat following his roid-rage-tastic broken bat assault of Mike Piazza in the previous year's WS. The fans were unquestionably out for blood. It was as if we were about to watch an ultimate fighting challenge instead of baseball. As a matter of fact, when Estes whimped out, I thought that half the crowd was going to run out to the mound and pull his arms off.

Speaking of ballpark acoustics - Hawk Harrelson has made it official - he's fucking crazy. Many had supposed as much for many years, but this has proved it beyond any doubt. "According to Hawk, who stated that he has been formulating this theory for thirty years, the subconscious 'eats whatever the conscious feeds it,' and when the sound waves in a stadium "bounce around" the inside of a player's skull, it creates "positive vibes" or "negative vibes," depending on whether that player is home or away. There you have it folks--the science of home field advantage." I recommend the entire read. Very enlightening for those among us who wear tinfoil hats. http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2008/09/hawk-harrelson-blames-white…

Anymore questions on who the game 1 starter should be? 1 awesome performance, does not make up for the 8 bad to awful ones that have surrounded it.

Well CHAD and BLOCKHEAD25, you guys still want to go with the "veteran" WARD who popped out again, while Hoffpaiur had a key single this inning? The 28 year old kid is outplaying the veteran, in my opinion. He deserves it, and no, in my opinion DWARD will not be 2008's Randall Simon

wow sutcliffe on espn was calling all of samardzjas pitches. could cedeno be playing his way off roster or is he safe due to the righty lefty numbers on bench?

Cedeno is safe... As for the bullpen I don't trust any of them except for Marmol :( Wood and Cotts are 'ok'. Marshall is in according to Lou. After that...hmmm Gaudin can be either really good or really bad Samardzija will walk anyone if you take a few pitches...had a nice debut but he's not ready. Howry is worse than Samadrzija. Hart won't be there. Remember in 03 when Dusty had Veres on the roster as dead weight...now we have a whole bullpen of dead weight. We're going to need some truly studly starts to get this done in the playoffs.

If you don't have Cedeno, that means either Fukudome or Fontentot start vs. LHP, which has not been Lou's MO for the past month. Thank god for the days off in the playoff schedue -- Marmol is going to have to pitch every game (or at least the ones they have a chance to win).

The Mets are so bad they can't even beat a team that has nothing to play for. I WANT them in the first round lol...who's going to cough this thing up for the Cubs....errr 'close' the game?

Mets had the winning run at third, no outs, David Wright at the late, Bob Howry on the mound....and couldn't score. Then....BOOOOOM! go the Cub bats. This game could wind up being payback for September 2004.

Okay. I am 2 and 1 when I watch a game at Wrigley this year. I am 4 and 0 when I watch a Cubs game at a certain sports bar/restaurant in town. I am 0 and 3 when I wear a Cubs t-shirt I bought a month ago. One of those losses was the one loss I saw at Wrigley. Before the playoffs, I think I should wear the t-shirt to the restaurant, so I can see which magick is stronger. Am I being too much of a dork about this? Or is this serious business that must be taken care of? Keep in mind, your very happiness may depend on what I wear, and where.

Mets still only a game and a half behind Phils. Best thing that could happen is those two battling to the wire with Mets on top. Then let the Brewers have their fun this weekend - with the Phils out of playoffs, only LA with Manny and their pitching is threatening. Obviously, the Cubs could lose or beat anyone but as long as I'm wishing, I think I'd like Philly to stay home. Of course, the Mets and Brewers are so bad, I'm not sure they can beat even half a decent team. Brewers had two hit tonight.

i realize that the cubs are 6-2 when i wear my sergio mitre autographed cubs hat. but i never did like him except for one game vs. roy halliday where he out pitched halliday

I was listening to discussion on XM about the upcoming weather approaching NY and Philly. Tomorrows game, if a washout might have to be played on monday (since the chance of the gave vs Houston is pretty small now, but not zero). Having to travel before game 1 on Oct 1st (Wed)...will be a bizarro conclusion to the season. Hopefully it gets sorted out by sunday, as in The Marlins or Cubs putting one of those two teams (but not both) out of their misery... Of course the entire weekend in both Philly/NY could be wiped out by rain from what I'm hearing. Two doubleheaders? Last game at Shea celebrated by mudwrestling match? That might even delay the start of the NL playoffs...Fox forbids that.

btw, what's wrong with DeRosa...something about a strained left calf...I didn't get to see what happened (please provide more details if there are any)...rotoworld says DeRo is day-to-day...aren't we all?

Thursday night forcast for NYC looks bleak...Friday/Sat not so dry either. http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=NYZ072 NYC weather forcast: Thursday Night...Rain. Patchy fog after midnight. Rain may be heavy at times after midnight. Lows in the upper 50s. Northeast winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. Chance of rain near 100 percent. Friday...Rain with areas of fog. Rain may be heavy at times in the morning. Highs in the mid 60s. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90 percent. Friday Night...Rain likely. Areas of fog. Lows around 60. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60 percent. Saturday...Rain likely. Patchy fog. Highs in the lower 70s. Chance of rain 70 percent. Saturday Night...Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Lows in the lower 60s.

damn, the Mets are terrible. you couldn't gift wrap a game anymore than that for them.

That was a fun win, especially when it meant nothing to us, and everything to the Mets. BUT, I would have rather lost that game 3-2 then win it like that. - Zambrano with another bad outing..his last before the playoffs. (13ER last 6.1 innings) - Smardjiza throwing several bad (0-2 double) or errant pitches (walk), and basically choking under the pressure of the situation. Our bullpen is really a mess...Wood makes me nervous, but I think our 6th-7th inning relief is a major question mark. We have a good offense that we can expect to score runs. We can't throw a pitcher out in game 1 who can potentially have a breakdown on the mound and give up 6 runs before you can blink.

"That was a fun win, especially when it meant nothing to us, and everything to the Mets. BUT, I would have rather lost that game 3-2 then win it like that." And losing 3-2 gives us a perceived advantage how, exactly? We still have shitty middle relief. We know this. Zambrano still has issues. Check. This is "audition time" for the bubble players and actually I would rather they duke it out to see who is deserving of a roster spot (one reason why you may not see Daryle Ward on the roster, CHAD Gaudin, et. al.).

Recent comments

  • 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...

  • 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.