Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Reader Beware: May Contain Over-analysis of Meaningless Cubs Game

Submitted by Rob G. on

You just can't put too much stock into any of the games the Cubs play this week, even if they're against potential playoff opponents playing for everything as the Cubs play for nothing. But if you consider them the practice tests before the Cubs have to take the ACT's next week, I think a few members of the Cubs need to do a cram session this weekend.

- Ronny Cedeno continued to impress with his baseball instincts yesterday. He attempted a sac bunt and failed miserably and then was slow to get to first on a sacrifice bunt attempt to first by Jose Reyes. In isolation these events wouldn't mean much, but the pattern has been there for as long as he's been with the Cubbies. I can't wait until the game is on the line in the playoffs and it's up to Cedeno to come through. Sadly, the Cubs have little choice but to put him on the playoff roster. He's the only backup shortstop on the team (no Mark DeRosa does not count) and the Cubs can't risk Ryan Theriot getting hurt early in the series and not having a viable defensive option to play there. And even if you thought DeRosa counted, he's now nursing a left calf strain that you probably don't want him testing at an unfamiliar defensive position as demanding as shortstop.

- The bottom of the 8th inning sure was a weird one last night. I can excuse Samardzija for giving up hits to Carlos Delgada and Carlos Beltran, they're good hitters and well that's just gonna happen from time to time. All pitchers get themselves into trouble, it's their ability to get out of it that sets them apart from the pack.  And Samardzija executed wonderfully on Ryan Church for the strikeout and then got the clog-footed Ramon Castro to ground out. And this is where things got weird.

Lou decided to intentionally walk Endy Chavez for some reason. Now I understand wanting to face the right-handed hitter, but it's Endy Chavez. A career .270 hitter that's hitting .280 against righties this year. On top of that, Samardzija has actually done better versus lefties this year - .170 BA vs .268 BA for right-handed hitters in nearly the same amount of plate appearances. And the true crime of the intentional walk was that it completely cut-off Samardzija's escape route. He was now forced to throw strikes to Ramon Martinez, something that he's been struggling with over the last month.

I'd like to believe that Lou was just testing Samardzija to see if he can throw strikes and get an out when absolutely needed. In which case, Samardzija failed worse than I did on my high school trigonometry exams. But it's more likely that Lou thought he was playing the percentages when he really wasn't. Samardzija still should be able to get that out there, but it certainly wasn't putting your players in the best position to win.

- On the flip side, the Mets are terrible. The Cubs tried to give them a gift and even tore off half the wrapping paper and the Mets still couldn't guess what was inside. Three times the Mets got a runner on third with NOBODY out and could only score run out of it. And that one run was thanks to the previously mentioned poor managing/poor execution by the Cubs.

Tags
Ronny Cedeno
Cubs Commentary
Jeff Samardzija

Comments

Submitted by Chad on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:17 pm

"Now I understand wanting to face the right-handed hitter, but it's Endy Chavez. A career .270 hitter that's hitting .280 against righties this year." It's not like he walked him to face Delgado. Rip Cedeno all you want. I'd take him over that pathetic excuse for a short stop we call TheRiot. No glove, no arm and now with no bat.

[ ]

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:03 pm

I think Theriot is okay defensively, definitely good enough to live with and his .380 OBP in the lineup (and that is with his crap Sept).

for fun...Theriot's defensive numbers this year

.821 RZR (found at THT which is 3rd worse for regulars ahead of Keppinger and Drew)

only 35 plays Out of His Zone, which is by far the worst for the number of innings he's played there.

.858 RZR last year which would have been good for 5th if he qualified, still way down there on plays out of the zone

.974 FP% which is good for 8th, .980 FP last year which would be good for 7th

BP numbers give him 98 Rate2 this year (3 runs below average), 103 last year (saved 3 runs above average).

Average sums it up best for him on defense.

Cedeno can make more plays, but he's baseball retarded and hasn't been able to do anything close with the bat as Theriot has.

 

[ ]

Submitted by big_lowitzki on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:43 pm

Not sure how Theriot can be considered average. The only number that places him around average would be the Rate2. Here is on overview of the others: Out of 11 qualifying NL SS’s, Theriot is: -7th in Fielding % - 11th in Range Factor - 8th in Zone Rating - 10th in RZR (which has 12 qualifiers) - 12th in OOZ, which doesn’t have qualifiers

[ ]

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:56 pm

I don't put too much faith into one year's worth of defensive stats. Yeah, he's been below average this year on plays made, but he was slightly above average last year. That puts him average in my book.

From a scouting perspective, he's got an a slightly below average arm and slightly below average range. He also needs new cleats. If I see him slip one more time, I'll buy them myself. I think he turns a good double play though and is relatively sure-handed. He's not throwing routine balls away either or letting them get through his legs too often.

[ ]

Submitted by Chad on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:42 pm

He has a terrible arm. What his throws. They have a bubble in it. It's like watching me throw a ball across a diamond. (Weak arm forced me to second base!) He has a terrible instinct for where the ball is going to be. He double clutches and bobbles all the time. He sucks! Really. I would be so happy with 30 points off his batting and on base for a guy who can field.

[ ]

Submitted by blockhead25 on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:55 pm

Chad speak for "stats only matter when they help my argument, otherwise they don't count for anything". Quite simply, Chad, I think you are so far off the mark on your hate for Theriot it's hard to even comprehend what the heck you are talking about. I do think he is an awful baserunner, but he has been completely invaluable as a table setter for our 3,4,5 hitters to clear off the bases. When we have power from our lead off hitter, we can afford a #2 hitter who simply gets on base.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:00 pm

speaking of having the team's best power hitter leading off...how many solo homers soriano have this year? he's benefitting greatly from 7/8 hitters who can actually hit, but i've seen a lotta solo shots outta the guy.

[ ]

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:24 pm

18 of 29 are the solo variety...62%

the rest of the team

Derrek: 15 of 20 75%

Edmonds: 14 of 19 73% (includes his 1 Padre HR)

DeRosa: 12 of 21 57%

Soto: 12 of 23 52%

Aramis: 11 of 27 41%

so maybe one or two more home runs with men on, but you're probably going to give more AB's to a worse hitter. 

[ ]

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:47 pm

fwiw, career % is 66.7 of Soriano's home runs are of the solo variety

Bonds: 59.8%

Pujols: 52.2%

Derrek Lee: 62.2%

Aramis: 51% (btw his #1 BR.com comparable for some reason)

Sosa: 53.9%

to this study correctly, you'd have to look at power hitters with similar contact rates

[ ]

Submitted by Chad on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:14 pm

Like I said, he's not hitting now. You can say it's slump. I call it coming back down to earth. He also hits into tons of double plays. I would much rather he struck out more with soriano on first and lee and ramirez coming up.

[ ]

Submitted by blockhead25 on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:23 pm

When I argue with someone like you in politics, I note that one argue's only what is convienant for them. Chad, you are bull headed, and never sway. When stats back you up. You use them. When stats don't support you, you don't change your opinion, you just ignore the stats. You are making the absolute and complete opposite argument with Theriot as you did with Z and why you thought he should start Game 1.

[ ]

Submitted by Chad on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:49 pm

bullshit on 2 counts: 1. with his OBP and lack of slg, you would hope that he ran the bases well as so he could score more easily. But he can't. He runs into so many outs with his bad base running that it should count against his OBP. 2. that isn't even in the same area code of stupid bullshit i have stated here.

[ ]

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:01 pm

it lacks a basic understanding of the most important offensive aspect of baseball, not making outs. His CS should count and by my back of the envelope calculations shows to be about an OBP of .361. He's maybe thrown out 3-5 times on questionable other baserunning decisions and you could lower that a bit more. But then you have to add in SB's and extra bases he takes to his SLG. I would venture a pretty solid guess that it all evens out.

Hell, I'm not in love with the guy. I would love for the Cubs to go after Furcal, but your arguing points are somewhere between insane and retarded.

[ ]

Submitted by Chad on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:13 pm

"it lacks a basic understanding of the most important offensive aspect of baseball, not making outs" I'm so tired of this. There is more to baseball that OBP. If there wasn't, then the team that led the majors in OBP would win the world series. Almost never happens. So, you say, that you are talking about offense. Well there is more to the entire game than offense. There is defense too. I have said openly that I would take a weaker offensive player at short if it meant that we had a better glove. What you fail to understand is that guys like Cesar Izturis still has a job in major league baseball. And I hate the 'not making outs' crap anyway. Many times an out is a great outcome. You think that the mets would have taken an out producing run last night?

[ ]

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Fri, 09/26/2008 - 09:53 am

There are 16 teams in the National League. The shortstop with the most games played for each team yields the following list: Stephen Drew, Yunel Escobar, Jeff Keppinger, Troy Tulowitzki, Hanley Ramirez, Miguel Tejada, Angel Berroa, J.J. Hardy, Jose Reyes, Jimmy Rollins, Jack Wilson, Khalil Greene, Omar Vizquel, Cesar Izturis, Christian Guzman. Of those, the following are clearly better offensive players: Drew, Ramirez, Hardy, Reyes, and Rollins (even though he is having a down year). Guzman is having an awesome year and he has to go ahead of Theriot as well. Tejada and Escobar are right on par with Theriot offensively. Tejada has more pop but actually has a lower OPS than Theriot thanks to an atrocious OBP. Again, Escobar has more power, but Theriot beats him in virtually every other category. The rest are clearly worse than Theriot offensively. Wilson is hitting just .273, Keppinger, Izturis, and Tulowitzki are hitting in the .260s, Berroa is at .235, Vizquel is hitting an atrocious .215 only better by Greene’s .213 BA. So of the primary shortstops in the National League, 5 are better, 2 even, and 7 worse offensively. Defensively, we can say for certain that Tejada, Escobar, Izturis, Greene, Tulowitzki, Wilson, Vizquel, Berroa, and Rollins are all better than Theriot. Keppinger has a better Fielding Percentage but a lower Zone Rating, Guzman has a higher ZR but a lower FP. Hardy is about equal in both counts. While they may look smoother or have stronger arms, all three are statistically about even with Theriot. Reyes actually has a lower FP and ZR than Theriot. Ramirez has more range, but has terrible hands and his low fielding percentage has spurred talks of moving him to the outfield. And Drew has put up equivalent or worse numbers than Theriot across the board. These three appear to be worse than Theriot defensively. So of the primary shortstops in the National League, 9 are better, 3 are even, and 3 worse defensively. This is obviously a quick, subjective swipe at comparison, but in the end we see that Rollins is the only one who is clearly better both offensively and defensively. Obviously the argument can be made that the offensive advantages of someone like Ramirez more than make up for any advantage Theriot may have over him defensively. Despite my fondness for Theriot, one would be stupid to say they’d rather have him over Hanley. But what I think this shows is that Theriot is somewhat of a strange player these days. Most shortstops either fall into one of two categories. They are either Izturis-Jack Wilson types where they hit very little but are slick fielding, or they are fall into the Reyes, Ramirez, Hardy mode of stellar athletes who can handle shortstop sufficiently and hit the hell out of the ball. Theriot falls into the middle and so we don’t really know what to do with him. He doesn’t have great range or a strong arm, but yet makes most of the plays he needs to make. He doesn’t hit for power at all, but manages bat .300 and to get on base over 38% of the time. He is essentially average. There are a handful of guys I’d take in a heartbeat over him, but I’d sure has hell want Theriot over someone like Greene or an aging Vizquel. But although just an average big league shortstop, he stays healthy, he can run, he can bunt, he can take pitches and draw a walk, he makes contact, he is comfortably batting up or down in the lineup, he appears to be a good teammate and does whatever Lou asks of him. He is also incredibly cheap. Considering the Cubs have WELL-above average players at almost every other position, having an average shortstop making 428K this year is a huge advantage for the team. But of course, this is all just my opinion. And Cedeno is retarded. He is not average. He is one of the top retards at his position.

Submitted by jacos on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:20 pm

Ronny Cedeno is baseball retarded. He slides into first. Double clutches on just about every throw. Caught stealing on a walk. Swings at first pitch after previous batter all walked. He's dumb. My money is on him being involved in a play that will cost the Cubs the playoffs. God forbid it happens.

Submitted by 10man on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:31 pm

A couple weeks ago you could have substituted the word "Cubs" for the word "Mets" and most everyone here would've agreed with you.

Submitted by Tito on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:46 pm

The Riot is six for his last nine. Maybe he's turned it around.

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:15 pm

(use the link in the Upcoming Games block on the right)... shows rain tonight, some showers around 7pm local time and hitting hard around 10 through the night. Maybe they'll get 5 in...which would be perfect for Rich Harden. If they do have to make this up Monday, Cubs should just send the scrubs on the plane trip to NY and let the regulars go home from Milwaukee.

Submitted by Jackstraw on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:27 pm

Ronny Cedeno is to baseball IQ what Moises Alou is to baserunning. Lou put Samardzija in the position he did last night not to test him, but to prepare him. Last night's game was essentially meaningless to the Cubs, but the moment was "un-reproducible" in practice as far as tension, crowd, and situation. Either Samardzija was going to succeed, which is good; or he was going to (hopefully) learn something about what to do or what not to do next time.

[ ]

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:50 pm

maybe he did, but I think 1st/3rd 0 outs was enough of a test...he didn't need to add loading the bases and I don't really think his motivation was to see if Samardzija would not walk the batter. Getting out of the jam should have been enough. He didn't need to add an extra degree of difficulty.

Submitted by Romero on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:42 pm

Rob, It was a weird move on Piniella's part, but, like you, I also suspect it was some kind of training ground to see how Samardzija fared. Clearly, walking Martinez was not the outcome we all wanted, but I think your evaluation of Samardzija's performance is too harsh. Keep in mind: 1. He didn't fall apart after the Martinez walk. 2. He kept the game TIED by retiring a MUCH better hitter in Jose Reyes (right after walking in a run). I'd call these results inconclusive, but I'm also willing to be encouraged by them, if aynthing, for the sake of the experience Samardzija went through. And just for fun-- did anyone doubt that we'd win this game when it was tied? The Mets' bullpen implosion is just a matter of counting down to the fatal moment in each game. If we're paired against them for the playoffs, I'm fucking overjoyed. rock on, ROMERO

Submitted by jacos on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:53 pm

Like I said remember the days not long ago, of not scoring a guy from third with nobody out with the Cubs.

Submitted by jacos on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:53 pm

Like I said remember the days not long ago, of not scoring a guy from third with nobody out with the Cubs.

Submitted by crunch on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:49 pm

lou loading the bases for a force is nothing new or surprising, imo. lineup construction aside, what he's been doing lately looks a lot like what he does anyway.

Submitted by Tito on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:50 pm

It's tough to extole the alleged virtues of Cedeno and then criticize The Riot's baserunning....Cedeno is a bonehead on the bases.

Submitted by jacos on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 09:04 pm

According to ESPN 1000 and Suntimes. com- Lou said Dempster will start game 1.

Recent comments

  • Bill (view)

    A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return.  Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention".  Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."

     

    Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost.  But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.  

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions.  Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022.  I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
    I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
    I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
    That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
    I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
    We'll find out soon enough!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa? 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Pro teams have to play their "big money" guys if they are healthy and not "locker room" issues.
    The Cubs wanted to deal JHey off well before they bought him out. They just didn't want to pay him to play for someone else for that long. Jed did give him 20+mil to play for LAD last yr.
    Jed might also let Kyle walk at some point this year. Similar scenario to JHey, except Jed thought Kyle was going to be good/solid in '24!!
    You'd think Smyly is in the same book as well. Same with Neris (he's a 1yr vet RP, so he's not really in this convo too much).
    That's ~35mil between those three and those three are going to get opportunities until at least late June) over younger guys even if their performance is "iffy".
    But, Jed is going to play Taillon a lot. They have to try and justify that contract and hope a veteran works out.
    So, Taillon, Imanaga, and Hendricks are locks for the rest of April and probably May.
    Assad, Brown and Wicks handle the last spots until Steele is ready.
    Now, you're question has real merit when Steele comes back. That will interesting if Brown is still good and Hendricks is still bad. But Taillon is entirely safe as long as he's healthy.

    And the bullpen moves were "money" based as well. Smyly has actually been okay. But he hasn't been clearly better than Little. Little had one bad outing. But Smyly makes 9mil. If they needed another RHRP and one of Little and Smyly had to go, it was going to Little. But that doesn't mean Smyly is one of the best 13 arms for the team. 

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