Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
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, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-21-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 14
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

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

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

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL
* Justin Steele, P   

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





Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

2008 NLDS Preview: Cubs Run Prevention vs. Dodgers Scoring

Cubs Offense vs. Dodgers Pitching and Defense

Let's finish the preview and see what the Cubs pitching can do against the Dodgers bats.

Dodgers Offense vs. Cubs Pitching and Defense

Dodgers Hitting: .264/.333/.399 .732 OPS(11th in OPS), 126 SB's at a 75% success rate (3rd and 5th respectively)
Cubs Pitching: .242/.316/.395 .711 OPS, 3.87 ERA (1st in BA, 3rd in ERA, , 2nd in the rest,)

Dodgers Hitting vs. Right Handers: .260/.326/.390 .716 OPS
Dodgers Hitting vs. Leftt Handers: .275/.350/.419 .769 OPS
Cubs Pitching vs. Right Handers: .237/.302/.385 .687 OPS
Cubs Pitching vs. Left Handers: .249/.336/.409 .745 OPS

Dodgers are 53-57 when a right-handed pitchers starts the game, 31-21 when a left-handers starts.

Cubs Defense: .706 DER (1st in NL), .832 RZR (6th in the NL)

Cubs Rotation: Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ted Lilly

All Dodgers vs. Ryan Dempster (link) : 175 AB's vs current Cubs with an aggregate line of: .303/.376/.474 .851 OPS, 2.92 ERA in 12.1 IP versus the Dodgers this year.
Best Dodgers Hiiter: Andruw Jones has a .908 OPS against him in 40 AB's
Worst Dodgers Hitter: Jeff Kent has a .688 OPS in 33 AB's.
Trend: 5-2 in his last 10 starts with a 3.10 ERA

All Dodgers vs. Carlos Zambrano (link) : 199 AB's vs current Cubs with an aggregate line of: .221/.313/.296 .609 OPS
Best Dodgers Hiiter: Russell Martin has a 1.513 OPS against him in 13 AB's
Worst Dodgers Hitter: Rafael Furcal has a .384 OPS in 23 AB's.
Trend: 2-2 in his last 9 starts with a 7.28 ERA

All Dodgers vs. Rich Harden (link) : 34 AB's vs current Cubs with an aggregate line of: .147/.293/.441 .734 OPS
Best Dodgers Hiiter: Manny Ramirez has a 1.519 OPS against him in 11 AB's
Worst Dodgers Hitter: Casey Blake is 0 for 8 against him in his career.
Trend: 1-0 in his last 3 starts with a 2.65 ERA

All Dodgers vs. Ted Lilly (link) : 144 AB's vs current Cubs with an aggregate line of: .243/.315/.528 .843 OPS
Best Dodgers Hiiter: Manny Ramirez has a .959 OPS against him in 42 AB's
Worst Dodgers Hitter: Casey Blake has a .673 OPS in 21 AB's.
Trend: 4-0 in his last 4 starts with a 1.93 ERA

Cubs Bullpen: 4.10 ERA as relievers was 8th in the NL. 1.73 WPA was 5th in the NL.

Likely to See: Neal Cotts, Sean Marshall, Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Marmol Kerry Wood

September Stats for Dodgers Hitters (link):

Nomar Garciaparra: 1.403 OPS
Jeff Kent 1.375 OPS (in 8 AB's)
Andre Ethier 1.249 OPS, 8 2B's
Manny Ramirez 1.218 OPS, 8 HR's
Blake DeWitt .872 OPS, 18 BB's
Pablo Ozuna .833 OPS
Russell Martin .785 OPS
Juan Pierre .758 OPS
Matt Kemp .750 OPS
Casey Blake .711 OPS
Angel Berroa .689 OPS
James Loney .526 OPS
Rafael Furcal .522 OPS (in 4 Ab's)
Danny Ardoin .500 OPS

Some Questions:

  1. Will Ryan Dempster keep it going in the playoffs?
  2. How healthy and effective are Zambrano and Harden?
  3. Who will bridge the gap between the starters and Marmol and Wood?
  4. Can the Dodgers offense sustain their recent hot streak?
  5. How effective will Rafael Furcal be?
  6. Will the Cubs pitch to Manny Ramirez and if not, can the rest of the Dodgers lineup make the Cubs pay?

Thoughts: The only reason this series has any chance of being interesting is because questions linger on whether Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden are healthy enough to be at the top of their games.  That and the fact that Lou might use Bob Howry in a game. Nonetheless, the Dodgers offense certainly did improve with the addition of Manny Ramirez, going from 4.14 Runs Scored per game to 4.70, which if they had done that all year would be good for the 6th best offense rather than 13th. I already brought up my concerns that the Dodgers hot streak was inflated by a soft September schedule, but there's no doubt they are a better team than their full season numbers show.

Unfortunately no one but Zambrano and Harden (and maybe Lou) really know if they're at full strength and if they're not, there isn't much any Cubs or their fans can do about it. Sure, Lou could move Lilly up earlier in the series, but the Dodgers have had a lot more luck against lefties than righties, so there isn't much to gain.

The only real concern I have is if the starters can go at least six and hopefully seven innings. The bridge between the starters and Marmol and Wood is the weak link of this team and every pitch made by someone other than Dempster, Zambrano, Harden, Lilly or Marmol is a going to be a dangerous one. 

Defensively, the Cubs probably have been pretty solid all year. Lee and Fukudome are probably the two best defenders but there really isn't a weak member in the entire group. Soriano can be a little adventurous, but he also keeps teams from even thinking of taking an extra base and Ramirez's little bout of wild throws seems to have ended. 

Final Prediction: Cubs in 4.  They split at Wrigley and the Cubs take both at Dodger Stadium.

 

Comments

I'm hoping the Cubs can take the two at home. I have over 40 years of horrid memories of late nights watching the Cubs blow games on the west coast. (actually I lived in LA for over a decade so a quarter of the bad memories are first hand) Just so many games where the Cubs held what was often an anemic Dodger offense down for eight innings only to have someone like Ken Landreaux (sp?) beat them with a two-out two run bloop double just inside the line. I remember many times turning off the TV before Brickhouse or Harry could even finish saying the game was over. Dodger Stadium is a great example of what's wrong with Los Angeles. It, like too many major gathering places in LA, is a suburban entity with zero public transportation set down in the middle of a city. But it's the Cubs losing too many heartbreakers there that really makes me hate it. And everyone always saying how great Dodger Dogs are. And the fans who come late, leave early and don't make a peep until the scoreboard or music on the PA tells them to.

The fingernail-biting began Monday for me. Thank goodness there actually were baseball games to watch and not a whole lot of nothing. I think the most relevant question for Dodger run production less whether Furcal contributes, but whether the hitters batting before Manny Ramirez get on base. Before the last week of the season and Furcal's return, the 1-2 hitters had been Martin and Andre Ethier, who did a nice impression of Pujols in August and September. But in last week it had adjusted to Kemp and Martin, Furcal and Kent, or Furcal and DeWitt, with the occasional dose of Juan Pierre thrown in. Keeping the Dodger 1-2 hitters off base, no matter who they are, will be the key to this series. Do that and take pitches from Derek Lowe tonight and we should be fine. Should be.

Recent comments

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Mervis and Wesneski getting promoted aaccording to Tommy Birch from Des Moines Register.

    So Happ to the IL

    Maybe Hendricks to IL ????

    Mervis/Cooper are DH platoon

    Wisdom, Canario, Tauchman share LF/RF

    I wonder if Busch has ever played LF?

    I don't believe he has

  • crunch (view)

    “I respect his track record of what he’s accomplished,” Counsell said on Sunday morning. “And you go through these. He’s gone through -- maybe not this particular stretch -- but stretches where you’re not pitching the way you want to and struggling. And you figure it out.” -- Counsell on Hendricks

    fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...

    i respect his track record of no longer being in the rotation.  in 2016 he threw 2 innings out of the pen, his only work out of the pen.  the cubs won the world series that year.  let's repeat that magic.  the formula is obvious.  stats don't lie.  etc etc whatever...

    small sample size and all, but how about this craziness...

    "Entering Sunday, Hendricks had allowed an .843 OPS against hitters in their initial plate appearance, followed by a 1.056 OPS in a second meeting and a 2.449 OPS when seeing batters for a third time."

  • Finwe Noldaran (view)

    Phil: Great to see what Rosario is doing!

    Do you think having Rosario may have influenced/impacted the front office's decision on including Hope in the trade for Busch at all?

  • crunch (view)

    it's so crazy we got a new "barnstorming" harlem globetrotters-type baseball product that was introduced less than 5 years ago and is wildly popular all over the nation.

    a notion left long in the past, unearthed, polished for modern audiences and popular as ever.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    No question right now Alfonsin Rosario is one of the Cubs Top 20 prospects (probably Top 15). Rosario is to the Cubs what Zyhir Hope is to the Dodgers.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Savannah Bananas will be playing the Party Animals at Sloan Park in Mesa this coming Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The games are sold out (15,000+ each night), and berm tickets are going for well over $100. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    RAISIN: In the game versus the A's at Fitch Park last Friday, Mule threw half FB and half SL (16/16), and one CH (which coincidentally was the only hard-hit ball off him -- a near HR line-drive double off the LF fence). FB was 91-94 and the SL (really more of a "slurve") was 80-82, and he got three swing & miss on each pitch (six swing & miss total out of his 20 strikes). So I think it is safe to say that right now, Mule is strictly a two-pitch pitcher (FB/SL), 

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Recalled it was sampled in a Nas song.  Did a little sleuthing.  It was a Nas song called "Hate Me Now" that featured Puff Daddy.  Imploring the crowd to hate somebody seems a bit overly dramatic for a keyboardist but perhaps there is some other connection to the song. 

     

    In general there has been a weird overuse of Carmina Burana's O Fortuna in sports and commercials in past decade or so.  Maybe it is a fallback choice if there isn't anything else.   

     

    Sidenote, while the O Fortuna part has become a bit pop-culture cliched; the overall piece is very interesting and rather expansive in scope. I played percussion in a production of it while in college.  There is a rather jovial movement set in a tavern.  In the score it calls for the clinking of beer steins.  Let's just say we did a lot of research to determine the best sounding beer steins. 

  • crunch (view)

    ooof...this is just as likely as anything.  professional organists are weird humans.

  • SheffieldCornelia (view)

    Maybe it is only played when the hitter thus far in the game is "oh for two"-na at the plate?