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 1 NLDS / Dodgers @ Cubs

Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview

SP Ryan Dempster
SP Derek Lowe

17-6, 2.96, 187 K,76 BB, 206.2 IP (2008)
14-11, 3.24, 147 K, 45 BB, 211 IP
    (Playoffs)
5-4, 3.34, 43 K, 23 BB, 67.1 IP
LF
Alfonso Soirano SS
#Rafael Furcal
RF *Kosuke Fukudome C
Russell Martin
1B
Derrek Lee
LF
Manny Ramirez
3B
Aramis Ramirez
RF
*Andre Ethier
C
Geovany Soto
1B
*James Loney
CF
*Jim Edmonds CF
Matt Kemp
2B
Mark DeRosa
2B
*Blake DeWitt
SS Ryan Theriot C
Casey Blake
P
Ryan Dempster
P Derek Lowe

 

The calender page flips to October and the Cubs are in the unfamiliar position of being the favorites. Well maybe not the favorites to win it all, I think that honor belongs to the Angels or Red Sox, but certainly the team to beat in the National League. TBS will wax poetic about curses and goats and I'll set the over/under line on a Bartman clip at top of the third. And I'll roll my eyes with each and every mention. 

But here we are, on the cusp of the playoffs with a Cubs team that is as good as many of us have ever seen; on the heels of a season that exceeded even the loftiest of expectations. Is this the team to break the drought? I don't know, but I sure do believe it is. 

As for today's game... 

I think Game 1 is actually the toughest match-up for the Cubs, on the blind assumption that Zambrano and Harden are healthy and ready to let loose. Lowe's been tough at Wrigley and has a good post-season track record. Compare that to Ryan Dempster, who has also been good at Wrigley, but has all of one inning of post-season experience.   And not be all doom and gloom, but since the inception of the Wild Card, the team winning Game 1 has gone 34-18. 

Well here it is, baseball's second season...may it treat the Cubs as well as the first. 

 

 

Comments

SOS same old Soriano starts the post season off with a strikeout

[ ]

In reply to by Doug Dascenzo

I didn't get to watch the game (damn), but I at least half-heartedly agree with you here. The replays on ESPN looked like Demp wasn't getting any border-line calls. Then again, he also looked pretty wild on some of the clips. When you walk 7, it's hard to argue that you shouldn't have walked ANY of them, but there's also going to be a chance of some bad calls when you throw that many pitches to that many batters. I can't help but wonder how the game would've changed if Manny's infield hit goes a little more toward short or more toward third and becomes a ground out instead. That seems like a big play.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

I can't help but wonder how the game would've changed if Manny's infield hit goes a little more toward short or more toward third and becomes a ground out instead. That seems like a big play. A better defensive SS makes that play fairly easily. But Dempster was very wild. He wasn't helped by an inconsistent strike zone, but he had no clue what his pitches were going to do last night.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

the infield hit was 2 innings before and Dempster K'd Ethier to get out of it.

Dempster was wild and he wasn't going to get the benefit of any calls. The ump still sucked. He seemed to not be giving anything on the outside corner to lefties all day and then suddenly rang one up on Fukudome that was clearly outside. There were a few of those moments. 

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

well, yes, based on history in a 5 game series, I'd say we should be feeling some doom and gloom. Losing game 1 in a short series is really, really bad.

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

Adam, Very true. TBS showed the stat that teams that win the first game of the Division Series win the series 24 out of 28 times. And yes, we should be feeling some doom and gloom.

Just one game but.... 1 We're Cubs fans, we can't help ourselves 2 It's a short series, better get it going soon 3 Dempster, Soriano looked terrible to name a couple 4 Win by LA is perfect for soothing the nerves of a young pitcher making first start, while riling up our own veteran bundle of nerves

Pretty much game 4 of the Arizona series...same old stuff. Game 2 becomes a must win and we have Crazy Z going. Excuse me if my confidence isn't sky high right now. Oh BTW we've lost 6 straight post season games.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • 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.