Cubs MLB Roster

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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 4-18-2024
 
* 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
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 
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Meet the Cubs Managerial Candidates: Pete Mackanin

Submitted by Rob G. on

It appears at the moment that the Cubs are focused on three names to take over for Q-Ball, shockingly three names that the Red Sox are also interested in.

Let's do a little vetting starting with Pete Mackanin.

Pete MackaninMackanin (pronounced muh-CAN-in) started his playing career with the Texas Rangers, well technically the Washington Senators before they moved. A 4th round pick in 1969 out of Brother Rice Catholic High School in Chicago. He ended up playing for four organziations as a utility infielder and accumulating a 226/263/339 career slash line. He played under such notables as Whitey Herzog, Billy Martin, Gene Mauch, Bobby Cox and Dallas Green, among others. He then went into minor league coaching as so many players do, his first gig with the Peoria Chiefs in 1985 leading them to the Finals twice, but losing.  I can't find anything for 1987 (update - appears he was the minor league coordinator for the Cubs that season), but by 1988 he got bumped to Iowa for two more seasons before moving on to the Reds organization. Ultimately he managed 9 winning seasons out of 14, making the playoffs 7 of those times and taking the league championship twice while in the minors. He also led a Venezuelan team to the 1989 Caribbean World Series championship and won.

He earned his first major league gig as third base coach of the 1997 Montreal Expos under Felipe Alou. By 2001 he was back in the minors with the Pittsburgh Pirates, getting his first crack at managing the big league club in 2005 when the Pirates fired Lloyd McClendon. The Pirates went 12-14 to finish the season and Jim Tracy was hired for 2006. He took the demotion in stride and managed their Gulf Coast League in 2006 before moving on to a new organization.

He joined the Reds as an advance scout that year and then took over for for Jerry Narron after the team went 31-51 in 2007. The Reds went 41-39 the rest of the way and then hired Dusty Baker for 2008. He served as pro socut for the Yankees in 2008 and then joined the Phillies coaching staff in 2009 as their bench coach.

Some  quotables...

He said he "loved" statistical analysis, a tool he said he used extensively as a scout, and when asked if he considered himself a "players' manager" or a "disciplinarian," the stock descriptions thrown out about a job too complicated to define by such broad terms, he answered, "Both."

By all accounts, Mackanin has been a steady hand. Known for his intelligence and dry sense of humor...

"I think you have to have an element of both sides of that in order to be a good motivator," he said. "I think there's a juggling act that's involved in that, where you have to have enough discipline but at the same time let the players play easy. You don't want them tense.

(From Ben Cherington): "He can see the game from different perspectives, which I think is a benefit. He's got, as you saw, a good way about him, a good sense of humor, mature, and a good reputation from every clubhouse that he has been a part of.

Tags
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Comments

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:35 pm

Peter Gammons tweets that one team that asked for permission to speak to Oquendo was denied and that he was next in line...doesn't sound like Sandberg has much of a shot. at least he'll get good at interviews....

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:42 pm

Mackanin interviews tomorrow, then Mike Maddux, no word on Sveum.

Submitted by The E-Man on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:55 pm

Nice job, ROB G! Like the "Meet the Manager" series, and can't wait for the Maddux-Brothers (you ARE planning a Maddux Bros. episode, right?). Anyway, I knew nothing about Mac, except he replaced McClendon, who I actually liked as a Cub player.

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:59 pm

appears he was minor league coordinator for the Cubs in 1987

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Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:44 pm

"I have been thouroughly unimpressed with Rudy." There's a code of silence that is imposed on Cub coaches that frustrates me. Either that or the beat reporters just don't ask the right questions of the right people, but I suspect that the coaches are discouraged from responding. For example, I don't recall Larry Rothschild ever being asked, What happened to Rich Hill? It was certainly on Rothschild's watch that Hill's promising one-season career came tumbling down. And by the way, Rudy, what happened to Tyler Colvin? Von Joshua had a refreshing candor but it got him into trouble with Bradley and ultimately with the bosses.

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:26 pm

Brewers writer says Cubs haven't asked Brewers for permission yet.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:05 pm

Interesting that the Cubs have scheduled a news conference for Mackanin after his interview on Friday, and promise to do the same with the other candidates. (See Rob's Tito-related Trib link above.) Managers talk to the media after every game, so this is a clever sort of tryout. If Theo intends to improve the fan experience, it's working already.

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Submitted by Arizona Phil on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:24 pm

Thu, 11/03/2011 - 5:17pm — VirginiaPhilNew Re: Meet the Cubs Managerial Candidates: Pete Mackanin Junior Lake hit a walkoff double this afternoon in Mesa. Too bad the game ended, he could have stolen another base. ======================================= VA PHIL: Junior Lake's triple was lined into the right-center alley, the walk-off double was lined into the left-center alley, and the single was lined to CF. He also flied out to CF and grounded out 4-3 (close play at 1st), and he stole a base, too. After Lake hit his walk-off double, he was mobbed by his Solar Sox teammates at the pitcher's mound, and they played "Go Cubs Go" over the P A. BTW, Lake is now tied for 4th in the AFL in triples, is 5th in HR, is tied for 6th in doubles, is 8th in SLG %, and is 10th in RBI. He also has 16 SB (0 CS) which leads the AFL by a wide margin over D. J. LeMahieu (who is 2nd). On the negative side, Lake is 7th in the AFL in strikeouts.

Submitted by Old and Blue on Thu, 11/03/2011 - 11:07 pm

From the embedded tweets:
BruceMiles2112 #Cubs will interview managerial candidates and then have them do interviews with the media. This is a departure from the past.
Why stop there? If they really want to see what someone is made of, send them to Parachat.

Submitted by 10man on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 11:03 am

I dont agree with all of Theo Epstein's moves so far but from what I have seen in the brief 2 weeks he has been Cubs president, I am very excited for the future of this team: 1) The man has a plan Such a refreshing departure from the fly-off-the-seat-of-his-pants style of Hendry. The guy is deliberate, thinks things through well and executes his moves boldly. Who else would write a manual on "The Cubs Way" and distribute it to the entire organization like they did in Boston? 2) The guy is a team player He knows how to bring in good people and he listens to them as equals. So instead of one smart young exec, Ricketts was able to bag a 3-in-1. GO Team Theo! 3) He thinks out of the box And not just for the sake of being different, but he tries to find better ways of accomplishing the same goal. I like this idea of including press conferences as part of the manager interviews. 4) He communicates with class Every leadership guru will tell you how essential it is to communicate well (especially your vision) with the people around you. So far he's acquitted himself well w/ the Chicago media w/o ass-kissing and that phone call to Sandberg was pretty classy. Theo is obviously not flawless (no one is) but it's impressive to see that he's learned to be an effective leader at a relatively young age.

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 11:34 am

Yeah, he hires extremely well-qualified "buddies", including those who have assisted in demonstrated success, and those that buy in to the plan he subscribes to which he laid out, in detail, to the fan-base and employees in the organization. I'd have to disagree that he's laid on his plan in detail to the fan base. If you take that phrase out, he's done nothing different than Jim Hendry. Hey, I am excited too, but let's call a spade a spade. So far he's done what every other person in his position would have done, namely bring in "his guys" and fire or demote his predecessor's guys. That's not outside of the box thinking, that's what everyone does.

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Submitted by The E-Man on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 11:05 am

I get that NEAL, and your concern is noted. Bringing in people who are of like mind is not specifically "thinking outside the box", but if they are very qualified, you would have to agree - based on excellent track records and philosophical alignment and comfort zone - that this is sound business practice. Until proven otherwise, I find this approach refreshing due to the caliber of people, and when compared to the predecessors, having three people of high caliber making reasoned, thouroughly evaluated decisions, more "thinking outside the box" than has been demonstrated on the North Side.

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Submitted by Old and Blue on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 11:15 am

I don't think it matters much how out of the box he thinks. In Hendry's later years, I would have been completely content with someone who thought within the box of improved scouting, and a bigger and better staff, with a substantial investment in computer resources and stats. These are all the makings of a modern organization, and if Theo simply gets us into the box of a modern ballclub, we at least have a fighting chance to compete. So it's all good. I'm impressed that Ricketts has committed not only to boosting the resources needed to do the things Theo has done in the past, but in his approach to the draft and international amateur free agent signings. Overall these are all great trends. They may seem out of the box because it's so non-Cubs-like. But it's really just a template for running a major league ballclub in the 21st century.

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Submitted by Old and Blue on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 11:57 am

It was one of the reasons it was so hard for me to get too involved as a fan last year. It finally got to the point of, hey, I really have better things to do, than follow a team that has buried itself into some really stone age thinking. I look at how Theo is doing things -- building a large staff of high-level personnel, and look at how it was just a few months ago - it was all really just on Wilken and one guy with a an old PC that was probably using Windows 98. Wilken may be very good at his job - but it sounds like he was doing the job that several do in a Theoregime. Last year, I had no hope that things would get better. We were saddled with these horrific contracts, and a GM who, although he did have a few decent years, had really fallen behind the times. It'll be interesting to see how Wilken fits into all this. Either way, I'm looking forward to my annual spring training visit, and maybe I'll even catch a few games this year.

Recent comments

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Totally onboard with your thoughts concerning today’s lineup. Not sure about your take on Tauchman though.

    The guy typically doesn’t pound the ball out out of the park, and his BA is quite unimpressive. But he brings something unique to the table that the undisciplined batters of the past didn’t. He always provides a quality at bat and he makes the opposing pitcher work because he has a great eye for the zone and protects the plate with two strikes exceptionally well. In addition to making him a base runner more often than it seems through his walks, that kind of at bat wears a pitcher down both mentally and physically so that the other guys who may hit the ball harder are more apt to take advantage of subsequent mistakes and do their damage.

    I can’t remember a time when the Cubs valued this kind of contribution but this year they have a couple of guys doing it, with Happ being the other. It doesn’t make for gaudy stats but it definitely contributes to winning ball games. I do believe that’s why Tauchman has garnered so much playing time.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Miles Mastrobuoni cannot be recalled until he has spent at least ten days on optional assignment, unless he is recalled to replace a position player who is placed on an MLB inactive list (IL, Paternity, Bereavement / Family Medical). 

     

    And for a pitcher it's 15 days on optional assignment before he can be recalled, unless he is replacing a pitcher who is placed on an MLB inactive list (IL, Paternity, or Bereavement / Family Medical). 

     

    And a pitcher (or a position player, but almost always it's a pitcher) can be recalled as the 27th man for a doubleheader regardless of how many days he has been on optional assignment, but then he must be sent back down again the next day. 

     

    That's why the Cubs had to wait as long as they did to send Jose Cuas down and recall Keegan Thompson. Thompson needed to spend the first 15 days of the MLB regular season on optional assignment before he could be recalled (and he spent EXACTLY the first 15 days of the MLB regular season on optional assignment before he was recalled). 

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Indeed they do TJW!

    For the record I’m not in favor of solely building a team through paying big to free agents. But I’m also of the mind that when you develop really good players, get them signed to extensions that buy out a couple years of free agency, including with team options. And supplement the home grown players with free agent splashes or using excess prospects to trade for stars under team control for a few years. Sort of what Atlanta does, basically. Everyone talks about the dodgers but I feel that Atlanta is the peak organization at the current moment.

    That said, the constant roster churn is very Rays- ish. What they do is incredible, but it’s extremely hard to do which is why they’re the only ones frequently successful that employ that strategy. I definitely do not want to see a large market team like ours follow that model closely. But I don’t think free agent frenzies is always the answer. It’s really only the Dodgers that play in that realm. I could see an argument for the Mets too. The Yankees don’t really operate like that anymore since the elder Steinbrenner passed. Though I would say the reigning champions built a good deal of that team through free agent spending.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    The issue is the Cubs are 11-7 and have been on the road for 12 of those 18.  We should be at least 13-5, maybe 14-4. Jed isn't feeling any pressure to play anyone he doesn't see fit.
    But Canario on the bench, Morel not at 3B for Madrigal and Wisdom in RF wasn't what I thought would happen in this series.
    I was hoping for Morel at 3B, Canario in RF, Wisdom at DH and Madrigal as a pinch hitter or late replacement.
    Maybe Madrigal starts 1 game against the three LHSP for Miami.
    I'm thinking Canario goes back to Iowa on Sunday night for Mastrobuoni after the Miami LHers are gone.
    Canario needs ABs in Iowa and not bench time in MLB.
    With Seiya out for a while Wisdom is safe unless his SOs are just overwhelmingly bad.

    My real issue with the lineup isn't Madrigal. I'm not a fan, but I've given up on that one.
    It's Tauchman getting a large number of ABs as the de factor DH and everyday player.
    I didn't realize that was going to be the case.
    We need a better LH DH. PCA or ONKC need to force the issue in about a month.
    But, even if they do so, Jed doesn't have to change anything if the Cubs stay a few over .500!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Totally depends on the team and the player involved. If your team’s philosophy is to pay huge dollars to bet on the future performance of past stars in order to win championships then, yes, all of the factors you mentioned are important.

    If on the other hand, if the team’s primary focus is to identify and develop future stars in an effort to win a championship, and you’re a young player looking to establish yourself as a star, that’s a fit too. Otherwise your buried within your own organization.

    Your comment about bringing up Canario for the purposes of sitting him illustrates perfectly the dangers of rewarding a non-performing, highly paid player over a hungry young prospect, like Canario, who is perpetually without a roster spot except as an insurance call up, but too good to trade. Totally disincentivizing the performance of the prospect and likely diminishing it.

    Sticking it to your prospects and providing lousy baseball to your fans, the consumers and source of revenue for your sport, solely so that the next free agent gamble finds your team to be a comfortable landing spot even if he sucks? I suppose  that makes sense to some teams but it’s definitely not the way I want to see my team run.

    Once again, DJL, our differences in philosophy emerge!

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    That’s just kinda how it works though, for every team. No team plays their best guys all the time. No team is comprising of their best 26 even removing injuries.

    When baseball became a business, like REALLY a business, it became important to keep some of the vets happy, which in turn keeps agents happy and keeps the team with a good reputation among players and agents. No one wants to play for a team that has a bad reputation in the same way no one wants to work for a company that has a bad rep.

    Don’t get me wrong, I hate it too. But there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

    On that topic, I find it silly the Cubs brought up Canario to sit as much as he has. He’s going to get Velazquez’d, and it’s a shame.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Of course, McKinstry runs circles around $25 million man Javier Baez on that Tigers team. Guess who gets more playing time?

    But I digress…

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Seems like Jed was trying to corner the market on mediocre infielders with last names starting with "M" in acquiring Madrigal, Mastroboney and Zach McKinstry.  

     

    At least he hasn't given any of them a Bote-esque extension.  

  • Childersb3 (view)

    AZ Phil:
    Rookie ball (ACL) starts on May 4th. Do yo think Ramon and Rosario (maybe Delgado) stay in Mesa for the month of May, then go to MB if all goes "solid"?
     

  • crunch (view)

    masterboney is a luxury on a team that has multiple, capable options for 2nd, SS, and 3rd without him around.  i don't hate the guy, but if madrigal is sticking around then masterboney is expendable.

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