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

MLB '08: The Show - Video Game Review and Contest

 

 

I was recently forwarded a copy of Sony's MLB '08: The Show for review. I have to admit I was a bit giddy over getting a free copy since I grew up on baseball video games, starting with Hardball on the Commodore 64. Up until about three years ago, I would still pretty much play a full season out on EA's MVP Baseball 2005. This was my first games since then, so pardon me if I'm a little behind the times.

I requested a PS2 copy since I've yet to take the plunge for a PS3, and quickly popped in my copy when it arrived via FedEx. The intro montage that is common with all video games was as snazzy as ever, highlighting the milestones over the past year. Thome, Thomas and A-Rod hitting 500, Sosa hitting 600, Glavine's 300 and so forth. Noticeably missing was Craig Biggio's 3000th hit, something that gave me a smile. I imagine it had more to do with a contract with the players union which he is no longer a member of since his retirement, but I still appreciated the slight of a long-term Cubs nemesis.

The menu screen popped up and you have all your expected features, franchise and season modes, exhibition, home run derby, manager mode and so on. I went with the "Quick Game" just to get started and picked the Pirates versus the Cubs at Wrigley.

There's quite an extended intro if you want from the announcers as they set-up the game and go through the lineups. The ballpark render looked decent, albeit unspectacular. I do imagine they look better on PS3 version. I studied up on the basics and was ready to play.

 

Naturally I had Zambrano take the mound and I threw the first pitch - a 4-seam fastball that ended up about 5 feet outside. It was nice to see that they decided to make the game realistic. Of course, I just wasn't use to the pitching interface, but as the game went on I was actually impressed by the realism. One of my all-time favorite baseball video games was High Heat for the PC, and one of the main reasons I liked it was for how well it balanced simulation with arcade play. They did a great job of making it difficult for certain pitchers to throw strikes and as they got more tired over the course of the game, their control went with it. It was nice to see a game pick up on that feature. By the 6th inning I was already up to 100 pitches on Zambrano and I don't think you can get more realistic than that.

I won't bore you with the rest of the details of the games I played. I'll just outline what I feel are the pros and (very few) cons of the game. I didn't get into the season or franchise modes, but I imagine those are pretty standard by now. I do know it has online element where you can play a single game or join leagues. More importantly, you can download the latest rosters as the game was missing Kosuke Fukudome and featured a lineup of Mark DeRosa in right field and Mike Fontenot in second. That should be corrected right after Opening Day I believe.

I thought the game play was fantastic except for a few exceptions which I'll explain in a minute. The game felt pretty real. You really needed an eye at the plate and could work the count when you were batting. On the pitching side, they didn't make it too easy to throw a strike. It seems to me that most video games get that wrong and most AB's only last a couple of pitches. The player animations felt pretty natural, the baserunning was simple enough, although there were a lot of extra features that I didn't even get into on running the bases. They have some intuitive features to analyze your swing and timing as well, and some quick menus to help get the bullpen going, visit the mound or set your infield.

My two chief complaints were that the ballparks could have looked a little better and the pitchers were way too slow between pitches. There was nothing that glaringly stood out in the ballparks that I checked out, unlike EA's MVP 2005 which featured fireworks at Wrigley Field. But the scoreboard graphics on some of the parks looked a little off and the crowd animations were pretty weak. A minor detail, but the kind of stuff you'd like to have for the full experience.

The pitchers though took way too long between pitches, either when I was controlling them or waiting for a pitch. There was quite a delay between picking up the sign and the windup. Even worse, the pitching meter in the wind-up had a completely different timing than in the stretch. I imagine that was on purpose to further enhance the simulation experience, but I had a much harder time in the wind-up than the stretch...and it should be the opposite. There is a "Fast Mode" on the game, but that just seemed to cut-down on extraneous cutaways and waiting for the ball to get thrown back to the pitcher. The pitcher still took forever to get the sign, get into the windup and throw a pitch.

Not to end on a downer because I really did enjoy the game and will likely try to play a season this year (with lots of simulated games). This was probably the closest game I've seen to High Heat and there's a good chance that my memory of High Heat is better than it actually was. If you want a realistic feeling video game with some neat features, I don't think you can go wrong with MLB '08: The Show.

---------------------------------------------------

I happened to receive 5 PS3 copies of the game as well and wanted to give them out in a contest that would wrap up around when the season started. If you'd like to enter, follow this link and answer the questions. Each question is weighted equally and the top 5 finishers will win. If you don't have a PS3 or just aren't interested in the games, you should still enter. You can always sell your copy on Ebay or a local video game store. And you still don't want it, I'll donate it to a local children's charity by my neck of the woods.

You have until Friday 11pm CST to enter and we should have the results by Opening Day. Of course, if you don't want to wait for that, consider buying it through us via amazon.com and we make a buck or two to help pay for things around here (PS3, PS2 and PSP from left to right).

Comments

Rob G: Naturally I had Zambrano take the mound and I threw the first pitch - a 4-seam fastball that ended up about 5 feet outside. It was nice to see that they decided to make the game realistic. lol

got friends in the military as im sure many of you do as well, but jeez those guys play the SHIT out of mlb the show. for some it takes over their lives! (when theyre not playing madden or tiger woods golf that is..) as you were.

oh and i forgot to mention something. worst game ever has got to be tommy lasorda baseball for the sega genesis circa 1989. can anybody back me up here?? you gotta love "baseball" for the original nintento though.

[ ]

In reply to by CUBBY

My gaming experience pretty much stops at the Super NES.  For Nintendo, I still have "baseball" and play it maybe once a year, when I'm really, really bored.  And yeah, I love it.  The "Y" team is the best!!!!

Sadly, I never owned either baseball stars or rbi baseball.  Ken Griffey Jr.s Winning Run for Super NES is ok.

 

Oh, and nice review rob.  I also LOLed at the "realistic" line.  How long would you say the pause between pitches was?  I'm so used to being able to chuck a video game pitch like every 5 seconds, I wonder if a "natural" pause of 15-20 makes it feel ridiculously long....  Or are we talking something trachsel-esque? 

 

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

if you can find one I recommend it. I really love my Wii. Its great for when you have people over. The bowling game that comes with wii sports (included with the wii) is really fun. 4 people can play. The thing I love is you can literally hand it to someone and say lets play. They don't need any video game experience to jump in and play a round of bowling. Other games I've found to be really fun. Resident Evil 4 wii edition Zelda Zelda crossbow (comes with the gun like device. Very fun. My wife loves this game) Zack & Wiki - another game my wife and I play together There is another baseball game called MLB Power Pro. Stores in my area (dallas) don't carry it for some reason even though a few reviews I read said it was perhaps the best baseball game in years. I need to order it online i guess. There are a handful of games I want to play that I haven't been able to buy yet. Mario Galaxy, medal of honor, no more heroes, bully, ea's playground, Battalion Wars 2. those just off the top of my head. all have had great reviews. And the Wii Fit that comes out i'm hoping in May. There is also the very large library of nes, snes, n64, gamecube, genesis, turbo graphix 16, neogeo games you can download for around $5 a piece. (some go to 8-10) Baseball stars and Baseball Stars 2 are available. Of course, playing old sports games to me is fun at first and then you realize how nice the progression of games has been.

[ ]

In reply to by ruz

Rock Band is the best. FYI. And I have all the GH's, too, which I love. But Rock Band is the greatest game ever!

[ ]

In reply to by Chad

I hear it's great, but it's not available for the Wii yet.

I miss some things about EA Sport's MVP baseball. I played it on PC so I could update rosters whenever I wanted, they had some really cool mods you could download. Also, you could play a whole season and manage the entire organization from single-A to MLB level. MVP wasn't nearly as realistic as the show, though.

This 2008 "The show" game is totally consuming. The Road to the Show mode is Much better this year than in previous years. You design a guy that can look spookily like yourself. You join an organizaton and participate in only the plays your guy is personally involved in. I created a SS and am currently toiling away in AA Knoxville. Only action I have to deal with are Batting and Various defensive situations (pickoff throws,Stolen base attempts,Pivoting on the DP).

AZ Phil, How are things looking at minor league camp? In particular I've been interested in 2 guys, Samardzija and Larry Suarez, the bonus baby we signed last year. Has Samardzija been pitching well against the minor leaguers after starting out at MLB camp? Is he getting polished enough to the point that he could make an impact at the MLB level this year or next? And, what's Larry Suarez looking like? I remember they made a decent deal about the bonus they gave the guy, but we haven't heard much about what he's actually like as a pitcher so far. Thanks!

Fukudome apparently has to play one MLB game before they can put him in the video game. However, in rivalry and season modes, you can add his surrogate in Tom Jung, who appears on the Cubs' minor league roster.

WTF?@#!? Is it just me or is THIS suicidally not-funny.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

Yeah, I didn't find it funny either, but I don't find a vast majority of these stupid "Onion" like comedy articles funny.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

The Onion is generally funny. This was just stupid. I checked out some other articles on the website and they all suck. I think perhaps the key to their problem is their mantra: "The Serious Sports News Network is, generally, willing to accept contributions from anyone willing to submit them - as such, we have printed a variety." Maybe Rob should start accepting "anything" and see what happens...

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

It's not you, it's not all that funny. BTW -- The Onion staff put an inordinate amount of time into developing their satire. It's not something that's just thrown together as this piece appears to have been.

I've been doing the home run derby on Super Smash Bros. Brawl... 1250 feet with Lucario! Yeah, it's a stretch to stay on topic. Awesome game, though. I'm still throwing MLB Power Pros in from time to time. Amazingly fun and deep for a game featuring big head character models.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.

  • videographer (view)

    AZ Phil, speaking of Jordan Wicks having better command when he tires a bit, I remember reading about Dennis Lamp 40 years ago and his sinker that was better after 3 or 4 innings when he would tire a bit and get more sink with a little less speed on the pitch.  The key for Lamp was getting to the 4th inning.