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 4-18-2024
 
* 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 
Minor League Free-Agents

Friday, Santo Day, Sunday...

Submitted by Mike Wellman on
Today is Santo Day. He would have been 72. Camp is open; so are the ticket windows, so I’m in the mood for some baseball flotsam. I thought I’d share a choice Santo anecdote that I discovered over the winter. Surely some of you know it. For Christmas one of my sons gave me one of those “Baseball Voices” CD’s that Pat Hughes is always hawking. It’s the Santo edition. Have you heard the one about his pregame “interview” with Antonio Alfonseca? Santo must have thought ol’ Tony Twelve was a descendant of Lew Fonseca, a good outfielder back in the depression era, because he addressed him as though his name was Al Fonseca, “the fine stopper for the Chicago Cubs.” “Al,” he probes, “how do you feel about the trade that brought you over here to Chicago?” Al responds with a stream of unintelligible pigeon English. Santo, as though maybe he’s just noticed that his guest has six fingers on each hand and is afraid he won’t be able to keep from asking if the extra one on his pitching hand makes Al twice as good as Mordecai (Three Finger) Brown, pulls the mic back and says, “Well, it’s good to have you with the club. Keep up the good work, Big Boy.” And that’s it. As Hughes points out in the narration, a segment that typically ran five or so minutes was over and done in less than one. A written account is a poor substitute for the real thing. I’m glad I have it at my disposal as a go-to laugher. I suspect I may have to cue it up more often than I’d like in the season to come as a fallback. After listening to Ron and Al’s lively conversation one more time this morning while I had my bowl of shredded wheat I braced myself and intrepidly entered the virtual waiting room of the Minnesota Twins. Their single game tickets went on sale today. Normally there is a limit of 24 per game. For the Cub series in June the per game max was pegged at four. Within a reasonable amount of time I shouldered my way through the virtual throng to the window and was able to come away with three decent seats for the matinee on Sunday, June 10, close enough to Father’s Day that I expect I can guilt both sons into tagging along. I wonder what the Cubs’ record will be by then. I don’t care. Happy birthday, Big Boy. Good to have you with the club...
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Comments

Submitted by Old and Blue on Sat, 02/25/2012 - 02:12 pm

Heard at an AA meeting, and I kid you not (a friend told me, I can still drink a beer or two without my Alzheimer's kicking in too severely): "I can beat this (alcohol) by myself? Well, I'm Blake DeWitt, and I'm the the third basemen for your Chicago Cubs." Apparently the guy that said that got blank stares. I wasn't there (honest).

Submitted by Old and Blue on Sat, 02/25/2012 - 02:11 pm

And ya, we loved Ronnie, even for all his faults. I hope he looks down soon, and smiles, and says, "thank god I don't have to say 'Oh, no', so often.

Submitted by navigator on Sat, 02/25/2012 - 02:48 pm

No one who paid the least attention to Tony Campana attempting to bunt last year should be surprised by this result... Twitter// Carrie Muskat ‏ @CarrieMuskat Clevenger posts biggest upset, ousting Tony Campana. #Cubs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some reaction== Doug Padilla ‏ @ESPNChiCubs Reply Retweet Favorite · Open Clevenger downs Campana, who is getting crushed by his teammates for saying he was the favorite. Carrie Muskat ‏ @CarrieMuskat Reply Retweet Favorite · Open #Cubs Clevenger on beating Campana: "It separates the good bunters from the fast guys who think they can bunt" SAD but troo

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Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Sun, 02/26/2012 - 02:34 am

"what does the current management group see in campana that could be listed as 'asset'?" He's Nyjer Morgan without the abrasive personality. Michael Bourn without the (very) occasional home run. Both Morgan and Bourn were coveted by playoff-chasing teams last season. How do you account for that, in terms of assets? Interesting thing about Morgan and Bourn is that their major-league slash lines track pretty well with their minor-league lines: Morgan, minors: .293/.370/.364 (/.734) Morgan, majors: .288/.347/.374 (/.721) Bourn, minors: .284/.378/.392 (/.770) Bourn, majors: .271/.336/.352 (/.694) Campana, minors: .303/.359/.353 (/.712) That was Billy Beane, not Theo Epstein, in the movie telling his fastest guy to stop stealing bases. Epstein and Sveum like speed--you know that, right? Sveum just painted the inside corner of all the bases blue, to indicate that this is not a stopping point. In previous springs, I think the Cubs painted the outline of both feet on all the bases.

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Submitted by WISCGRAD on Sun, 02/26/2012 - 02:00 pm

Well, what is typical? If the typical drop is 100-150 points then Bourn is tracking pretty well and Morgan is tracking extremely well. If the typical drop is 40-80 points then both are average. If the typical player does not drop much at all from the minors to major, then both are tracking poorly. I don't know the answer, just noting that without some sort of "normal" or "average" no one knows the answer.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Sun, 02/26/2012 - 02:37 pm

I took "tracking pretty well" as just a minor drop off, nothing related to what is normal. I'm not sure what that answer is. A lot depends on how they get the numbers and what type of player they are, although I would say contact hitters with speed probably are more likely to have less a drop-off than strikeout prone power hitters, but that's an assumption. Regardless, a 40-50 pt drop in Campana's OPS would make him go from barely tolerable to awful at the major league level. on another note, just because they're fast, doesn't make them good comps. Bourn is a regular because of his defense including a very good arm. I'm not sure Bourn was coveted as much as the guy they went after because they couldn't get Byrd. Morgan has never really been a regular, more a decent platoon player. I don't know much about his arm. I think most folks in baseball don't think Campana can manage enough singles against a major league defense to hit well enough and he has a pop gun arm. I think what we saw in just 155 PA's is actually a pretty good representation of what to expect from him. He's a good defensive replacement if you have a Soriano on the team and great guy around to steal a base. If he could learn to bunt better, he'd be a good guy maybe to get in there when the wind is howling in, but he really has no business being a regular unless the BABIP gods are being kind to him. Morgan minors: 15% K, 7.4% BB Bourne: 18.7% K, 12.5% BB Campana: 15.5%, 7.5% BB so he tracks decently with Morgan, albeit 4 inches shorter allegedly and I get about 20 pts less of iso slugging in his minor league numbers.

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Submitted by WISCGRAD on Sun, 02/26/2012 - 02:28 pm

Well Campana's career minor league OPS is .712, so a 40 point drop would put him at 670ish, which is about what guys like Tom Goodwin and Tony Womack - two other guys who stole bases at a career 75-80% rate. So that wouldn't be bad at all. If he had a 660-670 OPS, then he'd be a nice guy to have on the bench. Someone who is pretty much guaranteed to steal a base 8 out of every 10 times he tries. He was 24/26 in SBs last year in the majors and his career minor league rate is about 78%. So this seems pretty certain. And he can fill in adequately in LF or CF, but is not great and has no arm. But 670 seems unlikely. His OPS last year was 603. With more experience with big league pitching and maturity, might he push his BA from .259 to .275 or .280? Maybe. But even with an OPS of say .625 he would be 50 points below those other types of speed players and right at the cusp of being a liability on the active roster. Still, in September in a pennant chase, he'd be nice to have on the bench.

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Submitted by crunch on Sun, 02/26/2012 - 02:50 pm

OPS is useless for speed guys who only hit singles, imo. a couple dozen points coming from slugging can paint a false picture of talent, especially if he can use his legs and breaks on D to find some triples. campy has a decent amount of SB, but it's important to discount or at least weigh how many times someone else earned the hit and he got sub'd in to run. imo, we got a sam fuld-type speed upgrade and little else in campy. he's doesn't seem to have the bat control of a ben revere or a juan pierre. either way, he's a hell of a luxury/tool to have on the bench even if he never sees regular starting time. he's got rare speed and can decently cover CF/LF.

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Submitted by crunch on Sun, 02/26/2012 - 02:09 pm

HAIL CAESAR! MY APOLOGIZES, SIRE! I BRING YOU FRESH OLIVE OILS AND FINE FURS AS I REQUEST FORGIVENESS FROM THE EMPIRE! and the "code" on speed hasn't been cracked...yeesh. also, people misuse wOBA like a champ and the recent misuse of accounting for SB value using weighted slugging is ass. effective outcome is taken for granted...not caring how an outcome occurs is taken for granted. when you're projecting someone you can't count on a guy's legs being 100% healthy snagging a bunch of triples as much as you can a slightly hobbled power hitter still being able to smack a decent amount of homers and doubles. the speed skill set is fragile and guys who use it can fall off a cliff really fast without some other supporting skills in their batting approach.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Sun, 02/26/2012 - 02:14 pm

and the "code" on speed hasn't been cracked...yeesh. also, people misuse wOBA like a champ and the recent misuse of accounting for SB value using weighted slugging is ass. Brought to you by crunch James, Hall of Fame baseball analyst effective outcome is taken for granted...not caring how an outcome occurs is taken for granted. when you're projecting someone you can't count on a guy's legs being 100% healthy snagging a bunch of triples as much as you can a slightly hobbled power hitter still being able to smack a decent amount of homers and doubles. the speed skill set is fragile and guys who use it can fall off a cliff really fast without some other supporting skills in their batting approach. Like I said, the code's been cracked for about 25 years.

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Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Mon, 02/27/2012 - 02:28 am

I don't think the code has been cracked, Rob, otherwise one of the prospect rankings you've been publishing the last few years would have listed Campana as a prospect. (Please don't tell me again that prospect gurus are looking for something better than mere major leaguers.) Last year, Campana was Hendry's boy, but now a new state-of-the-art front office has come in and Campana's status has changed not at all. Possibly it has improved, since Sveum has talked about using him at leadoff, which implies a not infrequent starting role.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Mon, 02/27/2012 - 02:01 pm

I don't think the code has been cracked, Rob, otherwise one of the prospect rankings you've been publishing the last few years would have listed Campana as a prospect. I have no idea what you're trying to say there. Campana's fast, he can occasionally hit a single, obviously has good range because he's fast, doesn't have much an arm. The ceiling is 5th outfielder, that's not gonna get a lot love in the league or prospect rankings and justifiably so.

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Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Mon, 02/27/2012 - 02:26 pm

"The ceiling is 5th outfielder" Yet he has the same toolset and minor-league slash line as Nyjer Morgan, who has started an average of 111 games the last three seasons--not the profile of a 5th outfielder. Campana played a short season the year he was drafted, then two full seasons, mostly at Daytona his first full pro season then at Tennessee his second season. In his third full season, he hit .342 at Iowa in 30 games before being called up in mid-May. So he has had 312 games in the minors to Morgan's 517. It would be hard to find a Cub position prospect with fewer games in the minors before being called up, although obviously Castro wins that argument, 264 to 312. Corey Patterson looks like he had 319 games before being called up at age 21. But Campana stinks, you're right, you've had him pegged all along.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Mon, 02/27/2012 - 02:14 pm

happily admit I'm wrong if/when Campana becomes a decent regular for a season or two. As I mentioned, I don't know much about Morgan's defense, but usually speed=range and his defensive numbers seem to show that. I can't say anything educated about his arm. I wouldn't call a 5th outfielder someone that stinks, better than most prospects. Probably undersold Campana a bit. and it would be quite an accomplishment for Campana if he has a career to match the illustrious Nyjer Morgan but I'm certainly not counting on it. Morgan's certainly a decent comp for Campana, but let's not write Campana's future in stone because his minor league numbers match up favorably.

Submitted by DavidP on Mon, 02/27/2012 - 02:40 am

I think that Seppalt is going to be the 4th outfielder and defensive replacement for Soriano. If Campana is going to make the team, he is likely to have to beat out Reed Johnson.

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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