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

No News is Good News...I Guess

It certainly has been a rather drama free first week of camp, which doesn't give me much to react to...but I'll do my best.

- A Dave Kaplan tweet says Dale Sveum would bat Starlin Casto third if the season started today. I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with that leading to Darwin Barney probably batting second. Hopefully the front office can talk some sense into him or he'll set a record for losing the benefit of the doubt by fans like me rather quickly. If that is the case, I presume the lineup could look like this against righties: DeJesus, Barney (gag), Castro, LaHair, Soriano, Stewart, Byrd, Soto.

I'd prefer Castro batting second, but if Sveum insists on him batting third, I'd rather see: DeJesus, Byrd, Castro, LaHair, Soriano, Stewart, Soto, Barney.

- An article on Ryan Flaherty's chances of sticking with the Baltimore Orioles.

- Sveum on what he's looking for in a back-up catcher, "[Handedness] matters, but it’s not the final piece of the puzzle,” Sveum said. “The guy who will work and be able to handle pitchers is the biggest thing when it comes down to it.”

That should be one of the spring training battles which from what I can tell come down to the following:

Back-up Catcher: Steve Clevenger, Welington Castillo and Jason Jaramillo

4th/5th Starter: Figure Garza, Dempster and Maholm are locked in leaving Chris Volstad, Travis Wood, Randy Wells, Andy Sonnastine and Jeff Samardzija fighting for 2 spots.

5th OF: Soriano, Byrd, DeJesus, Johnson take up the first four with Tony Campana, Dave Sappelt and Joe Mather battling for a spot.

Back-up Middle Infielder: LaHair, Barney, Castro, Stewart and Baker seem locked in leaving Adrian Cardenas, Blake DeWitt, Matt Tolbert, Edgar Gonzalez and even Bobby Scales fighting it out.

Bullpen: I suspect Marmol, Wood, Russell and Samardzija are locked in. That leaves 3 spots open for the likes of Scott Maine, Jeff Beliveau, John Gaub, Trever Miller, Marcus Mateo, Manny Corpas, Rodrigo Lopez, Casey Coleman, Lendy Castillo and whomever loses out on the starter jobs if they don't get optioned, traded or released.

Obviously a spot on the 40-man gives a player the edge and then it'll be a mix of how they look in spring training versus what Sveum and his coaches feel the team needs and what the player needs (more development time, major league experience, speed, handedness, etc).

If I had to guess today: Jaramillo, Volstad and T. Wood, Campana, Cardenas and Maine, Corpas and either Lopez, Sonnastine or Wells for the swingman job (in order of likelihood).

- The Cubs are half way through the second round of the bunting tourney, here are the 8 that have advanced with 8 more second round match-ups to go.

(1) Beliveau vs. (12) McNutt
(2) Coleman vs. (14) Rusin
(4) Lalli vs. (9) Cardenas
(3) W. Castillo vs. (10) Clevenger

Comments

5/75 with 6th year $15M mutual option starts in 2013. I was about to complain, but he's 29 this season. Catchers usually drop off a cliff after 32 with the bat, but well he's not getting the money for his bat. Still runs him from age 30 to 34 with the option for age 35.

DeJesus, Byrd, Castro, Soriano, LaHair, Soto, Stewart, Barney? I could live with that. or flip Byrd and Barney or god forbid if Lou or Quade's notes are left behind.... DeJesus, Barney, Castro, Soriano, LaHair, Byrd, Stewart, Soto

and there were 20 Samardzija over #1 seed T. Wood, Mather over Barney, Castro over Stewart, R. Wells over Sonnastine Sweet 16 so far....4 2nd round match-ups to go. (1) Beliveau vs. (12) McNutt (2) Coleman vs. (14) Rusin (9) Samardzija vs. (12) Wells (4) Lalli vs. (9) Cardenas (3) W. Castillo vs. (10) Clevenger (1) Mather vs. (5) Castro

cause they got rid of everyone holding the scrappy down. http://www.csnchicago.com/blog/cubs-talk/post/Cubs-believe-they-can-pro… blah, blah, we're gonna win cause we're playing as a team now... Add in the newly bulked up Darwin Barney -- who gained nearly 15 pounds of muscle to help him handle the rigors of a long season -- and the improvement expected from star shortstop Starlin Castro and the optimism is somewhat understandable for an improved season over 2011 when the Cubs lost 91 games.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Kaplan was on WGN today and you could here the orgasmic groans over the phone -Smarninja throwing easy and "topping 97" blowing away Sveum, could "easily be in rotation" -Darwin "Camp Colvin" Barney -And BRYAN LAHAIR smashing the ball all over the park He made Hawk sound like Pat Sumerall on Ash Wednesday.

This really makes no sense. So they sign Beltran and Molina for $28M total, but let Pujols--the face of your franchise--for $25M? Wouldn't most teams want Pujols + any catcher vs. Molina + Beltran? I realize the difference in years; and it's certainly possible Pujols does not live up to $25M/year in 5+ years; but honestly, if I'm the Cardinals Org, I would've taken my chances knowing what they did today.

BP's roundtable on the NL Central is out... (this is part one including Reds and Astros) http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=16078 here's the first question they discuss.
​1. What kind of effect will the new front office have on the team? What will be most affected by the switch? Larry Granillo: I think any Cubs fans expecting immediate returns on the new front office are probably expecting too much. That said, I do think Epstein and Hoyer will have an effect. Epstein has already shown that he can envision something and make the moves necessary to create it. That shouldn't change in Chicago, even if he's no longer the actual GM. I'd expect the team to be more willing to take risks that might be hard to explain in talk radio, but ones that could help the team in the long run. ​Stephani Bee: Excellent points. I also think that the new front office represents a change in philosophy, from a team that threw money at problems and wound up making ill-advised deals (Soriano being the last remaining major mistake), to a team that, as you suggest, is willing to take risks and wait patiently for prospects to develop. And speaking of their farm system, bringing Jason McLeod over to work with scouting and player development will be huge. The Cubs haven't exactly raised the roof in the draft in recent years. ​LG: Very true. If I were a Cubs fan, I'd take this as a great sign from the Ricketts family. People have been content with being good enough in Wrigley for far too long. Hiring Epstein makes me feel like the Ricketts want to be better than that. ​SB: It helps that the Ricketts family has a deep pocketbook and should be willing to spend money when Epstein and Hoyer ask for it. In the short term, I don't see the Cubs signing many free agents. They'll probably shell out the dough to lock up key players like Starlin Castro, but I think this is going to be a steadier, patient front office than the North Side has seen recently.
they also discuss: 2. Speaking of Castro, he'll be entering his third season as the Cubs' starting shortstop at the ripe young age of 22. Just how good do you think he'll be? (brief answer, very good) 3. Will the Cubs continue playing salary munchers and deal Alfonso Soriano? If so, who are the likely takers? (brief answer, no and nobody) 4. Will the Cubs deal Matt Garza at the trade deadline? What kind of return might they get for him? (brief answer, maybe...speculation about the Rangers included) 5. Aramis Ramirez was the team's best offensive player in 2011, and he signed with the Brewers over the winter. Can the Cubs make up the offense they lost? (brief answer, no)

and BP has an article on 14 breakout candidates...LaHair in at #10: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=16112
10. Bryan LaHair In my early teenage years, I did some writing for a couple of High-A ballclubs in Southern California: the Lake Elsinore Storm (still a Padres affiliate) and the Inland Empire 66ers (then a Seattle Mariners affiliate). One of my first interviews was with Bryan LaHair, and when he hit a game-winning homer later that evening, my prospect crush was born. I swore that he was going to make the majors. As Steve Goldman can attest, I've remained vigilant in that conviction, despite scouts and teams branding LaHair as an organizational soldier. And really, his stats haven't been all that eye-popping. Scouts started paying more attention to the first baseman in 2010, when he hit .308/.385/.557 at Triple-A Iowa and showed increased patience at the dish. LaHair kicked up his slugging in 2011, knocking 38 homers and 38 doubles, and beefed up his OBP to .405, helping him to a 1.070 OPS in 129 games. The Cubs gave him a cup of coffee at the end of the year, and he held his own with a .288/.377/.508 performance in 20 games. Carlos Pena skipped town over the winter to soak up some Rays, leaving the first-base job to LaHair... until the Cubs traded for Anthony Rizzo. But Rizzo still needs some seasoning in Triple-A, meaning that LaHair is clear for takeoff in April. I don't think he's going to put up huge numbers—I can be realistic when I have to be—but I do think he'll be able to hold his own in extended playing time. For a guy who has played minor-league journeyman for eight years, I think that's good enough to be considered a breakout. —Stephani Bee

Barney added 15 - 20 punds of muscle. This is certainly a misguided attempt to improve his game. Now he will hit .260 with 12 hrs and more stirkeouts. What he needs to do is to add about 40-50 walks per season. This does not require lifting weights. Two teams are looking for center fielders. Washington and Cleveland. Hello Marvin Byrd.

Soriano at leadoff not out of the realm of possibilities... http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-soriano-to-leado… “The one thing about Soriano is that his numbers as a leadoff hitter are pretty good in his career whether he’s leading off a game or leading off an inning, his numbers are pretty incredible over his career,” Sveum said. “ If you want to get into the details of why you might come up with something like that it could be as simple as that. “We don’t have the bona fide guys at any position in the order. We don’t have any guys that drive in runs in the big leagues. (Starlin) Castro is obviously probably the most sound hitter we have to hit third. Do we have that base stealer, leadoff and on-base guy? (David) DeJesus probably fills that as much as anything. But we don’t have a lot of cut and dried spots to say ‘This guy is this’ and ‘This guy is that.’ It’s not that easy with that lineup right now.”

Fangraphs Howard Bender goes on a bender with his top 10 Bold predictions:
Bryan LaHair hits at least 30 HR — This late-bloomer will have Cubs fans saying, “better late than never!” Though the PCL is notoriously hitter friendly, something clicked for LaHair last season and his power really took off. Look for him to start hot right out of the gate and lead the Cubbies in home runs this season.
he also picks Matt Cain for NL Cy Young. http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/howard-benders-10-bold-predi…

official... for this year only, Division series will be 2-3 format with lower seed (including WC) getting first two home games to eliminate a travel day. back to 2-2-1 format next year.

and there were 16.... Sveum over Dempster, Maholm over Marmol, DeJesus over Byrd, Baker over Soto Sweet 16 (1) Beliveau vs. (12) McNutt (2) Coleman vs. (14) Rusin (9) Samardzija vs. (12) Wells (3) Maholm vs. (15) Sveum (4) Lalli vs. (9) Cardenas (3) W. Castillo vs. (10) Clevenger (1) Mather vs. (5) Castro (2) DeJesus vs. (3) Baker

B. Jackson leads off with a HR off lefty T. Wood Szczur singles, manages to score from 2nd on a sac fly to RF (believe DeJesus was in RF).

[ ]

In reply to by Eagon

"The process to me is something a lot of the guys in the clubhouse really trust," Johnson said. "Obviously, you don't want your sample going to somebody's house and sitting around for a couple of days, but you know that that process of them taking your sample and sealing it inside a case, stickers over it and that's inside a bag, stickers over that and that's inside a sealed box, stickers over that. The more I read stuff like that the more ridiculous it seems to me that anyone would think the sample was possibly screwed with.

Jayson Stark: "If you can build an 89-win team under this system, you can just about bank on playing in October. Under the old wild-card format, 20 teams have won 89 games or more and still missed the playoffs. If there had been a second wild card, just four teams with that many wins would have had to watch the October action on their flat-screens."

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

89 wins gets you one more game. If you advance, you'll probably won't be able to use your best pitcher in the first three games of the first series. I don't think anyone wants to be a wild card team in this system.

If the guy could take some walks and improve his OBP overall, I don't think we would have a problem with it. But, based on recent Soriano revisionist history - blech!

Recent comments

  • 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. 

  • 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...