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, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024
 
* 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
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Is Theo Epstein working a Marlon Byrd trade with Boston?

Submitted by CubbyBlue on

Of course that's an imagined conversation between Theo Epstein and Boston GM Ben Cherington, but...
Would this not make a ton of sense?
Jacoby Ellsbury, the Red Sox center fielder, did something bad to his shoulder when he slid hard into 2nd base during the Sox home opener.
A "subluxed" shoulder.
That doesn't mean "below luxury", it means he kind of dislocated it, and it means about 6-8 weeks on the DL.
The Sox have some expectations this year, and 6-8 weeks is a long time.
The Cubs, on the other hand, are lacking in expectations this year.
Although they are expected to make trades to lose the guys they can lose if it makes the team better for the future.
Cubs center fielder Marlon Byrd happens to be one of those guys.
It's too bad he picked this April to forget how to hit.
But we should pay attention, because Boston is looking. 

Comments

Submitted by Charlie on Mon, 04/16/2012 - 04:32 am

Love this one, Blue! Great stuff. I think the "sublux" injury is pretty similar to what ARam did a few years. Looks like the injury is to Ellsbury's right shoulder, too, which is his front arm when he swings the bat. It shouldn't affect his throwing, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him having trouble reaching pitches on the outside corner and hitting stuff that he's out in front of--that can really strain that front shoulder. Might affect his power for a while, too.

Submitted by Cubster on Mon, 04/16/2012 - 04:30 pm

I think the "sublux" injury is pretty similar to what ARam did a few years. ---- The injuries are similar from a rehab perspective and that both were glove side injuries (Ellsbury throws lefty). Some of the details are somewhat different, such as primary vs recurrent injury, subluxation vs dislocation. ARam had a recurrent shoulder dislocation (May 2009) of his glove hand (left). He had dislocated the same shoulder earlier in his career in Pittsburgh (Aug 2000) and that was reported as a partial dislocation (see the TCR article linked at the bottom). Although that was an acute injury the "recurrent" part means the anterior capsule has already been injured (it usually does not heal back as tight after a dislocation) and to a certain extent remains stretched more than before the first injury.
On Friday, he (Ellsbury) injured his right shoulder trying to break up a double play.
"Subluxed" (or subluxation) is a partial dislocation and from what I can tell it's Ellsbury's first shoulder injury. A complete dislocation means the humerus or ball of the shoulder moves in front of the socket (glenoid) and out of the socket, often tearing the anterior capsule and ligaments (mainly the middle and inferior glenohumeral) that constrain it normally. Usually, it needs to be reduced or set (reports were that ARam's shoulder was reduced a few minutes afterward) although on occasion it can spontaneously reduce (more often in a recurrent situation than primary). A partial dislocation meant the humeral head didn't completely disengage the socket, so it didn't need to be reduced back in place. There was some discussion that ARam would get offseason shoulder repair to address the recurring dislocations but it never happened. ARam felt the shoulder wasn't feeling unstable after he rehabbed it. Often patients decide to repair recurrent instability after multiple dislocation or subluxation events and in ARam's case the dislocations were years apart. Ellsbury could get ongoing instability even with a subluxation event so surgical repair is still a possibility if it becomes a recurring problem. It is pretty uncommon to repair these acutely, particularly after a first time event. I think ARam's defense got worse after the injury, possibly because he was more tentative when diving for balls but that's for another discussion. The injury didn't seem to ultimately affect his power at the plate all that much as he hit 25 HR's in 2010 and 26 HR's in 2011 (26 in 2007, 27 in 2008 before the injury). http://www.thecubreporter.com/2009/05/09/thats-not-humerus http://www.thecubreporter.com/2009/05/08/ramirez-gets-hurtbadly

Submitted by Rob G. on Mon, 04/16/2012 - 04:17 pm

Wellington Castillo, C, Cubs (Triple-A Iowa) The Cubs are not a very good baseball team, but they're not expected to be. This is a team in the nascent period of what will be a long rebuilding process. While Cubs fans seem preoccupied with what first baseman Anthony Rizzo and outfielder Brett Jackson are doing at Triple-A (and both are doing well), don't forget about Castillo, especially since regular catcher Geovany Soto is one of the club's better trade chips when it comes to building for the future. With three hits in all three of his games over the weekend—and home runs in two of them—Castillo is doing his best to make the front office more comfortable in jump-starting that rebuild. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=16488

Recent comments

  • Bill (view)

    A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return.  Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention".  Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."

     

    Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost.  But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.  

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions.  Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022.  I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
    I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
    I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
    That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
    I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
    We'll find out soon enough!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa? 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Pro teams have to play their "big money" guys if they are healthy and not "locker room" issues.
    The Cubs wanted to deal JHey off well before they bought him out. They just didn't want to pay him to play for someone else for that long. Jed did give him 20+mil to play for LAD last yr.
    Jed might also let Kyle walk at some point this year. Similar scenario to JHey, except Jed thought Kyle was going to be good/solid in '24!!
    You'd think Smyly is in the same book as well. Same with Neris (he's a 1yr vet RP, so he's not really in this convo too much).
    That's ~35mil between those three and those three are going to get opportunities until at least late June) over younger guys even if their performance is "iffy".
    But, Jed is going to play Taillon a lot. They have to try and justify that contract and hope a veteran works out.
    So, Taillon, Imanaga, and Hendricks are locks for the rest of April and probably May.
    Assad, Brown and Wicks handle the last spots until Steele is ready.
    Now, you're question has real merit when Steele comes back. That will interesting if Brown is still good and Hendricks is still bad. But Taillon is entirely safe as long as he's healthy.

    And the bullpen moves were "money" based as well. Smyly has actually been okay. But he hasn't been clearly better than Little. Little had one bad outing. But Smyly makes 9mil. If they needed another RHRP and one of Little and Smyly had to go, it was going to Little. But that doesn't mean Smyly is one of the best 13 arms for the team. 

Click HERE for the last 50 comments