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

Gameday Open Thread / Royals @ Cubs

It's back to Cactus League play as the Cubs host the Royals at HoHoKam Tuesday afternoon at 3:05 Central.

Kosuke Fukudome will see some familiar faces in new Royals manager Trey Hillman, who managed the past five seasons in Japan, and righthander Yasuhiko Yabuta, who pitched the last 12 seasons for Chiba Lotte. Yabuta has given up 14 hits and 8 earned runs in 7 innings pitched and Fukudome is hitting .229--I wonder if they'll talk about the good ol' days.

In Hated Rival News, would-be Brewer trade bait Chris Capuano is now just another guy whose elbow needs watching. And while second baseman Rickie Weeks has been horrible in the field this spring, with a team-high five errors, at least it's deflecting attention from how awful Weeks has been at the plate: 20 strikeouts in 40 AB and a .125 average.

Through it all, the Brewers have gone 14-6 in exhibition play.

We just have to keep repeating:

Spring training records don't mean anything...

Spring training records don't mean anything...

Spring training records don't mean anything...

Comments

If Spring Training games don't mean anything, how can anyone explain the remarkable MLB career of Gary Scott? At least I think his first name was Gary.

Remember Gary Scott's grand slam in April 1992 that barely made the basket? It led the Cubs to a 8-3 win. That was 1 of only 4 hits he had in 44 at bats before getting demoted. God that guy sucked balls. I knew he was bad, but I didn't realize his career average was just .160 in 175 big league at bats. Ouch.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

They just plotted all the dyads and then computed a best-fit line that would go through the points. So then when they predict based on that everything has to coverge. Notice in the table below, based on spring training winning percentages no team is predicted to fall below .479 or above .520 - which of course is simply not realistic. It was kind of a dumb exercise in my opinion. What it really shows is that it's a crap shoot. You can do really really well (.600 ball), or really really bad (.350 ball) and you still basically have a coin flip's chance of being either above or below .500 in the season.

Lou Piniella will put out his Opening Day lineup for Tuesday's game against Kansas City, though he has to use an asterisk because of the probability of a trade or two. The lineup has Ryan Theriot at short, Aflonso Soriano in left, Derrek Lee at first, Aramis Ramirez at third, Kosuke Fukudome in right, Mark DeRosa at second, Geovany Soto catching and Felix Pie in center. Jason Marquis is pitching, though Carlos Zambrano will obviously be the Opening Day starter. Piniella (will) announce the closer later this week and one of the final two starting spots behind Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Rich Hill. and, he says, DEMPSTER is gonna be our #3 So how does that jibe with what he wrote above(?!) http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports_hardball/

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

WHy Lou why!! I like Lou for the most part (minus the zambrano debacle in Game 1 last year) hitting Soriano 2nd is just a terrible idea. I like getting Soriano out of the lead off spot, but don't hit him 2nd!!! YOu want someone who makes contact and willing to go the other way and hit and run with, none of which applies to Soriano. As a matter of fact, of all the players on that opening day lineup, Soriano is the LAST one I want hitting 2nd and that includes Zambrano!!! This clearly is a bad bad idea. My choice for 2nd would be Fukudome, who will clearly struggle in the beginning and the protection of the big boys behind him, would help him out tremendously. So what does Lou do with him but hit him 5th??? WHere there is absolutely no protection for him and where Ramirez probably won't see much to hit because pitchers would rather face Fuku who'll be struggling early. I have no problem hitting Fuku 5th in say June or July where he's getting used to the daily adjustments to MLB, but not on March 31.

In the Nationals' 6 run sixth inning during the ESPN televised game today, CLAY RAPADA, obtained in the trade for Craig Monroe, was brought in to get the last out. The first two pitches went for hits. JACQUE JONES then air-mailed a throw allowing a run to score. Tiger fans boo-ed him. (~a spring training de ja vu~) Comment from the booth: Jim Leland isn't going to like this. You have to hit the cutoff man. (~snicker~) Rapada, who kept throwing 77 mph junk, walked the next two batters forcing in another run. Comment from the booth: Rapada is not going to make the team.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

You do realize that there actually racists that JJ dealt with when he was with the Cubs, right? He didn't label people racists for attacking him. He labeled people racist for making very offensive and racist comments both verbally and in writing.

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

Yes, I did hear that, and they were completely wrong and dispicable. But I also heard it the racist who started right off the bat with him booing him according to him and his former manager, when he air mailed balls, got doubled off second three times in 10 games, and batted terribly.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

JACQUE JONES then air-mailed a throw allowing a run to score. ------------------------------------------------ Are we sure it was Jacque Jones? Jones couldn't even get the ball to the relay guy without it bouncing let alone "air-mail" any throw...

Spring training records don't mean anything... I don't get too worked up over spring training wins & losses. It's much more important to get ABs & IPs and to evaluate up-and-coming talent. The last week or so of ST you'll see a team start to gel and you'll see some intensity ratchet up in the players (hopefully).

And for the record, I am SO not okay with putting Demp in the rotation "because that's what he wants to do". He's being paid millions of dollars salary as an employee of the Chicago Cubs. He'll pitch where he's most valuable to the team, and that is most ceratainly not the rotation, imo. Cub's mgmt should grow a pair and tell him he's a closer. Maybe they'll start the year as Woody closing and Demp starting and swap roles about June...

[ ]

In reply to by Jace

LOU'S LOGIC (I guess...): The Cubs lineup is marginal, at best, from 6 through 8, which means the #5 hitter won't get much to hit. Fuku will recognize this and will take a walk; Soriano will swing away madly at sliders in the dirt. Thus, Fuku makes more sense as a #5 hitter. Also, if Lee/Ram are hitting, the #2 hitter should see more strikes, which again favors Fonzie at #2. Trying to balance between the prototype #2 (on base = Fuku) and the prototype #5 (power = Fonzie), and Fonzie's inability/unwillingness to not swing at bad pitches.

Sorry if 3/44. Per Rotoworld: Kosuke Fukudome left Tuesday's game in the sixth inning after getting hit in the face by a thrown ball. Fukudome was hit by the throw while stealing second. He appeared to be fine, but Eric Patterson came in to run for him.

Gotta say fellers, I'm really surprised at how well Jason Marquis has thrown the ball this spring. 14 IP 3ER 14H 6BB 7K I'm a little concerned with the walk number, but I think his sinker looks great. Had another good day today. Look, we all know what his second half numbers are like, but that's still 4 months away. In his career, he's still a 4.22 pitcher in the first half of the season. Doesn't he deserve it more particularly when Dempster has had a god awful spring?

[ ]

In reply to by Wes

Marquis seems to do better early and especially in the colder months. Last year, he was one of the few bright spots around June 1.

Agreed. I'd rather have Fukudome struggling at the beginning of the year while batting second with nobody on base in front of him instead of struggling with DLee and/or Ramirez on base in RBI spots. If you want to break him in you don't put him in a key RBI spot, especially with how poor he looks swinging the bat right now. Hit him 2nd or drop him down to 6th or 7th until he gets it going. And Soriano, have people been noticing how poorly he's running? Last weekend he looked like he was really busting it going to first on a groundball but was barely moving, and he looked to be in pain. It didn't look to me like he's "85% and hasn't gone all out yet". It looked like his quads are still really bothering him. I've had tight quads before, and once they happened it ended my softball career. The last time I played was in a tournament, playing SS, and they locked up in the first game. I had to bumble through the next 3 games barely able to move in the field or run the bases (and I kept getting singles and walks, so there was no rest). They kept re-occurring, and still do if I move just right, and it's been five years. Hopefully Soriano heals up, and soon, but there's no sane reason to hit him higher than number 5 right now with the way he's running and his consistent k numbers. Put the obp in front of the hr guy, not the other way around.

[ ]

In reply to by Paul Noce

I'm not sure I agree about Fukudome. You could easily make the opposite argument. With men on base the pitcher will be destracted and give Fukodome better pitches to hit. Also, when there are men on base he might just focus on hitting a flyball to score the runner from third, or hitting it to the right side to move the runner over, etc. Sometimes this type of focused hitting is exactly what a player needs to get on track, versus the free swinging, no one on base scenarious he'd have batting 2nd if Soriano was leading off.

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.