Cubs MLB Roster

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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

Giant Gaffe and Cub Smoke Combine to Produce Opening Night Victory

Four AZL Cubs pitchers combined to throw a six-hitter with 16 strikeouts, and the Cubs took advantage of a gaffe by the AZL Giants manager to push across two runs in the bottom of the seventh, en route to a 3-1 Arizona League Opening Night victory at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ.  

box score

There is a 35-man roster limit in the AZL, but only 30 of the players (of which at least ten must be pitchers) can be designated as "active" for each game. However, AZL Giants manager Derin McMains apparently failed to list one of his pitchers as "active" before tonight's game, and then he called that pitcher into the game.

RHP Jake Shadle entered the contest in the bottom of the 7th entrusted to protect a 1-0 Giant lead, but after he completed his warm-up pitches, home plate umpire Reid Gibbs called McMains out onto the field and told him that Shadle was not listed on the official Giants game roster submitted by McMains prior to the game, and so Shadle could not pitch in the game. As a result, LHP Randall Zeigler (who had been sitting quietly in the bullpen) was brought into the game "cold" (albeit only figuratively, since it was 109 degrees on the field), but because Shadle did not leave with an injury, Zeigler was permitted only eight warm-up tosses. And it showed

Zeigler labored through his 2/3 of an inning of work, allowing two runs (both unearned) on two hits and a walk, but he really gave up the ship (and was immediately pulled from the game) because he failed to cover 1st base on a two-out bases-loaded grounder down the 1st base line by Trevor Gretzky, where 1st baseman Leonardo Fuentes bobbled the ball and then did not have enough time to beat Gretzky to the bag after he recovered (although Gretzky would have been out if Zeigler had covered the bag and had been available to receive the throw from Fuentes).

The four Cub pitchers who worked in the game were really sharp tonight, although three of them (Zach Cates, Zac Rosscup, and Shane Lindsey) were rehab guys from higher classifications. Rosscup (biceps tendinitis) was especially impressive, striking out four in 1.2 IP (19 pitches - 16 strikes) with 94 MPH gas. I've never seen Rosscup throw that hard before (he usually sits 89-91), but he was unhittable tonight. (Rosscup was one of the "other" players acquired by the Cubs from Tampa Bay in the Matt Garza deal). Rosscup was at Extended Spring Training, but had only thrown in "sim" games prior to tonight.

6'5 RHP David Henrie (2011 NDFA - Trinidad State JC) made his "official" pro debut tonight and threw three shutout innings (7-8-9) for the victory, although to say it was the big right-hander's pro debut is only technically true, because he saw action in 12 games (21.2 IP) combined between AZ Instructs last fall and Extended Spring Training earlier this season.

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Thu, 06/21/2012 - 5:01am — Hagsag Vogelvach on the bench? Replaced ny a 40th Rd draft pick? Have you even seen Maples throw this Spring? ======================================= HAGSAG: Dan Vogelbach was in uniform but he was the only position player who did not participate in pre-game warm-ups, so he must have tweaked something. I have not seen Dillon Maples throw this year, although he may have thrown some bullpen side-sessions that I did not see. BTW, Ben Wells, Marcos Mateo, and Jonathon Mota have all had TJS within the past couple of weeks.

This is a follow up on the previous thread where I got hammered for making that suggestion. His numbers at Iowa @Bruce M:
Keep an eye on third baseman Josh Vitters. He hit his 10th homer of the year. He's at .280/.330/.468 for an OPS of .798. In June, he has 3 homers and 11 RBI.
Now, I'll bet you're going to think that I am going to say that reinforces my claim he should be brought up. But no, I was convinced by the other arguments, and even more so, now. Seems like something is starting to click for him down there. It would be silly to shake things up. I also said I didn't think he'd amount to much but I'm no expert, especially based on the tiny sample size I've got when it comes to actually eyeballing the kid. I'll be seeing him play in Round Rock tomorrow night along with Rizzo (thank you, Theocorp, for not calling Rizzo up yet, although, shit, it's not Friday yet).

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

One thing we've seen with Vitters over and over is that it takes him a while to adjust to playing at a new level. It would be nice to see him make his MLB adjustment this year as opposed to 2013. However, considering his age and limited at-bats above A-ball, I also feel like he could use more time at AAA, even if he's mashing. He's still not taking walks or winning any defense awards. It's definitely a tough call, maybe damned either way.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I just never bought into the idea that he would find that power stroke. There was a brief stretch, when I think he was in AA, when there were some positive reports in that regard, but his approach is such that, it's hard to buy him finding that power stroke, and people have been waiting for it for awhile. Without it, he's really ... not that interesting.

Theo just said he wants guys to get a full 162 games in AAA, so Vitters isn't coming up. Maybe in September when rosters expand but doubtful he'd play much. Cubs certainly don't need to rush things. 2013 will be the year of the Vitters.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate to trade him in the right deal, his approach doesn't fit what they want and they already have Castro hacking at everything. But if he continues to hit from now through the beginning of next season like he has recently (850-900 OPS range), they'll also know that 22/23 year olds in AAA that hit like that are a good bet to be successful in the majors. His defense is also an issue of course. I doubt there's any destiny plan for him, just wait and see how he does. You've got nearly 100 AAA games worth before they have to make any real decisions.

Soriano There was some chatter about when Soriano was good or bad in a recent discussion and I remembered looking up his career stats on Baseball Reference. I especially like his summary by teams: NY 284/322/502/824 TEX 274/316/498/814 WSH 277/351/560/911 CHC 266/319/497/816 I was amazed at how, on the whole, similar he's been between his time with the Yankees, Rangers and Cubs. I realize that pointing out his career year with the Nats is old news, but my impression of him had typically been that he got to the Cubs and promptly sucked balls like he never had before. I guess it's worth pointing out that he's pretty much the same hitter he was for the Yanks and Ranger that he is with the Cubs.

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In reply to by big_lowitzki

All right, hold that thought. There are a couple of things wrong with Jumbo's analysis. First of all, if you compare Soriano's five years with the Cubs with the five previous, all the raw numbers are way down: runs, RBI, HR, etc. The most egregious example might be total bases: Soriano averaged 344.2 total bases in the five years that ended with the season in Washington. With the Cubs, he averages 247.2. The numbers that are roughly comparable, that Jumbo cites, are the percentages, because they don't take into account the time Soriano loses to serial nagging injuries. Injury-prone players lose a lot of their value. Check out Scott Podsednik, whose OPS has remained the same while his dollar value to a team has plummeted. I don't think 40 stolen bases are as great a thing as 40 home runs (although I think SBs are a greater thing than YOU do). I do believe that the high minors are full of 30-something guys who could hit 20 HRs and play LF in the majors. There are many examples but a few local ones are Dubois, Hoffpauir and Jake Fox. None of these guys had a single memorable year in the majors, but if you extrapolate Dubois's 9 home runs in 202 PAs in 2005 over 508 PAs--508 was Soriano's total in 2011--you get 23 home runs. Do the same with Hoffpauir's 10 HRs in 257 PAs in 2009 and you get 20. Also in 2009, Jake Fox had 11 HRs in 241 PAs, which comes to 23 home runs in 508 PAs. None of these players is a major leaguer, but that's my point. Twenty home runs at a non-defensive position like LF has zero value to the major leagues. That's the baseline. Soriano is a little above the baseline because he hits around 25 HRs. But on the bases and in the field, he has nothing over the minor-league players I mentioned. So yes, if he could still lead off and steal bases, he would probably double his value. Soriano may be worth (for next season) roughly what Hideki Matsui got from Oakland at the age of 37 last year: 4 and 1/4 million. But if Soriano can run, it's somewhere between Matsui's deal and what Carl Crawford gets (although Crawford also gets paid for his glove, which Soriano never did).

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In reply to by Doug Dascenzo

Sorry for replying to myself, but I found this in Baseball Prospectus:
The vaunted secondary effects of stealing bases--distracting the pitcher, putting pressure on the defense--do not appear to exist. In fact, most secondary effects argue in favor of keeping the runner of first base. A runner on first is more disruptive to a defense, with the first baseman holding and the second baseman cheating towards second for a double play, than a runner on second. Additionally, studies show that stolen-base attempts negatively impact the performance of the batter at the plate, presumably due to hitters getting themselves into negative counts by taking pitches or swinging at bad balls to protect the runner.
Now if only they had quantified this into some sort of drop in OPS or something.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

Hendry etc. paid for a guy who could produce a .900 OPS, steal 30+ bases a year, and maybe stretch himself defensively to cover CF for a while. What they got was a guy who can produce an .800 OPS and plays at best average LF--and they should have known that was a likelihood when they signed him to that contract. He was already (at least) 31 years old and his numbers in WAS were the outlier. I can see why they thought that maybe he could get better in the outfield, but why would you pay that much for maybe? It was a poor contract from day one. Matt Murton or Angel Pagan might've been able to produce almost as well for nowhere near the money or years committed. I'll be happy if our new regime does not overpay for guys coming off of career years. As far as I can tell, that strategy only worked out once for Hendry (Mark DeRosa). (Not trying to bash Hendry too much, though. Obviously that regime made a lot of great moves during their time. Speaking of--how come we never talk about what a great deal it was for them to pick up Michael Barrett? Damian Miller and cash for a guy who had 3.5 solid offensive seasons with the Cubs. Barrett's never on that list of solid pickups Hendry made.)

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In reply to by Ryno

"expectations that he would belt a gazillion homers" I would say they wanted a leadoff man/catalyst, a guy who would be up this inning and get you a run by hook or crook. He was never a middle-of-the-order guy. I was at RFK for a couple of the Cub games in 2006 and Soriano was far and away the best player in the stadium. He just sizzled. For one thing, he swung much harder than anybody else. During one at bat on TV in spring training this year, Soriano took an unusually violent swing, and I remembered, for the first time really since he put on a Cub uniform, what he looked like six years ago and why I was happy they signed him. He's just gotten old. It's difficult to remember the player he used to be, the coffee he must have been drinking back then.

Thanks, Phil, for reminding me that Rosscup came back in the Archer trade. After seeing the kid last night, I've been having a Real-Neal moment, thinking about the trade. Let's just say that Archer made a good first impression on me. Can we still offer them McNutt(in') in Archer's place?

Cubs third baseman Jeimer Candelario was born in New York. Had he stayed in the United States, there's a good chance he would have been a first-round pick earlier this month. Instead, Candelario moved to the Dominican Republic and signed with the Cubs two years ago for $500,000, which is already looking like a potential bargain. says he's a potential break-out candidate http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2012/06/cubs-jeimer-cande…

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In reply to by bradsbeard

Fri, 06/22/2012 - 3:35pm — bradsbeard Do you or AZ Phil know how Jeimer pronounces his name? The Hawks announcer was going with "Jay-mare" last night. Spanish pronunciation would appear to be "Hay-mare." Ben Badler tells me scouts have been saying "Hi-mur." This is important because I'd like the nickname Hi-C to stick. Thanks! ============================== BRADSBEARD: Unfortunately I have never heard Jeimer Candelario called anything but "Candy." Everybody at Fitch Park called him that, just like everybody calls Neftali Rosario "Rosie" and Carlos Penalver "Penny." As for how to pronounce "Jeimer," however it is actually might be pronounced, it should be pronounced "hammer," because he hammers the ball all over the yard.

if anyone was looking for Brett Jackson arrival date and if this 162-AAA thing is for real, he's got at least 46 games left which puts it sometime at August. And at that point, you probably just wait until rosters expand unless there's a spot open for him in the outfield.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • 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.