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

Brenly for Grace Would be a Lousy Deal for the Cubs

Cubs color man Bob Brenly interviewed for the Brewers' managerial job on Thursday, leading Paul Sullivan to wonder if former Cub and onetime Chicago playboy Mark Grace would replace Brenly in the Cubs' booth, assuming BB lands the Milwaukee job.

According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Brewers GM Doug Melvin will probably limit the number of candidates to three, with Brenly competing for the slot against former Mets manager Willie Randolph and former A's manager Ken Macha. Brenly's appeal vis a vis the other two options includes his having won a World Series with the Diamondbacks and his deep knowledge of the Cubs personnel. Melvin expects to make his selection next week.

Grace, meanwhile, has been a TV analyst for the Diamondbacks in addition to working for Fox. Notwithstanding his frank assessment of the Cubs' aborted '08 post-season run, that "they just laid down," I can't say that I've been very impressed with his work as an announcer.

I liked Brenly and Kasper the first time I heard them together and as they have grown more accustomed to one another in the booth, I have grown to like them a lot. I would hate to see Brenly leave that post—whether he's replaced by Grace or anybody else—and to the extent that his inside knowledge of the Cubs might be an asset to the Brewers, I would also hate to see him in charge of Team Bratwurst.

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I grew up listening to Steve Stone and would love to see (or more appropriatley hear) him come back to the Cubs. His insightful comments during the 80s and 90s are one reason I think Cubs fans are generally more knowledgable than almost any other. I don't think he's being talked about nearly enough. One of the things I have heard about him is conflicting reports over whether or not he could get out of his Sux contract. That's just Friday afternoons, right? Surely he could get out or have some backdoor for a full time gig. I love Grace, but he was a better player than announcer. Of course he's new at it and given his stature as a former member of the Cubs I think we should give him a chance to hone his broadcasting art. I would be most comfortable with him as a third member of the booth. Either Len, Bob, and Gracie or Len, Stony and Gracie. Karros would be a decent choice. Haven't heard Plesac. Loved Big Red, but in the booth I think he'd be more like Joe Carter 2.0

i f'n love mark grace in the booth. that said...it's cuz i enjoy hearing him blab on and on about stupid crap covering a team i don't care about. he's done some classic funny stuff, a ton of corny stuff, a lot of odd stuff, but very little stuff that would make him a top tier color guy. i kinda prefer him where he is at least until he hones his craft a bit more (if possible).

[ ]

In reply to by Chad

brenley used to work cubs radio and is/was generally considered a good color man. eventually he'll manage somewhere again, if not next year... he's VERY in tune with youth and youth culture (well, 20-30 year old "youth"). he knows the music, the dress, and how to communicate without sounding like someone's 80 year old grandfather. he's known for being an announcer that the players don't mind in the lockerroom (which is kinda rare to have a guy like that in the booth who isn't treated as an outcast in the lockerroom). aka...he has shown and projects to be a good manager of personalities. he's also got that ring-thing going on.

Grace was an over-rated, self-promoting ballplayer (Yeah, Mark, we know; most-hits-and-doubles-in-the-80's), and the only interesting thing abut him was his former model wife. Leave him to the vapid fans in Arizona. I like Brenly, and it's always more enjoyable to watch when there is obvious chemistry in the booth. However, as a manager, one game sticks in my mind -- may have been vs. AZ(?). Cubs down a run in the 9th, LH reliever on the mound, DLee singles with 2 outs, Rammy due up. Lou pinch-runs Pie for Lee, knowing that the LH reliever goes to a slide step with a fast runner on first, and his slider flattens out when he does that. Pie doesn't run, Brenly is baffled ("why pinch run Pie if he's just going to stand there?"), then Rammy hits a flat slider for a game-winning HR. Brenly had no idea what was going on (neither did I, at the time).

the last thing we need in chicago is a straight-talking veteran of the cubs, the city, the world series. we have more than we can handle on the radio. having to listen to 'fibber mcgee and ronnie' is too much criticism for me!

Apparently Grace though RIPPED the Cubs yesterday, per ESPN Radio. I don't remember the exact quote, but to the effect that "the Cubs choked and froze and should be embarrassed". I don't disagree with that, but who knows if the powers that be want that kind of straight talk. They sure didn't with Stone after the 2004 late season collapse. I used to not like Kasper/Brenly, but they have grown on me.

I mentioned the other day that Tyler Colvin had missed a week of AFL games. Here's the injury report (Jason Grey blog, espn.com):
On an additional injury note, Cubs outfielder Tyler Colvin has been pulled from the AFL due to a bone spur in his elbow, and he's scheduled to have surgery this week.

I heard Plesac on Mac, Jurko and Harry one day a few weeks ago, and they were grilling him on the possibility of doing Sox radio, like they had inside info that it was a done deal. Plesac did not discourage the speculation.

They were paying Brenly 850k, so they have room in the budget to get a top-flight guy. My vote goes to Orel Hershiser, who does a great job on ESPN despite being saddled with Steve Phillips most of time. Stay clear from Grace as he sounds like a bonehead on D'backs telecasts I watched this past year on MLB.tv.

Sutcliffe was previously offered Brenly's job (before Brenly was hired) but turned it down, primarily because he didn't want to work a full game schedule. Did anyone catch Harold Reynold's work in the beginning rounds of the playoffs on TBS? Hard to believe this was the same guy who came off so badly during his "Baseball Tonight" tenure on ESPN, but I thought his work was excellent. Never said too much, always insightful, and let the game come to the viewer. Maybe being surrounded by Phillips and Krukie made him catch a case of the stupids. I used to like Stone, but he's become way too enamored with himself these days. He's always calling pitches from the booth, and if you happened to listen to him and Farmer last season, it was like hearing two narcissists argue over who gets to use the mirror.

I lived in Arizona during the D-Backs 2001 Championship season with Brenly at the helm. You can go back to some stories in the Arizona Republic after that season and find more than a few comments by players that they won that championship 'in spite of Brenly, not because of him'. He was not a very-well liked or respected manager....never exactly sure why.

Recent comments

  • 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.

    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?

  • 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.