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

Tribe Blasts Raley & Cabrera for eight runs in 5th & 6th

Cedric Hunter smacked a three-run home run to cap a five-run 6th, and Zach McAlister threw four shutout innings, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 9-2 victory over the Cubs in Cactus League action this afternoon at cold & dreary Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ.

Javier Baez produced both of the Cub runs with a two-run HR just to the left of the CF Batter's Eye ("Green Monster") with no outs in the top of the 1st. Baez also fisted an opposite-field bloop single into right-center in his second AB.

David DeJesus collected two hits, including a lead-off bounding double down the RF line off LHP David Huff that preceded Baez's HR in the 1st. (DeJesus hit only 149/289/149 with no extra-base hits in 113 PA vs LHP in 2012, so it's big news anytime he does anything against a lefty).

box score

LHP Chris Rusin got the start for the Cubs and threw three shutout innings (48 pitches - 34 strikes, 4/3 GO/FO), allowing three harmless singles in the 3.0 IP. Rusin threw strikes and mostly stayed ahead in the count throughout his outing. He faced only ten batters (one over the minimum) in his three innings of work, nailing one baserunner at 1st base with a nifty pick-off move that froze the runner, and erasing another runner by inducing a timely 6-4-3 DP.

LHP Brooks Raley and RHP Alberto Cabrera followed Rusin to the hill, and both had poor outings, Raley allowing three runs (all earned) on four hits (including a solo HR by LH hitting Jason Kipnis) and a walk in 1.1 IP (32 pitches - 18 strikes), and Cabrera surrendering five runs (all earned) on three hits (including Hunter's three-run dinger) and three walks (with no strikeouts) in 1.1 IP.

Cabrera's outing featured a 30-pitch 6th inning where he was relieved after retiring only two hitters, and he wouldn't have retired anybody in the inning if not for a spectacular back-handed diving catch near the LF foul line by Johermyn Chavez, and a laser-throw by Welington Castillo to 2nd that nabbed a basrunner trying to steal.

Cubs #1 LHRP James Russell surrendered a run on two hits (a double and a single) and a walk in 1.2 IP, Shawn Camp threw a shutout 8th inning (allowing one hit), and Kyuji Fujikawa had a VERY impressive inning of work, racking up two strikeouts (both swinging) and a pop fly in the 9th.

Fujikawa has an excellent splitter as his strikeout pitch that he sets up with a lively fastball he throws for strikes. He should be the Cubs closer, and certainly will be when & if the Cubs trade Carlos Marmol

Of the five likely Iowa Cubs starting pitchers at Big League Camp right now (Rusin, Raley, Cabrera, Nick Struck and Barret Loux), there is no question that Chris Rusin is the only one of the five anywhere near MLB-ready anytime soon. Rusin works fast and throws strikes, and although his stuff is somewhat pedestrian, he is polished, and generally makes the most of what he has.

Raley and Cabrera have been nothing short of abysmal, and I would think their futures as starting pitchers are definitely in doubt at this time. Cabrera is especially frustrating because he actually has electric stuff (including a mid-90's fastball and a wipe-out slider), but he also has virtually zero command, and so he is constantly pitching from behind in the count and hitters are able to sit on his fastball (which he will sometimes try to throw BP-style over the plate just to avoid walking the hitter).

The Cub offense has been misfiring over the past few days, although it would probably aid the cause a bit if Starlin Castro (out with a hamstring issue) and Anthony Rizzo (playing in the WBC) were in the lineup.

Comments

Recent comments

Childersb3 04/18/2024 - 04:59 am (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.
Arizona Phil 04/18/2024 - 04:55 am (view)

Childersb3: I think there was an issue with Luke Little coming into a game with men on base. He seems to need a "clean" inning to be dominant. So he is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AAA. Same goes for Michael Arias. He needs to come into a "clean" inning, and is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AA. Porter Hodge is a more versatile pitcher, a better version of Keegan Thompson (multi-inning RP). But Little, Arias, and Hodge are the Cubs top three RP prospects (all three are Cubs Top 15 prospects).
TarzanJoeWallis 04/18/2024 - 04:11 am (view)

So, let’s do a little war gaming. Taillon is back for tonight’s game. He pitched two rehab games, just a few innings each, and not especially sharp. Let’s face it, he hasn’t been lights out since the Cubs gave him the big contract. In other words, as flat out bad as Hendricks has been, the chances of Taillon being the savior don’t look exactly promising.
If Taillon is equally ineffective or perhaps even worse, what’s the next move? Winning teams can often find a way to work around a dud fifth starter - kinda. Two dud starters make things much more difficult.
I believe the biggest reason for the recent bullpen moves was dissatisfaction with the recent blowing of big leads and the recognition that the bullpen wasn’t all it was thought to be. In other words, they are exploring alternate options and configurations. If similar juggling becomes necessary (even more so than it already is), what kind of reasonable maneuvering do we think could be explored?
Childersb3 04/18/2024 - 04:08 am (view)

Cubdom needs to prepare themselves for Wicks to be sent to Iowa for Taillon to come up.
Ben Brown has 4 appearances. Wicks has 4 appearances.
Ben has 16.1 IP. Wicks has 17 IP
Ben was a 1.1 WHIP. Wicks has a 1.7 WHIP. Wicks does have significantly more SOs.
Ben has been better, though.
I love Wicks. I think he's a fighter and his stuff has improved.
But, Jed isn't ditching Hendricks just yet. He should. But he won't.
Hendricks should go to the IL and Taillon-Imanaga-Assad-Wicks-Brown should be the rotation.
Wont' happen though.
Childersb3 04/18/2024 - 04:57 am (view)

AZ Phil,
Did you agree with the demotion of Luke Little? He'd been pretty good up until the AZ/wild pitch appearance. I know that can't jettison Smyly (just yet) so they didn't need another LHRP. Especially with Leiter effectively being a LHRP. I still thought he deserved to stay. It's not permanent. He'll be back. Lots of moves to come with Taillon, Steele and other guys coming and going.

Also, do you see Hodge being able to "control/command" his stuff to get a chance this year?
Is Arias better than Hodge? Thanks
crunch 04/18/2024 - 04:53 am (view)

just waiting to hear patrick wisdom and masterboney are spotted at the airport going in opposite directions...

aj puk going for the marlins (lefty)...gotta imagine we'll see wisdom in the lineup.

someone has to make room for taillon, too.
crunch 04/17/2024 - 04:19 pm (view)

he's a low-level cubs star in the modern history of the cubs (c.zambrano, k.wood, r.dempster, etc), but that star has dimmed...and has been dimming since 2021.

2024 has been ugly the whole way and we're only in mid-april. homers aside (even though there's been 7 in 17ip) he gave up 29 hits in 20 spring innings and 31 in 17 regular season innings.

he's pretty much only got 2 pitches at this point in his career and the mix isn't fooling anyone. he threw a noticable amount more curves in his last start to add to the mix and it didn't help his issues. he don't have many moves left to break out.
Eric S 04/17/2024 - 04:40 pm (view)

Definitely needs a 10 day stint for the hangnail - have to nip those things in the bud or suffer the consequences (ie, more opponent home run derby, etc)
Eric S 04/17/2024 - 04:35 pm (view)

Thanks for checking and yeah, that’s a double ouch
Sonicwind75 04/17/2024 - 04:01 pm (view)

Believe you are correct, checked and appears Cubs have a $2.51 million obligation to Barnhart this season per Cot's Contracts. Also paying Trey Mancini $7mil this season. Ouch.