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

Happy Trade Deadline Day

TheJedi have already knocked out a number of trades earlier in the month, that today shouldn't bring too much excitement, but there's still a few pieces left on the trading block. One is Nate Schierholtz whom Jayson Stark reiterates is the most likely Cub to be dealt today. The Pirates and Rangers seem like the most likely spots at the moment.

Heyman says Jeff Samardzija won't be moved right now, but the Cubs will pursue a trade or an extension this offseason.

Bruce Levine said the Cubs nearly had a deal in place to move James Russell to the Braves last week.

Twitter was a buzz with talk that the Diamondbacks wanted to shed some salary to fit Jake Peavy into their budget and were willing to move Ian Kennedy to get it done. The Cubs, Angels and Padres were all rumored destinations. Not sure if the DBacks still are eager to move Kennedy with Peavy going to the Red Sox, although they could still be in on other pitchers including Bud Norris.

And don't forget this is just the non-waiver deadline, teams can continue to make moves through August 31st to acquire players eligible for their playoff rosters.

Comments

So, does Gregg get shipped out of town on waivers in August, or has he doomed himself to Cubdom for the remainder of 2013? And what could Navarro do to make any team want him? Not like he could hit much better.

Jim Duquette shitting all over Schierholtz, calls him a 4th OF. Prefers DeJesus for his versatility.

[ ]

In reply to by Newport

fake boobs feel weird...new implants, old implants...they all feel weird...they move/bounce weird...they basically look best when covered (or partially covered) by clothes which misses the point when you get to the point you want to make with them (there's a few puns in there somewhere).

I. Kennedy to Padres for LHP Joe Thatcher, AA prospect Matt Stites and compensatory draft pick between 2nd and 3rd round.

The San Diego Padres were the first MLB club to trade a 2014 Competitive Balance Draft pick, and the Cubs might be able to acquire one in a deal with the Pirates (for Schierholtz) or Rockies (for Gregg).

Here are the Rule 4 Draft Competitive Balance picks for 2014:

COMP GROUP "A" (picks between 1st & 2nd rounds):
1. COL
2. BAL
3. CLE
4. MIA
5. KC 
6. MIL

COMP GROUP "B" (picks between 2nd & 3rd rounds) 
1. SD (traded to AZ for Ian Kennedy)
2. AZ
3. STL
4. TB
5. PIT
6. SEA

Once a Competitive Balance pick is traded it cannot be flipped to a third team, so the SD "B" pick that was traded to AZ in the Ian Kennedy deal cannot be traded again.

 

Witty says Navarro is in play for the Cards because of knee injury to Molina. Maybe some international cap space if they have any left.

RHP Matt Stites (the minor league pitcher going from SD to AZ) was a Cubs draft pick (33rd round) out of a Missouri JC in 2010, but did not sign.

Orioles are sending LJ Hoes and Josh Hader and their comp pick in 2004 for RHP Bud Norris

no deals for Cubs...

Schierholtz, Navarro, Gregg, DeJesus would all likely be claimed, limiting Cubs options

also no more cap space acquired and Eloy signing expected to be official tomorrow (could change).

could change, but only 4 deals today

Bud Norris and int'l cap space to O's for 2 prospects and a comp pick

Ian Kennedy to Padres for Thatcher, prospect Max Stites and comp pick

Drew Butera to Dodgers for PTBNL

Justin Maxwell to Royals for prospect Kyle Smith ho-hum.

Booooooooooooooo! Boring. Sigh. Worst trade deadline I've ever ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Um they are spending a lot of money on the team at all levels, just not on free agents right now, especially considering how leveraged the sale was. And have you noticed the team salaries of the teams on top? Throwing money at the problem isn't a solution in today's free agent market The "not spending money on the team" thing is bogus. I can't stand Rickets as a person but he is doing right by this team money wise.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

now we just need to get rid of that stupid rule where if you spend money you can't win games. i understand that if the cubs spend $25-$35m more they have to start the season 0-10 by default...and that's not fair at all. this either/or for winning/rebuilding needs to be looked at in the next owner's meeting. still, at least the cubs have the #27 ticket price in baseball rather than the #3 ticket price in all of baseball. it would help if they could get out of wrigley+chicago and relocate the team to somewhere in nebraska, too.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

It's nice of you to be so free with $25 million of Rickets money on top of the leveraged buying of the team, building new minor league/training facilities, hiring new people, rebuilding Wrigley, getting lots of potentially good international players and the $105 million payroll (does that include the new Rizzo contract?), all of which will help us for years to come. Clearly instead of turning this team into an actual professional organization at all levels they should have spent money on overpriced FAs to help them win a few more games in the short term. Tell me, with this additional $25 million you say Rickets can spend, who would they have gotten to help them win the World Series? Because I don't care how many games they win if it doesn't include the World Series.

[ ]

In reply to by johann

given that the cubs could spend $130m next year and nearly double the payroll from where it current stands to sit this offseason it could be glorious...and they'd still turn a profit. besides, after 2014 they get to bend WGN over a table (if they don't get it done earlier) over their TV contract that expires. i'm stoked and all about j.baez's .220/.280 avg/ob% and his homers and all, but i'm not waiting on him and k.bryant to give the team a reason to compete. soooo many teams have proven, especially the past few years, that signing a guy doesn't mean you're not going to get something in return if you want "out"...from MIA/TOR to BOS/LAA to CWS with peavy just yesterday...actual prospects, not just filler.

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

i think it's safe to say they're going to cash in well more than the $20m a year they're getting now...$80-$100+ million isn't out of the question. they're not selling a full suite of games (since they have their games packaged around multiple contracts and the WGN one is 70 games), but delivering 3+ hours of programming for a network that people tend to actually watch live (rather than TIVO/etc) is a growing valued market.

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.