Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus one player is on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* 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: 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Cubs @ Pirates: Lester vs. Liriano (Game 105 Thread)--washed out

CHC (57-47): LHP Jon Lester (6-8, 3.26)

PIT (61-43): LHP Francisco Liriano (7-6, 2.92)
First pitch: 6:05pmCT

Fowler# cf

Denorfia lf

Bryant 3b

Rizzo* 1b

Soler rf

Castro ss

Ross c

Lester* p

Russell 2b

 

Polanco* rf

Marte lf

McCutchen cf

Ramirez 3b

Kang ss

Cervelli c

Morse 1b

Rodriguez 2b

Liriano* p


Lester was 2-2 with a 1.66 in July, including Wednesday (8 IP, 2 ER, 14 Ks, 1 BB) when he beat the Rockies. He beat the Pirates on May 16 (7 IP, 1 ER) at Wrigley. They are 26-95 (.274) against him. Stewart is 3-7 with a HR.

Liriano is coming off a great month, going 3-0 with a 2.03 in July. He won in Minnesota (5.2 IP, 2 ER) last last time out. He had a no-decision against the Cubs in April (5 IP, 3 ER), in a game the Pirates would go on to win 9-8. He pitches better on the road: he’s 3-4, with a 3.65 at home. The Cubs are 12-84 (.143) against him. Rizzo is 4-20 with a HR. Castro is 3-22.

Go Cubs!

Comments

As expected, the Cubs have recalled OF Matt Szczur from Iowa, and to make room for Szczur on the 25-man roster, LHP Clayton Richard has been Designated for Assignmdent (DFA).

As was discussed here last week, the Cubs will now run Richard through Optional Assignment Waivers (which are revocable, so clubs almost never claim players off this type of waivers), and then place Richard back on the 40-man roster and option him to Iowa once the Optional Assignment Waivers have been secured (probably on Wednesday).

Remember, if a player is not replaced on a club's MLB 40-man roster after being Designated for Assignment, he can be optioned to the minors. And while Richard was replaced by Szczur on the Cubs 25-man roster, he was not replaced by another player on the Cubs 40-man roster

However, because he has accrued five-plus years of MLB Service Time, Richard cannot be sent to the minors (by Optional or Outright Assignment) without his consent, but he gave his consent last month (the last time he was Designated for Assignment and then subsequently optioned to Iowa), so I would think he will probably give his consent again this time. If he doesn't, the Cubs will have to either trade him or release him by a week from Thursday (8/13). 

Note that the situation with Richard is different from that of an Article XX-D player (previously outrighted in his career or has accrued at least three years but less than five years of MLB Service Time) where the player can elect free-agency if outrighted (either immediately or deferred until the conclusion of the MLB regular season), in that Richard can't even be sent to the minors without his consent. 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

Perhaps he would agree again, but with the addition of Haren, I imagine it's possible he would declde to either take his chances going to another organization or becoming a free agent and signing with someone who will put him on an MLB roster. Thanks for the update.

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

I don't think the Cubs would have DFA'd Richard at this time (or recalled him to start the game on Sunday) if they weren't 100% sure that he was going to consent to an optional assigment back to Iowa.  

Remember, Richard gave up the 7/1 minor league contract "opt out" he had with Pittsburgh when he was acquired by the Cubs and placed on the Cubs MLB 40-man roster at the beginning of July, so the Cubs could have just left Richard at Iowa until September 1st (and then recalled him) when they optioned him to Iowa last month, instead of calling him up for the spot start yesterday. There are no in-season "opt out" clauses or covenants in major league contracts. They only exist in minor league contracts  

The Cubs could just as easily have reinstated Tsuyoshi Wada from the DL and had him make the start at Milwaukee yesterday (instead of starting for Iowa on Saturday) if they didn't have assurance from Richard that he would consent to being optioned back to Iowa after the spot start versus the Brewers.

The Cubs probably have told Richard that he will be called up no later than September 1st (or even earlier if a starter goes down to injury), and that he is ahead of Wada on the depth chart. They may even have indicated to Richard they want him back in 2016 (Haren and Wada are free-agents post-2015, and Wood and Russell will probably be non-tendered). 

Len Kasper ‏@LenKasper I do not anticipate this game being postponed. Not at all. Unless radar is 100% wrong, we will resume at some point. ...game resumes in 10 minutes (9:55 EST)

Pennant races make you root for strange things, like a 9th-inning game-tying home run by AJ Pierzynski off the Giants.

Hopefully the 2/3 inning that Soriano threw does not stop him from coming in for the rest of the season.

1- screw rain delays 2- oh, ATL came back in the bottom 9th to tie and it's in the 12th...sweet

Javy Baez with a 3 run double in the top of 9. Iowa takes a 12-10 lead over the Skysox. Baez 3-6, double, triple and one K. CJ Edwards getting a chance to close...edit: and he gets the save.

10:58 CST. Mark Gonzalez. No official word but I'm betting on this game not resuming. Jesse Rogers: Postponed. Will be rescheduled at a later date. Pat Mooney: Combined time of rain delays: 3 hours and 29 minutes. I assume the stats are scratched and the game will restart from the beginning.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

MLB Rule 4.10
(a) A regulation game consists of nine innings, unless extended because of a tie score, or shortened (1) because the home team needs none of its half of the ninth inning or only a fraction of it, or (2) because the umpire calls the game. EXCEPTION: National Association leagues may adopt a rule providing that one or both games of a doubleheader shall be seven innings in length. In such games, any of these rules applying to the ninth inning shall apply to the seventh inning.
(b) If the score is tied after nine completed innings play shall continue until (1) the visiting team has scored more total runs than the home team at the end of a completed inning, or (2) the home team scores the winning run in an uncompleted inning.
(c) If a game is called, it is a regulation game:
    (1) If five innings have been completed;
    (2) If the home team has scored more runs in four or four and a fraction half-innings than the visiting team has scored in five completed half-innings;
    (3) If the home team scores one or more runs in its half of the fifth inning to tie the score.
(d) If a regulation game is called with the score tied, it shall become a suspended game. See Rule 4.12.
(e) If a game is called before it has become a regulation game, the umpire shall declare it “No Game.”

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

In other words, less than 5 innings (or 4.5 if home team has the lead) the game is just canceled. If it goes 5 and there is a tie it is suspended and they finish it later. If it goes 4.5 (or 5) and the home team has the lead after a half inning or the visting team has the lead after a full inning, it becomes offiical and is not finished. 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

BTW, the one exception to the suspended game rule is if it is the last regular season game between two clubs, in which case a game that normally would be suspended cannot be suspended. 

The game either must be played from scratch (as a new game) at a later date (in a game where it's tied or hasn't gone five innings with the visting team ahead or 4-1/2 innings with home team ahead), or in the case of an "official" game where the visiting team is losing but then takes the lead in the top of an inning and then the game is called (which since 1980 has been a suspended game), the score reverts to the previous inning and the home team wins.

This almost happened last week in New York, when the Padres rallied from a 7-5 deficit after eight innings to take an 8-7 lead in the top of the 9th on a Justin Upton two-out three-run home run, only to have the game stopped by heavy rain in the middle of the 9th while the teams waited out ther rain delay. (The game was resumed after a 3+ hour rain delay, with Padre closer Craig Kimbrel retiring the Mets 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th to record the save). 

If the game had not been resumed, the Mets would have won, even though the Padres took the lead in the top of the 9th before the rain delay (normally making it a suspended game). But in this case (last regular season game between two teams), if the game had been called in the middle of the 9th, the score would have reverted to the end of the previous inning (and Mets win, 7-5) as was the rule pre-1980. 

And just imagine if the Mets had won the game that way and then got the second Wild Card slot by one game over the Cubs. That would be like another Bartman in Cubbery lore.  

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    steele MRI on friday.  counsell expects an IL stint.

    no current plans for his rotation replacement.

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1. 

  • crunch (view)

    amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.

    neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.

  • Eric S (view)

    Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it). 

  • crunch (view)

    boo.

  • crunch (view)

    smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.

    this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

    like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.

    anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.

    I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.

    If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.

    Give him a chance. 

    But Wesneski probably gets it

  • crunch (view)

    alzolay...bro...