Cubs MLB Roster

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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, 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 4-18-2024
 
* 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
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL: 
* Justin Steele, P   

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Rice, Andre, and My Retroactive Hall of Fame Predictions

Submitted by Cubnut on

Rob invited us to pitch in with our Hall of Fame predictions on Sunday night, but I didn't have a chance to reply until now. Here goes:

I predict Ricky Henderson will receive somewhere around 511 votes, Jim Rice will finally get in the Hall with, oh, I'll say 76.4% of the vote, and two clowns will even cast ballots for Jay Bell.

Speaking of Rice and the Hall, Dan Turkenkopf of Beyond the Box Score came up with the 10 best player comps for each of this year's leading HOF candidates.

(Turkenkopf tweaked Bill James' formula for player Similarity Scores to better account for park effects and playing era, thus the differences between the lists below and what you'll find at Baseball-Reference.com.)

Rice's comps, starting with the most similar hitter, include: 

1. Willie Horton
2. Frank Thomas
3. Ellis Burks
4. George Hendrick
5. Vic Wertz
6. Bobby Thomson
7. Roy Sievers
8. Fred Lynn
9. Andres Gallaraga
10. Gil Hodges

Here is what Turkenkopf has to say about the Rice comparisons:

Not a Hall of Famer on the list.  In case you were wondering, that's not the Big Hurt in the number two spot.  Rice's most similar players were all very good players, but no one really is pushing any of them for the HOF except for Hodges.  There's been a lot of virtual ink spilled discussing whether or not Rice deserves to be elected and I'm not going to rehash them here, but I will say that I think Rice will be one of the least-deserving players elected when he goes in.

Now here are Turkenkopf's 10 best comps for the guy who finished third in this year's HOF balloting, former Cub Andre Dawson:

1. Billy Williams
2. George Foster
3. Goose Goslin
4. Chuck Klein
5. Dave Parker
6. Tony Perez
7. Dave Winfield
8. Duke Snider
9. Juan Gonzalez
10. Al Simmons

And his commentary:

Dawson's top ten strongly suggests he should be elected.  However, this is one of those cases Bill James warned about where similarity scores can be deceiving.  All of the Hall of Famers on the list were substantially better offensive players than Dawson.  I think Dawson is helped by the lack of an explicit category for OBP in the sim score calculation...Dawson's one of those players who almost perfectly represents the dividing line between the Hall of Fame and the Hall of Very Good.  He doesn't make my Hall, but I don't begrudge any one who would vote for him.

For the record, the Dawson list includes seven Hall of Famers--Williams, Goslin, Klein, Perez, Winfield, Snider, and Simmons.

You can look up Jay Bell's  top 10 comps on your own.

Tags
Andre Dawson

Comments

Submitted by Romero on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:56 am

Thanks, Cubnut. And Jay Bell's comps: 1. Toby Harrah 2. Ray Durham 3. Bobby Grich 4. Benito Santiago 5. Devon White 6. Alan Trammell 7. Frank White 8. Edgar Renteria 9. Alvin Dark 10. Andre Dawson Kidding about Dawson. Bell's number 10 is Amos Otis.

Submitted by Ted Lilly Fan Club on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:50 am

James came up with these Comps for TL: 10. Achilles 9. Suleiman the Magnificent 8. Theresa, Mother 7. Apollo, God of the Sun 6. Floyd Bannister 5. Ted Williams 4. General George Patton 3. Mr. Universe 2. Confucius 1. Ted Lilly Interestingly, when James tried to come up with comps for Ted's abs and biceps, none were found.

Submitted by dcf on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:02 am

I really don't like similarity scores. I think you have to be really careful about how you use them. This guy has identified some of the principal flaws, like park effects and era. They also do not factor in defense or OBP, which this guy's tweaks do not purport to fix. Plus, I don't think enough focus goes into what the actual scores are. Scores less than, say, 900 are not all that similar. You see some players where the tenth player is above 900 and some players where the most similar player is at 875. Ron Santo's most similar player is Dale Murphy, who is at 875 (which, among other things, gives effect to a postional adjustment of minus 36 for Murphy because Santo played third and Murphy played the outfield). Every year at Hall of Fame time the newspaper articles are full of references to similarity scores and the HOF monitor, without the writers knowing how they are calculated and what they mean. As quick and dirty measures go, I think they may have done more harm than good. Perhaps they can be helpful in being the start of an inquiry, but they're really pretty superficial.

Submitted by Seamhead on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:41 pm

AZ Phil: What is the current assessment of Ascanio? Ohman and Infante were certainly usefull players last year, and it doesn't seem that Ascanio is ranked anywhere among the Cubs' top prospects. Is he still a significant prospect, and if so, what's his ceiling? As always, thanks for the knowledge.

[ ]

Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:18 pm

Sort of bizarre list. Hamilton, other than always being amazed that the strikeouts for a pitcher were coming via call or swing, was actually pretty good - Harry Caray pettiness aside.

[ ]

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:47 pm

well for the last 15 years that I've had the rare occasion to catch Milo Hamilton, he is nothing less than awful, Cubs hatred notwithstanding...

other than being incredibly dull, he misses a ton of the game on the radio.....

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:22 pm

at least they gave bob costas his props. damn you NBC and damn you bob for taking their money. i miss him calling baseball games. hope he had fun calling olympic men's water polo at 3am in the morning for the 20 people that followed it.

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:57 pm

designated for assignment by the Rays... 7.39 ERA so far as a major leaguer...karma's a bitch.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:40 pm

unless he's wanting to go home or simply broken down he might be an option for hendry. hendry loves those athletic types and ryu is a hell of an athlete who's gotten bigger and stronger since he left the cubs...too bad that's about all that's gone right, though.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:35 pm

Submitted by Seamhead on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 1:41pm.

AZ Phil: What is the current assessment of Ascanio? Ohman and Infante were certainly usefull players last year, and it doesn't seem that Ascanio is ranked anywhere among the Cubs' top prospects. Is he still a significant prospect, and if so, what's his ceiling? As always, thanks for the knowledge.

===============================

SEAMHEAD: Jose Ascanio is one of the top two or three closers in the Venezuelan Winter League (1.17 WHIP/.194 OBA) and I have him in my Top 20 Cubs prospects for 2009 (I only listed my Top 15 here). Right now his future would probably be as an MLB middle reliever (if he stays with the Cubs), but he could be an 8th inning guy or a closer with another club.

Ascanio is only 23 (he'll turn 24 in May) and last year was his first season in AAA, so it's not like he's a 4-A guy. His brother was killed in a car crash in mid-season last year and so he was away from the I-Cubs for a couple of weeks because of that, and he's had back problems throughout his career, so (like Sam Fuld) he mainly just needs to stay healthy.

The problem for Ascanio (and for Jeff Stevens and Kevin Hart, too) ref 2009 is that the Cubs have three RHRP bullpen candidates who are out of minor league options (Chad Gaudin, Michael Wuertz, and Angel Guzman), while Ascanio gets a 4th minor league option in 2009. But the Iowa Cubs should have one outstanding bullpen in 2009, with some combination of Hart, Ascanio, and Stevens likely pitching 7-8-9, Rocky Roquet will be there, too, and Roquet is another late-inning RHRP with upside. 

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:01 pm

Submitted by Charlie on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 6:44pm.

AZ Phil: Might they have Hart starting at Iowa, or is he locked in as a reliever this year?

-------------------------------------

CHARLIE: If the Iowa Cubs bullpen is really stacked, then Kevin Hart could be in the I-Cubs starting rotation with Jeff Samardzija, Mitch Atkins, Randy Wells, J. R. Mathes, Justin Berg, and/or Esmailin Caridad.

Hart certainly has the stamina to start, although he was "lights out" as the Iowa closer in 2008, and then he pitched well out of the bullpen the last month of the season with the Cubs (especially the last two weeks).

Submitted by Dusty Baylor on Wed, 01/14/2009 - 01:29 am

Wait...Dawson hung around too long, absolutely...but he wasn't near 500 HR, or near enough 3000 hits to say that's why he was ghanging around His last year with the Cubs, at age 37, he hit .277/.316/.456, with 22 HR, and 90 RBI. He DH'd with Boston, where he sholda realized he was done after 1993, but hung around to play parts of 3 seasons. If he'd have retired after 1993, he wuold have had 399 HR, and 1492 RBI's, with a .281 batting average. I can see he came back to get 400 HR's, but a player would have to be clinically delusional at that point to think he could get another 100 HR's the way he was playing. or 370 hits. (from totals after 1993 season)

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Indeed they do TJW!

    For the record I’m not in favor of solely building a team through paying big to free agents. But I’m also of the mind that when you develop really good players, get them signed to extensions that buy out a couple years of free agency, including with team options. And supplement the home grown players with free agent splashes or using excess prospects to trade for stars under team control for a few years. Sort of what Atlanta does, basically. Everyone talks about the dodgers but I feel that Atlanta is the peak organization at the current moment.

    That said, the constant roster churn is very Rays- ish. What they do is incredible, but it’s extremely hard to do which is why they’re the only ones frequently successful that employ that strategy. I definitely do not want to see a large market team like ours follow that model closely. But I don’t think free agent frenzies is always the answer. It’s really only the Dodgers that play in that realm. I could see an argument for the Mets too. The Yankees don’t really operate like that anymore since the elder Steinbrenner passed. Though I would say the reigning champions built a good deal of that team through free agent spending.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    The issue is the Cubs are 11-7 and have been on the road for 12 of those 18.  We should be at least 13-5, maybe 14-4. Jed isn't feeling any pressure to play anyone he doesn't see fit.
    But Canario on the bench, Morel not at 3B for Madrigal and Wisdom in RF wasn't what I thought would happen in this series.
    I was hoping for Morel at 3B, Canario in RF, Wisdom at DH and Madrigal as a pinch hitter or late replacement.
    Maybe Madrigal starts 1 game against the three LHSP for Miami.
    I'm thinking Canario goes back to Iowa on Sunday night for Mastrobuoni after the Miami LHers are gone.
    Canario needs ABs in Iowa and not bench time in MLB.
    With Seiya out for a while Wisdom is safe unless his SOs are just overwhelmingly bad.

    My real issue with the lineup isn't Madrigal. I'm not a fan, but I've given up on that one.
    It's Tauchman getting a large number of ABs as the de factor DH and everyday player.
    I didn't realize that was going to be the case.
    We need a better LH DH. PCA or ONKC need to force the issue in about a month.
    But, even if they do so, Jed doesn't have to change anything if the Cubs stay a few over .500!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Totally depends on the team and the player involved. If your team’s philosophy is to pay huge dollars to bet on the future performance of past stars in order to win championships then, yes, all of the factors you mentioned are important.

    If on the other hand, if the team’s primary focus is to identify and develop future stars in an effort to win a championship, and you’re a young player looking to establish yourself as a star, that’s a fit too. Otherwise your buried within your own organization.

    Your comment about bringing up Canario for the purposes of sitting him illustrates perfectly the dangers of rewarding a non-performing, highly paid player over a hungry young prospect, like Canario, who is perpetually without a roster spot except as an insurance call up, but too good to trade. Totally disincentivizing the performance of the prospect and likely diminishing it.

    Sticking it to your prospects and providing lousy baseball to your fans, the consumers and source of revenue for your sport, solely so that the next free agent gamble finds your team to be a comfortable landing spot even if he sucks? I suppose  that makes sense to some teams but it’s definitely not the way I want to see my team run.

    Once again, DJL, our differences in philosophy emerge!

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    That’s just kinda how it works though, for every team. No team plays their best guys all the time. No team is comprising of their best 26 even removing injuries.

    When baseball became a business, like REALLY a business, it became important to keep some of the vets happy, which in turn keeps agents happy and keeps the team with a good reputation among players and agents. No one wants to play for a team that has a bad reputation in the same way no one wants to work for a company that has a bad rep.

    Don’t get me wrong, I hate it too. But there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

    On that topic, I find it silly the Cubs brought up Canario to sit as much as he has. He’s going to get Velazquez’d, and it’s a shame.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Of course, McKinstry runs circles around $25 million man Javier Baez on that Tigers team. Guess who gets more playing time?

    But I digress…

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Seems like Jed was trying to corner the market on mediocre infielders with last names starting with "M" in acquiring Madrigal, Mastroboney and Zach McKinstry.  

     

    At least he hasn't given any of them a Bote-esque extension.  

  • Childersb3 (view)

    AZ Phil:
    Rookie ball (ACL) starts on May 4th. Do yo think Ramon and Rosario (maybe Delgado) stay in Mesa for the month of May, then go to MB if all goes "solid"?
     

  • crunch (view)

    masterboney is a luxury on a team that has multiple, capable options for 2nd, SS, and 3rd without him around.  i don't hate the guy, but if madrigal is sticking around then masterboney is expendable.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    I THINK I agree with that decision. They committed to Wicks as a starter and, while he hasn’t been stellar I don’t think he’s been bad enough to undo that commitment.

    That said, Wesneski’s performance last night dictates he be the next righty up.

    Quite the dilemma. They have many good options, particularly in relief, but not many great ones. And complicating the situation is that the pitchers being paid the most are by and large performing the worst - or in Taillon’s case, at least to this point, not at all.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Wesneski and Mastrobuoni to Iowa

    Taillon and Wisdom up

    Wesneski can't pitch for a couple of days after the 4 IP from last night. But Jed picked Wicks over Wesneski.

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