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

Baseball America Top 10 Cubs Prospects and Mark Prior News

Submitted by Rob G. on

The BA Top 10 came out yesterday...and surprise! Josh Vitters is #1.

  1. Josh Vitters
  2. Jeff Samardzija
  3. Andrew Cashner
  4. Dae-Eun Rhee
  5. Welington Castillo
  6. Kevin Hart
  7. Starlin Castro
  8. Ryan Flaherty
  9. Jay Jackson
  10. Hak-Ju Lee 
You can view every BA Top 10 list since 1992 (sans 1997 and 1998) at this incredible new site started by some really smart people.

Tags
Cubs Prospects
Cubs News

Comments

Submitted by billybucks on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:50 pm

BA shouldn't allow those old Top 10 lists to be published -- it kills any credibility they might have as a knowledgeable baseball source. Seriously. It's like all the stock market analysts who are never right but continue to give forecasts. What's the point? Or every pregame NFL show (my pesonal pet peeve), where every analyst gives the great, in-depth analysis that running the football and limiting turnovers will be key to the upcoming game, while his fellow analyts nod as if he has discovered the secret of the universe.

[ ]

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 01:25 pm

from scout.com on Jackson, they don't have Castro in their top 20 though

 

5. Jay Jackson, RHP
Acquired: Selected by Cubs in ninth round of 2007 draft from Furman
2008 stats: 4-2, 2.88 ERA, 50 IP, 13 BB, 72 K, 1.06 WHIP

Jackson had arguably the most eye-popping year for any 2008 Cubs draft pick, racking up strikeouts as often as John McCain racks up ‘Joe the Plumber’ references. Part of that, most scouts agree, is due to the development of his two-seam fastball, his best pitch at present time. He’s one of the most athletic pitchers in the Cubs’ system, and his velocity is anywhere from 90 to 95 mph with good movement. Like Cashner, scouts described him as overpowering in the Florida State League playoffs. He features what David Rosario and other Cubs pitching instructors hail as a plus slider and a changeup that is in the develop

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 01/14/2009 - 01:11 am

Submitted by billybucks on Tue, 01/13/2009 - 9:42pm.

Suprised to see the Shark on the list, as he seems past the "prospect" phase.

Is there a prospect cutoff, like the rookie definition?

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BILLY B: Baseball America uses the same position player & pitcher limits as the BBWAA uses for Rookie of the Year (maximum 130 career MLB AB for position players and maximum 50 career MLB IP for pitchers), but does not care about MLB service time. I agree with this approach and I do my list the same way.

Submitted by Dmac on Wed, 01/14/2009 - 01:12 am

Jim Bouton related that one guy on his team (in his book "Ball Four") always said the same thing about every batter during pre - game strategy; "smoke 'em inside." Which means you only have to locate a 95 mph heater on the inside corner of the strike zone, every time. Hilarious.

[ ]

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 01/14/2009 - 01:54 pm

I'm all for "Three-Finger" Hill at this point...walks on water....bionic hand.....can make pitchers throw 5 mph harder

what's not to like?

[ ]

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Thu, 01/15/2009 - 01:28 am

Maybe it was the limited number of fingers, but for some reason in '07 Dempster thought Hill was signaling for him to throw fastballs.

[ ]

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Thu, 01/15/2009 - 01:39 pm

I thought Hill was a big defensive upgrade over Barrett. His wins and losses were evidence of that, but of course it was under a month's-worth of games. It's irrelevant now. It makes no difference to me whether Hill is on the team, although I certainly prefer him to Bako. Dempster threw a healthy percentage of fastballs as a starter, because any starter must do that in order to survive five innings. A short reliever can get away with very few fastballs. See Marmol, Carlos. But it's a bad idea to get away from your fastball, and someone--Rothschild, maybe?--should tell Marmol that, and Wuertz, too, while he's at it.

[ ]

Submitted by big_lowitzki on Thu, 01/15/2009 - 01:14 pm

His wins and losses were evidence of that Seriously? I think that you are smarter than that. But it's a bad idea to get away from your fastball, and someone--Rothschild, maybe?--should tell Marmol that Yea... I heard that Marmol struggled a lot last year. If only he would have thrown more fastballs.

[ ]

Submitted by OakLawnGuy on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 01:57 am

Wuertz' out pitch is the slider. A lot like Borowski, if he can paint a corner with that slider and get a little movement on it, he gets lots of guys out. Hang it just a tad and it's trouble. Marmol's pitches move a lot and last year they started moving out of the strike zone and he started trying to place the ball, and got in all kinds of trouble. When he started winging it again after his All Star appearance, he was fine.

Submitted by mastrick on Wed, 01/14/2009 - 01:53 pm

I'd like to know when Rhee had his TJ surgery - haven't been able to find an estimate on the web as to when he's expected back. Usually young players who have a TJ have a dead arm period the year following the surgery; they have velocity but things don't mesh. Didn't see any mention of Chris Huseby, the high schooler that had a TJ and was given big money for a #10 pick. Wonder where he's at as well... Insofar as Mark Prior, to hell with him! Good riddance to bad rubbish, hopefully he's done.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Thu, 01/15/2009 - 01:35 am

Submitted by carmenfanzone on Wed, 01/14/2009 - 4:54pm.

As far as backup catchers go, how about Jake Fox? Is his defense that bad? I know he's righthanded but his bat would be nice off the bench. Perhaps Az Phil could shed some light on his D.

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

CARMEN F: I responded to your question about Jake Fox here at TCR last week, so here it is again...

 

Submitted by carmenfanzone on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 6:58pm. I know we're supposed to sign Bako but I wonder aloud if Jake Fox will be given every opp to make the team as the backup catcher? Please chime in Az Phil...

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

CARMEN F: Jake Fox has apparently settled in at 1B, and that's probably where he will play from now on. He also could be a DH if he were to be traded to an A. L. team.

While he played some LF-RF at AA Tennessee and AAA Iowa in 2008, he was mainly used at 1B, and he was not used as a catcher at all in 2008 at Tennessee or Iowa, although he did catch two games in the DWL about a month ago when his team ran out of healthy catchers. But otherwise he played 1B-DH (no OF) in the DWL, and he had a really fine season at bat down there, too,

BTW. Fox has more pure power than any player in the Cubs minor league system, but he is also a dead "first-ball/fastball" hitter who strikes out too much and doesn't walk a lot.

Not only did Fox fail to master the art of catching, he also has been unable to master the finer points of playing corner OF, too. Fox has one minor league option left, and if he doesn't get traded sometime before the end of Spring Training, he will probably play 1B at Iowa in 2009 (unless Micah Hoffpauir gets sent out again). But Fox has no future with the Cubs, mainly because he projects as a platoon 1B-DH-RHPH, and the Cubs just don't have a roster slot that fits that profile. He also doesn't fit with Piniella's desire to get more "athletic."

That doesn't mean Jake Fox wont play in the big leagues, though, because I think he will. It just won't be with the Cubs.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Thu, 01/15/2009 - 01:11 am

Submitted by Romero on Wed, 01/14/2009 - 8:50pm.

Chirinos started catching last year. Of course, AZ PHIL would know more about this, but seems like Chirinos is handling it well.

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

ROMERO: Robinson Chirinos was signed as a 16-year old hot-shot 2B prospect out of Venezuela in 2001 (he's still only 24), but he had just a 1/2 season of AA ball experience when he completed his 7th season in the Cubs system and became a Rule 55 minor league FA post-2007. The Cubs did re-sign Chirinos during the off-season a year ago, however, and he was the utility infielder (2B-SS-3B) at AA Tennessse at the start of last season.

Cubs Player Personnel Director Oneri Fleita was Jim Hendry's catcher at Creighton, and he has an eye for converting players to new positions when it appears they have no future. The Cubs have converted a number of position players to pitcher over the past few years (Carlos Marmol, Randy Wells, Adalberto Mendez, Blake Parker, Jake Muyco, Junniol Lami, Andres Quezada, Leon Johnson, Josh Lansford, et al), but Oneri also can sometimes spot a catcher in an infielder (Casey McGehee, Matt Cerda, and Chirinos).

The Cubs saw a bit of Henry Blanco in Chironos (Blanco was signed as a 3B by the Dodgers and was converted to catcher during his 6th year in the Dodgers system), and so last May Chirinos agreed to go to Fitch Park and learn the art of catching. Danny Fatheree (Kerry Wood's catcher in HS) was signed to a minor league player contract for 2008 (and he has been re-signed for 2009, BTW), but he actually spent last season as a coach at Fitch Park, mentoring Chirinos and 2008 4th round pick Matt Cerda as they were developed as catchers. Chirinos spent May-June at Fitch with Fatheree, and then was assigned to Daytona in July where he had the opportunity to catch and play some infield. While he struggled a bit behind the plate (the Rich Hill-Robinson Chirinos battery at Daytona was brutal), the Cubs liked what they saw of Chirinos as a catcher and felt he had a future as a "super-sub" utility player.

Chirinos became a Rule 55 minor league FA again post-2008, and (as usual) played winter ball in Venezuela. The Cubs re-signed Chirinos after Christmas, and he now projects as a utility C-2B-SS-3B-1B-LF-RF at either AA Tennessee or AAA Iowa, where the 24-man roster (and four-man bench) in AA and AAA puts a premium on multi-positional utility players.

As a further enticement to get Chirinos to re-up for 2009, it's possible the Cubs promised him an NRI to ST, where he would be one of the extra catchers at big league camp next month (clubs like to have six catchers in camp the first couple of weeks).

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 01:45 am

Submitted by Seamhead on Thu, 01/15/2009 - 10:50am.

AZ Phil: Have the Cubs tried to have Fox help "fix" Rich Hill, since they were batterymates at Michigan and presumably Fox would have a good perspective on how to get him back on track?

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SEAMHEAD: Despite the fact that Jake Fox was Rich Hill's catcher in college, I don't think Hill and Fox have any significant relationship that would help Hill get back into his "comfort zone." And the Cubs have zero faih in Fox as a catcher. He is now a 1B-DH. I do think Michael Barrett (who signed a minor league deal with Toronto) or Alan Dunn (the Orioles bullpen & assistant pitching coach) might help Hill, though.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if both Felix Pie and Rich Hill get traded to Baltimore, possibly for LHP Garrett Olson and a PTBNL (somebody who can be sent to the minors without having to clear waivers). Then if a deal for Jake Peavy can be worked out later this season, Olson is already in the Cubs organization, and if the Cubs can't get Peavy, they still have a good left-handed pitching prospect at Iowa they can either keep for themselves, or use in another deal sometime in 2009 or 2010.

Recent comments

  • TarzanJoeWallis (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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (view)

    Thanks for checking and yeah, that’s a double ouch

  • Sonicwind75 (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.  

  • crunch (view)

    m.busch had 0hr and 2 doubles when he was last at wrigley.

    we'll probably see a few more of his jerseys in the seats when they return tomorrow.

    wonder who will go down for taillon.  hey hendricks, you got a hangnail or something?

  • Eric S (view)

    Nice work by Wesneski with some solid defense behind him and the late tack on runs were welcome. Gladly take a 5-4 West Coast swing, particularly down two key starting pitchers … Now just don’t get swept by the Marlins for Pete’s sake. 

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