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

MLB Open Draft Part Deux

A few weeks back, we had our draft for the TCR MLB Open league. We had enough willing participants for a seconds league and their draft was Saturday. I wasn't in this league, but reader "big lowitzki" is and provided me with the draft results. A quick reminder of the rules first:

H2H weekly play
No trades
Set your lineups weekly
Point system (Single = 1, Double = 2, Triple = 3, Home Run = 4, Run = 1, RBI = 1, Walk = 1, Stolen Base = 2, Caught Stealing = -1 )
Draft entire Pitching Staff, not individual pitchers (basically Wins, K's, ERA and WHIP are counted)

That's the basics, so let's see how they drafted.

It's a twelve team league and here's the owners/teams that joined, by draft order (please correct me if I'm wrong on the usernames).

Hondurascubs - a reader from Honduras that goes by Salvador
Lawhide - same as his username and the guy who wrote this guest article
Out of Bubblegum - We'll call him Bill
Junkie Cosmonauts - We'll call him Dan
McRipper - goes by the same username
The Tarnished Reps - Real Neal
Ted Lilly Fan Club - TLFC or his super computer, we're not sure
Take it in da Pujols - "asecrest"
The Big Lowitzki - the commish who missed his own draft
Northbrook Cubs - We'll call him Bob
Terpopouli2 - goes by Terpopouli
Starfighters of aldamur - "Wedge2"

So let's see how they did (click on the image for a larger version).

Draftchart

Since Big Lowitzki missed the draft I don't have any comments to give you on the picks, except how in holy hell did Hanley Ramirez make it to the 12th pick? Those who were there are certainly welcome to justify their draft in the comments though.

Otherwise our seasons start this week and I'll give periodic updates on both leagues throughout the year.

Comments

Our draft was part us, part Super Computer. You can probably guess where the Super Computer took over. Small hint - The horror of "owning" Juan Pierre has done serious damage to our sleep schedule... though Howie Kendrick in the later rounds was savvy move.

I hate picking 12th, but it was indeed nice that Hanley fell to me. What I don't love is how my outfield ended up. Good luck to all.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

From the preview: There's one No. 1 and four No. 4s. After ace Carlos Zambrano, the rotation doesn't scare anyone. Rich Hill and Ted Lilly are number 4s now? And apparently on the same level as Marquis and Dempster? Gee.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

Those 90-92 win predictions are nice...I think they're an 87 win team this year unless some moves are made.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

Scary that all three of their experts picked us to win 90+ games and win the central. But... "• The 100-year drought ends this season. OK, that's not a fact. But a palm tree that flowers once a century recently bloomed in Madagascar." I like the parallel.

Just a couple of days to go and the Reds can't make decide who to cut. There's still 34 players on the roster (plus 2 on the DL) mostly because of Dusty's inability to shed moldy old veterans like Kent Mercker, Mike Stanton and Paul Bako. Keeping NRI Bako would mean carrying three catchers, but then who's counting? It gets worse. In true vintage Dusty style he's given LON-N-N-G looks and SERIOUS playing time (as in all 28 ST games) to Andy Phillips and Jolbert Cabrera who, he describes, as having such great springs they both should make the team. Great? Well, Phillips has hit .295 .308 (.253 .294 career) and Cabrera .306 .327 (.258 .305 career). With OBP like that, it's no wonder DB & Company are having a hard time cutting the roster down to 25.

yea... missing my own draft. i suck. and in turn got the "pleasure" of taking Prince Fielder over Hanley Ramirez.

I also suck and missed my draft gaining the pleasure of taking Fat Elvis over Ryan Braun and Jose Reyes. Awesome!!!!!!!! But as previously posted I got Pat Burrell so therefore I win.

Somehow I didn't get any emails before the draft, so I didn't get to participate, but Supercomputer did a decent job picking for me for the most part. Thanks, Supercomputer!

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.