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

Murton and Other Notes

Two quick notes from Gordon Wittenmeyer...

The Cubs are getting enough interest from other teams in outfielder Matt Murton that a deal might get done by the end of the weekend to keep the Cubs from having to send the .296 career hitter to the minors.

They're just making sure no injuries occur today and Murton will most likely be out of here.

The battle between lefties Sean Marshall and Carmen Pignatiello for Eyre's vacated spot is going down to the final day.

Manager Lou Piniella said before Friday's late game that each lefty would get an inning of work during the two-game set against Seattle.

It seems Lou really want to give Marshall every chance to win that spot, even though Pignatiello has easily outperformed him this spring.

Comments

from the Astros...

and an AZ Phil question...

If the Phillies decide to dump Lahey, does he go back through the whole waiver process or just starting from the teams that didn't get a chance to claim him? Can the Cubs put a claim in? 

If I recall this correctly, Phils were near the bottom of the order but it goes NL first, than AL? Are there a few teams below the Phils that could still grab him? 

Some how i got linked to MLB Trade Rumors (which i refuse to ever visit) and picked up what some of the other blogs were saying about Murton. The gist....is an outstanding hitter, good power, excellent speed on the basepaths. You go to Cubs blogs and he isn't that good of a hitter, has no power, and can't run the bases. Basically he is worthless junk. I hope he finds a new home where he can play everyday.

Ohh and the Astro's are going to pay Woody $6.5 million to not pitch for them. Smart move...

I agree that Murton is a nice player, but where does he fit in with the Cubs? Nowhere. I'm fine with trading him as long as we get something valuable in return.

Trading Murton only makes sense if you think that Fukudome and Soriano are immune to injury or some other GM makes Hendry a very strong offer for Murton. I suspect we'll need a fill-in corner outfielder for at least a month of this season due to injuries, and I'm not yet convinced that Fukudome's game is going to translate into what Cubs fans are hoping for. With 600 plate appearances you can reasonably expect these things: an average around .300, an OBP over .360, 20ish homeruns, flashes of exciting opposite field power and a frustrating ground ball rate. You can also expect well above average defense in left field, according to The Hardball Times, and quickness out of the box if not a great speed on the base paths. Murt has great potential and is already a strong ball player. The Cubs' major mistake is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on two corner outfielders who will block a young, cheap, productive player. Murton may not outperform Soriano or Fukudome overall, but the difference between them may not add up to the improvement the team could have made spending those millions of dollars or something other than another outfielder. Then again, Murton may outperform Soriano in batting average and OBP, something you look for in a top of the order hitter, and likely will outperform Fukudome in average and power, something you look for in a number 5 hitter.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

I think you're being overly optimistic about Fukudome. I've said this before in another thread, look at what Iwamura did in his final three seasons in Japan and then what he did in his first season with Tampa. His stats in Japan were extremely close to Fukudome's, and people projected him to hit somewhere near 20 homers last season. He hit 7. His slugging numbers dropped approx 150 points from his previous 3 years. Fukudome's line this year is probably going to be more like .285 or less, 8-10 hr's, and if he's hitting second 50'rbi's or less. His obp probably drops to .340ish. An ok number two hitter but not an impact bat. Unless he's been dogging it all spring on purpose, his power numbers in the majors will be way down. As for Murton, he's a poor fielder but I love his bat. A guy who has proven he can draw walks, hit around .300, hit a lot of doubles and a fair number of hr's. To trade him or send him to Iowa is a mistake. With the cold Wrigley weather and a ton of home games in April and May, Murton would get plenty of AB's, far more than Fontentot will. And Reed Johnson was a nice addition to platoon in CF but he's not a particularly good hitter vs rhp's. Murton is.

how little Murton is valued by teams trying to acquire him. Apparently the Padres were thinking something like $50,000 including tax out the door. At least that's what this story in the San Diego Union implies.
Attempting to fill a need for right-handed power off the bench and an emergency catcher, the Padres acquired corner outfielder/first baseman Justin Huber from the Royals and optioned utility man Luis Rodriguez to Triple-A. Huber hit 18 home runs in 286 Triple-A at-bats last year. The Australian has batted .204 in 38 major league games with four doubles. Manager Bud Black said Huber, a catcher early in his professional career, could make it more likely that Black would use either of his other catchers as a pinch hitter. Huber, 25, is out of minor league options. The Padres are to send $50,000 or a player to the Royals within 30 days. They preferred Cubs corner outfielder Matt Murton but were unwilling to give up a prospect for him.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

Think it shows Hendry (at least for now) won't give up Murt for less than a prospect more than it does SD thinks he's worth 50K including tax... murt's pretty exclusively a LF'r who's not really flashy there. i'd rather see soriano in RF, murt in LF, and spend the loot elsewhere, but it wasnt and now this situation is here. it's pretty highly doubtful murt will spend much time in AAA this year for the cubs or whoever he may be traded to.

Submitted by Rob G. on Sat, 03/29/2008 - 10:15am.

and an AZ Phil question... If the Phillies decide to dump Lahey, does he go back through the whole waiver process or just starting from the teams that didn't get a chance to claim him?

Can the Cubs put a claim in?

If I recall this correctly, Phils were near the bottom of the order but it goes NL first, than AL? Are there a few teams below the Phils that could still grab him?

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

ROB G: If a club decides not to keep a player they acquired via waiver claim and places the player back on waivers, the waiver process starts all over again from scratch. The Cubs could put in a claim, but because Lahey is a Rule 5 player, if they are awarded the claim it would just put the Cubs back in the same position they were in before they placed him on waivers. That is, they would have to keep him on their 25-man roster for the entire 2008 regular season.

If more than one team claims a player off waivers, the club from the same league gets the claim, and if more than one club from the same league makes a claim, the club with the lowest winning percentage gets the claim.

The previous season's standings are used to determine waiver claim order through the end of the waiver period that extends through the 30th day of the regular season (this year that's April 28th), and then starting with the waiver period that commences with the 31st day of the regular season (April 29th in 2008), the current standings are used to determine waiver claim order.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022. 

  • 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...