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

What You Need To Know About The Pirates

As the Cubs head to Pittsburgh to start their first road trip of the season, I thought I'd take a few minutes to tell you what you need to know about this NL Central rival. When their fans close their eyes at night, they see Sid Bream in their nightmares. My buddy Mark might want to avert his eyes for the next few paragraphs. In the early '90s, the Pirates were the class of the NL East. They won three staight division titles from 1990-1992 behind an exciting core of young players which included Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke, Doug Drabek, Jay Bell, John Smiley, and Barry Bonds, who won his first two MVP awards in 1990 and 1992. Despite their dominance in the East (they won the division by an average margin of 9 games during those three years), they lost to the NL West champs each time. The 1992 NLCS was especially heartbreaking; down two games to none, the Pirates won three of the next four. Tim Wakefield, called up from the minors at the end of July, threw complete games in games three and six, besting Tom Glavine each time. Game Seven looked to be in the bag for the Pirates as Doug Drabek shut down the Braves for eight innings. In the ninth, he gave up a leadoff double to Terry Pendleton, David Justice reached on an error, and Sid Bream walked. Manager Jim Leyland stubbed out his cigarette long enough to replace Drabek with Stan Belinda, who got Ron Gant on a fly to left (scoring a run), walked Damon Berryhill, and retired Brian Hunter. Pinch-hitter Francisco Cabrera, rarely used during the regular season, came up and lined a single to left field -- Justice scored easily, and Bonds came up throwing, trying to get Bream and the piano he was carrying. His throw was just late, as Bream lumbered across the plate representing the winning run. All across western Pennsylvania grown men cried in their Iron Citys and young boys wondered what they had done to make God so mad at them. Bobby Cox vowed from that day forward to always carry a non-useful third catcher or sixth infielder on every one of his post-season rosters. They haven't finished above .500 since Barry Bonds left town. The winter after that crushing playoff defeat was the beginning of the end. Second baseman Jose Lind was traded to Kansas City; Doug Drabek signed a long-term deal with the Astros, while Barry Bonds did the same in San Francisco, beginning his journey from great baseball player to one of the greatest of all-time to Symbol Of All That Is Wrong With Baseball. The Pirates finished in 5th place in 1993 and haven't improved much since despite new ownership, three or four new plans for the future, and one of the nicest stadiums in the game. Their off-season plan this winter involved signing three old, slow corner guys. If you're wondering why I spent so much time talking about stuff that happened more than a decade ago, that's because not much has happened between then and now. Jim Leyland burned out, Gene Lamont presided ineffectually for four years, and Lloyd McClendon was brought in to shake things up in 2001. Over the last decade they showed a pretty good eye for identifying and devloping young talent, either drafting or trading for Jason Kendall, Brian Giles, Denny Neagle, Jason Schmidt, Esteban Loaiza, Aramis Ramirez, Kris Benson, Jack Wilson, and Craig Wilson, among others. Unfortunately they've watched almost all those players head for greener pastures, and with the exception of the Giles trade which netted them Jason Bay and Oliver Perez, they haven't gotten much in return. As a result, they've had to fill holes however they can. This winter, that meant signing Jeromy Burnitz to play right field and Joe Randa to play third base, and trading for Sean Casey to play first. In past years it wouldn't have been that big of a deal: signing over-the-hill or barely-adequate veterans is a fine strategy if you're treading water for the year and don't have anyone younger to plug in. The problem this year is that they do; Randa is standing in the way of Freddy Sanchez, while every game that Casey and Burnitz play means one less game played by young Brad Eldred and no-longer-so-young Craig Wilson. And speaking of Wilson... They don't play their second-best hitter very often. Jason Bay is undoubtedly the best player on the Pirates. In fact, when you measure by VORP, he was the fifth-best player in the majors last year, behind only D-Lee, A-Rod, Pujols, and Big Papi. That's not bad. What is bad is the fact that after Bay the player with the most offensive upside might be Craig Wilson, who is currently a man without a position. The Pirates spent the entire winter trying to trade Wilson to just about anyone, but apparently they wanted a Cy Young pitcher or something in return because when the season started he was still on the roster. With Casey and Burnitz ensconced at first and right Wilson has a season of pinch-hitting and spot-starting to look forward to, which is not the most efficient way to use a guy with a career OPS 20% above the league average. Their ace is young, but he makes up for his youth by being undisciplined. Pitchingwise, Oliver Perez is a bright spot among the current crop of Pirates, posting a 2.98 ERA and striking out an impressive 239 batters in 2004. He struggled last year, though, and spent some time on the DL after losing a fight with a laundry cart in the Pirates clubhouse. Beyond Perez, they have a couple of other promising young pitchers (Zach Duke and Victor Santos) and a couple guys who've been through the injury wringers (John Van Benschoten, Ryan Vogelsong, Sean Burnett). ---------- So that's the Pirates in a nutshell. When PNC Park opened a few years back it was properly proclaimed as a jewel of a stadium, but continued futility on the field has meant that the expected millions stopped coming pretty quickly. I'm hoping to trek across the COmmonwealth later this season to see a game here in person; maybe by then Kid McClatchy and the rest of the Bucco braintrust will have figured out exactly what the character of this team is, who can help them the most, and how they can position themselves to be competitive in the Central Division for the first time it its ten-year existence.

Comments

Ruz, If you come out this way, I'll get the other Cub fans out in this area and we'll go to a game. Lord knows its easy to get good seats at PNC....

I'm afraid this will be a tough series for the Cubbies.

Despite the early successes (Cards series), I am still not sold on the relative solidity of the Cubs this year. They need to be pretty darn good to dig themselves out of the hole Dusty puts them in twice a week or so, as evidenced by the squad Dusty fielded in the rubber game of the Cincy series. He has a tendency to let everyone down when we are anticipating a big win in order to take a series. He fields some ill-constructed scrub lineup to back up his best starter, and does this seemingly twice a week.

The regular starters need occasional rest, and the bench players need at-bats to keep them focused and in shape. Common sense dictates that the best time to play bench players is when your best pitcher pitches, as you should need less offense to win.

Common sense dictates that to maximize offensive production, you might want to spread out the days that you play the scrubs, instead of loading a lineup full of corpses when you're going for the series win. Especially when you best pitcher has started a little shaky, and you have three other starting pitchers on the DL, so you can ill-afford the type of offensive production we saw yesterday (I puked in my mouth when it was all over).

I had thought the Pirates might be turning the corner when I wrote that article for All-Baseball.com back in December. But right after I wrote that they went out and signed Burnitz. I should have known.

Unless common sense dictates that Jacque Jones and Aramis Ramirez not get hurt, I'm not sure Dusty had that much choice yesterday. He could have forced Zambrano to use Barrett I suppose, but since you need Barrett's bat in the lineup almost every day and he has to rest at some point, you might as well let Zambrano use the catcher he obviously prefers greatly. THus, the only real decision Baker had to make yesterday was whether to start Walker at second or Hairston there. I might have started Walker given the above limitation but its not that big of a deal and it certainly is not the reason the CUbs lost that game. If the past is any indication, there will be some games this season where folks can make a reasoned argument that Dusty's lineup decisions were costly. Yesterday was not one of them.

7 hits and 4bb was a lack of offense? cin got 7 hits and 5bb, btw. insted of blaming dusty for giving barrett his 2nd day off (blanco went 1/3 with a BB and a run scored) and playing hairston over walker at the expense of a few doubles and 10hr on the year (but increased speed and better D), how about laying that blame with the arms that showed up for yesterday's game? hell, blanco, up until yesterday, had only played a 1/2 game...he was subbed for barrett 1/2 way throught the game. with aram/jones out there's and easy 50-60 HR power missing from the lineup, but their possible replacements cant even scratch that lost production...and its not like you'd want to see jones up there vs. a lefty anyway except when he's got his glove/arm in the field.

Blaming yesterday's lineup on Dusty is the first sign that you are looking to pin anything you can on him and are overly negative. He put the best lineup out that he could any other decision he could of made would be far from certain. 2 middle of the order hitters are hurt and your ace perfers to throw to the backup catcher. Also as someone said above he has to get rest sometime...

All valid points...I'd hate to call 7 hits and 4 BBs against the Reds pitching an abundance of offense, and considering what you need against the Reds offense, considered by some to be the best in the NL, you can't field that lineup, and you can't do it in that order. Yes, Z let his emotions get to him, and yes, our bullpen gave up too many runs. I would think when sitting in the clubhouse thinking about offense, the Pirates being 24 hours away would make you switch the "off" day to today, rather than yesterday. Feel free to disagree, I may be completely off base here, but I was surprised by the lineup and personnel choices.

i agree that starters must rest. and with ramirez and jones down, what are you going to do? Well, for one, unload Jerry Hairston. He sucks. He's as bad as Neifi without the glove. Look at yesterday. Hairston struck out 3 times. Neifi 3 times. Neifi 0-4, Hairston 1-5 though his double should have been caught. So call it 0-5. Between those two losers we gave up 8(9) outs So yes. Putting both these guys in the same day is retarded. I've never liked Hairston. He has provided nothing. Walker should flat out be the everyday second baseman with Neifi as a backup for offdays. Hairston should be shown the door. Of course, Hendry had all winter to do that. And he wasted it shopping the player we should be thankful to have. On the bright side, Baker did put Murton in 4th. That was quite suprising to me. I never thought he would move above 7 this early. The more I think about this team the more pissed off I am. We have great talent. If only Dusty would stick to a good lineup. Of course, with our starting pitching what it is its all a crap shoot anyway. Yesterday should have been Pierre Walker Lee Barret Murton Pagan Cedeno Perez To me, yesterday's lineup is what draws the line at Dusty being a good manager. Unfortunately it seems like the players love him. I don't think thats necessarily a good thing though. Yes you should like your manager but you should also fear his wrath if you perform poorly. gah

ruz reminding us good writing makes for good blogs heaven on the 'net

barrett was supposed to have the day off wednesday...arent you glad he didnt? up until yesterday he has played all but 1/2 a game. his 1st off day he came in 1/2 way through the game to finish it out. the guy just cant play everyday...and hairston vs walker is the matter of 10 homers and a few doubles vs. better speed and D over the course of a year...maybe a few points of ob%, too. there was noone who would be a game-breaker fresh off the bench yesterday. injuries suck...espeically when you gotta weigh it in with your replacements and a catcher who's had a 1/2 game off all year leading your offense.

I'm not insensitive to players needing rest and getting Hank White in... There are exceptions that Dusty needs to make on the catcher front though, especially when you have Jones and Ramirez out. You also need to play Walker over Hairston on these sort of days, and if Hairston needed playing time, put him in the OF. And that lineup yesterday was so sub-par it made me throw up...

PNC is truly a great park (and features the best sandwich I've ever eaten as well). But while tickets are usually easy to come by, don't take them for granted. A friend and I trekked out there from NYC for the September Cubs series in '03. We paid about $10 for dugout seats at a Friday night doubleheader, and then found ourselves nearly shut out of the stadium on Saturday because all of Pennsylvania had bought tickets to 'Kip Wells Bobblehead Night.'

When I was a kid the Pirates would come to Wrigley and clean our clock. That was the early 70's when they had Al Oliver, Richie Hebner, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Manny Sanguillen, Dave Cash and the great Gene Clines. Pitching wise they had Dock Ellis, Steve Blass, DAve Giusti, Bob Moose and Bruce Kison. 71 World Champs, good all through the 70's and wrapping up the era as 79 World Champs. Al Oliver was one of the most under rated players of his generation. As for yesterday, Dusty's lineup didn't help us. Barrett and Walker needed to start. I also worry they're trying to hard to make Murton a power guy. They did that with Grace for awhile and he ended up hitting .273 one year because he changed his approach. Ultimately, however, Zambrano didn't get the job done. I'm not worried about Zambrano, however. I am worried about Rusch. I'd give Rusch one more start to turn things around but thats it. You have to worry about Ohman too.

How bout giving Mabry a start in right and giving him 4 at bats tonight?

Tonight's Lineup (according to ESPN 1000): CF Pierre 2b Walker 1b Dlee 3b Aram C Barrett RF Mabry (I hope he does not make a huge error) LF Murton SS Cedeno P Marshall

Our good ol' DC The Jim Rome show rips us off They do haiku too

I can't believe Mabry's playing. I'm a little worried that Dusty and I are starting to think alike...

You're on, John Mabry Four or five at bats for you Make us forget Jacque

mabry's fine...its his throwing that's suspect, but OF should be fine for him unless he decides he doesnt need cutoff men (hey jones!). sorry, i mean... mabry substitute he's got a nice power bat watch out for his throws

I admittedly know next to nothing about Victor Santos. Anyone care to fill me in?

btw, no one is trying to make murton a power guy. dust went off about it to the press about what he told murton when he put him in the 4 slot.

"I told him the same thing," Baker said of his advice to Murton. "Get your hits. If they walk [Derrek Lee], don't take it personal. Keep the ball off the ground and in double-play situations. Kill 'em with singles and doubles, and they'll quit walking that guy to get to you. Don't try to hit a home run."

It's kinda amusing looking at these lineups next to each other one day to the next. CF Pierre 2b Walker 1b Dlee 3b Aram C Barrett RF Mabry (I hope he does not make a huge error) LF Murton SS Cedeno P Marshall vs. *Juan Pierre, CF Jerry Hairston Jr., 2B Derrek Lee, 1B Matt Murton, LF #Angel Pagan, RF Ronny Cedeno, SS #Neifi Perez, 3B Henry Blanco, C It's like an "A" squad and a "B" squad

meh...i gotta go hang out with hippie engineers celebrating phDs insted of watching the game. bleh. go cubs.

I went to PNC last year to see the Cubs lose the only game they lost there. Some obnoxious 4 year-old was behind me squawking the whole time. Most miserable experience I've ever had at a ballpark. Food was good though. Nice view of the city from there, too.

I went to PNC last year to see the Cubs lose the only game they lost there. Some obnoxious 4 year-old was behind me squawking the whole time. Most miserable experience I've ever had at a ballpark. Food was good though. Nice view of the city from there, too.

I still can't figure out how the Braves were in the NL West?

Well, I guess Craig Wilson will get his shot now, albeit in front of Brad Eldred (if Littlebrain ever decides to call him up).

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Recent comments

  • 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...

  • 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.