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

NL Central Smackdown: Shortstops

2nd Basemen | Poll
1st Basemen | Poll

We march on around the diamond. Today it's the double play partner of yesterday's vote. The Cubs so far have the 2nd best first basemen and second basemen in the division. Can Ryan Theriot keep the streak going? Answer - no!

Your scrap-tastic contenders after the jump....

UPDATE: Thanks to you wonderful readers, it was brought to my attention to check Tejada's projections since he revealed his true age. His WARP-3 three year projection is updated in the chart and went down from 4.13 to 3.2. I'd still rate him first though even though he now drops behind Hardy and Wilson in the WARP-3 projections.

Player 3-Year Warp-3 Average
3 Year Warp-3 Projection
Rob's Ranking
Ryan Theriot 2.6 (2 years)
2.47
5
J.J. Hardy
3.5 4.2 2
Cesar Izturis 1.53 1.07
6
Miguel Tejada
7.03 3.2
1
Alex Gonzalez
3.03
1.77 3
Jeff Keppinger
1.9 (2 years)
4
3
Jack Wilson
5.83
3.23
4


 

 

 

 

 

 


The Justification: This one gets a bit difficult as the Reds muck up my little chart. They're going to do that a few times in this series. Alex Gonzalez is signed through 2009 with about $11 million owed to him between this year and next, plus a 2010 mutual option for $6 million. He also has a fractured left knee and a player currently playing in his place who is probably better than him. I'd dismiss Gonzalez altogether if it wasn't for the fact that he's got a contract to justify and has Dusty Baker as his manager. So what to do? Well I included them both in the chart above and if it was just Keppinger, I'd easily rank him third ahead of Jack Wilson and possibly second ahead of JJ Hardy.If it was just Gonzalez, I'd push him behind Jack Wilson for fourth (who's brilliant glovework makes up a lot for his deficient bat). Overall though, I'm guessing they share the playing time and I think the composite of the two is a just a bit better than Wilson for the three spot.

As for the rest of the rankings, Tejada still gets the nod as the top spot. He probably won't stay at shortstop for much longer or with the Astros, but stanozolol rises to the top with this weak competition. Hardy's twenty-plus homer potential and 26 years of age give him the two spot in my rankings. You can flip the three/four spots between Wilson and the Reds shortstops however you wish. I don't expect Ryan Theriot to last the season as the Cubs shortstop, either because of a trade or Ronny Cedeno taking over the job. He's only saved by the presence of Cesar's ghost in the division from being a bottom, which seems like a place Cesar is very comfortable occupying.

There's another poll for you guys to fill out below this and I'll leave the old polls open until we finish this.

Please note, you do have to register to vote. This isn't some scheme to solicit registrations, it's just an anomaly of the site and the poll software that's built in. Trust me, I'd love to fix it, but I haven't found another piece of integrated software that does these ranking polls which I really like. Plus if you register, you get a better user experience as I tend to test everything as a registered user and you get an uncached version of the site. You can also view the results of the poll after you vote, instead of having to wait until I close it. It takes all of two minutes to register and unlikes some sites, I'll be more than happy to cancel your account if you wish. You'll never receive any spam from us either...promise.


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Comments

j/k....

moved some stuff around on the sidebars and doubled up info with tabs now to make things a little neater and take up less sidebar space so we can add 3-D ads and porn. :)

Here's the list:

Moved the weather together with the Cubs Schedule on the right sidebar

Put together the site search and BR search into one box 

Moved the "TCR on the web" to the left sidebar below the text ads and added some publicity we've gotten.

and of course, added the Featured Post and Recent Posts in the upper left 

 

So where do we see the poll results without waiting? Maybe I'm an idiot (let me restate that. I AM an idiot. Maybe this is attributable to me being an idiot,) but I can't find it.

How long before we see the "Theriot Shift"? - 3 Infielders on the right side of the infield - RF guards the line, in close - CF plays short right-center - LF plays CF This would compeletely negate The Riot as an offensive factor. Last night -- brutal hitting conditions -- and the teams combined for 17 runs and bucketful of hits. Pretty impressive.

[ ]

In reply to by billybucks

Riot does occasionally pull the ball. Also, since he's a singles hitter, he's more likely to try to hit the ball where they ain't than the lefty sluggers who usually get a shift (or Andruw Jones). So if they shifted on him, he'd probably try to pull one, even if that meant hitting a lot of Murton Choppers. The bunting would be a factor too. Okay, I get that you're not being serious; you're pointing out the fact that Riot hits the ball to the right side a lot, and not always very hard. When it ceases to be the best approach for him I'll start criticizing him too. As of right now, with his career homeruns in single digits, I'd tell him to keep swinging for short right.

If we're looking at this from a who has the most value to a GM over the next 3 years stand point, then I think I rank it this way: JJ Hardy Jeff Keppinger Miguel Tejada Ryan Theriot Alex Gonzalez Jack Wilson Cesar Izturis Izturis just has no value at this point. He doesn't even have the range he used to. Tejada, I think, is going to see his production continue to drop off, though Houston's park may help him a bit, and he's very, very expensive. Wilson and Gonzalez may both be better than Theriot to varying degrees, but they are both really overpaid, too. JJ Hardy takes the cake for best combination of talent, potential, and cheapness (or did he get a long term deal this winter?). Keppinger looks like a quality hitter, though we'll see whether he's a legit shortstop. Theriot goes ahead of the expensive mediocre players in my book simply because his salary doesn't prevent you from improving the club elsewhere and he provides acceptable defense, and, who knows, maybe he'll hit a little and steal some bases. If we're not looking much at price or age, then the list goes pretty much how Rob G. has it.

Question: Were those 3-year future projection done for Tejada when we thought he was 31, or now that we know he is at least 33? Just curious if that was factored in...

There is alot of Homer voting, so far on the poll Theriot ranks ahead of Wilson, and almost at Hardy. Or maybe everyone thinks Theriot plays better defense than he really does. Wilson and Hardy are much better defensively. Thinking of the other rankings, this is probably our weakest position (maybe CF is weaker, but I think another Cub ghost saves us from the bottom on that one.........)

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080430&content_id=2614235&vke… "We are working on a proposal to present to Tribune Co. that will allow ISFA to acquire and fully restore Wrigley Field, as well as add parking and neighborhood improvements without using any public tax money, either state or local," Thompson told the Chicago Tribune. In the revised plan, Thompson said financing would be obtained in the private sector and there would be no issuance of bonds by the state. Team lease payments and the sale of partial naming rights would cover the cost of purchasing the ballpark, Thompson said. He did not say how ISFA would pay for the proposed renovation.

[ ]

In reply to by billybucks

Touche. And at least Rollins is a legit SS, whereas Ramirez has yet to play decent defense. In additionally, the above average defense from Rollins at short surely helped the Phils more than Holliday's average defense in left field. Still, I think Utley outperformed him, since Utley's not so shabby a defender at second base. Too bad for Chase he missed that time with the hand injury, or he would've been a shoe-in. Then again, he looks to be on-pace to make an even better bid at the award this year. Especially since I really believe the Cards will eventually suck badly enough to take Pujols out of consideration.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I can see where you wouldn't have Rollins winning it, but I don't see how Hanley had a much better season. They were pretty much even in most all categories. Ramirez had the edge in Doubles, BA, OBP, and SB. Rollins had the edge in Runs, Triples, RBI, SLG, and SB%. I wouldn't have put either of them first. But around the 3-5 area I would have put Rollins ahead of Ramirez because he a) played on a winning team, and b) plays much better defense. Rollins was 3rd in fielding percentage behind Vizquel and Tulowitski; Ramirez was 20th in MLB. The only SS who had a lower zone rating than Ramirez was Jeter. There was talk of moving him to center for good reason, he is awful out there.

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

yeah maybe Rollins ahead of Ramirez, I took a look at the WARP-3 numbers and Rollins is ahead. But I still think he was the third best player on his team last year and didn't really have all that great of a September push to justify his selection.

 

owings...the pitcher...pinch hit homer. .421 on the year (8 for 19) with his first homer. lucky guy... ...wait...not so lucky...so skilled. last year: 60ab 20h 4hr 7 doubles (.333 avg) awesome.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

http://cubs.scout.com/2/751503.html Mateo story...likely retiring or thinking about it. But clears a 40-man roster spot. He began the year at Triple-A Iowa before being demoted to Double-A Tennessee after just four appearances with the team. With Tennessee, Mateo made two appearances before being demoted another level – to Daytona. A Cubs source said Wednesday that Mateo was upset with the club’s decision to send him to Single-A ball. The source added that Mateo left the Tennessee club en route to Mesa, Ariz., site of the Cubs’ minor league offices, rather than Daytona. “He purposefully skipped his plane,” the source said.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

interesting to say the least. i'd be upset, too, if i was mateo. it seems like they dont have a plan for him if they're shuffling him that much this early. it's obvious he has things to work on, but he needs to actually work with someone steady rather than making 3 adjustments and 3 new sets of faces all within a month. he's got a career to think about and its in the cub's hands. if they dont spell out something for him that he buys i imagine he could be traded for peanuts pretty damn soon. its not like hendry is known for being a career wrecker dealing with fringe guys who are on the downside of their value and blocked legitimately by others.

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  • 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...