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

NL Central Smackdown : Catchers

Submitted by Rob G. on

Third Basemen | Poll
Shortstops | Poll
2nd Basemen | Poll
1st Basemen | Poll

Before we head to the outfield, we take on the field generals. A difficult position to evaluate with the numbers just because there's just no great way to numerically measure a catcher's defense, leadership and ability to work with his pitching staff...but we'll do our best. I did want to note, I'll keep going with these through the weekend just so we can finish this up by early next week. If you take the weekends off from TCR, be sure to check back Monday and vote on the polls you missed.

The backstops after the jump...

Player 3-Year Warp-3 Average
3 Year Warp-3 Projection
Rob's Ranking
Geovany Soto
 		N/A
 4.5
 2
Jason Kendall
 3.47 1.1 4
Yadier Molina 4.33 3.03
 1
JR Towles
 N/A 3.67
 3
David Ross
 3.13
 1.63 6
Javier Valentin
 2.25
 0.87 6
Paul Bako 0.27 0.55 6
Ronny Paulino 4.4 (2 years) 2.87 5
Ryan Doumit
 3.1 (2 years) 1.57
 5


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Justification: Have I mentioned that I did these before the season started? I'll admit I was a bit skeptical on our boy Soto to start the year and that Yadier Molina entering his age 25 season with decent walk to strikeout totals for his career (138 K:104 BB) might be ready to break out for a few decent seasons with the bat to compliment his exceptional defensive skills. That still might be the case, but Soto has clearly shown he belongs in the majors and ready to take the top spot in the division. Fellow rookie catcher JR Towles hasn't started off quite as well (197/338/443), but it looks like he has a bright future as well. Kendall gets knocked by the Baseball Prospectus projections, but he can still get on-base and is chock full of veteran savvy. The Pirates seem to still be deciding between Ronny Paulino and Ryan Doumit, and although the projections favor Paulino (mostly due to playing time), Doumit's making a case with his bat (159 OPS+ at the moment). Whichever Reds catcher stakes the claim for the most playing time will end comfortably on the bottom of these rankings.

There's another poll for you guys to fill out below this and I'll leave the old polls open until we finish this. I'll keep the series going through the weekend so we can finish this up early next week.

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.

Tags
Statistical Analysis
NL Central Smackdown

Comments

Submitted by Q-Ball on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:50 am

Maybe I am biased, but I think Kendall should be fifth, maybe 6th. He can't block a pitch or throw anyone out, and offensively all he gives you is singles (and last year, he didn't even give Oakland that). Yeah, he is a veteran presence, but isn't that what coaches are for? Alot also depends on the the answer to: Can Soto maintain anywhere close to his current pace? While I think a 1000+OPS is probably not sustainable, anything over .800 and he should have the top spot on his list.

Submitted by Ryno on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:12 am

I voted: Barrett, Molina, Soto, Doumit/Paulino (Mainly Doumit), Kendall, Towles, Reds What a crappy position for the division. I'm pretty sure Soto on down ranks last in any other division, although Soto has been impressive to start the year.

[ ]

Submitted by Charlie on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:45 pm

You'd really take Barrett over Soto at this point? The division has one young established catcher who is mediocre with the bat but fantastic with the glove (Molina), two up and coming offensive catchers (Soto and Towles), one fringe prospect who at least appears to be a decent hitter (Doumit), and then scrubs in Kendall and whoever the Reds are running out there these days. It's not a great division for catchers, but if Soto performs he could be up there with Russell Martin and Brian McCann, and who else has really good catchers? It's a position that wears on the body and carries a lot of responsibility that distracts from things like batting practice. How many other catchers would you rather have on the Cubs at this point than Soto? I'm sure you can name a few, but I think if we had to list starting Catchers in the majors, Soto would probably be in the top 10 most valuable--if we believe he's going to continue to hit.

Submitted by Rob G. on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:33 pm

doesn't look promising for tonight

[ ]

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:55 pm

The field will be soaked from this afternoon, but at 6 PM the chance of rain drops to 20% and eventually to 0% a couple of hours later. So we might get the game. I'd expect a late start though if we do.

Submitted by Andrew on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:46 pm

the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting that Yovani Gallardo tore his ACL when he collided with Reed Johnson last night. It may have already been torn, but Yost is an idiot for leaving him in. You hate to see players get hurt, especially good ones. Last night's loss was depressing, and Kerry Wood's struggles at closing are troubling, but neither of them may be the biggest story coming out of that game. If Gallardo is out for the year, then Suppan has to stay in the rotation and Dave Bush is back in it. The Brewers' rotation, as well as their overall pitching depth, would suddenly be even that much more suspect. http://blogs.jsonline.com/brewers/archive/2008/05/02/gallardo-has-torn-…

[ ]

Submitted by Rob G. on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:56 pm

'Doh!!!!!!!!!

Suppan wasn't going anywhere after just one bad outing, but yeah, Bush should be back up. They just need Sheets to take his yearly trip to the DL for a few months and that should end their season.

Now we just have to stop Duncan from teaching his pitchers how to scuff baseballs and we're set. :)

[ ]

Submitted by Chad on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:15 pm

Pitcher has to cover on any play on that side. it had nothing to do with fielder. it was a fluke.

Submitted by The E-Man on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:47 pm

when we need him?! Is an ACL potentially season ending in most cases? In case you missed this tidbit: "The last Brewers player to sustain a torn ACL was infielder Tony Graffanino..."

[ ]

Submitted by CPH2133 on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:20 pm

From having ACL surgery myself, the recovery time is a minimal 5 months, and even that wasn't at a big league level. I started to briskly run at 4 months and couldn't sprint until 6 months, so I'd expect him to be done for. ACL i'm going to say is the season but he'll be good to go when pitchers/cathcers report in the late winter.

Submitted by Cubster on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:54 pm

just saw the news on Gallardo... I think this is fair retribution for Braun's comments post-game about Cub fans. When I saw the collision he was on the ground in severe pain so I thought it odd that Yost kept him in the game. Reminded me of the collision with #22 and Marcus Giles. I thought Gallardo might have fractured his patella/kneecap but an acute ACL tear makes sense. CPat tore his ACL just before the all star game in 2003 by stepping on first base awkwardly, running out a grounder as I recall and he was back the next season (except he was never the same, although I doubt anyone blames his ACL reconstruction). In the old days they might rehab it and let him pitch through this season wearing a brace and then reconstruct the ACL after the year. That's not how things are handled currently in pro athletes. As a pitcher if the knee acts unstable he will have a tough time pushing off of a mound. The ACL is a ligament that keeps the tibia from shifting forward on the femur which when it's not functional leads to that kind of instability. Plus it's common to have a secondary meniscus tear either at the time of injury or in a delayed fashion if athletics are continued on an ACL unstable knee. So this news means he certainly will be out for the season. So it's usual now to reconstruct the ACL but they usually wait a couple of weeks for the acute swelling to subside, this lets the knee get some preop therapy to work out the stiffness from the acute injury. There are multiple techniques for the source of graft including middle 1/3 of the patellar tendon, hamstrings or even cadaver graft (several sources are used such as achilles, ant. tibialis or hamstrings). I'll work on a more detailed writeup over the weekend.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:21 pm

whatever braun said i'd bet the fans did worse. from the bleachers to the seats lining the field there's a lot of ANGRY assholes coming to wrigley over the years. they paid for a ticket so they get to scream at players...even their own. hell, its not really anger as much as it is they think they're contributing to their baseball experience via their right to scream obsenities and gestures at anyone they please reguardless of the 100s around them that have to listen/see the crap. some people really do come for the game, not to get drunk and scream at millionaires so they can say "did you see Blah McBlah look at me when i called his mother an anal waste sucking whore? man, if the father of that group of 5 year olds would have shut up about me not being the center of the universe i would have really let McBlah have it. WOOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!!!!" yeah...

Submitted by Cubster on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:27 pm

http://chicagosportsblogs.com/mikej/archive/2008/05/01/are-cubs-fans-al… After Kerry Wood blew another save to the Brewers, Braun was quoted as saying how sweet it was to come back and beat the team in front of these fans, talking all about how rowdy they are and stuff. (that might not be an exact quote but it captures the spirit of it) ...still not appropriate IMHO to comment in this way after a "painful" victory even if he hates the fans. It Tempts fate. Which isn't worth fates consequences as it tends to have an evil sense of humor.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 05:32 pm

extremely well presented article... "So that's it in a nutshell. The Cubs fans at the "world's largest beer garden" tend to be a little more douche-riffic than other ballparks but it's really just a numbers game and not an accurate representation of the fanbase in general. " i can totally buy that wrapup. still, i have friends that have gone for a long time and it's not just them becoming bitchy old men...they have all noticed a distinct "football tailgate" type aggression coming out. people have always bitched about their players and other team's but the amount of venom and non-baseball-related taunting is definately on the rise. i dont think many players mind being ragged on for their play or assumptions of their play or even some off-field stuff, but there's a lot more stuff that's crossing well beyond the "your mom/wife is a...." mark into totally unnecessary crap. at least the people behind the plate at wrigley arent on the "distract the pitcher freethrow basketball style" thing like some other parks.

Recent comments

  • Bill (view)

    A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return.  Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention".  Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."

     

    Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost.  But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.  

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions.  Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022.  I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
    I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
    I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
    That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
    I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
    We'll find out soon enough!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa? 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Pro teams have to play their "big money" guys if they are healthy and not "locker room" issues.
    The Cubs wanted to deal JHey off well before they bought him out. They just didn't want to pay him to play for someone else for that long. Jed did give him 20+mil to play for LAD last yr.
    Jed might also let Kyle walk at some point this year. Similar scenario to JHey, except Jed thought Kyle was going to be good/solid in '24!!
    You'd think Smyly is in the same book as well. Same with Neris (he's a 1yr vet RP, so he's not really in this convo too much).
    That's ~35mil between those three and those three are going to get opportunities until at least late June) over younger guys even if their performance is "iffy".
    But, Jed is going to play Taillon a lot. They have to try and justify that contract and hope a veteran works out.
    So, Taillon, Imanaga, and Hendricks are locks for the rest of April and probably May.
    Assad, Brown and Wicks handle the last spots until Steele is ready.
    Now, you're question has real merit when Steele comes back. That will interesting if Brown is still good and Hendricks is still bad. But Taillon is entirely safe as long as he's healthy.

    And the bullpen moves were "money" based as well. Smyly has actually been okay. But he hasn't been clearly better than Little. Little had one bad outing. But Smyly makes 9mil. If they needed another RHRP and one of Little and Smyly had to go, it was going to Little. But that doesn't mean Smyly is one of the best 13 arms for the team. 

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