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

Cubs Hits Of The Week (4/28 Through 5/4)

The five hits that did the most to enhance the Cubs' chance of winning during the past. not terribly successful week against the teams we'll have to beat if we want to take the division, as measured by FanGraphs' Win Probability Added (WPA):

#5 Big Hit: Tuesday, v. the Brewers, 7th inning — The opener of the Cubs' three-game series with the Brewers is getting out of hand when Mike Fontenot hits a two-out, bases-clearing double that brings the home team to within two runs at 9-7. WPA .133


#4 Big Hit: Sunday, v. the Cardinals, 2nd inning — Reed Johnson gets the Cubs on the board against Todd Wellemeyer by doubling home Geovany Soto, moving Fontenot to third, and setting the Cubs up for a monster inning...that never materializes. WPA .134

#3 Big Hit: Thursday, v. the Brewers, 9th inning — Moments after seeing his team's closer (and I use the word loosely) cough up a 3-1 lead, Ronny Cedeno leads off the last of the ninth by working Eric Gagne for a walk, and with the power-hitting Soto due up, the stage is set for a dramatic resolution. Unfortunately, Soto, who strikes out, and Felix Pie, who raps into a game-ending DP, didn't read the script. WPA .135

#2 Big Hit: Saturday, v. the Cardinals, 4th inning — The Cubs are already leading 1-0 when Soto steps in against Kyle Lohse with the bases loaded, cracks a ground-rule double to extend the Chicago lead to 3-0, and reminds us once again how positively swell it is to have a catcher who can rake. WPA .145

#1 Big Hit: Friday, v. the Cardinals, 9th inning — With a certain segment of the Cub-loving population already planning their "We have to trade Alfonso Soriano!" phone calls to the local sportstalk radio stations, Fonzie does all he can do to make everyone forget what a truly horrific night he was having by sending a laser beam over the leftfield fence and bringing the Cubs even with the Cardinals at 3-3. (We should have just gone into a prevent defense after that and settled for a tie.) WPA .342

Comments

And... http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=185212 Cedeno shagging flyballs in center again, Pie on the hot seat. sure Reed Johnson has been swell and all, I mean, by all means we must get this guy in the lineup everyday: vs righties: 279/324/328 vs lefties: 273/415/303 that's a 677 OPS overall (78 OPS+). Meh...

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Cedeno is outhitting Pie so far. I'm not saying that will necessarily last, but if Lou is willing to bench Pie based on poor approach and poor results in a limited number of ABs, why shouldn't he be willing to play Cedeno based on good approach and good results in a limited number of ABs? I'm not sure we have any center fielders who are going to hit well enough to justify a starting role, but Cedeno (if they think he can play center) and Johnson are closer than Pie at this point. I still think (hope) Pie will hit, eventually.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

if Cedeno can handle CF and keeps hitting, great. I doubt that.

my point was that Reed Johnson isn't very good and the more he plays, the more he'll be exposed for being not very good at anything but taking pitches.

He's fine on the short-side of a platoon, start playing him vs. righties and it's gonna get ugly quick.

On the other hand, it'll give Hendry a position to look for so he can justify his cellphone bill.  

for those using IE7... First, my apologies, it's a horrible program. Second, I think I fixed the tab problem on the right sidebar and the "Upcoming Games' and Site Search tabs should be loading and working properly now.

Way off topic but -- I like the Cubs position right now. Cubs are currently on pace for 94 wins. They have had a mini-season already -- a very hot streak, their current funk, injuries to key players, soem players hot, some cold, etc. Pretty indicative of how the season could play out. The Cards have the bigest positive diffential in home vs. away games -- 21 at home (14-7) vs. only 11 on the road (6-5). Hopefully, the road will jump up and bite them a bit. Brewers have taken a big hit with Gallardo, and Gagne looks shaky. All in all -- I like where we are. However -- we better win a few in Cincy -- the big bad D-Backs will be tough this weekend.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

If you're not wiling to give Pie a shot, then a year of JJ at a reduced salary could be worthwhile, especially if you platoon him with Johnson. They'd give us league average defense and acceptable offense from center field. I'd rather put Fukie in CF and use Murt in RF, but Murt can't seem to find his bat and they aren't willing to put Fukudome in center, so that wish will go unfulfilled. I'd much rather send a PTBNL for Jones than send Marshall, Gallagher and bunches of other guys to the Orioles for Roberts. We're going to need at least one of Gally and Marshall, maybe both. Cedeno is starting to look like our best option at SS, so I wouldn't send him over in a Roberts trade either.

Cubnut, since the team has only won one game in each of the last series, did you think of doing Opponent's big hits of the week? There were plenty more of those.

Why in the world would we want to waste a roster spot on Jacque Jones who was hitting .165?? If we are going to take a pure flyer on someone, there are a ton of other free agents out there that would be better choices.

Recent comments

  • 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. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Childersb3: I think there was an issue with Luke Little coming into a game with men on base. He seems to need a "clean" inning to be dominant. So he is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AAA. Same goes for Michael Arias. He needs to come into a "clean" inning, and is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AA. Porter Hodge is a more versatile pitcher, a better version of Keegan Thompson (multi-inning RP). But Little, Arias, and Hodge (probably in that order) are the Cubs top three RP prospects (all three are Cubs Top 15 prospects).

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    So, let’s do a little war gaming. Taillon is back for tonight’s game. He pitched two rehab games, just a few innings each, and not especially sharp. Let’s face it, he hasn’t been lights out since the Cubs gave him the big contract. In other words, as flat out bad as Hendricks has been, the chances of Taillon being the savior don’t look exactly promising.

    If Taillon is equally ineffective or perhaps even worse, what’s the next move? Winning teams can often find a way to work around a dud fifth starter - kinda. Two dud starters make things much more difficult.

    I believe the biggest reason for the recent bullpen moves was dissatisfaction with the recent blowing of big leads and the recognition that the bullpen wasn’t all it was thought to be. In other words, they are exploring alternate options and configurations. If similar juggling becomes necessary (even more so than it already is), what kind of reasonable maneuvering do we think could be explored?

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Cubdom needs to prepare themselves for Wicks to be sent to Iowa for Taillon to come up.
    Ben Brown has 4 appearances. Wicks has 4 appearances.
    Ben has 16.1 IP.  Wicks has 17 IP
    Ben was a 1.1 WHIP.  Wicks has a 1.7 WHIP. Wicks does have significantly more SOs. 
    Ben has been better, though.
    I love Wicks. I think he's a fighter and his stuff has improved.
    But, Jed isn't ditching Hendricks just yet. He should. But he won't.
    Hendricks should go to the IL and Taillon-Imanaga-Assad-Wicks-Brown should be the rotation.
    Wont' happen though.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    AZ Phil,
    Did you agree with the demotion of Luke Little? He'd been pretty good up until the AZ/wild pitch appearance. I know that can't jettison Smyly (just yet) so they didn't need another LHRP. Especially with Leiter effectively being a LHRP. I still thought he deserved to stay. It's not permanent. He'll be back. Lots of moves to come with Taillon, Steele and other guys coming and going.

    Also, do you see Hodge being able to "control/command" his stuff to get a chance this year?
    Is Arias better than Hodge?   Thanks