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

TCR Friday Notes

I actually wasn't going to do one today, but after spending all morning working on something for the site, I felt the need to unveil it upon you all. But first... - Dayn Perry HATES the Cubs. The article ranges from the absurd to the obvious. My favorite gem:
(Derrek) Lee must stay healthy. While it's not likely he'll ever again be as dominant as he was in 2005, he is capable of returning to his typical "very good but not great" self. Provided he avoids injury.
While certainly there's truth behind the statement, who's really worried about him getting injured? A bad luck broken bone last year and we're walking on eggshells with him all of sudden? Didn't Sammy Sosa get hit by a pitch in 1996 that prematurely ended his season? Was everyone freaking out that he'll never be able to play a full season again? - Well you can't accuse the Cubs and Tribco of being corporate douchebags (at least not all the time). Here's a bit from Rusch's agent Tony Tanzer (emphasis added):
"He could stop taking his medication and play now, but he would have a recurrence," Tanzer said. "His plans are for 2008." Tanzer said the Cubs would be his first choice, just because they tried to keep him on the roster this season for one more year of service time toward retirement benefits. "Loyalty begets loyalty," Tanzer said. "He hopes to come [to Chicago] this spring and maybe work some in spring."
Apparently Hendry is a big fan of "My Name is Earl", time to payback all the bad karma in your life (or at least try). - In other reading, Wrigleyville 23 gives us the real story behind the Cliff Floyd signing, we're up to 116 on The Bottom 126 Cubs of all-time, Jeff Sackman of "Beyond the Boxscore" runs a Cubs preview using PECOTA as a prediction tool and comes up with 86 to 90 wins for us next year and "The Transaction Guy" has migrated to MVN.com finally (written by someone you know in the comments). - My morning project was this page, you can now easily add TCR stories to your favorite RSS reader or personal web page, even get stories emailed to you or sent to your cellphone(they'll be no more excuses for not reading us). Let me know if you think I should add any other sites and there will be a link to that page in the Author's Box sometime soon. Next on my agenda, is a "Stats" page, you'll see what I mean when I get it done.

Comments

I still think his FoxSports mug shot makes him look like Cillian Murphy would if he sucked down a bag of donuts a day.

Dayn Perry has no clue what he's talking/writing about. He only gets credibility because his co-writer at Fox Sports, Ken Rosenthal, is one of the best.

I think the Cubs are in a weaker position then they should be considering how much they spent....does that mean I hate the Cubs? In all seriousness, that article was pretty lame...but my biggest contention is with the idea that the Cubs pitchers need to throw the most strikeouts. Hogwash...what they need to do is throw less walks. If that means less K's, and a few more errors...I'm still all for it.

This is the guy who "ranked" the GM's. I remember at the time I stated that we should rate internet baseball writers and send it to him!

Dayn Perry is yet another alleged sabermetrician "smart guy" who thinks he has all the answers. To him, baseball is played via a video game. I'd be shocked if he's ever set foot on a real live baseball diamond, either as a kid or growing up. He was the kid picked last in gym class.

Such Angst. The funny thing is that he even got some of his sabermatics wrong, the Cubs by those measures were a pretty good fielding team last year and expect to be better this year - with a full year of Izturis, Lee and Soriano.

"A bad luck broken bone last year and we’re walking on eggshells with him all of sudden?" True dat Rob. There's also this gem from today's BP chat with Kevin Goldstein: "dills! (chicago): how bad are my beloved and hated Cubs going to be this year? Can they make 75 wins? Kevin Goldstein:They can make 75 wins. Probably not much more than that." 75 wins? With Soriano and A-Ram and Lee and Zambrano, in a severely depleted NL Central? Even for BP that's pretty pessimistic, I think we can at least pull in a winning season!

“dills! (chicago): how bad are my beloved and hated Cubs going to be this year? Can they make 75 wins? Kevin Goldstein:They can make 75 wins. Probably not much more than that.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey, that's MY last name. But that's not me. I'm gonna shake the family tree and take down that pessimist.

KG's a good baseball man, but i dunno about that cubs projection...seems a little negative from an objective view. you'd have to discount all the additions as negatives (soriano excluded) and project dlee/aram for being less-than-expected contributors...

they can say all they want, it'll be decided on the field, but i don't see how they don't see how potent that lineup can and will be.

I can't remember which Dayn Perry column from last fall included his calling someone out for being out of shape but it made me chuckle as I scrolled back up to gaze at his pasty fat-fuck face, made all the more appealing by those stupid art-nerd glasses the dipshit wears. Dude needs to lay off the complimentary donuts in the FoxSports.com lounge. This week he's got a picture of Hendry in the article, thereby setting up innumerable "Seperated at Birth?" jokes.

"Jacque Jones must be platooned. Religiously. Jones has never been able to hit lefties, and with Matt Murton on the roster (and now out of a starting job) there's no need to run him out there against port-siders. " What exactly does he mean by out of a starting job? I thought Nurton is expected to get 400 or so at bats next year? "Kerry Wood needs to work out of the bullpen and eventually become the closer. Wood isn't warming to the idea of pitching in relief, but it's clear he'll never be able to stay healthy as a starter. Giving him the closer's job should sate his ego. " I thought Kerry Wood pretty much made it clear that he understood that if he is to make a comeback he'll have to do it from the bullpen. At least initially. And I can't disagree more about putting Soriano in the middle of the line up. He belongs in the lead-off spot. His OBP has always been higher when batting out of the one spot. In addition, when it comes to his home run numbers, RBI #'s and SLG. he's at his best when he's batting lead-off.

These guys are such Cub-haters. There are question marks on the Cubs sure, but what NL team doesn't have plenty? The fact is, the NL has less quality and more parity right now than I can ever remember. Anyone that is a .500 quality team has a very real shot at the pennant, and IMO, the Cubs are a .500 quality team. Further, while these guys want to harp on the Cubs weak spots, how about their strengths? Deepest bullpen in the division, second deepest (behind SD) in the league. There will be no less than 10 (!) pitchers in camp with big league starting experience, and each either has a track record of putting up quality numbers at some point as a ML starter, or is a bona-fide high ceiling prospect. Look at the pitching disasters waiting to happen in NY and especially, St Louis. You think they might like some of our pitching depth? Offensively, the move to CF by Soriano makes the Cubs a MUCH more potent offense. I count three guys in the starting lineup with 40+ HR, 100+ RBI track records, three others with 300+ BA track records (Murton, Jones and Barrett), and depending on playing time, Jones and Floyd are each 20+ HR, 80+ RBI guys. Oh yeah, and while no all-star, Mark DeRosa has a bit of pop, too. The 2007 Cubs shape up as a pretty decent team, I wouldn't be all THAT excited were we in the American League, but we're not. Let's take the NL Central crown and see where things go in October.

Silent Towel -- Get Help. First you take every opportunity to you can to scream "pussy" at some "millionaire athlete" who fails to meet your standards (despite the fact that you are completely ignorant about the healing arts and all things medical). Having trashed your own credibility as an insightful, intelligent person, we now get to hear your critiques of the Cubs' GM, farm system executives and a sport journalist, and -- surprise!! -- we hear more schoolyard insults ("He was the kid picked last in gym class"). Sounds like someone who feels -- inadequate. Stop overcompensating. We don't care how small it is.

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.