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, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-18-2024
 
* 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
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL: 
* Justin Steele, P   

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Good News and a Mid-Day Buzz-Kill

Submitted by Cubnut on

Tonight when the Braves visit the Mets, former Cub Rick Sutcliffe will be in the ESPN broadcast booth for the first time since he was diagnosed with colon cancer during spring training. Sutcliffe, who has been receiving chemotherapy and radiation, is scheduled for surgery on June 16th, which he hopes will lead to a clean bill of health.

On an infinitely more mundate note, Dayn Perry at foxsports.com argues that the Cub Express must be seen as wobbly, given that Ryan Dempster appears to be pitching with a rabbit's foot or similar in his pocket--Dempster's .211 batting average against on Balls in Play is way below the normal .290-.300 range--Carlos Marmol is on pace for an ungodly number of innings pitched, and Jason Marquis is just not very good.

Perry does, however, end on this semi-upbeat note:

If they do get to the postseason, then they'll have the kind of team that's built to succeed in that environment. Teams with good defenses, high-strikeout pitching staffs, and dominating closers tend to do well in the playoffs, and all of that describes this year's Cubs model.

...the team defense has been exceptional, and the pitching staff ranks third in the NL in whiffs. As for the closer thing, Kerry Wood has looked strong save for two isolated bad outings. If he continues to grow into the role, then the Cubs will have a real shot at ending their comically long title drought.

Of course, unless the pitching holds up, they won't get the chance.

Tags
Ryan Dempster
Cubs Statistics
Rick Sutcliffe

Comments

Submitted by big_lowitzki on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:58 pm

Jason Marquis is just not very good. Wait... you mean our 5th starter is not very good? Shocking. How many teams have "very good" 5th starters? And of course Perry ignores the fact that Hill (who WILL probably get better) and Marshall are in AAA and can step in to the rotation, and Kevin Hart isn't far behind.

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Submitted by Cubnut on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:24 pm

I don't think the issue is that we need a Cy Young candidate pitching in the fifth spot.

The issue is that, if one assumes Zambrano and Lilly are solid, then you have: the control-challenged and arguably very lucky Dempster; the unproven Gallagher and Hart: Hill, who, by his manager's own acknowledgement, is so messed up that he could benefit from a stress break on the Disabled List; and Sean Marshall.

That's why I think at least a little anxiety is warranted.

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Submitted by 433 on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:02 pm

Yeah, and Dempster has thrown 63 innings, that's 189 outs. It's a large enough sample size that no statistician is going to easliy conclude that mere luck is involved. Put differently, at this point in the season it seems more reasonable to conclude that something has improved in Dempster's game than to conclude that he's simply been lucky for 2 months. And while we're at it, going into the 2008 season, the odds of Dempster being this good/hot were probably about the same as Hill crapping the bed and being dumped down to AAA. Similarly, the odds of Howry sucking and Eyre being injured were probably about the same as Wood staying healthy and Marmol continuing to be excellent. This stuff tends to even out -- it's not like the Cubs have caught nothing but good breaks this year.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:17 pm

a .211 BABIP is virtually impossible....

The league leader the last two years was Chris Young (Welcome to Petco) and he had a .237 in 2006 and .265 in 2008. Most pitchers are around the .300 mark.  Even if he bucks the trend to something like a .270 to .280 BABIP, that'll do considerable damage to his ERA.

 

 

Submitted by JohnT on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:20 pm

I wonder how many more "not very good" outings we will have to wait until Marshall is added to the rotation. I have been a fan of Marshall for a while, and I believe that he has more upside than does Rich Hill. Maybe it wont be too much longer and the Cubs will be willing to eat that terrible contract of Marquis.

Submitted by billybucks on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:30 pm

Who in the division has better overall pitching? Astros have Oswalt, Valverde and nothing else, Brewers have Sheets and nothing else, Cards seem to be doing it with mirrors and Izzy is a mess. Maybe the Reds -- if Arroyo gets turned around and the kids keep pitching well, plus they've got Cordero in the pen.

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Submitted by nohit on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:22 pm

Heh. I came up with some of those names. I was quick to drop Prior and Trachsel from consideration, though. ;) Burnett seems possible. Others in the maybe pile are Jason Jennings (really doing badly this year, but so are the Rangers), Odalis Perez (ditto, s/Rangers/Nats/), and if the White Sox put away their division, perhaps we'll see Livan Hernandez (actually doing pretty well this year) or CC Sabathia (change to the NL might do him good). More... Randy Wolf, Kip Wells, Brett Tomko... All of a sudden, our Iowa crew is looking pretty competitive. :-)

Submitted by navigator on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:25 pm

Well, I would argue with Dayn about the pace the Cubs are on. It seems to me that if we keep the present winning percentages (19-8, 9-10) up we would win ~57 at home and ~38 on the road and that adds up to a more reasonable 94-95 not 100+.

Submitted by nohit on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:01 pm

Yesterday the winning percentage was .622, which equates to 100 wins. The Cubs won't be able to sustain that, but it's a nice dream.

Submitted by Mike Wellman on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:44 pm

the biggest & brightest of the red flags waved in the article is Marmol's workload; he is money that can't just be spent; some of it [him] must be saved for later, but how do you NOT use him?

Submitted by jacos on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:41 pm

Understood Doc! After three days rest- Apr 22 NYM W 8-1 - 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 14.1 1.88 Apr 21 NYM W 7-1 - 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 13.1 2.02 After 4 days rest- Apr 30 MIL W 19-5

Submitted by jacos on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:47 pm

So to finish my thought, Lou needs to plan that the Cubs will finish big in games and there for does not need Marmol in some close games. GOT IT!?!!? I just hope the kid's arm doesn 't fall off.

Submitted by Dmac on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:05 pm

Me, too - I worry that his overuse in the early part of this season may reap bad dividends if someone else doesn't step up soon. It'd be nice if our veterans like Weurtz and Eyre could start to show something - Weurtz has almost as many innings as Marmol at this point, but his performance has been kind of fugly.

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Submitted by Mister Whipple on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:04 pm

I think this is a very fair question. If I remember correctly, PAP is not a Chadball™ approved stat; nonetheless, I would be interested in some sort of PAP-like stat that looked at relief pitchers. PAP relies heavily on pitch count which for a relief pitcher is obviously not a reliable thing to measure when attempting to gauge potential for injury. Any of you freakin' geniuses have any ideas on how this could be assessed?

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Submitted by crunch on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:03 pm

you gotta use a LOT of special characters and some real basement rocking algorithms. seriously, though...best way to know what you got is to use it and see how it reacts. its not an exact science, then again neither is treating every pitcher like they have the same body/genetics/build. long story short...there is no sure thing, just guidelines to feel out what you got...rest is pushing it to find the dude's ceiling and stamina.

Submitted by Chad on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:19 pm

WTMF? Cubs Theriot, SS Fukudome, RF Lee, 1B Ramirez, 3B Hoffpauir, LF Soto, C Edmonds, CF DeRosa, 2B Gallagher, P is this abomination true?

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Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:52 pm

it's may...there's nothing important about today's game.

Left Field in Houston is pretty easy, I mean Carlos Lee almost looks good out there and the Pirates throw 3 lefties verse us this weekend. If they wanted to give him a day off, today was the day. You definitely don't want Hoffpauir out there in PNC Park.

Lou keeps trying to give Derrek one I heard, but I'm guessing Derrek keeps telling him to put him in.

 

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Submitted by crunch on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 05:47 pm

theriot/fukudome/dlee/aram.... lou does read TCR... now if he could only apply that when soriano is back. the 2hr .400 ob% guy batting 2nd...a 10hr .300 ob% guy not leading off... fuku has more SB than soriano, fwiw...which is just about nothing since its only 1. still... and yeah, i could care less who's sick of soriano-batting-1st or not...and yes, i know he's probably still gonna be leading off...maybe this year he'll get more RBIs than extra base hits.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    happ, right hamstring tightness, day-to-day (hopefully 0 days).

    he will be reevaluated tomorrow.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I guess I'm not looking for that type of AB 

    Just a difference of opinion

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    I don’t see Tauchman as a weak link in any position. He simply adds his value in a different way.

    I don’t know that we gain much by putting him in the outfield - Happ, Bellinger and Suzuki and Tauchman all field their positions well. If you’re looking for Taucnman’s kind of AB in a particular game I don’t see why it can’t come from DH.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Tauchman gets a pinch hit RBI single with a liner to RF. This is his spot. He's a solid 4th OF. But he isn't a DH. 

    He takes pitches. Useful. I still believe in having good hitters.

    You don't want your DH to be your weak link (other than your C maybe)

  • crunch (view)

    bit of a hot take here, but i'm gonna say it.

    the 2024 marlins don't seem to be good at doing baseballs.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Phil, will the call up for a double header restart that 15 days on assignment for a pitcher? Like will wesneski’s 15 days start yesterday, or if he’s the 27th man, will that mean 15 days from tomorrow?

    I hope that makes sense. It sounds clearer in my head.

  • Charlie (view)

    Tauchman obviously brings value to the roster as a 4th outfielder who can and should play frequently. Him appearing frequently at DH indicated that the team lacks a valuable DH. 

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Totally onboard with your thoughts concerning today’s lineup. Not sure about your take on Tauchman though.

    The guy typically doesn’t pound the ball out out of the park, and his BA is quite unimpressive. But he brings something unique to the table that the undisciplined batters of the past didn’t. He always provides a quality at bat and he makes the opposing pitcher work because he has a great eye for the zone and protects the plate with two strikes exceptionally well. In addition to making him a base runner more often than it seems through his walks, that kind of at bat wears a pitcher down both mentally and physically so that the other guys who may hit the ball harder are more apt to take advantage of subsequent mistakes and do their damage.

    I can’t remember a time when the Cubs valued this kind of contribution but this year they have a couple of guys doing it, with Happ being the other. It doesn’t make for gaudy stats but it definitely contributes to winning ball games. I do believe that’s why Tauchman has garnered so much playing time.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Miles Mastrobuoni cannot be recalled until he has spent at least ten days on optional assignment, unless he is recalled to replace a position player who is placed on an MLB inactive list (IL, Paternity, Bereavement / Family Medical). 

     

    And for a pitcher it's 15 days on optional assignment before he can be recalled, unless he is replacing a pitcher who is placed on an MLB inactive list (IL, Paternity, or Bereavement / Family Medical). 

     

    And a pitcher (or a position player, but almost always it's a pitcher) can be recalled as the 27th man for a doubleheader regardless of how many days he has been on optional assignment, but then he must be sent back down again the next day. 

     

    That's why the Cubs had to wait as long as they did to send Jose Cuas down and recall Keegan Thompson. Thompson needed to spend the first 15 days of the MLB regular season on optional assignment before he could be recalled (and he spent EXACTLY the first 15 days of the MLB regular season on optional assignment before he was recalled). 

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Indeed they do TJW!

    For the record I’m not in favor of solely building a team through paying big to free agents. But I’m also of the mind that when you develop really good players, get them signed to extensions that buy out a couple years of free agency, including with team options. And supplement the home grown players with free agent splashes or using excess prospects to trade for stars under team control for a few years. Sort of what Atlanta does, basically. Everyone talks about the dodgers but I feel that Atlanta is the peak organization at the current moment.

    That said, the constant roster churn is very Rays- ish. What they do is incredible, but it’s extremely hard to do which is why they’re the only ones frequently successful that employ that strategy. I definitely do not want to see a large market team like ours follow that model closely. But I don’t think free agent frenzies is always the answer. It’s really only the Dodgers that play in that realm. I could see an argument for the Mets too. The Yankees don’t really operate like that anymore since the elder Steinbrenner passed. Though I would say the reigning champions built a good deal of that team through free agent spending.

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