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

Cubs Trivia

I'm not sure if I'll have time to put up another edition of TCR Friday Notes, but I do have a double dose of Cubs trivia for you. Reader Jacos sent this one:
Who are (hopefully) the only three players ever to play for the Cubs, White Sox, Yankees and Mets?
And today's calendar questions was:
The Cubs first used a designated hitter on June 16, 1997, as Interleague Play was introduced that season. Who was the Cubs DH in that game?
As always, please attempt to answer without a web search.

Comments

lance johnson

nope

oh wait sorry, your answering the first one And that means Jacos gave me the wrong answer

on the second half, I'm torn between the Dave's, Hansen or Clark...I'll guess Dave Clark

there's 2 players then for the first question, I fixed the post (I hope that's it)

I will guess Trachsel for the first one and Zuleta for the second one.

I'm thinking Jose Vizcaino for the second question, but I don't remember if he ever played for the White Sox...

its not hoyt... i didnt even know he played for the cubs til i looked that up. cubs/wsox - ny giants for those like me that didnt know...he played 3 games for 3.7ip (in relief) in 1970 after being snagged off waivers in late sept. (21st) from ATL.

note: hoyt was traded back to ATL just 2 months later (nov. 21) for journeyman lefty 1st hal breeden.

k, just checked out breeden's minor league stats (yes, im that bored)...journeyman is a misnomer...more of a minor league fodder type who was in the braves (MIL and ATL) system for 9 years. he retired at age 31 in montreal after 75 only playing for them and the cubs in the bigs.

I think there are at least 3 players for the first question, but I won't name them since I had to do a little research on it... The first names that came to my mind on the first question were Rey Sanchez and Dave "King Kong" Kingman (my first Cubs hero).

Oops on Lance Johnson. Kingman never played for white sox, right time period though for the second player.

Er, I guess my answer was for the first question, but I checked and see I was wrong.

dick tidrow

Lance Johnson is correct, but no one has named the 2nd player Bogey was right on the 2nd question...Dave Clark

and just as I type that, km chimes in... 1) Lance Johnson and "Dirty" Dick Tidrow (hopefully that's it, I believe only 157 players have played for both the Cubs and White Sox btw) 2) Dave Clark

"There definitely is a third player for the first question" Damn you JACOS!!!! Email me the 3rd player if you don't mind... transplantedcubsfan AT charter DOT net

Well, I'll give you some hints. He is on your list that you posted of Cubs/White Sox players. He also has a common first name, but he doesn't spell it commonly.

Thanks, figured it out...I'll let others guess and I'll fix the post (once again)

Yeah that's my Cubs-Sox list, but it's a couple years old. Hopefully I'll get around to updating it this winter. As K says, there is a third player for the first question. Baseball-Reference.com actually has a tool that allows you to make lists like this: http://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/multifranchise.shtml No fair going there, running the search, and then posting the name.

Cubs/WSox list is up to 161 according to BR anyone want to guess the additions since 2003?

The website is awesome. I also like the "Oracle of Baseball" feature on there which links players through common teammates. Otherwise I would not know that you can get from Chief Sockalexis to Joe Wallis in six players.

Actually it looks like 3 additions since 2003 and Ruz missed Darren Lewis in the list he had.....

Rob G- I apologize to you and all the readers out there. I will make sure to give you a better question, in other words a correct question, in the future. But hey alot of traffic today.

I guess the better question would be who did NOT play for the Cubs, Wsox, yank...bleh.

But hey alot of traffic today. Yeah, a wreck will usually do that :)

awesome, I actually got Dave Clark when I read the question. NEVER would have gotten any of the four-teamer guys.

No one's guessing the 3 new Cubs/White Sox crossovers since 2003? 2 of them are pretty simple...

I thought the DH question was going to be a bit of a trick, ie a regular getting a day off (from the field). I haven't read all the recent posts this week so apologies if this has written, but the Cubs have indeed raised ticket prices again...a shock to no one I'm sure. I don't have the individual $'s handy but I know bleacher tix are going up yet again...supposedly only on "selected dates" which likely means all weekend games and those against Cards, W.Sux, interleague etc...they are now a ridiculous $42 per...I believe they were $35 last season. I guess it could be worse...White Sux are raising ticket prices too despite cutting payroll this year.

Aardsma too

and Howry

Aardsma & Cotts haven't played for the other team quite yet... Howry/Eyre are right though... One more...

Kenny Lofton

The first thing to pop in my head was Glendon Rusch, but I don't think he ever played on the Sox.

Wsox aren't quite that dumb... if it helps, said players Cubs career was pre-2004

Sosa.

Umm... probably not. Brainfart.

Josh Paul?

ben grieve?

Man, I remember when Slammin' Sammy hit those 66 HR's for the Yankee. what a year to remembe. I don't know if I could even come up with 3 guys who played for the White Nothings and the Cubs.... OK, I can do that, but all four of them? No cheating? Jay Johnstone?

Ross Gload?

*ding, ding, ding Ross Gload it is.... Cotts/Aardsma shall join them this year....

please detail Gload's Yankee experience... July 31, 2000: Traded by the Florida Marlins with Dave Noyce (minors) to the Chicago Cubs for Henry Rodriguez. January 21, 2002: Traded as part of a 3-team trade by the Colorado Rockies with Craig House to the New York Mets. arch 27, 2003: Traded by the Colorado Rockies to the Chicago White Sox for Wade Parrish (minors).

here are two players on 3 of the 4: Tom (Flash) Gordon Rich (Goose) Gossage ...I'm sure we can come up with many more 3 of 4'ers

another 3 of 4'er: Steve (Rainbow) Trout...I'm getting suspicious that the 3 of 4'ers seem to all have nicknames.

"Man, I remember when Slammin’ Sammy hit those 66 HR’s for the Yankee. what a year to remembe." Haha, I thought we were only naming WSOX/Cubs connections.

oops on gload being the answer to Question #1...still he's a 3 of 4'er....without a nickname

Lost in translation... This is what I asked... No one’s guessing the 3 new Cubs/White Sox crossovers since 2003? 2 of them are pretty simple… this was based off of Ruz's list of 156 Cubs/WSox players as of 2003 (which I believe actually was 157 as it appears he missed Darren Lewis) Eyre, Howry, Gload seem to be the only new ones to have played for both the Wsox and Cubs since the beginning of 2004. Cotts and Aardsma will join them this year

there are 26 players according to BR.com who played for the Yanks, Cubs and Wsox 13 who played for the Mets, Cubs and WSox

Has anyone bought MVP NCAA 07 yet? Is it worth it?

Gload's a 2 of 4'er, Cubs, White Sox and Rockies He never played a major league game for the Mets

I hear David Price kicks ass in it Carlos... or his digital representation with the same number

"I hear David Price kicks ass in it Carlos… or his digital representation with the same number." Heard that, too. I think there's a patch so you can play with real names and statistics.

Bogey: "I haven’t read all the recent posts this week so apologies if this has written, but the Cubs have indeed raised ticket prices again…a shock to no one I’m sure. I don’t have the individual $’s handy but I know bleacher tix are going up yet again…supposedly only on “selected dates” which likely means all weekend games and those against Cards, W.Sux, interleague etc…they are now a ridiculous $42 per…I believe they were $35 last season. I guess it could be worse…White Sux are raising ticket prices too despite cutting payroll this year." Yeah I mentioned this in my Cubs Convention recap. But the Cubs did not raise prices for season ticket holders. So I can't complain...:)

The Transaction Guy: Has anyone bought MVP NCAA 07 yet? Is it worth it? Can't buy it for PC. =(

no one wants to make games for the PC anymore unless its something where you play online for a fee or play one of the 10,000 command and conquer clones. High Heat Baseball 2003 was the last great PC baseball game, imo. 3-level minor leagues and the code wasnt just some CRAP port of the console menus onto PC...no...it was coded *FOR* play on the PC. you could sort through 30-50+ players on a screen when scouting your minors or other teams insted of seeing just 5-10 players on this huge GUI menu screen that's a headache to sort through. too bad the actual game itself is a bit flawed...a fast left handed guy bunting can get on base way too easily and the pitcher stamina is flakey and tends to overextend.

Anyone see Theriot's recent comments? Utility man Ryan Theriot has the potential to become the go-to guy for National League beat writers. During a "Not For Women Only" panel discussion, former Cubs pitcher Mike Bielecki asked several players to invent a baseball catch phrase for Viagra. Theriot's ad campaign: "Viagra -- I always play hard." Theriot, the former high school prom king, didn't hesitate when asked about his first makeout session ("Sixth grade … Jenny … back of the skating rink."), or his imaginary porn name (the radio hosts emceeing the session said to combine your pet's name with your street name; Theriot's was, "Gauge Classique"), or showing his rear when a 73-year-old woman from Lafayette, Ind., requested that the panel (Bielecki, Theriot, Marshall, Cotts and reliever Scott Eyre) show her their "assets." I love that crazy little dude. Hehe.

High Heat Baseball was my favorite game ever, PC or PS version (the pc verson was better though). It took very little tweaking to get it to act and play like something reasonbly close to an actual baseball game. Most games are either too easy to hit or too easy pitch or anything hit to the wall is still a single or crap like that. HH you'd lose control of your pitches as you got more tired, the singles wouldn't all land in the same spot, you couldn't just hit a himer by moving your joystick up.... Best baseball game ever..... The last EA MLB game for PS2 had fireworks at Wrigley, enough said....

I haven't played a good computer baseball game since Micro League baseball on my Commodore 64.

Wood's losing weight was mentioned in one of the Trib articles too, I didn't think he was overweight (I think Zambrano and Rusch are though), I am wondering what he looks like, 31lbs is a lot, he must have lost some muscle mass too.

Rosenthal didn't mention the Cubs as one of A-Rod's possible destinations if he declares free agency. It would be interesting to see if they go after him. The Cubs couldn't trade for him, at this point, though, they don't have what the Yankees would want, a 3rd basemen and a solid starter. I don't think they would take prospects for him.

According to yahoo and espn Wood is 6'5 225. Which would now put him at 195! He's going to look like Randy Johnson.

The Real Neal — February 10, 2007 @ 9:52 am Rosenthal didn’t mention the Cubs as one of A-Rod’s possible destinations if he declares free agency. It would be interesting to see if they go after him. The Cubs couldn’t trade for him, at this point, though, they don’t have what the Yankees would want, a 3rd basemen and a solid starter. I don’t think they would take prospects for him. ======================= REAL NEAL: If Carlos Zambrano loses his arbitration case (and I believe he almost certainly will), and gets pissed off and tells Hendry to go f**k himself, and if Hendry comes to believe he can't sign Z long-term, and if a number of Cubs starting pitcher candidates look good in ST, I don't think it is inconceivable that Hendry would consider trading Zambrano to NYY for A-Rod, should A-Rod choose to waive his "no trade." If the trade can wait until after June 15th, the Cubs could include Mark DeRosa in the deal (as a Type XX FA, he has an automatic "no trade" through June 15th), and he can certainly play 3B. In fact, DeRosa is probably a much better 3B than he is a 2B. If such a trade were to be made but the trigger had to be pulled prior to June 15th, the Cubs could offer Cesar Izturis to the Yanks as a temporary replacement for A-Rod at 3B. Izturis played 3B for the Dodgers last season before he was traded to the Cubs. Then the Yankees could make other arrangements for 3B at their leisure. Among FA 3B still unsigned, David Bell is available (and he would be serviceable, at least for what the Yankees would need him for), should it be just Z for A-Rod straight-up.  

I think it's better to give #21 up to a pitcher than to an outfielder (for instance) or anyone who would be compared to Sosa. It's like when Bobby Hill wore #17 after Mark Grace left. It kind of "washed" the number clean of it's predecessor, because Hill and Grace weren't comparable . What is still unclear is what will happen with Ted Lilly. He was told that #31 isn't available (even though it hasn't been officially retired), so he took #30. Then the Cubs signed Cliff Floyd, and (because of seniority) he will probably be able to wear his long-time #30. Which puts Lilly back into limbo again. I say let Lilly wear #31 as long as he's with the Cubs, then by the time leaves, Mad Dog will (probably) have retired, and the Cubs can retire #31 for good. 

If Z gets bent over his arbitration $, he's a bigger idiot than most peg him to be. The $ that's been tossed around (reportedly $11-12m) will be the largest arbitration awarded to a 5 yr eligible pitcher. I'd have to see the list of past awardees, but I can't imagine he's the best pitcher among that group even considering the salary inflation of this past off-season. What did D.Willis get...something like $6.5. Z's better than Willis but not twice as much. Levine interviewed Hendry on his show today. A lot of it centered around Prior, Hendry said "I'm optimistic on Mark's progress"...although he dodged whether Prior would be ready to go for the start of the season...claims trainer Mark O'Neill was very pleased with Prior's throwing session the other day. Dempster almost a lock to begin the season as closer even if Wood shows he's healthy and able to go in back to back days. Cubs are bringing in some defensive catching specialist named Mark De...something Italian...to work with Barrett. Levine noted that the proposed Direct TV deal will only net the 30 clubs about $3 m per year in revenue. and most interesting (to me anyway) is that apparently Mark Prior is double jointed in both his elbows and shoulders. Consequently it's a plus for getting superior extention on his pitches, but on the flipside, it leaves him more susceptible to injury. For whatever reason this is just now coming out and the Cubs and Prior have tried to hide it. It's certainly the first I've ever heard of it. Levine commented that since Prior's MRIs have showed no structural damage he's going to have to suck it up and cut it loose with discomfort regardless if an actual arm injury occurs as a result.

that whole "double jointed" thing was attributed to him when the "shoulder looseness" thing came about last year. never heard it attributed to his elbow, though...freaky. it was "blamed" for how his shoulder moves around easily in the socket area, though. no idea how this effects his motion, his release, or any pain.

"Cubs are bringing in some defensive catching specialist named Mark De…something Italian…to work with Barrett." It's probably Mark DiFelice.

Or Mike DiFelice, they're brothers.

no it's not DiFelice..he's still playing with the Mets at AAA I believe. It's someone I've never heard of and long removed from his playing days.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • 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...