Cubs MLB Roster

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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

This Rich Hill Kid Isn’t Too Bad

I didn't get to see yesterday's victory, but the Yahoo play-by-play and box score made it appear like we played a good, fundamentally sound game. I mean, a one-run win on a suicide squeeze, good starting pitching, solid bullpen work, an outfield assist and three hits by Cesar Izturis. And I'm in no mood to wake up from my daydream, so let me keep believing that we actually played a good game. As for this Rich Hill character, he seems to have one very troubling problem..... The San Diego Padres. Rich vs the Padres: 9 IP, 10.00 ERA, 7 HR Rich vs. the Rest of Baseball: 86 IP, 2.42 ERA, 8 HR And that second number even includes two less than spectacular outings versus the best offense in the NL (Phillies) and the East's best New York Mets who were second in runs scored when Hill faced them. Some trade rumors after the jump... The Sun-Times speculates that Jacque Jones could be moved by Monday to make room for a 12th pitcher and the likely suitors are the Padres, Rangers or White Sox. At this point, I think that Hendry and particularly Tribco would be thrilled to do anything to get his 2008 contract off the books. So something involving the Cubs paying the rest of his 2007 salary and some minor league roster fodder (hey David Aardsma and Andy Sisco aren't doing much) in exchange for JJ and his 2008 salary would probably thrill the powers that be at this point. And most of the fans. The same article says Izturis is on the trading block as well. Likely destinations include Timbuktu, the end zone in Giants Stadium, or maybe the Tigers need someone to keep Neifi busy on the bench.

Comments

the Yahoo play-by-play and box score made it appear like we played a good, fundamentally sound game. Izzy tried to muck it up with his glove --- dropped a ball hit directly into his mitt. We just failed to capitalize on the opportunity to Lose another close one yesterday.

There's been some bitching here about Soriano "wasting" home runs because they're solo shots. But teams that score first win about 2/3 of the time. And... "...The Cubs are 5-0 when Alfonso Soriano leads off a game with a home run, including two one-run victories and a two-run win" --- SunTimes

If only Jacque were hitting even .250 with ANY power at all... he'd actually be worth something. Unfortunately, it won't be much more than a salary dump. Addition by subtraction, I suppose. Again.

Is there any chance we'll pick up a #1 catcher by the All Star break? I keep having hopes of Griffey in RF, a real catcher behind the plate, a healthy Aramis Ramierez at 3b, and our Cajuns handling ss and 2b day-after-day. Oh, and a national league pennant flying at Wrigley on opening day 2008. Pipe dreams, right?

cwtp. that is a good point, and one that i had not thought of. leading off the game with a homer must also make the team a little bit more relaxed and with the feeling that "this game is ours". i wonder what team's records are when leading off with a home run.

Well, the Baltimore papers are starting to say goodbye to Miguel Tejada. The consensus seems to be that he is out of there after he gets back from the DL here shortly. Hes not helping them be contenders...excuse me, I just threw up in my mouth a little...and they need as much help as they can get. I think Tejada would be a nice addition to the Cubs, and I think he could be acquired in a trade for next to nothing. Izturis or maybe Cedeno and a few pitchers. Pay the Orioles a bunch of money for his salary and you have him. Plus, McPhail is now in Baltimore. But that might be a negative. I dunno. Its worth a look.

"I keep having hopes of Griffey in RF..." Yeah, Griffey if we get him for JJones, Izzy, and Eyre. Getting a nearly--38 year-old OF with major career DL time is not my idea of a smart acquisition - nor management's most likely. This team FINALLY has some youngsters with promise showing their colors. It would be great to hang on to most of them (pitchers, especially) unless the team gets something of real value that will help them to a championship.

"Since getting no-hit by Detroit's Justin Verlander on June 12, Milwaukee has gone 9-1." Yahoo Sports It is going to make it very difficult to win the division when the team you are chasin' keeps winning... Captain Obvious, once said.

I don't think JJ's contract will impede the sale of the Cubs in 2008. Its hard to figure out what the Trib is thinking, or planning. Do they want to want go out guns a blazing trying for a World Series or sit still and play it out, their m.o for the most of their tenure. Like I said I don't think any adding or subtracting of contracts will make this team any less or more valuable to the likes of the potential owners (Cuban, random billionaire) that will be lining up to put their bids in at the end of the season. The real sub plot in the sale is the T.V. rights and the fact that Wrigley Field (like batteries for a toy) is being sold separately.

*Well, the Baltimore papers are starting to say goodbye to Miguel Tejada. The consensus seems to be that he is out of there after he gets back from the DL here shortly.* Doesn't Tejada have a broken wrist? Don't the Cubs already have one guy who doesn't hit homers anymore after he broke his wrist? Pass.

Hill had a great day. His curve was twistier than Hendry's logic until he hit the wall in the sixth. He was mad, too, a competitive SOB. The Sox announcers commented on how buried JJ was when they were digging up people off the bench in the exciting ninth. They've got him on ice for his new employer.

Yesterday, the Arizona/Baltimore game featured Augie Ojeda and Freddie Bynum as your starting shortstops. Juan Cruz got the win.

the I-Cubs beat up the Albuquerque Isotopes saturday 15-0 EPat was 3-6 (.297); Cedeno 4-6 (.364), Hoffpauir 3-4 (.330), Orange Guy 3-4, 2 doubles a walk (.269)...even light hitting catcher Tony Richie went 3-5 with a HR and a double. Iowa is 43-31 and are a half game ahead of Nashville (Brewers)

lineup (from WSCR)...Marshall vs Contreras Soriano, Fontenot, DLee, ARam (DH), Floyd, Pagan (CF), DeRosa (3B), KHill, Izturis Pie gets a day off, JJones still packed in dry ice

johann...great find. i think that lou just has a really hard time with boneheaded baseball play, especially with the catcher. as the article states, he is willing to give up offense for good pitcher handling by his catcher. barrett was probably one the worst possible catchers in the league for lou to have to manage. i don't think we got nearly enough in return for him, but the trade had to be made, especially in light of barrett as rat story.

perusing it..... Daryle Ward leads the world in pinch-hit walks this year.

trans...thanks i looked there at espn, but couldn't find it, so very good...

and damn, you weren't kidding about the walks. his batting average as a pinch hitter is 211 and his obp is 423 ! wow

michaelweaselo — June 24, 2007 @ 7:32 am Well, the Baltimore papers are starting to say goodbye to Miguel Tejada. The consensus seems to be that he is out of there after he gets back from the DL here shortly. Hes not helping them be contenders…excuse me, I just threw up in my mouth a little…and they need as much help as they can get. I think Tejada would be a nice addition to the Cubs, and I think he could be acquired in a trade for next to nothing. Izturis or maybe Cedeno and a few pitchers. Pay the Orioles a bunch of money for his salary and you have him. Plus, McPhail is now in Baltimore. But that might be a negative. I dunno. Its worth a look. =========================== MICHAEL: If you're OK with playing Miguel Tejada at SS, then why not just move Mark DeRosa there when Aramis Ramirez goes back to 3B? DeRosa's OPS is 780 and Tejada's is 783, so why pay for Miggy when DeRosa would be almost just as good? DeRosa is a natural SS, has played 138 MLB games at SS in his career, and while he certainly isn't Omar Vizquel, and although he has below average range for the position (as does Tejada, BTW), DeRosa does not make a lot of errors (he actually has made more errors playing 3B than he ever did at SS) and he has a decent arm. DeRosa would be as good a defender (or maybe even better) at SS than Tejada is at this point in his career, and a better defender at SS than Nomar was when the Cubs got him, too. And like Nomar, Miggy is getting VERY close to a move to another position, like maybe to 1B or maybe even DH. Neither Tejada nor DeRosa (nor Nomar circa 2004) are ideal defensive shortstops, but if you believe Tejada is an acceptable defender there and you can live with his below-average defense in exchange for what he provides offensively, then ditto DeRosa. I was more than willing to give Cesar Izturis a chance to show that he could be the shortstop he was in 2004 (because if you can get plus-defense from your SS with some XBHs,and SBs out of the #8 hole, that's great), but he has obviously lost a step and (with that) some of his range, and is simply not the player who hit nine triples and stole 25 bases while winning a Gold Glove for the Dodgers in '04. So it's time to move in another direction, and right now, that would be either DeRosa, Theriot, or Cedeno. And I would be willing to give DeRosa a shot at playing SS after Aramis Ramirez comes back, and go with Mike Fontenot as the everyday 2B for a while, at least until such time as Eric Patterson can (hopefully) make himself at least passably-adequate enough defensively at 2B to take the job and hit #2 in the order (and unlike Felix Pie, E-Pat IS a legitimate #2 hitter, and he can hit left-handed pitchers, too). I believe E-Pat's best position would be LF or maybe CF, but if he stays with the Cubs--because Soriano will probably be playing LF through 2014 and Pie will be playing CF until about the same time--he will have to play 2B. Eric Patterson is a VERY good (multi-talented) offensive player, certainly better than big brother Corey, and (at least right now) better than Felix Pie, too, and quite possibly even good enough that his maddening "Shaky Jake" defensive shortcomings can be overlooked. Likewise, I am willing to keep an open-mind about Ronny Cedeno at SS for 2008, although I would leave him at Iowa for most-all of 2007 to get him maximum ABs and PT at AAA, since he will be out of minor league options next ST.

I agree with Phil, take a pass on Tejada... I wasn't aware that DeRosa could play short but I do think Cedeno deserves the chance... A trade that I would make and could be do-able: Iztruis to the Red Sox for Wily Mo Pena. Sports Illustrated just listed the biggest underacheivers in MLB, listing Wily Mo right up there with Kerry Wood. The guy has tools, he's unhappy in Boston and he can't be any worse than Jones. He'd definetely be a defensive upgrade over Floyd. That said, Lugo is struggling with the stick and they don't have another true shortstop on the roster. Can't see why Boston wouldn't do it... As for yesterday-we had good pitching, good defense, good baserunning and the game was well managed. Man, I love a 2-1 win. On another note, I'm curious what Phil thinks of Scott Moore. Could he play rightfield? I see where he has decent power numbers, decent ob%. He seemed athletic enough. We could use some left handed power of course. It doesn't appear he's played any outfield this year...

MAd Town - word is leaking out. I know who it is, but until it's official (the kids haven't been notified yet) I would hope that the name doesn't get spread around further. That said, I've already written the relevant article, and it will be up, at the appropriate time.

carmenfanzone — June 24, 2007 @ 11:18 am On another note, I’m curious what Phil thinks of Scott Moore. Could he play rightfield? I see where he has decent power numbers, decent ob%. He seemed athletic enough. We could use some left handed power of course. It doesn’t appear he’s played any outfield this year… =============================== CARMEN: Scott Moore played quite a bit of LF at the end of ST in minor league camp, and he has played some LF at Iowa this season, too. He also played some LF in the AFL last Fall. Moore is an athletic player with some pop who can play multiple-positions, and those kinds of guys usually can find work in MLB. However, he is also still very raw, and he will probably need two years of AAA, so that his (permanent) MLB ETA could well be as late as Opening Day 2009. If he remains with the Cubs, I would project him as a possible corner IF-OF back-up type guy, sort of along the lines of Rob Mackowiak Geoff Blum, or Jason Smith, but for him to make it as an everyday player, it will probably be at 3B, and so (obviously) not with the Cubs. Because he's blocked at 3B by Ramirez, at 1B by D-Lee, and in LF by Soriano, I believe Moore is one Cubs prospect who will very likely be used in a trade at some point in the not-too-distant future. As far as RF is concerned, it's likely that the Cubs (as of right now) project Soriano-Pie-Colvin as their future LF-CF-RF.

"Says there is sad news involving a former Cubs pitcher and the details will be released later today." That is some poor journalism. If you cannot say who it is do not mention it. All that does is create speculation on who it is and it gets leaked out before family is properly notifed of it. Gonalez really put a blackmark on my future profression with this one.

its a blog, not a true article. doubt an editor signed off on that one.

The trib took down that story.. good for them. I hope Gonzalez gets fired.

Thanks Phil I did notice that Colvin was promoted to AA. Looks like a good pick thus far...

probably should know better...its a bit of baiting without substance and since they "clear" comments before posting them to their official blog the whole thing has probably been more trouble than its worth.

Miggy's next move will likely be 3b... That being said, Cubs just won't be taking on anyone with a contract past 2007. If you want to guess on Cubs acquisitions, look for guys who are free agents after this year or guys like Bowen who are super-cheap and a bunch of club control years left. Torii Hunter and Rowand wouldn't suprise me because if the Cubs get back in this (and they get to play the Nats and Pirates right before the break), they're going to start wondering if they can live with Pie doing nothing at the plate (which will hopefully change). There's just not a decent hitting SS who's a FA next year, unless you like Omar Vizquel. Shame we couldn't talk Greene out of the Padres, at least he has some pop and nice glovework. Alex Gonzalez redux basically. Love to get Gagne from the Rangers but the price sounds steep.

I stumbled across that Trib blog yesterday for the first time. It seems far more informative than their regular articles. Like the plan to tear apart the Wrigley playing service when the new owner takes over.

crunch — June 24, 2007 @ 11:57 am probably should know better…its a bit of baiting without substance and since they “clear” comments before posting them to their official blog the whole thing has probably been more trouble than its worth ========================== CRUNCH: The Tribune Company should leave blogging to us professionals. Irresponsible Provocative Speculation is what we do for a living.

the tribune company should buy all major blog outlets, hire incompetent staff and underfund the project..."prove" that the erosion of traditional media outlets is a danger to information in society. then take us all out for a paris hilton movie! yeah!

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.  morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

  • 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.