Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus one player is 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 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* 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: 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
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Soler vs. the Cubans

by CubsfaninCA

There have been a lot of opinions on the floor and ceiling for Jorge Soler since he started his career. Most agreed that he had a solid floor, but opinions on the ceiling varied and he was even described as “possibly the best in the organization, might be better than Bryant.”  I think it’s safe to say that’s not going to be the case. (If it is, he’s got some catching up to do this year already.) With most players you could easily pull up some players for comparison, but Cuban players generally have different developmental paths than most major leaguers do.

Soler has passed the 300 PA mark, so it’s typically safe to say a lot of his numbers are stabilizing to some point. He’s been heating up lately so maybe he’d fare better if I waited a couple more weeks, 300 is a nice round number. We can thus take some similar Cuban players over their first 300 PA--I actually used their first 72 games, in most cases about the same--and see how they worked out. Obviously there are some apples to oranges, especially considering the advanced age of players like Jose Abreu, but these are the 12 other significant Cuban players still in the league compared against Soler. The left side of the chart is their career numbers (thus far) and the right side is how they fared after their first 72 games, ranked by their OPS after those 72 games.

Player, Age at DebutGPABBKAVGOBPSLGOPS GPABBKAVGOBPSLGOPS
Yasiel Puig (22)2631122108228.304.386.501.886 723082469.345.406.553.959
Jose Abreu (26)19181961169.308.372.556.929 723081974.280.331.624.955
Yoenis Cespedes (26)4681971126417.265.315.465.780 722982063.308.362.531.894
Yunel Escobar (24)11204615410525.278.348.381.729 722691631.331.378.437.815
Yasmani Grandal (23)251909129196.251.358.422.779 722763746.280.373.426.799
Jose Iglesias (21)1866163090.289.342.371.714 722201335.313.373.419.792
Jorge Soler (22)???????? 723012191.277.329.464.792
Alexei Ramirez (26)11214568216546.275.311.401.712 72241732.311.329.461.790
Leonys Martin (23)377131979261.259.309.370.679 721661032.258.309.430.739
Yonder Alonso (23)4311512134228.275.340.398.738 721391134.283.345.449.734
Kendrys Morales (26)7663024209532.273.327.461.789 722572035.242.301.398.699
Adeiny Hechavarria (23)384148068246.258.292.339.631 722551149.232.269.367.636
Brayan Pena (23)557170290189.260.299.358.657 72132417.227.250.313.563


One of the numbers not on the chart is doubles, which is the one thing Soler has done more than any of them. He has 20 doubles over his first 72 games, next nearest is Puig and Abreu at 17. He’s also 4
th in homers (9) after Abreau (26!), Cespedes (14) and Puig (12). I think it’s safe to say his home run output has been disappointing thus far, but he has been driving the ball to the gaps and making a lot of hard outs. The one number that jumps out is the strikeouts: he is by far and away the leader (91) with only Abreu coming close (74). That is a bit worrisome.

So can we predict what kind of player Soler might be? If you go by these numbers, the closest players he profiles to are Alexei Ramirez, Yonder Alonso, and Yasmani Grandal. Decent players, but their numbers are not what you’d expect from an offensive position like RF. You could also make the argument that Soler was a year younger than Alonso and Grandal and 4 years younger than Ramirez when he made his debut, so he’s got more growing to do.

Who would we like him to be?--well, obviously Abreu and Puig. Abreu is an outlier and started at 26 and is in a class all of his own. Puig had a ridiculous start to his career and has cooled off since, not doing well in the playoffs and injured most of this year, so I’m not sure I’d like to have him right now instead of Soler. Cespedes? Yes, that’s fine please: 20-25 HR, .260-.280, with a great arm, although you’d hope he could produce a higher OBP than Cespedes has.   

I think the bottom line is his ceiling is definitely not in Kris Bryant territory, and we’ll probably have to be happy with the line above as a relatively cheap, young RF who has a cannon for an arm in RF. I’ll take that line in our lineup after Rizzo/Bryant/Schwarber any day of the week.    

 

Comments

Thanks for the comps. I think his youth and inexperience are in his favor and that his ceiling will be closer to what he did when he broke in. I think the numbers are skewed a bit because pitchers are pounding the outside bottom corner and he hasn't successfully adjusted. If he doesn't, that'll really drop the ceiling. I happen to think he will and I'll think his OPS will be closer to Puig's than Alexei Ramirez. Remember, Puig's competition in Cuba was much more polished. Soler I think never played more than 60 games in a season, sometimes as few as 40. He really is still a pretty inexperienced guy. I'll even argue that as the season winds down, since he's never been through the long grind of a full season, his numbers may actually get worse. Next year may be his breakout year, but I think he'll be fine in the long run.

One of the beat reporters - sorry it was on my flipboard news app on my phone so I don't remember who - mentions Schwarber and Baez as candidates for DH for the upcoming AL games. Schwarber would be interesting. It would give them an extra catcher to play with. Of course, that would go against the Theo Rule of X number of AAA at bats, but, well, that was all a ruse anyway to extend Bryant's service time. EDIT - actually I think all that talk from Theo about AAA at bats was during the discussions about bringing up Baez or not. Scratches head, trying to remember.

we’ll probably have to be happy with the line above as a relatively cheap
I think you are being a bit too kind to Soler and not capturing the whole story by looking at the players' first 72 games. The scouting reports have come back for Soler and he has been unable to adjust to what pitchers have been giving him. The .792 ops that you cite is fine, but looking at only this year it's more like .724, ranking him #8 on the team. He might turn out to be a decent player in the end, but I would advise against pretending that Soler takes the field every day as a .792 ops hitter.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Absolutely true. Soler could be a .792 OPS guy...or a .725 OPS guy. I'd only say to be patient...because 1- He's only 23 2-He's played about 1 full minor league, and half of a major league season...total. Adjustments may take some time. He may not be who he really is for another year or 2.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

Not that I'm a hitting expert but it looks like his main flaw is chasing breaking pitches and fastballs away. Again, he's in his first 500 MLB ABs so I'd like to believe experience will teach him to recognize those pitches/pitchers. He's in the Top 25 in pitches/at bat so that's a positive change from Cubs lineups in the past.

Soler came to the majors with relatively limited experience in the minors, largely as a result of time lost to injury. He only had 636 PA in the minors over parts of 5 seasons when he was called up last season. He may be less of a fully formed product than many of the other players you've listed as comparables.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

I hope you didn't put Almora on that list....current OPS of .618 at AA, after an OPS of .605 at AA last year. I know he's young, and supposedly a terrific CF, and was Theo's first #1 pick, but, yikes. I didn't understand why they moved him up from Daytona last year -- his OPS there was only .712. Not exactly "dominating at each level". Almost feels like the CPat days -- "we'll move him up because we want him to be good".

The weather is heating up and so will Soler. His ceiling is clearly not as high as Bryant but he will suffice in RF.

How long does Baez need to remain in the minor to get an extra year of control?

And then sometimes it takes a young player much longer to become who he ends up being. Roberto Clemente comes to mind, who broke in at age 20 and put up a .282/.311/.395/.706 line over his first five major league seasons (627 games). Then he went on to post a .329/.375/.503/.878 line for the rest of his Hall Of Fame career (1806 games). I would have hated to have traded Clemente away after his first five seasons, thinking that he had already shown who he was going to be. The reason I bring this up is that the Soler we saw in his first 2 years in the minor leagues was nothing compared to the one we saw in his 3rd year. He went from having OPSs of .832 and .810 to 1.132 as he climbed the minor league ladder. His production just exploded as he continued to gain experience and maturity. I don't think we have seen anything close to what he will be with more time and maturity.

This year has no special relevance for how a high a ceiling Soler reaches. Soler has really played very little baseball since he was 18 and has a lot of room to get better with expericence.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

what the fuck is up with maddon and the 4 slot? it's like he's trying to turn it into a traditional 2-slot with the weak sauce he keeps pouring over the slot. i like moving the 3/4 hitters up to the 2/3 slots...the pitcher thing is more eye-rolling "edgy" than effective or damaging...but that 4 slot management seems to go to the weakest guy around not named d.ross.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    steele MRI on friday.  counsell expects an IL stint.

    no current plans for his rotation replacement.

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1. 

  • crunch (view)

    amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.

    neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.

  • Eric S (view)

    Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it). 

  • crunch (view)

    boo.

  • crunch (view)

    smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.

    this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

    like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.

    anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.

    I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.

    If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.

    Give him a chance. 

    But Wesneski probably gets it

  • crunch (view)

    alzolay...bro...