Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
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 

 



 

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Rule 5 Draft 
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Pirates @ Cubs: Kuhl vs Hendricks (Game 131)

Cubs 3, Pirates 0
W: Hendricks (13-7); L: Kuhl (3-2); S: Chapman (11)

PIT (67-62): RHP Chad Kuhl (3-1, 3.50)
CHC (83-47): RHP Kyle Hendricks (12-7, 2.19)
First pitch: 7:05pmCST

Hendricks won in San Diego (6 IP, 2 ER, 8 K, 2 BB) on Wednesday. He beat the Pirates in June at Wrigley, giving up 1 ER in 6 innings. Overall, they are 21-74 (.284) against him. Polanco is 6-14 with a HR.

The rookie Kuhl had a no-decision in Milwaukee his last time out (6.1 IP, 2 ER, 5 K, 2 BB). He had a no-decision in July against the Cubs, giving up 4 ER in 2.1 innings. The Cubs went 7-13 against him in the game. Heyward and Contreras had a couple of hits, and Zobrist went deep.

Vogelsong (3-3, 3.02) versus Montgomery (4-5, 3.02) to send the series tomorrow at 7:05pmCST.

Go Cubs!

Comments

The AZL team with the best record over the course of the full 2016 AZL season and the only AZL team to play .600 ball (the AZL Dodgers) did not qualify for the AZL playoffs, and the AZL East Division team with the best record over the course of the full season (the AZL Athletics) did not qualify for the AZL playoffs, either. 

That's because of the ridiculous "split season" schedule most of the minor leagues now play, a stupid system that rewards mediocrity at the expense of the worthy. 

The teams that should have qualified for the AZL playoffs are the three division winners over the course of the full AZL schedule (Dodgers, Athletics, and Royals), and the top three non-division winners (Reds, Indians, and Mariners). 

MLB tried a "split season" in the 1981 strike year, and it was a joke. The teams with the best records in the two National League Divisions (the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds) did not even qualify for the NLCS. 

The "split season" needs to go. 

LHP Clayton Richard (released by the Cubs earlier this month) is pitching very well as a starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres and could be a good candidate to get traded to a contender looking for a veteran SP before tomorrow night's post-season roster eligibility deadline. Because they released him, the Cubs are paying most of Richard's 2016 salary (the Cubs are on the hooks for $2M, minus the pro-rated portion of the MLB minimum salary that is paid by the Padres).

early tim tebow stuff rolling in... ran a 6.7 60yd (above average)...shagging flies in RF and showed off a rather impressive arm a few times, but average-at best on most of his throws...hit a few over the fence (both fields), fouled or weak contact a few...he's got a touch of power it'll be interesting to see who bites on this project, if anyone. he probably projected himself out of RF and into LF/1st because of his arm, but unless he can make that power work on a steady basis it'll be hard for him to play himself up anyone's system.

kuhl is a righty, not a lefty. i think maddon might think kuhl is a lefty, too. i wonder what the reasoning is for baez leading off vs a rightie.

I am pretty well fed up with the majority of home plate umps. Just terrible inconsistencies.

hendricks WHIP drops to 0.98 over 159 innings after throwing 7ip 3h 1bb 4k, 0r/er ERA down to 2.09 on the season. crazy good.

[ ]

In reply to by billybucks

it's going to be hard to take down scherzer. kershaw is supposedly coming back soon, though he'll probably need a good amount of deep innings to match up with scherzer...probably too late at this point. tanner roark, bumgarner, and hendricks are probably going to steal some votes along with kershaw.

[ ]

In reply to by billybucks

Kershaw, Fernandez and Syndergaard are your current leaders and all will be pitching meaningful games down the stretch that could make or break them. Hendricks will not be and his saber-numbers aren't anywhere close to those 3 and he'd split votes with Arrieta and Lester whom all are basically neck-and-neck for  WAR and FIP. If Kershaw pitches like just okay Kershaw in September he deserves to win in a landslide. Voters are pretty much saber-inclined now so it would take a crazy shutout streak or something for Hendricks to jump in the picture. Scherzer, Cueto and Bumgarner are ahead of the Cubs trio too and at least Cueto and Bumgarner will be pitching big games in September.

Strasburg had the best chance to challenge Kershaw I thought, but got hurt, got bombed for 2 games and now is missing a few weeks. Maybe he'll have a crazy good September but again, Nats probably won't have a ton of big games in Sept.

Regardless of all that, it's hell of a fun race in the NL...unlike the AL, where they're seriously consideing Zach Britton. Sigh.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

kershaw will be lucky to put in 160+ip. even though it projects to be an awesome 160+ip it's going to be extremely difficult for him to do much with that. he's still got minor league rehab game(s) to go through and he's only stretched out to 2ip with his last simulated rehab...it may take another couple weeks before he returns. the numbers are awesome, but he's lost the equivalent of a good chunk of a top-tier pen arm's season in innings of work compared to the rest of the lot.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I love sabremetrics and think FIP and WAR can definitely predict future success. For the Cy though which is an award for current success I do think ERA and WHIP have a place. Also while Hendricks doesn't have the strikeouts he does have the highest soft hit contact and second lowest hard hit contact which does a lot to take fielding skill out of it. To me if the ERA is close FIP and WAR should be used but right now its not. That said I agree with you Hendricks won't get it. By the way not really Cy related but Hendricks has dominated the three times he's started after an extra inning game when the bullpen has needed a rest. That is huge.

[ ]

In reply to by johann

ERA is just FIP with defense and luck. That being said if Hendricks gets his ERA under 2.00, he may have a legit shot.

That all being said I was looking at Fangraphs WAR and I should have been looking at Basebell Reference WAR because more voters use that. My bad and happy to admit my mistake unlike some people around here that shall not be named (just kidding CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH!)

Scherzer is much higher in that and Kershaw has some catching up to do. But I still think there's plenty of room for a good handful of guys that could get hot in September and pitch big games to take him over as Scherzer and the Nats will likely have it wrapped up pretty early.

But big Mea Culpa on the numbers.

PS - Hendricks is 7th in bWAR, if he can get in the top 3-5, he'll be in the discussion for sure.  Arrieta is 11th, Lester is 12th.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/pitching/_/league/nl/sort/WARBR

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Yeah that article describes what I said in my other post about WAR. BR WAR is fine as a snapshot but FG is a better predictor of future performance. I also get what you mean by FIP being independent of luck but my point is all the soft contact Hendricks gives up negates a lot of that luck and defense aspect. In other words I believe he could pitch in front of any defense and have similar #s because for the most part he isn't giving up the screaming liners or hard hit liners to the gap. Let's break it down even further though. Hendricks has given up 431 balls in play and 117 hits for a 27% of hits to balls in play. Scherzer has given up 439 balls in play and 128 hits for a 29% of hits to balls in play. That's a pretty miniscule difference. Of Hendricks 117 hits, 13 are HRs and 24 doubles and triples. Of Scherzer 128 hits, 26 are HRs and 32 doubles and triples. So the defenses behind both pitchers are pretty much even in terms of giving up hits but Scherzer is giving up a lot harder hit balls and far fewer groundouts and this is directly correlating to more HRs and extra base hits. All this is to say that while Hendricks might not be able to keep up future success as well as Scherzer I don't think this year the lower ERA has been a product of defense or luck and it's a pretty significant ERA lead right now with Kershaw out.

[ ]

In reply to by johann

I don't know about the defensive part of the equation, the fact all the Cubs pitchers are so ahead of their FIP makes me think it's a lot more defense than anything special Hendricks is doing.

But I do agree that a season award should be more about what actually happened than what should of happened. If Hendricks ends up leading the league in ERA, he's gonna get some votes and we'll see where it ends up. The national problem is no one really thinks he's anything but the 3rd best pitcher on the Cubs and when a race is this close, it's gonna come down to who wows them at the end. Hendricks still could do it. So could half a dozen other very qualified pitchers.

I think also think he's lagging on innings pitched especially for what would be by today's standard considered a finesse pitcher.

None of these are necessarily my opinions btw, more of what I think the voters are thinking. Right now I'd have to give it to Scherzer. A month could change a lot though.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I agree -- I think if you are a soft-tosser, you need a track record before you are taken seriously. If Kyle posts sub-3.00 ERA consistently and wins 15+ games a few times (and pitches more innings), he may have a shot at the award in a few years. Hopefully, he gets in the top 5 this year -- would be deserved and a nice boost for his confidence.

I absolutely love Javy's game, and I love the way Maddon changed the perception of him as a ballplayer, but I really wish he would just make the routine plays routinely. On the ground ball in the 9th, he made an unnecessarily fancy pick. He made the play, but tried the same thing last night and made an error.

[ ]

In reply to by billybucks

Sure we would all want consistency. He is not even 24, has played 5 (!) positions this year. Can you imagine what is in his head? He was only a part-time player at 2 spots last year. And THEN think about hitting?? Cut him some slack...You sure are picky lately. First wishing #6 NL RBI guy Russell have a better average, and now an "unncessarily fancy pick". Geez tough crowd!

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    I think if you had ranked players by how much the team could ill afford to have them miss significant time, Steele would be right at the top of the list.

  • 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