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

The All-Time Greatest Cubs Killers

Submitted by Rob G. on

After Carlos Lee beat up the Cubbies again this weekend with a 5 for 12 series, a homer and couple of RBI's (pretty low-key for him), I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the all-time biggest Cubs killers. So thanks to some of the wonderful tools over at Baseball Musings, I looked at which players had the highest all-time OPS while facing the Cubs with at least 350 Plate Appearances. Their database only goes back to 1957 as well.

Player G AB BA
 		OBP
 		SLG
 		OPS
 		HR
 		RBI
Frank Robinson
 180 636
 .336
.436
.645
1.081 49 147
Willie Mays 270 997 .330 .400
.631 1.031 72 207
Gary Sheffield
 93 318
.324
.462
.569
1.031 18 60
Adam Dunn 100 344
.265 .398
.602 1.000 33 61
Mike Schmidt 269 971 .292
.387
.598
.985 78 207
Carlos Lee 81 316 .313 .373
.604 .977 23 64
Hank Aaron 285 1093 .327
.379
.598
.977 75 215
Luis Gonzalez 124 475
.324
.389
.587
.976 26 90
Dante Bichette 85 357
.345
.387
.583
.970 19 81
Bill White 189 658
.350
.393
.576
.969 30 128
Larry Walker 135
484
.302 .402
 .548
.950
26 97
Jim Edmonds 126
415
.270
.394
.554
.948 24 80
Albert Pujols 114 420
.288 .374
.571
.945 33 85

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would have put my money on Schmidt or Lee myself, but Robinson, Aaron and Mays were doing their damage before I was following baseball. Frank Robinson holds the top spot for OPS, but Schmidt, Aaron and Mays probably did the most overall damage. So who is it?

Well let me throw in one more name into the ring...notorious Cub killer Jeff Blauser. He only had 299 PA's against the Cubs in his career, but that's because the Cubs went and signed him in 1997 as a free agent, so he'd stop pummeling them. As with most things Cub, that didn't work out and Blauser put up OPS+ numbers of 69 and 96 in his two years as a Cub and promptly retired from baseball after 1999. But from 1987 to 1997, he put up a line of .351/.413/.611 against the Cubs with 15 HR's and 48 RBI's.

I've put up a poll below this where you can rank the top Cub killers and I'm eager to hear some others I might have missed in the comments.

_____________________________

If you liked this article, consider supporting us during TCR's April Pledge Drive.

Tags
Cubs history
Statistical Analysis
Cub Killers

Comments

Submitted by jacos on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:16 pm

Good list. But when I think of some Cub Killers- Steve Garvey Craig Counsell Jeff Conine The problem with Blauser was he didn't get to face Cub pitching when he joined the Cubs. :-)

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:42 pm

It looks like Richie Ashburn just missed the cut with only 245 or so plate appearances, otherwise he'd top the batting average list with .359 against the Cubs. It's also interesting to see some of the other guys with less at bats. John Olerud hit .414 against the Cubs in 132 PAs, with an OPS of 1.203 - Christ.... Also, the guys the Cubs have feared the most historically, measured by intentional walks, seem to be Barry Bonds (38), Willie Stargell (36), Mike Schmidt (31), Pete Rose (30).

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:48 pm

Who are the greatest Cardinal killers for the Cubs? Mark Grace has the highest career average for a Cub vs. the Cardinals at .314, for all players over 250 PAs. However, Derek Lee, with only 230 some PAs is hitting a ridiculous .389 vs. the Cards in a Cubs uni - his OPS is 1.220.

Submitted by big_lowitzki on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:57 pm

am i the only smart ass who, when i first thought of cub killers, thought of people like... Bartman Alex Gonzales Korey Neifi Dusty Baker etc..

[ ]

Submitted by Charlie on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:12 pm

How can you blame Alex Gonzalez and Corey Patterson for being the best players the Cubs had to run out at their positions for several years? It's not like the guys sitting on the bench would've done better. Okay, in 2005 bench players would've hit better than Corey. Dusty did a ridiculous amount of damage, of course, running Neifi out there instead of superior players and batting Corey and Neifi at the top of the order. In fact, most of Dusty's damage was in the lineups. Maybe he contributed to pitching breakdowns and maybe he didn't.

[ ]

Submitted by Charlie on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:59 pm

Good point--you didn't blame anyone. But what I'm saying is that Corey and Alex were not killing the Cubs while they were starters for the Cubs because they weren't taking playing time from better players who could've improved the team. If you want to say that the presence of Corey and Alex in the everyday lineup killed the Cubs, then I think you have to say the GM killed the Cubs by not finding better players to take that playing time from them.

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:59 pm

This site is addicting. This is my last contribution, but one guy I always hated growing up in the late 80s early 90s was Von F-ing Hayes of the Phillies - he hit .317, .406, .482 in 461 ABs against the Cubs.

Submitted by ruz on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:00 pm

It's not surprising that guys like F Robby, Schmidt, Aaron and Mays killed the Cubs, because they killed everyone. But who were the guys (like Blauser, or Conine) who seemed to rise to the occasion against us, and hit the ball out of proportion with what they did the rest of the time?

Submitted by Bryan on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:13 pm

Most of the guys on this list are/were all around good or great players no matter who they faced. I think a true Cub killer would be some guy who usually is mediocre, but when facing Cubbie Blue, becomes a superhero... maybe like Wally Backman listed above.

Submitted by Charlie on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:18 pm

Will there be a list of pitchers, too? I'd be especially interested in a list of mediocre, junk ball pitchers who have managed to dominate the Cubs despite their own mediocrity.

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:23 pm

without looking it up, I'll guess that no one outperformed themselves quite like Jeff Blauser though...1024 OPS against the Cubs versus 760 for his career.

Submitted by Bleeding Blue on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:33 pm

Its a small sample size, and his Cubs Killing-ness is relative to his overall suckiness, but Rob Mackowiak seemed to feast on Cub pitching for a couple of years.

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:36 pm

suppose to play 2b and 1b later this week as well...seems like he might have been useful.

Submitted by Q-Ball on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:42 pm

Let's be a little more upbeat! What players have the Cubs KILLED? Way below career average? I have no numbers per se to back this up, but seems like we did well against Doc Gooden, and Barry Bonds didn't hit us like he did everyone else.

[ ]

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:02 pm

Just taking a quick glance at pitchers with more than 10 starts vs the Cubs, most of the worst are just bad pitchers. But a few stand out as doing worse against the Cubs than their career lines. Jim Deshaies 7.13 ERA has the highest ERA of any player since 1957 against the Cubs with more than 10 starts, and this is much higher than his career ERA of 4.14. Other notables and their ERAs: John Smiley 5.11 Frank Viola 5.03 David Cone 4.74 Don Newcombe 4.52 Looking at pitchers with 10 or more games finished: We owned Bruce Sutter - 5.36 ERA in 33 games against the Cubs. Other notables include Bob Wickman (6.12), Jason Isringhausen (5.03), Francisco Cordero (5.00), and David Weathers (4.94).

Submitted by TJ on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:04 pm

I agree it is more fun to see the scrubs that killed the Cubs and no other team. I disagree about Blauser. When he became a Cub he did not stop being a Cub killer.

Submitted by TJ on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:07 pm

I seem to remember Don Sutton having some ridicoulous stat against the Cubs. He was something like 1 -15 against them and then won 14 of 15 or something crazy like that. It may have been reverse. Does anyone have those stats?

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:10 pm

Dave Giusti, a palm-ball specialist, starter turned closer for the Pirates in the 1970s was 100-93 with a 145 saves and a 3.60 ERA for this carrer. Against the Cubs he was 23-9 with 15 saves and a 2.97 ERA. 23% of his wins against one team??

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:10 pm

hardly a complete list but some of the top hitters by OPS discrepancy (career OPS compared to OPS vs. Cubs)

250 PA cut-off:

Blauser +264

Bo Diaz +166

Bill White +163

Duke Snider +158

Bob Robertson +150

Big_lowitzki though did the legwork for 350 PA's and I'll be posting that shortly..

Submitted by Cubster on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:26 pm

two of the more recent "little guy" Cub Killers that I hated to see up against us (a bit further down on Rob's leaderboard) are: Craig Counsell OBP .368 Abraham Nunez OBP .364 ...I really hate Counsell and now I know why. Started paying attention when he beat Matt Clement 1-0 with a game leadoff HR a few yrs back. He only has 3 HR's vs Cubs and I'm sure each has cost us.

Submitted by Tom_C on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:28 pm

...ok I fixed my April Fool's Day (AAMCO)Transmission-based handle...Growing up in the NJ/NY area I seem to remember the immortal Doug Sisk always doing well against the Cubbies as well...

Submitted by vorare on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:32 pm

Small sample size, but Zach Duke is worth a mention as a budding Cubs killer. He's 4-2 with a 2.10 ERA against the Cubs versus his career 21-25 / 4.18.

Submitted by Vegas Brian on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:34 pm

To me, the big names aren't what bothered me. It is always the average guys like Tim Wallach, Jim Morrison, Willie Mo Pena, Marcus Giles, or Chris James that always has killed us.

Submitted by The E-Man on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:40 pm

He killed us so badly, we HAD to sign him. And, he sucked mightily. On another topic, Brian Roberts has an OBP of .568 Considering Soriano is an automatic out, BRob could have helped to diffuse that. After watching "Butcher" DeRosa, and Cedeno, I wish that McFail and Hendry could have found some common ground.

Submitted by Chad on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 04:10 pm

As far as I can remember Bob Walk used to kill us. 15 -4 3.68 And I don't remember who thought that we did well against Doc Gooden: 28-4 3.32 With only 15 wins over his next highest opponent.

Submitted by Dmac on Wed, 04/09/2008 - 04:36 am

I seem to recall that Andy Van Slyke (Pirates) had many critical hits that beat us badly - and before he stunk up Wrigley on an everyday basis, Ron Cey (Dodgers) killed us, both at home and in LA.

Submitted by gjdow on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 04:44 am

The real way to determine the Cubs killers is to figure out who performed significantly BETTER against the Cubs. Guys like Mays were sure to do well, they were already Hall of Famers. I suggest (OPS vs. Cubs)/(Career OPS) to determine who were truly Cubs killers.

Submitted by roadside57 on Sat, 07/04/2009 - 07:50 pm

For all-around Cub-killing play, no one can top Clemente – especially at Wrigley Field. Jerry Lynch was the Blauser of the 50's and early 60's and Counsell, no doubt, is today's version of same. Nice call by others on the in-house killers. Phil Wrigley will always top that list, followed by his media enablers, especially old "Hey Hey."

Recent comments

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Seems like Jed was trying to corner the market on mediocre infielders with last names starting with "M" in acquiring Madrigal, Mastroboney and Zach McKinstry.  

     

    At least he hasn't given any of them a Bote-esque extension.  

  • Childersb3 (view)

    AZ Phil:
    Rookie ball (ACL) starts on May 4th. Do yo think Ramon and Rosario (maybe Delgado) stay in Mesa for the month of May, then go to MB if all goes "solid"?
     

  • crunch (view)

    masterboney is a luxury on a team that has multiple, capable options for 2nd, SS, and 3rd without him around.  i don't hate the guy, but if madrigal is sticking around then masterboney is expendable.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    I THINK I agree with that decision. They committed to Wicks as a starter and, while he hasn’t been stellar I don’t think he’s been bad enough to undo that commitment.

    That said, Wesneski’s performance last night dictates he be the next righty up.

    Quite the dilemma. They have many good options, particularly in relief, but not many great ones. And complicating the situation is that the pitchers being paid the most are by and large performing the worst - or in Taillon’s case, at least to this point, not at all.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Wesneski and Mastrobuoni to Iowa

    Taillon and Wisdom up

    Wesneski can't pitch for a couple of days after the 4 IP from last night. But Jed picked Wicks over Wesneski.

  • crunch (view)

    booooooooooo

    also, wisdom and taillon are both in chicago.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Tonight’s game postponed. Split games on Saturday.

  • crunch (view)

    cubs getting crazy good at not having player moves leak.

    taillon we 100% know is pitching tonight.  who he's replacing and any additional moves are unknown as far as i can tell.

    p.wisdom was not in today's lineup in iowa (rained out) and he was removed from the game last night mid-game, but not for injury.  good bet he's with the team in the bigs, too.

  • Bill (view)

    A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return.  Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention".  Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."

     

    Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost.  But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.  

Click HERE for the last 50 comments