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

A's Extenze Rally to Defeat Cubs at Fitch Park

Submitted by Arizona Phil on

Marcus Hatley retired the first 11 men he faced, Mark Pawelek threw 2.1 innings of shutout ball, and Dwayne Kemp belted his team-leading third home run, but the EXST A's rallied to defeat the EXST Cubs 7-5 in Extended Spring Training action at Fitch Park Field #3 this morning in Mesa.

The Cubs got on the scoreboard right away in the bottom of the first, as Cesar Salazar and Gian Guzman hit back-to-back singles, putting the Cubs in business with runners at 1st and 3rd and nobody out. Matt Craig followed with an F-8 sac fly to score Salazar.

Guzman then stole two bases (second and third), before scoring on a one-out RBI ground out. The Cubs added a third run in the bottom of the 3rd on a lead-off solo HR by Kemp that was hit over the LF fence and onto 8th Street. (For a guy who is maybe 5'6, Kemp is built like a Muscle Beach body builder).

Meanwhile, Hatley was mowing down the A's, striking out five and pitching perfect baseball into the 4th inning. But with two outs and nobody on base, the A's strung together two singles and a two-run triple (a line drive that was misplayed by Cesar Salazar, who is a butcher in CF, BTW) to get to within one run at 3-2.

The Cubs added another run in the 5th on a lead-off double off the LF fence by Junior Lake, a sac bunt, and a wild pitch that plated Lake with the Cubs 4th run of the day.

But RHP Jon Mueller (who has been rehabbing at Fitch Park since the start of minor league camp in March) surrenderd two hard-hit doubles and three-run HR (the fourth HR he has allowed in his last four outings) in the top of the 7th, as the A's took a 5-4 lead. (Pitching like has has been lately, Mule might not ever get out of Fitch Park!).

The Cubs came back in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game at 5, as Guyer worked a lead-off walk, advanced to 2nd on a sac bunt, and scored on a two-out RBI single lined to left by Salazar. 

But then the A's scored two in the 9th off reliever Rogelio Carmona, capitalizing on a single, a FC sac bunt, two walks, and a sac fly. 

The Cubs then went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th. 

In EXST Cubs roster news, Jeffrey Rea (quad) and Matt Craig (bruised thigh) played in today's EXST game, both at the plate and in the field (Rea at 2B and Craig at 3B). Then Craig left to rejoin AA Tennessee after the game (actually he left amidst the usual hugs & kisses after the 6th inning). 

Rea will apparently be remaining on his rehab assignment at Fitch Park a while longer.

And RHP Kevin Kreier (who has thrown the ball very well in his last three outings) has been promoted to Peoria, but based on the way they pitched today and in their recent outings, Marcus Hatley and Mark Pawelek could be following Kreier to Peoria very soon. While Kreier has looked good lately, Hatley and Pawelek have been every bit as good, if not better.   

Here is today's EXST Cubs abridged box score (Cubs players only):

LINEUP:
1. Cesar Salazar, CF: 2-4 (RBI, R)
2. Gian Guzman, SS-3B: 1-3 (R, BB, K, 2 SB)
3a. Matt Craig, 3B: 0-1 (RBI, SF, BB, K, SB)
3b. George Matheus, SS: 0-1
4a. Nelson Perez, RF: 0-1 (RBI, BB)
4b. Kevin Soto, RF: 1-2 (SB)
5. Carlos Perez, 1B: 0-3 (BB)
6. Jeffrey Rea, 2B: 0-4 (2 K)
7. Junior Lake, DH #1: 1-3 (2B, R, 2 K)
8. Brandon Guyer, DH #2: 0-1 (R, BB, SH, K)
9. Dwayne Kemp, LF: 1-2 (HR, RBI, R, SH, K)
10. Roberto Sabates, C: 0-3 (K)

PITCHERS:
1. Marcus Hatley - 3.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 5 K (2/4 GO/FO)
2. Mark Pawelek - 2.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (1/2 GO/FO)
3. Jon Mueller - 2.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HR (1/3 GO/FO)
4. Rogelio Carmona - 0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 K
5. John Muller - 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K

ERRORS (1):
Gian Guzman, E-5 missed catch

CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Roberto Sabates - 0-1 CS

WEATHER: Game-time temperature around 80, mostly cloudy, and far less breezy than it was yesterday

ATTENDANCE: 9 

Tags
Extended Spring Training
Mark Pawelek
Dwayne Kemp
Jeffrey Rea
Matt Craig
Kevin Kreier
Marcus Hatley

Comments

Submitted by Raisin101 on Wed, 05/14/2008 - 05:46 pm

I was pretty excited when I saw Kreier mentioned as one of the starters at the Chiefs' web site. I'm guessing Alberto Cabrera staying in Peoria is pretty dependent on his start with the Chiefs today. Any thoughts on Salazar? He's one of the recently added guys at Fitch, correct?

Submitted by Timmer on Wed, 05/14/2008 - 05:42 pm

Phil, any ideas or guesses on who the Cubs might be interested in with the 19th pick in next month's draft? Are there any players who might fall to the Cubs' slot because they're Boras clients? Thanks.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 05/14/2008 - 05:51 pm

Submitted by Raisin101 on Wed, 05/14/2008 - 4:46pm.

I was pretty excited when I saw Kreier mentioned as one of the starters at the Chiefs' web site.

I'm guessing Alberto Cabrera staying in Peoria is pretty dependent on his start with the Chiefs today.

Any thoughts on Salazar? He's one of the recently added guys at Fitch, correct?

========================

RAISIN: Cesar Salazar is one of three Venezuelans who arrived at Fitch Park from the Cubs Venezuelan Baseball Academy a couple of weeks ago. (RHP Israel Camacaro and SS George Matheus are the other two). All three came to Arizona together on the same flight. Catcher Jose Bracho and RHP Gregorio Rodriguez were supposed to come to EXST too, but for some reason they did not come with the other three. I don't know whether Bracho and Rodriguez will be coming to Fitch Park or not.

As for Salazar, he is a 23 year old switch-hitter, and I believe he was once property of the Giants(?), although I don't think he ever played in the U. S. (I could be wrong)

Although he is a pretty good offensive player/lead-off hitter (he does this thing where he runs forward like he's going to drag bunt and then he slaps the ball hard to the opposite field like Ichiro does), he is one lousy defender in CF.

He generally sort of tries to surround fly balls by running in circles until the ball comes down (hopefully somewhere near where he ends up), and he can't track line drives at all.

To paraphrase what Dennis Lamp once said about Luis Polonia...

With Cesar Salazar, it's a Catch-22... hit him a hundred fly balls, and he'll catch 22.

In summary, being that he's 23 he better start moving quickly up the ladder. But the way he plays defense, that might be problematic. Maybe he can improve his play in in CF. For his sake, he'd better. We'll see.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 05/14/2008 - 05:29 pm

Submitted by Timmer on Wed, 05/14/2008 - 5:42pm.

Phil, any ideas or guesses on who the Cubs might be interested in with the 19th pick in next month's draft?

Are there any players who might fall to the Cubs' slot because they're Boras clients?

Thanks.

==============================

TIMMER: Last year, 22 of Tim Wilken's first 24 picks were college players. I believe that had something to do with the change in Rule 4 that eliminates the opportunity to Draft & Follow a HS player if he goes to a JC, and the fact that the Cubs drafted several high risk/high reward high school players in 2006 (Huseby, Rundle, Andersen, Kreier, Samson, and Rosa) who were likely to advance relatively slowly, plus the increased emphasis on signing inexperienced players out of Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and Europe.

But I don't know what the plan is this year. Maybe it will be just like last year (heavy emphasis on college players), or maybe it will be more like 2006 (taking risks on high school kids).

But if I had to guess (and obviously I don't know which players will be selected before the Cubs get to make their selection), I would say the Cubs will most-likely select a college pitcher (more likely an advanced power closer than a rotation starter) or college position player (high-quality hitter or highly-rated shortstop).

Somebody like maybe (listed alphabetically):

Gordon Beckham, SS (Georgia)
Andrew Cashner, RHP-CLOSER (TCU)
Ike Davis, 1B-RF (Arizona State)
Joshua Fields, RHP-CLOSER (Georgia)
Reese Havens, SS (South Carolina)
Ryan Perry, RHP-CLOSER (Arizona)
Brett Wallace, 1B-3B (Arizona State)

As I mentioned here the other day, Cashner was selected by the Cubs out of Angelina JC in the 29th round of last year's draft, but opted to transfer to TCU instead of sign with the Cubs. So we know they liked him last year, and they probably like him even more now. Too bad they couldn't sign him as a Draft & Follow.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    happ, right hamstring tightness, day-to-day (hopefully 0 days).

    he will be reevaluated tomorrow.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I guess I'm not looking for that type of AB 

    Just a difference of opinion

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    I don’t see Tauchman as a weak link in any position. He simply adds his value in a different way.

    I don’t know that we gain much by putting him in the outfield - Happ, Bellinger and Suzuki and Tauchman all field their positions well. If you’re looking for Taucnman’s kind of AB in a particular game I don’t see why it can’t come from DH.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Tauchman gets a pinch hit RBI single with a liner to RF. This is his spot. He's a solid 4th OF. But he isn't a DH. 

    He takes pitches. Useful. I still believe in having good hitters.

    You don't want your DH to be your weak link (other than your C maybe)

  • crunch (view)

    bit of a hot take here, but i'm gonna say it.

    the 2024 marlins don't seem to be good at doing baseballs.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Phil, will the call up for a double header restart that 15 days on assignment for a pitcher? Like will wesneski’s 15 days start yesterday, or if he’s the 27th man, will that mean 15 days from tomorrow?

    I hope that makes sense. It sounds clearer in my head.

  • Charlie (view)

    Tauchman obviously brings value to the roster as a 4th outfielder who can and should play frequently. Him appearing frequently at DH indicated that the team lacks a valuable DH. 

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Totally onboard with your thoughts concerning today’s lineup. Not sure about your take on Tauchman though.

    The guy typically doesn’t pound the ball out out of the park, and his BA is quite unimpressive. But he brings something unique to the table that the undisciplined batters of the past didn’t. He always provides a quality at bat and he makes the opposing pitcher work because he has a great eye for the zone and protects the plate with two strikes exceptionally well. In addition to making him a base runner more often than it seems through his walks, that kind of at bat wears a pitcher down both mentally and physically so that the other guys who may hit the ball harder are more apt to take advantage of subsequent mistakes and do their damage.

    I can’t remember a time when the Cubs valued this kind of contribution but this year they have a couple of guys doing it, with Happ being the other. It doesn’t make for gaudy stats but it definitely contributes to winning ball games. I do believe that’s why Tauchman has garnered so much playing time.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Miles Mastrobuoni cannot be recalled until he has spent at least ten days on optional assignment, unless he is recalled to replace a position player who is placed on an MLB inactive list (IL, Paternity, Bereavement / Family Medical). 

     

    And for a pitcher it's 15 days on optional assignment before he can be recalled, unless he is replacing a pitcher who is placed on an MLB inactive list (IL, Paternity, or Bereavement / Family Medical). 

     

    And a pitcher (or a position player, but almost always it's a pitcher) can be recalled as the 27th man for a doubleheader regardless of how many days he has been on optional assignment, but then he must be sent back down again the next day. 

     

    That's why the Cubs had to wait as long as they did to send Jose Cuas down and recall Keegan Thompson. Thompson needed to spend the first 15 days of the MLB regular season on optional assignment before he could be recalled (and he spent EXACTLY the first 15 days of the MLB regular season on optional assignment before he was recalled). 

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Indeed they do TJW!

    For the record I’m not in favor of solely building a team through paying big to free agents. But I’m also of the mind that when you develop really good players, get them signed to extensions that buy out a couple years of free agency, including with team options. And supplement the home grown players with free agent splashes or using excess prospects to trade for stars under team control for a few years. Sort of what Atlanta does, basically. Everyone talks about the dodgers but I feel that Atlanta is the peak organization at the current moment.

    That said, the constant roster churn is very Rays- ish. What they do is incredible, but it’s extremely hard to do which is why they’re the only ones frequently successful that employ that strategy. I definitely do not want to see a large market team like ours follow that model closely. But I don’t think free agent frenzies is always the answer. It’s really only the Dodgers that play in that realm. I could see an argument for the Mets too. The Yankees don’t really operate like that anymore since the elder Steinbrenner passed. Though I would say the reigning champions built a good deal of that team through free agent spending.

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