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, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024
 
* 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
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* 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: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Getting to Know Your Obscure Cubs: Jeff Gray

Submitted by Rob G. on

In my quest to fill out some pages at Wiklifield, I thought I'd take a deeper look at some lesser known guys in the organization that could make an impact.

Jeff Gray

The center piece as far as the Cubs were concerned when they moved Aaron Miles and Jake Fox to the A's in December(the Cubs also received Ronny Morla and Matt Spencer). The 28-year old right-hander was drafted in 2004 by the Oakland A's in the 32nd round and saw a brief 4-inning cup of coffee in 2008 despite struggling in the minors with a 4.32 ERA.  After the season, he reworked some issues with his mechanics in the AFL and enjoyed a more successful 2009 with a 1.54 ERA in Triple A over 41 innings with 16 saves and then a solid 3.76 ERA over 26.1 IP with the A's after being called up on four occasions. His strikeout rate dropped significantly in 2009, although he still maintained a fantastic K:BB ratio(4.75 in the majors, 3.76 in the minors) and keeps the ball in the park with a remarkable 0.36 HR/9 rate over his minor league career.

He claims to throw five pitches - a four-seamer, sinker, slider, changeup and curveball - but says his sinker and slider are his bread-and-butter pitches.

He'll compete for one or two bullpen spots that will be open to competition this spring. Jim Hendry compared him to Angel Guzman when the Cubs acquired him in December. I assume that was a comparision to their pitching style and not injury histories as Gray seems to have stayed healthy so far through his career. If he doesn't make the club out of spring training, he does have one minor league option left.

After the jump, the bulk of his Wiklified entry.

Miscellaneous Info

Full Name: Jeffrey Michael Gray
Height: 6'3" Weight: 205 lbs
High School: (HS) Lafayette (Balwin, MO)
College: Missouri State University
Acquired: Via trade from Oakland Athletics with 1B/OF Matt Spencer and RHP Ronny Morla for OF/3B/1B Jake Fox and INF Aaron Miles in December, 2009.
Status: Still with organization and on  the 40-man roster

Notes & News

Gray grew up in Missouri, a Cardinals fan of course, although he claimed to like the Astros as well.

He was drafted in 32nd round, 967 overall in 2004 amateur draft by Oakland Athletics. He was added to their 40-man roster before the 2008 season. After the 2008 season, he was sent to the Arizona Fall League for the second time in his career(the first in 2007) and reworked his mechanics to add some deception to his delivery, including lowering his arm slot. He also reworked his approach towards hitters, trying to focus more on pitching to contact. His strikeout rate did decline in 2009, but his walk rate and groundball rates went up, along with a better ERA. He was called up four times during the 2009 campaign with the A's, the first three he just pitched once before being sent back down and finally stuck on the roster after his final call-up in August.

Scouting Report

Worked with A's bullpen coach Ron Romanick to add some deception to his delivery after 2008 season, including lowering his arm slot which Gray credits with his improved 2009 season.

Repertoire

A "four-seamer (up to 96 mph), a sinker, a slider, a changeup and a curveball"

Honors & Awards

Has been a member of 2 AFL championship teams(2007 and 2008 Phoenix Desert Dogs) and 2 PCL championship teams(2007 and 2008 Sacramento RiverCats).

Prospect Lists

34th on Scout.com A's list after 2009 season.
48th on Scout.com A's mid-season list during 2009 season.
47th on Scout.com A's 2008 list.
35th on Scout.com A's 2007 list that followed the season.

Tags
Jeff Gray
Cubs 2010 Preview
Getting to Know Your Obscure Cubs

Comments

[ ]

Submitted by Cubster on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 02:51 am

Hey Pancho...
He thrived on the street food in Mexicali. "The only problem was when you did want a burger or craved some pizza, it had a Mexican twist to it," he said. "Some Tecate Lights took care of that."
oh, Cisco...

[ ]

Submitted by Stevens on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 02:26 am

Of course I'd be thrilled if sam-ninja came through with a solid year. I'm just not expecting big things from him now. Any reports yet from AZ Phil on how these guys are looking so far? I'm chomping at the bit here...

[ ]

Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 02:59 am

2. Dempster having a solid season is probably considered a given, whereas the guys he actually listed have questions. 3. It was a "notable" example, not the best. The thing about only having 31 games above A isn't really true, anyway, because the AFL is considered above A. The fact that he's fourth on the depth chart at SS probably should have been mentioned, though.

[ ]

Submitted by Wes on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 02:24 pm

To make him finally learn how to fucking pitch to big league hitters? It's not as cut-and-dried as "the extra 15 innings you pitched in 2009 are 15 less innings that you need to figure it out in 2010." But, that kid needs to pitch and needs to pitch a lot until he's some idea about how to get somebody out. The guy is one of the worst pitchers with the best stuff in baseball. Yes, he's still young, but last year was the THIRD year they tried to bring him up and he was just piss poor awful when he got there. I'm going to get run out on a rail for saying it, but Dusty's at least smart enough to know that Homer has be able to pitch every fifth day at some semblance of a major league level for the Reds to even have a remote chance of winning this year.

[ ]

Submitted by Wes on Wed, 02/17/2010 - 02:50 pm

Then he probably runs out of gas around 175 innings this year. If by some stretch the Reds are actually in it come late August, they probably wouldn't have Homer down the stretch to lean on, because he wouldn't be stretched out for 200 innings. If you're fine with that, then I guess it isn't a big deal. I would have played September 2009 much the same as the Reds did because I'm looking ahead to what I'll need in September of 2010. The difference between increasing by 20-30 innings and 40-50 innings isn't all that dramatic from a stress standpoint. I'm sure they shortened up his side sessions in September and they probably also limited his long toss on his off days to make up for it. You can do things to limit the other strains on the arm in order to get where you need to go in an innings increase. I'm sure the Reds organization (not just Dusty) didn't want Homer getting to 200 innings the first time in the middle of a pennant race. Now he doesn't have to.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 02/17/2010 - 02:57 pm

some guys are nolan ryan or livan hernandez...some guys are jr richard or teddy higuera. damn, higgy was awesome. unfortuantely, there's no DNA swab or stress/endurence test to figure any of it out. currently the best method is not doing obviously stupid crap and paying attention to what the pitcher is saying/showing about his own body. when it comes to nitpicking over who can throw 30 more innings a year vs. 50 more innings a year there's nothing obvious about it, though. it's just too fine of a detail to err on the side of extreme caution, imo. if their body can handle it go for it...if steps can be taken in the way of extra rest or restriction of off-day activities, sure. some wouldn't take these risks, though... *shrug*

[ ]

Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 02:00 pm

There's two fallacies in the THT article. The first, "I am too lazy to do it correctly, so I won't". I read the rest anyway. The second is a classic example of using numbers to 'prove' anything. Here's the quote "The bottom line: a dramatic increase in innings on a young pitcher elevates the risk of injury or a setback to their development." Say you have two groups of pitchers. Group A goes up 50 innings from year 1 to 2. Each of them throw 150 innings. Then in year three three blow out their arms and the other six throw 200 innings, on average they only throw 10 fewer innings, but three guys conformed to the effect. To say that there was no such effect, you would have to identify all the pitchers and who blew out their arms and show that guys who didn't have the innings jump also blew out their arms at the same 30% rate. Verducci is using a either/or evaluation, and the bozo from THT tries to refute it by hiding analysis in averages (without doing the proper research first). 8 of 11 guys from the 2006 list...

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 02:43 pm

left sidebar advertises the clip... "ex-Cub Still Pitching for Schaumburg Flyers"... I made the mistake of clicking on it. They interviewed Carmen Pignatiello, while he was talking they show a pic of Sean Marshall and Dan Jiggetts asked what team the Flyers were associated with... good television there..

[ ]

Submitted by jacos on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 02:54 pm

Hard to believe him and Mike North have been regulated to 5-7 am slot with a financial show. Which is perfect because they both don't know sports, and Mike North's last show fell victim to a Ponzi scheme who was the show sponsor. They are missed.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    he's a low-level cubs star in the modern history of the cubs (c.zambrano, k.wood, r.dempster, etc), but that star has dimmed...and has been dimming since 2021.

    2024 has been ugly the whole way and we're only in mid-april.  homers aside (even though there's been 7 in 17ip) he gave up 29 hits in 20 spring innings and 31 in 17 regular season innings.

    he's pretty much only got 2 pitches at this point in his career and the mix isn't fooling anyone.  he threw a noticable amount more curves in his last start to add to the mix and it didn't help his issues.  he don't have many moves left to break out.

  • Eric S (view)

    Definitely needs a 10 day stint for the hangnail - have to nip those things in the bud or suffer the consequences (ie, more opponent home run derby, etc)

  • Eric S (view)

    Thanks for checking and yeah, that’s a double ouch

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Believe you are correct, checked and appears Cubs have a $2.51 million obligation to Barnhart this season per Cot's Contracts.  Also paying Trey Mancini $7mil this season.  Ouch.  

  • crunch (view)

    m.busch had 0hr and 2 doubles when he was last at wrigley.

    we'll probably see a few more of his jerseys in the seats when they return tomorrow.

    wonder who will go down for taillon.  hey hendricks, you got a hangnail or something?

  • Eric S (view)

    Nice work by Wesneski with some solid defense behind him and the late tack on runs were welcome. Gladly take a 5-4 West Coast swing, particularly down two key starting pitchers … Now just don’t get swept by the Marlins for Pete’s sake. 

  • crunch (view)

    dansby takes the team lead in SB today after a SB with 2 SB total.  the team has 3.  madrigal has the other one.

    cubs also have 7 triples, 7 players each.

  • crunch (view)

    sure am ready for p.wisdom and m.masterboney to swap roster spots.

  • Eric S (view)

    The fifth inning has not been kind to Wicks this season. Giving up leadoff doubles to Tucker Barnhart is also not good for business. IIRC, the Cubs are on the hook for the majority of Barnhart’s salary this season to add insult to injury (could definitely be wrong here). 

  • Cubster (view)

    Kris Bryant to IL with low back strain. He’s keeping the Rockies docs busy.

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