Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full) 

28 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, and twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors. 

Last updated 3-26-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 15
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
Alexander Canario
# 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 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

2012 Yahoo Fantasy Draft

My bi-yearly self-indulgent post on my fantasy draft. Mock away...

You probably know the drill by now, but a reminder; it's a Yahoo points league with 9 offensive players (C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, LF, CF, RF, Util) and 9 pitchers (4 SP, 3 RP, 2 Util) with 7 bench spots. Points are rigged in a way that stolen bases aren't nearly as valuable as roto leagues, i.e like real baseball. It counts as an extra base and if you get caught stealing it counts against the player. If it leads to more runs scored then that will show in the runs scored points. In other words, most of your fantasy guides aren't much use for the speedsters that get valued for their stolen bases. Middle infielders get a small defensive boost to put them closer to their corner position comrades. It's a 15-team league and we keep 6 keepers a year and draft those keepers in the appropriate round determined by their point value the year before. So a Miguel Cabrera is a first round pick and a Josh Johnson is a 25th round pick because of his injuries last year. My keeper options were Cliff Lee, Tim Lincecum, Albert Pujols, Starlin Castro, Evan Longoria, Matt Garza,  Paul Goldschmidt, Brett Lawrie and Mike Trout. I picked Lee, Lincecum, Pujols, Castro, Longoria and Lawrie. Then me and JD, whom you may know from the comments, pulled off a Jason Heyward for Brett Lawrie swap right before the draft. I picked 11th or 5th in each round, snake-style.

To my super-important draft...

  1. Cliff Lee (Keeper) - duh
  2. Tim Lincecum (Keeper) - duh
  3. Albert Pujols (Keeper) - duh, although he's getting near the age where I wouldn't mind moving him to get younger. Oh no, I gave away my strategy, what am I to do?
  4. Rickie Weeks - my first pick and it was the 11th overall in the draft when discounting other folks' keepers. I was thrilled at this. (2 players drafted before and after my pick not counting keepers: B. Gardner, J. Papelbon/M. Latos, A. Ethier)
  5. Starlin Castro (Keeper) - too young to give up and better things to come hopefully
  6. Evan Longoria (Keeper) - down year last year and hopefully he's over his injuries
  7. Miguel Montero - probably should have waited for a catcher later, but he was the last decent bat at that position besides Soto and I'm not convinced which Soto we're getting this year. (Melky Cabrera, S. Santos/F. Freeman, M. Scherzer)
  8. Y. Cespedes - potential power bat in center field, worth a shot, was hoping for J. Valverde but got nabbed just before. (Valverde, F. Cordero/B. Morrow, S. Marcum)
  9. J. Nathan - closers were already going including H. Street that I desperately wanted (Street, A. Sanchez/Maybin, Markakis)
  10. K. Farnsworth - must have closers although I was eyeing E. Santana (J. Santana, Bonifacio/E. Santana, J. Garcia)
  11. J. Willingham - Besides the utility spot, left field was the last position spot I needed and at least there is some power there with Willingham. Ultimately I seem to always have terrible luck at that position. (J. Guerra, C. Perez/G. Soto, F. Francisco)
  12. J. Broxton - well there's upside there if he gets the closer job (A. Lind, T. Lilly/F. Rodriguez, H. Kuroda)
  13. M. Thornton - him and Capps were the last 2 closers left. Was looking at Kendry Morales to stash on the DL. (I. Desmond, B. Boesch/J. Kubel, K. Morales)
  14. J. Danks - looking for starting pitching with some upside and Danks had a string of bad luck to start the year including a BABIP on the season that was well above his career norms. (D. Espinosa, D. Holland/V. Pestano, D. Murphy)
  15. C. Volstad - homer pick, hoping this is the year he catches up to his once-upon-a-time prospect status (Iannetta, Doumit/S. Baker, A. Escobar)
  16. R. Nolasco - Another BABIP victim last year, although the new park might hurt him. (Jurrjens, Altuve/Aviles, J. Lowrie)
  17. C. Headley - Could use a back-up for Longoria since I traded Lawrie away and he's young enough to possibly break out a bit. An early drop candidate if I need a roster spot. (L. Duda, Scutaro/L. Lynn, C. Pena)
  18. B. McCarthy - I can't imagine he'll do as well as last year, but worth a risk this late. And I like his Twitter feed. I did pass up on Cozart here hoping he'd last another round or two.  (F. Liriano, K. Wood/J.D. Martinez, Cozart)
  19. A. Soriano - spring training stats count, right? Between him and Willingham maybe I can ride out the hot streaks. (Ogando, P. Coke/Quentin, Ruiz)
  20. J. Mayberry - wanted a right fielder just in case JD balked on me and Mayberry's 4-position eligibility should be useful (M. Brantley, Vlad/Lidge, O' Flaherty)
  21. E. Bedard - he's the Pirates #1, he must be good. See how he does in the N.L. and a lefty-friendly park. (L. Cain, Lucroy/Revere, Viciedo)
  22. Rex Brothers - we do get credit for holds and Betancourt's tagged as a possible quick hook to lose his closing job. You always want 5 relievers in our league as well, since you rarely have that many of your starters going on the same day. (G. Floyd, J. Smoak/L. Perez, M. Harrison)
  23. G. Sizemore - stash him on the disabled list and pick up someone on waivers. (Infante, Gorzelanny/Dickey, C. Davis)
  24. Brett Jackson - homer pick, first to get waived if I need room. Hope that I can stash him though until he gets called up to replace losing Mike Trout...at least in my heart if not in the points. (Rizzo, Reimold/Thole, I. Stewart)
  25. Brett Lawrie (Keeper)

I was pretty thrilled with my keepers going in, so I was going to be happy with my team regardless and flipping Lawrie for Heyward hopefully netted me another long-term keeper option while filling a position of need. Past my 2 horses, starting pitching tends to be more about wise waiver manuevering and good old fashioned luck when it comes to the mid-tier guys so we'll see how that pans out. I think my offense is pretty damn solid though with the outfield being the question mark, but there's upside there.

Comments

I like Danks. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say this will be Soriano's worst offensive year evah.

So you guys can pick what round you draft keepers? How does that work? Or am I missing something?

[ ]

In reply to by Tito

it's kinda hard to determine value based on the points..."top" points are position guided...top tier C usually give 400+ points, a good 1st or OF can give 500-700 points...top pitching 600-900 points... plus, the FA talent at draft time that's non-keeper gets sketchy past round 2-3...and anything after the first few picks of round 1 wouldn't even qualify as a "true" 1st round pick in an open "all-players" draft. all of the solid players (aside from closers) are pretty much off the board by round 8-10.

Nick Caffardo: "The bones spurs are terrible and certainly cannot help the Red Sox organization...we are therefore expecting significant compensation in exchange for them."

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Seconded!!!

  • crunch (view)

    another awesome spring of pitching reports.  thanks a lot, appreciated.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 90-92 
    CUT: 87-89 
    SL: 82-83 
    SPLIT: 81-84
    CV: 73-74 
    COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes...  if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...   
     
    JOE NAHAS
    FB: 90-92 
    SL: 83-85 
    CV: 80-81 
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...   

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 86 
    SL: 79 
    COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...   

    FRANKIE SCALZO JR
    FB: 94-95
    CH: 88 
    SL: 83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning... 

    MICHAEL ARIAS
    FB: 94-96
    CH: 87-89
    SL: 82-83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...   

    ZAC LEIGH: 
    FB: 93-94 
    CH: 89 
    SL: 81-83 
    CV: 78
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...   

    JOSE ROMERO:  
    FB: 93-95
    SL: 82-84
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...

  • crunch (view)

    pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"

    mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit.  nice.

    he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons.  he's not lean, but he looks healthier.  good for him.