Cubs MLB Roster

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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 

 



 

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Rule 5 Draft 
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Game 98 Thread / Cubs @ Astros (3 of 3)

Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview

SP Ryan Dempster
SP
Brandon Backe
  10-4, 3.25, 104 K, 350 BB, 124.2 IP

6-9, 4.76, 83 K, 50 BB, 111.2 IP
       
SS Ryan Theriot
2B #Kaz Matsui
RF *Kosuke Fukudome CF *Darin Erstad
1B
Derrek Lee 1B
#Lance Berkman
3B
Aramis Ramirez LF
Carlos Lee
CF
*Jim Edmonds
SS Miguel Tejada
LF Mark DeRosa 3B #Geoff Blum
C
Geovany Soto
RF Hunter Pence
2B
*Mike Fontenot
C J.R. Towles
P
Ryan Dempster
P Brandon Backe

 

The Cubs' NL Central lead is down to +2 over the Cardinals and +3 over the Brewers as the Lou Crew tries to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Astros.

Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto, and Kosuke Fukudome are a combined 3-for-32 (.094) in the series, and as a team, the Cubs have fanned 14 times and walked once.

Or, as Lou Piniella explained so elegantly after Saturday night's 4-1 fall, "We're not getting much hitting anywhere in the lineup."

Backe, 2-1, 4.63 in 6 starts lifetime against the Cubs (0-1 this year), is coming off perhaps his best start of the season, last Sunday, when he threw 7 shutout innings at the Nationals. Dempster, who remains winless on the road this season, was a loser at Wrigley for the first time in '08, also last Sunday, when he fell to Tim Lincecum and the Giants. Dempster also dropped his only start this season against the Astros, back in May, yielding 6 hits and 4 runs over 6 IP in a 4-2 Cubs loss.

Comments

You think given our offensive struggles that the smart thing to do would be to sacrifice some defense (really how much better is Derosa than Ward) for an upgrade at the plate.

Ugh... we need Soriano back just so we don't see DeRosa playing LF anymore. I don't get how LouPa is okay throwing DeRosa out there but wasn't okay throwing Murton out there. We are losing defense both in LF and at 2b when DeRosa is playing LF.

here in Des Moines Samardzija ran his record to 4-1 today by going 6, allowing 2 hits, walking 1 and fanning 9. His Triple A ERA is down to 3.13, 5 out of 6 in quality starts...

Overheard on last night's Superfans (at least in MY head) Bob: Say the Cubs play the Astros with just Dempster and Fontenot. Who wins? Pat: Are Fontenot and Dempster full size or mini? Bob: Full-size Dempster, mini-Fontenot. Pat: Cubs, in a rout. Carl: Cubs, exta innings. Todd: Astros. But it's close. If Fontenot is full size, it's no question.

If they had any self-respect, the NL West would gives its playoff spot to the NL Central. Brewers score 5 off of Lincicum. Ugh. Time to wake up the bats, boys.

Nice to see Marmol mix some fastballs in his one inning of work -- 8 pitches, 4 fastballs (3 for strikes no less!) and 4 sliders. Nice little work out. Good to see Kosuke get off the schnide with 2 doubles -- looking forward to seeing Aram lining shots around the outfield or into the bleachers soon.

marmol did have a good mix. ARAM continues this new streaky behavior. Brewers are hot (like us early) and we are not (like them early). They beat Cain/Linc (something we didn't do in 2 tries)

but know st louie and brewers play 4 games vs. each other so the question is what do we root for a sweep by 1 team 2and 2 or a 3 to one series and which team. also do you think fukudome will start vs. randy johnson monday

[ ]

In reply to by rokfish

I am hoping for a 3 out of 4 for the Cardinals in that upcoming series. I think its likely that were going to win 3 of the next 4 and I think at some point the fairy dust has to come off STL and they come back to earth which for them is right around .500 ( I still stick to my theory they wont win more than 85 games), so I'd rather keep ground with them and gain it on Milwaukee. As for whether or not Fukudome starts, the numbers would dictate that the lefty that starts aganist RJ tomorrow should be Edmonds. In his career Jimmy Baseball is a .240/367/560/927 hitter vs the Unit in 25 AB's. He also 2 of the 24 HR that LHB have hit off him being one of 3 LHB (Bonds and Green are the others) to take him deep multiple times. Infact, Edmonds has better numbers verus the Unit than Dero, Lee, and Ram. Also tomorrow wouldnt be a bad time to spot start Blanco as he has a .833 OPS aganist him in 14 AB, while Soto has not faced him. Lou did mis a good time in the last series to get Blanco a spot start as he has a .999 OPS in 15 games at the Juice Box. All stats were found using Yahoo!: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/4288/batvspit;_ylt=AjcX62hmRl0DmRGp…

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.