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

Hoff-POWER! Act Getting a Bit Old

Submitted by Arizona Phil on

Micah Hoffpauir hit a three-run homer and reached base three times, Mike Fontenot drove in four runs with a two-run homer and a two-run triple, and Sam Fuld smacked a solo home run, scored two runs, and threw a runner out at the plate, as the Cubs thrashed the Texas Rangers 10-4 at Surprise Stadium today.

box score

Ted Lilly got the start, and worked two shutout innings, leaving unscathed thanks to a runner (Frank Catalanotto) being thrown out at the plate after a two out double by Jarrod Saltalamacchia in the bottom of the second.

The Cubs had taken the lead in the top of the frame, throwing up a seven spot on Rangers starter Scott Feldman.

Doug Deeds led off the Cubs second with a triple, and scored on an RBI single by Luis Rivas. So Taguchi then reached base on an error and Ryan Theriot singled to load the bases. After the runners advanced on an RBI ground out by Reed Johnson, Hoffpauir slammed a three-run blast, his second homer in three days. Geovany Soto singled with two outs, and then Fontenot followed with his two-run shot.

The Rangers came back with single runs off J. R. Mathes in the 3rd (a Ryan Theriot error  followed by two singles) and 4th (a single, a double, and an RBI GO), before the Cubs took an 9-2 lead in the top of the 6th.

Reed Johnson reached base leading off the inning after being hit by a pitch, and pinch-runner Sam Fuld moved up to second on a two-out walk to Mark Johnson. Fontenot then followed with a two-run triple to plate Fuld and Johnson.  

The Rangers scored two off Rocky Roquet in the 7th to narrow the Cub lead to 9-4, as Adam Melhuse smashed a one-out bases loaded double. But the potential third run was cut down at the plate.    

Fuld led off the 8th for the Cubs with a solo HR, and Jake Fox followed with a double, but was left stranded when DH Jason Dubois struck out, Mark Johnson grounded out, and Bobby Scales struck out.

Cubs pitchers retired the last seven Rangers batters on three ground outs and four punch-outs, and Cubs pitchers racked up 12 strikeouts for the day. Andruw Jones struck out three times (not easy to do in a Spring Training game). 

The Cubs return to Mesa tomorrow to play the White Sox.  

BTW, I was not at today's game (Surprise is like half-way to California), so I was forced to follow the game via "live" box score. 

Tags
Cubs Spring Training
Sam Fuld
Micah Hoffpauir
Mike Fontenot

Comments

Submitted by The E-Man on Fri, 02/27/2009 - 02:42 pm

THANKS PHIL! Sorry you weren't in attendance for this one. IS there any way, if Jake Fox continues to hit the cover off the ball this spring, that he'd be the last RH bench player? It seems as if there is no fielding position if Hoff is added as the 1B sub. And, certainly, he is no more a catcher - which is now a position where he'd actually be of tremendous value if he was a decent.

[ ]

Submitted by Charlie on Fri, 02/27/2009 - 02:06 pm

I hope Manny has to sign with the Giants for half the money. I recognize the hypocrisy in criticizing the players and not the owners, etc., and I have plenty of problems with the whole business end of the game. But anyone who would essentially say that they won't play baseball for $10 million this year and $15 million deferred deserves to be told he can sit out the season, then. It would be different if he had multiple teams bidding on him and the price was being driven up between the two of them.

[ ]

Submitted by big_lowitzki on Sun, 03/01/2009 - 03:40 am

Pretty much all players do it all the time. They all fight for extra money, and many are even willing to hold out over a couple of million dollars. It is Scott Boras's job to get Manny as much money as possible. I also think that it is funny that it is Manny's failt that we wants the money to not be deferred, but it is NOT the owner's fault for wanting the money deferred. Do it is okay when the owner/management says that they don't want one of the top few hitters in baseball because of a few million bucks, but it is not okay when the player says no because of a few million bucks.

Submitted by jacos on Fri, 02/27/2009 - 02:05 pm

Micah Hoffpauir??? Don't let the "Children of the Corn" name fool you this Amish Babe Ruth SOB can hit!!!!!!!!!! Who was the a-hole third baseman who hit .400 with 10 hr in ST three years ago? Clayton Moore? I don't know maybe we can put him crack and meth and he can be this year's Josh Lewin. Yes Im durnk, why do you aks?

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa? 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Pro teams have to play their "big money" guys if they are healthy and not "locker room" issues.
    The Cubs wanted to deal JHey off well before they bought him out. They just didn't want to pay him to play for someone else for that long. Jed did give him 20+mil to play for LAD last yr.
    Jed might also let Kyle walk at some point this year. Similar scenario to JHey, except Jed thought Kyle was going to be good/solid in '24!!
    You'd think Smyly is in the same book as well. Same with Neris (he's a 1yr vet RP, so he's not really in this convo too much).
    That's ~35mil between those three and those three are going to get opportunities until at least late June) over younger guys even if their performance is "iffy".
    But, Jed is going to play Taillon a lot. They have to try and justify that contract and hope a veteran works out.
    So, Taillon, Imanaga, and Hendricks are locks for the rest of April and probably May.
    Assad, Brown and Wicks handle the last spots until Steele is ready.
    Now, you're question has real merit when Steele comes back. That will interesting if Brown is still good and Hendricks is still bad. But Taillon is entirely safe as long as he's healthy.

    And the bullpen moves were "money" based as well. Smyly has actually been okay. But he hasn't been clearly better than Little. Little had one bad outing. But Smyly makes 9mil. If they needed another RHRP and one of Little and Smyly had to go, it was going to Little. But that doesn't mean Smyly is one of the best 13 arms for the team. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Childersb3: I think there was an issue with Luke Little coming into a game with men on base. He seems to need a "clean" inning to be dominant. So he is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AAA. Same goes for Michael Arias. He needs to come into a "clean" inning, and is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AA. Porter Hodge is a more versatile pitcher, a better version of Keegan Thompson (multi-inning RP). But Little, Arias, and Hodge (probably in that order) are the Cubs top three RP prospects (all three are Cubs Top 15 prospects).

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    So, let’s do a little war gaming. Taillon is back for tonight’s game. He pitched two rehab games, just a few innings each, and not especially sharp. Let’s face it, he hasn’t been lights out since the Cubs gave him the big contract. In other words, as flat out bad as Hendricks has been, the chances of Taillon being the savior don’t look exactly promising.

    If Taillon is equally ineffective or perhaps even worse, what’s the next move? Winning teams can often find a way to work around a dud fifth starter - kinda. Two dud starters make things much more difficult.

    I believe the biggest reason for the recent bullpen moves was dissatisfaction with the recent blowing of big leads and the recognition that the bullpen wasn’t all it was thought to be. In other words, they are exploring alternate options and configurations. If similar juggling becomes necessary (even more so than it already is), what kind of reasonable maneuvering do we think could be explored?

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Cubdom needs to prepare themselves for Wicks to be sent to Iowa for Taillon to come up.
    Ben Brown has 4 appearances. Wicks has 4 appearances.
    Ben has 16.1 IP.  Wicks has 17 IP
    Ben was a 1.1 WHIP.  Wicks has a 1.7 WHIP. Wicks does have significantly more SOs. 
    Ben has been better, though.
    I love Wicks. I think he's a fighter and his stuff has improved.
    But, Jed isn't ditching Hendricks just yet. He should. But he won't.
    Hendricks should go to the IL and Taillon-Imanaga-Assad-Wicks-Brown should be the rotation.
    Wont' happen though.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    AZ Phil,
    Did you agree with the demotion of Luke Little? He'd been pretty good up until the AZ/wild pitch appearance. I know that can't jettison Smyly (just yet) so they didn't need another LHRP. Especially with Leiter effectively being a LHRP. I still thought he deserved to stay. It's not permanent. He'll be back. Lots of moves to come with Taillon, Steele and other guys coming and going.

    Also, do you see Hodge being able to "control/command" his stuff to get a chance this year?
    Is Arias better than Hodge?   Thanks

  • crunch (view)

    just waiting to hear patrick wisdom and masterboney are spotted at the airport going in opposite directions...

    aj puk going for the marlins (lefty)...gotta imagine we'll see wisdom in the lineup.

    someone has to make room for taillon, too.

  • 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.

Click HERE for the last 50 comments