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

Cubs Potential Offseason Targets: Kelvim Escobar

Trying to figure out which relievers the Cubs may try to acquire - if any - to bolster a poor bullpen performance is like trying to find a decent Cubs position player developed by the Cubs farm system over the last 35 years. For all I know the Cubs won't do much but try and resign John Grabow and then see who might stick from the current crop of youngsters plus a few Chad Fox-type reclamation projects that they might hope to stick...and probably Chad Fox himself.

We do know Hendry likes his strikeout pitchers and Escobar has a 7.89 K/9 rate for his career which trends higher when he's worked out of the bullpen as you'd expect. There hasn't been much chatter on Escobar since he went down with a shoulder injury after pitching just 5 innings in 2009 (and he missed all of 2008 as well after labrum surgery), but I think it's a fair bet he'll come back in 2010 as a reliever...that is if he's coming back at all.

Year Age Tm W L W-L% ERA G GS GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP ERA+ WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB
1997 21 TOR 3 2 .600 2.90 27 0 23 14 31.0 28 12 10 1 19 36 0 156 1.516 8.1 0.3 5.5 10.5 1.89
1998 22 TOR 7 3 .700 3.73 22 10 2 0 79.2 72 37 33 5 35 72 0 124 1.343 8.1 0.6 4.0 8.1 2.06
1999 23 TOR 14 11 .560 5.69 33 30 2 0 174.0 203 118 110 19 81 129 10 86 1.632 10.5 1.0 4.2 6.7 1.59
2000 24 TOR 10 15 .400 5.35 43 24 8 2 180.0 186 118 107 26 85 142 3 95 1.506 9.3 1.3 4.3 7.1 1.67
2001 25 TOR 6 8 .429 3.50 59 11 15 0 126.0 93 51 49 8 52 121 3 132 1.151 6.6 0.6 3.7 8.6 2.33
2002 26 TOR 5 7 .417 4.27 76 0 68 38 78.0 75 39 37 10 44 85 5 109 1.526 8.7 1.2 5.1 9.8 1.93
2003 27 TOR 13 9 .591 4.29 41 26 12 4 180.1 189 94 86 15 78 159 9 110 1.481 9.4 0.7 3.9 7.9 2.04
2004 28 ANA 11 12 .478 3.93 33 33 0 0 208.1 192 91 91 21 76 191 7 114 1.286 8.3 0.9 3.3 8.3 2.51
2005 29 LAA 3 2 .600 3.02 16 7 2 1 59.2 45 21 20 4 21 63 2 140 1.106 6.8 0.6 3.2 9.5 3.00
2006 30 LAA 11 14 .440 3.61 30 30 0 0 189.1 192 93 76 17 50 147 4 126 1.278 9.1 0.8 2.4 7.0 2.94
2007 31 LAA 18 7 .720 3.40 30 30 0 0 195.2 182 79 74 11 66 160 3 134 1.267 8.4 0.5 3.0 7.4 2.42
                                                   
2009 33 LAA 0 1 .000 3.60 1 1 0 0 5.0 4 2 2 0 4 5 1 127 1.600 7.2 0.0 7.2 9.0 1.25
12 Seasons 101 91 .526 4.15 411 202 132 59 1507.0 1461 755 695 137 611 1310 47 113 1.375 8.7 0.8 3.6 7.8 2.14
162 Game Avg. 11 10 .526 4.15 46 22 15 7 167 162 84 77 15 68 145 5 113 1.375 8.7 0.8 3.6 7.8 2.14
                                               
TOR (7 yrs) 58 55 .513 4.58 301 101 130 58 849.0 846 469 432 84 394 744 30 105 1.461 9.0 0.9 4.2 7.9 1.89
LAA (5 yrs) 43 36 .544 3.60 110 101 2 1 658.0 615 286 263 53 217 566 17 125 1.264 8.4 0.7 3.0 7.7 2.61
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/28/2009.
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For his career, he's actually got a better ERA as a starter(4.09 vs. 4.44) than a reliever, but a lot of that relief work was done early in his career. He can throw up to six pitches, but said he scrapped his slider so that takes him down to a 2 and 4-seam fastball, split-fingered fastball, curveball and change-up and that's probably 2-3 more pitches then he needs to be an effective reliever. Obviously the big concern will be how well that shoulder is doing and then what kind of contract he'll be expecting after missing out on two seasons. If he does show to be healthy, at least one other fanbase wouldn't mind getting in on the action.

Any type of serious statistical analysis on Escobar isn't going to have much merit as he hasn't pitched in two years and we don't know what the shoulder injuries may have done to his arm. This signing would be up to the doctors, trainers and scouts and if they feel that something resembling the old Escobar is still out there. Now I realize the Cubs and their fans feel snake-bitten by some of these high risk-high reward type talents the Cubs  have employed over the last decade, but with the expected budget crunch, Hendry's gonna have to roll the dice on a few of these spots. If they can get Escobar on a one year incentive-laden deal, maybe with a 2nd year club option - and the doctors give the all clear signal - it could be a decent risk for the Cubs in 2010. He'd probably start the season as a set-up man but definitely has the ability and experience to step into the closer role if/when "Wild Thing" Marmol isn't getting the job done.

 

Comments

http://www.familybusinessmagazine.com/index.php?/blog/single/cubs_famil…

Joe Ricketts, patriarch of the Roman Catholic family, still lives in his hometown of Omaha, Neb., Goudie reported. His son Tom was a marketmaker at the Chicago Board Options Exchange and a finance executive before starting Incapital LLC, an investment bank, in 1999.As Goudie put it, Tom Ricketts “shunned the family business back in Nebraska to make his own way in Chicago.”

Another son, Pete Ricketts, 45, lives in Omaha and left his post as COO of the family's stock brokerage to run as a Republican for U.S. Senate, spending more than $11 million of his own money to fund the campaign. "He had run on a conservative family values platform and was outspoken against gay marriage," Goudie wrote. "He often said that ‘Nebraska values' include traditional marriage. That put him at odds with his only sister."

Laura Ricketts, 41, who lives in Chicago, serves on the board of directors of Lambda Legal, a national gay and lesbian rights organization, which has fought in court to overturn Nebraska's ban on same-sex marriage, Goudie reported. She is a co-founder of Internet travel company Ecotravel along with her youngest brother, Todd Ricketts, 39, who also lives in Chicago.

A 2006 article in the Omaha World-Herald during Pete Ricketts' Senate campaign (no longer available online) quoted Pete Ricketts as saying, "I love my sister. I disagree with her on this issue. What more is there to say?" "

If you thought the Chicago Cubs ownership dynamics were frayed the past 28 years," Goudie wrote in his Daily Herald column, "you ain't seen nothin' yet."

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.

    I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.

    If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.

    Give him a chance. 

    But Wesneski probably gets it

  • crunch (view)

    alzolay...bro...

  • crunch (view)

    wow.  what a blown call.  go cubs, i guess.

  • crunch (view)

    neris is good for 70-ish appearances and having him throw 89-91mph fastballs was something i was not looking forward to for 70-ish games.

    his splitter today was ranging 82-83mph...also a bit faster than spring performances.

  • Eric S (view)

    Holy shit this umpire sucks


    However, all is forgiven when his suckiness works in favor of the Cubs. 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Neris must have been sand-baging spring training. He's a veteran, so he knew what he was doing. Had me fooled to be honest. Glad I was wrong.

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    Looks like he might the cliche veteran pitcher in spring not really ramping it up and just “forking on stuff” in spring. If he gets to 94 on the regular he’ll do just fine. 

  • crunch (view)

    topped out a 94mph, threw 4 of those.  feeling a lot better about neris.

  • crunch (view)

    neris has thrown 2 pitches at 93mph out of his first 5 pitches.  that's a positive turn.