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

Game 128 Thread / Nationals @ Cubs (1 of 3)

Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview

SP *John Lannan
SP Jason Marquis
  6-12, 3.81, 89 K, 54 W, 141.2 IP

8-7, 4.67, 68 K, 49 W, 129 IP
       
2B
#Emilio Bonificio LF
Alfonso Soriano
SS #Cristian Guzman
SS Ryan Theriot
3B
Ryan Zimmerman
1B
Derrek Lee
CF
Lastings Milledge
3B
Aramis Ramirez
1B Ronnie Belliard
CF
Reed Johnson
RF *Ryan Langerhans
C
Geovany Soto
LF *Willie Harris
RF Mark DeRosa
C Wil Nieves
2B
Ronny Cedeno
P *John Lannan
P *Jason Marquis

Weather note: As of 12:40, it's pouring in the western suburbs, with storms on their way to the city. Could be a rain delay in our future.

The Cubs advance to the next course in the all-meatball buffet, following their series against the Reds with three against the 45-83 Nationals starting today, before moving on to Pittsburgh.

The Nats flew to Chicago following a Thursday night game in Philadelphia, so on top of being awful, they're surely tired. However, as the cliche goes, the most dangerous animal is a desperate one, so maybe the Cubs should beware. That said, Nick Zaccardi (Carrie Muskat's new nom de plume?) assures us the Cubs aren't taking anything for granted this weekend, so forget what I said about being beware—the Cubs should hammer these guys.

The home team is a perfect 7-0, averaging nearly 8 runs per game, in their last 7 games against southpaw starters. Lannan, however, dominated the Cubs (7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER) in a game Washington won when the teams met in D.C. in late April. Marquis hasn't pitched in nine days, last opening the DH at Atlanta with a winning, 5.1 IP, 2 ER effort against the Braves.

The Cubs begin play with a 5 1/2-game lead over the Brewers.

Finally, one more derogatory note about the Nationals, per the Tribune: with Cristian Guzman recovering from an injury to his left thumb, Washington has started seven different shortstops in the last 22 days.

Focus. We need to focus.

 

Comments

A four pitch strike out by Soriano A flare single to right by The Riot Another DP from Lee? I'd surely buy it Reed's single will follow AramRam's loud out to center A line out double play by Soto Well send me on a bender So, let's ponder DeRosa Walking ahead of a fielder's choice by Cedeno Will a Marquis K drive me to drugs Or will I be able to 'just say no'? This poem sucks.

Cory Provis (or whatever the hell his name is) on WGN says a "bit of a delayed start" today, with light rain falling the past 20 minutes or so. Also, radar looks like this thing is blowing off to the NE and will clear up in the next, oh, 30 minutes.

With a win today, the Cubs will ensure themselves of not ending the year with the worst record in the NL. Silly, pointless, stat...but kinda cool when you think about the fact that it's only 8/22.

Kosuke Fukudome had elbow surgery in the off season last year. Anyone else think that maybe he has a barking elbow at this point in the season? That, and it doesn't look like he's made many adjustments in his approach at the plate. Theories anyone?

[ ]

In reply to by Mike Vail

I have theories about everything, cooked to order. I would give Fukudome the benefit of the doubt and just say that he's really a rookie and he's hit a wall. He has never broken out of a slump in the major leagues and he's not convinced he can. Something similar happened to Fontenot last year, and he didn't start hitting again till spring training. If Fukudome keeps getting at-bats, he'll break out of it. I'm trying to think what might prevent Fukudome from getting at bats. Lou doesn't seem to want to compromise the defense with DeRosa in right and Fontenot at second, although that could happen. I'm starting to wonder if Tyler Colvin might get called up, who could play right field. Lou might get intrigued by Colvin's HR and triple power.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

What's the problem? This is p-p from Yahoo! - A. Soriano walked - R. Theriot struck out swinging, A. Soriano stole second - D. Lee singled to center, A. Soriano to third - A. Ramirez struck out swinging, A. Soriano stole home, D. Lee stole second - R. Johnson grounded out to shortstop The part that confuses me is... "A. Ramirez struck out swinging, A. Soriano stole home, D. Lee stole second". What? Wild pitch? Passed ball?

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Lee stole second and on the throw to second, Fonzie took off from third and beat the throw back from second to home. Safe all around except for Aramis striking out. Very risky play though, considering how often catchers pump fake the throw to second with a man on third. There was absolutely no hesitation before Soriano took off for home. It looked pretty awesome, but could have very easily resulted in being picked off third base.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

If you liked the first that much, you're probably just loving this 2nd inning. 2 Leadoff Walks Ronny Cedeno strikes out looking, does not swing ONCE during the AB. Marquis pops out first pitch. Soriano grounds out. UGH! I have heard something like 75% of leadoff walks score.....what is the percentage when you get 2 leadoff walks?

This is shaping up to be one lousy way to start the weekend. How many times can we skip Marqis for the rest of the year? With his ERA now at 4.76, can we PLEASE stop all the ridiculous talk about him being a decent starting pitcher?

nothing that helps a shitty team more than pitchers that can't find the strikezone. Yeah, everyone was raving about Marquis in chat and how great he was. No, there is no excuse for walking 2 guys on 5 pitches each with a 4 run lead. I'm sure Lou and Rothschild are thrilled with Marquis outing.

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

"That was a quick hook by Lou" "He was cruising" "He's a great #5" "Think he'll pich a CG shut out" I didn't say anyone said anything about Marquis being a cy young candidate...but people, including you, were raving about his performance today, when people, inclding me, were ripping him for walking those 2 guys on 10 total pitches with a 4 run lead. But, on another matter.... The inning before Marquis completely lost it, Theriot, Lee and Aram went down on a total of 4 pitches. I wonder if that can screw with Marquis when he doesn't even get 2 minutes to sit between innings. Not saying that's an execuse, but I do wonder if that could have had anything to do with him completely losing control in the top of the following inning.

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

Well, It needs to be noted that the bullpen didn't help Marquis there. It was impossible for him to do any worse than Cotts did. On the season, going into yesterday the bullpen had saved approximately 2.75 runs for Marquis on the year (2 for Dempster, 3 for Zambrano, even for Lilly, 1 for Harden and cost Gallagher a run), so that will drop a little bit once they count yesterday's blowup. Cotts had been pitching well, so I can't blame Lou too much for using him there - but I asked it at the time in Parachat: What the hell was Howry warming up for? Should have been Marmol or Gaudin then.

No seriously, let's burn the place!!!

Well, that will hurt the 'ol Run Differential. The team with the best record loses to the team with the worst record by 8 runs, in a sport where scoring 4 runs per game is the norm. What a bizarre sport. Hopefully, the Nats got it all out of their system.

Hopefully, we can win the next 2 and split the season series with these tough Nats. That would be quite an accomplishment. Last year, it was the Marlins -- a terrible team that gave the Cubs fits. Weird, man.

Some people forget, that indeed the Nats are shit. But to them, playing the Cubs is like playing in the World Series for them. For the entire year, this Cubs team plays to the level of their competition. I expect them to win the next 2.

How long is lou gonna put up with Howry and Cotts wizardry ? Has any middle relievers cleared waivers? Cmon Hendry , spend some of the fans money and bail Lou out. Probably need another outfielder that can clutch hit too!

Not panicking, but I hate that kind of loss most of all -- somehow more aggravating than the 2-1 job vs. Cincy during the week. I don't know why, but I'm more at peace with getting shut down by mediocre pitching than I am with giving up salamis to the Willie Harrises of the world. Super-ultra-mega-masta-blasta-pickin'-up-the-Shasta hoping for a nice rebound by Demp & the offense today, as I will be in the bleachers.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • 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.