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, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-21-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 14
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

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

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL
* Justin Steele, P   

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 





Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Game #66 Preview: A's (33-34) @ Cubs (29-36)

Though it sounds like Jim Hendry truly couldn't care less, it's the first day of the Ari Kaplan Era at Wrigley Field. As for the game on the field, mlb.com reports that Randy Wells is looking at today's start against the A's as hitting the reset button on his thus far rocky season.

The irony, of course, is that Wells's employers might not be able to overlook the past quite as easily: since the beginning of May, the righty is 0-5, 6.47. His first-inning troubles have been especially ugly. In 13 Wells starts this year, opponents are hitting .357 against him in the opening inning and Wells's first-inning ERA is a Grabow-esque 11.25. (Stats from Baseball-Reference.com.)

Moreover, all of this is happening while Tom Gorzelanny collects dust in the bullpen—since his last start 22 days ago, Gorzelanny has pitched just three times (1 2/3 IP) and thrown a total of 52 pitches.

The lineups have been posted. You'll note that with the A's starting another lefty, the Cubs' "everyday" right fielder will be sitting for a second consecutive day.

A's vs. Randy Wells (3-5, 5.15; first appearance vs. A's):
Davis 8, Jackson 7, Barton 3, Suzuki 2, Kouzmanoff 5, Cust 9, Ellis 4, Pennington 6, Braden 1

Cubs lineup vs. Dallas Braden (4-6, 3.95; first appearance vs. Cubs)
Theriot 4, Baker 5, Byrd 8, Lee 3, Nady 9, Soriano 7, Soto 2, Castro 6, Wells 1

From the FWIW Department, Marlon Byrd is the only Cub to have faced Braden and has gone 6/16 against him, including 3 doubles. As for Braden, he's 0-4, 4.75 in six starts since his perfect game against Tampa Bay.

Comments

That Hendry comment from that Herald link is bothersome. "Look at Carlos Silva's stats from last year, who needs stats?" Far too long overdue to get a shift in philosophy in the Cubs Front Office.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Bruce Miles is characterizing the hire as more than just a functionary/assistant to Wasserstrom: "Cubs owner Tom Ricketts put his first stamp on the baseball department with the hiring of Ari Kaplan as manager of statistical analysis." From my own, limited, business contact with the Cubs front office, I know that the line between the baseball people and the business people is a significant one--more like a wall than a line. If Ricketts really had a hand in this hire and has chosen to impact the baseball part of his business, as Miles writes, I think this is a newsworthy development.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

hendry and crew didn't know what they had...as late as a few weeks ago hendry said when he snagged silva he didn't know if he'd be a innings eater out of the pen or a starter. there's nothing in the stats that point to what he's doing this year and the "inevitable collapse" of his "luck" is moving into the 1/2 way point of the season. it's not good stuff in this era for a GM or manager to even look like they're dismissing stats even if they're not. scouting + stats are used by every team, but a lot of people seem to have the idea that only a handful of team have clued-in to the stats thing and it's all happened recently.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

"Using advanced statistics for player evaluation and valuation is just now fully taking hold in the major leagues, primarily due to Moneyball and the success of the Red Sox" that book has a lot of dramatically blown up mistruths. mlb teams have actually been developing and using priority stats for a long time. a lot of the work was subcontracted out to Stats Inc. or an in-house manager of stats much like IBM takes contracts to do "custom solutions" for customers. when we got beane we got a GM in the fold of the game who didn't suddenly realize something new...we got a guy who championed and brought closer to the top advanced stats. there's more respect for advanced stats, but very few teams were clueless, not using them, or ignoring them. those books of stats on are not just raw data of baseball-card stats left for a bench coach/manager to do quick evaluations in-game. there's notes/words/links on how the data can be best used along with those stats. chuck w. isn't just making a binder full of stuff printed off from the internet the past 20 years. he's working with the data and analyzing trends...

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

i think hendry is trying to point out stats aren't the end-all-be-all and guys like silva are doing things numbers say they probably won't do. That's fine. But the point is there's also no way any scout would suggest Silva would do this either. If Hendry implies that, it's inaccurate. the jim edmonds scrap-heap pickup was a nice one, too. Joe Borowski. Ryan Dempster. Taking a flyer on cheap guys is smart management, but it's just luck. Didn't work for Wade Miller or Chad Fox. just like scouting can "lie" numbers aren't absolute, either. it's not a war, it's a partnership. Agreed.

I'm not sure if this was talked about, but why did the crowd give Soriano an ovation for laying down a sacrifice bunt last night? It's Soriano's job to drive in runs, not Soto's or Castro's. That was as selfish a play as Soriano has made in a Cubs uniform, and I have no idea why he received an ovation. The only way that's a good play is if Soriano beats it out, which he didn't.

[ ]

In reply to by Mitterwald

Short answer: Fans like "Hustle." Long answer: Soriano was trying to bunt for a hit and would have had it if he could get the ball just a little farther down the third base line. The pitcher had to a make a fairly difficult play to get him, barehanding and spinning to throw to first. It's also pretty much the opposite of watching a high fly ball as if it was homerun and then getting a double on what should've been a triple, so I think Soriano's history has to be taken into account when trying to understand the fan reaction. It turned out all right, but I wouldn't want to see Soriano try it more than two or maybe three times a year.

I don't what he exactly does, but if it's putting the binders with splits and batter vs. pitcher matchups together, probably get someone here from TCR to do that for $15 p/hour He's probably the genius that tipped Hendry to sign Aaron Miles because he was good in day games. All in all, if he's been there for 20 years, he's probably not helping much or not being listened to and sounds like his idea of stats is just basic splits and stuff. As for Kaplan, sounds like a database administrator more than anything, but maybe he'll give the Cubs a fresher take on stuff. None of it matters with Hendry as GM, who will always defer to his scouts cause that's his background. For the most part it's served him well to be honest, Bradley and Fukudome being the major exceptions.

I dunno if this is a shift in philosophy or anything, but I do know that, in my job, if some young gun got hired under me, a guy who reports to me, no less, who sort of is well known for something I'm known to be indifferent to, I'd be stupid not to notice. If I was Hendry I'd have a hard time not looking at this as kind of a statement being made by his boss. I don't think it matters much whether this new guy is a stats guy or what the hell he does. The fact the owner hand picked a guy Hendry should be responsible for hiring is a pretty strong statement.

BTW: "Randy Wells is looking at today's start against the A's as hitting the reset button on his thus far rocky season. The irony, of course, is that Wells's employers might not be able to overlook the past quite as easily" What exactly is ironic about this? Just curious.

Fukudome's hitting coach security blanket seems to be working again. They need to flag him as a terrorist so he can't leave the country again. I wonder if the Cubs can package Fukudome for $1-$2M each, but if you want him to work, you need to add his hitting coach at $12M a year.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

i have read...and it still makes no sense. any time you have a power hitter with more or as much power hits as RBIs you should re-evaluate a player's role. high K rate, low walk rate, speed declining (it was just silly when he was hobbled and still leading off), 30+hr power, 30+ double power yeah, let's get that guy his 70+ rbis and pay him 15m to do it. what you guys like out of leadoff hitters don't jive with soriano's use over a couple years. i've heard the "he can't hit there because he can only hit in 1 and 6 slots or whatever" excuses which are laaaame as hell...

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Yes, he had a .330 OBP by the end of the season. Fine, but season stats can cloud major in-season variation. He was absolutely dismal early in the year and contributed greatly to the season going south. Through June 9th he was at: .231/.277/.295/.572 - and getting the most at-bats on the team. It was brutal. At that point the Cubs were 12 games under .500, and 12 games out of first already. From then on out he put up a nice line of: .326/.359/.440/.799 , which brought his season stats up. But at that point, it didn't matter. People here have been on the Cubs to bench or get rid of Theriot, and to give you an idea of how bad Pierre was, Theriot's OPS was nearly 40 points higher on June 9th than Pierre's was in 2006. And at least Theriot has been moved down to 8th in the order a few times and sat a few games. Pierre started and led off basically every game.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    “I respect his track record of what he’s accomplished,” Counsell said on Sunday morning. “And you go through these. He’s gone through -- maybe not this particular stretch -- but stretches where you’re not pitching the way you want to and struggling. And you figure it out.” -- Counsell on Hendricks

    fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...

    i respect his track record of no longer being in the rotation.  in 2016 he threw 2 innings out of the pen, his only work out of the pen.  the cubs won the world series that year.  let's repeat that magic.

  • Finwe Noldaran (view)

    Phil: Great to see what Rosario is doing!

    Do you think having Rosario may have influenced/impacted the front office's decision on including Hope in the trade for Busch at all?

  • crunch (view)

    it's so crazy we got a new "barnstorming" harlem globetrotters-type baseball product that was introduced less than 5 years ago and is wildly popular all over the nation.

    a notion left long in the past, unearthed, polished for modern audiences and popular as ever.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    No question right now Alfonsin Rosario is one of the Cubs Top 20 prospects (probably Top 15). Rosario is to the Cubs what Zyhir Hope is to the Dodgers.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Savannah Bananas will be playing the Party Animals at Sloan Park in Mesa this coming Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The games are sold out (15,000+ each night), and berm tickets are going for well over $100. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    RAISIN: In the game versus the A's at Fitch Park last Friday, Mule threw half FB and half SL (16/16), and one CH (which coincidentally was the only hard-hit ball off him -- a near HR line-drive double off the LF fence). FB was 91-94 and the SL (really more of a "slurve") was 80-82, and he got three swing & miss on each pitch (six swing & miss total out of his 20 strikes). So I think it is safe to say that right now, Mule is strictly a two-pitch pitcher (FB/SL), 

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Recalled it was sampled in a Nas song.  Did a little sleuthing.  It was a Nas song called "Hate Me Now" that featured Puff Daddy.  Imploring the crowd to hate somebody seems a bit overly dramatic for a keyboardist but perhaps there is some other connection to the song. 

     

    In general there has been a weird overuse of Carmina Burana's O Fortuna in sports and commercials in past decade or so.  Maybe it is a fallback choice if there isn't anything else.   

     

    Sidenote, while the O Fortuna part has become a bit pop-culture cliched; the overall piece is very interesting and rather expansive in scope. I played percussion in a production of it while in college.  There is a rather jovial movement set in a tavern.  In the score it calls for the clinking of beer steins.  Let's just say we did a lot of research to determine the best sounding beer steins. 

  • crunch (view)

    ooof...this is just as likely as anything.  professional organists are weird humans.

  • SheffieldCornelia (view)

    Maybe it is only played when the hitter thus far in the game is "oh for two"-na at the plate?

  • crunch (view)

    who was AB when it was being played?  it could be something as corny as playing it for nick fortes because fortes/fortuna...fortes...marlins...fish...tuna...sigh.

    while the cubs organ player isn't a frequent groaner weaponizing the organ song selection, they all dabble in it.