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

Archer and Guyer Earn Top Minor League Honors

The Cubs named outfielder Brandon Guyer their 2010 Minor League Player of the Year and Chris Archer was named the pitcher of the year.

Guyer and Archer are still competing for the Tennessee Smokies in the Southern League champioship that begins tomorrow against the Jackson Suns.

In 410 PA's during the regular season, Guyer hit 13 over the fence with a slash line of 344/398/588. He topped the Southern League in slugging percentage and finished 2nd in batting average. He was a 5th round pick by the Cubs in 2007.

Archer was one-third of the package received for dealing Mark DeRosa to the Indians before the 2009 season. The 21-year old put up a 2.34 ERA between AA and Hi-A in 28 games (27 of them starts). That includes an 8-2 record and 1.80 ERA at AA in 70 IP with 67 K's and 39 BB's. Overall, he ended up 15-3 with that 2.34 ERA in 142.1 IP with 149 K's, 65 BB's and just 6 HR's allowed and a 1.173 WHIP.

For as full of a list as I have been able to compile at this point of minor league players of the year, check out Wiklifield. Guyer and Archer have joined the esteemed ranks of Brian Dopirak, Kevin Hart, Eric Patterson, Micah Hoffpauir, Kyler Burke, Sean Gallagher, Rich Hill and so on (Geovany Soto at least earned one in 2007). If you can assist in filling out any missing info on that page or any other, feel free to drop me a line or throw it in the comments.

Comments

silva...right elbow tendonitis according to gordo witty...no elbow "strain" he could be back by this coming weekend. thrilling. c.m. says he's rejoining the team tuesday and they'll figure it out from there. also, 2b baker, ss castro, cf byrd, 3b ramy, 1b nady, c soto, lf sori, rf colvin, p samardzija

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Submitted by The Real Neal on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 5:58pm. Well, Gaub and Stevens have been pretty useless. I really thought Gaub would do something this year, but he just can't seem to throw strikes and not get lit up. ===================================== REAL NEAL: John Gaub spent most of the past two months at Fitch Park trying to overcome "Steve Blass Disease." He pitched in one AZL game at the end of July and it was pretty sad. Along with Brian Schlitter and Jeff Stevens, Gaub is a good candidate to get outrighted to make room on the 40-man roster for Chris Archer, Brandon Guyer, and Marquez Smith on 11/20. However, none of the three (Gaub, Schlitter, or Stevens) would be eligible to be a minor league free-agent if outrighted to the minors. On the other hand, because each is eligible to be a Rule 55 minor league free-agent if not on a 40-man roster by the 4th day following the conclusion of the World Series, Mitch Atkins, James Adduci, Jeff Gray, and Bobby Scales (the four others likely to get removed from the Cubs 40-man roster post-2010) will have to be outrighted sometime before that deadline, so look for the Cubs to outright three or four guys in October (probably sometime before the conclusion of the World Series), and another two or three in November (on or just before 11/20). Another roster slot will open up when Xavier Nady becomes a FA.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 7:08am. Are you sure there weren't arm issues with Gaub? They seem to pop up every year. He went on Iowa inactive on 7/9, and threw one third of an inning in Arizona after that, in which he walked two batters. ==================================== VA PHIL: Gaub has had medical issues related to his shoulder in the past, but not this year. I was at the game he pitched at HoHoKam in July, and he was three balls on every hitter, walking two of them. That was the one and only game action he has had in the last two months. BTW, the Cubs now employ a sports psychologist at Fitch Park who works with players having problems with various issues.

[ ]

In reply to by chuck

Submitted by chuck on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 5:35pm. Remember when a lot of people on this site wanted to hang Hendry when he made the Derosa for Archer, Stevens and Gaub trade? Not looking too bad at thes point. ======================================== CHUCK: I know I was opposed to the DeRosa trade because I believed then (and still believe now) that trading Mark DeRosa and signing Milton Bradley and Aaron Miles made the Cubs (which had the best record in the N. L. in 2008) a worse team in 2009. It's a nice consolation prize that Chris Archer has developed into the Cubs #1 pitching prospect in 2010 and kudos to the Cubs scouting department for projecting Archer to be that good, but I still believe the Cubs (unintentionally) sold-out the 2009 season by trading DeRosa and signing Bradley and Miles.

ROB G: 3B Gary Scott was the Cubs "Minor League Player of the Year" in 1990, 3B Pedro Castellano in 1991, RHP Steve Trachsel in 1992, and OF Eddie Zambrano in 1993 (Eddie Z. was also American Association MVP in '93). I don't know if there was a Cubs Minor League POY in 1989, but there wasn't one in '87 or '88, so it started either in 1989 or 1990. I'll try and get 1997 for you if I can find the doc, but I seem to remember that Kerry Wood was POY in both 1996 and 1997, or else it was Wood in '96 and LHP Phil Norton in '97 (can't confirm at this time). Rich Hill was the Iowa Cubs "Pitcher of the Year" in 2005, and Scott Moore was West Tenn Diamond Jaxx "Player of the Year" in 2006 (and he probably should have been the Cubs Minor League Player of the Year, too, except for some reason they gave "Minor League Player of the Year" to Rich Hill and Donnie Veal).

It'd be nice if Samardzija had one secondary pitch he could control at all. He is all over the place with both the changeup and the slider. (I know, his fastball isn't exactly pinpoint, either.)

soto bats 9th the rest of the season... it's not like i expect him to hit 3rd or 4th, though i wouldn't bitch about it...but he seems like an obvious #5 hitter at worst...hell, he's not a traditional #3 hitter, but he probably wouldn't stink it up there.

Sergio Meat Tray relives Chad Gaudin in the bottom of the 11th and promptly gives up a lead-off, walk-off HR to the Rays' Reid Brignac. 1-0 Rays over Yankees in 11 innings. Rays climb into 1st over the Yanks by a 1/2 game. Yankees pitched 3 ex-Cubs in the game (K. Wood, Gaudin & Meat Tray).

the good: 5.2 IP, 0 ER, 8 GB - 4FB the not-so-good 4 BB - 1 K nice effort, even if against a struggling team

Xavier Nady has $2M in potential performance bonuses in his contract, and he isn't going to reach very many of them, but two he can reach fairly easily are $100K for 70 GS (he has started 59), and $125K for 300 PA (he has 285 after tonight). So there is a good chance Nady will make another $225K on top of his $3.3M base salary. Even though it costs them money in added payroll, the Cubs usually try (if possible) to help their guys get to their bonuses. For instance, last year John Grabow was used the last weekend of the season so that he could get to 75 Games (Appearances), when if he hadn't been used, the Cubs would have saved $25,000.

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

Submitted by John Beasley on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 5:05am. Isn't there a difference between $25K for a guy one wants to bring back (and they did) and $225K for a guy who likely will be gone in a few weeks? I'm not necessarily saying they should bench Nady and deny him his money, especially if the org feels he's been a good troop this year. But at first glance these would appear to be quite varying situations. ============================================ JOHN B: If they wanted to make it look like they weren't trying to avoid paying him any part of his bonus, the Cubs could have just released Nady on September 1st once it became clear that no other MLB clubs were interested in acquiring him in a trade, and then announce that they were releasing Nady to give Micah Hoffpauir a chance to play everyday or that they were going to move Tyler Colvin to 1B immediately. Or they even could have released him prior to August 31st so that he could have made his own deal with a contender prior to the 8/31 roster deadline, and then the Cubs would have saved both one month of pro-rated MLB minimum salary (about $65K) while also not having any liability for his performance bonus. I just think Hendry wants to always do what's best for the player, even if it costs the Cubs more money. That's probably why Hendry is so popular with player agents. He's even friends with Scott Boras! Which then begs the question, "Why didn't Nady ask for his release at the end of August so that he could at least sign a minor league deal with a contender prior to the 8/31 deadline?" Maybe Nady is one of those guys who just doesn't care much about whether he plays in the post-season or not, he just wants to play somewhere where he can be more sure of reaching at least a part of his performance bonus (which apparently will be the case with the Cubs, at least about $225K of it).

If you set an age limit of 24, and you didn't reward work done in low-A ball, you would have a better list of minor league players/pitchers of the year since 2004: Guyer, Archer, Coleman, Atkins, Soto, Hart, Pinto. Burke, Patterson (both Pattersons, actually), Gallagher and Dopirak earned their awards in low A ball. Veale's season was split between low and high A. Hill was 26 when he had that big year at Iowa. Hoffpauir was 28. Brad Snyder is 28 this year, and didn't win the award, which is good. AA players are better bets.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

Submitted by Charlie on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 4:42am. That kind of assumes that Minor League Player of the Year is meant to indicate who is the best prospect. Maybe it's meant as an award to hold up a guy who has improved drastically, done what the organization/coaches asked of him, and worked his ass off? ============================================ CHARLIE: The Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year and Minor League Player of the Year are awarded to the Cubs minor league pitcher & player who had the best years. It is not the Cubs Best Prospect Award, or Best Tools, or Most Likely to Succeed. Those eligible for the awards include older players at AAA (even a 4-A minor league free-agents at Iowa could win the award), although I suspect the Cubs give greater weight to younger prospects who are still progressing up through the system (especially those who "Get with the Program"), but the awards do not exclude older guys. There is also apparently an element of "Good Citizen" (Lady Bing) implied in the awards, though it's mainly based on performance on the field.

I am sure glad to see Archer develop nicely, hope it translates to higher levels. At the time of the Derosa trade, I sure thought Gaub would be the most useful of the three, a lefty reliever that can get lefties out, Cubs really haven't had one since Will Ohman. Wasn't Archer hurt when the Cubs got him from Cleveland? The other thing I notice with Cubs prospects reports is, it is approaching the time that we call Josh Vitters a bust, another wasted #3 pick by the Cubs. I know Vitters is still young, but he has yet to post an impressive line at any level above A ball, and he seems to get hurt every year. Add in his lousy defense and from what I've read, questions about his dedication, and he sure looks to have bust written all over him at this point. Living in Kansas City, I am painfully aware that the HS player and 3B taken right before Vitters (Mike Moustakas) has absolutely dominated minor league ball all the way up to the AAA level, he could be the overall minor league player of the year for 2010. He'll be in KC for 2011. Of course, David Price (#1), Matt Wieters (#5) and Jason Heyward (#14) are in the big leagues now and performing well. Is Vitters even one of the top three Cubs hitting prospects at this point? Ugh.

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In reply to by Jim Hickmans Bat

If I wanted to defend Vitters, I would point out that he had a nice AFL season last year and then started this spring at Daytona hitting a quiet .290, which was an improvement over last year at Daytona. Then something possessed the Cubs to promote him to Tennessee. You might recall the inanities about putting him in an environment where he would be challenged. He certainly was challenged at AA. At the time, I thought that the Cubs were pushing Vitters in order to help their poker hand with Ramirez, who was expected to declare free agency at the end of the season, or at least threaten free agency while driving a hard bargain with the Cubs. Funny how things turn out. Vitters' season went to hell, and the Cubs can't get rid of Ramirez.

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In reply to by The Real Neal

No problem going from AA in 2011 to the majors in 2012. Colvin and Castro both skipped AAA. It's why I thought the timing of Vitters' promotion to AA was peculiar. They seemed in a hurry to get Vitters ready for 2011--not necessarily to use him in 2011, but to be able to say to Ramirez this fall, "We're comfortable at third. Don't bother threatening us, we're not sweetening your deal." Vitters would be fine--maybe Samardzija as well--if the Cubs just forgot about where they drafted him and how much they paid, and said what they say to everyone else: Earn your promotions!

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In reply to by Dr. aaron b

He should get a walk every ten at-bats or so, to be in line with the better hitters in the Southern League. He's more like a walk every 16 ABs. But those 7 HBPs are interesting, and maybe they tell a story. He must be crowding the plate, trying to pull outside pitches. Give him a couple of years to figure out how to orient himself at the plate. Maybe he'll get some ball-calls on inside pitches and also learn to lay off the outside ones. His positioning at the plate might also be the reason he has trouble staying healthy. Hasn't Vitters had a couple of season-ending HBPs?

cubs interviewing bob melvin according to espn 1000

Haven't seen any mention of this here but----Baseball America" posted their "all Prospect teams" comprised of 8 position players, a DH, 5 Starting pitchers and 1 relief pitcher. Archer was a first team choice and Jackson and McNutt were second team choices. Could Archer help us next year? Howa far behind are Jackson and McNutt? And I saw Carpenter in Des Moines registering a lot of 95's on the speed gun....which is thought to be 2-3 mph slow. Could we have the possibility of some real #1 starters in the offing?

[ ]

In reply to by chuck

Submitted by chuck on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 10:17am. Haven't seen any mention of this here but----Baseball America" posted their "all Prospect teams" comprised of 8 position players, a DH, 5 Starting pitchers and 1 relief pitcher. Archer was a first team choice and Jackson and McNutt were second team choices. Could Archer help us next year? Howa far behind are Jackson and McNutt? And I saw Carpenter in Des Moines registering a lot of 95's on the speed gun....which is thought to be 2-3 mph slow. Could we have the possibility of some real #1 starters in the offing? ======================================== CHUCK: Chris Archer, Jay Jackson, Trey McNutt, and Chris Carpenter are all Cubs Top Ten Prospects right now (actually probably Top 7, with only Brett Jackson, Hak-Ju Lee, and Josh Vitters in the mix among position-players), and Chris Rusin is probably a borderline Top 10, and Casey Coleman is a Top 15. And Jay Jackson is one of the best-hitting pitchers in minor league baseball (possibly a future Silver Slugger candidate), and that would add to his value as a starting pitcher in the National League. All six pitchers are starting pitcher prospects, and all six could conceivably be ready in 2011. (Well, I guess Casey Coleman is apparently ready right now, but he's only 6th-best among the Cubs top starting pitcher prospects). The Cubs are loaded with starting pitcher prospects right now, with Archer and McNutt potential #1's, J. Jackson and Carpenter both probably a #2 or #3, Rusin a #4, and Coleman a legitimate #5 starter... IF THEY STAY HEALTHY!!!!

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.