Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

37 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (three slots are open)

Last updated 11-17-2023
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 20
Adbert Alzolay 
Michael Arias
Javier Assad
Ben Brown
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
Porter Hodge
* Bailey Horn
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Daniel Palencia
Michael Rucker
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 8
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
* Matt Mervis
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Luis Vazquez
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 7
Kevin Alcantara
Alexander Canario
* Pete Crow-Armstrong
Brennen Davis
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman

 



Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Game 149 Thread / Brewers @ Cubs (1 of 3)

Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview

SP *C.C. Sabathia
SP Ryan Dempster
(NL)
9-0, 1.59, 102 K, 21 BB, 102 IP
15-6, 3.02, 173 K, 74 BB, 190.2 IP
       
CF
Mike Cameron
LF
Alfonso Soriano
2B
#Ray Durham SS Ryan Theriot
3B Ryan Braun 1B
Derrek Lee
1B *Prince Fielder
3B
Aramis Ramirez
SS
J.J Hardy
C Geovany Soto
RF Corey Hart RF Mark DeRosa
3B *Craig Counsell
CF Reed Johnson
C
Jason Kendall
2B Ronny Cedeno
P *C.C. Sabathia
P Ryan Dempster

 

The last homestand of the regular season and the Cubs will be looking to clinch a spot in the playoffs in front of their home fans and secure their second straight division crown. Dempster goes tonight hoping to take sole possession of the Cubs win lead over Ted Lilly, who tied him yesterday with 15 (Zambrano has 14).

New Brewers manager Dale Sveum leads the troops into Wrigley and will get to send Sabathia and Sheets in the first two games. That should make him look like a geniuis. Sabathia has started 13 games for the Brewers, all good enough to be considered quality starts. The Cubs though are 28-14 versus lefties this year and 14-5 at home. My, how times have changed for our Cubs.

As I mentioned earlier, if the Cubs sweep the Brewers, they'll need the Marlins to win at least one versus the Astros over the next  3 games to clinch. If they can take two out of three, that'll give them the weekend to finish the job before they have to head out on the road again.

Comments

Cheers to Rob G the only one smart enough to know that Astros need to lose also for Cubs to clinch. Jeers to all Chicago media who believe a sweep alone wins the division.

This may be a stupid question, but if the Brewers don't make the wild card and Mets/Phillies join the Cubs/Dodgers do the Cubs play the NL East wild card in the NLDS?

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

The rule makes sure that two teams from the same division don't have to play eachother until the championship series. Here's why that is a good idea: Those teams quite often play themselves at end of the season (MLB schedule makers try to make that happen, at least). You want the Cubs to end the season with 3 at Milwaukee, to then play 5 more versus Milwaukee? Say you have a division that's top two heavy, and the bottom is crap, sort of like how the AL East has been over the last 10 years, and other division where winner comes out of a dogfight of a bunch of 90 win teams. Or this year, he two best teams in the league are in the same division but some other team has a cakewalk through their crappy division (Red Sox, Rays, Angels), the Red Sox or Rays would get punished by having to play eachother in the first round.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I think we should go back to just having an NL East and NL West. Make the schedule unbalanced in terms of East/West so we get more games against more teams, rather 500 series against the Pirates. Then take the top two teams from each division and re-seed according to record for the playoffs. Personally, I'm sick of the NL Central. It sucks that we have more teams than the other divisions, and I'm sick of playing the Pirates and Reds 36 times a year (despite padding our record). The Cardinals and Brewers are both nice rivalries, but it would be nice to establish/renew some new/old ones as well. Also, it's not like the travel schedule would be much different considering every team in the East is at most a 2.5 hour flight away.

Howry booed off the field again. Since the trade Eyre has 11 IP and a 1.64 ERA, in 10.2 IP Howry has a 6.75 ERA. I'm not sure there is even a reason to put him on the playoff roster at this point.

From Rob Neyer's Chat Today: Josh DC: Clearly the Cubs are the favorites in the NL right now, but who do you like to challenge them in October? Dodgers? Mets? Phillies? Brewers? What will be their biggest obstacle? Rob Neyer: Rich Harden's body. If that doesn't get in their way, the Cubs may breeze into the World Series Ok, we now know who to blame if we don't get there...

best thing besides the win tonight was handing CC what will likely be his only lost of the season. Although kind of a BS loss when he gives up 3 runs but his team scores 4. Yes, I know the rule, but just one of the many reasons that W-L totals for pitchers are sketchy.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Well the season isn't over yet, but the thing that makes them 'slam dunks' ironically is their win/loss records. Webb showed us how to cough up a Cy Young over a period of 6 days, let's see if these two guys can finish the deal. Lincecum versus Johnson, Thursday night should be a good watch for you leftist coasters. DBacks will be trying to get Webb back in contention by knocking Lincecum around, pitching with four days rest after a 138 pitch start. At least with Prior the Cubs were in contention.

Bob Howry, 7th inning of a one-run game... Knock it the fuck off Lou.

[ ]

In reply to by Chad

the answer I so often used with Dusty....anyone else.

Guzman or Samardzija would be my top choices...but honestly, anyone else. I don't give a fuck anymore. Howry's been shit all season, please get the Steve Eyre treatment.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

To even be considered for the playoff roster, Guzman needs to prove he can throw two days in a row. But Lou doesn't seem inclined to give him a chance. Guzman pitched an inning on 9/2 and another 2 innings on 9/5, so he hasn't seen the mound in 8 games. Maybe with a 9 game lead, we'll start to see more of him. I'd like to see him get a chance to pitch his way onto the playoff roster.

[ ]

In reply to by Timmer

It's not 'proving' he can throw two days in a row, it's being allowed to throw two days in a row. Not sure I agree with having to be able to pitch on consecutive days to make the playoff roster anyway. There are a lot more off days during the playoffs. Wood, for example, was on the post season roster last year.

They should use Guzman in these games coming up. it seems like the Golden Domer is 2-0 to every batter. Guzman had better control in the minors. See if it can translate to the majors. And Real Neal, I don't care who owns the stock, if a business gets big enough to have a major ripple effect if it fails, it knows it can count on the government to bail it out. That, combined with the outrageous salaries of CEOs, CFOs etc., takes risk out of the endeavor for the decision makers. Might be one of the reasons the American car companies lag so far behind in innovation and stayed addicted to the crack of the SUV for so long. Don't worry, Washington will be bailing them out too soon. Sorry to go off on an economic rant. I'll banish myself to a virtual corner for a while.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

I'd be very interested in hearing how the average Fortune 500 CEO is any more greedy than the Scott Boras's and Arods of the world Who said CEOs were more greedy? Nice strawman. Though, to be fair to athletes, athletes are at least much more limited in terms of the number of years that they can earn money, at least in that specific career. And the vast majority of professional athletes, even in the major sports, will not become anywhere close to the mega-millionaires that Arod, Boras, or Fortune 500 CEOs do.

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

Some things that may have eluded you, Dave. This is a baseball blog. If you're going to complain about greedy millionares, it would be more appropriate to complain about the ones involved in baseball here, right? You should figure out what 'Strawman' means before you start throwing the term around like a 4th grade spelling bee champion. Speaking of Strawmen, though, there average MLB player makes more in his career than the average CEO/CFO. But don't let me confuse facts with your typical socialist drivel, rant on!

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

This is a baseball blog. For being a baseball blog, you sure bring up politics a lot. You should figure out what 'Strawman' means before you start throwing the term around like a 4th grade spelling bee champion. WTF? I know exactly what it means. The definition of a straw man:
A "straw man" is an informal fallacy which is committed whenever someone argues against a position which the other person does not actually hold.
Which is exactly what you did. You shot down an argument that was not made in order to make some kind of point that Alex Rodriguez and Fortune 500 CEOs are similar. Speaking of Strawmen, though, there average MLB player makes more in his career than the average CEO/CFO. First, I was explicitly referring to Fortune 500 CEOs, was I not? But good job at changing that to all CEO/CFO's. And, by the way, that would be another strawman. It is always easier to argue against arguments that are not made. And do you have a source for your statement? Because the average length of an MLB career is 5.6 years (source). The average salary in MLB this year was around $3 million (source). Very roughly, we can say that the average current MLB player will make about $15 million in his career. That is very rough, but I would argue that it would be fairly accurate. The average CEO pay, in 2005, was $11.8 million per year (source). That would mean that a CEO would have to just work 2 years as a CEO to make more than the average player in MLB. But don't let me confuse facts with the ignorant bull shit that you make up.

Random thoughts: - In the 2 big games against the unbeatable monster that was CC, Sori was huge. Big leadoff hits in both games to set the tone and shatter his aura of invincibility. I was at the ballpark last night: - Prince's first HR was the hardest-hit HR I have seen live. Holy mackeral. - Fukudome's AB against CC may have been the worst MLB AB I have ever seen, live or otherwise. What's worse than "compeltely overmatched". Heard the first smattering of Fukky boos last night. - Wrigley on a perfect September night, great ballgame, crowd buzzing, great defense by both teams, Wood vs. Prince to end it -- can't beat it.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    it is taking more than a minute for me to get used to craig counsell being the cubs manager.

    he's going to take the field on opening day at wrigley and get massively cheered.

    that is weird.  that's a thing that's happening, though.

    history aside, while i am horrified at the amount of money they're paying him, i welcome his style of management over what d.ross has given the team.  love d.ross and how chill + ready to deliver he kept the team, but he had a serious pitching short-hook problem that exhausted the pen and some very questionable bench/pinch-hitting use.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    FINWE N: If you go by what Counsell did with the Brewers, he is much more likely to go with younger players than Ross was. I think part of it was that Ross was a "veteran players manager," meaning he was well liked and respected by veteran players because he was inclined to play them over younger unproven guys. 

    And that actually might have been OK if the Cubs had been "sellers"at the trade deadline (as they clearly had planned to be before suddenly deciding to go fr it), because Ross would have played the veterans a lot the first four months of the season (which would have maximized their trade value), and then Ross would have had no choice but to play the younger guys the last two months after the veterans were traded. 

    But of course it didn't work out that way. 

    One thing about Craig Counsell that might have attracted Hoyer to him is that Counsel is very "collaborative" as a manager and welcomes and even demands lots of input from the analytics department. In fact I have heard tell that Counsell knows at least as much as the geeks know and that he routinely goes to them for information rather than waiting for it to be offered. So think of Ross as a Chevy pick-up truck, while Counsell is a Tesla. 

  • crunch (view)

    with candelario off the board to the reds, it looks like it's chapman or trade...or another year of gambling cheap on someone like gio urshela or a meh-D donovan solano.

    of course there's also this guy with a rocket arm named morel that could have played a bit more 3rd in 2023 seeing if that could be his thing, but whatever i guess.  i know accuracy isn't a strength with those throws from 3rd, but still, for his cost and a supporting middle-IF that's one of the best in MLB (if not #1) it's not the worst use of a very cheap talent.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    FINWE N: I believe Jeimer Candelario offers more roster flexibility in 2024 and beyond than players like Matt Chapman and/or Rhys Hoskins would, not to mention costing a lot less $$$$ (and signing Chapman would also cost the Cubs a draft pick because Toronto extended a Qualifying Offer to Chapman).  

    Also, I can't help but see visions of Trey Mancini whenever I think about the Cubs signing Rhys Hoskins. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    FINWE N: Time will tell.

    Certainly the Cubs are not exactly flush with lefty relievers in the system. so Adam Laskey was not redundant. 

    As far as Sheldon Reed is concerned, he pitched very well the last month of the season at South Bend and I thought that would have earned him a spot on the Iowa reserve list. 

    I presume the Cubs had good reasons for not assigning Laskey and Reed to the AAA reserve list (thus making them available for selection in the AAA Phase of the Rule 5 Draft), but without knowing who was on the AAA reserve list instead of Laskey and Reed, I can't offer an informed opinion. 

    BTW, the same thing happened last year when I had LHP Luis Angel Rodriguez on the AAA Iowa roster but the Cubs left him off and then he was selected by the Houston Astros in the AAA Phase. I couldn't figure that one out, either. 

  • crunch (view)

    reds snag candelario...

  • Finwe Noldaran (view)

    Arizona P:

    Would Candelario be someone that is able to take a bench role once some of these younger players are coming up and need playing time and latitude?

    So crazy that his career has come full circle like this.......

  • Finwe Noldaran (view)

    Arizona P:

    Do you feel that Counsel will be more apt to play out some of the young guys, rather than mainly sticking with veterans like Dross?

     

  • Finwe Noldaran (view)

    Arizona P:

    Do you think they weren't protected in the AAA phase because the organization feels they're redundant or at lesser value than other players they protected, or was this just poor managment?

  • George Altman (view)

    Even more reason that Jed needs to bring back Bellinger and his LH bat.