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, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

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

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

OPTIONED: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

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




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

2008 NLDS Preview: Cubs Run Prevention vs. Dodgers Scoring

Submitted by Rob G. on

Cubs Offense vs. Dodgers Pitching and Defense

Let's finish the preview and see what the Cubs pitching can do against the Dodgers bats.

Dodgers Offense vs. Cubs Pitching and Defense

Dodgers Hitting: .264/.333/.399 .732 OPS(11th in OPS), 126 SB's at a 75% success rate (3rd and 5th respectively)
Cubs Pitching: .242/.316/.395 .711 OPS, 3.87 ERA (1st in BA, 3rd in ERA, , 2nd in the rest,)

Dodgers Hitting vs. Right Handers: .260/.326/.390 .716 OPS
Dodgers Hitting vs. Leftt Handers: .275/.350/.419 .769 OPS
Cubs Pitching vs. Right Handers: .237/.302/.385 .687 OPS
Cubs Pitching vs. Left Handers: .249/.336/.409 .745 OPS

Dodgers are 53-57 when a right-handed pitchers starts the game, 31-21 when a left-handers starts.

Cubs Defense: .706 DER (1st in NL), .832 RZR (6th in the NL)

Cubs Rotation: Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ted Lilly

All Dodgers vs. Ryan Dempster (link) : 175 AB's vs current Cubs with an aggregate line of: .303/.376/.474 .851 OPS, 2.92 ERA in 12.1 IP versus the Dodgers this year.
Best Dodgers Hiiter: Andruw Jones has a .908 OPS against him in 40 AB's
Worst Dodgers Hitter: Jeff Kent has a .688 OPS in 33 AB's.
Trend: 5-2 in his last 10 starts with a 3.10 ERA

All Dodgers vs. Carlos Zambrano (link) : 199 AB's vs current Cubs with an aggregate line of: .221/.313/.296 .609 OPS
Best Dodgers Hiiter: Russell Martin has a 1.513 OPS against him in 13 AB's
Worst Dodgers Hitter: Rafael Furcal has a .384 OPS in 23 AB's.
Trend: 2-2 in his last 9 starts with a 7.28 ERA

All Dodgers vs. Rich Harden (link) : 34 AB's vs current Cubs with an aggregate line of: .147/.293/.441 .734 OPS
Best Dodgers Hiiter: Manny Ramirez has a 1.519 OPS against him in 11 AB's
Worst Dodgers Hitter: Casey Blake is 0 for 8 against him in his career.
Trend: 1-0 in his last 3 starts with a 2.65 ERA

All Dodgers vs. Ted Lilly (link) : 144 AB's vs current Cubs with an aggregate line of: .243/.315/.528 .843 OPS
Best Dodgers Hiiter: Manny Ramirez has a .959 OPS against him in 42 AB's
Worst Dodgers Hitter: Casey Blake has a .673 OPS in 21 AB's.
Trend: 4-0 in his last 4 starts with a 1.93 ERA

Cubs Bullpen: 4.10 ERA as relievers was 8th in the NL. 1.73 WPA was 5th in the NL.

Likely to See: Neal Cotts, Sean Marshall, Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Marmol Kerry Wood

September Stats for Dodgers Hitters (link):

Nomar Garciaparra: 1.403 OPS
Jeff Kent 1.375 OPS (in 8 AB's)
Andre Ethier 1.249 OPS, 8 2B's
Manny Ramirez 1.218 OPS, 8 HR's
Blake DeWitt .872 OPS, 18 BB's
Pablo Ozuna .833 OPS
Russell Martin .785 OPS
Juan Pierre .758 OPS
Matt Kemp .750 OPS
Casey Blake .711 OPS
Angel Berroa .689 OPS
James Loney .526 OPS
Rafael Furcal .522 OPS (in 4 Ab's)
Danny Ardoin .500 OPS

Some Questions:

  1. Will Ryan Dempster keep it going in the playoffs?
  2. How healthy and effective are Zambrano and Harden?
  3. Who will bridge the gap between the starters and Marmol and Wood?
  4. Can the Dodgers offense sustain their recent hot streak?
  5. How effective will Rafael Furcal be?
  6. Will the Cubs pitch to Manny Ramirez and if not, can the rest of the Dodgers lineup make the Cubs pay?

Thoughts: The only reason this series has any chance of being interesting is because questions linger on whether Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden are healthy enough to be at the top of their games.  That and the fact that Lou might use Bob Howry in a game. Nonetheless, the Dodgers offense certainly did improve with the addition of Manny Ramirez, going from 4.14 Runs Scored per game to 4.70, which if they had done that all year would be good for the 6th best offense rather than 13th. I already brought up my concerns that the Dodgers hot streak was inflated by a soft September schedule, but there's no doubt they are a better team than their full season numbers show.

Unfortunately no one but Zambrano and Harden (and maybe Lou) really know if they're at full strength and if they're not, there isn't much any Cubs or their fans can do about it. Sure, Lou could move Lilly up earlier in the series, but the Dodgers have had a lot more luck against lefties than righties, so there isn't much to gain.

The only real concern I have is if the starters can go at least six and hopefully seven innings. The bridge between the starters and Marmol and Wood is the weak link of this team and every pitch made by someone other than Dempster, Zambrano, Harden, Lilly or Marmol is a going to be a dangerous one. 

Defensively, the Cubs probably have been pretty solid all year. Lee and Fukudome are probably the two best defenders but there really isn't a weak member in the entire group. Soriano can be a little adventurous, but he also keeps teams from even thinking of taking an extra base and Ramirez's little bout of wild throws seems to have ended. 

Final Prediction: Cubs in 4.  They split at Wrigley and the Cubs take both at Dodger Stadium.

 

Tags
Cubs 2008 Playoffs

Comments

Submitted by tbone on Wed, 10/01/2008 - 10:02 am

I'm hoping the Cubs can take the two at home. I have over 40 years of horrid memories of late nights watching the Cubs blow games on the west coast. (actually I lived in LA for over a decade so a quarter of the bad memories are first hand) Just so many games where the Cubs held what was often an anemic Dodger offense down for eight innings only to have someone like Ken Landreaux (sp?) beat them with a two-out two run bloop double just inside the line. I remember many times turning off the TV before Brickhouse or Harry could even finish saying the game was over. Dodger Stadium is a great example of what's wrong with Los Angeles. It, like too many major gathering places in LA, is a suburban entity with zero public transportation set down in the middle of a city. But it's the Cubs losing too many heartbreakers there that really makes me hate it. And everyone always saying how great Dodger Dogs are. And the fans who come late, leave early and don't make a peep until the scoreboard or music on the PA tells them to.

Submitted by DC Tom on Wed, 10/01/2008 - 10:58 am

The fingernail-biting began Monday for me. Thank goodness there actually were baseball games to watch and not a whole lot of nothing. I think the most relevant question for Dodger run production less whether Furcal contributes, but whether the hitters batting before Manny Ramirez get on base. Before the last week of the season and Furcal's return, the 1-2 hitters had been Martin and Andre Ethier, who did a nice impression of Pujols in August and September. But in last week it had adjusted to Kemp and Martin, Furcal and Kent, or Furcal and DeWitt, with the occasional dose of Juan Pierre thrown in. Keeping the Dodger 1-2 hitters off base, no matter who they are, will be the key to this series. Do that and take pitches from Derek Lowe tonight and we should be fine. Should be.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    cubs getting crazy good at not having player moves leak.

    taillon we 100% know is pitching tonight.  who he's replacing and any additional moves are unknown as far as i can tell.

    p.wisdom was not in today's lineup in iowa (rained out) and he was removed from the game last night mid-game, but not for injury.  good bet he's with the team in the bigs, too.

  • Bill (view)

    A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return.  Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention".  Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."

     

    Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost.  But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.  

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions.  Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022.  I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
    I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
    I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
    That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
    I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
    We'll find out soon enough!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa? 

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