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

Marte the Master of Destruction at Fitch Park

Miguel Marte and Jensi Peralta clubbed back-to-back home runs to highlight a six-run 9th, as the Athletics rallied to sting the Cubs 7-5 in Cactus League Extended Spring Training action this morning at Fitch Park Field #3 in Mesa, AZ.

The 6'3 230 Marte belted two home runs in the game, a solo blast leading off the top of the 4th to give the A's a 1-0 lead, and then a grand slam in the 9th that turned a 5-2 deficit into a 6-5 lead.

Rob Whitenack (June 2011 TJS rehab) got the start for the Cubs and retired the first nine men he faced (the first seven on strikeouts, including Manny Ramirez). He did allow a solo HR, but otherwise was perfect through his four innings of work (49 pitches). In his seven EXST games, Whitenack has allowed just two runs (both earned), 12 hits, and two walks, with 17 strikeouts, in 17.0 IP (1.06 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, .200 Opp BA). A 6'5 23-year old right-hander, Whitenack was the Cubs 8th round draft pick out of SUNY - Old Westbury in 2009, and was probably the Cubs #2 starting pitcher prospect when he went down with the elbow injury last June. Hopefully he can eventually get back to where he was before the TJS.

RHP Arturo Maltos-Garcia (rehabbing from July 2011 TJS - was selected by the Cubs in the 30th round of the 2010 Rule 4 Draft out of Lamar CC) threw a hitless 5th inning, and then James Pugliese followed with three innings of one-hit shutout ball (retiring the first eight men he faced before allowing a single with two outs in the 8th), as the Cubs took a collective two-hitter (and 5-1 lead) into the 9th. (Pugliese now has a 0.95 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP with 6/16 BB/K in 18.2 IP at EXST).

But closer Roderik Pichardo, who had been "money" in his eight previous EXST appearances--0.00 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, .156 Opp BA, allowing no runs and just five hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in 11.1 IP--had an Outing from Hell in the top of the 9th, allowing six runs on four hits (including a double and two home runs) and three walks in just 1/3 of an inning (the inning was stopped--"ROLL IT!"--with only one out), as the A's took a 7-5 lead (the eventual final score).

After going 0-2 with two walks as a DH yesterday, Micah Gibbs continued his EXST rehab today, catching for five innings before moving to DH. He batted a total of six times in today's game, going 1-5 with a single and a walk. He also scored a run in the Cubs four-run 4th, and was the catcher for Whitenack's sterling four-inning performance.

The Defensive Play of the Game was a back-handed diving catch by SS Javier Baez in LF foul territory near the bullpen, one of the best catches I've ever eeen at Fitch Park. He had to run a mile just to get there, and then somehow was able to locate the ball and catch it.

In EXST Cubs roster news, C-IF-OF Anthony Giansanti has been moved up to Peoria. Giansanti was hitting 222/404/417 in 17 EXST games (47 PA), with one double and three triples. He also had displayed an eagle-eye at the plate (10/5 BB/K).

Giansanti has spent the 2012 season to date at Fitch Park (first at Minor League Camp, then at Extended Spring Training) learning to be a catcher. Signed by the Cubs as a Non-Drafted Free-Agent out of Siena College in 2010, Giansanti was already a versatile fellow (having played 3B-2B-1B-LF-CF-RF in the minors leagues 2010-11), but adding catcher to his resume should only increase his value as a "supersub."

The 23-year old Giansanti is a below-average hitter but with decent power (11 HR at Peoria in 2010) and one of the best outfield arms in the Cubs system (24 OF assists in 2011), and he has shown the arm off from behind the plate as well, nailing 36% of opposing base-stealers in EXST games. He played only catcher and DH in games until just recently, but got a start in RF on Thursday and at 3B on Friday, apparently in preparation for the move up to Peoria.

Here is the abridged box score from today's game (Cubs players only):

CUBS LINEUP:
X. Micah Gibbs, C-DH: 1-6 (F-8, 1B, F-8, 4-3, BB, 4-3, R)
NOTE: Gibbs batted six times, once in the 1st, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th
1a. Shawon Dunston Jr, CF: 1-2 (HBP, 1B, 6-3, R, RBI, PO)
1b. Carlos Penalver, SS: 1-1 (1B)
2a. Javier Baez, SS: 1-3 (K, 2B, P-4, R, RBI)
2b. Kevin Encarnacion, CF: NO AB
2c. Wilfredo Petit, PH: 0-1 (F-8)
3. Xavier Batista, LF-RF: 0-3 (5-3, 4-3, 5-3, RBI)
4. Jeimer Candelario, 3B: 0-3 (K, 6-3, 4-U FC, R, RBI)
5a. Yasiel Balaguert, RF: 1-3 (K, P-5, 1B)
5b. Rock Shoulders, 1B: NO AB
6. Dan Vogelbach, 1B-DH: 0-3 (P-3, F-8, 3-6 FC)
7. Gioskar Amaya, 2B: 0-3 (F-8, 3-1, F-8)
8a. Trevor Gretzky, DH #1: 1-2 (K, 1B)
8b. Wilson Contreras, C: 1-1 (1B)
9. Dong-Yub Kim, DH-LF: 1-3 (2B, K, K, R)

CUBS PITCHERS:
1. Rob Whitenack: 4.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, (1 ER), 0 BB, 8 K, 1 HR, 49 pitches (35 strikes), 1/3 GO/FO
2. Arturo Maltos-Garcia: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 14 pitches (9 strikes), 3/0 GO/FO
3. James Pugliese: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 29 pitches (17 strikes), 5/3 GO/FO
4. Roderik Pichardo: 0.1 IP, 4 H, 6 R (6 ER), 3 BB, 0 K, 1 WP, 2 HR, 24 pitches (9 strikes), 1/0 GO/FO
NOTE: 9th inning was stopped with one out when Pichardo reached his pre-planned max pitch limit

CUBS ERRORS: NONE

ATTENDANCE: 22

WEATHER: Sunny with temperatures in the 90's

Comments

From Rotoworld: Braves signed OF Felix Pie to a minor league contract. Pie was hitting .360 with three homers and 12 RBI in 13 games for the Camden Riversharks of the independent Atlantic League. He's been sent to Triple-A Gwinnett, where he'll provide outfield depth for the Braves.

Samardzija with 73 pitches thru 4 innings - maybe will get thru 6 innings today - nice job of brewers of waiting him out. good thing cubs got such a rock solid bullpen (ducks for cover). friday's loss really blows ... late 3 run and 2 run leads blown ... the quest for .500 that much harder.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I hear you and I should know better than to start shit on a dead horse that gets repeatedly kicked over and over. I think a minimum requirement would be to be able to field your position. The top stars on your team should also be able to handle a bat. If they hit well enough you cut them some slack on defense, I guess, but defensive liabilities add up quickly. On the topic of shortstop I think that it's a bit of a false dichotomy (and I said this a week or two ago) to have to choose between one that can field and one that can hit. Plenty of teams have a SS that can do a little of both. Castro lately has been flashing the glove on some nice plays and flubbing some routine ones. Hopefully, that's just a sign of youthful inconsistency that will eventually straighten itself out. I'm not sure anyone knows for sure how the Castro story will play out. As for catcher, it's true I simply don't care how well he hits. Some quick cherry-picking of stats, and I only mention this team because you specifically mentioned the world series, resulted in the 2010 Texas Rangers who featured Matt Treanor as their regular catcher who hit 211 for the season.

Assuming the Cubs hold on, today was a good win.

cole hamels (28) wants a 7 year deal. ka-ching. garza and a.sanchez are looking pretty good right now...if sanchez makes it to FA...which he should given how much MIA has spent already vs the underwhelming interest in the new location.

not to pick on Joe, affable enough of a fella, but: Bullpen issues continue to be the weakest link in the Cubs' chain this season and those bullpen woes have cost them a number of wins, including a thriller on Friday against the Brewers. -- Joe Aiello: View from the Bleachers from the team averaging 3.5 runs per game/4th worst in the NL. http://espn.go.com/mlb/powerrankings Now the bullpen hasn't been great, but baseball is pretty easy to break down. 50% offense, 50% run prevention. Now breaking down run prevention is a little trickery, starters, relievers and defense, but hard to believe it's more than 15% for the bullpen, I'd probably say more like 10%. Bullpen is 5th worst in ERA, but do have the most losses in the NL (9). They've also only thrown 99.2 IP, which is only 7th highest in the NL, so I'm finding it hard to find the logic as the Cubs' bullpen being the root cause of the Cubs woes. Especially with these OPS in the lineup on a regular basis: .542 (Soto), .547 (Soriano), Stewart (.621). Barney (.660).

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    LHP Blake Weiman appears to have been the last cut from the AAA Iowa roster. He is with the Tennessee group at Minor League Camp.

     

  • crunch (view)

    bruce bochy is hobbling rather badly for a guy who's had 2 hip replacements.  his gait is extremely wonky taking the lineup card to the ump.

  • 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.