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

Game 62 Thread - Garza vs. Porcello

The Cubs go for their 5th straight win at Wrigley and Garza tries to impress the Tigers into trading for him.

Tigers Cubs
Jackson, CF
*Campana, CF
*Boesch, RF
Castro, SS
Cabrera, 3B
*DeJesus, RF
*Fielder, 1B
Soriano, LF
Young, LF
*LaHair, 1B
Peralta, SS
*Clevenger, C
Laird, C
Barney, 2B
Santiago, 2B
Mather, 3B
Porcello, P
Garza, P

Mather was a last minute replacement for Stewart, whose wrist is bothering him again.

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

"This guy walking right in front here is going to kill your wife and kids if you don't accept this trade. That's the Boston way." "The Dodgers want to trade for you, but you'll have to waive your no trade clause and also promise you'll never do that Haray Caray impression again." "Jim Hendry is so fat..." "If someone wanted to buy a bag of weed, where might they acquire that? Asking for a friend." "I'm not sure where you heard that, but Detroit is a wonderful city. I'd totally live there if I could."

clevenger is deceptively slow...it just looks like he should be faster with his body build. =p that double took forever and was too close of a play.

Alfonso Soriano bottomed out on April 23rd with an OPS of 420. From 4/24 on, he has had a line of: .303/.361/.613 OPS: .974 It is unclear when exactly Soriano switched to a lighter bat, but it was at least by 5/13. Since that date, he has a line of: .304/.366/.725 OPS: 1.09 Overall his line for the season is now at: .276/.325/.505 OPS: .829 Obviously this could just be a typical Soriano hot streak, but it sure looks like he has somehow made himself somewhat attractive to a contender looking for a bat.

So I guess Geiger and Balaguert got over being overmatched. Big HR by Baez. Looks like I picked the wrong night to see the Chiefs. ("Looks like I picked the wrong time to quit sniffing glue!")

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/8049278/theo-epstein-admits-er… "If I have a regret about the way we handled that offseason [after the 2009 season], it was that instead of being more patient and saying, 'We'll strike when the time is right,' there was a lot of pressure in the environment at the time to do something," Epstein said. "If I learned a lesson from the offseason, it's never feel the need to do something. If you're trying to avoid one move that you don't think is going to work out, don't then settle for a different move that maybe doesn't check all the boxes. Be true to the philosophy and understand the bigger picture. There's always another day to fight. You don't have to get everything done in one offseason just because of what's going on in the environment around you." It is good to see that he willing to admit to mistakes and hopefully learn from them, but I also wouldn't expect the Cubs to go crazy this offseason either.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

"So he's glad he has an owner that has locked away the wallet?" The Cubs just out bid the Yankees and the rest of the major leagues to get Soler, so to say they have locked away the wallet is silly. Instead it appears that Epstein has learned that throwing money at a problem just to do something is not a good strategy. Instead he will make sure that whatever transactions he makes follow whatever plans he currently has. Sadly I am sure that he will still make mistakes, but I at least approve of this approach. As for the rest it seems to me that you see what you want to see, and I bet I am seeing what I want to see.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

Of course that would not be part of the plan right now. I guess you missed these parts of the article. 'There's always another day to fight. You don't have to get everything done in one offseason just because of what's going on in the environment around you."' [ ] 'As for his first season as president of the Cubs, Epstein says he is "putting an emphasis on the long term" as he starts the rebuilding process for a struggling club that is just 21-40, deeply entrenched in the NL Central cellar. "We're at a different point in the evolution of this franchise," he said. "We're having to start some things from the ground level and build up. It's going to be a bit of a longer process."' Signing big name free agents will take place once the team is ready to compete.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

Most of that is code for going cheap. Ground level Long term rebuild building around young players That's the same things the presidents in Kansas City and San Diego say every year. It's what Frank McCourt used to say in LA. Obviously Theo is a smart guy. He's got an Ivy league education. However he is getting WAY too much praise for "Building the 2004 SOX". Almost every single piece to that team was brought in by Dan Duquette. Theo took over a team that had just won 93 games. He just tweaked around the edges. And benefited from having the 2nd highest payroll in baseball to support his decisions.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

certainly that 2002 team was just a matter of time before they won w/o Schilling or Ortiz. and 2007 apparently never happened with Pedroia, Papelbon and Lester. or never winning less than 86 games he's such a hack. Clearly he was being forced out of Boston and was desperate to land another job immediately because he hadn't made enough money and because of his poor track record would have such difficulties landing another job. If the Cubs didn't hire him, it could have been decades before another team took a chance on him.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

How would you have felt if they had signed Adrian Gonzalez? I know I would have thought - "wow, good player". Free agency right now is a mess. These players want mega contracts so that as they age they can still make 20 mil a year or whatever. This situation is really not sustainable economically, any more than the housing bubble was. I actually don't blame Ricketts for waiting until he at least has a competitive team to add a good free agent to.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

His 2nd half of last year was also sub par. He's coming up on a full year of under .750 OPS production. Stop making shit up. He had a really lousy second half last year: .317/.404/.489 OPS: .893. Wait - that isn't lousy. His line since the All-Start break last year is: .293/.363/.453 OPS: .816. Wait - that is slightly higher than .750. OPS by month last year: 836 989 1185 949 819 977 I don't see a subpar second half. Again - he has had a bad couple of months. Lets let things play out before he's called a bust.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

That is a bizarre read of the article. Any sane person would read that as him taking responsibility. He is saying that fans, owners, the media, etc. were all clamoring for something and that rather than do a good job and make the correct, even if unpopular decisions, he failed (i.e. it was his fault, he is taking responsibility) at his job and made some decisions that he had not fully vetted. That is not blaming the owners. And we all do that from time to time and hopefully we learn from it. I am living in faculty housing right now and it is a dump. We really just want to get the hell out of this place. But if I buy a house too quickly without taking my time and investigating everything, I could end up with some over-priced piece of shit that I will hate for the next 7 years (i.e. a Crawford), or a house that ends up falling a part on me (i.e. a Lackey). So even though I really just want to do something NOW, I have to take my time and go through the process thoroughly just like I am perfectly happy here and have plenty of time to make a decision. If I bought something now and regretted it, it wouldn't be faculty housing's fault, it would be mine for letting the circumstances get to me and affect my decision. That's a long analogy, but that's all Theo is saying. Theo is telling us that we do have money and COULD go out and buy some free agents now, but we need more than that. If he does that, we could hate the next house just as much as this one, or it could fall a part in a few years and we are back on the market, etc. So Theo is telling us that we are going to live in this dive for a year or two, but then when we do buy a new house it will be fantastic and one we will be living in it for many years to come. At least that's his plan.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

I will repeat this over and over: if you or anyone else sits here and says you could have predicted such awful seasons from Lackey and Crawford you are lying. Yes there was some overpaying for the players but they were still consistently good players who were upgrades over what they had if they had maintained their #s (heck, even if the #s had dropped some). So he overspent some to upgrade two positions on a very good Boston team. Yes, those players played awful since then, but trying to blame Theo for their historic levels of suck is pretty ridiculous. You can blame him for a bit too much money or a few too many years with the expectation there would probably be a drop off at some point due to age. You cannot blame him for their failures now.

[ ]

In reply to by johann

Do you blame Hendry for the Soriano deal? Who ever thought it was a good idea to give 20+ and 7 years to a Left Fielder who was turning 30 and who's only plus tool was speed? Lackey was a #3 Starter in Anaheim. He was never much more than a Ted Lilly type of pitcher. Nobody could have guessed the injuries. However you had to expect some kind of regression going from AL West to East and going into that ballpark. He was never Cliff Lee or Roy Halliday.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

I did not support the Soriano signing because I wanted the team to rebuild. I did not feel we had enough of a core to warrant giving a bunch of money to a player I did not feel would get us over the top. I support overspending on a player if you are adding him to an already very good, potentially World Series caliber team. In addition, Carl Crawford was a player who consistently had over 110 OPS+ and hit a ton of hits and Lackey was a pitcher who consistently had 115+ ERA+. Speed was not Crawford's only + tool and Lackey was not some reject pitcher. Yes, Theo overpayed. He overpayed for some good player who were an upgrade on a potentially World Series caliber team. You don't make deals in a vacuum and in the end if you need to upgrade a position somewhere you make do with what you have. I'm sure Theo didn't just sit down and say "oh boy I got a ton of money, let's overpay someone." There are other teams bidding and such. But if you feel you have a team that could potentially win it all with a few upgrades then if you don't spend then your criticism about locking the wallet down might hold water. Theo payed star money to a player who was not a star but was still a very good player in both Crawford's and Lackey's case. If the Cubs had a team that could win the World Series and Theo brought in upgrades to two positions by overspending and that won us the World Series, I would probably worship the ground he walks on for those deals, even if it hurts us some in the future. We don't have that team now and I do not want Theo overspending now.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

Difficult to know exactly what was out there on the trade market. I would have loved to have seen an off season with. Soriano for Dunn Cashner + for Chase Headley Keeping Z Signing Hideki Kuroda and maybe Paul Maholm Those were all realistic moves that could have been made. All those moves could have been done and still kept us in the 130 payroll range we've been in for the last 4 years prior to this year. I feel like that kind of offseason would have made us at least a .500 squad. Borderline playoff contenders.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

First your plan doesn't serious contemplate winning a world series, but instead focuses on merely being competitive. If we don't win a world series I don't care how many games we lose (as evidenced by the fact that I still read this site). Second, the money we don’t spend on merely being competitive can be spent on free agents, when the Cubs are in a position to compete for a world series. Basically money saved today in ammunition for tomorrow. Third, trying to be competitive limits your ability to trade veterans for prospects. Under your plan the Cubs would not be able to trade Dempster or Garza, because they would need them to finish .500. The test for Theo is how good a job he does of turning those current assets into long term assets.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

More on this... WAR numbers are from Fangraphs. - Z would be a 2.1 WAR advantage over Volstad/Wood. - Kuroda would be a 1 WAR loss over Samardzija (though Samardzija probably gives you a small upgrade in the bullpen - lets call it a .5 WAR, to be pretty generous) - Dunn gives you a .3 WAR loss from Soriano (assuming LaHair plays LF, and gives same WAR there) - Headley gives you a 2.7 WAR advantage over Stewart. - Since you don't have DeJesus, you lose .3 WAR, but we won't count that one. So overall, you have a 4.0 WAR advantage in your scenario. You also have no RFer. So that means a RF-less Cubs team would have 25 wins instead of 21, and 25-37. Nowhere close to .500. And nowhere close to "borderline playoff" team. That is your brilliant plan to compete?

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

No reason Samjay couldn't have still been in the rotation. Maybe he could have solved the closer issue? You still have Brian LaHair who could have taken over a corner OF spot. Marlon Byrd was still around also. And WAR doesn't equate to an actual win total. The Yankees won 97 games last year and had a total combined 59 WAR. Minnesota has a total of 21 combined WAR over the whole 2011 season. Yet they won 3x's as many games as that. What would 12 more wins put this squad at this point? Right in the thick of the race.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

No reason Samjay couldn't have still been in the rotation. Huh? Dempster, Garza, Z, Maholm, Kiroda Where does Samardzija fit? Maybe he could have solved the closer issue? I gave him .5 WAR. That was probably a fair number. Maybe a little higher. Who knows? But .5 WAR is a reasonable enough guess. You still have Brian LaHair who could have taken over a corner OF spot. Marlon Byrd was still around also. It helps if you read what I wrote. I factored in LaHair playing LF in my numbers. Awesome - so we'd have Marlon Byrd and Campana as our CF and RF? How would that help the team win? And WAR doesn't equate to an actual win total. This isn't because the individual numbers are not accurate. It is because WAR assumes that replacement players would win games. WAR is wins above replacement. So if you increase a WAR by 1, it does mean that you would win one more game. It isn't a perfect measure, but recently fangraphs had a .88 correlation of WAR to actual WINs, when you factor in what the replacement player wins would have been. (Source: http://orioles-nation.com/2011/10/03/is-war-accurate-2011/) There is just no realistic way that your plan would have produced 12 more wins for the Cubs already.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

"That 2008 team was the best Cubs team of my lifetime." That's pretty sad because the Dodgers outscored them 20-6 in an easy sweep. The Angels won 100 games that same year and then lost in the first round, but unlike the Cubs they went down fighting. Truth is, I've had a long-term theoretical love for the Cubs--what you used to call "rooting for laundry"--but I haven't liked any actual team, so there hasn't been much disappointment. I think the situation may change soon, but not because the owner opens his pockets.

This is the best news I heard in a long time. Now, let the trading commence. Campana and LaHair should be playing against lefties. Let's see what they can do. A guy that can lead the majors in stolen bases and not even play every day is worth a long look. I don't think he will be an everyday player, but what do I know. If LaHair is tagged as a platoon player, you will get less for him in a trade. If he is an everyday player, even if he hits a small amount against lefties (such as Pena), he should be worth more. Let's not tag him before we trade him.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

Trade him if you can something of value for him, especially at a position where you need it (SP, C, maybe 2B). Hold onto him if you can't get anything worthwhile and try him out in LF. DeJesus can stay in RF and hopefully Jackson will someday take over CF (at least long enough to find out if he can hit at the MLB level). DeJesus isn't going to be a 4th outfielder any time soon. The Cubs don't have 3 OFs who are better than him. Right now they don't have one outfielder who is better than him. If somebody comes a-call'n for DeJesus, though, I'm sure TheoCorp will be listening.

lol @7th. "let me tell you...you tigers fans SUCK!" followed by gasps (there's a ton of DET fans in audience) and laughs. welcome to wrigley.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).