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

Cubs Keep Heat on the A's in Arizona

Carlos Penalver and Shawon Dunston smacked back-to-back two-out doubles and Ben Carhart followed with an RBI single to plate the first two runs in the top of the 5th, and Jeffrey Baez poked an opposite-field RBI single to drive-in the final run in the 8th, leading the AZL Cubs to a 5-2 victory over the AZL Athletics in Arizona League action at Papago Park Baseball Complex Field #2 (AKA "Connie Mack Field" ) in Phoenix this evening. 

box score

The Cubs clinched the AZL Wild Card slot with their victory over the Giants last night, but with tonight's win, the Cubs closed to within one game of the AZL East Division leading A's (albeit two back in the "loss column"), and they still have a chance to win the East Division and finish with the league's best record (insuring "home field advantage" in the AZL Playoffs).

Home Field Advantage is especially important to the AZL Cubs, because they have the league's best home record in 2012.

Both the Cubs and the A's have only two games left, and so the Cubs need to win both of their games and hope that the A's lose both of their games.  

Tonight's game was scoreless until two outs in the top of the 5th. Carlos Penalver lined a rope-double into the LF corner, and then Shawon Dunston Jr smoked an RBI double into the RF corner to score Penalver. Ben Carhart followed with a line-drive RBI single over a leaping A's shortstop to plate Dunston with the second run of the game (and the inning).

The A's narrowed the score to 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the 5th, but the Cubs took advantage of a throwing error by the A's catcher to score two unearned runs in the top of the 6th.

With two outs and Cub runners at 2nd & 3rd, Danny Lockhart swung & missed at a 1-2 pitch in the dirt. Lockhart then took off for 1st base, requiring the catcher to throw him out. But the throw overshot the 1st baseman by a mile and rolled into the RF corner, allowing both runners to score easily and Lockhart to advance all the way to 3rd base (standing up).

The Cubs scored their 5th and final run in the 8th.

Yasiel Balaguert reached base on a throwing error by the A's shortstop, advanced to 2nd base on a ground out, and then stole 3rd base. Jeffrey Baez (called up from DSL Cubs #1 last weekend) then shot a ground single past the 1st baseman and into RF, scoring Balaguert.   

Cubs 2012 2nd round draft pick Duane Underwood (Pope HS - Marietta, GA) got the start for the Cubs, and the 18-year old RHP labored through 2.1 IP (47 pitches - 26 strikes, including a 25-pitch 2nd inning), allowing two hits (a single and a double) and two walks, plus a HBP. 

Underwood was relieved by 22-year old Dominican Hombre Misterio Juan Carlos Paniagua with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 3rd, and the recently-signed right-hander promptly struck out the next two batters (both swinging) to escape the jam. Paniagua also worked a 1-2-3 4th and recorded another punch-out, retiring all five men he faced (20 pitches - 12 strikes). He absolutely tied the young A's hitters in knots.

Paniagua has nasty stuff, including a 94-97 MPH heater, a plus-change, and a hard-breaking slider. He was known as "Juan Callado" back when he signed a contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2009, and although he spent two seasons pitching for the DSL Diamondbacks (2009-10), his contract was never officially approved by MLB (the contract was "pending" the entire time) and was eventually voided due to "fraudulent documentation." (BTW, players are no longer permitted to play in the DSL with a contract "pending").

Callado was suspended by MLB for one year, and then signed with the New York Yankees in 2011 (this time as "Juan Carlos Paniagua") for $1.1M, but the contract was voided again because his age could not be documented. 

The Cubs signed Paniagua last month ($1.5M bonus) after they were satisfied that all of his papers were in order, and Paniagua received a work visa from the US INS almost immediately. His contract was approved by MLB about ten days ago. 

Paniagua is not a big guy (6'1 175), but he has a "live" arm. He also is athletic and fairly polished (after all, he has been pitching professionally off-and-on since 2009), and so he could move quickly through the pipeline, especially in a Cubs system devoid of legitimate MLB-caliber starting pitcher prospects. 

Because his prior contracts were never approved by MLB, Paniagua was designated by MLB as a "First Year Player" when he signed with the Cubs in July, meaning his $1.5M bonus will count against the Cubs 2012-13 International Signing Bonus Pool. On the other hand, because he was designated a "First-Year Player" by MLB he will not be eligible for selection in the Rule 5 Draft until December 2015. (If Paniagua had not been designated a "First-Year Player" prior to signing with the Cubs, the contract signed with the Cubs would have been a so-called "second contract," and while the $1.5M bonus would not have counted against the Cubs 2012-13 International SBP, Paniagua would have been eligible for selection in the December 2012 Rule 5 Draft, and thus the Cubs probably would have felt the need to add him to the their 40-man roster immediately to protect their investment).  

Most of the AZL Cubs have nicknames associated with the player's last name (Carlos Penalver is "Penny," Danny Lockhart is "Lock," Steve Perakslis is "Percolator," et al), but everybody calls Juan Carlos Paniagua "Juan," probably because nobody really knows for sure whether his last name actually is Paniagua. 

Comments

Boise may have a squad next year, also? Carhart intrigues me. I have Paniagua at #2 in my SP Rankings in the system (behind Vizcaino). But then, I did before reading your reports as well. Daytona next year?

Thanks for another great report, AZ. True Cubbery would have Paniagua as a Rule 5er next year, so maybe there's some progress, after all.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

never mind. This post is old! Sorry.

AZ PHIL: Thanks for the eye-witness on the new guy. Am curious how your scout friends (and yourself) project Callados - er Paniagua? As a starter or reliever? If the latter, does he have Closer stuff? Thanks!

i-cub season ends by TKO when entire final series @ new orleans canceled in wake of isaac...geez, talk about dismal/dreary

[ ]

In reply to by Jumbo

The reply box shows up in addition to the new comment box. I guess I don't need to post as jumbowang for a while, yet.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • 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...