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

Lake & Castro Make the Minor League Scene, Pimentel Fires Goose-Eggs at Riverview

Carlos Pimentel tossed five shutout innings, allowing three hits and no walks while striking out nine, as the AAA Iowa Cubs throttled the Columbus Clippers (Indians AAA affiliate) 7-2 on Field #6, while on Field #3 the Akron Aeros (CLE AA affiliate) defeated the Tennessee Smokies (Cubs AA affiliate) 5-2, in Cactus League Minor League doubleheader game action Monday afternoon at the Under Armour Performance Center at Riverview Park in Mesa, AZ. 
The 6'3 175 Pimentel was signed by the Cubs as a six-year minor league free-agent after the 2013 season, and after being named the Dominican Winter League Pitcher of the Year this past off-season, the 24 year old right-hander and former Texas Rangers prospect has been very impressive both in big league camp (where he was initially assigned) and in two outings for the AAA I-Cubs at Minor League Camp. He threw 72% strikes today (anything above 70% is outstanding), and totally dominated the Clippers lineup.  

RHP Yoanner Negrin "piggy-backed" with Pimentel (as both pitchers are being primed as rotation starters), and the two hurlers practiced their bunting skill by being inserted into the I-Cubs lineup whenever a sacrifice-bunt situation presented itself. 

Starlin Castro (hamstring injury rehab) played shorstop for five innings and got six Plate Appearances (one in each of the first six innings) for Iowa. After flying out F-9 in each of his first two AB, he struck out swinging, and then grounded out, before finishing his day with line-drive singles in consecutive innings, the first of which drove-in the game's first run. 

On the heels of his three-HR performance at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Sunday, Junior Lake served as a DH for the Tennessee squad on Monday, and went 1-7. He belted a triple in the 5th inning and scored a run, and he also just missed a monster HR in an earlier AB (ball curved foul at the last second), but he also struck out four times (all four swinging), popped out to the shortstop, and grounded out 5-3 (although to retire Lake required the Aeros third-baseman to make an outstanding diving stop before getting to his feet and making an accurate throw to 1st).   

Both Albert Almora and Javier Baez had RBI singles, but Baez also made a careless throwing error that resulted in an unearned run scoring, lolly-popping an easy toss to 1st base (the throw sailed over the first-baseman's head).  

Because he was on the Active List for Monday night's MLB Cubs-Padres game at Cubs Park, Jacob Hannemann did not make the trip to Goodyear with the Daytona squad. Instead he remained in Mesa and was temporarily assigned to the Iowa squad, and he got a PH AB (bunt single) and scored a run in the AAA game.   

Some of the Latin American players who will be assigned to Extended Spring Training have arrived from the Cubs Dominican Academy, and Varonex Cuevas and Dalfis Ortiz (both speedy switch-hitting infielders) made their U. S. game debuts on Monday, pinch-hitting in the AAA contest. Cuevas drew a walk and Ortiz laced a two-run single in a "tack-on" bottom of the 9th. 

Here are the abridged box scores from Monday's games (Cubs players only):   

FIELD #3:

TENNESSEE LINEUP:
X. Junior Lake, DH #1: 1-7 (K, K, P-6, K, 3B, K, 5-3, R)
NOTE: Lake hit 2nd in the bottom of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd,4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th innings
1a. Zeke DeVoss, LF: 0-2 (4-3, 1-6 FC, CS)
1b. Bijan Rademacher, LF: 1-1 (2B, R)
2. Albert Almora, CF: 1-3 (1-3, K, 1B, RBI)
3. Stephen Bruno, 2B: 0-2 (K, K, HBP)
4. Dustin Geiger, DH #2: 0-3 (L-4, F-7, P-3)
5. Jonathon Mota, 3B: 0-3 (K, P-3, K)
6a. Willson Contreras, C: 0-1 (6-3)
6b. Taylor Davis, C: 0-2 (F-9, F-8)
7. Anthony Giansanti, RF: 0-2 (K, 6-3)
8. Matt Scioscia, 1B: 1-2 (P-5, 1B)
9. Walter Ibarra, SS: 1-2 (K, 1B)
10. Chadd Krist, DH #3: 1-2 (1B, K, RBI)

TENNESSEE PITCHERS:
1. Lendy Castillo: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 0 K, 3/0 GO/FO, 37 pitches (21 strikes)
2. P. J. Francescon: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 1/1 GO/FO, 29 pitches (20 strikes)
3. Starling Peralta: 1.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 2 K, 1/2 GO/FO, 43 pitches (23 strikes)
4. Zak Hermans: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 0/2 GO/FO, 13 pitches (8 strikes)
5. Frank del Valle: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 0/2 GO/FO, 20 pitches (13 strikes)
6. Zach Cates: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 2/1 GO/FO, 19 pitches (8 strikes)

TENNESSEE ERRORS: 3
1. 3B Jonathon Mota - E-5 (overthrow at 1st base on infield single allowed batter to advance to 2nd base)
2. 3B Jonathon Mota - E-5 (fielding error allowed batter to reach base safely - eventually scored unearned run)
3. 2B Stephen Bruno - E-4 (dropped throw on attempted 6-4 FC allowed baserunner to reach 2nd base safely)

TENNESSEE OUTFIELD ASSIST:
LF Zeke DeVoss - threw out baserunner 7-2 trying to score from 2nd base on single

FIELD #6:

IOWA LINEUP:
X-1. Starlin Castro, SS-DH: 2-6 (F-9, F-9, K, 5-3, 1B, 1B, RBI)
NOTE: Castro hit 3rd in the bottom of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th innings, and 4th in the bottom of the 5th inning
X-2. Carlos Pimentel, P: 0-0 (1-4 SH)
NOTE: Pimentel hit 3rd in the bottom of the 5th inning
X-3. Yoanner Negrin, P: 0-2 (5-6-3 DP, P-2, 1-3 SH)
NOTE: Negrin hit 2nd in the bottom of the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings
1a. Rubi Silva, CF: 1-2 (BB, F-9, 3B, R, RBI)
1b. Varonex Cuevas, PH: 0-0 (BB)
2a. Brett Jackson, RF: 0-1 (K, BB, BB, 2 R)
2b. Dalfis Ortiz, PH: 1-1 (1B, 2 RBI)
3. Javier Baez, DH-SS: 1-3 (F-9, K, 1B, RBI)
4. Matt Szczur, LF: 1-2 (L-6, BB, 1B, RBI)
5. Christian Villanueva, 3B: 1-3 (1B, F-9, 6-U FC)
6. Logan Watkins, 2B: 1-3 (K, 1B, F-8, R, SB)
7. Rafael Lopez, C-DH: 1-2 (4-3, 1B, BB, R, RBI)
8a. Luis Flores, DH #2: 0-2 (K, F-8)
8b. Jacob Hannemann, PH: 1-1 (1B, R)
9. Edgar Gonzalez, 1B: 0-3 (K, K, K)
10. Charlie Cutler, DH-C: 1-3 (K, 1B, P-6, R)

IOWA PITCHERS:
1. Carlos Pimentel: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K, 3/3 GO/FO, 57 pitches (41 strikes)
2. Yoanner Negrin: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R (0 ER), 2 BB, 0 K, 1 GIDP, 6/3 GO/FO, 46 pitches (24 strikes)
3. Marcos Mateo: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 1/0 GO/FO, 19 pitches (12 strikes)

IOWA ERRORS: 2 
1. C Charlie Cutler  - E-2 (overthrow on attempted PO at 1st base allowed runner at 2nd base to score unearned run)
2. SS Javier Baez - E-6 (throwing error allowed batter to reach base safely and unearned run to score)

IOWA CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Charlie Cutler: 0-1 CS, 1 E (see above)

ATTENDANCE: 74

WEATHER: Sunny with temperatures in the 80's 

 

Comments

AZ Phil: the outfield seems crowded with prospects, what is your projection for one of the less written about by the beat writer types, Rubi Silva? How do you project him as at the MLB level? How close is he to the majors?

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

CUBSTER: Rubi Silva was a Cuban defector who got a $1M signing bonus from the Cubs in December 2010, 

On the positive side, he is a "high energy" player with above-average speed, a dangerous line-drive hitter with decent HR power (he hit 15 HR at AA last year), and he can play all three OF positions plus 2B (and even SS in a pinch). 

On the negative side, he is an extreme first-pitch hacker (although he did hit lead-off yesterday and drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch in the bottom of the 1st inning, so maybe he is trying to alter his approach), he tends to run into outs on the bases, and he doesn't always take the most direct route to fly balls. 

I would think he will probably once again be the 4th OF at Tennessee in 2014, although I suppose he could make the Iowa Opening Day roster (the I-Cubs outfield is extremely crowded right now, though). 

That said, I think he almost certainly will eventually be an MLB super-sub & LH bat off the bench. He might actually have value going forward with the Cubs, because the Cubs projected future lineup is very RH heavy, so a LH hitting back-up guy (like Silva) would have a decent chance to fill a slot with the Cubs long-term if he can smooth out the rough edges a bit. 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

I would mention three other positives about Silva: His fifteen HRs last season were a personal best, compared to a previous high of five--so it could have been something of a breakout year in terms of power. I think the Cubs FO might have taken notice, because Silva was included in that Cubs Rookie Development Program in Chicago in January. The other OF's in that group were Almora and Soler. Szczur, for example, was not in the group. (Szczur went to major-league camp this spring because he's on the 40-man, courtesy of J. Hendry.) Silva is supposed to have a strong outfield arm, isn't he? He had sixteen outfield assists at Tennessee last season.

"Starlin Castro (hamstring injury rehab) played shorstop for five innings..." It's good to hear Javier Baez is back on the field.

@LAA...olt 3rd, valbuena 2nd, barney SS...vogelbomb 1st, almora DH (there's a night game to play, too, so some kids are seeing late spring action) wada pitching for no reason that's evident...besides general need and a lack of caring who gets work, i guess.

Olt on CJ Edwards

"I've watched C.J. Edwards pitch a lot," Olt said Tuesday morning. "Every time I watch him pitch I'm even more impressed. He has something pitchers don't have. Basically he has an invisible fastball. No one can hit it. It's pretty incredible to watch. He'll do well (Tuesday)."

i.stewart finally musters enough strength, concentration, bitterness, and hate to hit a homer off the cubs. good for him. he's having an oddly decent spring, btw. ...and a.cabrerra is falling apart in the 9th...the homer, a triple, a double, a single in a row...and a tie game...with men on the corners and no outs. K w/ SB...intentional walk to load the bases...f.bautista comes in to pitch...single to CF...LAA leads. neat. ...and with the damage to a.cabrerra tallied (all 3 runs he left on base were sent home by f.bautista's pitching)...cabrerra's ERA shoots up 4.79 points to 5.79 in 0.1ip...woo spring. 9ip of awesome ball thrown in the stats toilet because of 1 horrid outing followed by a guy who didn't bail him out.

Bruce Levine tweets...
After losing Geo Soto to injury. Texas taking hard look at Cub catcher George Kottaras .
John Baker is a dozen times better than Kottaras (ta-da-boom).

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

who knew that "the plan" for the cubs involved totally adopting the entire TEX minor league system? slick. also..."T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports that the Rangers have been scouting the Cubs' infielders in recent days. Sullivan notes that the Rangers appear most interested in Darwin Barney, something that Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times has also reported."

AZ Phil, do you have an update on the health status of Duane Underwood?

BP reviews the NL East and they play the 5 questions game...
5) Junior Lake? (Really, that’s the question.) Ken: Junior Lake (really, that’s my answer). I think saying Junior Lake is like saying “aloha,” since it could mean hello, goodbye, utility player, Triple-A outfielder, All-Star left fielder, Felix Pie … HP Lots of tools that show up in games. Lots of flaws that show up in games. The man is more of a question than an answer, but the entertainment value is high.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=23121

cj edwards gets through through 2.2ip 2.2ip 4h 3bb 1k, 3 r/er the 1 K was a.cashner...they're not using the DH tonight

Hector Rondon's final pitch in the top of the 7th (called 3rd strike) was clocked at 99 MPH. 

James Russell's fastball topped out at 88 in his inning, although his off-speed stuff looked OK 

Bears to 69 this season Jared Allen signs four years(NFL years, opposite of dog years) with Bears

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

Kottaras losing to Baker is a surprise, but whatever. Murphy didn't do much all spring, so that seemed obvious.

between Roberts, Bonifacio, Kalish and Coghlan for final spot it appears presuming Olt has indeed made club. Be interesting what they do with Valbuena if Olt is the starter.

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

I'm not up on Bears salary cap issues other than they did something with Cutler's contract yesterday to buy themselves some room. Am I safe to assume Bears saved a few million by getting Allen over keeping Peppers? Otherwise I fail to see a huge difference in the players other than a couple of years of age.

Regardless, seems like a wise move, new team, new energy for Allen hopefully and I'm sure the coaches and Emery want their own guys at this point.

Can't imagine Olt would make team to be benched, although I'm guessing they'll be quite liberal in giving him days off.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Allen to me is a better player right now than Peppers, and I liked Peppers. Allen is an absolute beast, and as usual, I'm too lazy to look up stats, but I'm pretty sure he's got quite a few more sacks over the last 2 years than Peppers, but of course DE isn't only about sacks, by any means. Peppers did pretty well with cutting off that end of the field from offenses (when he wasn't getting held by two guys), which you don't see in a stat line. With Olt, it only makes sense to start him and see what he does. If he joins the world of Cubbery, at least they have options.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

They converted some of what they owed Cutler into a signing bonus spread out over multiple years. In terms of contracts, 15million is guaranteed to Allen (each year of the contract so no back loading) while I think 18 million was guaranteed to Peppers this year. Also, while I think individual #s can be deceiving with elite DEs since Peppers commanded a lot of double teams but Allen actually has decently better stats over the last 4 years and is more durable, which does matter especially as a player ages. I though Peppers was pretty underrated for us but I also think releasing him was the right move and I think Allen is a better player with a very different personality that might help replace the leadership Urlacher brought. Cause I don't think Briggs is a natural leader and Peppers certainly isn't. If they pick up a safety in the draft think our defense will be much better and we already know our offense is elite.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Rob....they beat this topic to death on sports radio here in Chicago but they've been clearing cap space for the past ten days (Hester, Bennett, Peppers, etc.). Pepper's cap hit would have been over $18m and talk was he wouldn't re-do his deal. The tipoff should have been the $4m they cleared from Cutler yesterday calling it his signing bonus. The Bears' brain trust feel Allen has more left in the tank than Peppers. Also talk is look for them to go CB or S in Round 1.

Recent comments

  • 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...

  • 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.