Cubs MLB Roster

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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

The Hall of Fame Case of Lee Smith

Hall of Fame ballots were due by December 27, and the results will be announced on January 6. A player must appear on 75 percent of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballots to be inducted. I’ll have more commentary on the entire ballot soon, but in this post, I’ll more closely examine the case of one former Cub: Lee Smith.

Closer Lee Smith retired in 1997 with the all-time record for career saves (478) and an impressive career that saw him lead the league in saves four times and finish in the top five a total of eleven times. A seven-time All Star, Smith had a reputation as a menacing figure on the mound (being 6’5” 220lbs always helps) and struck out nearly a batter an inning (8.7 SO/9) producing a career ERA of 3.03 and WHIP of 1.256. His career rWAR is 29.6, which currently places him 10th all-time among relievers, but five of those ahead of him (Eckersley, Gordon, Shantz, Swindell, and Marberry) accumulated a significant portion of their value as starters, placing Smith solidly within the top five pure relievers of all time.

Smith debuted on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2003 with a solid 42.3%. His support remained fairly steady over time, peaking at 50.6% in 2012. Yet in 2014, with a packed ballot and a maximum of ten candidates per ballot making selection difficult for many voters, Smith dropped dramatically to just 29.9%. Grandfathered into the old rules with the change to a maximum of ten years on the ballot, Smith will be allowed to finish out his 15 years and thus have this year and two more remaining to gain support. Yet given his recent decrease in votes, the plethora of many worthy candidates on the ballot (with more to come), and the distance he would have to go to gain the 75% necessary for election, it looks as though Smith has no real chance to gain admission from the baseball writers. His case will be taken up by the Expansion Era Committee (likely in 2019 if the current 3-year schedule holds).

What makes the case of Smith perplexing is the different experiences of two seemingly similar relievers—Rich Gossage and Bruce Sutter. Gossage debuted on the ballot at 33.3% in 2000, lower than Smith, remained in the low 40s from 2001-2004, then jumped to 55.2% to 64.6% to 71.2% and to election with 85.8%. Sutter debuted at just 23.9% and never even got above 31.1% for his first six years. He then slowly started to gain momentum in year seven (38.5%) and crept slowly into the upper 50s (47.6 to 50.4 to 53.6 to 59.5). In his twelfth year, Sutter climbed to 66.7% and then gained admission with 76.9% of the vote in lucky year thirteen.

Supporters of Smith will point to these two closers as evidence that Smith too should be in the Hall. Gossage (310) and Sutter (300) had far fewer saves than Smith (478) and their rates stats, such as ERA, WHIP, and SO/9 are almost identical. Supporters will also point out that Sutter’s value (24.6 rWAR) was much lower than Smith’s (29.6), and Smith is also ahead of another Hall of Fame reliever: Rollie Fingers (26.1). And Fingers, it should be noted, debuted on the ballot with 65.7% of the vote and flew in the next year with 81.2% of support.

So why have Hall of Famers voters looked at three relievers, whose careers overlap significantly and who have very similar statistics, and come to drastically different views on their Hall of Fame worthiness?

I argue that the unique career trajectory of Smith, bridging the workhorse closers of old to the one-inning closers of new, has made him difficult for voters to categorize and assess. A sizeable number of voters likely see him as an old school closer with higher save totals than those already elected, thus warranting election himself. This has ensured a baseline level of support on the ballot from the time he debuted. Yet many other voters likely see Smith has a compiler of statistics and never truly a dominant reliever warranting inclusion, thus preventing him from gaining momentum and building towards election.  

Smith had 234 saves from 1980-1989 where he was used often in multiple innings, like the closers of old. But during that 10-year stretch, he was just an All-Star twice and only received one Cy Young vote (leading to a 9th place finish in 1983). And he pitched in four post-season games, taking two losses with an ERA of 8.44. He just wasn't perceived as truly dominant during those years. During the decade of the 1980s, the following closers received Cy Young Votes:

1980: Gossage (3rd, and 3rd in MVP), Quisenberry (5th and 8th in MVP), McGraw (5th), Sambito (5th)
1981: Fingers (1st and 1st in MVP), Gossage (5th), Sutter (5th)
1982: Quisenberry (3rd and 9th in MVP), Caudil (7th), Stanley (7th), Sutter (3rd and 5th in MVP), Minton (6th and 8th in MVP), Garber (7th)
1983: Quisenberry (2nd and 6th in MVP), Orosco (3rd), Holland (6th)
1984: Hernandez (1st, and 1st in MVP), Quisenberry (2nd and 3rd in MVP), Sutter (3rd and 6th in MVP), Gossage (6th)
1985: Quisenberry (3rd), Moore (7th and 6th in MVP), Reardon (7th)
1986: Righetti (4th), Eichhorn (6th)
1987: Reardon (8th), Bedrosian (1st)
1988: Eckersley (2nd and 5th in MVP)
1989: Eckersley (6th and 5th in MVP), Olson (6th), Russell (9th), Davis (1st and 6th in MVP), Williams (9th)

So if you were a sportswriter in the 1980s, you would note the dominance of Fingers to start the decade, and Gossage, Sutter, and Quisenberry for the first half of it, then a couple year lull, and then the reign of Eck began in 1988. Smith was never perceived as being that dominant reliever. He was always among the top five or so, but there were a couple who were always well ahead of him, and then the flavor of the year (Willie Hernandez, Mark Davis) would jump ahead too.

Beginning in 1990, with his trade to the Cardinals, Smith was used almost exclusively as a one-inning reliever for the rest of his career (436 games, 456 innings). He added another 244 saves before he retired in 1997. The last couple of years were middle relief, so he basically had six seasons as a modern closer, saving 31, 47, 43, 46, 33, and 37 games. He made five All-Star teams during this period and received Cy Young votes in three years, finishing 2nd, 4th, and 5th.

But he was competing with a new generation of closers at this point. While Smith was racking up saves, others were doing so with far more dominant seasons. 1990-1991 were solid years for him, but in 1990 Eckersley had a 0.61 ERA and Thigpen had 57 saves. In 1991, Bryan Harvey had just one fewer save than Smith and an ERA of 1.60, 101 Ks in just 78 IP, and an ERA+ of 257! Then from 1992-1995, Smith’s ERA was well over 3.00 each year, and so while he was still getting saves, he was doing so far less dominantly than guys like Randy Myers, John Franco, Rod Beck, and even the likes of Duane Ward and Jose Mesa. Playing for seven teams from 1990-1997 certainly hurt Smith’s image as well.

So in the end, Smith is difficult for voters to categorize. I think if had he pitched from 1975-1989, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion and Smith would not have much Hall of Fame support. He was clearly not as dominant in his time as were Fingers, Gossage, Sutter, and Quisenberry; and he wouldn’t have had the easy, 1-inning saves, to pad his career totals at the end. (Quisenberry had just one appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot, receiving 3.8% of the vote). Similarly, if Smith had pitched from 1990-2005, we would probably see him as a John Franco, who got just 27 votes on his only year on the ballot and fell off with less than 5 percent, despite having the 2nd most saves when he retired.

Smith’s big career save totals combined with this perception that he was one of the old-school guys like Gossage and Sutter keep him in the discussion; but when many voters look into it, I don’t think they see him as dominant as those old-school guys or as dominant as the new school guys like Eck, Trevor Hoffman, and Marion Rivera. For this reason, I don’t see him gaining any support in the final three years on the ballot.

My own view is that Smith, despite a great career, should not be in the Hall of Fame, but that Sutter shouldn’t be either. Neither closer provided that much value to their teams over their careers. There is not much differentiating Sutter from Kent Tekulve, Dan Quisenberry, and several other closers of that era, not to mention modern guys like Billy Wagner and Joe Nathan who have been more valuable—none viewed by many as Hall of Fame worthy. Likewise, I wouldn’t lose any sleep if Fingers was not in the Hall either; but at least there I can better see the voters’ rationale given his role in pioneering the emergence of the closer in the early 1970s, strong support in award voting during his career, and notable post-season success. And I would also not support Trevor Hoffman. To me he is right there with Lee Smith, but on the outside looking in.

If you examine the careers of closers, I think there is stark line that separates one group from the rest, making them Hall of Famers. While rWAR is not perfect and shouldn’t be the only measure taken into consideration when examining a Hall of Fame case, it clearly shows Eckersley, Rivera, Wilhelm, and Gossage heads above the competition. While Eckersley accumulated much of his value as a starter (46.2) rather than a reliever (16.8, all from age 32 on), his combined career is spectacular (he is 46th all-time in pitcher rWAR). And Rivera (57.1), Wilhelm (47.3), and Gossage (42.0) are elite and well above the likes of Hoffman, Smith, Sutter, and Fingers who are in the mid to upper 20s. Gossage, at the low end of the quartet, is still worth about 1.5 times as much as those guys, and about twice as much as guys like Tug McGraw and Francisco Rodriguez.

With a specialized position like closers in particular, I am in favor of a smaller Hall of Fame that honors the very best of an era. Once you start getting into the top 3-4 of an era, I think their overall value starts to get too low and it also becomes difficult to separate them from many of their other contemporaries. So at this point, I think you give a nod to Fingers for pioneering the new era of closers and another to Sutter for introducing the forkball, and hold everyone else going forward to a higher, Gossage-level, standard. It will be interesting to see how the Expansion Era Committee handles this issue. With Rivera likely fresh on their minds will they be thinking about closers in a more modern context and perhaps keep Smith out, or will they look back and simply lump him with Sutter and Fingers and put him in? 

 

Comments

Hall of Famer Will they include his nickname on the plaque?

John BakerVerified account ‏@manbearwolf Chris Denorifa to the @cubs ? Deno is one of my favorite teammates of all time! The Cubs fans are going to love him. Enjoy him Chicago.

Marlon Byrd to Reds, RHP Ben Lively to Phillies, possibly more to deal.

I guess Reds are still trying this year.

Good read, and I agree. It's not the end of hall relevance if Smith gets in, but the standard for failed starting pitchers who still make a good career for themselves should err on the high side.

Denorfia fun facts: He has a Wikipedia page that says he plays for the Cubs (fast work there) The starting LF for the Cubs in 2015 just needs "Chris" on his jersey, ala the NBA Christmas games... http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/12/nba-christmas-jerseys from his wikipedia page: On August 5 (2010), he hit an unusual inside-the-park home run in Dodger Stadium. The ball chopped off the dirt cut-out in front of the batter's box only four or five feet in front of Denorfia and then bounced out of the reach of the third baseman before being misplayed alongside the tarp down the left field line. SABR investigated the possibility that the play had set the record for least distance travelled through the air for a home run ball. also note he was the Scrappy of the month winner for the Pads once (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_%26_Hustle_Award). I didn't know there was a annual Scrappy Award winner either until now. Reed Johnson--somewhere--smiles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Denorfia

When did Marlon Byrd start hitting 25 or so home runs a year? Did he find an unbanned supplement?

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.