Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus one player is on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

The Best of TCR: The Hendry Chronicles

Everthing Arizona Phil writes in the comment section is worthy of a Best of TCR article. But this Best of TCR writeup is to show that I can find a post when news is particularly thin (beyond those gimme's from our TCR guru in the desert). Thanksgiving weekend is usually a desert of baseball news unto itself. Thus to brighten our tumbleweed desolate weekend, my long time friend, The E-Man steps up with a summary of Bruce Levine's ESPN AM-1000 saturday morning "Talking Baseball" weekly radio show. Enjoy (except for the part where he says that my season tickets will be more expensive). Take it away E-Man:

Just heard Hendry on WMVP this AM with Bruce Levine.

Jimbo came on the show...

- no slam dunk with Marmol as closer. He is not "set to close", but it is Lou's decision. They (Marmol/Gregg) may share duties. One may close more in the beginning of the year than the other.

- It did not appear that Hendry was giving any cards away re signing Woody. Reiterated that he wanted to give Wood a shot at a "nice 2 or 3-year deal".

- Thinks the world of K. Towers. They are still discussing things.

- The Cubs braintrust has had "every possible combination of LH hitting FA's and and SH's on a big board for the last two months..." they are going to do something it appears.

- B. Levine's money is on them "rolling the dice" (exact quote) on Milton Bradley. To put Ibanez in the OF with Soriano and Johnson/Pie/Dome, would just make it a shittier OF defensively. Just doesn't think they'll do it.

- Cubs are truly the "leading" trading partner in the Peavy sweepstakes. JH is awaiting the owner to be named in order to get a go-ahead (or decline, if its the Canning group) on taking on $60MM contract of the former cy Young winner.

- Levine's "two cents" is that IF the Brew can't sign Sheets or CC, or another big time pitcher, he thinks that the Reds - with a healthy Harang, could be the Cubs top competition in 2009. They have perhaps the best LH hitting "in baseball."

- He also believes he has heard that ticket prices may go UP for Terrace and Club Boxes (hear THAT Cubster), but the rest of the park will remain the same.

From the Windy City, I'm "The E-Man"

Comments

also found this Peter Gammons post Thanksgiving Q &A with his two cents on the status of Jake Peavy: The Braves, Cubs and seemingly everyone else claims they're not in on Jake Peavy. What's going on? The Padres absolutely believe Cubs GM Jim Hendry can make this a three-way trade to get the Padres the pitching they need in addition to third base prospect Josh Vitters. The Braves were not going to have to surrender any of their five-best prospects, but have hesitated over Single-A level pitching. Peavy is a Cy Young winner, in case anyone's forgotten. http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3732933&searchName=g…

Looks like Sickel just posted his top twenty Cub prospects. Four shortstops in the top twelve, and that doesn't include Barney. I found the Sickel item while looking for news about Josh Kroeger, still wondering if he's still a Cub (since he has 37 RBI in 32 winter-league games). Sickel seems to think he is.

Get Peavy---it all starts with pitching, and it REALLY starts with starting pitching---Hendry just signed a 4-year deal, Z is signed for 4 more years, as is Dempster---Peavy has 4 yrs left on his deal---there's your big 3 for the next four years---fill in around those guys---your minor league system is to bring guys up when needed and to trade guys when needed----GET PEAVY

Baltimore Sun story about Pie-to-Orioles as part of a Peavy deal. Slightly more than a rumor, since MacPhail actually cited today (Saturday):
MacPhail said today that a deal is not imminent, but did acknowledge that Pie is the kind of player the Orioles are pursuing to broaden the club's position depth.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

If Hendry is giving up Vitters, Pie, Marshall, Cedeno etc in any 3-way deal he better be getting more than Peavy. That's way more than the Mets gave up for Johan. If Peavy were signed to a Haren like contract that would be different. I can't see Hendry making a run at Huff as I don't see how his defense could be any better than Ibanez's in RF. I guess Luke Scott would be a better option but he can't hit lefties so he'd need a platoon partner. I suppose Johnson could do if Fukudome is going to play everyday, but a Luke Scott/Reed Johnson platoon for RF doesn't exactly bowl me over. Luke Scott vs lefties .238/.339/.417 vs righties .273/.357/.517

[ ]

In reply to by dB

Don't the Cubs still need a centerfielder? Maybe they can add a fourth team to the trade and get Pie back. Speaking of centerfield, Sam Fuld is quietly putting up nice numbers (321/435/557) for Rich Hill's team (Aragua) in Venezuela. He mostly hits leadoff and has 22 walks to 9 strikeouts. Potentially of interest to Piniella is that Fuld has 4 home runs in 106 at bats--Fukudome was only good for 10 in 501 ABs. An unsigned article in the Trib today says that Rich Hill "appears on the verge of a release from Aragua." Actually, Hill came out of the bullpen the other night and threw an uneventful inning-and-a-third. No runs, one hit, one walk. The Cubs could use another lefty arm in the pen and can't send Hill to the minors again, so this is his only chance with Cubs. The problem, of course, with Hill in relief is that he doesn't hold runners. Buddy Bailey is the Aragua manager and he'll likely stay with Hill as long as possible.

Pie, Marshall, Cedeno / Theriot, and Vitters for Peavy? If we acquire another outfielder, it would appear that Pie has no place to go since Lou won't play him, and I think he is out of options, so he can't be sent back to Iowa. So trading him would become a must. Unless you send Hoffpair back to Iowa and keep Pie instead, but that wouldn't make much sense roster-wise. Cedeno could produce as well as Theriot at the plate with better defense if given a chance. He won't hit .300 but he has a bit more power. Losing Vitters and Marshall would hurt....but to get a Cy Young winning starter for 4 years....I could live with that.

maybe Huff or Luke Scott could go to the Cubs.. ------------- expanding or just evening out the deal? ...and then there is the dreaded concept of McFail trying to get Brian Roberts past Peter Angelos. (preparing to break out the Cubnut diagrams again) ...of course George Sherrill would be an upgrade over Neal Cotts as another avenue to consider.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

is "not Ibanez" a viable answer?

I think this left-handed bat stuff is kind of B.S. imo, they're just replacing Edmonds, so I don't see how this is really adding more lefty bats to the order, seems like a lateral move to me unless they also replace Theriot with Furcal or Hudson(moving DeRosa to SS).

just sign Manny or Dunn, put them in LF, move Soriano to RF and actually have a bat in the order teams are afraid to pitch to...(moreso with Manny than Dunn).

if I'm limited to FA left-handed hitters, I go:

Dunn (move Soriano to RF), Bradley, Abreu (flip a coin between Bradley and Abreu in my opinion, one's a better hitter, one will stay healthy). Bradley plus the replacement is probably going to be worth about the same over 162 games as just Abreu. If Bradley actually comes that much cheaper, than he's probably the smarter play.

I can't think of any trade targets that are worth wasting any time on until Nick Markakis becomes available. :)

 

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I'd accept "not Ibanez," I just had the feeling that most readers do feel the team needs another lefty bat. I'd rather not have Hudson, either, while we're at it, unless he's coming cheap for some reason. I'd take Furcal, but only if it means that Soriano is not batting either 1 or 2 in the lineup anymore. I would like to avoid Dunn, but mostly because I just don't understand why the guy can't do more with his "tools" and thus dislike him. Also I don't really want to see the Cubs spending tons of money on Abreu or Bradley, but if we're taking money out of the picture, I wouldn't mind having either in the lineup. Markakis would be great. I'd take Hermida for now, but it seems the Marlins aren't giving him away cheaply enough, or Hendry would've acquired him already. At the risk of doing a Virginia Phil imitation, I really am OK with going with Pie in center and platooning Johnson and Pie or Johnson and Fukudome, hoping that Pie finally turns his tools into results and re-signing Kroeger so we've got him in case Fukudome (or Hoffpauir) becomes completely useless. I wouldn't really mind Fontenot getting more ABs, either. The guy has earned some playing time. If they don't sign Furcal or another expensive free agent, I want Wood back. Rant over.

Muskat states the obvious in a Peavy non-rumor rumor story today, basically re-states that the Cubs would need to shed a salary as part of any Peavy trade: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081201&content_id=36… I don't care what anyone says, but $15M per year for Peavy is a bargain. It's ludicrous if salary (e.g., no one wants to pay Marquis) gets in the way of a deal. The story also repeats the Garrett Olson/Pie/Orioles involvement. While a slow news day, it is a significant one in Cubdom...today's the day bids for the team are due and the day we officially say goodbye to Howry.

Neal, that is an excellent point about the payroll. If the Cubs are $10 million within their final budget after raises for arbitration, what do you suggest they try and do? I heard on a radio report that they have been given a two year window to win...not sure what that means but the implication was that the payroll would have to go down at some point. It seems like eventually they are going to have to find out if some of their young guys can establish themselves as players...Pie, Cedeno, Hoffpauir, Weurtz, etc. who am I missing? On one hand, our system is so lacking in upper end quality it would be tough to see Vitters go, especially if we want to stop paying near top dollar for so many positions. However, think of the boat load you could have received for Patterson or Pie when they were up and comers in the system, before their flaws became obvious.

Bruce Levine, as of my ride home at 6:00, Kerry Wood will not be offered arb by the Cubs. Just report what I hear...

Recent comments

  • Charlie (view)

    I worry that Morel will lose starts at 3B as long as this roster lacks a compelling DH.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    I think if you had ranked players by how much the team could ill afford to have them miss significant time, Steele would be right at the top of the list.

  • crunch (view)

    steele MRI on friday.  counsell expects an IL stint.

    no current plans for his rotation replacement.

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1. 

  • crunch (view)

    amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.

    neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.

  • Eric S (view)

    Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it). 

  • crunch (view)

    boo.

  • crunch (view)

    smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.

    this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

    like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.

    anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.