Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

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

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* 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: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Byler & Trahan Lead Snakes Past Angels/Cubs at Diablo

Submitted by Arizona Phil on

Austin Byler laced a two-run single and scored in a seven-run 3rd, singled and scored in the 5th, singled in the 6th, and singled again in the 8th, Stryker Trahan belted an RBI triple and scored in the 3rd, drilled an RBI single and scored in the 5th, and walked in the 9th, and Diamondbacks pitchers retired the first 13 batters they faced, en route to an easy 10-2 victory over the Angels/Cubs co-op squad in AZ Advanced Instructional League action this afternoon on Field #7 at the Diablo Stadium Complex in Tempe, AZ.    
Zach Houchins (Angels) and Taylor Ward (Angels) collected RBI singles in the bottom of the 7th to account for the two Angels/Cubs runs. 

Here is the box score from today's game (Cubs player highlighted in bold and underlined) 

DIAMONDBACKS LINEUP: 
1. Domingo Leyba, 2B: 2-5 (3-U, 1B, L-3, 1B, F-8, R, RBI)
2. Sergio Alcantara, SS: 1-4 (F-7, SH-FC, K, L-6, 1B, R, 2 RBI)
3a. Zach Nehrir, LF: 2-3 (1B, 1B, L-9, R)
3b. Grant Heyman, LF: 0-2 (3-1, K)
4. Austin Byler, 1B: 4-5 (K, 1B+E9, 1B, 1B, 1B, 2 R, 2 RBI)
5. Jason Morozowski, DH #1: 0-4 (BB, E-6, 4-3, 5-3, 4-3, RBI)
6. Dawel Lugo, 3B: 0-4 (5-3, 6-4 FC, 1-3, BB, 5-3, R)
7. Stryker Trahan, RF: 2-4 (F-8, 3B, 1B, K, BB, 2 R, 2 RBI)
8. Jose Herrera, C: 1-4 (4-3, 6-3, 1B, HBP, 3-1, R, RBI)
9. Colin Bray, CF: 2-5 (2B, K, 1B, E-5, 3-1, R)
10. Zach Hoffpauir, DH #2: 0-2 (P-4, F-8)
NOTE: SLOT WAS SKIPPED FIRST THREE TIMES THRU BATTING ORDER 

ANGELS/CUBS LINEUP:
1. Bo Way, CF: 0-4 (F-8, 1-3, 3-U, 3-U) 
2. Kody Eaves, DH: 1-4 (3-1, K, 1B, F-9, R, SB)
3. Zach Houchins, 3B: 1-4 (6-3, P-6, 1B, K, R, RBI)
4. Dan Vogelbach, 1B: 0-3 (K, K, BB, F-9)
5. Natanael Delgado, RF: 2-4 (1B, K, 1B, K)
6. Andrew Daniel, SS: 0-3 (F-8, P-3, P-3, BB)
7a. Wade Wass, C: 0-2 (F-9, L-8)
7b. Taylor Ward, C: 1-2 (1B, K, RBI)
8. Rashad Crawford, LF: 1-4 (5-3, 1-3, 1B, K)
9. Frandy de la Rosa, 2B: 0-3 (4-3, F-8, K)

DIAMONDBACKS PITCHERS: 
1. Markus Solbach: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 2/2 GO/AO, 21 pitches (14 strikes)
2. Emilio Vargas: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 3/2 GO/AO, 20 pitches (12 strikes)
3. Miller Diaz: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 2/3 GO/AO, 19 pitches (15 strikes) 
4. Cameron Smith: 1.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 2 K, 0/1 GO/AO, 37 pitches (22 strikes) 
5. Cameron Gann: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 1/1 GO/AO, 10 pitches (6 strikes)  
6. Keegan Long: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 0/1 GO/AO, 19 pitches (13 strikes) 

ANGELS/CUBS PITCHERS:
1. Joe Gatto: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 3/2 GO/AO, 27 pitches (14 strikes)
2. Garrett Nuss: 3.0 IP, 10 H, 9 R (8 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, 4/3 GO/AO, 62 pitches (40 strikes)
3. Ronnie Glenn: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP, 1 WP, 2/1 GO/AO, 27 pitches (17 strikes)  
4. Victor Alcantara: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 2/1 GO/AO, 23 pitches (16 strikes) 
5. Eduardo Paredes: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 2/1 GO/AO, 11 pitches (5 strikes) 

DIAMONDBACKS ERRORS: 1 
CF Colin Bray: E-8 (errant throw attempting to double-up runner at 1st base on L-8 allowed runner to advance to 2nd) 

ANGELS/CUBS ERRORS: 3 
1. RF Natanael Delgado: E-9 (two base fielding error on line-drive RBI single to RF allowed batter to advance to 3rd base) 
2. SS Andrew Daniel: E-6 (throwing error allowed batter to reach base safely) 
3. 3B Zach Houchins: E-5 (fielding error allowed batter to reach base safely) 

DIAMONDBACKS CATCHERS DEFENSE: 
Jose Herrera: 0-1 CS 

ANGELS/CUBS OUTFIELD ASSISTS: 
CF Bo Way - threw out runner (Colin Bray) 8-5 trying to advance from 1st to 3rd on RBI single to CF

WEATHER: Sunny with temperatures 100+ 

ATTENDANCE: 28 (mostly scouts) 

Tags
AZ Advanced Instructional League

Comments

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 10/14/2015 - 10:47 pm

thin cubs talent day...still hoping vogelbomb turns on that power next season because it doesn't seem to be showing up with the step down in talent he's facing the past few weeks. at least he's still young...23 in december.

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 10/14/2015 - 10:52 pm

it's all over for HOU. i was rooting for them for no other reason than picking on HOU still feels like bullying. KC advances to play TOR on friday. CHC vs ??? on saturday.

Submitted by The E-Man on Thu, 10/15/2015 - 10:07 am

PHIL: Are you noticing special attention to Vogelbach? Anything the are trying to alter in his approach or swing? Thanks.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Thu, 10/15/2015 - 10:26 am

E-MAN: Dan Vogelbach is at Advanced Instructs mainly to work on his defense at 1st base, but he's also trying to improve his baseruning and be a more complete hitter, like making better contact, driving the ball to the opposite field, and not swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. 

Vogelbach has been working one-on-one with Carmelo Martinez for about 30 minutes every morning before BP. Carmelo throws balls to him from a close distance, forcing Vogelbach to react quickly to balls in the dirt or over his head or off to one side. with the throw sometimes being perfect. So he doesn't know what type of throw to expect. And he's actually showing some improvement and confidence in catching the ball, picking short hops, and at least knocking down balls he can't catch.   

He also has been working out at shortstop during morning drills to improve his defense, like fielding ground balls without bobbling them, tracking pop ups (which he struggles to do), and making stronger and more-accurate throws (he has a weak throwing arm).   

At the plate, Vogelbach is hitting 250/419/344 in 11 games (43 PA), with ten walks and five strikeouts, three doubles, no HR, five RBI, one GIDP, and a SF. He also has no SB (two CS) and he was picked-off 1st base once.   

Vogelbach seems to have what is known in baseball as "warning track power," meaning that he hits high fly balls with top-spin that reach the warning track but don't have enough carry to get over the fence. And his line drives tend to have top-spin, too, so a lot of his line drives drop like a two-seam fastball as they get to the outfield. 

One other thing about Vogelbach is that he VERY gregarious with the other players, giving everybody a rash of shit and getting it right back and not minding it all. He is very self-deprecating. He has a really outgoing and funny personality. He reminds me a lot of John Kruk. 

But while Vogelbach is a funny guy, he also is very hard on himself when he makes an out or an error. He seems to be easily frustrated. You can hear the f-bombs all over the park when he makes an error or a mistake or weak contact or strikes out. 

I talked to a couple of scouts at a game last week, and both said that the biggest problem with Vogelbach is that he has a "bad body." It's not his fault, but his body-type just doesn't allow him to do some of the things a player needs to do to be sucessesful. 

[ ]

Submitted by The E-Man on Thu, 10/15/2015 - 10:31 pm

Thanks a bunch AZ PHIL. From what you say, and his somewhat of a stall in his progress, it would seem with the Cubs "reboot" he will be surpassed on the prospect list most-likely during the next year if he can't get it together. He was a very interesting long-shot, anyway.

[ ]

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Fri, 10/16/2015 - 10:06 pm

I never drank that particular kool-aid. In spring training, on TV, he looked like a short fat kid, while I was seeing him compared online to Boog Powell! Not a surprise that when he trimmed down, he lost some power. That said, he's a decent hitter and might have a chance if he could play a position. But not on the Cubs, where the manager thinks Soler is a stiff! People say Vogelbach is tailor-made for the American League. Maybe so. But to be a major leaguer, he'll have to be a rookie, first. Is there such a thing as a rookie DH? I really don't know. I don't watch many AL games. But I thought DH's tended to be veterans.

Submitted by johann on Thu, 10/15/2015 - 10:26 am

I think I'd rather face the Dodgers for several reasons but weather is one. Saturday at Dodger stadium the game will start at 72 and end at 70 or so and partially cloudy. Sunday will start at 71 and end 69. Citi field will start at 51 and end at 48. Sunday will start at 48 and end at 45. Think we might do better in warmer weather.

[ ]

Submitted by blockhead25 on Thu, 10/15/2015 - 10:54 am

Cubs didn't do jack offensively in VERY warm weather when they were in LA in August. LA leads the league in HR, the Mets have a very potent offense. I am leaning towards rooting for the mets solely because of Greinke and Kershaw. Mets pitchers are deeper, but they are very young and at innings limits, so feel better about the prospects there. Only reason for me to want the Dodgers: I could go to game #2.

[ ]

Submitted by johann on Thu, 10/15/2015 - 10:56 pm

While it sucks and think ultimately Russell will win gold gloves every year, right now Baez is hitting better and isn't that much of a downgrade defensively. Despite those two screw ups he had in replacement he has overall been amazing in defense all year. It's crazy to think that we could have an injury to a player with that talent in the playoffs and we probably won't see too much of a drop off .

[ ]

Submitted by Charlie on Thu, 10/15/2015 - 10:10 pm

Unfortunate in part because Russell has been a huge part of this team for months. Hammy injuries can really linger, though, and there's no good work around. Here's hoping Baez shows off the defense and puts the bat on the ball--it'd be nice to see him continue a solid autumn.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Thu, 10/15/2015 - 10:33 pm

There is really no reason to add Jonathan Herrera to the Cubs NLCS roster at this time, because if anything happens to Javier Baez, Castro could slide over to SS and Herrera (or Addison Russell, if he is healthy enough to be at least a back-up) could be activated as an injury replacement for Baez mid-series. Same thing if something happens to Castro during the NLCS (leaving Baez as the only avalable SS).  

And by leaving Russell off the NLCS roster, the Cubs keep him available as a potential injury replacement during the NLCS, and he is eligible to be on the Cubs World Series roster (if Russell is healthy enough to play, and if the Cubs get to the World Series).

If Russell is on the Cubs NLCS roster and then the Cubs decide they need to replace him during the series because he can't play, he would be ineligible to return for the balance of the NLCS and the World Series. 

[ ]

Submitted by blockhead25 on Thu, 10/15/2015 - 10:41 pm

I would think if they do choose Herrera, it would be about gaining flexibility for late inning double switches as much as anything else, and giving an extra bat on the bench. With that said, given that games #3 and #4 could be back-to-back bullpen games for the Cubs, probably makes more sense to add a pitcher.

Submitted by blockhead25 on Thu, 10/15/2015 - 10:18 pm

Cubs order is official, Dodgers/NY is speculation 1. Lester v. Anderson or Syngaard 2. Arrieta v. Kershaw or Harvey 3. TBD v. Greinke or DeGrom 4. TBD v. TBD 5. Lester v. Anderson or Syngaard 6. Arrieta v. Kershaw or Harvey 7. TBD vs. Greinke or DeGrom.

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa? 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Pro teams have to play their "big money" guys if they are healthy and not "locker room" issues.
    The Cubs wanted to deal JHey off well before they bought him out. They just didn't want to pay him to play for someone else for that long. Jed did give him 20+mil to play for LAD last yr.
    Jed might also let Kyle walk at some point this year. Similar scenario to JHey, except Jed thought Kyle was going to be good/solid in '24!!
    You'd think Smyly is in the same book as well. Same with Neris (he's a 1yr vet RP, so he's not really in this convo too much).
    That's ~35mil between those three and those three are going to get opportunities until at least late June) over younger guys even if their performance is "iffy".
    But, Jed is going to play Taillon a lot. They have to try and justify that contract and hope a veteran works out.
    So, Taillon, Imanaga, and Hendricks are locks for the rest of April and probably May.
    Assad, Brown and Wicks handle the last spots until Steele is ready.
    Now, you're question has real merit when Steele comes back. That will interesting if Brown is still good and Hendricks is still bad. But Taillon is entirely safe as long as he's healthy.

    And the bullpen moves were "money" based as well. Smyly has actually been okay. But he hasn't been clearly better than Little. Little had one bad outing. But Smyly makes 9mil. If they needed another RHRP and one of Little and Smyly had to go, it was going to Little. But that doesn't mean Smyly is one of the best 13 arms for the team. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Childersb3: I think there was an issue with Luke Little coming into a game with men on base. He seems to need a "clean" inning to be dominant. So he is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AAA. Same goes for Michael Arias. He needs to come into a "clean" inning, and is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AA. Porter Hodge is a more versatile pitcher, a better version of Keegan Thompson (multi-inning RP). But Little, Arias, and Hodge (probably in that order) are the Cubs top three RP prospects (all three are Cubs Top 15 prospects).

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    So, let’s do a little war gaming. Taillon is back for tonight’s game. He pitched two rehab games, just a few innings each, and not especially sharp. Let’s face it, he hasn’t been lights out since the Cubs gave him the big contract. In other words, as flat out bad as Hendricks has been, the chances of Taillon being the savior don’t look exactly promising.

    If Taillon is equally ineffective or perhaps even worse, what’s the next move? Winning teams can often find a way to work around a dud fifth starter - kinda. Two dud starters make things much more difficult.

    I believe the biggest reason for the recent bullpen moves was dissatisfaction with the recent blowing of big leads and the recognition that the bullpen wasn’t all it was thought to be. In other words, they are exploring alternate options and configurations. If similar juggling becomes necessary (even more so than it already is), what kind of reasonable maneuvering do we think could be explored?

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Cubdom needs to prepare themselves for Wicks to be sent to Iowa for Taillon to come up.
    Ben Brown has 4 appearances. Wicks has 4 appearances.
    Ben has 16.1 IP.  Wicks has 17 IP
    Ben was a 1.1 WHIP.  Wicks has a 1.7 WHIP. Wicks does have significantly more SOs. 
    Ben has been better, though.
    I love Wicks. I think he's a fighter and his stuff has improved.
    But, Jed isn't ditching Hendricks just yet. He should. But he won't.
    Hendricks should go to the IL and Taillon-Imanaga-Assad-Wicks-Brown should be the rotation.
    Wont' happen though.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    AZ Phil,
    Did you agree with the demotion of Luke Little? He'd been pretty good up until the AZ/wild pitch appearance. I know that can't jettison Smyly (just yet) so they didn't need another LHRP. Especially with Leiter effectively being a LHRP. I still thought he deserved to stay. It's not permanent. He'll be back. Lots of moves to come with Taillon, Steele and other guys coming and going.

    Also, do you see Hodge being able to "control/command" his stuff to get a chance this year?
    Is Arias better than Hodge?   Thanks

  • crunch (view)

    just waiting to hear patrick wisdom and masterboney are spotted at the airport going in opposite directions...

    aj puk going for the marlins (lefty)...gotta imagine we'll see wisdom in the lineup.

    someone has to make room for taillon, too.

  • crunch (view)

    he's a low-level cubs star in the modern history of the cubs (c.zambrano, k.wood, r.dempster, etc), but that star has dimmed...and has been dimming since 2021.

    2024 has been ugly the whole way and we're only in mid-april.  homers aside (even though there's been 7 in 17ip) he gave up 29 hits in 20 spring innings and 31 in 17 regular season innings.

    he's pretty much only got 2 pitches at this point in his career and the mix isn't fooling anyone.  he threw a noticable amount more curves in his last start to add to the mix and it didn't help his issues.  he don't have many moves left to break out.

  • Eric S (view)

    Definitely needs a 10 day stint for the hangnail - have to nip those things in the bud or suffer the consequences (ie, more opponent home run derby, etc)

Click HERE for the last 50 comments