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 @ Giants: Quintana vs Blach (Game 112)

CHC (59-52): LHP José Quintana (6-9, 4.42) 
SF (44-70): LHP Ty Blach (7-7, 4.24) 
First pitch: 9:15pmCST

Quintana gave up 6 ER in 5 innings but avoided a loss to the D’backs on Thursday. The Giants are 8-28 (.286) against him. Span is 4-7.Ty Blach, who has one of the worst names in all of sports, beat the A’s his last time out (8 IP, 2 ER, 4 K, 1 BB). He’s 4-4 with a 3.70 at home this season. We saw Blach at Wrigley in May, when he pitched 7 innings of 3-run ball and came away with the win. Overall, the Cubs are 8-26 (.308) against him. Baez is 2-3 with an outside-of-the-park HR.

Hendricks (4-4) draws the short straw and faces Bumgarner (1-5) tomorrow at 2:45pmCST to conclude the series.

Go Cubs!

Comments

Zobrist as a RH batter: .588 OPS. Joe, if you have to play him against LHP (and you don't), please bat him 1st or 8th. He is a black hole in the middle of the lineup. FWIW: Happ as a RHB: .797. Roughly same number of PA's.

[ ]

In reply to by billybucks

Sometimes it's difficult for a manager to realize and recognize that an aging veteran player is in decline. It can be an awkward and difficult situation for both the player and the manager, but if you want to win games and if you have little margin for error (as is the case with the Cubs right now), the manager has to leave his heart in the clubhouse and do what's best for the team on the field.

It would appear that Zobrist is morphing into a veteran back-up guy who can get an occasional start at 2B, LF, or RF, but otherwise maybe it would be better if he doesn't play too much. And that's OK. Nothing wrong with that. But that's why age matters in sports. 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

Zobrist seems like a really good guy, and I will always love him for everything he did last year -- the huge post-season hits (WS Game 7 and the Game 4 rally vs. SF), celebrating like a little kid when they won, riding his bike to Wrigley in full uniform on games days, etc. -- but his time as a RH hitter should be coming to an end, particularly when Russell returns. His numbers as a LH hitter aren't great, but a .330 OBP for a part-item player isn't terrible.

@AZ Phil On your comment about Almora potentially being sent down over LaStella, I would send Happ down until 9/1 instead. He's really struggling lately and isn't getting sufficient playing time to boost his confidence. Happ only has 1 XBH (a HR) since July 18th and is only 7/39 (.179) in that span. 6 singles, 1 HR. 1 interesting factoid is that 20/35 RBI have come with 2 outs I believe. Numbers may be off by a bit, but a lot of his RBIs have come with 2 outs. I also don't think CJ gets sent down unless he struggles in some low leverage situations. Ever since he's been here, he goes through a slump. Last year he would always be really good and then have a clunker of giving up 3 ER in the middle of multiple strong performances. This is obviously his worst slump in the big leagues though. Does going down to AAA really fix the walks though? What's best for him is to get a few strong appearances against major league hitting. Schwarber was different because he was given the chance to get back on track in The Show, but it wasn't coming, so he was sent down and he has improved since his time in AAA this season. Interesting, CJ's numbers this year (ERA, BB/9, K/9) are quite similar to Aroldis Chapman in his first full season in the majors. Edwards: 3.83 ERA, 6.0 BB/9, 12.9 K/9 Chapman: 3.60 ERA, 7.4 BB/9, 12.8 K/9 Both throw hard and have struggled with command in their first full season in the big leagues. Chapman obviously throws a bit harder than CJ though.

[ ]

In reply to by chitownmvp01

CHITOWNMVP01: I posted another comment a few days ago where I mentioned both Albert Almora AND Ian Happ as potential candidates to get optioned to the minors for 19 days when Addison Russell is ready to be reinstated on 8/13. 

link 

What I was trying to explain is that this is the time of the year (specifically starting on August 13th, with a recall when rosters expand on September 1st) when an MLB club can option a player to the minors without spending an option year, and that it wasn't absolutely a slam-dunk that Tommy LaStella would get sent back to Iowa when Russell is reinstated. 

As for Carl Edwards Jr, the issue right now isn't his BB/9 rate for the season (that's just par for the course for CJE), it's that his command is imploding in high-leverage situations when the Cubs can't afford to lose games where they have a lead going into the 8th inning (as happened twice last week), and the idea of sending him to the minors isn't so much to get his confidence back as it is to get him off the 25-man roster because he is costing the Cubs games.

If the Cubs had a 15-game lead and were on cruise control to the post-season (like they were this time last year) or if Edwards could not be sent to the minors, it wouldn't matter if Edwards was struggling with his command to the extent that he is. But every game is crucial right now, and Edwards has become unreliable in high-leverage situations. And he can be optioned to the minors on Sunday and then be recalled in 9/1 (when the active roster limit expands) without using up his 3rd & final option year.

A bullpen arm who might be in demand prior to the 8/31 post-season roster eligibility deadline is ex-Cub RHRP Blake Parker, who is having an outstanding season with the Angels. 

I was at Fitch Park the day Parker was converted from position player to pitcher in May 2007. He was the EXST Cubs clean-up hitter and played C-1B-3B, and after a game he threw off a mound (just for fun) on one of the other fields and caught the attention of pitching coach Tom Pratt, and the next day he was in the pitchers group taking PFP! 

link 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

PHIL: As I recall, Parker couldn't get anyone out at the Cubs MLB level. He sucked! Casey Kelly, Donn Roach, Brian Schlitter, Zac Rosscup, Spencer Patton, Blake Parker... Talk about not performing in any leverage situations, these are some classic bed-wetters. If he's pitching well for the Angels, it might be b/c they are out of the Playoff picture I'd suspect.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

E-MAN: Blake Parker had a very good year with the Cubs in 2013, but he has missed considerable time since then with shoulder problems. 

Parker was an NRI to Spring Training, and he made the Angels Opening Day roster by striking out the last 17 men he faced.

Here is Fangraph's take on Parker's breakout 2017 season. 

link 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

AZ PHIL: Thanks. That is really interesting and a head scratcher. He's 32 and just finding himself. The quote from the article sums it up: "No one in the game with whom I spoke about Parker had an explanation for where he found the velocity, such as an arm-slot change or a new training regiment."

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

How about something like Daniel Murphy, who suddenly turned from a league average batter (~110 OPS+) into a high-average slugger (150 OPS+) several months after he turned 30? Funny how some players suddenly turn it on late in their careers.

Been thinking about this a lot this season...and thought I'd say it again. Seeing the Cubs bullpen implode this year, seeing the Cubs losing close games that they should have won, seeing the Cubs struggle against good teams, seeing the cubs batting .090 with RISP... ...all makes me appreciate how incredibly fun and lucky the ride the Cubs gave us in 2016 was.

Cards are scoring runs in bunches in KC -- just put up a 6-spot to go from down 3-1 to up 7-3. Cue the scary music.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Seeing-eye groundball single, soft groundball too soft for a DP, hard groundball E-6, HR by 2 inches. Q must've pissed off a baseball god something fierce tonight.

eloy went 3/5 with a double and a HR for high-A CWS tonight. le sigh. hitting around .360avg .430ob% with 9 doubles and 6 homers in 23 games for them. yeah.

So the Giants have exactly one person in the lineup that can hit. Would the Bonds approach in the first inning been a bad call?

So, pitching for a suck-ass team with no pressure, or fans, is different than pitching for a World Series defending champion?

That feeling when the Cubs are losing and everyone in Parachat is talking about suicide and then Parachat literally commits suicide.

3-20 this series with RISP, bad errors, bad non catches, HR in the first, another relief pitcher giving up a lead off walk. Just crap baseball.

Cubs now 1-7 in the state of California, including 1-4 against the wretched Padres and Giants. Good thing they don't play the A's or Angels tis year.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.

  • videographer (view)

    AZ Phil, speaking of Jordan Wicks having better command when he tires a bit, I remember reading about Dennis Lamp 40 years ago and his sinker that was better after 3 or 4 innings when he would tire a bit and get more sink with a little less speed on the pitch.  The key for Lamp was getting to the 4th inning.