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 @ Rays: Lester vs Snell (Game 151)

CHC (84-66): LHP Jon Lester (11-7, 4.30) 
TB (73-78): LHP Blake Snell (3-6, 4.25)       
First pitch: 6:10pmCST

Lester won his third start in a row on Thursday against the Mets (6 IP, 2 ER, 5 K, 4 BB). He’s 5-4 with a 4.04 on the road this season. Overall, these Rays are  35-136 (.257) against him. Bourjos is 7-17 with a HR.

The struggling Snell spent some time in the minors this season. He’s 3-1 with a 3.75 in 11 post-All-star Game starts. The Cubs are 4-16 against him. Almora, Baez, and Contreras are 1-2, and Bryant is 1-3.

Arrieta (14-9) returns to face Davies (17-9) in Milwaukee tomorrow at 7:10pmCST. This four-game set should put an end this inane September Brewers scoreboard watching.

Go Cubs! 
 

Comments

Should the Cubs play well enough to qualify for the postseason, not really pumped at the thought of Lester leading off a series. Hell, even Lackey has been pitching better than him for awhile now. Righties are mashing him - he just looks fatigued.

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

I'm not really sure how you're defining that. Hendricks has a better xFIP than Arietta with RISP and in high leverage situations and from a visual stand point when something starts going wrong with Arietta it seems to keep going wrong longer than with Hendricks. Also Arietta has a .234 BABIP in the 2nd Half despite having a lower soft contact % and a lot more fly balls given up. There will probably be some correction there. Overall for the season Hendricks has both a better ERA and xFIP.

"Padres signed LHP Clayton Richard to a two-year contract extension." 33 years old... 4.82 era... 1.51 whip... leading the league in losses with 14... good job SD. good job.

This has been a complete turd of a game from Lester. About time for him to start shouting at Bosio.

4.1ip 8h 3bb 0k, 7 r/er gawd. he looked "normal" aside from a bit of wildness not hitting his spots. his velocity looked fine.

Pirates doing what the Pirates do. Walked 4 people in the 7th, including the go ahead run.

maples was sporting a really sharp "side breaking" slider tonight. good amount of horizontal movement. where's that been?

[ ]

In reply to by tim815

yeah, but this side breaking slider thing was filthy and he's mostly been throwing regular fastballs and cutters. my view of maples has been limited as it is, but i've not seen this one showcased...or if he's attempted it, it's not been much. it didn't act like a traditional slider...had a hard horizontal break without much vertical drop. lot of movement.

So cubs go 7-1 since the Milwaukee sweep...and likely only game 1/2 a game on the Brewers. Going to be one hell of an intense series.

Swarzak pitched two yesterday. On for the eighth today. Interesting pen usage by Counsell. Not good or bad, necessarily. Just fascinating.

Better to lose big than lose a close one tonight. CJ, Strop, Duensing and Davis get the night off, and the regulars get a little rest. And, the winning streak was probably going to end soon anyway -- hopefully, Cubs start another one tomorrow. Not feeling good about Lester, though -- he hasn't been sharp since coming back from the "tight lat".

It's probably a result of the recent series, but I'm not particularly worried about Saint Lou.

Pirates tied it 4-4 on throwing error by Knebel, ending his consecutive save streak at 21.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

And with that start (his 11th MLB start of the season), Brett Anderson has qualified for his first Performance Bonus ($250K for 11 GS). There probably isn't enough time left in the season for him to qualify for his second Performanmce Bonus ($750K for 14 GS), so he'll have to make-do with the $250K. (Since his first five starts were with the Cubs, the Cubs are responsible for 45% of the Performance Bonus, which is about $112K). The Cubs are also on the hook for Brett Anderson's $3.5M base salary offset by the Blue Jays paying the MLB pro-rated minimum salary for the 34 days Anderson will be on the Jays 40-man roster (which is about $100K).    

Also, because a player cannot be optioned to the minors after the conclusion of the minor league season, Pierce Johnson must be carried on the Giants MLB Active Roster for the final 12 days of the MLB regular season, meaning he will accrue MLB Service Time and get paid at the MLB rate (about $3,000 per day or about $36,000 over the final 12 days) instead of the minor league split rate (about $500 per day or about $6,000 over the final 12 days). Couple that with being Designated for Assignment for seven day prior to being claimed off waivers (when a player on Optional Assignment is Designated for Assignment, the player is "Recalled - Not to Report" from his Minor League Optional Assignment and he accrues MLB Service Time and is paid at the Major League Rate for the days he is DFA), and so that's another seven days of MLB Service Time and $20,000 (instead of $3,500) for a total pay day of about $55,000 (instead of $10,000) and 19 days of MLB Service Time (instead of zero MLB Service Time accrued) over what he would have received in $$$ and MLB Service Time if he had remained with the Cubs on Optional Assignment until after the conclusion of the MLB regular season. 

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.