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

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

  • crunch (view)

    cubs getting crazy good at not having player moves leak.

    taillon we 100% know is pitching tonight.  who he's replacing and any additional moves are unknown as far as i can tell.

    p.wisdom was not in today's lineup in iowa (rained out) and he was removed from the game last night mid-game, but not for injury.  good bet he's with the team in the bigs, too.

  • Bill (view)

    A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return.  Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention".  Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."

     

    Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost.  But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.  

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions.  Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022.  I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
    I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
    I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
    That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
    I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
    We'll find out soon enough!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • 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?