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, 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 4-21-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 14
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

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

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL: 
* Justin Steele, P   

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




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

What's a Hot Stove without rumors?

Submitted by CubbyBlue on

Comments

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Submitted by crunch on Tue, 12/25/2018 - 12:40 pm

nice stuff.

my favorite rumor train so far involves chatwood+heyward+???? for some hardcore salary relief or high end hitter/pitcher.  it's like some cubs fans got crack for christmas.  they could at least sweeten the deal by throwing in duensing.

at least the harper rumors have some basis in reality.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 12/25/2018 - 12:00 pm

A trade that should happen: Ian Happ for Nick Senzel. 

Happ went to college at the U. of Cincinnati and hits like Rogers Horsnby on steroids at Great American ballpark, he can play CF (the one position the Reds have open after their post-season moves), he is one of the fastest runners (based on basepath sprint speed) in MLB, and he can hit anywhere in the batting order. 

Senzel is a year younger and a better hitter than Happ with plus-power/hard-contact, he is a natural third-baseman (albeit blocked by Eugenio Suarez at the moment) and is a better defender at 3B than Kris Bryant (allowing the Cubs to move Bryant to RF), and is a year younger than Happ.  

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Submitted by bradsbeard on Sat, 12/29/2018 - 12:45 am

Since you mentioned freeing up Bryant to play OF, do you have any reason to believe the Cubs want to transition Bryant away from 3B, or is that just an idea to get another bat in the lineup?

Relatedly, do you think Contreras could handle 3B on an occasional basis if they asked him to play it? 

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Sat, 12/29/2018 - 12:35 pm

while bryant isn't a defensive liability he seems to have used up his better days there.  he's probably on borrowed time at 3rd...not as quick as he was in past seasons.

the fact he put in 3+ good years there is a lot better than many people assumed he would do in the first place.  a lot of people believed he was OF bound when he was drafted.

that said, he's probably solidly penciled in to play at 3rd next season...maybe longer.  it's not like he's fallen off a cliff defensively.

[ ]

Submitted by bradsbeard on Sat, 12/29/2018 - 12:45 pm

I pretty much agree with this. I don’t see Bryant moving permanently any time soon, though i wouldn’t be surprised if he’s playing his next contract as an OF. For what it’s worth, he looked pretty uncomfortable to me in the OF this season. But I think he has the ability to be a solid OF. 

I am thinking that the Cubs need to find a way to limit Contreras’ innings behind the plate though, and if Contreras could spot at 3B when the Cubs are facing an LHP, you could shift Bryant to LF (where I think he’s more comfortable for whatever reason than RF). 

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Mon, 12/31/2018 - 12:23 pm

BRADSBEARD: It isn't so much that Kris Bryant can't play 3B or that he absolutely, positively must be moved to RF (or LF if Kyle Schwarber was traded), but rather if the Cubs can exchange a toolsy, athletic player who is versatile but a bit flawed (Happ) for a younger but unproven near MLB-ready player who can (hopefully) eventually be part of the current Cubs "window" as well as post-2021 (Senzel), that would be a good thing. If he were tio be acquired by the Cubs, Senzel might even spend most of 2019 at AAA (Happ's spot on the 25 could be filled for a year by somebody like Jon Jay), and then maybe the Cubs would even look to trade Bryant post-2019 for a haul of young unproven (but near MLB-ready) players similar to Senzel to keep the line moving beyond 2021.

Senzel is an upgrade defensively over Bryant at 3B right now, and if acquired, Senzel would be a first step toward the Cubs making the transition from the current presumed contention window (through 2021) to whatever follows without having to start another rebuild in 2022. Signing Rizzo, Baez, Hendricks, and Contreras (and maybe Schwarber) to contract extensions would be another step (figuring they are the most-likely members of the Cubs' "core" to agree to extensions, since Bryant, Almora, and Russell are Boras clients and therefore very unlikely to agree to a contract extension prior to hitting free-agency).  

I'm not saying this trade has been discussed between the two clubs, but I mention Senzel as a Cubs trade target only because of the rather obvious fit for both clubs. Happ has been absolutely other-worldly/unstoppable at Great American Ballpark, he was a star college baseball player at the U. of Cincinnati, and he can play a serviceable CF for the Reds in 2019 and then (if necessary) easily move to a corner OF spot or even 2B in 2020 after Puig, Kemp, and Gennett hit free-agency. Conversely, Senzel is a natural third-baseman blocked in Cincinnati by Eugenio Suarez (who isn't going anywhere) and so the Reds are already looking to move Senzel to another position (which will reduce his defensive value). 

One of the somewhat unanticipated things that happened with the Cubs 2016-17 was the perceived need and therefore understandable desire to "cement" the MLB 25-man roster by sacrificing their top two position-player prospects (Gleyber Torres and Eloy Jimenez) and their top pitching prospect (Dylan Cease) for Aroldis Chapman (in 2016) and Jose Quintana (in 2017). Torres, Jimenez, and Cease would have provided the Cubs with a pathway to sustained (perhaps even seamless) success beyond 2021 by allowing the Cubs to move some of the 2015-21 core (most especially Kris Bryant) earlier than necessary to replentish the farm system, but the inability to develop pitchers 2012-17 the same way they developed position players during that period of time unfortunately put the Cubs in a difficult spot. The Cubs could take a step toward reversing this if they were to acquire a player like Senzel, not that Senzel would totally make up for losing Torres and Jimenez, but it would be a good first step. 

Submitted by videographer on Sat, 12/29/2018 - 12:28 am

I have heard that the Cubs brass has a great deal of interest in Nolan Arenado of Colorado.  He is a free agent after next season and I can the Cubs pursuing him and moving Bryant to the outfield in 2020.  Also, signing Arenado would give the Cubs a star player to building around should Bryant leave in free agency.  An arguement can be made the Arenado is a better player than Bryant.  Also, I imagine that Arenado would cost less than Bryant.

I cannot see the Cubs signing Harper AND re-signing Bryant AND having enough payroll to afford play-off pitching in the comming years.   I think the smart move is signing Arenado next year and re-tooling the rotation as contracts expire and players leave in free agency.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 01/02/2019 - 01:02 pm

Josh Lifrak has been Cubs Mental Skills Program Director since 2014, and under him are the Mental Skills Program Coordinator, the Latin American Mental Skills Coordinator, and the Mental Skills Coordinator. The Mental Skills Program is part of the Player Development Dept. It's unclear if Tewksbury is replacing Darnell McDonald as Mental Skills Program Coordinator or John Baker as Mental Skills Coordinator.

"Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical" - Yogi Berra 

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Thu, 01/03/2019 - 01:07 pm

BRADSBEARD: Ken Ravizza was a part-time consultant and worked directly with the MLB Cubs. The "Mental Skills Coordinator" is a full-time position n the Player Development Dept and works with minor leaguers. So Tewksbury is replacing either Darnell McDonald (Mental Skills Program Coordinator) or John Baker (Mental Skills Coordinator). It's possible that Baker got a new assignment in the organaziation, possibly minor league catching coordinator or maybe a minor league manger gig. 

Recent comments

  • Finwe Noldaran (view)

    Phil: Great to see what Rosario is doing!

    Do you think having Rosario may have influenced/impacted the front office's decision on including Hope in the trade for Busch at all?

  • crunch (view)

    it's so crazy we got a new "barnstorming" harlem globetrotters-type baseball product that was introduced less than 5 years ago and is wildly popular all over the nation.

    a notion left long in the past, unearthed, polished for modern audiences and popular as ever.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    No question right now Alfonsin Rosario is one of the Cubs Top 20 prospects (probably Top 15). Rosario is to the Cubs what Zyhir Hope is to the Dodgers.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Savannah Bananas will be playing the Party Animals at Sloan Park in Mesa this coming Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The games are sold out (15,000+ each night), and berm tickets are going for well over $100. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    RAISIN: In the game versus the A's at Fitch Park last Friday, Mule threw half FB and half SL (16/16), and one CH (which coincidentally was the only hard-hit ball off him -- a near HR line-drive double off the LF fence). FB was 91-94 and the SL (really more of a "slurve") was 80-82, and he got three swing & miss on each pitch (six swing & miss total out of his 20 strikes). So I think it is safe to say that right now, Mule is strictly a two-pitch pitcher (FB/SL), 

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Recalled it was sampled in a Nas song.  Did a little sleuthing.  It was a Nas song called "Hate Me Now" that featured Puff Daddy.  Imploring the crowd to hate somebody seems a bit overly dramatic for a keyboardist but perhaps there is some other connection to the song. 

     

    In general there has been a weird overuse of Carmina Burana's O Fortuna in sports and commercials in past decade or so.  Maybe it is a fallback choice if there isn't anything else.   

     

    Sidenote, while the O Fortuna part has become a bit pop-culture cliched; the overall piece is very interesting and rather expansive in scope. I played percussion in a production of it while in college.  There is a rather jovial movement set in a tavern.  In the score it calls for the clinking of beer steins.  Let's just say we did a lot of research to determine the best sounding beer steins. 

  • crunch (view)

    ooof...this is just as likely as anything.  professional organists are weird humans.

  • SheffieldCornelia (view)

    Maybe it is only played when the hitter thus far in the game is "oh for two"-na at the plate?

  • crunch (view)

    who was AB when it was being played?  it could be something as corny as playing it for nick fortes because fortes/fortuna...fortes...marlins...fish...tuna...sigh.

    while the cubs organ player isn't a frequent groaner weaponizing the organ song selection, they all dabble in it.

  • crunch (view)

    in 2016 hendricks threw 190 innings for 45 earned runs.

    in the shortened 2020 season hendricks threw 81.1ip for 26 earned runs.

    in 2024 hendricks has thrown 21ip for 28 earned runs.

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