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 vs. Cardinals Series Thread (Games 29-31)

Submitted by Charlie on

It's rivalry time, folks! The redbirds come into town with a 20-11 record and the first spot in the division. This is the first time the two teams will face off in 2019. Despite the gap in their records, the two teams should be matched pretty evenly. The Cards come into the series second in the NL in runs scored, but the Cubs are only 4 runs behind them and trail only the Dodgers in WRC+ and actually lead the NL in WOBA. Both teams also bring tremendous production from the SS position, where Paul DeJong and Javier Baez have each contributed to the offensive resurgence of shortstops across the maors. The Cards have had a slightly better bullpen, but the Cubs have had the edge from starting pitchers. See the pitching matchups below.

Game 29
CHC: RHP Kyle Hendricks (1-4, 5.33 ERA)
STL: RHP Jack Fleherty (3-1, 4.06 ERA)
First pitch 1:20pmCDT

Hendricks got knocked around for 7 earned runs in his start against the D-Backs. 2019 has not yet seen the sharp command that had allowed him to succeed in previous years. Marcell Ozuna had Hendricks's number in the past (1.157 OPS against) and has been showing off his power in the early going this year.

Jack Flaherty has lowered his walk rates and kept his strikeout rate over 10 per nine innings, but he's allowed 7 homeruns already. He faced the Cubs 3 times in 2018 and went 1-1 with 5 earned runs in 12.2 innings.

Game 30
CHC: RHP Yu Darvish (2-3, 5.02 ERA)
STL: RHP Michael Wacha (2-0, 4.78 ERA)
First pitch 3:05pmCDT

Darvish had his best start of the season last time out. He went 6 innings and allowed only 1 earned run for a win against the D-Backs. He also still gave up 4 walks and another homerun (7 on the season). Most Cardinals will be facing him for the first time.

Wacha missed much of 2018 with one of those pesky oblique injuries. In 2019, it's the base on balls that's nagging at him. Last time out he pitched 5 innings and was good enough to get a win against the Nats (3 earned runs). There are a bunch of Cubs' hitters with gaudy numbers against him. As a group, they have a .997 OPS against him in 163 at bats.

Game 31
CHC: LHP José Quintana (3-1, 3.48 ERA)
STL: RHP Adam Wainwright (3-2, 3.73 ERA)
First pitch 6:05pmCDT

Quintana has been extremely sharp in most of his starts so far. Last time, he was good enough to get through 5.2 allowing only 5 baserunners, but two of those baserunners got to trot their way around. As a group, the current Cardinals have mashed against him (.979 OPS against).

Adam Wainwright is now in his 15th season as a Cardinal and is recovering from an injury-shortened 2018. His velocity is down a bit, as you might expect of a pitcher in his late 30s. He's been effective against current Cubs, and Javy has a particularly bad 3-17 against him with 5 strikeouts.


Go Cubs!

Tags
2019 Gameday Thread

Comments

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Sat, 05/04/2019 - 05:01 am

CRUNCH: Like Dalton Geekie at South Bend, Garrett Kelly and Brendan King at Myrtle Beach, and Brad Markey at Tennessee, Ryan Williams is activated when he is needed, and he is placed on the 7-day IL or is assigned (on paper) to the Eugene reserve list when he is not needed. He understands the drill (the alternative would be getting released). 

[ ]

Submitted by JustSayin' on Sun, 05/05/2019 - 05:58 am

I don't think the Cubs' over-the-top emphasis on pitching in the 2016/17 draft and free agent signing is working. Adding a second rookie league team covered this up for a while but there are still just four full-season minor league teams.  If you want to see if Williams is back from his injury, you have to let him pitch.  Why sign Geekie and Kelly from independent ball, then put them on the shelf?  Other guys in this "reserve" category have done well at lower levels, gotten promoted, but aren't getting to play.  Meanwhile, the offense at Myrtle Beach has been pathetic.  That's a result of all the position players we didn't draft on the first and second day in 2016/17.  It's great when you get a Jared Young on the third day but he's already at AA due to lack of competition within the system.  Most of the other guys drafted in those rounds  have already been cut.  I'm ready to call this strategy a failure and an important contributor to the Cubs continuing to have one of the lowest-ranked minor league systems.

[ ]

Submitted by Charlie on Sun, 05/05/2019 - 05:11 am

Genuine question that I think you and/or Phil may have a response to: In a system thin on solid prospects, why can't a team prioritize appropriate placement of good prospects and simply fill gaps higher in the system with minor league free agents and other journeymen? Aside from minor league payroll, what are the costs to that?

[ ]

Submitted by JustSayin' on Sun, 05/05/2019 - 05:19 am

Theo saw the age of the rotation in the Championship season and prioritized pitching.  Makes sense.  He's been quoted saying hitting prospects are easier to identify than pitching ones.  Perhaps, but maybe a guy like Chris Bryant clouded that judgement?  The stupidity as I see it is that if you are going to evaluate more pitching prospects than other teams, there have to be real opportunities to see them pitch.  Adding a second rookie league team lets you keep more guys under contract, at cheap salaries.  It doesn't give you more capacity to see if they are good!  In addition to the guys that Phil mentioned, you see pitchers who other observers think have potential stuck in the logjam.  Kellogg starts his third consecutive season at MB.  Barry is a key contibutor to the Emeralds' championship win, so he gets to go back there!?  Lawlor gets signed from the Frontier League, does pretty well at South Bend, then returns to South Bend.  These guys probably should be promoted, but when and to where?  The organization has too many pitching prospects in their mid-20's and they haven't seen enough of them to know what they have.  Meanwhile, Myrtle Beach, which should be home for the core of position players drafted in 2016/17, has a .213 team batting average.  You can tweak your minor league emphasis but Cubs leadership went overboard.

[ ]

Submitted by tim815 on Sun, 05/05/2019 - 05:48 pm

I wasn't a fan of the pitching-heavy 2016 and 2017 drafts as they were happening. Still, not a fan. That said, Matt Swarmer is getting outs in Triple-A before being Rule 5-eligible. The system is about at the best quality/balance level that I remember. Lean very slightly bat-heavy in June, get a reasonably good college closer (Cronin from Arkansas?), and I'll be good with it.

[ ]

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Mon, 05/06/2019 - 05:44 pm

Charlie, JustSayin', Tim: the problem is bigger than which component, hitting or pitching, they prioritize. It goes to the core of management. The annual end-of-season firing squad that scapegoats team officials somehow never touches the chief incompetent, Jason McLeod.

McLeod drafted Kris Bryant, which you or I could have done as well after a season where we lost 100 games. McLeod's other top-10 picks were Schwarber (#4), Almora (#6) and Happ (#9), none of whom plays every day in the majors.

And then there's pitching. Thirty major-league teams employ and utilize a dozen-or-so major-league pitchers each, so the league needs 360-odd pitchers at a given time to put on baseball performances daily.  Who are the dozen major-league pitchers that McLeod has drafted into this pitcher-hungry system? You can start with the 2012 draft or go back to the Boston and San Diego years. (He didn't draft Lester, by the way.) The Cubs deserve a hefty fine for starving the league of ML-quality pitching.

Where I live, Myrtle Beach is the only Cub farm team I ever get to see. They've been in steady decline ever since they affiliated with the Cubs.

[ ]

Submitted by K Dub on Mon, 05/06/2019 - 05:02 pm

Yeah, you're right. Drafting and developing baseball players is easy. I don't know why McLeod hasn't produced more everyday stars on the current Cubs teams. I mean, you and I could've/would've drafted Kris Bryant. Everybody would have (except the Astros). A good VP of Player Development and Scouting would be able to draft a Kris Bryant every year, amirite?

And I get what you mean with Myrtle Beach. Sheesh! After winning the Carolina League championship in 2015 & 2016 (the 1st two years they were the affiliated with the Cubs), they haven't won since!! 

I kid, but I think your expectations are unrealistic.

Here's an excellent 10-year breakdown of the chances of finding a stud player, good player, a guy who makes it to the majors and a bust in the 1st round. Spoiler alert, from the years studied (2000-2010), you were more likely to get a bust in the first round than any other category.

https://community.fangraphs.com/success-rate-of-mlb-first-round-draft-p…

It basically shows that drafting and developing players is really hard, and that McLeod and his staff have beaten the odds statistically. They've failed in the pitching realm early on, for sure. And they've had their misses throughout. We agree on that. But every team has a lot of misses in the draft, especially with pitching. They've admitted their failures scouting pitchers publicly over and over again. They looked hard at what they did wrong and made changes. Of late, the results have been better. Great? No. But the Cubs have several arms in the minors right now that McLeod drafted/scouted that are doing very well. 

They developed Alzolay. Clifton (12th round, 2013) is improved and performing well in AAA right now. Tyson Miller (4th round, 2016) and Cory Abbott (2nd round, 2017) are among the league leaders in the Southern League. Riley Thompson (11th round, 2018) is killing it in South Bend. Swarmer (19th round, 2016) in AAA has already been mentioned. Keegan Thompson (3rd round, 2017) and Justin Steele (5th round, 2014) have been dealing with injuries early on this season but show promise in AA.  

And then there's the younger group of Brailyn Marquez (IFA), Jeremiah Estrada (6th round, 2017), Yovanny Cruz (IFA) and Danis Correa (IFA) who are 3+ years away but worth being excited about, not to mention Richard Gallardo. 

Add in AAA relievers James Norwood (7th round, 2014) and Dakota Meekes (10th round, 2016) and that's 15 arms, 9 of which are in AA or AAA. Help is on the way. It appears they missed terribly with Lange and Little. McLeod has to wear that, but he's also had some decent success from 2016 on. 

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Mon, 05/06/2019 - 05:48 pm

i'm salty they passed on aaron nola...i couldn't believe how far one of the best college pitchers fell (7th overall).

c.rodon and b.aiken were sure to go before the cubs got a change to pick (4th)...cubs went with the best college bat (again) with schwarber knowing full well he would have to play LF/1st (seriously, he was barely a catcher in college).

i find it hard to argue against snagging the best college hitter, though...unless there's some flags on his game (like weak handling of inside pitching using aluminum to overcome that shortcoming).

still...i was ready for a real pitching prospect in the system.

[ ]

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Tue, 05/07/2019 - 05:27 am

I admire your sunny outlook, K Dub, but my sense is they all hit their head in Double A.

The major-league Cubs play other teams, and I usually see interesting pitching prospects over there, like that kid Alcantara last night. And then they all bring in fireballing relievers. Like I said, we don't seem to be doing our part in stocking the major leagues with arms. But we're supposed to be happy because we can afford Cole Hamels at $20 mil.

I think Edwards is a promising young pitcher, but the Cubs didn't draft him. Dillon Maples is very interesting, and, hey, the Cubs did draft him--but not this front office. Samardzija and Cashner were better than what we're getting now.

"They've admitted their failures scouting pitchers publicly over and over again. They looked hard at what they did wrong and made changes." I'm not sure what those changes were. Their annual firing sprees didn't touch McLeod or his scouts, did they?

 

[ ]

Submitted by K Dub on Tue, 05/07/2019 - 05:17 pm

VIRGINIA PHIL: I wouldn't say it's a sunny outlook. I made no statements pertaining to eventual major league success. Just stated the facts of more recent success of McLeod's drafting of pitchers. I agree, some may "hit their head in AA". Of course, that completely ignores the 7 pitchers I named that are already doing well, some dominating, in AA and AAA. I'm more of a wait-and-see guy. Not too big on predictions usually.

The statistics show that your expectations of draft success are unreasonably high. But, and I mean this, I don't seek to change your mind on anything. Every fan is allowed their point of view. I'm just sharing mine. 

If you don't want to include Edwards because he wasn't drafted by the Cubs, that's cool. I didn't either. Though he was identified by their scouts under McLeod's leadership and developed by their developmental staff from A-ball on up. Side note: Alcantara wasn't drafted by the Marlins either. They traded for him, too. 

As far as fireballing relievers, there's more than one way to get the job done. Notwithstanding last night's outcome, you can't argue with the results of the Cubs pen thus far, fireballers or no. And if you like the upper 90s heat out of the pen, the Cubs have a couple of those guys developing in Iowa right now. I mentioned one of them in my previous post, James Norwood. If you haven't already, I'd encourage you to check him out.

Submitted by Eric S on Fri, 05/03/2019 - 05:46 pm

Jon Lieber (79 pitch complete game shutout for Cubs in ’01) and Zman (last Cub with an under 100 pitch complete game shutout, in ‘09) both at the game today to see Hendrick’s Maddux outing - and both visited the clubhouse afterward as well, which is pretty swell too. 

Submitted by crunch on Sat, 05/04/2019 - 05:54 pm

hurrah for the ever-loyal t.davis, but he is trash behind the plate holding runners or stopping some of the more wild stuff...which is a pretty big deal with darvish pitching.  i have no idea why they're pairing these 2 together rather than something like hendricks/davis.

Submitted by crunch on Sat, 05/04/2019 - 05:27 pm

d.descalso left the game after tweaking his ankle running the bases...it doesn't look that bad, though.

Submitted by crunch on Sat, 05/04/2019 - 05:09 pm

18-12!

half a game out of 1st.  ESPN night game tomorrow.

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 05/05/2019 - 05:15 pm

zobrist(LF)/bryant/rizzo/baez/contreras/heyward/bote/almora/Q

also, isn't it about time to send m.zagunis down?  he's barely playing and he is obviously not a good "cold" bench option given he has 1 hit and 1 walk with 9Ks in his limited 12PA off the bench to show his stuff.

he came into the season off a hot spring with 50+PA, getting 3 starts in the first week of play where he put up 5 hits (3 doubles) in 10PA...then he went into bench warming mode and got ice cold.

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 05/05/2019 - 05:03 pm

matty v's harry carray impersonation just burried dempster and w.ferrell

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 05/05/2019 - 05:32 pm

YOUR 1st PLACE CHICAGO CUBS.

also, wtf chatwood...dude...c'mon...

MIA visits CHC tomorrow night.

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? 

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