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 vs. Cardinals Series Thread (Games 29-31)

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!

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

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). 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

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.

[ ]

In reply to by JustSayin'

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?

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

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.

[ ]

In reply to by JustSayin'

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.

[ ]

In reply to by tim815

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.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

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. 

[ ]

In reply to by tim815

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.

[ ]

In reply to by K Dub

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?

 

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

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.

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. 

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.

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

18-12!

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

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.

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

YOUR 1st PLACE CHICAGO CUBS.

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

MIA visits CHC tomorrow night.

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.