Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus one player is 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 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* 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: 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Cubs @ Nationals Series Thread (Games 42-44)

The Cubs (25-16) continue their road trip with a swing over to the old District to take on the 4th place (?!) Nationals (18-25).

The Nats are off to a disappointing start. Losing Bryce Harper on the free agent market is only part of the explanation. Trea Turner has been on the IL since early April with a broken finger. Veterans Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Eaton have WRC+'s of 81 and 93 respectively. And the bullpen has put up an MLB worst 6.20 ERA despite being the least exposed bullpen in the majors (only 127.2 IP). In the positives column, their rotation leads the majors in strikeouts per 9 innings and Baseball Reference rates them as leading the league at 4 wins above average. Anthony Rendon also continues to be excellent at all things baseball. Check out the day-by-day matchups below.


Game 42
CHC: LHP Cole Hamels (3-0, 3.08 ERA)
WAS: RHP Max Scherzer (2-4, 3.64 ERA)
First pitch 6:05pmCDT

You know what I didn't appreciate about Hamels before he became a Cub? He's fun to watch. His return to form with Chicago obviously improves the overall experience, but he's also expressive on the mound. You can see when he's frustrated and you can see when he's having fun. After a handful of cursing, grumbling starts, Hamels looked to be enjoying himself again when he started against Milwaukee. He couldn't earn his fourth win in that one, but he did provide 7 solid innings and allowed only 1 earned run. Brian Dozier is 4-14 off of him. Ryan Zimmerman is 22-88 with 20 strikeouts.

Scherzer's ERA is up a tick in the early going, but I'm inclined to attribute that to the defense behind him or mere luck. His BABIP is up to .361 while all of his other peripherals are actually improved over last year. The short of it is that he remains terrifying. At 34 he's averaging 95.1 MPH on hist fastball and still has a nasty slider. Rizzo is 4-15 with a HR off of him. Addison Russell is 3-11 with a HR but has also struck out 7(!) times. Everyone else is probably thumb wrestling to determine who can get the day off.


Game 43
CHC: LHP Jon Lester (3-1, 1.16 ERA)
WAS: RHP Stephen Strasburg (3-3, 3.63 ERA)
First pitch 6:15pmCDT

Even if the Cubs have to take on Scherzer and Strasburg, the good news is they have their best starters going in return. Lester has been absurdly good this season. He went 6.2 allowing 1 unearned run to earn a win against Milwaukee on his last turn. Ryan Zimmerman is 4-14 with a pair of homeruns and a pair of doubles against him. No other current Nats have done much against him.

The oft-injured Strasburg has made all his scheduled starts so far in 2019 and has been dominating in a handful of them. On the other hand, he's allowed 4 or more earned runs in 4 of those starts. Current Cubs have slashed .279/.345/.423 against him in 104 ABs--not too shabby. Heyward, who has regressed recently, is 15-37 against Strasburg.


Game 44
CHC: RHP Kyle Hendricks (3-4, 2.86 ERA)
WAS: RHP Jeremy Hellickson (2-2, 6.00 ERA)
First pitch 6:08pmCDT (because ESPN)

Hey! This matchup favors the Cubs! Hendricks added to his hot stretch with an 8-inning start in which he collected as many hits as he allowed (3). He looks to have gotten a feel for his delivery and is now rarely walking anyone and getting a ton of weak contact. Maddon and broadcasters have tried to make some hay of his attempt to use his curveball to greater effect, but he's using it about as much as he ever has. Adam Eaton is 4-13 with a pair of homeruns off of him. Overall, he's held current Nats to a .570 OPS.

Jeremy Hellickon's 2019 has not been great. His walk rate is way up and he's allowing 2 homeruns per 9 innings. Last time out he allowed 5 earned runs against the Mets while walking 4 over 5 innings. He's never been an especially hard thrower, but his velocity is down a bit to an average of 89.3 on fastballs. Current Cubs have hardly seen him. Baez is 2-4 with a HR, Byrant 2-6 with a HR, and Descalso is 3-7.


I'll be at the Saturday game to see Strasburg and Lester. Look for a guy in a Cubs hat!

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by Eric S

Thanks, Eric!

Side note, I am eager to split the gameday thread schedule with other readers. If anyone would be interested in taking on a part of the schedule (a certain day of the week, every other series, etc.), I think the site would benefit! And future, busier me would be thankful.

It’s a shame that Willson doesn‘t have a buttery feel to his catching game - Soto should have been struck out looking but the ball clanged out of Contreras‘s mitt. Now bases loaded. Good hitter, fearless and a cannon of an arm but really struggles with the feel aspect of the game. 

[ ]

In reply to by Eric S

at least he's top tier on the power and arm side of being a catcher even if he can be kinda average with his recieving.  it's the kind of average that's not "we'll learn to live with it for the positive tradoff elsewhere."

cubs get him at least 3 more seasons.  hope he stays healthy.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I don't know if "pretty average with his receiving" covers what we see with Contreras. He's a bad framer. If the eye test isn't solid on that, here's one handy comparison based on in-zone balls and out-of-one strikes called: http://www.statcorner.com/CatcherReport.php

At least he's not down there in Jorge Alfaro or Gary Sanchez territory! And he's improved (so far) over last year, and had improved a bit last year over 2017. Incremental improvement is really nice to see in the numbers--can't say I picked up on that as a viewer.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

His framing, blocking and generally catching technique is below average. He routinely doesn't block pitches in the dirt "correctly".

He can hear JD under his breathe when he does it. And, he misses pitches sometimes. Just doesn't catch the pitch. 

He has hard hands. That's probably why he didn't make it as a 3B.

cj edwards balks in a run.

this game is getting too much drama.  fun game, though...so far...

[ ]

In reply to by Sonicwind75

I thought he was catlike. Got there well before the runner, faked a throw, tagged him (or would have if the runner hadn't strayed).

Of course, I always defend Edwards. I just think he'll be a stud reliever when he gets beyond the emotional age of thirteen. But starting to make multiple millions usually does that for immature players.

I didn't even blame Edwards when Suarez homered the other day on a high, outside mid-90s fastball.  That's just great hitting, Pujols-type stuff.

good job with that dugout mic WGN.  also, i wonder what maddon thinks is "so f'd up" in a game with a 10 run lead.

Sportscenter with a graphic this morning showing KB‘s .277 avg and 31 rbi’s the same after 41 games as his MVP season in 2016. Added bonus: he has 3 more HR with 11 than his 9 in 2016.

if Fox would remove the mic near the press/photo crew, that would be nice.

every pitch is a flury of camera shutter snapping sounds.

game is now being played under protest by the cubs (doolittle's foot tap delivery motion)

Considering the gap between Lester and Strasburg, I was shocked last night didn't turn into a blowout. Seemed like Lester was behind in every count and couldn't miss a bat.

Crunch, could you put some spaces in the lineup, so that will wrap on my iPhone?  Looks fine on a laptop.  Thanks. 

Maybe after the four pitch walk to start the 6th inning would have been a good time to start warming up the bullpen

There seems to be a pattern when Kintzler pitches against the Nats. And not a favorable one for the Cubs. 

I’m sure Doolittle is jonesing to get an opportunity to close this game out and shove it up Madden‘s azz. 

maddon betting heavy on cishek...batting for himself and going into a 3rd inning of pitching...a'ite

longest outing in 7 years according to arod's neverending banter...he never got around to fully explaining the metric he's using for that stat, but i think he means appearances in individual innings in a game or it's a hypothetical if he finished all 3 outs in the 9th...dunno...ESPN...whatever

The Cishek game!!!  Nice series win particularly after the disappointment in Cincy

baez day-to-day...they're supposedly not sending him for xrays or evaluation and expecting him to miss little-to-no time.

Recent comments

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1. 

  • crunch (view)

    amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.

    neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.

  • Eric S (view)

    Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it). 

  • crunch (view)

    boo.

  • crunch (view)

    smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.

    this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

    like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.

    anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.

    I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.

    If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.

    Give him a chance. 

    But Wesneski probably gets it

  • crunch (view)

    alzolay...bro...

  • crunch (view)

    wow.  what a blown call.  go cubs, i guess.