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 @ Cards: Series Thread (Games 55-57)

The Cubs swoop into St. Louis to pick off a few Cardinals this weekend. Kris Bryant and I hope every Cubs player gets boo'd this weekend!

The Cubs have dropped six out of their last ten games, but they remain atop the NL central and 4.5 games ahead of the Cards. Bryant returned to the lineup on Wednesday as DH, after taking some time off to recover from an outfield collision with Heyward. Javy played the field on Wednesday, but he played 3rd base after DH-ing a few games to rest his injured heel. The Cubs have been on a heck of a homerun streak, but have only occasionally translated that into a win. On Wednesday, Kyle Hendricks's strong performance helped the Cubs take advantage of early homeruns by Schwarber and Bryant.The Cardinals are sliding just under .500 at 27-28. They haven't won a series since before their sweep at the hands of the Cubs during the first weekend of May! Since then, they've lost two series each to the Phillies and Atlanta, as well as one series to the Rangers and another to the Pirates. They split a double-header with Kansas City. On the season, they are 15th in the majors in both runs scored and wRC+. They're pitching is also middle of the pack in terms of ERA. Yadier Molina is day-to-day with a thumb injury.

See game-by-game notes below:


Game 55: First pitch 7:15pmCDT
CHC: RHP Yu Darvish (2-3, 5.40 ERA)
STL: RHP Miles Mikolas (4-5, 4.76 ERA)


Last time out, we got bad Yu. But we got a different version of bad Yu, so that's something! He threw a lot of strikes and the Reds responded by swinging a lot. It worked out, for the Reds--they collected 12 hits and 6 earned runs. He was also sent out for the beginning of the 8th inning to, I think, everyone's surprise. He allowed five earned runs in four innings against the Cards on May 4. Taylor Davis saved that particular day.

Miles Mikolas dodged the Cubs earlier in the month. He went seven decent innings in a loss against Atlanta last time out, allowing three earned runs on seven hits, two homeruns. The start before that he exited in the second, allowing seven earned runs as things went off the rails in Texas. Javy is 3-11 off of him with a homerun. Rizzo is 4-11.


Game 56: First pitch 6:15pmCDT
CHC: LHP José Quintana (4-4, 3.73 ERA)
STL: RHP Jack Flaherty (4-3, 3.77 ERA)

Quintana followed six shutout innings against the Phillies by allowing six runs, five earned, in 5.1 innings against the Reds. It was the first time he'd allowed more than 3 runs in a start since his April 5th clunker against Milwaukee. He had a hard time getting the ball by anybody, allowing 12 hits and striking out only 2. He beat the Cards on May 5, allowing two earned runs in six innings. Goldschmidt, Fowler, and Ozuna have absolutely wrecked him. Maddon might want to start a reliever in left and just Waxahachie swap for those plate appearances.

Jack Flaherty is very good and I kind of hate it. He pitched six shutout innings against Atlanta last time. He lost to Cubs on May third through little fault of his own; he allowed three earned runs in 5.2 innings despite striking out nine. Rizzo tagged him for a three-run homerun following walks to Descalso and Bryant.


Game 57: First pitch 1:15pmCDT
CHC: LHP Cole Hamels (4-1, 4.02 ERA)
STL: RHP Adam Wainwright (4-5, 4.94 ERA)

Hamels didn't have much going for him last time, allowing six earned runs on four walks and no strikeouts in four innings against the Astros. It's his first really rough start since March, but he's been struggling with inconsistent command going back to the end of April. He's been able to battle and work around that issue in other starts, but it really caught up to him against the Houston lineup. He posted his lowest zone percentage and first pitch strike percentage of any single start in 2019. He didn't pitch in the last Cubs-Cards series, Ozuna is 9-32 with three homeruns off of him.

Honestly, y'all. I'm not really enjoying Wainwright's decline anymore. His 4.94 ERA isn't even out of character with his performances after his 2015 injury. I sort of admire the way in which he's managed to continue to be a good enough MLB pitcher even though he's nowhere near the kind of starter he was before that injury. Anywho, he he allowed four earned runs despite ten strikeouts against the Phillies last time out. The Cubs contributed six earned runs to his decline on May 5, but he allowed only five hits and two walks while pitching into the sixth. Willson hit a solo homerun off of him. He's 3-13 with three walks and two homeruns off of Wainwright. Addison Russell is 7-18.


The forecast looks good for this weekend.

The Cubs will see the Cardinals again in less than a week, June 7-9.

Comments

The discourse around safety netting has been renewed since the young girl was injured on Wednesday night. Cubs players, understandably and to their credit, immediately voiced support for as much netting as would protect fans: https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/30/us/houston-foul-ball-hurts-child-trnd/in…

No update yet on the girl's health. I'm a little put off by media coverage of injuries like this, which can draw a lot of perverse fascination. But it's also felt pretty bad to know that a child was in significant danger and not to know if she is OK. I'm hoping for good news, however vague, from tonight's broadcast.

That dumbass Mclaughlin on the Cardinals broadcast yesterday kept bringing up the Bryant statement about St. Louis being boring. Very child like on his part. 

[ ]

In reply to by Hagsag

I wonder what portion of Cardinals fandom really likes that "controversy." It still whips up Twitter scorn, but that could be like 200 vocal fans out of millions who like to act like they care.

I thought the original diss was super boring in itself. Kris Bryant is not a person I'd go to for a fun insult.

one of the ball dudes at the ARZ game snagged a ball in play...so awkwardly embarrasing.

that said, it's actually an advantage for ARZ because only 1 run scores rather than 2 that should have scored.

ball dude is mortified at himself.  thankfully, the camera crew isn't focusing on him after the initial screwup.

schwarber / bryant(3rd) / rizzo / contreras / heyward / russell(SS) / bote(2nd) / amora / Q

baez scratched (right heel)

rain delay...putting the tarp on before the rain has even showed up (not a horrible move, but it sets things up for a longer delay).

MIL/PIT is playing a crazy one.  bottom 11th, tied at 10.

meanwhile in ARZ...tim locastro is HBP for the 9th time this season...in his 53rd PA.

Very lethargic Cubs squad can’t get out of St Louis soon enough.  Not sure why Javy is at short while the heel is still clearly bothering him - his slow run to first on his gidp not encouraging. 

wainright pitching the 8th...that's a gamble.

...and it worked for STL...barely.  this was almost a tie game...almost...

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022. 

  • 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.