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. Giants: Darvish vs. Rodriguez (Game 126)

CHC (67-58): RHP Yu Darvish (4-6, 4.21 ERA)
SF (63-63): RHP Dereck Rodriguez (5-6, 4.79 ERA)
First pitch 7:05pmCDT

The Cubs kept pace with the Cardinals by winning their third in a row, pushing the Giants back down to .500 in the process. Darvish takes the mound today. He must be itching for a win after shutting out the Phillies for 7 innings, striking out 10, and getting a no decision in the process. On July 23 he allowed four earned runs to the Giants in six innings of work. Alex Dickerson took him deep and is 2-3 with a homerun and a double off of Darvish. As a group, current Giants are 16-77 off of the righty with a .552 OPS and 17 strikeouts to only two walks.Dereck Rodriguez is suffering the sophomore slump, seeing his ERA go up to 4.79 from the 2.81 he posted in 118.1 innings last year. His strikouts are down, his walks are up, and his HR rate has doubled from the low .68 per nine innings he managed in 2018. Last time out he held the D-Backs scoreless through 7, allowing only three hits and one walk. Tony Kemp is 1-3 off of him and the remaining active Cubs who have faced him are 0-10 with four strikeouts.

Comments

contreras was doing drills in the OF today...not a bad 1st step to being back.

according to b.levine, theo says zobrist is being paced to return sept 1st.

also, the b.morrow era is over.  he had a setback and now he's not expected to pitch again this year.   thanks for the nice 30.2ip, bro.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

To be eligible to play in the post-season Ben Zobrist must be reinstated from the Restricted List and added back to the Cubs MLB 40-man roster prior to midnight on August 31st (and because he will be reinstated after July 31st, the reinstatement also will require approval from the MLB Commissioner), so presumng the Commissioner gives his blessing, I would expect the Cubs to reinstate Zobrist from the Restricted List sometime after the game versus MIL on Saturday 8/31 and then make a corresponding 40-man roster move (which must be done at the exact same time Zobrist is reinstated). Zobrist would then be officially activated (placed on the Cubs MLB Active List on Sunday 9/1 when active list roster limits expand from 25 to 40. 

The easiest (but also the costliest) move would be to recall LHSP Justin Steele from his Optional Assignment and place him on the MLB 60-day IL (he has been on the AA Tennessee 7-day IL since 6/24 with a strained oblique), but doing so would increase Steele's daily salary from about $250 per day to about $3,000 per day (the difference between Steele's minor league split salary as a player on an MLB 40-man roster for the first time -- $45,300 per year  -- and the MLB minimum salary --- $555K per year -- pro-rated over the final month of the MLB regular season) or about an additional $80,000 in payroll and AAV (which will be taxed at the 20% rate plus an additional 12% surcharge because the Cubs are over the $206M CBT luxury tax threshold).

Steele would also accrue MLB Service Time if he is recalled and placed on the Cubs MLB 60-day IL, and because he would be placed on the 60-day IL on 8/31 he cannot be on the Cubs Post-season Eligibility List so he could not be replaced on a post-season series roster by a minor league player who is not otherwise eligible. In addition, because he would accrue MLB Service Time during the 2019 season, Steele could not be sent outright to the minors during the off-season or Spring Training should be suffer a significant injury during the off-season or Spring Training (which he could be if he were to remain on Optional Assignment through the conclusion of the MLB regular season).

So there are several good reasons not to recall Steele and place him on the 60-day IL on 8/31, although if it has to be done that way it can be done that way. 

Other possible moves to open up a slot on the 40 for Zobrist prior to midnight on 8/31 would be to release a player like Daniel Descalso (but that doesn't appear likely right now), or maybe DFA Mark Zagunis and then try and secure Outright Assignment Waivers so that he can be sent outright to Iowa (he would not be eligible to elect free-agency if outrighted and he would not be a minor league 6YFA until post-2020, although he would be eligible for selection in the December 2019 Rule 5 Draft). 

heyward / cast / bryant / rizzo / baez / schwarb / happ(2nd) / caratini / darvish

Somebody wake up Grandpa Joe and remind him that having Holland face righties i— any righty — is a no-no

Cubs need their three-hole hitter to start stepping up at the plate and do something crazy like driving in the two-hole hitter

d.holland still sucks.

cubs tied this one out of sheer suck going on both sides of this game.  i'm waiting for the cubs to lose this one 18-17 in a few hours.

Oof. The lead off walk - horrible. That second hit allowed (which tied the game) on the ankle high fastball - tuff luck. 

"i am required to say it's a see-saw battle." - len

"it's going to come down to the kicking game." - jd

Funny (ha ha) to remember that at one point in this game Yu had retired 12 straight Giants

That was a good send by the butterman - great throw by Yaz Jr

Try as he might, Eddie Vedder can’t find da butterman

Thanks. I’ll show myself out now

Woo Hoo!!! Cubs win a crazy one!  KB with another late inning, game winning homer - good stuff!

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.