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. Giants: Darvish vs. Rodriguez (Game 126)

Submitted by Charlie on

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.

Tags
2019 Gameday Thread

Comments

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 08:28 pm

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.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 08:08 pm

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). 

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 08:04 pm

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

Submitted by Eric S on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 08:18 pm

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

Submitted by Eric S on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 08:21 pm

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

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 08:30 pm

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.

Submitted by Eric S on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 08:49 pm

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

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 08:51 pm

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

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

Submitted by Eric S on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 08:51 pm

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

Submitted by Eric S on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 08:33 pm

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

Submitted by Eric S on Wed, 08/21/2019 - 08:38 pm

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

Recent comments

  • 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? 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Pro teams have to play their "big money" guys if they are healthy and not "locker room" issues.
    The Cubs wanted to deal JHey off well before they bought him out. They just didn't want to pay him to play for someone else for that long. Jed did give him 20+mil to play for LAD last yr.
    Jed might also let Kyle walk at some point this year. Similar scenario to JHey, except Jed thought Kyle was going to be good/solid in '24!!
    You'd think Smyly is in the same book as well. Same with Neris (he's a 1yr vet RP, so he's not really in this convo too much).
    That's ~35mil between those three and those three are going to get opportunities until at least late June) over younger guys even if their performance is "iffy".
    But, Jed is going to play Taillon a lot. They have to try and justify that contract and hope a veteran works out.
    So, Taillon, Imanaga, and Hendricks are locks for the rest of April and probably May.
    Assad, Brown and Wicks handle the last spots until Steele is ready.
    Now, you're question has real merit when Steele comes back. That will interesting if Brown is still good and Hendricks is still bad. But Taillon is entirely safe as long as he's healthy.

    And the bullpen moves were "money" based as well. Smyly has actually been okay. But he hasn't been clearly better than Little. Little had one bad outing. But Smyly makes 9mil. If they needed another RHRP and one of Little and Smyly had to go, it was going to Little. But that doesn't mean Smyly is one of the best 13 arms for the team. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Childersb3: I think there was an issue with Luke Little coming into a game with men on base. He seems to need a "clean" inning to be dominant. So he is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AAA. Same goes for Michael Arias. He needs to come into a "clean" inning, and is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AA. Porter Hodge is a more versatile pitcher, a better version of Keegan Thompson (multi-inning RP). But Little, Arias, and Hodge (probably in that order) are the Cubs top three RP prospects (all three are Cubs Top 15 prospects).

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    So, let’s do a little war gaming. Taillon is back for tonight’s game. He pitched two rehab games, just a few innings each, and not especially sharp. Let’s face it, he hasn’t been lights out since the Cubs gave him the big contract. In other words, as flat out bad as Hendricks has been, the chances of Taillon being the savior don’t look exactly promising.

    If Taillon is equally ineffective or perhaps even worse, what’s the next move? Winning teams can often find a way to work around a dud fifth starter - kinda. Two dud starters make things much more difficult.

    I believe the biggest reason for the recent bullpen moves was dissatisfaction with the recent blowing of big leads and the recognition that the bullpen wasn’t all it was thought to be. In other words, they are exploring alternate options and configurations. If similar juggling becomes necessary (even more so than it already is), what kind of reasonable maneuvering do we think could be explored?

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Cubdom needs to prepare themselves for Wicks to be sent to Iowa for Taillon to come up.
    Ben Brown has 4 appearances. Wicks has 4 appearances.
    Ben has 16.1 IP.  Wicks has 17 IP
    Ben was a 1.1 WHIP.  Wicks has a 1.7 WHIP. Wicks does have significantly more SOs. 
    Ben has been better, though.
    I love Wicks. I think he's a fighter and his stuff has improved.
    But, Jed isn't ditching Hendricks just yet. He should. But he won't.
    Hendricks should go to the IL and Taillon-Imanaga-Assad-Wicks-Brown should be the rotation.
    Wont' happen though.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    AZ Phil,
    Did you agree with the demotion of Luke Little? He'd been pretty good up until the AZ/wild pitch appearance. I know that can't jettison Smyly (just yet) so they didn't need another LHRP. Especially with Leiter effectively being a LHRP. I still thought he deserved to stay. It's not permanent. He'll be back. Lots of moves to come with Taillon, Steele and other guys coming and going.

    Also, do you see Hodge being able to "control/command" his stuff to get a chance this year?
    Is Arias better than Hodge?   Thanks

  • crunch (view)

    just waiting to hear patrick wisdom and masterboney are spotted at the airport going in opposite directions...

    aj puk going for the marlins (lefty)...gotta imagine we'll see wisdom in the lineup.

    someone has to make room for taillon, too.

  • crunch (view)

    he's a low-level cubs star in the modern history of the cubs (c.zambrano, k.wood, r.dempster, etc), but that star has dimmed...and has been dimming since 2021.

    2024 has been ugly the whole way and we're only in mid-april.  homers aside (even though there's been 7 in 17ip) he gave up 29 hits in 20 spring innings and 31 in 17 regular season innings.

    he's pretty much only got 2 pitches at this point in his career and the mix isn't fooling anyone.  he threw a noticable amount more curves in his last start to add to the mix and it didn't help his issues.  he don't have many moves left to break out.

  • Eric S (view)

    Definitely needs a 10 day stint for the hangnail - have to nip those things in the bud or suffer the consequences (ie, more opponent home run derby, etc)

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