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

sCrubs @ Cardinals: Series Thread (Game 160-162)

Welp, the Cubs were mathematically eliminated early in the last series and appeared to be completely broken in body and spirit thereafter. Perhaps they were reserving whatever fight is left in them for this final series against the Cards. The Cubs can still play spoiler to the team that swept them at home last weekend; the Cards lead the Brewers by only one game and could even fall behind the Nats in the Wild Card should the Cubs manage to play decent ball. Nothing will compensate for this team's horrendous couple of weeks, but any chance to scuff the Cards' boots is worthwhile. Read below for the match-ups.


Game 160, Friday, September 27, 7:15pmCDT
CHC: RHP Alec Mills (1-0, 2.90 ERA)
STL: RHP Dakota Hudson (16-7, 3.45 ERA)

Darvish is done for the season and Alec Mills gets another chance to make an impression before the offseason. So far, he has looked like a candidate to compete for the fifth spot in the rotation or a place in the bullpen as long reliever and spot starter in 2019. He gave the Cubs 4.2 scoreless innings against the Cards last weekend and their best shot at a win in the series. Hopefully, there's more of that in the tank.

Hudson lasted only three innings and allowed three earned runs on four walks and three hits last time out. It was his only start against the Cubs.


Game 161, Saturday, September 28, 6:15pmCDT
CHC: LHP Cole Hamels (7-7, 3.92 ERA)
STL: RHP Adam Wainwright (3.98 ERA)

Hamels returns after a skipped start to make his likely last appearance with the Cubs. Things haven't been great for him in the second half, but prior to that he gave the Cubs two half seasons of essentially ace performance. It's a bummer that he won't be getting a Wrigley ovation. He's 1-1 in two starts against the Cards this year, allowing one unearned run and collecting fourteen strikeouts in 15 innings along the way.

Wainwright defeated the D-Back last time out, pitching five innings and allowing five earned runs in Arizona. Before that, he strung together four very strong starts and allowed only one earned run along the way. He's 0-2 in three starts against the Cubs this year.


Game 162, Sunday, September 29, 2:15pmCDT
CHC: TBD
STL: TBD

The starters here will likely depend on whether the game matters for the standings. The Cubs should give Chatwood a start out of respect for the work he's done this season to remake himself as a useful reliever, but they'll use him earlier in the series if he helps their chances to take a chunk out of the Cards. Miles Mikolas should be available for this one, and the Cards may even start Flaherty if they are desperate to win the game, but the Cards can also send out Daniel Ponce de Leon if this one is moot.

Comments

kemp RF / zobrist / schwarber / contreras / happ 3rd / caratini 1st / hoe / almora / mills

cast has a sore groin.  kemp was due to play CF before the lineup shuffle...kemp was also due to lead off for some f'n reason, too.  joe had 2 shots to not have kemp lead off and he didn't take it.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

piggybacking on this...WGN is why i'm a cubs fan.

i live closer to the braves and orioles (and now the nationals) than the cubs, but like braves fans from 1000s of miles away, the "Superstation" cable TV coverage of WGN (cubs/wsox), TBS (braves), and even WWOR (mets) opened up fanbases in otherwise odd areas.  I was born in the mid-70s and came up in the 80s and 90s as a baseball fan.  those afternoon/day games on WGN roped me in.

we live in an era where you have every game from every area you can stream to your tv, computer, or phone.  i'd much rather live in these times as a fan than the 80s/90s because of the on-demand choice, but i wonder what team i would be a fan of if i came of age in this era.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I’m with you crunch. My mom did stay at home daycare while I was growing up in the 90’s. When all the little kids went down for a nap my mom and I would watch afternoon baseball on WGN. It was the only time where I had my mom all to myself, as I have two sisters and she got paid to watch two other kids. She taught me baseball as did Harry, Steve Stone, and Thom Brennaman. Being a Cubs fan from a suburb of Portland, OR, always means people give me a weird look. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is why I think Cubs fans “travel” so well. People grew up watching the Cubs all across the nation. So when they play a team that’s close, people come out to the ballpark to watch. I’ll miss WGN because it provided Major League Baseball to me and allowed me time to form a bond with my mother. Incidentally my mom and I flew out to Cleveland for Game 7, and it was a wonderful experience to share with her as our Cubs finally won the World Series.

[ ]

In reply to by erich081

yeah, i know at this point in time i won't miss WGN because of anything they can provide that another channel showing the cubs cannot...they don't have some special graphics setup and the announce crews have long since been shared between TV stations (not counting national broadcast games).

it's just a little weird to see WGN and cubs baseball separated because WGN gave me the cubs.

Hopefully Tommy Edman remembers that’s hes Tommy Edman soon. 

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I wouldn't call it luck (although if the Cubs found something interesting in the draft, it would have to be luck).

Apart from Nico Hoerner, the Cubs haven't drafted a player since Happ in the first round in 2015 who has thrown a pitch or stepped to the plate in the majors.

If you don't include top five picks--which the Cubs will never see again while Theo is around to guide a mediocre team toward stability--who have they drafted since 2012 who has a future, outside of Cease and Hoerner and maybe, just maybe, Happ?

I would say, begin by firing the scouts, but the problem is Theo doesn't believe in scouting, so he might not replace them. The game is all mathematical to him. Theo stands for theorist. We're the guinea pigs.

kemp RF / hoe 2nd / shwarb / happ CF / lucroy / caratini 1st / russell / bote 3rd / ham

if maddon sticks around next year they need to take kemp away from him...leading off is one thing, but having him play RF after last night is another.

bote channeling baez for some slick baserunning/sliding.  nice.

also p.alonso (NYM) has the new rookie HR record with 53 (last set by a.judge)

ham only goes 4ip in his return, but it was a hell of a 4 innings

4ip 2h 0bb 8k, 0r

shame he's not in line for the win because he dominated and has been supported by 4 cubs homers (most given up by wainwright in a game)

The Kyle Ryan is good argument has been taking on a fair bit of water of late...

Same goes for the David Phelps is worth $5 million argument...

wieck...more like weak...

seriously, though...bad night...looking forward to seeing him in 2020, bigs or waiting in the wings to hit the bigs.

Maddon Out. End of an incredible era that spoiled me.

A large part of me thinks if you win the World Series with the Cubs you should manage however long you want...but clearly his magic stopped working So time to move on.   

There was probably a mutual aspect as well.  Joe will get pretty much any job he wants.  

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

Once again I'm going to predict Mike Borzello will be the new Cubs manager.

Borzello pre-dates the Maddon hire (he was a part of the original Cubs Epstein-Hoyer regime in 2012) and so he really works for Epstein-Hoyer not for Maddon and more importantly he knows he's just one cog in a large organization, he is the Cubs de facto MLB R&D, planning, and strategy coach and understands the Cubs advanced analytic & metric systems backward & forward, and to keep him from taking another job elsewhere in MLB post-2018 he was given a raise and was promoted to the newly-created position of "associate pitching coach" in 2019.  

I don't think Joe Maddon is the type of manager who is inclined to look over his shoulder, but whenever he did, Mike Borzello was right there. And I don't think Borzello will be opening a restaurant anytime soon, and (perhaps most-importantly) he will be willing to work for a lot less than $5M a year.  

kemp RF (this is how you get fired) / zobrist / happ 3rd / schwarber / contreras / caratini 1st / hoe / russell / holland

...and the cubs go down without an attempt to compete.

see you in 2020 cubbies.  so long joe, good luck wherever you land next.

wow.  that's it.  okay, then.

[ ]

In reply to by Hagsag

nah, you're stuck with me and at least 3-5 pointless posts a day.  sorry.

there are rumors about trading me to a blog devoted to bringing the tampa bay rays to montreal full time, though it's being held up by french language barrier concerns.

not like it was expected, but theo clarified to the press that the bryant and baez injuries will not require any surgery.

Had this discussion with a Cub fan friend last night. How much would Quintanna get if he was a free agent this offseason? Part of the attractiveness of Quintanna when Cubs traded for him was not just his pitching performance, but also his under-market contract.  Curious how much of the surplus value has eroded during his time as a Cub. 

[ ]

In reply to by Sonicwind75

the last 2 seasons have been a weird time for pitching contracts.

a couple years ago the cubs rushed like hell to sign a contract with t.chatwood that looked overpaid less than a couple months later...before he even took the mound to showcase how much he sucked.  the front office either highly overvalued chatwood after losing out on m.mikolas to STL or they didn't anticipate that the market for pitching was about to slow down for all but the expected top contributors.

Q has a decent mix of youth, health, ability to K batters, control, etc...it's kinda hard to even tell how much that's worth since he's put together 2 underwhelming seasons on whole.  it's most likely worth more than the $11.5m option on him for a single season use next year, though.

Ha haha ha Brew Crew. You're done. Eff Hader and eff Braun to hell. And welcome to the lifetime Buckner club, rookie Grisham. Go Nats. 

i hope STL wins 3 in a row really quick.  6 innings into game 1 and i'm already sick the ATL "tommy hawk chawp" thing.

OAK does 2972984723894732894729473984732984 things, most of them weird.  on the other end of the spectrum, ATL does only 1 single thing and it's the "tommy hawk chawp" for hours...over and over and over and over and over and over...

Jon Heyman @JonHeyman

Padres are doing background work on Joe Maddon. While a lot of folks are figuring Maddon is ticketed for the Angels, the Padres aren’t assuming it.

....

alright...so SD and LAA might get into a "bidding war" over maddon.  have fun with that.

m.loretta has been interviewed by the cubs.  girardi, d.ross, and w.venable interview next week.

hurrah for girardi and all, but at 3x, 5x, 7x, etc. the cost of any of those other guys...naw.

[ ]

In reply to by Dolorous Jon Lester

he's a bit of a weird power tripper, too...nothing extrodinary, but when he got his 1st job with MIA he laid down a bunch of stupid rules (like no facial hair) then promptly went to war with ownership (lorias are assholes, themselves), upper management, and his own players.

then he moved onto NYY where he cruised through managing a lineup of hired guns he didn't have to think about too much.

all that aside, i'm well over paying 4-6+ million for a f'n manager...hell, 3m is too much.  this team could use the money elsewhere.

You want your field manager to reflect the organization's philosophy but with Theo, I'm not sure I know what that is for 2020.  I am also not sure Theo knows what it is.  He's had success -- twice -- leading organizations on the cusp of greatness to championships.  Dealing effectively with a team which has had a few setbacks is another story.  Theo had mixed results with that in Boston, which is why he was available to move to Chicago in the first place.  I am not at all sure the right heads have rolled for the Cubs' poor clutch performance these past two seasons.

[ ]

In reply to by JustSayin'

it was a wierd season.  the whole "respect 90" thing was thrown out the window.  i saw schwarber and bryant taking a cue from baez and being a spectator to fly balls they thought were (or were) homers.  by the end of the year schwarber was barely moving out of the box on anything deep.  dunno what was going on there, but it kept happening.

maddon's extreme short leash on pitchers bit his ass on more than a few occasions, blowing through 3 guys in an inning more than just a few times...removing starters that have barely thrown 80-90 pitches...etc.  some guys didn't look too happy getting taken out when they've barely gotten in the game or not expecting to be yanked so early.  that "strategy" is going to be limited going forward with reliever use constraints.

i don't think maddon lost control of his club, but the team seemed to be a bit "checked out" at times.

that said, whoever takes over has more issues to deal with than schwarber occasionally turning doubles into singles or not being able to use a half dozen guys to get 2 outs.

was checking in on some ex-cubs...pierce johnson's 1st year in japan (hanshin tigers) seems to have been a hell of a career move.  he settled into their pen and dominated.  amazing he wasn't their closer.

58.2ip 34h 13bb 91k, 1.38 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 58 games

that said, another ex-cub did get a majority share of some save ops...rafael dolis (who's been hanshin's main closer for years)....

55.1ip 36h 11bb 59k, 2.11 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 56 games, 19 saves

looks like the cubs had their kickass pen all-along  =p  sigh.

stupid ass ATL chanting started before 1st pitch...15 pitches later STL has 1 run in, bases loaded, and the chanting seems to be muted.

all kinds of special making me root for STL.  good job ATL.

...and m.fried walks j.flaherty (STL's starting pitcher) to make it 5-0

they were highschool teammates, btw.

...and d.fowler gets a 2 RBI double.  7-0, 1 out, men on 2nd/3rd

...and wong makes it 9-0...still only 1 out.

the lack of tommy hawk chawping is it's own music.

10-0 on a passed ball.  pile it on.  see you in 2020 ATL.

[ ]

In reply to by Dolorous Jon Lester

i actually like ATL the team...the fans and the 3+ hours of tommy hawk chawpin' non-stop is beyond annoying before even getting into how messed up it is they're still doing that in 2019.  it's all they do, just that 1 single thing...for hours...

fans were so upset about not getting foam hatchets pre-game yesterday (that was the club's way to "dial it back") they were busy letting the "PC police" know they're here to chant and chop as loud as they could before the first pitch was even thrown.

it took about 10 runs to shut them up.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • 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.