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 @ Brewers (Game 47)

The Brewers defeated the Cubs in a 1-0 pitchers' duel and the series stands at 0-1 in the Brewers' favor. The Brewers are now 4 games behind the Cubs and 1 behind the 2nd place Cardinals. Are these games part of the "stretch?" It is September, and only 14 games remain. On the other hand, that's nearly 25% of the season. Both teams have had to manage so far without major contributions from their star hitters. On the Cubs' side, Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, and Schwarber are all near the Mendoza line, and Contreras only recently woke up. For the Brewers, Yelich is also batting near .200 and Keston Hiura has struck out 33.3% of the time while batting .224; their top performers have been Avisail Garcia and Jedd Gyorko. Will role players continue to prop up each team as they drive to the season's conclusion?CHC (26-20): RHP Kyle Hendricks (5-4, 3.41 ERA)
MIL (20-22): LHP Brett Anderson (2-3, 4.64 ERA)
First pitch 6:10 pm central

When was the last time a starting pitcher earned a decision in every start of a season? Hendricks is perfect so far in having a W or an L pinned to his back for all 9 games. He's won his last two starts and has allowed 2 earned runs in 14 innings pitched while striking out 10 and walking 2. He last faced Milwaukee for that Opening Day shutout that seems like a decade ago. He's dominated most current Brewers, although Orlando Arcia has proven himself fairly pesky at 8-26 with 3 doubles and only one strikeout.

Brett Anderson made 31 starts in 2019, his second year of a return to the Athletics. It was his best year since 2010, and he earned a career high 13 wins. This year hasn't matched that level, although he has maintained a very strong 61.6% ground ball rate. He's allowed 4 earned runs in each of his last two starts and he earned a loss at Wrigley back on August 13 despite allowing only 2 earned runs and striking out 5 in 4.1 innings. Current Cubs have collectively slashed .287/.341/.476 off of him in only 58 at bats. Bryant and Schwarber have a homerun a piece. Scratch that. Brett Anderson will sit this one out and Brent Suter (plus the rest of the Brewers' fantastic bullpen) will oppose Hendricks. Since making 18 starts for the Brewers in 2018 and a subsequent Tommy John surgery, the soft-tossing lefty has worked primarily out of the bullpen. He's made only one start this season, in which he went 3 innings and allowed 2 earned runs to the Pirates (on August 31). He's had an uncharacteristically high strikeout rate this season, striking out 24 batters in 20 innings.

Comments

happ / bryant(1st) / contreras / schwarber / baez / bote(DH) / heyward / vargas(2nd) / hoerner(3rd)

maybin was originally in the lineup, but he was a late scratch ("feeling ill").

the single positive that tripped up the SF/SD series has tested negative, as well as the rest of the team/support.  looks like a false positive.

Ildemaro Vargas has made some pretty solid contact tonight. Hit a ball well off Peralta too

i would celebrate kimbrel's save, but that wasn't pretty even if no runs scored.  nice he got the save (only his 2nd), though.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

It's really frustrating to see him getting all these chances. Like, he has 2 or 3 good outings in mop up duty and someone says "yeah he's back!" He's never going to be the guy they signed. That pitcher is gone.

He escaped tonight but my concern is his escaping gets him another look that he blows, or 2.

Glad he held on, this was a nice win. The type of win the Brewers tend to inflict on us late season in recent years.

[ ]

In reply to by Dolorous Jon Lester

He'd only allowed runs in 1 of his last 10 appearances (plus one inning he didn't finish), and now over his last 11 appearances including tonight (10.1 IP)  he has 22 Ks, 7 BBs, and 2 ER (1.74 ERA). He didn't walk anyone tonight, and the Brewers didn't make especially hard contact. It was scary and I don't know if I feel super confident in him in close games yet, but I think they have to try because a good Kimbrel is going to make a huge difference in October. 

[ ]

In reply to by bradsbeard

The problem with that logic is Kimbrel, even when he was a force, has struggled in October. He ceded the closer role the year Boston won the series. Couple friends of mine are big Boston fans. They despise Kimbrel. I called them nuts when we first signed him. I wouldn't go as far as them on feeling, but he's difficult to watch.

This is a genuine question: of the stats you list above, how much of it is in high leverage spots? And moreso, how comfortable do you feel if we're up 1 in a game we need to win to stay alive and he trots in from the bullpen?

[ ]

In reply to by Dolorous Jon Lester

I don't think the issue with Kimbrel was leverage (he's not suddenly nervous pitching the 9th or whatever) so much as mechanical (and last year also a little bit of injury). I'm more interested in how he's thrown in the low leverage outings, and the stuff was good (and good again tonight). I also don't consider performance in the playoffs one time to be predictive. If the stuff and command are good I think he'll be good. 

I suspect the issues for Kimbrel dating back to his last year in Boston are age and workload related. I think he just has to fight harder to do what he used to do which affects his release point and body control and his command disappears. He seems to have cleaned up the delivery and the velocity is there again. Not sure the command will ever be the same, but he's still got a lot to work with. 

[ ]

In reply to by bradsbeard

I disagree about the part that he wasn't suddenly nervous. There's an enormous difference pitching the 9th in a 1 run game in June than one in October.

All of this said, I'm hoping you're correct. I'd love nothing more than to see him turn into 90% of the pitcher we thought we were getting. I just don't know the last time I've seen him come into a game that is on the line and look comfortable. 

[ ]

In reply to by bradsbeard

I really don't think Kimbrel ever gets nervous. Maybe if he was a 21 year old kid up from AA making his first MLB appearance he would, but he's not.  

What I believe happened with Kimbrel was that toward the end of last season he thought he was throwing the same stuff he threw back when he was on the HOF trajectory except he was getting really bad results and so he decided he needed to throw harder and all that did was make him lose command by overthrowing his FB and bouncing his CV.   

I suspect what might be different over the past few outings is that he has finally come to grips with where he is in his career and so he has not been overthrowing and so his command has improved. That doesn't mean his stuff is better, just that he might be (finally) at a place where at least he won't walk the world or throw three wild pitches in the same inning again. 

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I was concerned that Kimbrel hardly used his curve at all, opting for the elevated fastball even when he had a double play in order. Of course, he may have been worried about bouncing one and advancing the runners. It worked out--but I don't think he can get by without the threat of the curveball.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    LHP Blake Weiman appears to have been the last cut from the AAA Iowa roster. He is with the Tennessee group at Minor League Camp.

     

  • crunch (view)

    bruce bochy is hobbling rather badly for a guy who's had 2 hip replacements.  his gait is extremely wonky taking the lineup card to the ump.

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • 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.