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. Marlins (Wild Card Round, Game 2)

The Cubs dropped the first game, scoring their lone run on an Ian Happ homer and letting six shutout innings from Hendricks turn into a 5-1 loss when things fell apart in the 7th. Now, they face elimination in this best of 3 Wild Card Round. They'll send their best starting pitcher and NL Cy Young contender Yu Darvish to keep the Cubs' season alive.CHC (0-1): RHP Yu Darvish (8-3, 2.01 ERA in the regular season)
MIA (1-0): RHP Sixto Sánchez (3-2, 3.46 ERA in the regular season)
RESCHEDULED: Friday, Oct. 2, time TBD

Darvish was spectacular in the shortened 2020 season, setting a new high fWAR as a Cub despite pitching in only 12 games. In addition to cutting his already low 2019 walk rate nearly in half, he also cut his HR per 9 by about two thirds. Today he makes his most important start yet for the 2020 season. Corey Dickerson (5-13 with 2 doubles and a homerun) and Starling Marte (4-11 with a homer) have enjoyed some success against him while most other Marlins have hardly seen him before.

The 22-year-old Sixto Sánchez reached AA in 2019 and made his MLB debut roughly 6 weeks ago. His overall numbers are fairly solid so far, but his last two starts were his weakest of the season. He went a cumulative 7 innings and allowed 9 runs on 12 hits and 6 walks in those starts. The rookie brings serious heat and a plus changeup that he turns to 27.4% of the time. That changeup feeds into his reverse splits. Righties enjoy a .267/.345/.400 slash line against him (19 innings pitched) compared to lefties at only .232/.270/.261 (20 innings pitched).

Comments

Weather looks a *little* spotty for this afternoon. Here's hoping for no interruptions while Darvish is still in the game.

happ / rizzo / contreras(DH) / schwarber / bryant / heyward / baez / bote(2nd) / caratini

s.marte(FLA) has a broken hand from the d.winkler HBP yesterday...he was recently returned after a HBP cut up his ear on a fastball to the skull.   he's not had a fun time lately.

postponed...rain

"Game 2 has been rescheduled for Friday afternoon at 2:08 p.m. (ET)/1:08 p.m. (CT) on ABC, unless there is only one game remaining. If Cubs-Marlins is the only game remaining, then first pitch will be at 7:08 p.m. (ET)/6:08 p.m. (CT) on ABC. Should a Game 3 be necessary, then it will be played on Saturday, with timing to be determined."

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

ESPN1, ESPN2, and ABC are loaded with college football games all day long, morning, noon, and night on Saturday, so if the Cubs win tomorrow and there is a WC game 3 on Saturday, it would probably have to be on TBS, which is running Seinfeld reruns and forgettable movies all day long. 

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

It's very frustrating. They are better than what they've done. They are the inverse of "the whole is better than the sum of its parts"

Theyve gone through hitting coaches, managers, etc. Maybe they just don't gel as well as a group anymore? Whatever that even means?

So frustrating that Cub pitchers have to pitch with absolutely no margin for error with how shit-tastic the offense is. 

At least the Marlins had the courtesy to jump on the Cubs with two outs in the 7th and not with one out in the 8th. 

This is all so very 2018.

I really can't be too upset about this.  Didn't really expect much else.  Would have been fun to care about baseball another week, but this wasn't ever much more than a .500 team.

Cubs/Reds should have a consolation series Europa League style. 

Best of 7 games.  First to score wins the game no matter the inning.

i think all that's left to figure out after that contreras AB is who on the team is going to start 2021 on the suspended list for whatever goes down later in the game.

leadoff double in the 9th...tease or comeback...lot of teasing this season...and last season...

[ ]

In reply to by Eric S

13-3 was fun.  No Hitter was fun.  Didn't find 75% of the season playing .500 baseball that fun.  Didn't find seeing all of the core Chicago hitters barely hit .200 fun.  Bleh season with a deserved ending....but I do like another notch on the historical belt of this team:

5 playoffs in 6 years, 3 NLCS appearances, 3 Division Championships, 1 NL Pennant, 1 World Series Trophy

Now blow it up and start over.

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

i dont wanna live through another blow up.  it's not like they're all sure-things when they pick their 1st round picks, and getting an arrietta + strop with lots of club control for "meh" level talent is one of those once-in-a-few-eras trades (what an epic cubs trade, though).

that said, i dont expect to see bryant in 2021 and i wouldn't be shocked to see someone else go with him.  contreras has both high trade value and the team no longer needs him to control lester's baserunning game.  i dunno what to think about schwarber's future with the team even with the DH around...the DH slot makes it a lot easier to keep him around.

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

I'm not ready to grieve for this team, which has been mostly the same since 2015. But I will be surprised if they don't engage in at least a modified rebuild. It's frustrating to see the farm system significantly depleted to support the major league team during a competitive window that has been a disappointment for 4 years running. It will be fascinating to see how they go about rebuilding without a full tear down, especially with significant uncertainty at the league level going into 2021.

watching kintzler celebrate getting the last out at wrigley field to advance the marlins in the playoffs...oof...

he did nothing wrong, but what a difference a year makes...

New rules I kinda liked:

3 batter rule for relief

extra innings - man on 2nd (I'm over the excitement of 15 inning games ending at 1am, ruining the bullpen for a week)

7 inning Double headers - know it impacts stats and stuff but 14 innings seems like enough for 1 day and each game is more exciting.  (can't imagine this will stick though)

DH for NL - I can't believe I'm saying this, but I did not care that pitchers weren't batting.  More offense may not be a bad thing for the NL

Rules I don't like:

60 game season - I'd be perfectly content with 145-152....but no thanks on 60

16 team playoff - Made perfect sense this year and eliminated pretenders like the Cubs, but no thank you on .500 teams making the playoffs

My vote, maybe add 1 more team to playoffs from each league, make WC round 2 of 3 instead of single game, make division series 7 games long...shorten regular season to accomodate

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

Regarding the bonus runner on 2nd, I agree that I don't miss extra innings beyond about the 11th. But I'd rather they just call it a draw at some point, since that's a better representation of what actually unfolded on the ball field.

I didn't think the Cubs made particularly good use of the DH this season. It's obviously where Schwarber belongs and instead they used it to get Caratini's extremely meh bat into the lineup more often.

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.