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

Edit: 2021 Opening Series Thread + Goodbye Darvish, belated Goodbye Theo / "Hot" Stove Thread

I'm taking a roundabout approach on this one, editing an old thread since I am currently unable to add a new story to the site. Here is your belated post for the 2021 opening series. The Cubs lost a battle of the bullpens in game 1, with each team's starting pitcher going only 3 innings. The Pirates bullpen essentially shut down the Cubs' offense for the remaining 6 innings and the Cubs collected only 2 hits in the game. Meanwhile, Cubs pitchers allowed 11 walks and a HBP. The cold temperatures we saw in game 1 have given way to unseasonably not horrible weather for the remainder of the series. Highs in the 60s and the wind blowing out to RF greet ballplayers and fans for game 2. Jake Arrieta makes his season debut in his return to the Cubs, going up against briefly-a-Cub lefty Brett Anderson. The heavily used bullpens both got a day of rest between games 1 and 2, so presumably everyone is available. Game 3 will be a Sunday matinee between hard-throwing Pirates righty Mitch Keller and the new addition and Kyle Hendricks impersonator, Zach Davies. The Cubs will continue their homestand with a series against the Brewers beginning on Monday, April 5, at 6:40 pm central, the first night game of the season. [END GAMEDAY POST! OLD POST BELOW.] If the departure of Theo Epstein in mid November was not a clear sign of things to come, today's trade of Yu Darvish certainly heralds the arrival of a rebuilding phase for the Chicago Cubs. It has been widely reported that the Cubs and Padres agreed on a deal sending Darvish and Caratini to sunny San Diego, former Brewer Zach Davies to the Cubs rotation, and two pairs of young shortstops and outfielders to Cubs' minor league facilities for years to come. Davies is coming off of a promising year and the 4 young prospects have some upside. However, as of now many regard this deal as a salary dump for the Ricketts family. Darvish is owed just under $60 million for the 3 years remaining on his contract. That is a significant chunk of payroll, but an absolute bargain at his most recent level of performance. For approximately two years, fans and writers have speculated that a partial or full rebuild would begin with the trade of a Cubs star position player: Bryant, Contreras, or Baez. Bryant's health and performance seems to have hampered his trade market, however, and the Cubs have instead tread water the past two seasons. Now, Jed Hoyer's first big move as man at the helm has the team dealing from an area of weakness (the starting rotation) for a package of prospects far from the majors. It is unlikely that this will be the first domino to fall. So, here's a thread for us all to discuss the so-called "hot" stove--more tepid than ever with the 2021 outlook uncertain for all of MLB. Who will go next? Is Hoyer looking at a full rebuild or some hybrid option? Did David Ross get the rug yanked out from under him? Will the Ricketts family cling to any of the remaining good will from 2016? How many Kyle Hendricks-lites does it take to fill out a starting rotation? Discuss amongst ourselves.

Comments

It's back to watching the Cubs just to hear the sound of the typewriter go clickety-clack in the background. 

Oh wait. 

I wonder if Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk are in the market to buy a team. 

They could introduce cyborg players. Cubs already have Rizzo. It's worked out pretty well. A few more would be awesome. 

Cubs are apparently "extensively shopping" Willson Contreras.

Hopefully we can acquire one year of a mediocre starter and some more total lottery tickets for him, too!

[ ]

In reply to by Dolorous Jon Lester

*checks 29 team rosters of 18-20 year olds fresh out of dominican ball*

i mean...is hoyer trying to build his legacy by playing the numbers or does he truly believe this is the best path forward for the cubs?  the kids that were picked up in that darvish trade are so far down the pipeline i'm questioning 2022 before 2021 has begun.

without making a single move, this is still the team that won the division last year and went 8 games over .500 while only losing  reliever jeremy jeffress as a talent loss.

jon lester's 3 wins with a 5.16era and 10 innings of jose quintana won't be missed.

I'm a hater of Marquee Network from the moment they teamed up with Sinclair.

In today's Tribune...Paul Sullivan:

Darvish deal starts undoing of Cubs

...They could stop watching Marquee Sports Network, but would anyone notice? The only thing on these days besides Cubs reruns and Ryan Dempster are shows about betting, surfing, bass fishing and other activities with a limited audience.

On Tuesday morning I turned on Marquee to see if there was any discussion of the Darvish deal. Appropriately, a show called “Follow the Money” was airing. Alas, it had nothing to do with the Cubs.

It seems like eons ago, but it was only last January that Ricketts was booed at the Cubs Convention when he mentioned Marquee, which had yet to come to an agreement with Comcast, the largest local cable provider.

Ricketts appeared quite shocked.

“What do you have against the Marquee Network?” he asked the crowd.

The booing only grew louder.

“Believe me, you won’t be booing (about Marquee) in a year,” he said.

He was partially correct. Almost one year later, they’re booing ownership more than the network. Fortunately for Tom and his brother Todd, who oversaw fundraising for President Donald Trump’s FAILED reelection campaign, the 2021 Cubs Convention has been canceled because of COVID-19, so the siblings won’t be booed in public.

Who would’ve guessed last January that their world would turn upside down, the Cubs’ wheelbarrow would be bare, Wrigley would be fan-free, more than 100 Cubs employees would be laid off, Epstein would resign, announcer Len Kasper would bolt for the White Sox and Darvish would be dumped after a Cy Young Award-caliber season?

Oh, what a year it has been.

But hope springs eternal. There’s always next year, and at least the Cubs have a ready-made slogan for 2021:

“Follow the money.”

"Cubs president Jed Hoyer said Wednesday that the rumors about Willson Contreras being shopped are "fictional.""

"Hoyer also told reporters during Wednesday's press conference that he thinks "we're going to have a really competitive team next year""

...awaiting further moves over here, jed...c'mon...

DJL: The way I read that is with the Pirates in a full rebuild, the Cubs and Reds shedding payroll, and the Brewers and Cards basically staying pat, the N. L. Central is now the weakest division in MLB, maybe like the NFC East. 

Report that Schwarber gets $10 million from Nats. Good for him, wish him well.  Seems like Jed didn't do a very good job trying to trade him if his free agent value was higher then his expected arbitration salary.

[ ]

In reply to by Sonicwind75

that is a huge wtf fail if it's not incentive driven.  was the desire to cut payroll so high that they didn't want to risk being "stuck" with him?  did they improperly gauge the market (by being off by mulitple millions)?

seeing as the cubs seem to be looking for 12 year olds who won all-star on their little league teams in trade, it's not like they wouldn't be able to find a taker for a long-off "maybe" prospect in return.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I'm always confused by this. They also could have tendered him and then boosted his value by trading him with a million or two in cash considerations. Obviously, that's a million or two more expensive than simply non-tendering--but couldn't you at least get an interesting prospect in return from one of these teams? They obviosuly thought it was worth their return to toss in a few million in the Darvish trade.

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.