Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

37 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (three slots are open)

Last updated 11-17-2023
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 20
Adbert Alzolay 
Michael Arias
Javier Assad
Ben Brown
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
Porter Hodge
* Bailey Horn
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Daniel Palencia
Michael Rucker
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 8
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
* Matt Mervis
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Luis Vazquez
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 7
Kevin Alcantara
Alexander Canario
* Pete Crow-Armstrong
Brennen Davis
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman

 



Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Cubs @ Mets: Series Thread (Games 66-69)

The Cubs swept the Cardinals at Wrigley to remain tied for first with the Brewers, and to push the Cards all the way to 4th in the division. They return to the jet-set life with a four-game series against the Mets. This will be their second time taking on the Mets. The Cubs took three out of three at Wrigley April 20-22. This time, they are not fortunate enough to dodge Jacob deGrom. The Mets enter the series first in the NL East thanks largely to their pitching staff; they lead the NL in fWAR on the pitching side while their offense rates at near the middle of the pack. See below for the pitching matchups.


Game 66, Monday, June 14, 6:10 pm central

CHC: RHP Jake Arrieta (5-6, 4.97 ERA)

NYM: LHP David Peterson (1-5, 6.32 ERA)

After two bad starts, Arrieta had a nice rebound in San Diego. He allowed one earned run and struck out six in five innings of work. He earned a win against the Mets back on April 20, allowing one earned run on three hits and three walks in five innings pitched.

David Peterson lasted only 3.1 in a loss to the Cubs on April 21, when he allowed six runs, only three earned, due largely to some rough defensive play behind him. His last two starts have been pretty ugly. He's pitched 0.1 and 2.2 innings and allowed nine earned runs on eleven hits.


Game 67, Tuesday, June 15, 6:10 pm central

CHC: RHP Alec Mills (2-0, 6.08 ERA)

NYM: RHP Taijuan Walker (5-2, 2.07 ERA)

Mills is projected to get his first start since April 13, when he went four innings and allowed two earned runs to the Brewers. Since then, he's pitched out of the bullpen including a handful of multi-inning appearances. He pitched three shutout innings against the Mets on April 21.

Walker has been a significant boon to the Mets, as one would expect a healthy version of him to be. Last time out, he pitched seven innings and collected nine strikeouts while allowing only one earned to the Orioles. He suffered a loss to the Cubs when he allowed three runs, two earned, in 3.2 innings pitched on April 20.


Game 68, Wednesday, June 16, 6:10 pm central

CHC: TBD

NYM: RHP Jacob deGrom (6-2, 0.56 ERA)

There's been few reports on Trevor Williams since he was placed on the IL following an emergency appendectamy. He resumed throwing back on June 6, but I'm guessing this will be Kohl Stewart's turn until we hear otherwise. Stewart has made three fill-in starts for the Cubs, looking good in his debut and less good each time since. Unlike the Padres, whom he held to one hit in his first start, the Giants and the Cardinals were able to square him up for 13 hits in 7.2 innings.

According to Fangraphs projection systems, the Cubs have only a 25.3% chance at winning this one. That's their lowest such projection on the season. The reason for that is that they face the baseball equivalent of a wizard. Jacob deGrom has improved not only his strikeout percentage but his fastball velocity each of the last five years, despite being on the wrong side of the aging curve. His walk and homerun rates are on the absurdly stingey side. Best to set expectations going into this at around, "I look forward to watching one of the best pitchers of a generation do his thing."


Game 69, Thursday, June 17, 6:10 pm central

CHC: RHP Kyle Hendricks (8-4, 4.46 ERA)

NYM: RHP Marcus Stroman (6-4, 2.33 ERA)

Kyle Hendricks's fWAR number is all kinds of messed up, but really he's had like two terrible starts and otherwise been recognizably himself. Perhaps that's how he has managed to earn a decision in all but one of his starts, and he's won six in a row. You have to go back to April 28 to find a start in which he didn't at least finish the fifth inning. One encouraging sign has been that his groundball percentage is inching closer to his career average, standing at 46.5% since May. This will be his first 2021 start against the Metropolitans.

Marcus Stroman has pitched well enough in 2021 to be considered the ace on most staffs. His last loss came on May 16, and since then he's made five starts in which he's gone at least six deep and allowed no more than three earned runs in an outing. He's featured reverse splits this season, bringing a getting more value from his cutter and changeup than in previous seasons.

Comments

bit over the 2.0 version of the arrieta era.

speaking of, pedro strop doesn't seem to have attempted to sign with another team after he requested his release from the cubs.  he turned 36 years old yesterday.

bryant pulled and getting xrays after HBP on his hand.  sigh.

he did take his base and run for himself, but he was pulled later.

reliever robert stock starting vs degrom...looks like we're in for a "bullpen game"

Beginning today (June 16th), post-2020 Article XX-B MLB free-agents who signed a 2021 MLB contract will no longer have an automatic "no trade" right, so Arrieta, Chafin, Marisnick, Pederson, and Romine can now be traded without restriction. 

Tyler Glasnow sprained his UCL and is pretty openly objecting to the MLB pushback on use of "sticky stuff," saying he thinks not using his "substance of choice," rosin and sunscreen, lead to his injury and will lead others to injury. I will be interested to hear a more open discourse on what pitchers use to get a grip on the ball, what will be permitted, and what adjustments pitchers will make. The reasoning that adjustments in grip could lead to tendon and ligament injuries strikes me as plausible and further reason that significant changes in policy should probably be made in the offseason so that teams and pitchers can figure out how to proceed.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

CHARLIE: You are absolutely right.

Granted there are existing rules prohibiting pitchers from using foreign substances, but you don't change enforcement protocols suddenly in the middle of the season. Pitchers should be given an opportunity to make adjustments during the course of Spring Training before any new enforcement policy is implememted.

This can and should be addressed in the upcoming CBA negotiations. Not now. 

ow...villar got nailed in the ear and the back of the head by a throw from lobaton on a stolen base.

This Mets series is going poorly, so... off-topic question. Which of these outcomes do you currently think is more likely in 2021: (a) Javy hits at least 40 homeruns in the regular season, (b) Patrick Wisdom hits at least 20 homeruns in the regular season.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

(c) hendricks gives up at least 60 homers in the regular season

seriously, though...wisdom has "slowed down" the past 10 days or so, but he still managed a couple homers.  he's got a damn good shot at 20+ even if bote+duffy come back to steal a little time from him.

The Cubs have optioned RHP Robert Stock back to AAA Iowa, and recalled LHP Brad Wieck. 

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    i know it's still very early, but i'd like to go into the xmas-to-newyears part of the off-season with something more than...*checks list*...patrick wisdom avoids arbitration with a 1-year deal

    also, steven brault retired and was spotted at the winter meetings with a demo reel and making contacts trying to break into broadcasting (not a joke).  unless he's more optimistic than talented (we already know he can sing) he should make it one day because he seems to be very serious about it.

  • Cubster (view)

    I blame Jason Schmidt’s 3/44

  • Craig A. (view)

    Was all that stuff with the Blue Jays just to squeeze an extra $10 million/yr out of the Dodgers?  It's more than enough to cover his California income taxes!

  • crunch (view)

    unless he pitches into his late-30 that is gonna sting.  a 70m DH...ow.

    it's great to take care of 2 roster spots in 1 player, and i'm sure the team will cut into the pay with the amount of merch/etc he can sell just by being attached to the team....but yeah, i'm not mad the cubs didn't go that extreme.

  • WebAdmin (view)

    Shohei Ohtani to join Dodgers according to ESPN. 10 years for $700 m
  • Cubster (view)

    I'm getting the feeling that Todd Walker might be a Shaw comp. A valuable hit first player but limited albeit not awful on defense. Hopefully, he has more upside. Not a bad floor if Steve Garvey is his ceiling.

  • Wrigley Rat (view)

    AZ Phil - If that's the level of return, I would want NO part of that trade to Cleveland for Clase and Bieber. I have some faith that the Cubs have a strong plan for which prospects they will keep (even if they dangle them in trade talks) and which they will move, because they have plenty of solid prospects they can trade but they shouldn't be trading any of the ones they hope will be future core players. Some guys are redundant, so I hope they choose the right players to keep and the right players to move. It's always important for a team to know its own minor league players better than scouts from other teams (obviously), but I don't think that's always been the case for the Cubs and many other clubs. 

    Cubster - I watched an interview with Carter Hawkins a couple days ago where he said that although Morel hasn't gotten into any Dominican games at 1B, the Cubs did send coaches down with Morel to work on first base skills during practice. So he is developing those skills, whether the Cubs end up using him there or not will probably be dependent on a lot of factors including how those coaches think he looks at the position while training. 

  • tim815 (view)

    He could still play SS at Double-A, but Vazquez, Hoerner, and Swanson are much better defensively, arm strength or not. I'd be good leaving Shaw at SS with McGeary and Ballesteros around, but by the first of June (?), 1B might make sense in DM.

  • crunch (view)

    i have no reason to see a problem, it just seems like it's his most obvious reason to give pause on him at 1st.

    the cubs situation dictates 2nd/SS isn't an option.  his arm dictates 3rd isn't an option.  1st or CF seems to be his best path and he's only played CF in summer ball back in highschool/college...and of course PCA is a better + closer to the bigs CF.

    it's a lot safer to say he's made for 1st than it is he's made for 3rd.  even as a SS his arm is weak, and it's not like his glove is so great he needs to stay in the middle-IF.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    CRUNCH: Steve Garvey (one of Shaw's comps as a hitter) was a 5'10 right-handed throwing first-baseman with a rag arm. Jeff Bagwell (another Shaw comp) was a 6'0 right-handed throwing first-baseman with a rag arm. Carlos Santana (who played 1B for Counsell in Milwaukee last season and is an above-average defensive first-baseman) is 5'11. It's not like Shaw is 5'7 or 5'8. I don't really see the problem.