Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024

* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman

OPTIONED: 10
Kevin Alcantara, OF
Michael Arias, P
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF
Jose Cuas, P
Brennen Davis, OF
Porter Hodge, P
* Luke Little, P
* Matt Mervis, 1B
Daniel Palencia, P
Luis Vazquez, INF

10-DAY IL: 2
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P
Jameson Taillon, P

60-DAY IL: 2
Caleb Kilian, P
Julian Merryweather, P

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft
Minor League Free-Agents

Cubs vs. Marlins: Series Thread (Games 70-72)

The Cubs escaped a rough series in New York with their first-place standing intact. For a change of pace, they'll take on the last place Marlins next. Don't let Miami's record fool you, though. The fish are not far behind the Cubs according to many offensive metrics, grade out slightly ahead in pitching, and are probably better defensively. Wins and losses are the final measure, of course, and the Cubs will have three chances to take home a "W" in this series. See below for the pitching matchups.

Game 70, Friday, June 18, 7:05 pm central

CHC: RHP Zach Davies (4-3, 4.01 ERA)

MIA: RHP Cody Poteet (2-2, 3.75 ERA) TBD, possibly RHP Zach Thompson (1-1, 2.25 ERA)

Davies has been good going back to the beginning of May and has made two consecutive quality, scoreless starts. Last time out he set a season high for strikeouts with six Ks against the Cardinals.

The Marlins announced Cody Poteet's return from the IL a few hours prior to the game. He hit the IL on June 4 with an MCL strain. He's made five starts in his first MLB season and gotten pretty solid results so far. His minor league numbers suggest he is a pitch-to-contact type, although he is getting almost eight strikeouts per nine innings so far at the major league level. He has a plus changeup to go with a slider, curve, and a 93-ish MPH fastball. He went 2.2 in his last start, allowing three earned runs on four walks and a homerun. The Cubs will be getting their first look on him.

The 27-year-old Thompson has made two starts for the Marlins in 2021. On June 12, he pitched five innings and allowed no earned runs to Atlanta. In the minors, he showed a plus slider and inconsistent command. He's worked mosty out of the bullpen since 2017. Everyone would be getting a first look at him, and Ross may choose to go for the platoon advantage against the 6'7" right-hander.

Game 71, Saturday, June 19, 1:20 pm central

CHC: RHP Jake Arrieta (5-7, 5.14 ERA)

MIA: RHP Pablo López (2-4, 3.12 ERA)

Arrieta has had to struggle through many of his recent starts for a variety of reasons: a hand injury, food poisoning, poor command, and shaky defense. In his last start, he worked five innings but also allowed four earned runs and took the loss to the Cardinals, walking more batters than he struck out. One postiive for him lately is that he has improved his groundball rate, but he could certainly stand to provoke more soft contact.

López has so far improved on a breakout 2020 performance that saw him improve both his strikeout rate and ground ball percentage compare to his debut and sophomore seasons. In his last start, he struggled to follow up a 8-inning victory and was only able to go three innings while allowing four earned runs. He has reverse splits in 2021, but previously in his career lefties fared much better against him.

Game 72, Sunday, June 20, 1:20 pm central

CHC: RHP Alec Mills (2-1, 6.11 ERA)

MIA: TBD, possibly LHP Trevor Rogers (7-3, 1.98 ERA)

Mills took a loss in his second start of the season on June 15, going 4.1 innings as a sub and allowing five earned runs despite six strikeouts. In his previous start, way back on April 13, he went four innings and allowed two earned runs. No Marlins batters have faced him at the MLB level--it's not hard to imagine that he might be able to keep some of these hitters off balance with his pitch mix.

Rogers labored through seven starts in his debut season with Miami, but he's taken a significant step forward in 2021. He's leaning a bit more heavily on his plus changeup and mixing in a middling slider with better results. He's also cut his walk rate by about a third, and his homeruns per fly ball are way down. He significantly underperformed his peripherals in 2020 and is outperforming them in 2021--but even if he finds his mean, he's looking like a decent MLB starter so far. He really hasn't had a bad start in 2021 so far. He's pitched at least five innings in all but his first start of the season and has allowed two or fewer earned runs in all but one start--when he allowed three earned runs. This will be his first time facing the Cubs.

Comments

Recent comments

Bill 04/18/2024 - 04:02 pm (view)

A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return. Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.
Sonicwind75 04/18/2024 - 04:40 pm (view)

Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention". Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."

Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost. But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.
Sonicwind75 04/18/2024 - 04:45 am (view)

I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions. Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022. I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.
Childersb3 04/18/2024 - 04:02 am (view)

I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
We'll find out soon enough!!!
TarzanJoeWallis 04/18/2024 - 04:47 am (view)

Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.
TarzanJoeWallis 04/18/2024 - 04:41 am (view)

Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.
Arizona Phil 04/18/2024 - 04:21 am (view)

I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."

Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.
Dolorous Jon Lester 04/18/2024 - 04:02 am (view)

Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.
Dolorous Jon Lester 04/18/2024 - 04:00 am (view)

Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to
-give Hendricks another few starts
-give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway
-Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks
Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).
I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.
I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa?
Childersb3 04/18/2024 - 04:59 am (view)

Pro teams have to play their "big money" guys if they are healthy and not "locker room" issues.
The Cubs wanted to deal JHey off well before they bought him out. They just didn't want to pay him to play for someone else for that long. Jed did give him 20+mil to play for LAD last yr.
Jed might also let Kyle walk at some point this year. Similar scenario to JHey, except Jed thought Kyle was going to be good/solid in '24!!
You'd think Smyly is in the same book as well. Same with Neris (he's a 1yr vet RP, so he's not really in this convo too much).
That's ~35mil between those three and those three are going to get opportunities until at least late June) over younger guys even if their performance is "iffy".
But, Jed is going to play Taillon a lot. They have to try and justify that contract and hope a veteran works out.
So, Taillon, Imanaga, and Hendricks are locks for the rest of April and probably May.
Assad, Brown and Wicks handle the last spots until Steele is ready.
Now, you're question has real merit when Steele comes back. That will interesting if Brown is still good and Hendricks is still bad. But Taillon is entirely safe as long as he's healthy.

And the bullpen moves were "money" based as well. Smyly has actually been okay. But he hasn't been clearly better than Little. Little had one bad outing. But Smyly makes 9mil. If they needed another RHRP and one of Little and Smyly had to go, it was going to Little. But that doesn't mean Smyly is one of the best 13 arms for the team.