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 

 



 

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Cubs @ Reds: Series Thread (Games 111-113)

The Cubs and Reds play three this weekend, starting with the 2022 Field of Disappointment Dreams. Following a Friday off, they continue the series with two in Cincinnati. See below for maychups.


Game 111, Thursday, August 11, 6:15 pm central

CHC: LHP Drew Smyly (4-6, 3.97 ERA)

CIN: LHP Nick Lodolo (3-3, 4.40 ERA)


Game 112, Saturday, August 13, 7:40 pm central

CHC: RHP Adrian Sampson (0-3, 3.83 ERA)

CIN: RHP Graham Ashcraft (5-2, 3.94 ERA)


Game 113, Sunday, August 14, 12:40 pm central

CHC: RHP Keegan Thompson (9-5, 3.36 ERA)

CIN: RHP Justin Dunn (0-1, 5.79 ERA)

Comments

lineups out...

madricorn (2nd) - contrercorn (C) - wisdocorn (3rd) - suzukorn (RF) - coerner (SS) - happcorn (LF) - velázmaíz (DH) - higgcorn (1st) - cornel (CF)

contreras is...still in the game?

okay.  wow.  never seen someone go down like that and then go slap on the gear and return to catching a game.

tatis jr popped for PEDs...80 games.

straight up steroids (clostebol), no grey area.  dee gordon got popped with the same thing a few years ago.

2018/19 cubs minor league roster filler wynton bernard made his MLB debut tonight at age 31 for COL.  he turns 32 next month.  he went from 35th round pick, to minor league and indie ball journeyman, to the bigs.

got his first hit (single), followed by a stolen base, and eventually scoring.  ever see parents totally lose it with pride and happiness over something a 31 year old kid is doing?  good stuff.

Color me mildly surprised that no one has yet commented on the Weekend at Bernie's quality Harry Carey hologram leading the 7th inning stretch. I've never seen the old Star Wars Christmas Special but I hope they never show that hologram again, either. 

f.reyes with his 1st homer.

he's hitting well so far.  they still haven't let him play anywhere but DH (4th game).

[ ]

In reply to by JoePepitone

let's go all-in.  have him play SS for 5 innings, then finish out behind the plate.  bat him leadoff.  let's goooooo.

seriously, though...i am ready to see him in the corner OF...especially with the ivy/brick of wrigley.  even with a warning track, that OF wall makes some people timid.

if happ goes in the offseason, i dunno if counting solely on velazquez is a solid idea.  reyes/velazquez seems a bit more comfortable if reyes is able.  reyes at least has a quality arm, though the rest of the D is below average.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I was just thinking he's had the kind of year that makes a guy wonder if he's turning into an Addison Russell as he hits 27. Letting him build on some success might be good for his mental approach before taking on more challenges. That being said, I know nothing about the guy, so it's just my WAG (wild-ass guess) about the situation!

[ ]

In reply to by JoePepitone

he has bat/power potential, realized potential.  37 homers in 2019 (548 PA) and 30 in 2021 (466 PA)

that said, he's kinda patrick wisdom-ish with the bat...and that leaves the cubs with 2 patrick wisdom-ish bats...excessive amounts of Ks with above average pop.

the D is just bad.  iffy routes, bad speed...good arm, though.  seen worse in the OF get regular work.

the talk of his quality as a clubhouse presence goes from SD to CLE as above average and should pair well with the energy and enthusiasm of morel.  that's not everything, but it's something.

he could just flame out and be an after-thought before the season is over.  he's a 1.5m experiment to see if it's worth paying him 5m+ next year.  right now the club knows the D is below average and that's mostly set in stone even if tweaked.  he got let go by CLE because the bat was below expectation.  if the bat improves over what he was showing in CLE (the power/hits specifically) then where he plays becomes an issue.  but yeah, prove himself with the bat first and then worry about where he fits on the field vs DH.

It's very possible that after Drew Smyly's outing at the Field of Dreams on Thursday night the Cubs might have received a call from one or more contenders asking the Cubs to place Smyly on Outright Assignment Waivers, with a promise that he would get claimed. 

If that happened and the Cubs agreed to the request, the earliest Smyly could have have been placed on Outright Assignment Waivers would have been 2 PM (Eastern) on Friday 8/12, and if so he would clear waivers at 1 PM (Eastern) on Sunday 8/14 (the waiver ride lasts 47 hours). 

Since waiver claim priority is based upon the standings at 9 AM (Eastern) on the day the player's waiver ride ends, a club could not be sure of being awarded the claim, but as long as at least one club promises to claim the player, the Cubs would get their waiver claiming fee and salary offset no matter who wins the claim. 

The thing is, the Cubs won't place Smyly on waivers until they are sure at least one club will claim him, since he can only be placed on Outright Assignment Waivers one time in August if he is not claimed. Note that if waivers are secured and the player is not claimed, the player does - NOT - have to be outrighted to the minors. In this case, it's just a procedural thing. 

Since they didn't trade him by the MLB Trade Deadline, Smyly getting claimed off waivers is the only way the Cubs can get anything for him (the $50,000 waiver claim fee plus the claiming club assumes 100% of what's left of his salary).

Also, an MLB club or clubs cannot make some kind of side deal with another club to try and manipulate a waiver claim or to add a player or more money to the claim. The waiver claim has to be strictly a waiver claim with no strings attached (just the waiver claim fee plus the claiming club assumes 100% of what remains of the player's salary, plus any future buy-out). 

If Smyly does get claimed off waivers, I would expect Wade Miley to be immediately reinstated from the IL (he threw 66 pitches in a rehab start for AAA Iowa this past Wednesday) and replace Smyly in the Cubs starting rotation, Then if Miley throws a couple of good games in a row like Smyly has, the Cubs could do the waiver wire trick with Miley, too (and Miley is making twice as much as Smyly)...

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

including the buyout, this would pretty much fund the f.reyes experiment with a bit under a million saved.

im reading conflicting info on whether there was a buyout at contract end (2022)...5.25 total or 4.25 with a 1m buyout on the 2023 payroll.  either way, it would pay for f.reyes the rest of the season with loot left over.

uh oh...rain.

k.thompson is terrible in the rain...small sample size and all, but it's a terrible small sample.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

31 pitch first.  8 pitches to the first 2 guys, for outs, including a K...then the rain started...walk, then 12 pitches to votto for a pop out.

rain seems to be tapering off.  thompson will go have 2-3 red bulls between innings and get back out there, hopefully without rain.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

rain stopped, but he walked the first 2 guys in the 2nd on 15 pitches...then a 3 run homer on a 3-2 count, 7 pitches, all the strikes swinging and outside the zone.

batter after that gets a 3-2 count (6th 3-2 count batter in a row), but thompson gets a called strike 3 that wasn't in the zone.

doesn't look like we're getting 5 innings today.

we get 1.2ip...he leaves after 70 pitches with a guy on 2nd (double)

drew rasmussen (TB) is perfect through 8ip vs BAL with only 79 pitches thrown.  wow.

walking y.gomes and c.morel is back-to-back ABs should get a pitcher DFA'd.

31 walks in 489 combined PA for the 2 of them coming into those ABs.

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.