Cubs MLB Roster

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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 
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Cubs @ Atlanta: Series Thread (Games 157-159)

Submitted by Charlie on

The Cubs swept their final home series of the season and they hold the final NL Wild Card spot and trail Arizona by half a game going into the day off on Monday. These final six games will see the Cubs on the road against two division leaders, Atlanta and Milwaukee. The bullpen has struggled without key arms. There's a chance that Alzolay could return on this road trip, and Mark Leiter may be ready to appear again sometime soon. The Cubs are also looking to activate Jeimer Candelario as soon as his lower back allows it. Stroman has already returned to reinforce the rotation. Find him in the daily matchups below.

Game 157, Tuesday, September 26, 6:20 pm central
CHC: LHP Justin Steele (16-5, 3.00 ERA)
ATL: RHP Bryce Elder (12-4, 3.63 ERA)

Game 158, Wednesday, September 27, 6:20 pm central
CHC: RHP Jameson Taillon (8-10, 5.05 ERA)
ATL: TBD

Game 159, Thursday, September 28, 6:20 pm central
CHC: RHP Marcus Stroman (10-8, 3 88 ERA)
ATL: TBD

Tags
2023 Series Thread
Atlanta Braves

Comments

Submitted by crunch on Mon, 09/25/2023 - 09:17 pm

ARZ lost.  going into the last week of play ARZ + CHC are tied for the last 2 WC spots...MIA -1, CIN -2.5

Submitted by Childersb3 on Tue, 09/26/2023 - 09:27 am

Padres want to restructure while still competing, yet decrease payroll.
Snell and Hader are FAs.
Soto has one year left on deal.
Our bullpen is in dire need of someone like Hader.
Snell would cost a ton and maybe Steele's presence makes Snell unnecessary, yet you cannot have enough pitching (I'd like Yamamoto)
But, we can put a deal together for Soto. We'd have to pony up the cash to keep him to make the trade worth it long term, but we can make a value deal for the Padres.

Morel, Canario, Mervis, Vazquez, one MiLB SP (Sanders-Arias-Gray-maybe Ferris), and Stroman (or Hendricks)
So, it's a six for one deal.
The issue here is that five of these guys have to be on the Padres 40man roster. That might be too much for them. So maybe BJ Murray instead of Vazquez.
Morel is blocked from a defensive position. So he's our DH. He'd be replaced by Soto.

We'd still keep Alcantara and ONKC to replace Happ and Suzuki eventually.
We'd still need to figure out 3B. Maybe bring back Candelario.
I'd resign Belli for 1B or CF if PCA isn't "ready" in Spring Training.
Wisdom can stay to help Soto with DH spots vs LH arms.

You'd have LH bats at DH, 1B, 3B (switch), LF (switch), CF (PCA or Tauch) with 20 HR pop at DH, 1B, LF and 15 HR pop at 3B and CF.  That's pretty solid.
It'll cost too much for the Ricketts to keep Bellinger and Soto but that would be fun to watch.

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 09/26/2023 - 09:10 pm

ATL 1-5 hitters have 30+ homers...1 of those with 40 homers, and another with 53 homers.  they have a guy with 21 homers hitting 8th.

good luck cubs.  mega-extra good luck wednesday taillon...and wesn + smyly out of the pen.

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 09/26/2023 - 09:59 pm

adam wainwright is calling it quits.  he had another start (or 2) ahead of him, but he's going out with that last great outing at home (7ip 4h 2bb 3k, 0r/er).  the fans gave him a lot of love.

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 09/26/2023 - 09:38 pm

PCA is no javy baez when it comes to being highly aggressive.  he's cost the team runs and outs in the field and on the bases in his short playing time...

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 09/26/2023 - 09:13 pm

men on and steele in trouble...of course it's cuas up in the pen.  cuas isn't trash, but wow...this is our high-leverage guy?  he's just a bit wild and not exactly hard to hit for a guy being called on so much to deal with guys on base.

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Submitted by crunch on Wed, 09/27/2023 - 09:48 pm

he's wearing this one for life whether he likes it or not.  you can't pull a brant brown in the last week of the season when it's 4 teams going for 2 playoff spots...especially with your last games going forward vs teams that are 1st place in their division.

he might as well do whatever it takes to move on because it's part of the drama of this chase for the post-season no matter how the cubs do here on out.

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 09/26/2023 - 09:13 pm

that was a true kick in the teeth loss.  6 run lead blown.  ARZ won.  CIN won.  MIA postponed (vs NYM)

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 09/26/2023 - 09:50 pm

in 1 week of play, masterboney has gone from a line of .206/.289/.265 to .262/.333/.328

11 hits and 1 walk in 21 PA.  9 singles, 2 doubles.

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 09/27/2023 - 09:55 pm

candel's back and playing 1st.  tauchman DH'ing...  j.young optioned to AAA...forgot he was here.

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Submitted by Charlie on Thu, 09/28/2023 - 09:44 am

I'll be curious to see him at a time when the team isn't desperate for every little edge. What would he look like debuting for a team that already sealed their fate for the season? I think he'd still be struggling at the plate, but his other tools might show up.

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Submitted by Dolorous Jon Lester on Thu, 09/28/2023 - 09:34 am

I agree. Of course he has the offseason to work on things and he’s super young, but at the moment I don’t see an MLB level player in April 2024. Hopefully he takes this experience and gets more figured out and can come up and contribute sometime next year. There’s a lot of talent there but he doesn’t look ready for this level yet.

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Submitted by crunch on Thu, 09/28/2023 - 09:04 am

one thing people aren't too open about is his ego.  it's huge.  hopefully it doesn't get in his way.

that said, i've not heard that his ego has caused any teammate issues and with people that have "strong egos" that's a big deal.  having a big ego isn't necessarily a terrible thing if you're still coachable and it doesn't make your workplace toxic.

i honestly think the PCA we see now is the PCA we're getting...only with less instances of being asked to bunt.  he's a better hitter than his numbers, obviously.  i dunno what he will change with his approach at the plate, though.

hopefully his game will mature, especially learning when to let one fall in front of him and when to not to try to make a miracle throw.  he takes pride in his defense, and he should, but a highlight reel shouldn't be an every-game goal.

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Submitted by Dolorous Jon Lester on Thu, 09/28/2023 - 09:54 pm

I hear you on that. I don’t have a ton of faith in the organization in a lot of respects, but I do genuinely believe they make a concerted effort to get players with a good head on their shoulders. MLB has a way of humbling even the most inflated egos, as it’s humbling him now. Given the organizational philosophy, I do think he’s the type to adjust and work on things rather than just continue on with exactly the same thing.

That said, I think he’s a MLB caliber prospect obviously. I think great defense, fast baserunner in the show is his floor. I said earlier I see his floor as Peter Bourjos, nothing I’ve seen has caused me to change that. Bourjos was perfectly fine but I think we’d all be kinda disappointed if that’s what he turns into. He does have a much higher ceiling we can still dream on.

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 09/27/2023 - 09:12 pm

i know this 2023 ATL team is one of the best teams of all time, like easy top 5 by any metric...but these 2 losses stung.

Submitted by crunch on Thu, 09/28/2023 - 09:34 pm

tauchman CF, candel DH, bellinger 1st

night off for CIN.  a win would put CHC up by 2 games over CIN with 3 games to go.

Submitted by crunch on Thu, 09/28/2023 - 09:11 pm

why the hell is assad pitching?  he was looking overworked 2 days ago when he pitched after having only 2 days off after pitching 4ip/49 pitches.

Submitted by Eric S on Thu, 09/28/2023 - 09:38 pm

Cubs bullpen sorta strikes again: ex-Cub Anthony Kay blows the Mets 1-0 lead against the Marlins in the ninth 

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. 

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