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

Cheapskate Ricketts Holding Cubs Back

Jake Peavy's not a Cub yet and now it appears Ricketts is keeping the Cubs from signing Orlando Hudson.

It's amazing that a player of this caliber remains unsigned, but lining up are the Cubs, White Sox, and Dodgers. A few Cubs organizational people really want Hudson, but the impending transfer of ownership from the Chicago Tribune to Tom Ricketts may hinder GM Jim Hendry's ability to do anything until it's complete.

Just kidding about the headline of course, but I do hope no one took the Cubs aren't going to be affected by the Tribune's bankruptcy case to heart. The article also includes some quotes from Rich Hill.

In other news, it seems I was off about Henry Blanco being displeased about his playing time, that is if you are to believe Carrie Muskat.

Blanco was the perfect teammate. He was a terrific mentor to Geovany Soto, who gave the veteran much of the credit for his success after he won the 2008 National League Rookie of the Year Award. Blanco also didn't complain about his limited playing time. One reason for the switch is because Bako gives the Cubs another left-handed bat. The team's other backup-catcher option is Koyie Hill, a switch-hitter, who is back after suffering a horrific hand injury.

A good time to point out this nugget that Cubnut uncovered.

Paul Bako's lifetime batting line against RHP: 2015 PA's, .240 / .317 / .321 / 638 OPS
Henry Blanco's lifetime batting line against RHP: 1708 PA's, .222 / .281 / .352 / 633 OPS

Comments

TCR's favorite aging grunge rocker is back at his dogged support of the Cubs, this time at Cubs Fantasy Camp 2009. http://bunnywithfangs.com/2009/02/eddie-vedder-sings-hotel-karaoke/ The second video is noticeably better, as EdVed sings with fellow old, drunk white guys. Highlights include "Yellow Cub-marine", Eddie getting groped, and a "Fuck the White Sox" for good measure. P.S. Sorry if this is 3/44. P.P.S. 1st!

I personally don't think Hudson is worth 8-10 mil per year...if we are going to spend money on anybody it should be to get Peavy. Theriot/Font are good young cheap options. Please don't get Hudson go get Peavy! Marshall, Hart, Cashner, Castillo (we are eating their contract there is no need to add Vitters). Do it...ask Peavy to change his option year to a mutual offer to guarantee him to come to a championship caliber team!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/jon_heyman/02/08/rodrigue… That list would have been long gone if not for the union, several baseball people say. Players union COO Gene Orza worked long and hard to try to pare down the list. Orza's mission, according to baseball people, was to find enough false positives on the list to drive the number of failures so far down that real testing wouldn't be needed in 2004 or ever. Orza wanted to get the list down below the five percent threshold for testing to go away entirely. But try as he might, he could not drive it down quite that far. After months of trying, Orza couldn't do it, and baseball announced that a curiously amorphous 5-7 percent of players failed the 2003 survey test, enough to ramp up the testing in 2004, much to the union's dismay. According to multiple baseball sources, Orza spent way too much time studying the results in hopes of lowering the number. And while Orza was playing with the paperwork, BALCO struck, foiling his grand scheme. And when BALCO investigators asked for the results of the players linked to that scandal, Orza did what came naturally to him, which was to fight. He had a history of winning his fights, so that gave him confidence that he could win this fight. But this time he didn't win. The feds subpoenaed all the records instead of just the BALCO boys. All 104 players who tested positive were now at risk. "He wouldn't give up the BALCO names,'' one baseball person said of Orza, "so instead, [the federal government] got every name.'' All 104 names were now in the hands of the feds, a time bomb that's been ticking for six years and finally went off on Saturday with the report of Roberts and David Epstein of SI that Rodriguez, baseball's best player and heir apparent to the all-time home-run record, tested positive for testosterone and the steroid Primobolan.

http://bucco-blog.com/Pittsburgh-Pirates/2009/02/08/can-we-surprise-any… The Cub Reporter (child link caution, foul language at the site) mocks the entire NLCD including the Bucs evidently feeling their $133MM payroll will bring them home another division title and little else. The best part of the post is in the comments where one fan linked to a Ya-HOOOO blogger by the name of Andy Some-thing-or-another who also dissed the Pirates but less intelligently. You have to hand it to Cubs fans.. they have a good team and aren’t afraid to run their mouth while they do. Good for them. But last time I looked the Pirates either won or lost by two runs or less in half the games played last year and one of the other games Matt Morris held them to four earned runs in seven innings. Considering how “lowly” the Pirates were, I’d be thinking a bit harder about all that.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

"But last time I looked the Pirates either won or lost by two runs or less in half the games played last year and one of the other games Matt Morris held them to four earned runs in seven innings." ___________________________________________________ I know this is kind of late but I find this hysterical. Haha seriously I'm chuckling still 5 minutes after reading it. Who measures games based on losing by 2 runs or less? I would say a win by 3 runs is just barely considered a close game, and anything beyond that becomes an easy win. Also he uses how "lowly" the Pirates WERE. What the hell does he think has changed since last year? Did you go back in time and not let your best young players go? So he is essentially saying "I don't know why they are talking so much shit, we only got our asses kicked in half the games. We kept a few close and even won a couple! Look for the Bucs to only lose two games to the Cubs by more than 9 runs this year. This franchise is really starting to turn around."

btw, I think in the Boston Globe article it says the Brewers won't get a draft pick if Sheets signs after the draft which is likely at this point unless the yanks decide to beat everyone to the punch...

Curt Schilling always full of opinions: "I'd be all for the 104 positives being named, and the game moving on if that is at all possible," former Boston ace Curt Schilling wrote on his blog Sunday. "In my opinion, if you don't do that, then the other 600-700 players are going to be guilty by association, forever," he wrote. "It appears that not only was it 104, but three of the greatest of our, or any, generation appear to be on top of this list." http://38pitches.weei.com/

from Carrie Muskat's article today (http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090207&content_id=38…)
This may finally be Piniella's team. Only seven players remain from the 2007 Opening Day roster -- Dempster, Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee, Ryan Theriot and Alfonso Soriano
And of those seven, Lou had a hand in either signing or extending the contracts of five. Number six is former Cubs prospect Ryan Theriot who was handpicked for the starting SS job by Piniella. Which leaves only Derrek Lee who got a new five year contract while Dusty Baker was manager as the odd man on the team. Given the recent emphasis on getting more left handed and the fact that right handed starting first basemen are the exception while lefties are the rule, I'm guessing DLee would be gone as well if it weren't for that no-trade contract he has.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

i'd rather have pujols.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

Dunn by a mile on offense, Lee by two miles on defense. Not even sure how to reconcile those two.

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

Do we know Dunn would be terrible at 1B? Yes, he's terrible in the outfield, but Teixeira or DLee would be too. I don't know Dunn's 1B stats (and don't have time to look them up), but I think there's a chance he'd be considerably better than in the OF.

[ ]

In reply to by Tito

For context, DLee: 77 errors, .994 fielding %, 1505 games That is about .051 errors/game, compared to Dunn's .118 errors/game.

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

Lee has also played 165.4 innings for every error he's committed. Dunn has played 59.4 innings for every error at first. That's 2.78 times as many errors per inning as Lee has committed. Dunn could get better with more playing time though. But we're not even looking at Lee's range or ability to react to hard drives down the line and in the hole or over his head. In the last 5 years, Dunn's OPS+ numbers have been: 146, 141, 114, 136, 129. Lee's have been: 117, 174, 113, 131, and 110. That means in 2005 Lee was a far better hitter than Dunn, in 2006 and and 2007 Dunn was just barely better, but in 2008 and 2004 Dunn was 19 and 29 points better, respectively. Dunn's younger by 4 years, but according to those OPS numbers, it's hard to say that either one is on the decline just yet. They're both big guys, but Dunn is bigger and heavier. Could that mean Lee will age better? I'll take my chances with Lee for now. He's probably not going to hit 40 homeruns any time soon, but besides that, Dunn has only a slight advantage in OBP and comes up short in everything else.

[ ]

In reply to by Andrew

if Dunn could play first base he would have been doing it a lot more the last 3-5 years...

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

I really like Lee, but I could learn to love Dunn.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Of course after a while of Dunn at 1B, the subject would become "what happened to Rammy's arm?" Because deep down we all know D. Lee makes Ramirez look like a passable 3B arm.

According to Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports, Aurilia back to the Giants. Whew!

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022. 

  • 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...