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

Another One Bites The Dust

The dismantlement of the 2005 Chicago Cubs continues. Todd Hollandsworth, like Matt Lawton and Mike Remlinger before him, possesses no value to the Cubs beyond this year, since his contract expires over the winter and promises no compensatory draft picks. Furthermore, any value he holds this year has been rendered an irrelevance by the Cubs' 62-69 circumstance. Moving him, and others in the same boat, to teams that still harbour dreams of October baseball is an inarguably sensible strategy, for, even if the typical return in players is similarly valueless and irrelevant, the transaction at least saves dollars that can ideally be spent more effectively at a later point. And, in some instances, the faceless names acquired in such deals do end up possessing long-term value. If possible then, the Cubs should perhaps also be considering moving Ben Grieve and Neifi Perez over the next day or two, while monitoring the markets for Ryan Dempster, Greg Maddux, Glendon Rusch and Jeromy Burnitz, although the need to clear waivers makes deals there unlikely. Moving Todd Walker would be far less wise. In the Cubs' particular instance as regards these small trades, there's also the Dusty Baker factor. It has to be at least wondered if putting such tantalising options such as Lawton, Hollandsworth and Reverse-split Remlinger just out of Dusty's otherwise inescapable reach plays any part in these moves, even if it's just a secondary motivation. From this vantage point a good few thousand miles away, Dusty Baker's misuse of the roster he's been afforded is as clear as day, even if the extent of the impact of that misuse, both absolute and relative, is far more debatable. Just what the view looks like from Hendry's much more privileged viewpoint, and just what difference, if any, that view is responsible for when it comes to his roster construction - those are the predominant thoughts on my mind when it comes to the Cubs these days. Are these moves, or any moves, what he believes to be best for the team, or best for the team as long as it's managed by Dusty Baker, on whom Hendry has all but staked his own position too? If the latter, I think it's entirely possible that Hendry's self-compromise is having just as great a detrimental effect as the much more obvious (and therefore much more maligned) mis-management of Dusty Baker. I spoke yesterday about Hendry's courage with regards to the Matt Lawton mistake, but if he sees Dusty Baker as a mistake, one that's compromising him and the team as a whole, the greater act of courage would be to send Dusty Baker packing, even if by doing so he runs the risk of going the same way himself. On the other hand, if he doesn't see Dusty Baker as a mistake, and this year's team is his own way of constructing a team capable of winning the World Series, I personally don't think he's got a good enough grasp of the big picture to be a general manager anyway. Discuss.

Comments

Man, it really is depressing to be at this point. I really thought there was little/no chance we would be out of it and dumping players in August. It's worthwhile to look to the future, and constructive to debate where the blame lies for this lost season so we can be sure never to repeat it. But for the moment, and for a few more days, it's tough getting used to the fact that we have moved on and the energy and buzz have been drained from Wrigley for 2005.

Overall, I'm willing to cut Hendry a little more slack than Baker for two reasons. First, I think Dusty is basically worthless as a manager. He's a hopelessly bad in-game tactician who has some really goofy ideas about the game, and if you look at the way some of his players conduct themselves, it's hard to buy the line about Baker being a great "clubhouse manager". Hendry has certainly made mistakes (not the least of which being the hiring of Dusty Baker), but he's also done some very good things (e.g., Lee, Ramirez, Maddux). Also, Hendry is, at least to some degree, constrained by the suits in Tribune Tower. I don't know exactly how long his leash is, but I have to think he's smart enough to know that Dusty Baker is not working out. It's at least plausible to me that Hendry's bosses won't let him dump Baker and eat his contract. At first glance, that doesn't seem to make sense, given the money they've already eaten on player contracts. But by Tribune logic, that might be all the more reason not to eat another $4 million. Now I don't think that "blame Andy McFail" should be an all-purpose excuse for Hendry's mistakes. He may have a budget, but it's still a very large budget by MLB standards. Still, I do think that at least some of the thing's Hendry has taken heat for can plausibly be explained by the need to keep his bean-counting bosses happy. Other Hendry "mistakes" (e.g., Nomar) are risks that were defensible at the time, but that just didn't work out.

Those who have insight based on reliable reportage, please comment, but I wonder about the nature of interaction between Hendry and Tribune Co. How periodic? How substantive? How detailed? Can we make some assumptions based on other reports, biographies, tell-alls, etc? I can hallucinate a corporate managerial situation taking shape, a vicious downward cycle as follows: 1) OK, now we agree we're out of it for this year 2) We swallowed a big chunk of Sammy Sosa's pay this year, and Look! at all the dollars burned on the DL this year 3) Our fans are fairly loyal- gate receipts and TV ratings remain pretty good even for losing Cubs teams, so roster changes are fairly revenue-neutral with respect to accounts receivable. 4) We can compensate for this year and increase profits next year by shifting to 'rebuilding' mode in a big way, and slashing accounts payable. 5) Fans might appreciate a 'let the kids' play atmosphere. New Ad Campaign! 6) The only way to keep Dusty (we're going to lose anyway, why eat his contract) and let the kids play is to deal the vets out from under him. Does this spell Fire Sale? I wonder. But I'm stupid- surely not like the Marlins, Huizenga cashing out after they had their title. Please correct me.

If possible then, the Cubs should perhaps also be considering moving Ben Grieve and Neifi Perez over the next day or two, while monitoring the markets for Ryan Dempster, Greg Maddux, Glendon Rusch and Jeromy Burnitz, although the need to clear waivers makes deals there unlikely. Moving Todd Walker would be far less wise. It's been widely reported that Lawton, Holly and Walker were the only Cubs players to pass through waivers. There is a chance that Dempster, Maddux, Rusch or Burnitz have not been put through waivers yet but it's highly unlikely. Once the trade deadline passes, a team can put up to 7 players per business day on waivers and opposing teams have 47 hours to put a claim in. Most GM's won't wait till the last minute to try to get guys through waivers though. And since it is 47 hours and there's less than 47 hours to finalize your playoff rosters, those guys have definitely already been put through waivers. I heard that Neifi was claimed by the Nats, but no deal was made as it's likely the claim was made earlier in the month when the Cubs still were thought to be in it. I wrote about this the other day when someone was discussing Todd Walker..... ---- Just cause Walker made it through, doesn't mean he's unwanted. If a team claimed him, the Cubs could just pull him back off waivers (which of course they would with Walker) OR it's a 48 (and a half) hour trade window. The waivers are done at the beginning of the month(you can put up to 7 players each business day and you have 47 hours to put your claim in) and I believe the Twins still had Boone at the time, the Yanks are happy with Cano, the A's are fine with Mark Ellis, and Scioscia loves Kennedy . The Mets are the only team that I think would have entertained the idea, (but I think they're trying to build a team around speed and defense.) BUT... If you want to make a trade with a team, you DON't do it by putting a waiver claim in because of the short time frame, UNLESS you're really certain that you can make a deal. (Chances are the GM"s have already discussed a deal) PLUS, since waivers are usually done right after the trade deadline, I doubt Hendry was really thinking about trading him at the time and putting a waiver claim would just block Walker from ever being traded this month, which would then piss of Hendry and he'd probably block one of your guys in the future. And Walker is certainly not enough of a player to block another team from having either. I am bit surprised that Burnitz didn't make it through though. Maybe there was a deal and a team blocked it or someone really wanted Burnitz, but Hendry wasn't dealing quite yet. Steve Phillips did an excellent article on it awhile back http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=phillips_steve&i… Insider stuff which apparently I still have access too somehow...

I never believed we were a top drawer contender coming into this season. More like a weak sister, who could surprise if we were lucky to get some player who performed above their normal career patterns, however the disappointment goes deepr than 2005, it actually lingers based on my belief that the problem is bigger than Baker - the Cubs have always embraced the traditional, long held belief system that ignores the modern techniques used by more statistically nminded franchises. As such, whether the team payroll is $70M or $115M, if the performance problems are not addressed correctly, we will continue in this mold of getting close without ever tasting post season success. Time is short - if we can't turn the corner in a substantial way in 06, both Prior and Z are CANDIDATES to leave for better opportunities. In my heart, I still think we will win if we get lucky and sign/acquire players who want to make concessions to come to Chicago. Jim Hendry, for all his bravada and baseball background, does not have top drawer insight into what it takes to build a championship caliber offense. He is a tools guy and I don't think he really buys into the data that is out there to help a franchise make more informed decisions. He is not an all out dinosuar like Baker is, but he has a long way to go before he is widely regarded as a shrewd baseball talent evaluator.

Recent comments

  • 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...

  • 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.