Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

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

Last updated 10-2-2023
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 22
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Brad Boxberger
Ben Brown
Jose Cuas
Tyler Duffey 
Jeremiah Estrada
Shane Greene
Kyle Hendricks
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Daniel Palencia
Michael Rucker
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Marcus Stroman
Jameson Taillon
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 8
# Jeimer Candelario
Nico Hoerner
* Miles Mastrobuoni
* Matt Mervis
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom
* Jared Young

OUTFIELDERS: 8
Kevin Alcantara
* Cody Bellinger
Alexander Canario
* Pete Crow-Armstrong
Brennen Davis
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman

60-DAY IL: 6
Nick Burdi, P
Michael Fulmer, P 
Codi Heuer, P
* Brandon Hughes, P
Nick Madrigal, INF
Ethan Roberts, P
 


 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Rich Harden

TCR Friday Notes

A little under the weather and mourning the end of the Bears season, so some brief notes to hold you over for the weekend.

-  To add fuel to my "they better offer Rich Harden arbitration" fire, the Seattle Times suggest the Mariners have some interest in Rich Harden as I imagine a few teams will.

Harden Goes to DL So Randy Wells Isn't Going Anywhere

Reader Osiris flagged this bad news by way of Paul Sullivan in the Tribune:

The Cubs placed Rich Harden on the 15-day disabled list with a back strain on Friday, and inserted Randy Wells into the rotation for Saturday's game.

This will allow the Cubs to activate Carlos Zambrano without having to make another roster move, i.e., demote Wells. Harden felt "a twinge" when he pitched last Sunday against the Astros.

You may vomit as you see fit.

Harden Bests Former, Almost-Cub Peavy: Cubs 6, Padres 2

On the 39th anniversary of Ernie Banks' 500th home run, Milton Bradley hit a titanic, two-run blast in the sixth inning to lead the Cubs and RIch Harden past Jake Peavy and the Padres.

In the first inning, Harden gave up a leadoff double to Brian Giles and one out later, a two-run homer to Adrian Gonzalez. He limited the Pads to just two more hits and held them scoreless over the remainder of his six innings, at one point retiring 13 San Diego hitters consecutively.

Harden Makes It Look Easy at Fitch Park

Rich Harden threw four shutout innings and Welington Castillo's two run home run capped a five-run 5th, as the Iowa Cubs (Cubs AAA affiliate) edged the Sacramento River Cats (Oakland A's AAA affiliate) 5-4 before an unusually large Minor League Camp crowd of 50+ at cool & breezy Fitch Park Field #3 this afternoon

Cubs Pitching Coach Larry Rothschild and Assistant Pitching Coach Lester Strode were in attendance, and the place was absoluely crawling with beat writers, bloggers, and assorted Cubs fans intent on watching an actual Cubs major league pitcher throw on a day when the big club had the day off, and they were not disappointed.

However, very few stayed for the whole game. 

So for those of you who want to know how Harden looked, but also just HAVE to know how the Iowa Cubs did it,.. here is... the... rest...of... the... story...

The Cubs Trainer vs. The Secretive Nature of the Industry

Gordon Wittenmyer in his Sunday Sun-Times article extolled the virtues of Cubs trainer, Mark O'Neal. It's a really nice piece explaining how valuable an athletic trainer can be to the ballclub. Beyond the obvious treating of injured athletes, the job involves organizing effective treatment protocols, reviewing medical histories and records and something as simple as honest communication of his medical opinions to both the athlete and management after assessing all this medical input. It took some time but he's created a sense of trust of his judgement from athletes and management.

The line between keeping the manager and GM fully informed and not betraying a player's confidence is not a tough one to walk, O'Neal said, as long as it comes with honesty, straight talk and the confidence he and his staff know what they're doing.

Echos of Long Toss and Towel Drills Past

Rich Harden was all the news yesterday even though there was nothing new going on. Harden was newsworthy because he's starting the spring camp with long toss rather than work off the mound like the other pitchers. He's been on an off-season strengthening program for an achy-breaky shoulder that everyone in Cubs camp is still struggling to label. It's kind of like having a family member with a psychiatric diagnosis in the 1950's. Nobody wants to label the poor fella because of the stigma and gossip. Sun-Times beat reporter Gordon Wittenmyer, in his blog, was irked that once again there was misinformation delivered this off-season regarding what the diagnosis of Harden's shoulder issues are.

Can anybody tell me what the advantage is in omitting those details and being vague about these things? It's not like the Cubs have to protect the information for the purposes of shopping Harden or for any on-the-field competitive reasons (scouts have eyes).

I've covered three other teams in my career, and the ones that were most up front about these kinds of things had the fewest headaches with the way the information got out. And the fans stayed well informed, without the yo-yo effect.

S***

''His arm action's good; he's throwing free and easy...He's not close to throwing off a mound yet. There's some issues there, no question.''

No, not a reprint of a 2005 article or 2004 article or 2006 article, but rather Larry Rotschild talking about Rich Harden at the Cubs Convention on Saturday. Don't worry though, the Cubs have the spin ready.

 Cubs insiders say Harden is right on schedule toward a strong, on-time and well-conditioned start to spring training and the season.

Of course they believe that...but what about this?

Update on The Latest Cub Unicorn

There is this article in today's Sun-Times about Rich Harden's winter rehab. He's working on a  6 day a week strengthening program that could be the most rigorous of any Cub this offseason. It's designed to "ease" him up to pitching conditions "by the end" of spring training. Fine. I remember this somewhere in the not too distant Cub past (including the Larry Rothschild quotes). Flushed with a strong sense of Déjà vu, I finally saw some new information in the article:

But sources also confirmed Saturday that Harden has a tear in the joint, just severe enough that some players might seek surgery but slight enough to be in a range often treated effectively with a strengthening program, therapy and a well- managed work schedule.

Gordon Wittenmyer in the Sun-Times doesn't give enough info to make me absolutely certain but the implication is Harden is putting up with a "Kerry Wood type" rotator cuff tear. I do recall that Harden underwent an MRI/Arthrogram after the season to better assess his shoulder issues and before the team decided to pick up his $7 Million option. The press was told this on October 8th:

General manager Jim Hendry said an MRI-arthrogram on Harden's shoulder revealed no tears of the labrum or rotator cuff, referring to Harden's problems as "subtle instability in the shoulder."

At the Cubs Convention yesterday GW's article says "sources" confirmed Harden has "a tear in the joint." This implies the rotator cuff tissue has an area that is showing structural damage on the MRI/Arthrogram, but not involving the full thickness of the cuff tendon and thus without any detachment from it's insertion on bone (greater tuberosity). Any surgical repair has to take down some degenerative tissue that is worn but not detached. The results of surgery on that type of situation would be iffy for a high end starting pitcher, especially if they were counting on him for 2009. Hence he's on a non-surgical treatment protocol analagous to what Kerry Wood went through after his MRI/Arthrogram in July 2006.

Game 3 NLDS / Cubs @ Dodgers

 


Rich Harden vs.
Hiroki Kuroda
  *5-1, 1.77, 89 K, 30 BB, 71 IP
2008   9-10, 3.73, 116 K, 42 BB, 183.1 IP
  1-2, 6.43, 5 K, 7 BB, 7 IP
Post   (None)
  *NL stats only
     
         
LF
Alfonso Soriano
  SS
#Rafael Furcal
2B
*Mike Fontenot   C
Russell Martin
1B
Derrek Lee
  LF
Manny Ramirez
3B
Aramis Ramirez
  RF
Andre Ethier
C
Geovany Soto
  1B
*James Loney
CF
*Jim Edmonds
  CF
Matt Kemp
RF
Mark DeRosa
  2B
*Blake DeWitt
SS
Ryan Theriot
  3B
Casey Blake
P
*Rich Harden
  P Hiroki Kuroda

 

Our very own Rob G. will be in the stands at tonight's game. Be sure to look for him on the broadcast.

Thoughts on Hiroki Kuroda from "Blue Notes," the L.A. Times blog about the Dodgers:

...when the Japanese import is on, dude typically gets into a serious, sometimes unhittable groove. But he's often the Bizarro-version of that pitcher after the first bit of trouble, more often than not tossing himself further into trouble than figuring a way out of it.

In two starts against the Cubs this year, Kuroda has pitched 15 1/3 innings and allowed one earned run. In other words, we really haven't come across that "first bit of trouble" part.

Recent comments

  • Childersb3 10/03/2023 - 10:46 pm (view)

    I understand this is a cost saving and control idea. But I wouldn't be happy giving up ONKC or Alcantara for Hayes and/or Bednar.

    I'm not saying they aren't good players. They are. They've never been "tested" with playing for a good team, but that isn't their fault. They produce good results. But not Jaguar and Big Red.

    Canario won't get to play for the Cubs, just like Velazquez, so he should probably go. Same for Mervis and Vazquez. Wesneski can get better but Bednar would certainly help us.

    But not to big power hitting OFs that are 21 yrs old and younger at AA already. I'm still holding out hope for the ONKC-PCA-Jag left to right OF. I'm just not giving up on that.

    Hayes for Morel kind of stings. I'd love for Morel to get a full year at 3B. Even if he failed there miserably, I'd like to give him a shot.

    Phil always comes up with common sense angles. This trade idea fills needs for sure and fills them with cost saving effective players.

    I'm thinking Morel goes to NYM for Alonso.

    We'll see what Jed cooks up.

  • Arizona Phil 10/03/2023 - 10:18 pm (view)

    It used to be that teams did not want to trade within their own division for PR reasons, but I don't see that with Ben Cherington in Pittsburgh or with Hoyer / Hawkins in Chicago, so the Cubs might target Pirates 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes and closer David Bednar.

    Hayes is a Gold Glove defender, a decent enough hitter (105 OPS+ in 2023), and he's under control at a VERY reasonable price ($8.75M AAV) through 2029 (with a club option for 2030). 

    Bednar is first-time salary arbitration-eligible post-2023 and under control through 2026. 

    One thing about the Cubs is that they can afford to overpay (which is what they would have to do to get both Hayes and Bednar) with a package consisting of a decent young MLB position player to replace Hayes in the lineup (like Christopher Morel, who could play LF in Pittsburgh) and prospects like outfielders Alexander Canario, Owen Caissie, or Kevin Alcantara (Pirates pick one, leaving the other two for the Cubs), a power-hitting 1B-DH like Matt Mervis or Haydn McGeary (Pirates pick one, leaving the other one for the Cubs), SS Luis Vazquez (who is MLB-ready but will never play SS in Chicago), 3B B. J. Murray (who could replace Hayes at the hot corner in Pittsburgh by 2025 if not sometime in 2024, and he obviously would be blocked in Chicago if the Cubs get Hayes), and an MLB-ready SP like Hayden Wesneski. 

  • crunch 10/03/2023 - 10:02 pm (view)

    boog and glanville calling the PHI@MIL game on ESPN2.

  • crunch 10/03/2023 - 10:59 pm (view)

    bellinger is my #1 want, but i fear he's the #1 want of many teams and will get crazy money + years, with the years being the big sting.  they need to replace bellinger's production if they don't get him no matter what position(s) played.

  • George Altman 10/03/2023 - 10:40 pm (view)

    I hope their top priorities are Bellinger, 2 RPs better than Fulmer/Boxberger (ideally 1 LH), and a 3B (Chapman my 1st Choice). That will put them right up to $237-257M AAV limit, but I don't see a playoff berth doing anything less.

    If they really want Alonso, Morel would be a good opening piece of that offer. 

    Unfortunately, Stroman will opt in ($23.7M) and Smyly ($11.5M) will be back. Steele, Taillon, Assad, Wicks will be rotation pieces. Would love a SP2 FA but don't see how they keep an effective offense and improve their bullpen while adding that.

  • crunch 10/03/2023 - 10:03 pm (view)

    i cannot imagine getting a legit 3rd, whether signing or via trade, isn't the highest priority for the team.  it's almost obvious they don't see morel there.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester 10/03/2023 - 10:19 pm (view)

    I’m just hoping they have an actual 3B next year so we don’t need to worry about the M boys, Bote, and P Whiffy eating all the 3B at bats next year.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester 10/03/2023 - 10:13 pm (view)

    Willson was a OF/3B when we signed him too.

    On a less successful but still got to the show note, PJ Higgins was another college IF converted to C

  • crunch 10/03/2023 - 10:03 pm (view)

    truth...and personally, i'd give him ABs (especially at 3rd) over the 2 singles-hitting-ceiling guys that got the shot.  i'm sure he can cover the ob% and defense while surpassing the power of anything masterboney and madrigal brought to the team.

    i don't view bote as a solution at 3rd, but i find it hard to believe he couldn't outperform either of the main options they had there for a huge chunk of this season.

  • KingKongvsGodzilla 10/03/2023 - 10:47 pm (view)

    Color me impressed by this assignment for Trice right out of the draft as a convert. Seems worth following after the success of Caratini