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 
Minor League Free-Agents

Toros Don't Dig Graves at Mesa Cubtown

Submitted by Arizona Phil on

Calvin Graves drilled a double and a two-run single and Varonex Cuevas singled twice and scored two runs, leading the Cubs to an 8-5 victory over Los Toros de Tijuana (Mexican League) in Minor League Camp game action this morning at Mesa Cubtown Field #3.

The speedy Graves also made the defensive play of the game, an outstanding full-sprint running catch in left-centerfield. 

Miguel Torrero walked and roped a two-run single and Efren Espinoza singled twice, walked, and scored a run for Los Toros. 

The seven Cubs pitchers who worked in the game were from the Iowa (AAA) squad, and with five NRI pitchers having been sent down to Minor League Camp today from the MLB club, all seven of the guys who threw against Tijuana are probably "on the bubble."

Most (if not all) of the The position players who played in the game are likely destined for the Eugene/Mesa (Extended Spring Training) squad, and so most all of them are probably "on the bubble," too.   

For those of you who follow the Tijuana Toros in particular and the Mexican League in general, Mexican League Opening Day is Friday April 3rd, and Tijuana will be on the road at Mexico City Red Devils. So if you were planning to be in Tijuana to watch Los Toros on Mexican League Opening Day, you will need to divert to Mexico City.

Here is the abridged box score frrom today's game (Cubs players only):

CUBS LINEUP: 
1a. Tim Saunders, SS: 0-1 (K, BB, BB, R)
1b. Varonex Cuevas, SS: 2-2 (1B, 1B, 2 R)
2a. Tanner Witt, 2B: 0-2 (6-3, BB, F-8)
2b. Bryant Flete, 2B: 1-2 (F-8, 1B) 
3a. Shane Kennedy, 3B: 0-2 (L-9, 4-6 FC, BB, R, 2 SB) 
3b. David Bote, 3B: 1-2 (E-4, 2B, 2 RBI)
4. Kevin Brown, DH: 0-4 (4-3, 4-3, F-8, F-8 SF, F-7, RBI)
5. Kevin Encarnacion, LF: 1-5 (F-9, F-9, 1B, K, F-9, R)
6a. Alex Tomasovich, 1B: 0-2 (5-3, K) 
6b. Adonis Paula, PH-1B: 0-2 (P-4, 6-3) 
7. Calvin Graves, CF: 2-4 (E-3, 2B, 1B, 4-3, R, 2 RBI)
8a. Charlie White, RF: 0-2 (F-8, 4-3) 
8b. Shamiel Ubiera, RF: 0-2 (5-U FC, 6-3) 
9a. Tyler Pearson, C: 1-2 (6-4-3 DP, 2B, RBI)
9b. Erick Castillo, C: 1-2 (E-6, 1B, 2 R) 

CUBS PITCHERS: 
1. Felix Pena: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K, 2/0 GO/FO, 37 pitches (19 strikes) 
2. Carlos Pimentel: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R (2 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, 1 BALK, 1/2 GO/FO, 30 pitches (20 strikes) 
3. Blake Cooper: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 0 K, 10 pitches (8 strikes) 
4. Austin Kirk: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 0/2 GO/FO, 14 pitches (9 strikes) 
5. Jeff Lorick: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 2/0 GO/FO, 16 pitches (11 strikes) 
6. Matt Loosen: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 19 pitches (14 strikes)  
7. Zach Cates: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, 0/1 GO/FO, 17 pitches (11 strikes) 

CUBS ERRORS: 1 
3B Shane Kennedy - E-5 (throwing error on infield single allowed batter-runner to advance to 2nd base and unearned run to score from 3rd)

CUBS CATCHERS DEFENSE: 
Tyler Pearson; 2-2 CS 

WEATHER: Sunny and a bit breezy, with temperatures in the 80's 

ATTENDANCE: 47 

 

Tags
Cubs Minor League Spring Training Game Recap
Calvin Graves
Varonex Cuevas

Comments

Submitted by DavidP on Mon, 03/16/2015 - 03:40 pm

I had forgotten that Loux was still in the system. Can he still be considered to be a prospect any more. The same question for Maples.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Mon, 03/16/2015 - 03:18 pm

DAVID P: Barret Loux had both shoulder surgery AND UCL elbow surgery (TJS) over the past year-and-a-half. It's hard enough to come back from one, but to make it back from both (especially when the two surgeies occurred within such a short period of time) would be quite a feat. So far he looks OK throwing "live" BP, but it remains ro be seen how he fares in games. 

As for Dillon Maples, he probably needs to make the South Bend staff (bullpen) coming out of Minor League Camp. If he doesn't, he would be a definite release candidate prior to Opening Day. I don't think he will spend another season at Extended Spring Training. 

BTW, if Maples does get released, he can always go to college and be a punter (he was an outstanding punter in HS). He was all set to be a two-sport student athlete at the University of North Carolina when the Cubs almost literally signed him off the UNC football practice field in August 2011. Not every minor leaguer who gets released has that fall-back option. 

Submitted by crunch on Mon, 03/16/2015 - 03:11 pm

"Reds manager Bryan Price indicated Monday that Jason Marquis and Paul Maholm are good bets to make the team's rotation." damn...not the best group of ex-cubs. CIN was looking interesting a couple years ago...now they're at this point.

Submitted by Old and Blue on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:27 am

Wasn't there some talk of a Castro for Zach Wheeler trade a ways back? Whew! Sucks, though - I hate seeing all these pitchers go down.

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:46 pm

@CarrieMuskat 46s46 seconds ago #Cubs seem to be leaning toward 3 catchers. Maddon says having Welly will help them keep Montero, Ross healthy, also extra bat.

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Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:05 pm

I don't know about increase, but let teams know they won't give him away. TheJedi are very good at playing the PR trade game. And frankly, they do have room for Beefy.


C: Montero, Ross, Castillo

INF: Rizzo, LaStella/Alcantara, Castro, Olt

OF: Soler, Fowler, Coghlan/Denorfia, Sweeney

Alcantara is going to play 7 positions by June, but being able to pinch hit Montero or Ross late in games would be a neat luxury.

[ ]

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:16 pm

And the Cubs are in a good position in that they are not in a rush to make the move. The roster will likely shift a lot this year with so many young guys. If no one offers anything decent by the end of Spring Training, you could start the season like this. Then after a few weeks another team realizes their back-up catcher is not working out, or an injury hits, and they can move him then, at which point perhaps someone like Bryant or Baez is going to be called up anyway.  If the Cubs are in the position where they have to take a hit on the trade, it means that many other things are all going really well, and we won't care.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:23 pm

it's been this way for months. there's been very few teams looking catchers and when TOR picked up a new catcher, making d.navarro expendable, things got worse for the cubs. handing d.ross a 2 year deal pushed them further into a corner...if you want to call it that. given the elements of this "storm" they can continue to wait for some other catcher to catch an injury or try to out-compete TOR's desire to trade away d.navarro by undercutting welly's value even more. his value in trade has been sunk for months. i just wonder how cool welly will be with being the "3rd catcher" when he could start for some teams and be the main backup on others...we'll find out soon if he's not traded how cool he is with it.

[ ]

Submitted by Stevens on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:31 pm

I mean, okay, but say Carrie Muskat tweets "Wellington Castillo demands trade"...and then what? Do Theo/Jed care what their 3rd string catcher demands? Do other teams think, "hey, here's a guy who knows what he wants, let's go get him"? Or, does Castillo paint himself as a whiner and clubhouse malcontent by making demands as an arb-eligible 3rd string catcher? I don't think any demand would either protect his future or increase his wallet thickness. Get better at framing pitches. Improve your hitting and patience. Then teams will start to care what you want and when you want it.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:40 pm

usually the player in question ends up being traded or making a "i'm happy here, this was overblown" statement...all the while the press strokes themselves from beginning to end covering it. that said, it was just pure wild-ass "tossing it out there" speculation on a trade demand. i just can't imagine him or his agent are cool with this unless they know he's going to see 400-ish PAs and work behind the plate. when it comes to his D...is that 1 to 1.5 extra called strikes per game worth ignoring the other aspects of his D game? framing pitches was the hot thing this winter, but it's hardly a make/break thing for a catcher when he brings other plus tools to his D game. for people that care about dWAR, he put up 4.0 value on that in his 210 games over his last 2 seasons behind the plate.

[ ]

Submitted by Stevens on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:47 pm

I get it was wild-ass. I just don't get why anyone would care if he made demands. Or why that would help a player of his stature. As for his D, or really his whole game, I admit that I don't know what Theo/Jed didn't like. But that they acquired 2 catchers says enough about what they think of him, at least for now.

[ ]

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:51 pm

Beefy isn't going to demand anything, if anything they'll try and sneak him through waivers at the end of spring training if they don't have a roster spot or a trade partner.

There's a reason he hasn't been traded yet and it's because he's a barely serviceable starter and not veteran enough and not good enough defensively to be a back-up.

At best you're talking Corey Black upside in a trade I'm guessing. Everyone agrees at this point he's terrible at framing pitches, it was one of the first things I noticed when he came up and a lot of others on this board did as well, and the somewhat flawed metrics agree and most importantly obviously TheJedi agree or they wouldn't have gotten 2 new catchers. He's a decent enough hitting catcher that can get hot that you don't want to give him away and he is decent at throwing out runners, but a player is only worth what someone will give you for him and obviously it's not much at the moment.

 

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:59 pm

there's about a 0% chance you could get him through waivers... the guy is healthy, has pop, doesn't have a leaky glove, and throws out about 1/3rd of base runners who test him. not to mention the guy makes 2m and has years of club control left. david ross just got 2.5m (for 2 years, each year) after putting up 2 extremely pathetic seasons with the bat, half the workload, and showcasing a decrease in arm strength last year. 2m for welly is a deal compared to that.

Submitted by Cubster on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:09 pm

Assume 3 catchers and no trades: 11 pitchers. 8 starters and 6 bench guys. Fowler, Coglin, Rizzo, Soler, Montero, Castro, Olt, Baez. Bench: Castillo, Ross, Denorfia, LaStella, Alcantara and Sweeney/Szczur. so other than the 4/5th OF, it looks like Lake or Baez/Herrera is the final cut? and who goes when Bryant arrives?

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Submitted by Old and Blue on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:51 pm

"and who goes when Bryant arrives?" Instead of Baez, who is hitting .115, they'll keep someone they can send down painlessly. He's not gonna break camp if he doesn't nudge that average up a bit. So keep Lake, test Bryant in the OF. It doesn't take much to make a passable left fielder, and if he already has arm fatigue it could be third base is not his position anyway, even if he can field it ok. Baez now is going to need to fight off Russell. He has his work cut out for him me thinks. By the time Bryant comes up they'll either probably have a taker for Castillo or they can just send Lake off somewhere.

[ ]

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:26 pm

Baez isn't going to make the team, my guess from earlier presuming the standard 13 position player/12 pitcher mix

C: Montero, Ross

INF: Rizzo, La Stella/Alcantara, Castro, Olt

OF: Soler, Fowler, Coghlan/Denorfia, Sweeney

leaving your extra spot for Welington, Herrera,  Szczur, Lake, etc (my $$ would be on Herrera)

SP: Arrieta, Lester, Hammel, Hendricks, ???

RP: Rondon, Strop, Motte, Ramirez, Grimm, Coke, ???

two spots for Wood, Jackson, Doubront, Wada, Britton, Schlitter, etc (my $$ on Wood as SP and Jackson to pen)

I do find the amount of angst on who is going to break with the club rather disproportional to the amount that it matters. I don't know the numbers off hand, but guestimating  teams probably change 20-30% of the backend of their roster every year. You'll go through 7-10 SP's on a year most times and I'm guessing around 15-20 relievers, plus 3-5 bench players and probably a starting position player or two. That's all off the top of my head, adjust your numbers accordingly.

[ ]

Submitted by Old and Blue on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:40 pm

"I do find the amount of angst on who is going to break with the club rather disproportional to the amount that it matters" I can't speak for others, but hopefully it's not angst. Something to talk about whilst waiting for something interesting to happen maybe? I don't know what the word for that is, but I'm pretty sure it ain't angst. Teeth gnashing? No. That's two words.

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Submitted by Cubster on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:01 pm

I don't think it's angst either, but I'm rooting for a few of the bubble guys like Szczur, Britton or even Daniel Bard who is really a long shot but might get called up later. J Herrera makes me say, meh, but he represents what Rob is talking about in terms of the that 20-30% roster shuffle for when Bryant or later when Russell gets the call. At some point, As far as rooting for the kids, I'd love to see Dallas Beeler get another chance but that won't happen without some key starter getting injured (hopefully none of the top 4). Finally, Blake Parker vs Brian Schlitter. Iowa shuffle material again this year?

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Submitted by Old and Blue on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:22 pm

I'm rooting big time for Szczur (or, as the Great Maddonini calls him, Julius Szczur). The rest I don't really care too much about, since there's just about 0 chance Bryant isn't up by whatever his date is. Even if Szczur is sent down I'm sure he'll be back up during the Rob Shuffle at some point but I'd love to see the guy break camp. Because bone marrow.

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Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Wed, 03/18/2015 - 03:54 am

I'm rooting for Szczur, too, for three reasons. 1) His baby-blue eyes will translate into mega jersey sales in the female sizes, especially when the Bryant rack has been picked clean. 2) Has a great story: saved a kid's life at some danger/cost to himself 3) He also saves no-hitters, as Chris Rusin can testify. Also made a great effort to pull off a Reed Johnson catch to save Arietta's no-no. Maybe he'll be the Cubs' salvation!

Submitted by Rob G. on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:14 pm

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2015/03/17/kris-bryant-cubs-fr…

The inevitable Boras tantrum on Bryant showed up about 2 weeks earlier than I expected

"Everybody in baseball is saying he's a major-league player ready for the big leagues. I have players call me. Executives call me. The Cubs' people want him there. Everyone says, 'They cannot send this guy down.' It's too obvious.

"This isn't a system choice. This isn't a mandate. This is a flat ownership decision. Do they really want to win here?''

~snip~

"Ownership doesn't have anything to do with it,'' Epstein told USA TODAY Sports. "We're making an organizational decision. And I'll be the one, as president of baseball operations, making the decision.

"You never have a second chance to promote somebody the first time. You want to make sure they're in the right place. In Kris' case, we know he's ready offensively, we just want to get him in a good rhythm defensively.

"We do a better job at player development than we do strategizing on how to save a few dollars here and there. That's what we want to be all about. We don't think we screwed him up, and we don't think we're going to.''

[ ]

Submitted by George Altman on Tue, 03/17/2015 - 03:02 pm

Let's be real. Boras's problem is Hendry isn't GM here anymore. If he was, Bryant, Russell and Baez would be in the starting lineup with Johnson in the rotation. Schwarber would be up in July. Unfortunately for Scott, idiots are no longer in charge of baseball operations anymore.

Recent comments

  • Childersb3 (view)

    AZ Phil, do you think Shaw can be a consistent .290-.300/25-30HR/90-100RBI hitter?
    Those HR totals are probably unrealistic but I'll keep them there for now.

  • 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.

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