Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

39 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (one slot is open), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL and one player has been DESIGNATED FOR ASSIGNMENT (DFA)

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, and nine players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, three players are on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-23-2024

* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Hector Neris
Jameson Taillon
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
Christopher Morel
* Matt Mervis
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman

OPTIONED: 9
Kevin Alcantara, OF
Michael Arias, P
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF
Jose Cuas, P
Brennen Davis, OF
Porter Hodge, P
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
Daniel Palencia, P
Luis Vazquez, INF

10-DAY IL: 1
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL: 3
Kyle Hendricks, P
* Drew Smyly, P
* Justin Steele, P

60-DAY IL: 2
Caleb Kilian, P
Julian Merryweather, P

DFA: 1
Garrett Cooper, 1B

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft
Minor League Free-Agents

Soto, Samardzija Up For Rookie of the Month

It looks like I'm four months late on this, but it appears that Rookie of the Month honors in the MLB is voted by the fans. The Cubs have two nominees, Geovany Soto and Jeff Samardzija and they'll go up against Cardinals reliever Chris Perez and Rockies third basemen Ian Stewart. Soto is looking for his second win of the year and voting runs through Monday.

Samardzija provided a bullpen boost for the first-place Cubs. In 14 1/3 innings, he was 1-0 and didn't allow a run. Samardzija had 13 strikeouts during the month. Soto won rookie honors in April and has continued to be a firm offensive and defensive presence for a Chicago team that has taken charge of the NL Central. Soto hit .355 in August with five doubles, three homers and 21 RBIs. Soto drew 13 walks and scored 17 runs while handling himself well behind the plate and providing a level of comfort for the Chicago pitching staff.

A look at Geovany Soto's year compared to other Cubs catchers of years past after the jump...

I looked up the EqA (Equivalent Average) via Baseball Prospectus (adjusted for all-time) of some of our catchers over the years. Top Season as a Cub (with a decent number of AB's for that season) followed by career average:

Gabby Hartnett -.333/.292
Rick Wilkins - .314/.262
Geovany Soto - .297/.297 (not counting his 2007 season for top honors)
Michael Barrett - .292/.250
Bob O'Farrell - .290/.257
Jody Davis - .274/.251
Randy Hundley - .268/.233

if you want to try and adjust for defense, let's take a look at their season using BP's WARP-3 (Wins Above Replacement Adjusted for All-Time) stat.

Gabby Hartnett (1935) - 9.7
Rick Wilkins (1993) - 9.5
Johnny Kling (1903) - 8.7
Geovany Soto (2008) - 8.6 (so far this year)
Bob O'Farrell (1922) - 8.1
Randy Hundley (1969) - 6.5
Jody Davis (1986) - 6.5
Michael Barrett (2004) - 5.3

Back to just the bat, the list of top Cubs catchers sorted by OPS+ (with at least 450 PA's), a list dominated by Gabby Hartnett. Soto's 2008 is currently 7th on the list.

Hartnett (1935) - 151
Wilkins (1993) - 150
Hartnett (1930) - 144
Hartnett (1928) - 142
O'Farrell (1923) - 131
Hartnett (1934) - 129
Soto (2008) - 126
O' Farrell (1922) - 126
Kling (1908) - 119
Kling (1903) - 118

Comments

Recent comments

Childersb3 04/23/2024 - 04:56 pm (view)

Things I've been wrong about:
-Tauchman is fine as a 4th OF. I knew that. I just want a better LH DH option and he was really the DH for us until Seiya got hurt. I'm glad Mervis is getting a chance at it. Caissie is coming for that job for sure. But Tauchman continues to be highly useful as a 4th OF with Seiya being hurt
-I wanted Yency to go to get guys at Iowa a chance. Guys like Palencia and Sanders or RileyT. Maybe even Hodge! But Yency has been better the last two plus weeks. He did hit 96 the other day. He was 93 in Texas to open the season.
-Leiter has his split working enough. It just needs to stay there
-I was surprised Jed picked Wisdom over Cooper. I wonder if this happens if Seiya wasn't hurt. Wisdom has more power. Cooper is the better hitter. Jed picked Wisdom and Wisdom had an option left as well.
-Palencia just doesn't miss enough bats. Similar to ManRod, just two yrs younger. ManRod is killing AAA for TB right now!
Things I got right so far:
-Hendricks. Sorry Kyle. You got paid though!
Jed, you missed there.
-Smyly. If Jed could've traded him before or during ST, then he should have and saved some cash.
-Mastro. Not a LH DH. Pinch runner. Defensive utility. Maybe he's better than Madrigal but didn't get a legit chance to prove it.
-Luke Little is good. He's had one bad outing. That's it. Needs to get better entering with guys on base. But he needs to stay in MLB.
-Oh yeah....Morel is doing fine at 3B! He'll get better as well!!
crunch 04/23/2024 - 04:58 pm (view)

bellinger "right rib contusion"
Childersb3 04/23/2024 - 04:47 pm (view)

South Bend just lost the lead in the bottom of the 9th on the weirdest scenario, ever.
It's absolutely pouring rain....men on 1st and 2nd, 1out....JPatterson asks for a new ball, but no time out was called....he throws the old ball toward the dugout (not sure if it rolled out of play).....the ump declares the runners get two bases each so one run scores. Then a single up the middle ties the game.
The rain was coming down in buckets at this point.
Just weird
crunch 04/23/2024 - 04:40 pm (view)

...and bellinger is gone in the 7th because of that 2nd blown chance and the wall he bounced off of...

hopefully his rib cage/shoulder feels better tomorrow, we just got happ back.
Childersb3 04/23/2024 - 04:27 pm (view)

Phil,
Any thoughts on Y. Rojas' stuff and Y. Melendez's game (I believe I've asked about him before, sorry)?
crunch 04/23/2024 - 04:23 pm (view)

wow, things are moving fast. hopefully it continues.
crunch 04/23/2024 - 04:47 pm (view)

morel with 4 clean plays in 4 innings...showed off his 100000000mph arm a couple times.

cody bellinger not having a good 4th, though...5 run leads are handy when your CF is making your pitcher have a 5-out inning. 2nd blown chance was ruled a hit even though it went in/out of his glove...1st was lost in the lights, also ruled a hit.
crunch 04/23/2024 - 04:50 pm (view)

welcome back happ! double off the wall 1st PA back.
crunch 04/23/2024 - 04:37 pm (view)

oh yeah, totally, i was just chiming about why i fan like i fan.

i would like nothing more than hendricks to keep on hendricks'ing. guys with his stuff can throw for a long, long time as long as it works.

he velocity is actually up a minor amount this year. it's really "damn" when a guy like him not only has gas in the tank, but it's looking like it was years ago. he added a curve a few years ago and it helped a little bit, but he's throwing it less and less while the fb/change combo are less effective.
Alexander Dimm 04/23/2024 - 04:26 pm (view)

CRUNCH—There is no one person in this community I’m talking about. My remarks were not directed at you or anyone, but at a tone I’ve noticed lately.

You have a great, dry sense of humor and there is thought behind your comments. You and I don’t always agree but I always understand your position.

Lastly, and I’ll be quiet, I agree with you on Hendricks. We can dislike the recent performance but still love the guy. Lots of questions about his future.