Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

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

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

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

OPTIONED: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

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




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Game #63 recap: Cubs 1, White Sox 0, Lilly Almost

Submitted by Cubnut on

Addendum: In cycling through Cub no-hit history, ESPN's Jon Miller mentioned that the Cubs have not been on the short end of a no-hitter since Sandy Koufax tossed a perfect game against the Cubs back in 1965. That was the game that saw Cub loser Bob Hendley allow the Dodgers just one hit. Joe Morgan intoned that he heard the ninth inning of that game on the radio as he and his Houston Astro teammates drove into the city from the L.A. airport; they were scheduled to play the Dodgers the next night. Morgan said he specifically remembered Koufax striking out Ernie Banks in the 9th to preserve the perfect game. Would it surprise you to know that Morgan was wrong? Nope. Didn't surprise me either.

 

 

The Cubs held on to beat the White Sox, 1-0, Sunday night at Wrigley Field. The game saw Ted Lilly and Gavin Floyd locked up in a double no-hit duel until Alfonso Soriano collected the game's first hit, a double inside the leftfield line with two out in the Cubs seventh. Chad Tracy then followed with a sharp ground-ball single that plated Soriano with the game's only run.

Lilly maintained his no-hitter into the top of the ninth, at which point Juan Pierre rapped a clean line single to centerfield to break up the no-no and send Lilly to the showers in favor of Carlos Marmol. Marmol's shaky ninth inning included a walk and a balk, which left the Sox with men at second and third and none out. But the Cub closer came back to fan Alexei Ramirez and, following an intentional pass to Alex Rios, he induced Paul Konerko to hit into a force out and retired Carlos Quentin on a fly ball to short centerfield.

All in all, great drama for the third and final game in this Cubs/White Sox series; so great, it was momentarily possible to forget that we were watching two desperately mediocre teams that between them, couldn't put together a first-rate pennant contender.

Sad to see Lilly lose his no-hit bid so late in the game. The ESPN boys pointed out that this would have marked the first no-hit game thrown at Wrigley Field since Milt Pappas's near-perfect game against the Padres in 1972. I guess that means the good news about Lilly missing out on the no-hitter is that we won't have to listen to Milt Pappas remind the Chicago radio audience tomorrow morning how Bruce Froemming jobbed him out of a perfect game.

Tags
Ted Lilly
Game Recap
Chad Tracy
Alfonso Soriano

Comments

Submitted by Triton on Mon, 06/14/2010 - 06:09 am

Speaking of Joe Morgan...did anyone else hear when he said that Zambrano's no-hitter in 2008 was played in Miller Park because of hurricane Katrina? Just not even close....3 years off.

Submitted by Mike Wellman on Mon, 06/14/2010 - 06:44 am

i heard miller invoke katrina...only thing that would ever surprise me about morgan would be if he ever shut up...wish we didn't play the sox; can't stand ozzie, can't stand harrelson, can't stand their uni's, etc.

Submitted by Craig A. on Mon, 06/14/2010 - 06:40 pm

It was a perfect game, and there was no way Banks batted in the bottom third of the order. Koufax did strike out all the batters he faced in the eighth and ninth innings, including, of course, Banks in the eighth.

[ ]

Submitted by Cubnut on Mon, 06/14/2010 - 06:13 pm

Thanks for the link, Rob. Just to clarify the little chart, it doesn't show where the Cubs rank relative to the rest of the NL, defensive position-by-defensive position. It just shows the order of offensive output by position. For example, league-wide, the most productive offensive players are the first basemen, the rightfielders, and then the third basemen. For the Cubs, the most productive offensive players have been the leftfielders (primarily Soriano) the centerfielders (primarily Byrd), and the catchers (mostly Soto). Third base (i.e., Ramirez) and second base are where the Cubs have fallen most short of the rest of the NL.

[ ]

Submitted by Charlie on Mon, 06/14/2010 - 06:52 pm

I think it'd be fun to take a moment to fully appreciate the lack of production at 2nd base: Ryan Theriot as a SS this year: .764 OPS Mike Fontenot's overall 2010 OPS: .780 Jeff Baker's overall 2010 OPS: .705, despite a dismal .247 batting average. Ryan Theriot as a 2B this year: .517 OPS. Fontenot and Baker still seem like the best option at 2B to me as a platoon. Fontenot can put up average-ish offensive numbers, and Baker has hammered lefties in his career. Castro is putting up a .660 OPS so far. A little disappointing, but not terribly surprising. If the Cubs are playing for 2011, they need to deal Theriot at some point and go with the cheap platoon at 2B. If the Cubs think they are contenders still, Theriot needs to hit or sit. An ice cold Ryan Theriot helps no one.

[ ]

Submitted by WISCGRAD on Mon, 06/14/2010 - 06:39 pm

For the first 26 games Theriot had a .799 OPS. Over the next 25 it was .384. But over his last 8 games he's had an .828 OPS. Those 4 weeks he struggled so badly might have just been a slump or it might have been the position change, or a little of both. My guess is that if he hadn't just been moved he would have sat much more during that horrendous stretch. The move from SS to 2B was like being demoted so Lou naturally wants to make sure he knows that he will be the everyday second basemen. He also wants to get him reps at the new position, not sporadic play, so he can adjust. And he wants Castro to work with the same DP partner as much as possible as he adjusts to the big leagues. Anyway, my guess is that Theriot will end up with an OPS right around .700 by the time the season ends, with above average defense at 2B, and 25 stolen bases or so. All of which makes him about 12th-15th as far as MLB second basemen go.

Recent comments

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
    I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
    I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
    That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
    I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
    We'll find out soon enough!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa? 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Pro teams have to play their "big money" guys if they are healthy and not "locker room" issues.
    The Cubs wanted to deal JHey off well before they bought him out. They just didn't want to pay him to play for someone else for that long. Jed did give him 20+mil to play for LAD last yr.
    Jed might also let Kyle walk at some point this year. Similar scenario to JHey, except Jed thought Kyle was going to be good/solid in '24!!
    You'd think Smyly is in the same book as well. Same with Neris (he's a 1yr vet RP, so he's not really in this convo too much).
    That's ~35mil between those three and those three are going to get opportunities until at least late June) over younger guys even if their performance is "iffy".
    But, Jed is going to play Taillon a lot. They have to try and justify that contract and hope a veteran works out.
    So, Taillon, Imanaga, and Hendricks are locks for the rest of April and probably May.
    Assad, Brown and Wicks handle the last spots until Steele is ready.
    Now, you're question has real merit when Steele comes back. That will interesting if Brown is still good and Hendricks is still bad. But Taillon is entirely safe as long as he's healthy.

    And the bullpen moves were "money" based as well. Smyly has actually been okay. But he hasn't been clearly better than Little. Little had one bad outing. But Smyly makes 9mil. If they needed another RHRP and one of Little and Smyly had to go, it was going to Little. But that doesn't mean Smyly is one of the best 13 arms for the team. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Childersb3: I think there was an issue with Luke Little coming into a game with men on base. He seems to need a "clean" inning to be dominant. So he is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AAA. Same goes for Michael Arias. He needs to come into a "clean" inning, and is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AA. Porter Hodge is a more versatile pitcher, a better version of Keegan Thompson (multi-inning RP). But Little, Arias, and Hodge (probably in that order) are the Cubs top three RP prospects (all three are Cubs Top 15 prospects).

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    So, let’s do a little war gaming. Taillon is back for tonight’s game. He pitched two rehab games, just a few innings each, and not especially sharp. Let’s face it, he hasn’t been lights out since the Cubs gave him the big contract. In other words, as flat out bad as Hendricks has been, the chances of Taillon being the savior don’t look exactly promising.

    If Taillon is equally ineffective or perhaps even worse, what’s the next move? Winning teams can often find a way to work around a dud fifth starter - kinda. Two dud starters make things much more difficult.

    I believe the biggest reason for the recent bullpen moves was dissatisfaction with the recent blowing of big leads and the recognition that the bullpen wasn’t all it was thought to be. In other words, they are exploring alternate options and configurations. If similar juggling becomes necessary (even more so than it already is), what kind of reasonable maneuvering do we think could be explored?

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Cubdom needs to prepare themselves for Wicks to be sent to Iowa for Taillon to come up.
    Ben Brown has 4 appearances. Wicks has 4 appearances.
    Ben has 16.1 IP.  Wicks has 17 IP
    Ben was a 1.1 WHIP.  Wicks has a 1.7 WHIP. Wicks does have significantly more SOs. 
    Ben has been better, though.
    I love Wicks. I think he's a fighter and his stuff has improved.
    But, Jed isn't ditching Hendricks just yet. He should. But he won't.
    Hendricks should go to the IL and Taillon-Imanaga-Assad-Wicks-Brown should be the rotation.
    Wont' happen though.

Click HERE for the last 50 comments