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

Colvin Grand Salami Too Little Too Late

Tyler Colvin crushed a towering grand slam HR over the RF fence to cap a Cub four-run 8th inning rally and narrow a six-run deficit to two runs, but the Colorado Rockies hung-on to defeat the Cubs 6-4 in Cactus League action at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in sunny & warm Mesa, AZ, this afternoon.

box score

Ryan Dempster got the start today, a final tune-up in preparation for his scheduled Opening Day start versus the Pirates at Wrigley Field this coming Friday. And he was not sharp, allowing three runs on five hits (including two RBI doubles by Jose Morales, one in the 2nd and another in the 4th) and two walks in four innings (77 pitches - 50 strikes), striking out two with a 6/3 GO/FO.  

James Russell followed Dempster tio the mound and threw three innings (31 pitches - 22 strikes), breezing through the first two frames before getting hammered in his third inning to the tune of two runs on four hits (three singles and a double). And it could have been worse, too, except Alfonso Soriano cut-down Jonathan Herrera for the third out of the inning trying to advance from 1st to 3rd base on the last of the RBI hits. 

John Grabow labored through a 25-pitch 8th, allowing one unearned run on two hits and a walk. In Grabow's defense, he really should have been out of the inning without a run scoring, but 2B D. J. Lemahieu (up from Minor League Camp) could not turn the back-end of what should have been an easy 6-4-3 DP, spiking the relay throw to 1st into the dirt. I have mentioned before that Lemahieu has difficulty turning the DP from the 2B position, and today's E-4 was a good example of what I mean. He has trouble getting his feet into position to make a strong and accurate throw to 1st base from a flat-footed stance, something that is required of a 2nd baseman. Lemahieu has worked long and hard to try and learn the steps, but so far he has been unable to get it right.

After having been shut-down by Colorado RHSP Clay Mortensen and two Rockies relievers for seven innings, the Cubs mounted a one-out rally against RHP Billy Buckner in the bottom of the 8th. PH Max Ramirez (making his first game appearance in about a week) drew a walk, and advanced to 2nd on a Brett Jackson single (Jackson's second hit of the game). Matt Camp walked to load the bases, and then, with the crowd cheering loudly and on its feet (about as loud and enthused as you will ever see a Cactus League crowd), Tyler Colvin pulverized a 3-2 pitch high over the RF fence, as the ball was last seen headed bounding toward the Rockies team bus parked at the top of the driveway.

Carlos Marmol threw a 1-2-3 9th (with two strikeouts), and so the Cubs had one more chance to tie or win the game in the bottom of the 9th.    

With Buckner still on the hill, Ty Wright drew a lead-off walk, bringing the potential tying run to the plate. But Lemahieu grounded out to the pitcher. Bryan Lahair flied out to the warning track in deep CF, and PH Welington Castillo fanned on a check swing to end the game, with the Rockies the victors.

In looking at what will (apparently) be the Cubs Opening Day roster, I think the Cubs will find that not having a stretched-out long reliever in the bullpen at the start of the season (when the starting pitchers have not yet reached their max pitch counts) could be a problem. James Russell was stretched out earlier in Spring Training when the Cubs were considering him as a starter, and although he did throw three innings today, he did so on just 31 pitches (more-typical for a two-inning stint). Also, it's hard to be both a LOOGY (Lefty-One-Out-Guy) and a long-reliever capable of throwing three or four innings in a single game.  

We have discussed this here before, but since there is no way to control the work-load for the long reliever (he might not be needed for several days in a row, and then he's needed maybe three times in a six day period), the best way to handle the long reliever slot in the bullpen is to rotate maybe three starters from the AAA affiliate to the big league team, bringing up a pitcher who is stretched-out as a starter for a couple of weeks, until either he has worked too much or not enough, and then send that pitcher back to AAA and bring up another one. Casey Coleman will soon be stretched-out as a starter at Iowa, and both Robert Coello and Thomas Diamond already have already been stretched-out for the I-Cubs in Minor League Spring Training games. 

Comments

I posted this yesterday when he said it, but for those who missed it, Q-Ball's plan is this:
Instead of designating one pitcher, Quade said he expects Russell, Mateo and Samardzija to be able to throw 40 pitches in a game and go at least two innings. Russell and Samardzija have both started in the past.

the unsensored version of Quade's rant (filling in the blanks from the Sun-Times)...
‘‘First of all, he’s dead fucking wrong about my pitching coach. And I got no fucking time for that,’’ manager Mike Quade said. ‘‘And second, respect is a two-way street, period. If you’re not willing to give it, you’re not getting it. ‘‘And the third thing — that everybody needs to know — this was my call. If you want to be irritated with somebody, this is on me.’’
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/4539103-417/cubs-dump-carl…

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • 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.