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

Cubs Win! Cubs Win! (for Instructional Purposes ONLY!)

While most Cubs fans were watching some stupid, meaningless, late-September game between the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field, the REAL fans were gathered at Fitch Park Field #3 in Mesa. Yes, today is a big day here in Mesa: Opening Day for the Arizona Instructional League. Apparently the governor and mayor couldn't make it, but you can be sure AZ Phil and a couple or three other screaming fans showed up, not at all dissuaded by the absence of concessions, music, National Anthem, 7th inning stetch, lame between-inning contests, or a PA announcer. And you can be sure we were not disappointed! Cubs 2007 13th round pick Jonathan Wyatt drove in three runs with a two-run triple and solo home run, and Cubs 2007 #1 draft pick Josh Vitters drove in two more with a bases-loaded single, leading the Cubs to an 8-4 victory over the Angels. The Cubs AZ Instructional League team is essentially a post-season All-Star team made up (mainly) of the best prospects from AZL Mesa, Boise, Peoria, and Daytona. The boys play an exciting 17-game schedule from September 21st through October 13th against Instructional League teams representing the Angels, A's, Giants, Brewers, and White Sox, and in addition to the games, the youngsters receive intense instruction every day from the organization's special instructors, including Bobby Dernier (baserunning and outfield), Casey Kopitzke (catching), Tom Beyers (hitting), and Tom Pratt and Dennis Lewallyn (pitching). Cubs Minor League Coordinator Dave Bialas is the camp manager (director?). Here is today's abridged box score (Cubs players only): LINEUP: 1. Jonathan Wyatt, CF (2-4, 3B, SOLO HR, HBP, 2 R, 3 RBI) 2. Tony Thomas, 2B (2-3, 3B, HBP, SB, R) 3. Marwin Gonzalez, SS (1-4, 3B, R, RBI) 4. Kyler Burke, 1B (0-3, BB, R) 5. Brandon Guyer, LF (2-3, 3B, BB, R, RBI) 6. Josh Vitters, 3B (1-4, 2 RBI, K, GIDP) 7-A. Welington Castillo, C (1-1, 2B, BB, R) 7-B. Steve Clevenger, C (1-2, 2B) 8. Cliff Andersen, RF (0-4, K) 9. Jovan Rosa, DH #1 (2-3, 2B, BB, RBI, K) 10. Mark Reed, DH #2 (0-4, R) NOTE: They use two DHs and a ten-man batting order in th AZ Instructional League. PITCHING: 1. Ryan Acosta - 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 1 K, 1 GIDP (22 pitches) 2. Donnie Veal - 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (20 pitches) 3. Chris Huseby - 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 1 K (16 pitches) 4. Casey Lambert - 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 1 K (32 pitches) 5. Jose Ceda - 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 1 K (31 pitches) DEFENSE: ERRORS (2): 1. Castillo (throwing - attempted pick-off at 2nd base sailed into CF) 2. Vitters (dropped throw from catcher at 3rd base that would have been a CS) STOLEN BASES/CAUGHT STEALING: 1. Castillo (1-1 CS) 2. Clevenger (2-3 CS) PICK-OFF: Castillo picked runner off 2nd base (this young man is a throwin' fool!) ===================================== 2007 CUBS AZ INSTRUCTIONAL LEAGUE ROSTER (effective 9/21/07): PITCHERS (21): Ryan Acosta Michael Bunton Jose Ceda Rafael Cova (25-year old ex-Mets prospect, pitched for Tijuana in 2007) Dumas Garcia (24-year old Colombian signed last week out of indy league in Georgia) Alan Guerrero Marcus Hatley Yuri Higgins Chris Huseby Casey Lambert Jordan Latham Matt Maradeo Marcos Mateo Mark Pawelek Hernan Ramos (NDFA Venezuelan signed in August out of Ellsworth CC in Iowa) Dae-Eun Rhee (signed this past summer out of Korea) James Russell Chris Siegfried Marco Tovar Donald Veal Stephen Vento CATCHERS (6): Welington Castillo (NOTE: Only one "L" in Welington!) Steve Clevenger (also plays 1B-2B-3B-SS) Josh Donaldson John Nelson (AAA Iowa utility INF learning to be a catcher?) Carlos Perez Mark Reed INFIELDERS (9): Darwin Barney (SS) Marwin Gonzalez (3B-SS-2B-1B) Gian Guzman (3B-SS-2B) Bryan Jost (1B) Josh Lansford (3B) Jovan Rosa (3B) Marquez Smith (3B) Tony Thomas (2B) Josh Vitters (3B) OUTFIELDERS (7): Cliff Andersen Kyler Burke (also is playing 1B) Brandon Guyer Leon Johnson Drew Rundle (also learning to play 1B) Ty Wright Jonathan Wyatt Also, OF Angel Pagan is on a DL injury rehab assignment at Fitch Park. OF Tyler Colvin was originally supposed to be at the Instructional League camp, but he is not.

Comments

"The Cubs AZ Instructional League team is essentially a post-season All-Star team made up (mainly) of the best prospects from AZL Mesa, Boise, Peoria, and Daytona." Was Jeff Samardzdija not an "all-star" this year, or is he on to bigger and better things this off-season?

There's a lot of physical talent on that roster. Should be some exciting plays, even if the level of baseball isn't that consistant.

Bryan — September 21, 2007 @ 6:20 pm Was Jeff Samardzdija not an “all-star” this year, or is he on to bigger and better things this off-season? ============================ BRYAN: Normally, somebody like Samardzija would have been invited to attend Instructs, but I think I remember reading somewhere that the Cubs don't want the Shark to throw any more innings this season. Other notable absences include OF Clark Hardman and Nelson Perez, 1B Russ Canzler, 2B Ryne Malone, SS Dylan Johnston, C Jake Muyco, and pitchers Alberto Alburquerque, Zach Ashwood, Miguel Cabrera, Julio Castillo, Hung-Wen Chen, Miguel Cuevas, Darin Downs, Arik Hempy, Robert Hernandez, Simon Lee, Oswaldo Martinez, John Muller, Jeremy Papelbon, Jake Renshaw, Jayson Ruhlman, Audy Santana, Joel Santo, Dustin Sasser, and Larry Suarez, In the case of the absent pitchers, a lot of times the club just doesn't want a guy to throw any more innings. But to not see position players like Dylan Johnston, Russ Canzler, and Clark Hardman at the Instructs camp was a bit of a surprise.

Rory — September 21, 2007 @ 7:08 pm AZ - whats the deal with Tyler Colvin is he MIA? ======================= RORY: Tyler Colvin and Eric Patterson are going to be playing for Team USA in a tour of Taiwan in November, and although the tour isn't until after the AZ Instructs are over, I suspect the Cubs probably decided to give Colvin some time off, especially since he had a sore shoulder this season.

On a random irrelevant off-hand note, I believe Welington Castillo uses one "l" in his name because in Spanish, using two "l"s would result in the awkward pronunciation of "Weh-yeeng-ton".

AZ Phil -- just curious whether you agree with the Lilly/Sunday analysis in the previous thread (#95)?

AZ Phil, The guy I can't wait to see next spring is Larry Suarez. What do you think of him?

"lame between-inning contests" you 3-10 people should totally get your own between-inning hacky/tacky thing going on. 3 guys doing a bat spin for a couple of fun-sized snickers bars. the 2 fatest guys going at it in a sumo competition for a pool of change collected from people's cars. =p

"On a random irrelevant off-hand note, I believe Welington Castillo uses one “l” in his name because in Spanish, using two “l”s would result in the awkward pronunciation of “Weh-yeeng-ton”." -Sheffield/Cornelia Sheff, it depends on which dialect of Spanish you speak (or where you're from). some don't pronounce the double L as Y. but yeah, many do say it that way.

cubswinthepennant — September 21, 2007 @ 9:08 pm AZ Phil, The guy I can’t wait to see next spring is Larry Suarez. What do you think of him? ========================== CWtP: I've seen Suarez pitch maybe a dozen times going back to ST, EXST, and AZL, and almost every time I've seen him throw he has struggled with his command. However, the couple of times I saw him throw where he did throw strikes, he was dominating. Of course, he's only 17, so he has a lot of time to smooth things out. He has the same physique as Carlos Zambrano, but his personality is more sullen and serious. I've never seen him smile, and I've also never seen him display any emotion on the mound. At least not yet.

I think I heard Fleita on a radio show say, " that Colvin would be attending instructional league about October 1st and then join it into this deal with Taiwan. Az Phil? It sounds like this team in instructional league has pretty good speed and skill and is geared more towards the offensive mindset?

Wes — September 22, 2007 @ 5:02 am Jose Ceda gave up a run? Unacceptable. ========================== WES: Yes, Ceda gave up a run. He also labored through his two inings, mainly because he threw a lot of breaking balls. Most of the pitchers at Instructs are working on developing secondary pitches, so they sometimes don't look as sharp as the would during the regular season when they throw mostly only their best stuff. For instance, in yesterday's game, the only pitcher who didn't labor was Chris Huseby. He looked VERY sharp, mainly because he was throwing three different pitches for strikes. There is probably no pitcher at the lower levels who has improved as much as Huseby from ST to Instructs. Donnie Veal pitched one inning and retired the side in order with two strikeouts, but he also went 3-2 on all three hitters he faced,.and threw 20 pitches. I still believe Veal's future is as a late-inning reliever. He just throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a starter.

slamdog — September 22, 2007 @ 9:08 am I think I heard Fleita on a radio show say, ” that Colvin would be attending instructional league about October 1st and then join it into this deal with Taiwan. Az Phil? It sounds like this team in instructional league has pretty good speed and skill and is geared more towards the offensive mindset? ============================== SLAMDOG: Offensively, this is the best Cubs Instructs team I can remember. The Cubs have some very impressive young position-players down here. I do have some questions about Tony Thomas as a second-baseman (he looks stiff), Josh Donaldson as a catcher (I believe he will eventually be moved to 1B), and Josh Vitters as a 3rd baseman (Rosa has better defensive instincts than Vitters and he has plus-power, too), but most-all of the outfielders are athletic defenders and good offensive players, too, and Welington Castillo and Carlos Perez both appear to have futures as major league catchers. W. Castillo needs a lot of work to smooth out the rough edges, but he definitely has some major upside. BTW, Kyler Burke made a couple of very fancy plays at 1B yesterday. It's kind of a waste of his plus-arm to play him at 1B, but he certainly looks comfortable there. Also, I've seen him play a lot down here before, but Marwin Gonzalez continues to impress me. Gonzo would seem to have a future as a super-sub utility player. He's very athletic, he can already play any position in the infield, and he's a switch hitter with some pop.

Paul — September 21, 2007 @ 8:30 pm How is B. Jost doing? =========================== PAUL: Bryan Jost is taking BP only so far, but I hope to see him play in a game before too long.

AZ Phil... I asked this in the previous thread, but no one had an answer. There was a rumor about Angel Guzman having Tommy John surgery last week, reportedly reported by Levine on ESPN 1000. I have only seen this one place (NSBB) and haven't been able to find any confirmation on it. Have you heard anything about this?

dave — September 22, 2007 @ 9:38 am AZ Phil… I asked this in the previous thread, but no one had an answer. There was a rumor about Angel Guzman having Tommy John surgery last week, reportedly reported by Levine on ESPN 1000. I have only seen this one place (NSBB) and haven’t been able to find any confirmation on it. Have you heard anything about this? ============================== DAVE: I'll see if I can find out.

Hey AZ Phil, thanks for these updates! Have you seen Dae-Eun Rhee and what are your thoughts about him?

NAVIN: I haven't seen Rhee pitch yet. Also, in case the names are unfamilar, Rafael Cova, Marco Tovar, and Alan Guerrero pitched for Tijuana in the Mexican League in 2007 and were signed within the past few weeks by the Cubs, and Dumas Garcia (who is from Colombia) pitched for the South Georgia Peanuts of the indy South Coast League in '07. Cova is 25, Garcia is 24, Guerrero is 19, and Tovar is 18. All are RHP, except Tovar, who is a LHP. You may remember Cova as a one-time hard-throwin' Mets pitching prospect (he even got an NRI to ST with the Mets a couple of years ago) who was suspended and then got released by the Mets in 2006.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    masterboney is a luxury on a team that has multiple, capable options for 2nd, SS, and 3rd without him around.  i don't hate the guy, but if madrigal is sticking around then masterboney is expendable.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    I THINK I agree with that decision. They committed to Wicks as a starter and, while he hasn’t been stellar I don’t think he’s been bad enough to undo that commitment.

    That said, Wesneski’s performance last night dictates he be the next righty up.

    Quite the dilemma. They have many good options, particularly in relief, but not many great ones. And complicating the situation is that the pitchers being paid the most are by and large performing the worst - or in Taillon’s case, at least to this point, not at all.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Wesneski and Mastrobuoni to Iowa

    Taillon and Wisdom up

    Wesneski can't pitch for a couple of days after the 4 IP from last night. But Jed picked Wicks over Wesneski.

  • crunch (view)

    booooooooooo

    also, wisdom and taillon are both in chicago.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Tonight’s game postponed. Split games on Saturday.

  • crunch (view)

    cubs getting crazy good at not having player moves leak.

    taillon we 100% know is pitching tonight.  who he's replacing and any additional moves are unknown as far as i can tell.

    p.wisdom was not in today's lineup in iowa (rained out) and he was removed from the game last night mid-game, but not for injury.  good bet he's with the team in the bigs, too.

  • Bill (view)

    A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return.  Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention".  Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."

     

    Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost.  But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.  

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions.  Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022.  I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.

  • 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!!!