Cubs MLB Roster

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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

Geovany Soto: the Cubs' Bronx Bomber

Submitted by Cubnut on
In Friday's New York Times, Alan Schwarz profiled Geo Soto, and we learn that despite being born in Puerto Rico and attending high school there, Soto played his first "significant game" in New York. The Cub catcher lived with his family in the Bronx from the time he was four until age eight.

Soto remembers it very clearly. It might have been just below the reservoir. Or maybe down near that ice rink. But it was definitely in Manhattan's Central Park.

"It was awesome," said Soto... "You go with your dad to the practice field, but never in my life I'd ever put a uniform on and played with other kids. I felt like, 'Wow, it's really happening—I'm going to play baseball.'"

Schwarz also writes about Soto's rapport with the Cubs pitching staff.

In part of because of his excellent English, Soto handled the veteran pitching staff with such aplomb that many Cubs considered him the team's backbone and most valuable player—despite the presence of established stars like Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano. Soto knew when to talk and when not to.

Regarding Soto's hitting prowess, Schwarz mentions Soto's significant weight loss leading up to his monster offensive season at Iowa (.353-26-109) in 2007.

[Soto's weight] ballooned to as much as 250 pounds. It was only after losing weight that he began to emerge...

"Nobody was high on him after 2006, myself included," said Gary Hughes, a special assistant to the Cubs' general manager, Jim Hendry. "But there was a different Geovany Soto out there."

The new Soto had more flexibility through his midsection, allowing him to turn on pitches, and the stamina to keep calling them deep into games and seasons.

Soto is hardly the first player to see a correlation between his weight and his baseball numbers. Still, with all the stats sites and baseball reference books out there, I can't ever recall seeing one that tracked changes in a player's weight from season to season. Maybe it's not possible to get legitimate numbers anyway: teams in all sports are notorious for fudging those figures to effect. (Basketball teams, of course, are also known to misstate their players' heights.)

But if it was possible to gather this data, I think we would be able to establish some interesting connections between particular players and particular performance levels.

Tags
Geovany Soto

Comments

Submitted by Rob G. on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 03:18 pm

In part of because of his excellent English, Soto handled the veteran pitching staff with such aplomb that many Cubs considered him the team's backbone and most valuable player—despite the presence of established stars like Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano. Soto knew when to talk and when not to.

Did the paper of record end a sentence with a preposition on a paragraph talking about excellent English?

I'll show myself out...

Submitted by DLees Heymaker on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 03:47 pm

Actually, ending a sentence with a preposition is considered proper. See Chicago Manual of Style 5.169: "The traditional caveat of yesteryear against ending sentences with prepositions is, for most writers, an unnecessary and pedantic restriction. As Winston Churchill famously said, 'That is the type of arrant pedantry with which I shall not put....' The 'rule' prohibiting terminal prepositions was an ill-founded superstition."

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Submitted by Transmission on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 03:52 pm

I'm not the greatest with my grammar rules, but my sense is that at this point split infinitives and ending sentences with prepositions is more a matter of style than of grammar rules.  I try not to end a sentence with a preposition because A. it usually doesn't have a good ring to it and B. it's become a silly social convention that people notice, even on baseball blogs. The NYT writer should have avoided it for both of those reasons, as much or moreso than for any questionable grammar...  

 

:)

 

 Ok, back to work here.  woo.

 

Oh, and Nice Article.

Submitted by crunch on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 03:58 pm

i wonder what god of graphic design made that patch on Team Italy's jersey... bright white text on bright/light neon green...brilliant. i still have no idea what it says.

[ ]

Submitted by Cubster on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 03:59 am

Navigator, you misread that article...Dr. Craig Morgan did Schilling's surgery. He was assisted by one of Dr. Romeo's associates. They apparently used Dr. Romeo's technique. The operation isn't new it's just a minor variation on technique that is "new".

Submitted by Cubster on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 03:56 am

Phil Rogers sunday article mentions Dr. Tony Romeo (he's officially on the WSux payroll as one of their team physicians, he's a shoulder specialist from Rush) in the context of the operation that Curt Schilling had (biceps tenodesis). Even though the surgery was done in Boston (by Dr. Morgan). http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-08-rogers-inside-baseballmar08… This operation removes the biceps from where it originates above the glenoid (shoulder socket) because it's frayed or partially torn and takes the tendon where it rests more proximally on the upper humerus (arm bone) and re-anchors it there. The frayed origin can then be removed. This keeps the tendon from completely rupturing and gives the long head origin of the biceps a secure origin again. The short head origin of the biceps attaches at a different location (coracoid process) and usually doesn't tear. http://www.southwest-ortho.com/images/sports/proximal-biceps-tendons.jpg Biceps tenodesis has been around a long time and the techniques have improved modestly with smaller incisions. The improvements due more to technology advancements such as suture anchors and interference screw fixation options than anything (at least for that operation). These tools have developed in response to shoulder arthroscopy which has seen many advances in the last decade. The Knee joint was the area that had the first wave of advancements before the shoulder became the "hot" area. Now the hip is in it's early development stages...hence the on and off decisions regarding whether ARo-d should have his hip labral tear fixed. On WSCR sports update they said ARod WILL have surgery tuesday. Expecting 6-9 weeks for recovery. This is most likely what Utley had in the offseason so I'd expect if he does return that quickly it will be as a DH.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    PCA called up.

  • crunch (view)

    welp...

    bellinger...fractured rib.

    a not-very-ready PCA will probably be called up when it would be much better for him to be in AAA getting regular ABs.

  • crunch (view)

    i have no hard data, but i'm seeing the same thing.

    there used to be some parks where that was rampant (colorado during the todd helton days comes to mind), but i'm seeing it all over the place the past couple seasons.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    I’ll spare the details which I’ve stated before but, in short, the Cardinals have lost their sight of their successful identity and strategy over last several dominant decades. From the beginning of the season I saw the Cardinals being in last place or near it again this year, and my prediction is that Mozeliak will be gone after the end of the season.

  • Bill (view)

    I would have kept Cooper rather than Wisdom, but at least I can understand why they did it.  In a team that lacks dominant power hitters, Wisdom can be a dominant power hitter, at least in streaks.  I suppose that there is always the possibility that the streaks longer in both duration and frequency.  I will be content if they essentially make a 100 % DH commitment to Mervis against righties and Wisdom against lefties.  When a regular needs rest, give them total rest, rather than a DH rest.  Do this for at least 2 months, and then re-evaluate at that point.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    This is Cubs adjacent but…


    Jordan Walker just was optioned by the deadbirds. For all the talk of the Cardinals development machine, they’ve really missed on a lot of can’t miss superstars lately. Walker has struggled. Gorman has been okay. They’re already trying to push Carlson out the door. Their pitching system has been so bad they had to go out and sign basically a full rotation over the last two offseasons.

    They’ve still developed a few of those pesky solid players, like Donovan, Edman, and Nootbaar. Their two best prospect to MLB players have been Adolis and Arozarena, neither of which is a cardinal.

    I hope they never figure it out again. Cardinal failure brings me such joy.
     

  • Raisin101 (view)

    Thank you so much! I really appreciate not only all your posts but how eager you are to respond to our questions.

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Is it just me or does it seem that official scorers are becoming less likely to call a misplay an error? 

     

    Guess I've hit my cranky old-man phase in life.  "I remember back in the day when an error was an error.  Official scorers have gone soft.  Now where did I put my readers?!!??"

     

    Sidenote, maybe Bellinger should be a little more careful against the Astros.  That was the series last year that a play at wall put him on the IL.   

  • crunch (view)

    i hated the almonte pickup, but he's 9-10 out of 12 for good outings, following a great spring.  hope he can keep it up.

    i already miss cooper, but yeah...the thin OF roster backup the team seems to want to carry probably got wisdom preference over cooper.  i could live without seeing wisdom at 3rd unless it's a blowout, though.

  • Childersb3 (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!!

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