Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

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

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

Last updated 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* 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: 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Dempster Wins, Theriot Continues to Embarrass Bigger, Stronger Teammates

With Aramis Ramirez back in the starting lineup, the Cubs won their fourth in a row, defeating the Giants, 4-2, on Monday night at Wrigley. The Cubs will have a chance to finish a 5-1 homestand when the teams meet Tuesday afternoon.

Why the Cubs won: Ryan Dempster, coming off his first loss and poorest start of the young season last week in Phoenix, earned his second victory with his best start of 2009. Dempster kept the Giants off the board until the sixth inning and allowed just 5 hits and 2 walks over seven.

Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg preserved the lead over the final two innings. Marmol looked great, fanning two and allowing just an infield single in his inning of work. (I imagine that Edgar Renteria will be seeing those three, nasty sliders in his sleep.)

On offense, once again, the big blow came from little Ryan Theriot, who cracked his third home run in four games. Theriot's two-run shot in the second inning gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead. The homer was fortuitous, considering that the Cubs blew a couple chances to break the game open, including a bases-loaded, none-out situation in the fifth inning, which yielded just one run.

Ramirez, by the way, went 0-for-3 plus a walk in his return.

On the move: Iowa infielder Bobby Scales, who would have replaced Ramirez on the roster if Rammy had been disabled last week, was summoned before the game to take the place of injured Carlos Zambrano. According to Cubs.com, the team will call up righthander Randy Wells to take Zambrano's next scheduled turn in the rotation, on Friday at Milwaukee. 

 

 

Comments

So if Scales shows ANYTHING between now and Friday, there is a chance that when Wells gets called up, Gathright gets cut. Right?? Hendry has already shown he's willing to eat millions to dump dead wood, so eating the million bucks he dumbly guaranteed to Gathright should be no problem now.

While you wonder about Gath (and rightly so), I wonder WTF with Bradley?! HAs he just forgotten how to hit? Pressing beyond belief? Just bad? It seems as if he is just freaked out, and doesn't know what hit him. If he ever gets on a roll - we'll have something really special. AZ PHIL is spot on: "...trade him."

"...Cubs will most likely call up righthander Randy Wells." Again, if you read my post last thread, Jim Hendry during the game stated, "Randy will be starting in Milwaukee Friday night..." so, unless it is a fake-out, or he gets hurt between now and then, I'd think the GM would be pretty accurate on the personnel move.

but made the play of the night tonight... Dbacks turn a triple play tonight versus Dodgers. 1st/2nd running when Casey Blake lines one to short.

ERA at 7.20 at the moment...did look the LF'er took a terrible route to let the game tying single drop. Indians still won though.

So, what was the net "savings" with trading Marquis for nothing? Will Marshall be the 2009 tough luck guy? Will Marquis continue his success in the 2nd half? Could not have had expected any more from a #5 starter. But in Colorado he is a 3.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

Submitted by Ryno on Tue, 03/24/2009 - 9:19pm. I'll bet 5 virtual bucks Jason Marquis wins more games than Sean Marshall this year. Any takers? Submitted by The Joe on Tue, 03/24/2009 - 9:42pm. You're on! Submitted by Andrew on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 2:07am. It's not really fair odds as Marquis is probably the Rockies' 3rd starter and Marshall's a clear 5th. Still, I'll take that action as well. Submitted by Doug Dascenzo on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 9:48am. Sure, but by virtue of playing on a (hopefully) better team, Marshall ought to get more wins. Kind of like how Dice-K won a shitload of games last year while only throwing 5 1/3 innings per game. Too early to collect? =) Look, the thing is Marshall is so inconsistent. Way more inconsistent than Marquis. He'll probably get a little better with a couple years under his belt, but as things stand now Marquis is the better pitcher. Marquis for all his flaws is a workhorse and at a place like Coors Field where sinkerballers are like gold, he'll do pretty well. In the grand scheme of things, though, I don't think it matters if the Cubs have Marquis OR Marshall as their 5th starter.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Seriously... are you really talking trash after 5 Marquis starts, and 3 Marshall starts? Especially when they guy you are supporting is notorious for hot starts, and then huge crashes? As for Marshall being inconsistent, this is just odd. Marshall has three starts this year, and has given up 3, 3, and 1 run(s). Last year, in his 7 starts, he gave up 4 or more runs just twice - once in his first start. Marquis gave up 4 runs or more in 10 of his 28 starts. How is Marshall more inconsistent? As a starter last year, Marshall averaged 5.5 innings/start, with a 4.15 ERA, even though he was moved in and out of the rotation. Marquis averaged 5.9 innings/start, with a 4.43 ERA, and he knew exactly when he would be starting and didn't have to deal with getting moved around. Where are you getting this idea that Marshall is less consistent than Marquis?

I think Wells is the right way to go to replace Z's spot. With off days the next two Mondays we might be able to pass Z's spot until he gets back if it is only 2 weeks or so. Theriot is a behemoth, Sammy Sosa reincarnated...:) But it is nice to see someone step up and carry the team when all their big bats are struggling or hurt. Cubs will be facing Lincecum today. A win today + everyone getting healthy (minus Z of course) = a real winning run? Hopefully!! Go Cubs!

Anyone pay attention to how the bill on Ankiel's hat crumpled? I enjoyed Reed Johnson's highlight catch last year in Toronto when his bill flipped up and he ran off the field with it up. Nearly a scrappy guy fashion statement. The crumpled bill look as a fashion statement? Hmmm.

Submitted by jacos on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 6:38am.
Can Scales play outfield at all?

=============================

JACOS: Yes and no.

Bobby Scales is the proverbial "Jack of all trades, Master of none." He's one of those "Crash Davis" type players whose primary value is as a mentor to younger players moving up through the system, but he also has a good knowledge of the game and could very well become a coach or a manager when he retires.

Scales figured out a few years ago that he needed to be able to play multiple positions if he was ever going to get a chance to play in the big leagues, so he has indeed attempted to learn every position except pitcher and catcher. Unfortunately, he is a defensive liability no matter where he plays. His best position is 2B (his natural position), but he's below average there, too.

I saw Scales when he was a young player in the Padres system a few years ago, and back then he was an offensive-first athletic second-baseman with plus speed and some pop. He has lost a step or two since then, however, but he still is a pretty good hitter with some XBH power. He could be a guy who might excel as a PH.

Barring an injury to an infielder, Scales will almost certainly head back to Iowa after Thursday's game, but at least he'll pick up a quick $9,000 (four days of MLB minimum salary pay) and a few days of MLB Service Time before he goes back to AAA. And now rhat he is on the 40-man roster, the Cubs would probably be more-inclined to bring him back up again if they need an extra position player sometime during the season, and as long as he has a decent year at Iowa, he should get recalled on September 1st.

Submitted by The Real Neal on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 9:34am. If it was the 6th game of the year I may agree with you, but the problem is that Heilman hasn't thrown 30 pitches in a game since April 7th and Wells has been starting all year (though he got a short start last time due to rain I think).

===================================

REAL NEAL: Esmailin Caridad's start on Sunday at Memphis was limited to three innings (and 45 pitches) before the game was suspended due to rain.

As for Randy Wells, he was intentionally limited to three innings & 39 pitches in his start last night for Iowa, because he will be pitching Friday on three days rest. The Cubs could have skipped his scheduled start last night completely, but then he would be starting on ten days rest on Friday, and Wells is a sinkerball pitcher who would probably be adversely affected by too much rest.

Submitted by jacos on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 10:13am. Thanks Phil. Why not make him Dero lite and get rid of pretend MLBer Gatwright?

=================================

JACOS: I think Gathright will probably eventually be replaced on the 25-man roster later this season by a more-versatile player (IF-OF), but I doubt that it would be Bobby Scales.

If the Cubs look inside their own organization, a more likely candidate to replace Gathright would be Matt Camp, a versatile and athletic player who can play 2B-CF-LF-3B-SS (although like Scales, he is below-average defensively no matter where he plays). But Camp would definitely be a better PR option than Scales (who has lost a step or two over the years) and probably would be even a better PR option than Gathright, because while Gathright is one of the fastest players in baseball, he is not especially good at stealing bases or baserunning. Camp isn't much of a hitter (but then neither is Gathright), but Camp is a good baserunner and base-stealer, and he can bunt, too, and he can play infield, which Gathright can't.  

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    I think if you had ranked players by how much the team could ill afford to have them miss significant time, Steele would be right at the top of the list.

  • crunch (view)

    steele MRI on friday.  counsell expects an IL stint.

    no current plans for his rotation replacement.

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1. 

  • crunch (view)

    amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.

    neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.

  • Eric S (view)

    Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it). 

  • crunch (view)

    boo.

  • crunch (view)

    smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.

    this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

    like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.

    anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.

    I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.

    If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.

    Give him a chance. 

    But Wesneski probably gets it