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

Once Again, It's Homer or Nuthin' (Mostly Nuthin'); Cubs Lose 2-1 to L.A.

Today at Baseball Prospectus (subscription), Joe Sheehan wrote about how the Cubs have become one of baseball's most home run-dependent teams and tonight, we saw, yet again, where that generally gets you.

A pinch-hit home run by Bobby Scales in the eighth inning against Randy Wolf accounted for all the Cubs' scoring Thursday night in the team's most recent, painful defeat.

Young Randy Wells, starting in place of the injured Rich Harden, delivered yet another terrific start, holding the Dodgers to just 2 runs over 7 innings. He made tough pitches when he had to, fanning seven and walking one. Wells departed with his season ERA still at a glittering 1.80.

The Cubs looked feeble against Dodgers starter Randy Wolf through most of his 7+ innings. The veteran lefty matched Wells with 7 K and 1 BB, but he kept the Cubs off the scoreboard until Scales's blast in the eighth. Wolf helped his cause by inducing three double-plays. Also, as a team, the Cubs went 0-for-8 with men in scoring position.

The bottom of the ninth was just a killer. Milton Bradley dropped an ugly but well-placed bunt for a single to lead off the inning, then Derrek Lee followed with another single, moving Bradley to second. After trying and failing to bunt the runners over, Reed Johnson eventually did advance Bradley and Lee with an infield dribbler. Following an intentional walk to Geovany Soto, Dodgers reliever Ramon Troncoso, subbing for the recently overworked Jonathon Broxton, fanned Scales and Jake Fox to quell the rally and drop the Cubs back to .500.

About Fox...

The basher without a position entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, right after Scales had homered, and he ripped a single to centerfield. Fox then played the field in the top of the ninth, manning third base and actually handling a chance successfully (though Scales was nearly folded in half by Russell Martin as he received Fox's throw to complete a force out at second base.)

 

Comments

More of the same. This offense is just a wreck. It was a nice mirage against the Pirates but now back to the slump. If Randy Wells can keep this pace, which is doubtful, he's ROY caliber. There's really not much they can do but just more waiting for guys to come around. Get Fox and Hoffpauir more Ab's might get a little more offense, Scales will probably be the everyday 2b for a while. Blanco hasn't shown anything, nor is he expected to.

"The basher without a position entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, right after Scales had homered, and he ripped a single to centerfield. Fox then played the field in the top of the ninth, manning third base and actually handling a chance successfully (though Scales was nearly folded in half by Russell Martin as he received Fox's throw to complete a force out at second base.) " imo, that's really generous. fox played it like crap and threw it off mark. scales' footwork at 2nd was non-existent...after catching the off mark throw he stood up and basically took a football style hit because he just kinda...froze. that was a double play ball butchered into a close force out at 2nd.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Brenly fired off a little on last night's telecast regarding Fox's late arrival. He said Ramirez was hurt three weeks ago and Fox was hitting .450, why didn't Dickerson or the organization put Fox at 3B at that point to get some reps and then call him up? From what I heard Trammell is working him at 3B and Quade has him taking fly balls and it was going to take some time, then last night he's out at third (guess Lou hurried him out - or mistook him for another left handed pinch hitter). BB's got a point - other teams see problems at a position, and look to their prospects to take a few turns at it in the minors. I won't say what franchise is going through that right now, but we're all familiar with them.

That's the first I have seen him pitch, and he's really impressive. He doesn't have a dominant out-pitch, but he also doesn't seem to hang anything, and everything has movement. A little better command and he could be a helluva pitcher.

Geez... did you hear Offerman ask The Cub's version of Hugo Chavez Zambrano about Barrett? He got sort of... animated. "How can you bring Michael Barrett into this conversation? Man, I'm a man, you know. If somebody comes to me and tries to beat me up, I have to respond, you know? Nobody likes to get beat up, you know? I don't say this to the umpire," he said. "If some man here or some man outside is trying to get me up or trying to fire me up, I will respond. And anybody here, any man here will respond," he said. "Am I right? Nobody likes to be hit. Nobody likes to be fired up. Nobody. As a man you don't like to be pushed up or you don't like to be, you don't like somebody to kick your butt. You will respond as a man. So don't bring Michael Barrett in this conversation. We're talking about the incident yesterday, not Michael Barrett." Source: Orlando Sentinel, WSCR 670

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

I never said that the Cubs were a better organization. You should look up what the word 'arbitrarily' means, because you obviously don't know. Since Hendry is the head of the organization (or I guess you could say Kenney, which would mean that the Cubs win% far outpaces the Dodgers), looking at things since he took over is logical, not arbitrary. However, I know, logic rarely impedes your thought process. My point is that it's stupid to react to one game, and make a sweeping statement like this.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Seriously? If it is "logical" to examine the franchises since Hendry took over since he is the "head of the organization" then it is just as logical to examine them since Colletti took over since he is the head of the Dodger's organization. How is this so difficult for you? But of course when I suggested that, you made some weird argument about why that couldn't possibly be a good comparison. I mean, why would you follow your own logic? That would be, well, logical... Navigator listed some of the historical accomplishments of the Dodger's organization. It is just as logical to compare the Cubs vs. Dodgers historically. He's making a different point than the one you want to make it seems. It is odd that you somehow felt you were correcting him by arbitrarily deciding on a new cut-off. And yes, I am using the word arbitrary here. I think you need to look up the word yourself. It doesn't mean without logic. For the person making the decision it is perfectly logical. Arbitrary means "depending on individual preference or discretion." You, individually, made 2003 the cut-off point based on your discretion that it would be a better comparison. If you are trying to demonstrate how the Dodgers are better historically (i.e. last 50-100 years) like Navigator was, then 2003 would make no sense. Not everything is an argument on here. If you honestly look at history and disagree with Navigator's assessment that the Dodger's franchise has been better than the Cubs, then you are arguing just for the sake of arguing.

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

You're really amazing. This is what you've done. Taken a word you don't understand the meaning of, and thrown it around to try to prove a point. The way you're defining arbitrary is "depending on individual preference of discretion", therefore it can be applied to any single thing that any single person says. You realize, how fucking stupid that is, right? But if you asked 100 people how to determine how the Cubs organization has done under the Hendry, 85 of them would probably start by saying 'What's their winning percentage under Hendry?" Therefore my method was not arbitrary. Dumb fuck. Then there's the whole problem with you and navigator trying to change the word originally used 'is' into 'has been' - also a dumb fucking thing to do. The Cubs have the single season record for highest winning %, therefore they are the best franchise ever, right?

This is kind of off-topic, but Dan Plesac is absofuckinglutely horrible as a color guy. I don't get WCIU but I do get MLBN and was kind of happy to get to hear Costas do baseball again, but Plesac completely ruined it for me. Just incessant rambling. So much that Costas could barely squeeze in his play-by-play stuff most of the time. I thought he did alright in the studio on CSC, but keep him out of the booth.

From Friday's Crain's...

Sources now tell Crain’s that both sides have made concessions on some of the key sticking points, bringing them near the conclusion of a sale process that’s dragged on for Tribune more than two years. The family, led by Mr. Ricketts, has been in exclusive talks with TribCo on the Cubs sale since January. Tribune CEO Sam Zell, in an interview with Bloomberg TV Thursday, appeared to raise new questions about the Ricketts’ ability to buy the team. He blamed the difficult credit environment for delaying the Cubs sale, adding that “if the Ricketts deal doesn’t get done, I am sure there’ll be another one.” But the financing appears to be in place.

We need to keep it together until we get our guys back healthy... the fact that we are using Scales, Blanco and Fox as starters just goes to show how thin we are getting... Soriano consistently pisses me off - when the team as a whole is hot, he looks great and can carry you singlehandedly. When we struggle, he doesn't seem able to rise up and carry the load. He reminds me of a couple of my softball friends who go 4 for 4 when you smoke a team by 20 runs, but can't muster a hit when it counts in a close game. We call those guys "Mr. Pressure"... If you are hitting for shit, like Soriano has been, then be a team player and do your best to get a bunt down with 2 on and nobody out. Who knows, maybe you even beat it out!!

[ ]

In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

Maybe because when the team was hot he was one of the people responsible for the team being hot? Nahhhh can't be. Are we having Sammy Sosa Syndrome kick in? Soriano never gets any meaningful hits. Can only hit in blowouts, never when the game is on the line. I can count 5ish games in April alone this year where Soriano destroys that myth. But hey keep towing that anchor. Soriano is the least of this teams worries. Bradley sucks, Lee looks to be waking up out of his suck, Ramirez is hurt, Font sucks. Those are the problems with why the Cubs arent scoring runs, not Soriano.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

All I know is great players play great all of the time, even when your team is struggling. We are 2-8 in our last 10 games, and during that stretch, Soriano is a putrid 5/36 with 13K and 13 LOB, and he has scored only 1 run and driven in ZERO. Sprinkle in his defensive mental lapses at critical times and he is not a great player, IMO. His lack of fundamentals can be covered up nicely when the team is playing well, but those mental lapses become unacceptable when you are struggling. Sammy was a bit different - he was paid to drive in runs from the 3 hole in the lineup, and he did that. He had his struggles, but I can live with a guy who is paid to drive in runs and doesn't come through every time. Soriano is batting leadoff, so there are different expectations of him. He sets the tone, and he hasn't been doing it, plain and simple. It is really hard to score runs as as offense if your leadoff hitter is hardly on base!

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In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

Wow, talk about sample size. We get where your coming from, Soriano can never ever slump. Go crawl back under your rock because the game of baseball confuses you.

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In reply to by MikeC

No - he can slump, and he will slump. It is my opinion that you can try and help the team when you are slumping by doing the fundamentally sound things, like hitting behind the runner and bunting, if need be. Just the other day, I was at the Cubs/Dodgers Sunday night game, and Soriano ripped one down the line. Rather than busting it out of the box and showing some heart, he jogged from the batter's box to second base. What kind of example does that set when your "star" is hotdogging all of the time? Remember last season when Soriano crushed one against the Brewers and thought it was out, so he jogged around first? Braun picked it up and almost gunned him out at second. To me, that is pathetic... I understand baseball just fine, but I love to be insulted, so you can kiss my ass... - For the record, Rob, you sure have a ton of overly opinionated, egotistical jackasses that post here regularly at TCR. I'm sure people just visiting the blog look at this stuff and never come back... I guess insulting people is just some people's way of making up for some other inadequacy in their life... pretty sad. I love the info here and sharing stuff with other Cubs fans, but I sure don't like being talked to like a piece of crap.

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In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

The problem with Soriano is he is way too streaky. Most of the time he is with red hot or ice cold. When he is on, nobody can get him out, but when he is off he can't get a hit to save his life. And being streaky is not a good trait IMO. Look at the last two years of playoffs for examples. We need consistency, not some one who could have 3 great months and suck it up the other 3 months.

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In reply to by mannytrillo

The problem with him this year is that his hot streaks seem to coincide with coming up with the bases empty (.287 .333 .519) and his cold streak with runners in scoring position (.167 .295 .361). The much maligned Bradley is doing pretty well with RISP (. 269 .441 .577).

Recent comments

  • 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. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Seconded!!!

  • crunch (view)

    another awesome spring of pitching reports.  thanks a lot, appreciated.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 90-92 
    CUT: 87-89 
    SL: 82-83 
    SPLIT: 81-84
    CV: 73-74 
    COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes...  if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...   
     
    JOE NAHAS
    FB: 90-92 
    SL: 83-85 
    CV: 80-81 
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...   

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 86 
    SL: 79 
    COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...   

    FRANKIE SCALZO JR
    FB: 94-95
    CH: 88 
    SL: 83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning... 

    MICHAEL ARIAS
    FB: 94-96
    CH: 87-89
    SL: 82-83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...   

    ZAC LEIGH: 
    FB: 93-94 
    CH: 89 
    SL: 81-83 
    CV: 78
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...   

    JOSE ROMERO:  
    FB: 93-95
    SL: 82-84
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...

  • crunch (view)

    pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"

    mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit.  nice.

    he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons.  he's not lean, but he looks healthier.  good for him.