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

Cubs, Sox Prepare to Make Geek History

Thursday's Chicago vs. Chicago showdown at Wrigley Field will be the first Major League game to be streamed live to mobile phones, specifically to iPhone and iPod Touch users who have installed the MLB.com At Bat 2009 app and the new Apple 3.0 operating software.

Beginning with the White Sox-Cubs Interleague Play matchup from Wrigley Field at 2:20 p.m. ET, up to two live games per day, subject to blackout restrictions, will be included in MLB.com At Bat 2009. The other game scheduled for Thursday is Detroit at St. Louis at 8:15 p.m. ET.

Those who have already installed the $9.99 At Bat app this season will be able to receive the video streaming at no additional charge. Otherwise you can purchase the app at the iTunes store and enjoy it, video included, for the rest of 2009 for $9.99.

Chad Evans of MLB Advanced Media puts the whole story into something resembling perspective:

"I'm hoping there will be a generation of kids that grew up saying, 'Oh yeah, I got box scores and watched games on my phone -- it was just part of the experience of baseball.'"

Yeah, "part of the experience." Sort of like when you heave your remote control across the room after the Cubs have failed to score another runner from third with less than two outs.

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Yeah, I assume the restrictions are going to be the same as they are for MLB.TV, which are as follows, per MLB.com:

All live games on MLB.TV are subject to local blackouts. Such live games will be blacked out in each applicable Club's home television territory (except for certain home television territories for which MLB.com may offer in-market subscription services). If a game is blacked out in an area, it is not available for live game viewing. Each game will be available approximately 90 minutes after the conclusion of the game as an archived game (archived games are blackout free).

Given the forcast tomorrow is Thunderstorms (50-60% chance), I am going out on a limb and say that Cardinals-Tigers game will be the answer to the trivia question about the first IPhone game.

including two on Wednesday --- stranded runners is a useful stat to show offensive ineptitude but it's limitation is when your team is so bad that they don't put many runners on base to strand which is what happened yesterday. ...kind of like drowning in the middle of the desert.

Glad for the probable rainout today. Me doing the thousand-yard stare every five minutes for another afternoon game would really start to eat into my productivity at work. ...hey, I'm kinda like the Cubs lineup in that way!

Yeah, "part of the experience." Sort of like when you heave your remote control across the room after the Cubs have failed to score another runner from third with less than two outs. Handy thing is, I'll watch while I wait for the train, and if it gets bad enough, I can just step right onto the tracks. Awesome!

Soriano expressing a willingness to move down the order if "[Lou] thinks it will help". Of course with a sub-300 OBP and a $16 million dollar paycheck, you sort of lose your ability to dictate where you bat. Anyways, it sounds like we may see a lineup change today.

So the I-phone is what is holding up the negotiations for Ricketts? We should have known it was technology. Well, I for one hope it goes well. Sorry about all you loyal Cub fans who are in Cub blackout territory. Guess work will have to suffice. Or moan until you get laid off, then Osama Hussein will take care of you. Wonder if super-O can switch hit? Oh, yeah, he's a WS fan...Put him on the bench to coach with Oz. "Use the bunt, more Ozzie!" This season is over. Was over when they traded Joey!

Lineup is in: Soriano LF, Theriot SS, Bradley RF, D Lee 1B, Soto C, Fontenot 3B, Fukudome CF, A Blanco 2B, Zambrano P WSCR guys are laughing at the lineup and to be honest, I'm kind of laughing too. Of course Aaron "Automatic out" Miles isn't in it so that's an improvement.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Lou and Hendry are both quickly moving up my fucktard list. Lou's master plan. One run yesterday? Let's run out the same lineup, but replace the only guy who generated any offense. Not that I have a big problem with Blanco over Miles (Blanco should probably be playing SS, though). It would have been nice to see Soriano with a day off and Fox in the lineup, though. For reference, when Patteron when down to Iowa in '05 he was coming off a June where he hit .157.211.245 over 102 at bats with 33 K's. Soriano's June: .148.233 .315 with 14 K's in 54 at bats.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Soriano was hitting .317 on April 23. That was his high-water mark. From the 24th of April through May 15th, he hit .230 (but with six home runs). Then things got really bad: .186 through the end of May and 8 for 54 (.148) in June. Soriano hasn't had a two-hit game since May 17th. That's one (31-day) month. But the slump goes back to April 24th. In another week it will be two months. Meanwhile Fukudome is batting .122 in June and has one home run since April. I would say that the guys making upwards of $10 million, whom we're stuck with and who we have to put on the field, are a bigger problem than Miles, Fontenot and Soto.

I noticed this after I installed the 3.0 update on my iPhone last night. Surprised me. The quality is supposed to be good if you're in a Wi-Fi connection. I gotta give MLB credit for this one. If you've already bought the Gameday App for $9.99, they're giving this to you at no additional charge. I wouldn't have been surprised if they had held out this feature till next year and charged extra for it. Hopefully more than two games next year.

I think if cubs decide to sell at deadline these five are at top of my list. 1. harden 2. gregg 3. cotts 4. hielmann 5. miles Of course there are a couple more but i think that would be unrealistic unfortunatly

League average BABIP is .295...which probably counts pitchers...but anyway... Fukudome .318, Theriot .316, Lee .313, Bradley .264, Fontenot .262, Soto .260, Soriano .250, Miles .238 only one regular finished below the league average of .298 last year and that was Edmonds at .257.

Some positive notes about the '09 season... Angel Guzman has finally decided he wants to be a big league pitcher. He's always had good stuff, it wasn't a question of that. It was a question of having a little control and staying healthy. Also, Ted Lilly, he's been cool and consistent. I'm really glad he's around. What a year. Actually, starting pitching as a whole has really stepped up this year, even if the offense hasn't. Some odds and ends... Ryan Theriot has shown he can be a passable shortstop. Derrek Lee busted out of his early-season slump, even if no one else in the lineup has. That's encouraging, because he's the guy we want playing first if at all possible. Still, the team needs to find a legit 2B this coming off season. Maybe Blanco is that guy, maybe not, but I think on most good teams Blanco is a backup. The other upgrade they need, clearly, is bullpen. I'd like to see a veteran arm or two added. Some guys who have been around for a while and maybe they're not the flashiest pitchers in the world, but most days go out there and hold the opposition. Chad Fox was supposed to be this guy but I guess he's history.

http://www.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUSTRE55H4XP20090618 An exclusivity period between Tribune and the Ricketts group has ended and the media company is now talking to a group that includes private equity investors Marc Utay and Leo Hindery, three sources familiar with the situation said. "We know that they went back to the Utay group," said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified because the sales process has not closed. it does say that Ricketts deal is still considered close and probably Trib trying to get Ricketts to finish up the deal.

helluva comeback...hope that's the wake-up call... why in hell throw soriano anything near the zone with a 2-2 count though?

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.