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

TCR Friday Notes

- The mayor of Mesa discusses the city's proposal for the Cubs potential new spring training facility. The two locations being discussed are the NE part of the valley by the 202(sounds like he says by Record but couldn't find that, earlier interview he said Greenfield which is what the link goes to) or near the Gateway Airport by the 202 Freeway and Elliot Road. He also says that they'll look to try and grab another Florida team to fill HoHoKam and Fitch Park. As has been mentioned, besides the new stadium and facilties, a Wrigleyville West will be built around the park for fans to spend their cash at.

And for what it's worth, the governor of Florida says it's not quite over.

“I had the opportunity to chat with the owner last night,’’ he said during a stop at Cambier Park in Naples. “He told me, ‘governor, you’re going to see some thing in tomorrow’s papers, but no decision has been made.’’

- The New York Times takes on the Cubs convention. Speaking of the NYT, they've announced a metered payment system to start in 2011 for their online content. Basically you get 10 free visits a month and then will have to pay to access anymore articles. Don't be too surprised when the Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune do something similar in a few years.

- We got a mention at Big League Stew in their Chicago Cubs BLS Blogbook. Thanks. On the left sidebar of our site, I added a Cubs blogroll that randomly features 5 of the so far 36 and counting Cubs blogs that I've found.

- Tim at Cubby-Blue takes a look at what the Ryan Theriot arbitration hearing might look like.

- Baseball Prospectus Top 11 Cubs list should is up next. The schedule has been every other day, but I'm not sure if they post on weekends, so it'll either be up Saturday or Monday.

- The rumor mill at this point still seems to be a right handed hitting outfielder to platoon with Kosukue Fukudome and give Soriano and possibly Derrek Lee some time off. Defensively challenged Johnny Gomes is the hottest name at the moment, seemingly willing to take a 1-year deal and be a reserve. Talks have cooled with Jermaine Dye and Reed Johnson and Xavier Nady(my preference) are still in the mix. Also, the Cubs want a veteran right-handed reliever with Kiko Calero, Jose Contreras, Heath Bell, Luke Gregerson and Jason Frasor all being mentioned at some point. The Ben Sheets talks seem to be overblown at this point and his agent indicated that the Mets and A's are probably the two organizations that still have enough money left this offseason to sign him.

Speaking of starting pitchers, how's Eric Bedard doing?

- While Cubnut hasn't been able to do much writing for the site, he has taken to updating our twitter account (some of those are from me as well). On the right sidebar below the ad you'll see a twitter feed with the latest.

- We've added a few text link advertisements around the site in the sidebars, if they are of interest to you, we'd appreciate giving them a visit.

Comments

You can cross Contreras off that list, he just signed with the Phillies. Also, Mathews Jr. finally traded to Mets for Brian Stokes, Angels ate all but $2 million.

Attendance remained robust, but ratings for Cubs telecasts on WGN slipped by 26 percent, the network said.
Those WGN numbers caught me by surprise. Is it just WGN coverage that tanked or did all televised Cubs games lose viewership? Average attendance at Wrigley was down 3% from the previous year as well.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

deleware and nevada...llc heaven. extremely flexible state corporate laws that don't change much and are rarely in danger of changing. corporate compliance rules are embarrassingly lax. it's where corporations go to steal tax money from citizens by not paying them. it's good for the state economy at least.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

50,000 square-foot clubhouse with locker room, meeting rooms, nutritional center, language center, training and administration facility with team offices, dining, classroom, meeting spaces and indoor training for major and minor league baseball players; (ii) a minimum of two Major League-sized practice fields; (iii) a minimum of one practice infield; (iv) one agility field; (v) a minimum of 16 batting tunnels and 16 pitching mounds; (vi) a minimum of 150 parking spaces for staff and player personnel; (vii) temporary living spaces; and (viii) such other facilities, features and amenities as may be agreed in the design approved by the Parties.
plus another 4 practice fields within a 1/4 mile, city can use stadium for 5 events a year at their own cost. If all goes well, should be done for 2013 spring training. 25 year agreement, after 20 years Cubs can opt out any year between 20 and 25 but would have to pay Mesa a $1M for each season or anything left on initial bonds.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

all utilities (5.6) are covered by the city except electricity to the stadium (electricity for additional facilities are covered by city)...nice bonus. also...non-potable (greywater/non-drinking) can only be used to water the grounds. nice find, btw.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I think that the Cubs and Yankees are the two final teams looking for platoon/4th OF candidates, with Dye, Nady, Johnson and perhaps Gomes all looking for one of those spots. Once the Yanks pick whoever they want, the market drops like a rock for whoever is left. If Hendry is fine with whoever might be left, he may as well wait for the Yanks to make their pick and cut his best deal with whoever is left.

What a stupid decision. All that will do is drive us to get our news either underground, or from blog sources that are happy with just ad dollars. This is about as smart as seat licenses for the Marlins. CAREFUL!! "You been here 4 hour! You go home now! You eat too much, you been here 4 hour! You go you now!!" -Louie Anderson

[ ]

In reply to by artskoe

fwiw, they've put a ton of research in it and the Financial Times apparently does something similar with good results. If you have original and good content, the most heavy users will pay.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I don't doubt that the NY Times has researched this, but it seems to me that they are going down a dead end road. They are in a dying business and rather than changing their business model, they are simply moving online. I'm sure that some people will pay for their service, but long-term, I don't see it working.

[ ]

In reply to by Sweet Lou

Your point is valid, but w/out doubt they have reinvented themselves and are the pre-eminent leader of Newspapers-to-online adaptation. It is a rich media emporium now and I think people will pay something for the articles, video, photo galleries, etc.

[ ]

In reply to by Sweet Lou

Ads for adult web cams and Classmates.com won't pay a reporter staff of 1,200 in 85 countries and more full-time fact-checkers than all media in Chicago combined. This isn't the Daily Herald. This is one of the greatest news organizations in the world, and much of the exclusive content they produce has more value than the fractions of a penny you're suggesting they should charge for it.

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

HAve you not been looking at their advertisers over the last year online? Apple, HP, phone companies. You've heard of "Google", right? I would not equate that with porn sites. Also, you are confusing me with someone else, I did not state anything about how much subscribers would/should pay. Then again, people pay iTunes .99 cents for a song and 2.99 for a tv show. They are not doing too bad.

[ ]

In reply to by Sweet Lou

I agree with Sweet Lou. I'd just add the new generation thrives on instant gratification and services like Google Alerts. With our go-go nature these days, why take the time to read a newspaper when you can sit in your office and listen to the BBC World News podcast while you work? The newspaper, both print and online, is practically obsolete.

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

I agree with JB, and these newspapers/online news sites are going to have to all start charging or most of them will go bankrupt and disappear, and then we'll really be getting our news from blogs. Journalism has already been so dumbed-down since I was a kid, I can't picture how bad it will get if most of the major newspapers go belly-up. I'm willing to pay for news, but I don't want to have to subscribe to a bunch of sites. I'd prefer some kind of microtransaction deal from all of them. That's what they should all do, band together and integrate something like Paypal into their sites. And I don't think one or two sites slowly moving into charging for news is going to work well, they need to get most of the big players together and do it all at once. If reading the Tribune costs $$, and the Sun-Times is free, why would I read the Trib to get similar coverage? (I know, the S-T mostly sucks, but the Trib has gone downhill too, that's just an example)

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Have you heard of JustinTV.com? It broadcasts P2P content that may only be subscription based. ONE person will subscribe to NYT then make money reposting it with an ad based web site until the Times relents and goes free again. If CUBS games are popular enough, for example, I don't have to pay MLB.TV to watch, SOMEBODY has it on. A newspaper will be EASY pickens. Yes, it may be unethical (like steroids), but what are they going to do? Arrest 900 million in China for rebroacasting a NYT article? THIS is freedom. This IS freedom. This is FREEDOM!

[ ]

In reply to by artskoe

mlb.tv is doing just fine even with P2P stealing games, most folks don't know where to find that stuff or are more than willing to pay for something they use frequently.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Stealing is too harsh a word. Fergie jenkins didn't ask for the HR's to be taken off the books, just an apology. The word is sharing. P2P is sharing. It's akin to Perry's spitball. Cutting edge tech meets a poor man's player contract. At sometime in every man's life, one has to ask, "Is it WORTH it to have a mistress?" ~Just thinking out loud.

[ ]

In reply to by artskoe

well...it is a controlled product who's distribution is the basis of a huge chunk of income. their distribution models and/or prices makes a lot of people consider these other illegal/grey-area outlets, though. funny thing is it's the "criminals" who tend to push the changes in distribution models. music and films have fought for years to hold digital distribution models down while THEY figure out how to transition their own businesses (in between collusion and price gouging on CD sales prices ripping off consumers). the "ipod store" (or whatever) for mp3s should have existed many years before it did, imo. consumer demand for digital media far far far surpassed the content holder's ability (or desire) to properly distribute it. i still remember the first "legal" mp3s being these purposely horrible 128-192kbps rips because protecting the traditional CD distribution channel was more important at the time to the major players. but yeah...it's stealing...however you want to morally deal with it is up to the person stealing, though. fwiw, the people rebroadcasting are of way more importance than those consuming it (as of now and traditionally).

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Well how many here have a DVR or Tivo and skip the commercials? What's one man's convenience is another's "stealing." Or have they discontinued the "rebroadcast without written consent" disclaimer? When WGN goes pay-per-view some of you are going P2P, I betcha! Fox will charge for the NFL, too (Jerry Jones hasn't thought of this for his super bowl? Yeah, right!). It's coming, unless the the NYT dies in its attempt to charge to make you look at its ads. Vote by saying no and stay away.

[ ]

In reply to by artskoe

I am pretty sure that watching a taped video in your home doesn't fall under the auspices of "rebroadcasting". Broadcast 1. To transmit (a radio or television program) for public or general use. 2. To send out or communicate, especially by radio or television The disclaimer is to keep ESPN from taping and broadcasting WGN games, not to keep people from using their VCR's. But the idea that "theft is OK as long as I can get away with it" probably gets you some purgatory time if you believe in that bit.

per Jayson Stark/espn...Fernando Tatis??? Chan the Ho?? http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&page…
Beneath the Sheets: We've heard the Cubs described elsewhere as the leading contender for Ben Sheets. But we've gotten the impression that they've actually back-burnered Sheets for now. Agents for other players they've talked to consistently report the Cubs want to address two other priorities first: a set-up arm (Kiko Calero? Chan Ho Park?) and a fourth-outfielder type (Jermaine Dye? Reed Johnson? Jonny Gomes? Xavier Nady? Fernando Tatis?). They would only turn back to other needs after those two areas are taken care of.

The two proposed locations for the Cubs Spring Training sites in Mesa are Recker Road north of McDowell Road (in very close proximity to the SR 202 Freeway AKA "Red Mountain Freeway"), and Elliot Road east of Power Road (in close proximity to the north-south part of SR 202 known as the "San Tan Freeway" & about two miles south of east-west U. S. Highway 60 AKA "Superstition Freeway", and just north of the old Williams AFB now known as Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and west of the GM proving grounds). Both sites provide about a square-mile of open land (equivalent to an area bounded by Addison-Montrose-Halsted-Ashland), more than enough room for all the baseball facilitties the Cubs want, plus a hotel, restaurants, and whatever other amenities Ricketts might want to develop in the area. The Recker site is very close to Mesa Falcon Field Airport (general aviation, including business jets and an occasional commercial charter), and the Elliot site is very close to the fairly newly created Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (a lot like Chicago's Midway Airport), with the latter being served exclusively by Allegiant Airlines (I smell a possible Cubs-Allegiant travel partnership) which flies mostly gambler junkets to & from Vegas, but also serves Chicago and other midwest, west coast, and Florida destinations, and could certainly handle Cubs team charters. (Allegiant is one of very few airlines to turn a profit in recent years). And the proximity of either Falcon Field or Phoenix-Mesa Gateway to a possible Cubs ST site would also allow the Cubs owners & suits to exec-jet into town without having to drive all the way into central Phoenix to get to & from Sky Harbor International Airport.

print may be dying, but information business is growing... they've all just been slow in adapting to the new medium. I don't read the NYT all that much, if the Trib or Sun-Times does something similar I'll certainly have to pony up something cause I'm not getting all my cubs news from Carrie Muskat.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

You can do whatever you want, just don't try to start charging for The Cub Reporter. Just because I find the site invaluable doesn't mean I'd actually pay for it.

giambi/rockies 1yr...ooookay. so...where's this self-policing punishment and shunning of roid users we keep hearing about? yeah... i hope everyone in baseball learns from these guys. you could possibility be punished with a long well paid career.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Well, he was making $23.5 million a year, and he just signed for $1.5 to be a pinch hitter. Not sure what more you want teams to do, unless you advocate they punish him by pushing him out of baseball altogether. But the owners colluded once on who they would sign and how much they would pay and that didn't work out too well for them. If it turned out there was a list of steroid players that owners were shunning it would be bad for baseball - even worse than giving a bench job to a former steroid user who is now clean (or at least as much as MLB currently tests for). I am not a fan of Giambi or any of these d-bags, but blackballing them is not the answer either. The reality is, as long as fans do things like CHEER McGwire when he makes his return as a coach, and cheer Ramirez when he returns from his suspension, things won't really change.

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

i'm just pointing to the self-righteous MLB, announcer, fan, etc, posturing about how all these performance enhancing drug users are being vilified for a week then their careers go on as normal. no biggie..just having fun.

wow...matt stairs signs a minor league deal with SD...and has supposedly dropped 40lbs. amazing. i thought he was done. g'luck stairs.

[ ]

In reply to by Paul Noce

he got off the 'roids. --- are you saying that getting rid of his hemorrhoids has gotten 40 lbs of constipation out of his system?

Is anyone else glad that Tejada is no longer in the NL Central?

There's a little Iowa Cubs manager interview slice on www.cubs.com where Ryno talks about McGwire and Andre and the Hall of Fame.

Anyone hear Teflon Jim on WSCR radio today? "The players are hungry to get in the post-season" He could tell this from the Cubs Convention.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • videographer (view)

    AZ Phil, speaking of Jordan Wicks having better command when he tires a bit, I remember reading about Dennis Lamp 40 years ago and his sinker that was better after 3 or 4 innings when he would tire a bit and get more sink with a little less speed on the pitch.  The key for Lamp was getting to the 4th inning.