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

The Cubs Bench Picture Becoming Clearer

Lou started hinting yesterday that Mike Fontenot would get some reps in spring training at shortstop. The idea being that if he can manage to not completely fuck it up, he could keep Andres Blanco off the roster and open up another spot for a legit bat or for Kevin Millar to spin fanciful tales of his World Series days and entertain the press corps.

As it stands now, the assumptions were that the bench would be Koyie Hill, Baker or Fontenot depending on who was starting that day, Andres Blanco, Xavier Nady (or whichever outfielder he's starting for) and then one of Chad Tracy, Micah Hoffpauir, Sam Fuld, Kevin Millar or possibly even Brad Snyder, Bobby Scales or Bryan LaHair. If Fontenot could handle the back-up shortstop duties without being a complete liability, that could open up two spots on the bench and send Blanco back to the minors. Blanco is out of options, so he'd have to go through waivers if that happened, but hardly a loss if someone did decide to give him a 25-man spot.

The other revelation today was that Lou is already ready to give Starlin Castro the shortstop job if Theriot hurts himself.

"If Theriot were to get hurt, which we don't want obviously, we'd just put the kid (Castro) at short and let him play."

Theriot better be sure to always travel in pairs this season.

Comments

my god...someone gave livan hernandez a minor league deal...WAS... it's over, dude. =p ...also from gordon witty's twitter feed... "Zambrano wearing a headband and Silva wearing spare tire just jogged by. ... 3.7 on the Richter scale." ha... also ted lilly has missed the last couple days due to fever according to witty...hopefully it's not the valley variety =p

When I heard Randy Bush on Bruce Levine's show, he pretty much said that 23 of 25 spots are locked up due to contracts and "other things". IF that is true, it will be really interesting to see who numbers 24 and 25 are.

Lou either has Alzheimers or a very short memory. He's tried Fontenot and shortstop and Fontenot sucks balls. He has a career fielding percentage of .500 at shortstop. He's handled 4 chances and committed errors on 2 of them. And the other two chances he didn't fuck up were force outs when he stepped on second. He was tremendously fucking awful.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

He's put footwork in?...at shortstop? He should work on becoming an average fielding 2b before he spends time on other positions. AND work on his hitting. All this talk by Lou about not being able to have a bat because Blanco can't hit, he should stop and look at last season's stats. Blanco's hitting was equal or better than Fontenot's. And unlike Fontenot, Blanco can field. I'm not clamoring for Blanco to start anywhere on this team, it's just that his competition is crap and a legitimate fielding SS is a necessity. If Lou and Hendry think they can put together a team with no back up shortstop again, it's just another sign It's The End in 2010 (and not in a good way). Fontenot: .236/.301/.377 Blanco: .252/.303/.341

[ ]

In reply to by Paul Noce

fontenot's footwork at 2nd is much improved. that was most of the problem with his D, anyway. with the info that cubs are gonna go with s.castro when/if injuries occur this makes a long-term middle IF replacement expendable. if fontenot can show lou he can occasionally handle SS then they no longer have to carry a glove man. if they didn't want to put castro in the equation blanco's job would probably be safer. besides, fontenot has to prove he can do it before they'll let him.

I think an MLB team needs a backup infielder who can actually field. Nothing can cause a team defense to unravel faster than bad middle infielding, except bad catching. If Fontenot had a .900 OPS, I'd say keep him on the grounds that the variance in hitting is greater than the variance in fielding, but as it is, on a real team, I say keep Blanco. If that means there are not enough roster spots for Fontenot, too bad. I say this as a lover of South Louisiana who likes to have as many Cubs as possible to have names ending in "ot."

Mr. White would make a perfect keystone combo with Mr. Castro. He is his translator. I vote for keeping him and breaking up the Cajun scrappy connection. Bueno! Ole!

I find it really interesting how the poster NAVIGATOR who has constantly bashed Tim Wilken since he was hired (at least as far as I can remember), never gives him any credit for what he has been trying to do, nor acknowledges bona fide scouting authorities' take on what is happening in our minor leagues. Nice! Go Internet! "Baseball America also recognized the improvement made in the Cubs' farm system. The Cubs organization jumped from 27th in baseball to 15th in Baseball America's pre-season talent rankings." 5 Cubs prospects in the BP Top 100. Improvement is at least noted.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

Why the snark? Look, I don't attach much importance to these lists. But lets look at three of the more notable ones that appeared recently. BA - 5 Cubs ESPN Keith Law of Scouts Inc. -- 2 Cubs AOL Fanhouse's Frank Pilliere -- 3 Cubs 3 Lists, Cubs appearing 10 times. That's an average of 3.33 Cubs per Top 100 There are 30 major league teams. 100 top prospects/30 teams = 3.33 prospects per team on average. If this little exercise has any deep meaning at all, it looks to me like the Cubs are all the way up to average.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

I've never seen anyone do a study of how good these lists are, but I've never heard of AOL Fanhouse or Mr Pilliere and Law, besides being a bit of a tool, isn't a prospect guy. That being said, BA has been pretty crappy at predicting Cubs players. The Cubs have had three RoY candidates including one winnder in the last two years and the highest any of them ranked was 30th (the one who did the worst of the three). Personal opinion is that any list that doesn't have Lee isn't worth the virtual paper it's printed on anyway.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

"Why the snark?" Did Time Wilkens poss in your cereal? Why the grudge? What basis is there for your "Teflon Tim" rants when there is objective evidence that he is moving the talent into the right direction? Excuse me, "AOL Fanhouse"??? Since when does ANYTHING with AOL on it have any significance?! About as much significance as their stock. Ask Time-Warner. Its not just the lists. It is your perception of not knowing what the minors are for, apparently, which is to get players to the Major League Level, and 2., develop players for use in-trade. Whether they become "Stars" or "Key Players" is just gravy. 650 players roughly out of ALL the various baseball levels get to have the chance. Out of that number, only a tiny percentage become Albert Pujols.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

The Cubs have a serious defect in drafting and coaching positional talent. They go after the toolsy players and skip over the baseball players. The Cubs are in love with drafting the jack of all trade player but master of nothing. Its a sad state of affairs when the best and most successful positional talent since Mark Grace is Ryan Theriot. I am not even counting Soto as all he has proven is that he is a one year wonder to date. Go back and look at the drafts of the last 20 years and you will see the Cubs picking their awesome 1st rounder and the next pick or picks is the All-Star/ Hall of Famer. Its not like the Cubs were finishing 1st place every year, even a blind squirrel could luck into one of those organization defining players. The Cubs as an organization DOES NOT DRAFT OR DEVELOP positional talent AT ALL. I will defend Ryan Theriot for who he is, he is the best option over the last 3 years for SS for this franchise. He isn't the best in the world, but that should send shivers down your spine about how crappy our system has been for decades. That and watching Bobby Scales being our best option for the OF should make you want to slit your wrists. Starlin Castro is the savior now at age 19, and no OF or any other positional talent who could ever be considered to seriously to take over a MLB job remotely ready. The way i see it we don't have shit to help this team over the next 3-5 years from our minors. Thats how bad it is.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

3-5 years is a bit harsh. we probably won't get an aram/dlee out of the minors any time soon (unless vitters pumps it up), though. it's weird. the cubs have no organizational philosophy or an owner calling the shots on what kind of player should be drafted, but they've struck out a lot...a whole lot. "The Cubs are in love with drafting the jack of all trade player" ...yes they are. i dont mind it when they do it with a guy like colvin, but when they do it with highschool kid who's got a lot of everything, but still very raw as a complete package...meh...

Ah, but what you do not see, my friend, is the value of a new owner. That is at least a +1.5 added to the prospect er, prospectus. 2000-oh-10 will be a miracle year...(well, at least a contract year for several Cubbies and the GM and the manager). It's gonna happen!

personally think him and Baker would make a pretty decent platoon myself, at least better than just one getting the job. think Fontenot has a nice swing, but looks overmatched against guys that bring good heat, also looks like he's a bit of a guess hitter as he takes some odd swings and odd takes.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I can agree with that, but he didn't have that problem in 2009, so maybe it was a combination of mechanical and mental. I think he and Bradley are the guys who pressed the most with Aram's injury.

wow...matt stairs has dropped 32lbs. this offseason. that's soto-style impressive. too bad stairs didn't do it oh, 10 years ago. btw...pablo sandoval showed up to camp STUPID huge. he's still got youth, though.

Phil, I'm heading to ST game next Friday with my two sons (10&8), any key places or times to get a chance for a Cubs autograph? We're sitting out in the grass behind the outfield. Thanks.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

You named your sons "10" and "8"? That's more jacked than naming them all Jacos. Show up really early and try to get them as they're finishing their drills. HoHoKam is a pretty bad place for autographs, there's other parks where the players litterally walk out of the field after the game... but I can't remember which parks.

I always liked "Kong" for Kingman. I thought "The Baby-Faced Assassin" was okay for Danny Graves before he became "Danny Graves Blows Saves." "Hey Asshole" was always appropriate for Larry "Chipper" Jones.

"I can move around -- that's the only thing I'm doing 100 percent, is the fielding, and I don't feel any pain at all," he said. "No problem." Soriano on testing his knee in the field. He needs to figure out how to go 100% in the field during the season.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

MLB Network...forget which show, i think it's "Hot Stove," has been highlighting a "SABR-style" stat nightly debating their worth and what they show...along with poking holes in some of them. it's a mix of intelligence, ignorance, and personal opinions.

"Theriot hit on left wrist by Rafael Dolis during BP, says he's okay" I'm guessing Dolis is on Team Castro. Might want to take that Theriot target picture down. :-)

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.