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

Quick Cubs Hits

- Xavier Nady won't be ready to play regularly until...June!

The exclamation point is for a little joke going around the TCR comments, but Piniella said they'll be cautious with Nady through the cold weather.  Considering he was suppose to be a 4th outfielder/pinch-hitter/short side platoon for Fukudome, it probably won't matter as much as I'm sure the Internet is about to make it out to be, but it could affect the roster construction. Sam Fuld who can play all three outfield positions moreso than Tyler Colvin could get a little edge if spring training numbers are close. Or the Cubs could finally go through with an 11-man pitching staff, considering two of them will be the losers of the 4th/5th starting rotation race.

- Milton Bradley spoke again, this time to ESPN. I'd rather watch back-to-back replays of the 2005 and 2006 World Series than revisit another Bradley story, but everyone else seems to think it's worth commenting on. He doesn't seem to say anything new except some odd reporting baiting about whether hate mail may have come from within the Cubs organization. Bradley doesn't outright deny the accusation, leaving it open with a "Who cares" and "I don't care to know". Scandalous!

Look, Bradley is (as reader "jumbo" wrote), the "ultimate narcissist crossed with a conspiracy theorist".  He'll never accept responsibility for himself and nothing will ever be his fault. Hendry knocked out the response with his:

 I think it's time maybe Milton looked at himself in the mirror. It is what it is. He didn't swing the bat; he didn't get the job done. His production was the only negative, or lack of."

But the Cubs are equally at fault, they signed him without knowing what they were getting themselves into and without putting anything into place to deal with his personality. Nothing that happened last year was a suprise to anyone but the Cubs, yet they handed out the three-year deal and they're the ones that thought Milton didn't need any special treatment. The Cubs are the people that buy rottweilers and then are shocked when it eats their kids. "But it looked so cute and playful at the pet store!"

- Remember this comment from Aramis Ramirez earlier in the spring?

Third baseman Aramis Ramirez refused to take batting practice against teammates during live BP on Saturday. When asked about it, Ramirez said he never takes batting practice against teammates. That’s just something he doesn’t like to do.

We all seemed a bit suprised by the statement, but it seemed reasonable enough. Problem is, our pal Arizona Phil who has been watching spring training for as least as long as I've been here at TCR (2005) and probably much longer, recalls things differently.

I thought it was odd when Ramirez didn't take "live" BP against Cubs pitchers at Fitch Park a couple of weeks ago, when it was said in the media that it's not that uncommon for the "big leaguers" to do that... except it IS unusual.

Ramirez took "live" BP in all other previous seasons, and he was the ONLY Cub hitter to not take "live" BP this year. And then in the 50-swing BP work-out at HoHoKam the day before the first Cactus League game, Ramirez did not get good swings until the last ten or so, when he was able to drive a couple of HR.

Hopefully it's just some oddness, but I wouldn't be too surprised if he's hiding an injury either.

- Jason Frasor is the hot topic for the Cubs and Twins to bring in as a reliever. Frasor had a great 2009 with a 2.50 ERA and 11 saves, to go along with 17 saves in 2004. Phil Rogers reports that the Blue Jays are looking for an outfielder in return and speculates on Tyler Colvin or Sam Fuld. Fuld wouldn't bother me, although the Cubs would certainly need to add an arm or two in there to complete the deal. But Colvin's been putting on a show in spring training and bulked up and looks like he's the first round pick he was meant to be. I'd be more than hesitant to trade him. Even though he doesn't have a job now with the Cubs, he has 3 minor league options left and there's no reason to rush him out of the system for an unspectacular arm, considering the run of bad luck and health the Cubs seem destined to run into.

While Frasor did have a good 2009, his career FIP is 3.80 that nearly matches his career 3.78 ERA. He keeps the ball in the park(0.79) and has good strikeout rates(8.29) and would be leaving the AL East. And he did pick up a change-up after 2008, which could be the reason behind his improved season. On the other hand, the Cubs would presumably be paying the whole bill and I don't think trading a potential 25-30 HR threat that could play center field on a "regular' basis (Jim Hendry's words on WGN on Saturday) for a reliever is a good use of resources. You'll find nothing in Colvin's past minor league records to support the assertion that he could be a starter or bring mad power, but you wouldn't have found them in Geovany Soto's either before 2007. Prospects mature at odd rates and Colvin is becoming an interesting option.

Comments

I think a big part of anyone's take on Colvin is how much you buy into his arm injury costing him power as a hitter. The .220 ISO that he put up in AA certainly plays into the theory that as he moved farther away from his surgery some of the long projected power returns.

I'd trade Colvin or anybody else in the farm system if I thought it would get the Cubs to the World Series. Having said that, I don't see this team (even with minor tweaks...i.e. Frasor) playing baseball in late October this year. I see ownership watching to see if anyone working for the Cubs actually knows what their job is, and how to do it well. A lot of big contracts could be gone after this year -- Pinella, D. Lee, Lilly, Nady. Wouldn't Colvin also be able to play 1B? He might be an interesting LH option if he truly becomes a 20-25 HR potential bat.

Thanks for the nod in the post, Rob. It's been fun talking shit about MB

The problem I see with Colvin going forward is his complete lack of plate discipline. For every Vlad Guerrero that makes it with piss poor plate discipline, we see a thousand Jayson Nix,Kpatt,Mike Caruso's flaming out. I just don't see any way that Colvin isn't exposed by MLB pitching over time. Ryan Harvey looked really good in BP too.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

Tyler Colvin: .277/.320/.465, 105 walks, 341 K's in 1868 PA's Ryan Harvey: .247/.300/.458 142 walks, 639 K's in 2329 PA's Isn't Colvin considered more athletic than Harvey, as far as being able to play all 3 OF positions?

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

Harvey struck out at a clip of 27% per PA, awful. Colvin is at 18.25%. not a real fair comparison imo...20-25% is the worry point for me. IF Colvin has really added this newfound power to his game, he'll walk more just by virtue of guys working around him and IF he can play center field on a regular basis, anyone should be thrilled with an .800 to .850 OPS guy. but as I said, if you're just looking at his previous minor league numbers, there's not a lot to like. He's not gonna morph into Fukudome patience at the plate, but 40-60 bb's isn't out of the realm of possibility (he actually had a decent iso OBP in 2008 although his overall numbers did suffer).

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

Rob and I had a discussion about this the other week. First off, he's not Vlad Guerrero - Vlad had ridiculous plate coverage. What you want to look at is K rate and Colvin K's about average. He doesn't walk a lot or to this point hasn't hit for so much power, but if he K's 100 times and hits 25 HR's - that's a pretty useful player in CF even if he only walks 25 to 40 times. That's about the best I think anyone could hope for at this point- 25 HR's 40 BB's a .280 average, sniffing .500 slugging and holding his own in CF.

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.