Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-18-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL
* Justin Steele, P   

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 





Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

River Cats Defeat I-Cubs at Fitch Park

The Sacramento River Cats (A’s AAA squad) defeated the Iowa Cubs 6-1 at Fitch Park Field #3 this afternoon in Mesa.

Bobby Scales had three hits and reached base four times, but that was just about the extent of the I-Cubs offense.

Mike Parisi got the start for Iowa, and was hammered to the tune of four runs on six hits (including four doubles), a walk, and a wild pitch, in three innings of work (52 pitches – 34 strikes). He also struck out four. Parisi was outrighted to Iowa last Saturday.

There were several roster moves made involving the Iowa Cubs today: Pitcher Alessandro Maestri, catchers Steve Clevenger and Blake Lalli, infielders Nate Samson and Tony Thomas, and outfielder Ty Wright were assigned to AA Tennessee, and infielders Jonathan Mota and Marquez Smith were promoted to Iowa from Tennessee.

Smith was promoted to fill a need at 3B (Bobby Scales will be used primarily at 2B), while Mota—a utility infielder--has been learning the catching position this Spring while with the Tennessee squad, and he apparently did well enough to qualify as the I-Cubs emergency third catcher should anything bad happen to Welington Castillo and Chris Robinson in the same game. Mota started behind the plate in today's game.

RHP Jake Muyco and LHP Dustin Sasser were moved up to the Iowa squad for today's game, but that probably was because several Iowa relief pitchers will be in the Cubs bullpen this weekend at Chase Field. There is no indication that Muyco or Sasser have been promoted from Tennessee to Iowa, although that is a possibility.

Catcher Jose Guevara was brought up from the Boise/Mesa squad for today's game, while Iowa catchers Welington Castillo and Chris Robinson are with the Cubs this weekend.

Here is today’s abridged box score (Iowa Cubs players only):

IOWA LINEUP:
1a. Sam Fuld, CF:          1-3 (1B+E6, 6-3, Kc)
1b. Matt Camp, CF:        0-2 (P-6, F-7)
2. Darwin Barney, SS:     1-3 (BB, 1B, 5-3, 4-3)
3. Micah Hoffpauir, DH:   1-4 (Ks, F-8, 1B, 3-U)
4. Jason Dubois, 1B:       0-4 (L-7, Ks, Ks, Ks)
5. Brad Snyder, RF:        0-4 (Ks, F-8, P-5, F-7)
6. Bryan Lahair, LF:        0-4 (Ks, 6-3, F-8, F-8)
7. Bobby Scales, 2B:      3-3 (BB, 1B, 1B, 2B)
8a. Jonathan Mota, C:    0-2 (5-3, Ks)
8b. Jose Guevara, C:      1-2 (F-9, 2B)
9. Marquez Smith, 3B:    0-3 (5-3, F-8, HBP, F-8)

IOWA PITCHERS:
1. Mike Parisi -     3.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R (4 ER), 1 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 1/3 GO/FO, 52 pitches (34 strikes)
2. Scott Maine -    2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 2/3 GO/FO, 30 pitches (20 strikies)
3. Jake Muyco -    2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 1/3 GO/FO, 32 pitches (20 strikes)
4. Dustin Sasser - 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 2 K,1/2 GO/FO, 39 pitches (21 strikes)
NOTE: Top of the 9th inning was stopped early because Sasser reached max pitch-count for that inning

ERRORS (1):
Bryan Lahair: E-7 (throwing error allowing runners at 1st & 2nd to move up one base)

CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Jonathan Mota – 1-1 CS, 2 PB
Jose Guevara –   1 PB

Comments

How has Tyler Colvin come to the plate only once, but played all three outfield positions? Or is he just playing the outfield by himself? 1-1 with a triple and covering the whole outfield--he is God! Fontenot (circa '08) has been replaced.

Lilly slated to throw in Des Moines Friday night; alas, can't be there due to prior family engagement, but if he stays - as expected - for a 2nd start, that would likely fall the following Wednesday night & I will have a look @ him then...

this WGN camera work is god awful today. the director has no idea what camera to call and keeps stalling on weird shots along with useless MTV-style jump cuts to other cameras.

Lou just on the broadcast, said he would be shocked if at the beginning ST he was told "Clovin" would break with the team.

it seems castro keeps getting more and more jewelry the longer spring training goes on. that triple could have been an inside the park homer if it wasn't for the mr. t starter kit he's wearing. =p

I mentioned this halfway through ST when he was also hitting .259 Some guys just are what they are: Today, Kosuke Fukudome finished spring training with a .259 BA and a line of .259 .375 .425 Last yr Kosuke Fukudome finished the reg seasn with a .259 BA and a line of .259 .375 .421 His cumulative BA for all three ST's is .254 So far his MLB numbers are very similar to what he put up in his second and third seasons with Chunichi in Japan. .253 .350 .446 and .251 .352 .440 There's still hope for Kosuke. He took it to a new level the following season .343 .406 .537 and never looked back. Maybe he can do it again, this year.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

I thought it was sort of obvious. The average stats in Japan, aside from that one career year, translating to pretty much the same thing here. The overpaying for average stats and results. For me, it was new -- I wasn't aware that Fukodome had been so average in Japan before his breakout season. But it should not be news to Hendry, and to me that makes the expensive signing sort of dumb. I still like Fukodome, though, and I am hoping he does turn it around. There is something about him that makes me cheer for him.

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

The stats navigator provides here are Fukudome's two weakest years in out of the eight he played for Chunichi (the only team he played for before switching to the MLB). They are also his age 23 and 24 seasons. From age 25-30 he never put up an OPS under .900 and averaged 24 homeruns a season despite being limited to 92 games in 2004 and 81 games in 2007. There's also a reason navigator left out Fukudome's rookie season line, the year before navigator's sample--his batting average was .284 . Of course, his OBP and Slugging were around the same. So why did navigator leave it out? He's stuck on this .259 thing. And yes, the fact that Fukudome has compiled roughly the same batting average in his first two years as an MLB player might be significant, but the fact that he had similer batting averages in 2000 and 2001 when he was 23 and 24 playing in another country against completely different competition (and those were his two lowest averages) tells us nothing. You could make the argument that Hendry made an ill-advised gamble on Fukudome (a gamble because predicting the transfer from each league is damn difficult, but a gamble the White Sox, Padres, and another team or two to the best of my recollection were also willing to make), but these year by year stat lines selected based on similar batting averages and almost nothing else is not a good way to make that argument, nor is it something that could have helped anybody predict Fukudome's performance in MLB before signing him. I with you on cheering for him, Old and Blue. And I'm also with you on thinking that he is overpaid for what he has brought to the field in his first two seasons (and, based on what we've seen so far in the MLB, what he's likely to bring in the next two seasons). But navigator's criticism based on the stats in Japan doesn't make any sense.

A couple days ago The Big Lowitzki, when I pointed out I have some concern over the shit hitting of our catchers this spring (particularly Geo Soto, who is going on 8 straight months of crap), said "Who cares, its Spring training", may want to look at this ESPN article from Jon Greenberg: http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs Lou, when asked: "Look," he said. "He needs to swing the bat a little better. C'mon, we've gotten one extra-base hit out of our catchers this spring, the catchers we still have here. We'd like to see a little better. We'd like to see a lot better actually." Soto went hitless in his last 17 Cactus League at-bats since March 20, though he has walked three times. Yeah, Lowitzki, "Who Cares?". Just the Manager of the team - and me. Look, time will tell, but this is a trend already that needs to get reversed, and now, if the team is going to fight for a Playoff spot.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

Eh. Lou's dumb. He also got excited about Soriano's big 3-3 day. Take a look at Soto and Soriano's ST OPSs and you'll see they are remarkably similar, just Soto's .400+ is in the OBP and Soriano's is in the SLG. Soto also came to the plate a lot less (and got walked a lot more, meaning he often didn't get great pitches to hit, most likely). As for 2008, Soto's BABIP was .246--most of which had to be bad luck considering his line drive rate only dropped 3%. On the other hand, his HR/FB rate dropped over 4%, which could be bad luck but is (I think) probably more due to a slight drop in bat speed, quickness, squaring the ball--something in the swing or approach (which could have been affected by a sore hand or the big belly). Long story short, yes, Soto needs to slug higher than .243. Soriano also needs to get on base at better than a .267 clip, Lee needs to do better than a .294 OBP, and A-Ram needs to get on the field and boost his OPS about .300. Soto and Koyie Hill are hardly the biggest concern (and that C spot is slotted to come up 8th according to Lou).

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

I still say who cares. Its spring training. Its meaningless. Lou is exactly right. Obviously Soto needs to hit better than he did in ST. But his ST stats are about as meaningful as Colvin's - i.e. not worth much.

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Indeed they do TJW!

    For the record I’m not in favor of solely building a team through paying big to free agents. But I’m also of the mind that when you develop really good players, get them signed to extensions that buy out a couple years of free agency, including with team options. And supplement the home grown players with free agent splashes or using excess prospects to trade for stars under team control for a few years. Sort of what Atlanta does, basically. Everyone talks about the dodgers but I feel that Atlanta is the peak organization at the current moment.

    That said, the constant roster churn is very Rays- ish. What they do is incredible, but it’s extremely hard to do which is why they’re the only ones frequently successful that employ that strategy. I definitely do not want to see a large market team like ours follow that model closely. But I don’t think free agent frenzies is always the answer. It’s really only the Dodgers that play in that realm. I could see an argument for the Mets too. The Yankees don’t really operate like that anymore since the elder Steinbrenner passed. Though I would say the reigning champions built a good deal of that team through free agent spending.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    The issue is the Cubs are 11-7 and have been on the road for 12 of those 18.  We should be at least 13-5, maybe 14-4. Jed isn't feeling any pressure to play anyone he doesn't see fit.
    But Canario on the bench, Morel not at 3B for Madrigal and Wisdom in RF wasn't what I thought would happen in this series.
    I was hoping for Morel at 3B, Canario in RF, Wisdom at DH and Madrigal as a pinch hitter or late replacement.
    Maybe Madrigal starts 1 game against the three LHSP for Miami.
    I'm thinking Canario goes back to Iowa on Sunday night for Mastrobuoni after the Miami LHers are gone.
    Canario needs ABs in Iowa and not bench time in MLB.
    With Seiya out for a while Wisdom is safe unless his SOs are just overwhelmingly bad.

    My real issue with the lineup isn't Madrigal. I'm not a fan, but I've given up on that one.
    It's Tauchman getting a large number of ABs as the de factor DH and everyday player.
    I didn't realize that was going to be the case.
    We need a better LH DH. PCA or ONKC need to force the issue in about a month.
    But, even if they do so, Jed doesn't have to change anything if the Cubs stay a few over .500!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Totally depends on the team and the player involved. If your team’s philosophy is to pay huge dollars to bet on the future performance of past stars in order to win championships then, yes, all of the factors you mentioned are important.

    If on the other hand, if the team’s primary focus is to identify and develop future stars in an effort to win a championship, and you’re a young player looking to establish yourself as a star, that’s a fit too. Otherwise your buried within your own organization.

    Your comment about bringing up Canario for the purposes of sitting him illustrates perfectly the dangers of rewarding a non-performing, highly paid player over a hungry young prospect, like Canario, who is perpetually without a roster spot except as an insurance call up, but too good to trade. Totally disincentivizing the performance of the prospect and likely diminishing it.

    Sticking it to your prospects and providing lousy baseball to your fans, the consumers and source of revenue for your sport, solely so that the next free agent gamble finds your team to be a comfortable landing spot even if he sucks? I suppose  that makes sense to some teams but it’s definitely not the way I want to see my team run.

    Once again, DJL, our differences in philosophy emerge!

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    That’s just kinda how it works though, for every team. No team plays their best guys all the time. No team is comprising of their best 26 even removing injuries.

    When baseball became a business, like REALLY a business, it became important to keep some of the vets happy, which in turn keeps agents happy and keeps the team with a good reputation among players and agents. No one wants to play for a team that has a bad reputation in the same way no one wants to work for a company that has a bad rep.

    Don’t get me wrong, I hate it too. But there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

    On that topic, I find it silly the Cubs brought up Canario to sit as much as he has. He’s going to get Velazquez’d, and it’s a shame.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Of course, McKinstry runs circles around $25 million man Javier Baez on that Tigers team. Guess who gets more playing time?

    But I digress…

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Seems like Jed was trying to corner the market on mediocre infielders with last names starting with "M" in acquiring Madrigal, Mastroboney and Zach McKinstry.  

     

    At least he hasn't given any of them a Bote-esque extension.  

  • Childersb3 (view)

    AZ Phil:
    Rookie ball (ACL) starts on May 4th. Do yo think Ramon and Rosario (maybe Delgado) stay in Mesa for the month of May, then go to MB if all goes "solid"?
     

  • crunch (view)

    masterboney is a luxury on a team that has multiple, capable options for 2nd, SS, and 3rd without him around.  i don't hate the guy, but if madrigal is sticking around then masterboney is expendable.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    I THINK I agree with that decision. They committed to Wicks as a starter and, while he hasn’t been stellar I don’t think he’s been bad enough to undo that commitment.

    That said, Wesneski’s performance last night dictates he be the next righty up.

    Quite the dilemma. They have many good options, particularly in relief, but not many great ones. And complicating the situation is that the pitchers being paid the most are by and large performing the worst - or in Taillon’s case, at least to this point, not at all.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Wesneski and Mastrobuoni to Iowa

    Taillon and Wisdom up

    Wesneski can't pitch for a couple of days after the 4 IP from last night. But Jed picked Wicks over Wesneski.