Cubs MLB Roster

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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

Soriano Slider Watch

Theories have been abundant on the rapid decline of $100 million dollar man Alfonso Soriano, from age, to bad legs, to just a bad season in 2009 because of bad legs and his age.  As our man Transmission showed last year, as well as Joe Posnanski and a few other articles, part of the puzzle was teams throwing more sliders to Soriano as well as Soriano not doing his normal damage on fastballs.

So let's see how Opening Day went for #12 with the caveat that Pitch F/X and its pitch recognition isn't 100% accurate.

1st AB vs. Lowe (2 outs, nobody on)

Slider - Ball

Slider - GO 5-3

2nd AB vs. Lowe (leading off the 4th)

Slider - GO 5-3 (yes, Soriano swung at a first pitch slider low and outside)

3rd AB vs. Lowe (2 out, nobody on)

Slider - Called Strike

Slider - Swinging Strike

Slider - Swinging Strike

4th AB vs. Wagner (2 out, nobody on)

Slider - Called Strike

Slider - Ball

Fastball - Fouled Off

Fastball - Swing and a Miss for the K

10 pitches, 8 sliders total (2 from a lefty though)

Days left on Soriano's contract (assuming Sept. 28, 2014 is the last day of the season, could be Oct. 5, 2014).

Some other observations from yesterday's game...

  • As Carlos noted in Parachat, yesterday's bottom of the first inning was a highlight reel on the luck(or lack of luck for the Cubs) of BABIP
  • At least Z kept his composure out there and the Gatorade machine was spared. I keed.
  • Byrd looked kind of slow out there in center field, didn't he? I also thought he liked to play shallow?
  • Speaking of defense, the adage is you want to be strong up the middle. The Cubs answer to that is Byrd, Theriot, Fontenot and Soto.
  • Where will Ninja be playing on the home opener - Wrigley or Iowa?
  • How do we convince Fukudome it's always April? 337/452/535 with 15 2B, 2 3B,5 HR, 38 R, 25 RBI's over the last two seasons and a game during the inaugral month.

The good news is there are 161 games left to go...I think that's good news.

Comments

"Facts are meaningless; they can be used to prove anything" I sorta noticed last year when catcher was sitting behind lh hitter's box when Sori batted.

what's up with pitch FX anyway? this offseason i spent some time digging through their data and was blown away at how many mis-classified pitches they've assigned to pitchers. it was a revolution 3+ years ago...now it's getting a lot of head scratching with it's findings. it REALLY has issues with 2-seam vs. 4-seam fastballs and imo you cannot treat these pitches as the same with almost any pitcher. if a guy throws a pitch from another arm slot that takes a little off the velocity it can even end up being called a slider or similar... guys refining their fastball and playing with velocity (esp. if it leads to the ball moving or dropping) can get weird results, too.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

es hardly perfection and they don't change the settings everytime a new pitcher comes in... I imagine the software is programmed to judge by velocity, drop, release point, movement and spits out a pitch. I think we all know, as I stated, that there is some issues with their pitch recognition, although the 10 pitches to Soriano yesterday were in line with what I saw.

From the aforementioned Joe Posnanski in the Sports Illustrated Baseball Preview, quoting Bill James... "Willy Mo Pena never saw a slider in his major league career. He thought they were all fastballs." (Replace WMP with "Fonzie")

Nothing strangulates a sports club more than having older players on long contracts, because once they stop performing, they become immovable. And as they become older, the risk of injury becomes exponential. It’s less costly to bring [on] a young player. If it doesn’t work, you can go and find the next guy, and the next guy. The downside risk is lower, and the upside much higher. It’s almost like he is managing a mutual fund.” —Athletics general manager Billy Beane on Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (Simon Kuper, Financial Times) http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=10463

Soriano was brutal yesterday, no doubt, but anyone can have a rough day. I'll give him a few weeks. Love the countdown, btw.

Wow, that's right, I actually once upon a time contributed useful insight around here. Cool!

http://cubs.scout.com/2/960139.html differences I spotted from Phil's report on Sunday T. Blackford & D. Patton aren't on the AA roster L. Sommer and C. Siegfried will start with Daytona rather than AA C. Lambert is on the Tennessee DL (along with M. Spencer as noted) no sign of J. Leverton, D. McDaniel, J. James, L. Flores, or A. Sosa, all of whom Phil saw assigned to Daytona. I assume some were cut and some will stay back in extended spring training.

killer... april 10 (SAT) through april 18 (also, SAT) we have 8 day games in a row. 2 @CIN and 6 @CHC. *golf clap* bravo.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

off day smashed up in there. i'm just settling into the fact that after missing the cubs opening day because of it being a day game it seems i'm in for another week of it except for some weekend games. it's a me-thing rather than it being a bad team-thing. laaaaaaaaaaaame.

Thank you for affirming my casual observation that Marlon Byrd looks awfully chubby and slow for a CF. How bad will it have to get to remove Soriano from the lineup? I mean, seriously, if he's batting .193 at the end of May, will they do something?

Good Morning Mr. Phelps. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to get Alfonso Soriano to bat OUTSIDE the lineup. The secretary knows this has never been done outside of the American League. But god knows the manager can't do it, so it is up to you and your team, Mr. Phelps. Find a way to get Soriano in Left field without him actually coming to bat as an automatic out. As usual, if you or any of your team gets caught, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your activity. Good luck Jim. This tape will self destruct in 5 seconds.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I wish Ricketts was worrying more about what's ON the field than on the walls. Just wait. If this flies with the fans, those pix will be replaced with advertising sometime down the road.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

what exactly do you want Ricketts to be doing with the team? He's an owner, they should worry about making money and hiring the right front office personnel to spend the money. Wrigley is still there biggest cash cow to spend on players, he should absolutely be worried about it and trying to improve the fan experience. They've committed to Hendry for at least this year, let Hendry do his job. Then fire him if they don't make the playoffs this season.

[ ]

In reply to by billybucks

I understand not wanting Wrigley to become some sort of corporate shrine filled with product placement and massive advertising signs. However, I also think that the argument that BECAUSE Wrigley is an old school ball park there should be no adulteration of it in any way is silly. All of the old school ball parks had advertising plastered everywhere. I tend to think that the advertising disappears into the noise after a few visits to the ballpark. Id much prefer a few signs to uniforms that are basically advertisements first like in Soccer. Soccer has little choice with no timeouts and only two 45 minute halves. They need the revenue to come from somewhere. But Id take a Toyota sign over the Cubs becoming sponsored by Poker Stars.net or Emirates Airlines.

Byrd vs. Jurrjens, Swisher vs. Lackey (terrible track record for Swisher vs. Lackey but has started the season off well), T. Snider vs. Harden @ Texas or JJ Hardy vs. E. Santana @ LA? I'm leaning towards Snider.

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.