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

Cubs Week In Quotations

The $18M Set-Up Man
"The bottom line is that at this particular time, it makes us a better club. [Zambrano] didn't throw poorly. [Silva and Gorzelanny], their arsenal isn't conducive to going to the pen. ... There's no agenda at all except it was the best fit at the time. He's capable of doing it." - Jim Hendry

Sunk Costs
"You can't worry about anybody's individual salary. Things change. People adjust. We're going to have an injury or two along the way and we'll adjust to that. ... Nobody ever breaks camp with the 25 in the same role and just run the table, win 100 and goes to the playoffs. To get hung up on what somebody makes or what they used to do or what's going to happen a month from now or who you're going to acquire, that's foolish thinking." - Jim Hendry

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy
“I’m not ‘happy’ happy about this decision, but I feel good. I feel good to help my team and to do everything to help us solve whatever the problem is.”- Carlos Zambrano

He Gives Us Headaches
"Zambrano gives us a presence. He gives us experience. He gives us a really good situation. He gives us an opportunity to win baseball games. To me, that's the limelight." - Lou Piniella

Even A Zombie Apocalypse?
"Yeah, I'm ready for everything." - Carlos Zambrano

It's Something to Slap Corporate Advertising On
“Well, it’s…it’s something for the fans.” - Lou Piniella on the BP Crosstown Cup

Like Wait-And-See If They'll Hit Today
"I think our lineup is a little bit of a wait-and-see." - Lou Piniella

Practice? We're Talking About Practice!
''When we get home, we work on a few things [before night games] that we haven't executed all that well." - Lou Piniella

Said the 15-year old Soriano in his Bedroom
'It's the same approach. I just trust my hands more.''- Alfonso Soriano

Tried Sushi?
'I think I did it once in Washington in 2006,'' - Alfonso Soriano after taking 3 walks in a game.

The Baseball Where Having a Runner on Third With Less Than 2 Outs is Good?
"Bunting what? With a left-handed hitter ( Mike Fontenot) up, you want to bunt? What kind of baseball you play?"
"Really, what kind of baseball do you play?"
"How about getting (the runner) in, or getting him over by swinging? How about that?" - Lou Piniella

Blind Luck
"It was all luck. It was one of those last-minute, sun-is-in-your-eyes (situations). I try to get to a position and stick your glove out. - Marlon Byrd

And That's He Still Batting 4th (or 5th)
"The only surprising thing is the number of strikeouts (25 in 97 at-bats)." - Lou Piniella on Aramis Ramirez

Crash Cart
"We just need to stabilize this thing and win some games and get above .500. That's what our job is, and that's what we're going to try to do." - Lou Piniella

Swingers
"I've got Fukudome that's swinging it, I've got Soriano that's swinging it and I've got Byrd that's swinging it." - Lou Piniella

Or Use Koyie Hill as the Catcher
"He's going to add 3-4 miles per hour to his fastball. Yesterday, what was wrong with Teddy was he got the ball up with the wind blowing out, and that's not good. His velocity will improve, yes. Remember, this was his second major-league start, and he'll get more arm strength." - Lou Piniella

Or Trade for Someone Really Good
"And if you want to put together a good bullpen here this summer that wins you a division, that's exactly what we're going to have to do. Put the brakes on some of these young kids and pitch them, at the right time, give them the necessary experience and let them build some confidence." - Lou Piniella

Simple, Yet Surprising
"The Cubs outplayed us. It's pretty simple." - AJ Hinch

Late Night with President Obama
"It's been nine years since your last title -- which must have felt like eternity for Yankee fans. I think other teams would be just fine with a spell like that. The Cubs, for example."- President Barack Obama

Mediocrity Might Be Shooting a Little High
"What I've learned is that I don't understand the term 'lovable losers.' A century of mediocrity isn't funny and I think the Ricketts family agrees with this. They are giving a sense around the ballpark of a comprehensive engagement in the game, and the amenities in the ballpark and, most of all, in the quality of what is going on on the field. I don't think the Ricketts want to be the owners of lovable losers, and more power to them." - George Will

Comments

soriano is back to admiring his shots at the plate and still hopping in the OF. he could at least pretend for more than 1-5 days he's going to do the thing he's sorry about/going to work on/apologizing for/etc. at least he's hitting, finally...

[ ]

In reply to by Tito

And Ramirez does it even more than Soriano. They should make it a standard policy that anyone that does not run at full speed until the UMPIRE signals home run is fined 10,000 dollars. If that doesn't work, make it 100,000 dollars. I don't know if the players union contract would allow it, but if not, then lock the players out after the contract expires until they agree to change it.

[ ]

In reply to by DavidP

a lot of MLB does it. it's one of those "accepted" things that managers don't feel the need to smack-down for some reason. it's not like it's never happened in the past, but fallout for "lack of hustle" used to be a bit more forthcoming when someone did screw it up. hanley ramirez in FLA is really bad about it. he practically stands there before jogging/running on many of his shots.

Q: What about trading Soriano? It's easy to talk about when he's not hitting. It usually goes like this: "how much of the contract would the Cubs eat? Probably most of it." But if you trade him now...

[ ]

In reply to by DavidP

I don't know about that. I think someone has money that would burn on Soriano if he still has gas in the tank. And "getting the benefit of his offense" is tricky... for the vast majority of last season and for the first two weeks of this season we did not benefit from his offense. He's a streak hitter, it's just what he does.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

strong arm, okay range for Snider works the count more than Colvin, power is already there, but K's an extraordinary amount. it would save the Blue Jays a few bucks I guess, but they'd be giving up a (poor) center fielder for a left fielder and putting Soriano's bad legs on turf. I certainly don't think they'd throw in Snider quite yet who is more widely regarded than Colvin before the year, although that could be changing.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • 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...