Cubs MLB Roster

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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

Castro Gets the Call

Submitted by Cubnut on

As virtually all of Cub Nation has probably already heard, the Cubs have summoned 20-year-old Starlin Castro to the bigs. He's in tonight's lineup in Cincinnati, hitting eighth. Ryan Theriot is moving over to second. Chad Tracy, meanwhile, has been banished to Iowa, Andrew Cashner has been promoted to Iowa from Tennessee, and Josh Vitters has been moved up to Tennessee from Daytona.

Back to the game tonight. Here's the batting order that will go up against the Reds' Homer Bailey:

Theriot 4, Fukudome 9, Lee 3, Byrd 8, Ramirez 5, Soriano 6, Soto 2, Castro 6, Silva 1.

Sullivan points out in the Tribune that Castro is the youngest Cubs rookie since 19-year-old Oscar Gamble made his debut 41 years ago. Ironically, Gamble also broke in against the Reds, in Cincinnati.

Also found this item in Sullivan's story amusing: Jim Hendry said these moves were not motivated by the Cubs getting swept in Pittsburgh. "I knew two days ago I was going to do this before Cincinnati," the Cubs GM said.

Some thoughts on the move by Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (subscription required):

The Dominican shortstop just turned 20 in March, but after a monster spring and this much offense so far in the Southern League, I think we can have some confidence that he's going to hit immediately. Certainly not .376, but he should hold his own.., as in yesterday's Scouting Notebook, a scout believed he could be a future 70 hitter, which is nearly batting title territory. Beyond the ability to hammer line drives all over the field, Castro has a good, not great approach, but he's not overly aggressive like Corey Patterson was, and it shouldn't be a problem in the big leagues.

Goldstein also cautions that Castro is not "some sort of massive tools monster." He rates Castro's speed as only average and says not to expect much in the way of longball power until Castro's frame fills out.

Tags
Ryan Theriot
Starlin Castro

Comments

Submitted by Cubnut on Fri, 05/07/2010 - 05:28 pm

Sorry, all, for the Corey Patterson reference. Before I knew it, I had typed the words and well, I'm just really sorry.

Submitted by The Real Neal on Fri, 05/07/2010 - 05:29 pm

Just think at this rate - three more promotions and Soto can bat fourth!

Submitted by crunch on Fri, 05/07/2010 - 05:32 pm

Goldstein also cautions that Castro is not "some sort of massive tools monster." ...yes castro is an awesome prospect, but really...we shouldnt expect more than a renteria/vizquel type performance out of the guy at his peak. he's just not built for super-stardom...at least now...probably not ever.

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Submitted by Charlie on Sat, 05/08/2010 - 05:34 am

We shouldn't expect it right away or anything--and I know that scouts etc. are trying to project based on what Castro has done so far in the minors and his current body--but watching Castro's swing in spring training and looking at the number of extra base hits he's able to collect in the minors, I don't think it's completely unreasonable that he could produce DeRosa+ power. He's not a big guy, but he's so comfortable putting the bat on the ball that he can take some pretty aggressive swings, and he's already using his legs well.

Submitted by Jace on Fri, 05/07/2010 - 05:38 pm

At this point, I am just happy to say that he makes the team better. It is not their most urgent need, but a Theriot/Castro middle infield sure seems like an upgrade over a Fonty/Theriot one.... I just wish that this did something to address the MASSIVE production void coming from their corner IFs, or to add someone reliable to the pen...

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Fri, 05/07/2010 - 05:56 pm

the whole thing seems like a massive distraction from the season-as-is to me. it's the answer to a problem that doesn't exist and the potential upgrade quality seems to be so minor in the immediate future. we get a new toy to look at on TV, though.

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Submitted by crunch on Fri, 05/07/2010 - 05:19 pm

the very idea of bringing up an "upgrade" that we slot into the 8-hitting slot says a lot about the upgrade, imo. some believe the D upgrade at SS will be worth counting, too. i'm in the camp that believes that while theriot is pretty damn average, he's not a liability.

Submitted by Cubnut on Fri, 05/07/2010 - 05:31 pm

Also from Baseball Prospectus, Christina Kahrl uses about 600 words to say that she thinks the call-up makes sense and that she's expecting early, Edgar Renteria-like numbers from the young man--.270 to .280 average, a few homers--plus a nice defensive improvement over Theriot.

Submitted by Cubnut on Fri, 05/07/2010 - 05:37 pm

Reds lineup v. Silva: Cabrera SS, Phillips 2B, Votto 1B, Rolen 3B, Bruce RF, Gomes LF, Stubbs CF, Hernandez C, Homer Bailey P

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Fri, 05/07/2010 - 05:02 pm

Chad Tracy has 6+033 MLB Service Time through yesterday, so he would have had to agree to accept an Optional Assignment to Iowa. And to get him to agree, the Cubs probably had to guarantee some or all of the $550K in performance incentives in his contract. Also, Starlin Castro presently gets four minor league options (as long as the 4th one is used prior to his completing five full seasons), in case the Cubs option him back to the minors at some point later this season.

Submitted by Charlie on Fri, 05/07/2010 - 05:31 pm

If Castro sticks, what role does Baker have on the team? Wish A-Ram would get himself together at the plate. Lee, too.

Submitted by navigator on Fri, 05/07/2010 - 05:03 pm

The Cincy TV announcers just said that the 6 RBI by Castro in his MLB debut was the greatest performance ever by a rookie in his first game. One game, one Major League record.

Submitted by The E-Man on Fri, 05/07/2010 - 05:34 pm

Other than his Cubbie disaster with The Wide-Out, the below plus the recent Cub Top 10 prospects is not at all the disaster Mike C whines about constantly. And interestingly NAVIGATOR has been silent about "Teflon Tim" recently. Go figure. "During his 27-year career, Wilken has seen a distinguished list of players signed and ushered into the big leagues, including: Derek Bell, Chris Carpenter, Carlos Delgado, Ryan Freel, Shawn Green, Roy Halladay, Steve Karsay, Billy Koch, Josh Phelps, Alex Rios, Vernon Wells and Michael Young. While with the Blue Jays, he contributed to the club's streak of seeing 11 straight first-round draft picks reach the major leagues. In addition, during his 11 years after being promoted to national crosschecker of the Blue Jays, Toronto's draft was ranked in the top five each year - producing four Rawling Gold Glove winners and two Cy Young Award winners. In 2005, 16 products of the Blue Jays organization were on the All-Star Ballot and six were selected to the All-Star Team. In addition, in 2003, the Blue Jays were named Baseball America's organization of the year."

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Submitted by MikeC on Sat, 05/08/2010 - 05:44 pm

Ummmm E-man sorry to bag on you but just because Wilken had a great career some where else doesn't mean the picture is all sunshine and rose petals in the Cubs system. One thing doesn't have a damn thing to do with another. If the organization isn't going to pay top dollar for the best players in the draft then your still going to get a shitty product. More importantly he is only as good as the people around him and the people in the Cubs system, are how should i put it, F'n horrible at talent evaluation. McPhail was a great GM in Minnesota, because he had great people working for him. He wasn't so much in Chicago, in fact he was a pretty shitty GM. He continues to be that same shitty GM in Baltimore but with better scouts and talent evaluation. Minnesota keeps on trucking like he never existed and McPhail never did a damn thing to help this franchise win a World Series. He took a couple can't miss prospects that carried us about as far as they could and then it flamed out every time. All you have done is thrown out Wilken's past accomplishments and concluded our farm system is better and/or fixed because of what he did in the past. In fact you didn't even mention one single accomplishment from Wilken to the Cubs, thats pretty telling.

Submitted by Mike Wellman on Sat, 05/08/2010 - 05:50 pm

I-Cubs' listing of upcoming pitching matchups doesn't include Cashner yet [assuming he'll continue to start]...they're home for a brief 4 game set w/ OKC before hitting the road so may have to wait a while before a chance to get a look @ him...meantime, Castro: revolution? revelation? wow...

Submitted by Mike Wellman on Sat, 05/08/2010 - 05:32 pm

damn...cashner now slated to throw tuesday in las vegas on first game of road trip!

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • crunch (view)

    booooooooooo

    also, wisdom and taillon are both in chicago.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Tonight’s game postponed. Split games on Saturday.

  • crunch (view)

    cubs getting crazy good at not having player moves leak.

    taillon we 100% know is pitching tonight.  who he's replacing and any additional moves are unknown as far as i can tell.

    p.wisdom was not in today's lineup in iowa (rained out) and he was removed from the game last night mid-game, but not for injury.  good bet he's with the team in the bigs, too.

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