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

High Ho Silva

Battling for the 5th starter's job and perhaps his big league career, Carlos Silva threw six innings of three-hit ball, retiring 17 of the last 18 men he faced, and Reed Johnson--also battling for a spot on the 25-man roster--singled twice and scored two runs, leading the Cubs to a 3-1 victory over the Oakland A's in Cactus League action at Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in sunny & warm Mesa, AZ, this afternoon    

box score

I think most of us know that the Cubs were hoping to find a reason to not release Carlos Silva and pay him $8M ($6M in 2011 salary and a $2M buy-out in 2012) to not pitch for them, and perhaps today's outing did in fact secure the #5 starter job for the veteran Venezuelan.

Silva allowed a lead-off line drive single to Coco Crisp to open the game, and after Ryan Sweney fanned, Josh Willingham doubled into the left-center alley to score Crisp and give the A's a quick 1-0 lead. But Silva then retired 16 of the next 17 men he faced, and although many of the balls hit off him would best be described as "loud outs," he did get the job done, working quickly and (in the main) throwing strikes. And his defense made all the plays required to keep him from getting into jams.

For the day Silva allowed just the one first-inning run on three hits (two singles and a double), striking out three while issuing no walks, in 6.0 IP (78 pitches - 49 strikes, 6/5 GO/FO).

Casey Coleman threw a super-efficient 1-2-3 7th (8 pitches - 6 strikes, 0/3 GO/FO), Marcos Mateo pitched a shutout 8th (16 pitches - 9 strikes, 0/2 GO/FO), allowing just one harmless single while striking out Conor Jackson (although before striking out, Jackson just missed a moonshot game-tying home run down the LF line when the ball curved foul at the last minute), and Kerry Wood tossed an easy 1-2-3 11-pitch 9th (three ground balls) for the Save. 

Meanwhile, the Cubs mustered just enough offense to outscore the A's, scoring twice in the bottom of the 1st, and then adding an insurance run in the 8th.

Reed Johnson led off the bottom of the 1st against A's LHSP Gio Gonzalez with a line-drive single tio left, and advanced to second when Starlin Castro walked. Jeff Baker struck out and Aramis Ramirez flied out, but Geovany Soto and Alfonso Soriano came through with two-out RBI singles to score Johnson and Castro and give the Cubs an early 2-1 lead.  

The Cubs used "small ball" to score their final tally in the 8th against submariner RHRP Brad Ziegler. Reed Johnson laid down a perfect bunt single into the "Bermuda Triangle" between the pitcher, the first-baseman, and the second-baseman to lead-off the inning, Matt Camp executed a textbook sac bunt to advance Johnson to 2nd, and after PH Blake DeWitt bounced out to the shortstop (with Johnson advancing to 3rd), the A's opted to intentionally walk Scott Moore to get to right-handed hitting Welington Castillo. But the plan backfired, as W. Castillo took a walk on a very close 3-2 pitch to load the bases, before Alfonso Soriano was hit by a pitch on the left leg to force-in a run and give the Cubs a 3-1 lead.

If Silva does in fact get the #5 starter's job, that moves Andrew Cashner to the bullpen, leaving one open spot in the pen to be filled by either Casey Coleman, James Russell, Marcos Mateo, Jeff Stevens, or NRI RHP Braden Looper. Since Manager Mike Quade is probably going to want one guy who can throw long relief/multiple innings, Coleman, Russell, and Looper probably have the edge over Mateo and Stevens at this time.   

With two hits, two runs scored, and a couple of nice catches in RF, Reed Johnson did nothing today to keep him from being the heavy favorite to capture the 5th OF job, especially since Fernando Perez has had several defensive lapses in games and is hitting just .147. F. Perez does have one minor league option left, so it would be no big deal to send him to Iowa to start the season.

And while Darwin Barney has almost certainly won the middle-infielder job (and may still be in the mix for at least a part-time gig at 2B), there would appear to be a battle between Blake DeWitt, Bobby Scales, and Scott Moore for the other infielder spot, since Jeff Baker has played well enough this Spring (hitting RHP with no difficulty, something he could not do last year) to perhaps be the everyday 2B. Like F. Perez, DeWiit has one minor league option left, and sending DeWitt to the minors for at least 100 days would keep him from being arbitration-eligible post-2011, not that that would be the only reason to option him out, but it is a factor to consider when making the final decision.  

The Cubs play the White Sox tomorrow afternoon in Mesa.

Comments

Excellent write up as always kemosabe. From a Jim Callis chat: mike (orlando): why are you so high on Szczur when others (specifically, Law & Goldstein) are not? Jim Callis: Not sure what they don't like—you'd have to ask them. From my perspective, while he hasn't played much yet, he's a potential 6-7 bat, 4-5 power, 8 speed, 6-7 defender with tremendous makeup. Sign me up for more of those. Mateo (again) (Boston (again)): If Starlin Castro were eligible (lest we forget he is only 20), would he be the top SS prospect ahead of Manny Machado? Where would Castro rank overall? Jim Callis: Given the scarcity of stud shortstops, Castro would have to rank in the top five overall prospects. Assuming he hadn't hit .300 as a rookie last year and tore up Triple-A instead, I think he'd have to rank as the game's best shortstop prospect too. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/chat/2011/2611479.html

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

and this buried nugget...
Josh (Cal): Do you think that Darwin Barney can hit enough this season to be the starting second baseman for the Cubs? His glove is really opening some eyes in Arizona so far. Jim Callis: He won't put up big numbers, but I could see him hitting along the lines of .275/.320/.370. Not great, but coupled with his defense, that might make him the best option for the Cubs.

You forgot the best part (and my wish): "High Ho Silva...Away!"

A couple random things that I didn't know (but AZ Phil and some others surely did): The ST experience is one of the coolest things ever. Cheaper tickets, smaller venues, more access to the players (got Garza's autog today and had a brief exchange with Marmol) just by hanging in the right place. Sign me up, I'm gonna try and make it an annual thing, my only regret is it taking me this long to finally do. Lawn seats are the heat. Room for blankets, strollers, etc. Makes it way more family friendly. The media guide is actually worth the coin. I never wanted to fork over the $30 or whatever until I paged through one quick, hell, I think it's got the favorite food of everyone on the 40 man. Feel free to poke fun, but these are takeaways from a great few days in Phoenix. Unfortunately by myself with a newborn, I didn't get to see nearly enough actual baseball, but there's always..... The regular season

"But Silva then retired 16 of the next 17 men he faced, and although many of the balls hit off him would best be described as 'loud outs' ..." The Trib article is a bit more candid: "'Today I still left some pitches up, but they were hit right at people,' Silva said." So basically Silva gave up an early run and then continued to pitch rather poorly but benefited from good luck/fielding the rest of the way ... Does anybody in the Cubs front office truly believe that an occasionally lucky Silva is preferable to a developing Cashner? Please, Please, Please let them take advantage of Silva's high point of the season to kick in half his salary and trade him for a weak hitting 25 year old Hi-A leftfielder with 2 DUI arrests on his record. Please!

AZ PHIL: I have read the beat reporters remark that scouts of several teams were in attendance for the Silva Show. Did you notice them, and if so, did you have the chance to speak with them about the stud, obese pitcher?

From the Silva fluff piece on MLB.com today:
Silva, competing with Andrew Cashner and Braden Looper for the final spot, took to heart some advice from pitcher Ryan Dempster. "Today he said, 'I don't want you to give me 100 percent, I want you to give me 80 percent,'" Silva said of his conversation with the Cubs' Opening Day starter.
That's really good advice, imo. How many times have we seen it happen, the pitcher who is rolling just makes it look easy while the pitcher with a bunch of talent fights with himself an entire game? Maybe Z should heed the advice and give 80%. 80% of Zambrano is probably good enough to win most games.

via rotoworld Cubs optioned OF Fernando Perez to Triple-A Iowa; reassigned INFs Bobby Scales, Augie Ojeda, Scott Moore and OF Matt Camp to minor league camp. 5th outfielder seems settled...

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

The Cubs still have four catchers, including Max Ramirez, who has a sore left wrist, and Welington Castillo, who is hitting .667. Koyie Hill (.037) is likely to win a spot based on his experience and handling of the pitching staff. thrilling... hopefully we get a lineup with Barney, Hill, DeWitt and Baker all playing on the same day.

seemed like a no-brainer w/ dewitt still having an option; after all, ST may be ST, but not like he's ever proven himself or has laurels to rest on - no glove; no stick; has an option, yep, let's keep him!

[ ]

In reply to by Mike Wellman

on that note, Rotoworld blurb says DeWitt will get some time at 3b the rest of the spring training with Barney getting some more 2b time we'll see how much defense matters I guess...

[ ]

In reply to by Mike Wellman

DeWitt reminds me physically of Greg Jeffries... unfortunately he seems a lot more like Sean Burroughs 2.0. I am sure all the Iowinians are upset about not getting to see him light up the PCL... at least not until May.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Jeffries finished in the top 17 in MVP voting twice, and had several seasons hitting above .300 as an everday player. His best season was 1993 with STL when he hit .342/.408/.485 in 612 PA. And he stole 46 bases that year, was an all-star two years in a row. Burroughs/DeWitt will never touch that.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

"While batting-average-on-balls-in-play (BABIP) is not indicative of good or bad luck... the second-worst BABIP, combined with what appears to be a ground ball-fly ball anomaly, suggests Pena’s 2010 season was more of a result of bad luck than a complete collapse of skill." That was a really bad article, and it took two people to write it. What really happened - he hit more groundballs and more defenses played the shift against him, so he hit into more outs.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I've heard it mentioned a couple of times that more and more teams used the shift against him the last couple of years. Not sure how to check it (outside of buying fielding data) but I guess Rays confirm it.

if anyone is looking for a fantasy baseball league, there are 3 openings in Transmission's annual "Rod Beck's America" league. It's Head to Head with fairly deep rosters and 12x12 stat categories (mix of ratio and the usual counting stats). The returning members are pretty much all current or former TCR readers/members. It's competitive, but it's a pretty casual league with only two 'rules'. 1) don't be a jerk 2) if you do sign up, you need to be at least semi-active (we'd prefer if you can check in at least once per week) but you DO need to check in at least once per month or we'll shoot you a polite email asking you to please check into your roster to make DL adjustments or whatnot. The live draft is this Sunday at 1 PM EST, it's free, and hosted on Yahoo. If you can't make the live draft you can pre-rank your selections. Just go to the Yahoo fantasy baseball homepage (you'll need to register if you don't have an acct), and click the "join custom league" tab and enter the following info League id is - 132209 Password is - samfuld if you have any further questions post them here and I'll try to answer them. Thanks

May be 3/44, but if you follow the Cubs on Facebook, you can watch the Cubs/Sox MLB.tv feed right now.

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.