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

Game 5 Quick Recap - Cashner is King

Box Score | HighlightsFangraphs WP chart

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9   R H E
DBacks 0
0 1
0
0 0 3
0 1
  5
7
1
Cubs 0 2
2
0
0 0 2
0
x   6
10
0

The Gist: It seems the weekday recaps are gonna be a little harder to get to for me. Andrew Cashner got his first major league start and threw quite well except for a 3rd inning home run to Ryan Roberts. He made it into the 6th on just 72 pitches (43 for strikes) and 10 groundballs to 5 flyballs.  Then the bad news...he felt something in his shoulder and left the game with a 4-1 lead and went for an MRI, which we should hear the results tomorrow.

That meant going to the depleted bullpen that was without the services of Marmol and Wood. Samardzija was up first and pitched quite well in the 6th, striking out Kelly Johnson and Justin Upton to end the inning on some nice breaking pitches. Q-Ball tempted fate though by putting Samardzija out there in the 7th and he promptly walked the leadoff man. He did get the next batter on a fielder choice and then after a visit by Q-Ball, walked the next batter to end his day(good pep talk). That meant Marcus Mateo who had nothing going for him as he walked a hitter and gave up a single to allow the first of Samardzija's inherited runs.. In came James Russell, who got the lefty Russ Branyan swinging, but gave up a single up the middle to Willie Bloomquist that tied the game before ending the inning by getting Kelly Johnson out.

The Cubs came back in the 7th to take the lead again with Byrd's third hit of the day(welcome to the 2011 season) plating the lead run and Tyler Colvin walking with the bases loaded for the needed insurance run. Russell came back out in the 8th, with Q-Ball clearly saving John Grabow for possible extras and Sean Marshall for the 9th. He promptly gave up a leadoff single, but that was erased by a 3-6-1 double play started by Colvin and awkawrdly finished by Russell who somehow kept his foot on the bag on the throw back. And then ended the inning striking out Chris Young.

Marshall got in a little trouble in the 9th, giving a run back. But an amazing play by Starlin Castro to nail Xavier Nady on a bouncer that went off Marshall's glove that Castro came in on, barehanded and whipped across on a short hop probably saved the day (replays did show that Nady was safe). Then Marshall ended it by getting Bloomquist swinging for his first save of the season.

Some other notes...

- Fukudome got on base 3 out of 5 times out of the leadoff spot which is great. What wasn't great was him not advancing to third in the first on Byrd's looper down the left field line. The ball was heading toward the left field line which means Fukudome easily could have been standing on 2nd and even slightly past even if he thought there was any chance to catch it and should have been hustling to third the second he could see the catch wasn't going to be made. This isn't a question of speed, but of awareness. And of course Ramirez flies deep to left the next at-bat that would have scored him.  Then in the second he got nailed at home on a gapper to left by Castro. That one didn't seem too bad, a lesser leadoff man doesn't get on-base in the first place to get Castro up there and Young did cut it off from getting to the wall and of course the nice relay home.

- Assuming Cashner misses at least one start, with the off day Thursday, the next time a 5th starter is needed is at Houston on Tuesday. My assumption is Casey Coleman would be first in line for a start, meaning a roster move (likely Cashner to the DL, but possibly someone else getting sent down if he's only missing the one start). If the injury ends up being serious, I don't think the Cubs will go back to Carlos Silva, seemed some bridges were burned when he departed. I would of course love for the Cubs to go after the Twins Kevin Slowey, but don't know the asking price (allegedly a reliever that can help now...think Sean Marshall quality) or how Slowey's arm is doing after his injury last year.

Parachat Moment:

Me: "I stepped away from the computer. How did Koyie Hill get on-base? Act of God?

sbwilliams: "He walked on four pitches...so yes."

Cubs go for the sweep today before the day off on Thursday...Armando Galarraga vs. Ryan Dempster.

Comments

(replays did show that Nady was safe) I didn't think they were conclusive. There was one shot where he looked completely safe, and another where it was much less clear. Of this latter shot, Kasper opined it appeared to be a correct call. Not that it matters much. Here's hoping for the sweep today.

[ ]

In reply to by Stevens

Submitted by Stevens on Wed, 04/06/2011 - 9:11am. On TV, Kasper and Brenley criticized the coach for first sending him and then changing to a stop sign. ============================================= STEVENS: FWIW, Mark Grace said the same thing on the D'backs TV broadcast. Said Ivan DeJesus put up the STOP! sign too late, because by that time Fukudome had seen the wave home, and was looking at the 3rd base bag and making his turn at full blast. Grace also opined that that the Nady call could have gone either way on that close play at 1st base, and that since neither Arizona 1st base coach Eric Young or manager Kirk Gibson argued the call, the D'backs must not have thought it was a bad call, either, because both Young and Gibson will argue when they think the umpire made an incorrect call.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Submitted by The Real Neal on Wed, 04/06/2011 - 10:31am. Did you catch the bit where Grace referred to the D-Backs as "them"? It was sometime in the 9th, I can't remember the exact circumstance. ===================================== REAL NEAL: He tries hard to pretend that he's an Arizonan now (heck, so am I!), but I think we all know that Mark Grace left his heart in Chicago. What's telling is when broadcast partner Darin Sutton mentions that Gracey is treated like a king everywhere he goes in Chicago and asks Mark about Chicago, he always says he loves the city, he loves the fans, and he loves the ballpark, but I never hear him say anything good about the Cubs organization. I think he might have burned some bridges there.

1B ump yesterday was a des moines native which significantly decreases probabilities of wrong call[s]; behind plate today to call the sweeper...

Recent comments

  • 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...

  • 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.