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

Mighty Casey Has Struck Out 7 & Walked but 2

Welington Castillo was penciled in at DH today for the I-Cubs but he got his catching in before the game by lunging about to stop all the ceremonial first pitches from pint-sized birthday boys and lame-armed luminaries. The only one that got past him was flung by a mascot creature from some non-profit.org.

From atop the left-field wall beckoned the giant glove that homers sometimes land in, wiggling against its moorings in the breeze that slightly relieved the generally welcome heat of summer. The thing's almost as big as the one sported by Tony Campana.

The game began and Casey Coleman got ahead of the first hitter 0-2. Seven pitches later, he'd walked him. Here, I thought, we go again. But I was wrong. Coleman proceeded to retire the next 15 in a row, seven of them on strikes, including the side in a dazzling 5th. Ranging from the high 70's to the low 90's he mixed up his pitches and the erstwhile Omaha Royals, now saddled with the too contemporary nickname of Storm Chasers [sporting teams needn't be tagged with both a first and a last name in addition to their locale ID].

This was a performance to make one believe that Coleman may yet become a solid big league starter, especially given that he was facing the first place team in the division, the top farm club in the organization that many have rated as being stocked with the best minor league talent in the game, in a league not known for its enhanced pitching conditions and stats.

He was staked to a 1-0 lead almost immediately in the bottom of the 1st after Fernando Perez bunted the first pitch leading off and wound up with a little league triple when the lunging pitcher shoveled the ball into the Omaha bullpen.

Coleman's opposite number was Jeff Suppan, reduced now to the role of Triple A innings eater. Suppan threw up on himself in a couple of early frames as the I-Cubs built a seemingly insurmountable lead behind Coleman. The spell was broken when #8 hitter Lance Zawadski [what, a Polish playboy?] blooped a double just fair down the left-field line leading off the 6th. This being the minor leagues, Coleman wasn't even accorded a symapthetic ovation to soothe the loss of his no-no. People were generally oblivious. Perhaps disappointed, Coleman walked the next hitter and eventually was touched for a pair of runs, only one of them earned, in his last inning of work. Zawadski's well-aimed badminton serve was the only hit marring Coleman's line for the day.

Meanwhile Suppan kept eating and got in a groove, retiring nine straight after Bryan LaHair, who's amassing Hoffpauiresque numbers, belted a three-run homer to max out the Iowa lead at 8-0.

Jeff [Dead Man Walking] Stevens coughed up a four-spot in the 7th in first relief of Coleman and big Kila Ka'aihue tied it up with a two-run homer in the 8th off of John Gaub in a lefty/lefty match-up before the I-Cubs walked off with the win an inning later on Matt Camp's run-scoring single.

But back to Coleman's opposition. Eric Hosmer, he of the anagrammatic headlines, has already swapped spots on the organizational flow chart with Ka'aihue and waits now at the major league level for the arrival of his playmates from the farm. The first one to join him may be third baseman Mike Moustakas whom the Royals tabbed one spot ahead of the Cubs' Josh Vitters in the '07 draft. It's fair to say that Moustakas is on a faster track than Vitters. His personal highlight today was a sparkling dive to his left from a drawn-in position to turn Perez's second at-bat into a fielder's choice at 2nd. Check out his solid offensive numbers if you care to. The kid's a player.

Omaha second baseman Johnny Giavotella is probably Kansas City bound as well. Right fielder Jarrod Dyson swiped a pair of bases and reminds of both Delino Deshields and Willie McGee. And Ka'aihue is big and agile around the bag at first. He draws a lot of walks at the plate but has blown his chance in Kansas City. Surely he could be had and is worth another look from a different team. When Omaha leaves town Round Rock and Chris Davis will arrive. He's another corner infielder who could conceivably draw some Cub interest come the latter part of July.

The Royals, er, Chasers, also fielded DH Clint Robinson who won the triple crown in the Texas League last year and Lorenzo Cain in CF who's only in Omaha so he can play daily. On the pitching side ex-Chaser Danny Duffy is one of eight, at last count, rookies already on the KC roster and Mike Montgomery too is considered can't miss.

I wonder how many of the guys I saw today will be seen again when I chug three hours south to see the C-Cubs in Kansas City in a couple of weeks.

By the way, how'd they do today? I heard they were leading into the 9th... 

Comments

There are so many better names for the Omaha team. How about the Omaha Steaks? The Crown Royals? The Godfathers?... Godfather Pizza is headquartered there. The Woodmen. ...a fraternal order also HQ'd in Omaha.

btw, gonna be a guest on the i-cub pregame radio tonight in desperate attempt to hype my book, STUBS, w/ the father's day angle...really, it would make a suitable dad's day token & if you order now @ amazon you'll have it in plenty of time to peruse before giving it away!

☑ Move the AAA Iowa Cubs to Chicago and have them play at old Wrigley Field [done! T.R.] ☠ Fire Hendry, Fleita, and Q-Ball ♫ Name Carlos Zambrano Team Captain! ☎ Call Ryno! .....

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

If the Cubs end up becoming sellers and "go young" later in the season, I would like to see Oneri Fleita named manager, or at least interim manager. Fleita has a lot of the same personality traits as Dallas Green, kind of blunt and no bullshit. I've seen him stand in the observation tower at Fitch Park between the four fields and pull players off the field when he observed inexcusable mental mistakes or vioations of team rules, and he's not afraid to be the "bad cop" to the field manager's "good cop." I don't know if he would even take the job if it was offered to him, but Fleita does have some minor league managerial experience (three seasons) in the Orioles and Cubs organizations, was an Area Scout, National Cross-Checker, and Director of Latin American Operations for the Cubs after that, before becoming the Cubs Player Development Director (in charge of the Cubs minor league operations) in 2001. He has been VP-Player Personnel Director since 2007 (which places him over both the Player Development and Scouting departments), so nobody in the organization knows more about the Cubs system and the players in the system than he does. A native of Miami, Fleita played for Coach Jim Hendry at Creighton University back in the 1980's (1B Fleita was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year in 1988) before playing minor league ball in the Orioles organizarion. He is bi-lingual and is the guy behind the upgrades (both extent and proposed) in the Cubs Dominican Academy operations (including establishment of a second Cubs DSL team and the post-season Dominican Instructional League), and I am sure that he is justfiably proud of the improvements in the Cubs Player Developmet System over the past few years. (Baseball America was set to rank the Cubs as having the #2 minor league system--behind only the KC Royals--in baseball pre-2011, before the Garza trade set them back. But again, the thing about Fleita is that he is rather blunt, and so I'm not sure that he and Alfonso Soriano (for example) would get along too well or for very long. He also might not want the job.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Submitted by The Real Neal on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 11:08am. AZ Phil - While you're on the subject, sort of, do you know if Wilken has anything to do with amateur scouting outside of US/Canada? We were talking about something the other day and it's not really clear who runs the scouting for Asia and Central/South America. How does the decision making process go with regards to offering those free agents a contract? ======================================== REAL NEAL: Tim Wilken is Scouting Director (Amateur and Professional), but he is not involved with International Scouting. Paul Weaver has been in charge of International Scouting (Pacific Rim, Latin America, and Europe) since 2008, and he reports directly to Oneri Fleita. While Weaver reports to Fleita (just like Fleita technically reports to Hendry), Weaver (like Fleita) has a lot of autonomy to do what he does and he decides how to spend his budget and who to sign, although I'm sure Fleita has to "sign off" on the larger signing bonuses. Jose Serra (Dominican Republic Coordinator), Hector Ortega (Venezuela Coordinator), and Steve Wilson (Pacific Rim Coordinator) report directly to Weaver, and then various local scouts report directly to Serra, Ortega, or Wilson. Actually Steve Wilson is in charge of all of the Cubs amateur scouts anywhere in the world except the U.S. and Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. Wilson lives in Taiwan (he is married to a Taiwanese woman) and scouts Taiwan himself, but local scouts based in South Korea (Aaron Tassano), Australia (Larry Home and Brent Phelan), Mexico (Raul Cano), and Europe (Bill Holmberg) all report directly to Wilson. And Home and Phelan also work as instructors at the MLB Australian Academy, and Holmberg is an instructor at the MLB European Academy in Italy. (Holmberg signed Alessandro Maestri, Dwayne Kemp, and Alberto Mineo).

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In reply to by Mike Wellman

Carlos Zambrano is one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He is actually very down-to-earth and self-deprecating, and he won't pull a "major league" on you if you talk to him. During Spring Training he is often seen at Fitch Park with the Cubs minor leaguers, talking to them, giving them support, taking batting practice with them, and treating them like brothers. While he quite obviously wears his emotions on his sleeve, it's because he actually really truly does care about winning (maybe too much to be a Cub), and I would venture to say that he loves playing for the Cubs every bit as much as Kerry Wood does. "Z" does bleed Cubbie blue.

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In reply to by Rob G.

I keep on flip-flopping on Starling and Lindor... I can see the desire to sign a guy who may have "superstar" talent (not sure if Lindor qualifies there), but top 3rd of the first round and an over-slot signing bonus, it just makes no sense to me to sigh a hitter who can't actually hit. Hopefully the Nats and Marlins save us from ourselves on those kids, but it sure seems like the Cubs are determined to take a high schooler, despite the fact that they're all about to be out on their ass.

according to Muskat and Miles on twitter Big Z's on the field, taking part in #Cubs early BP at Great American Ball Park. He's talking to Marmol in RF corner. Looks amicable and All indications are Quade will handle Z discussion in Cincy and that no suspension is forthcoming.

I'm gonna back Z on this one. The so-called "sports journalist" in Chicago can eat a bag of dicks. Apparently, if you upset them,they call for your head. Zambrano at least cares and makes an effort to win, which is more than I can say about A-Ram, SorryAno, and Dumpster. Those guys seem to be content with their mediocrity. A-Ram especially pisses me off. He slinks up to the plate, pops out, never runs it out (worse, he doesn't get reprimanded for it), and slinks back to the dugout. These guys don't give a shit and it shows. I don't see Quade punishing the vets. Marc Cuban should not have gotten shot down. Shame on MLB for whispering IRS to him.

Fukudome RF, Barney 2B, Castro SS, Peña 1B, Ramirez 3B, DeWitt LF, Soto C, Colvin CF, Garza P sticking with Colvin so far at least, 1/15 with a BB and 5 K's since returning

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In reply to by jacos

And Levine is Hendry's mouth piece and apologist. isn't that what I just wrote? I think he's the one that put it out there on Soriano, then upped the ante recently from, he was on a plane when they finalized the deal and tacked on an extra year or two, to Hendry didn't even want to do the deal. I believe Kaplan wrote something similar, maybe they were all at the same dinner. And don't get me wrong, some of it sounds plausible, Hendry could very well have wanted Soriano, but only at 5-6 years. It would also explain why he still has a job if there are those verifying that story (and others) to the Ricketts.

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In reply to by Dr. aaron b

I would hardly call Dempster's deal mediocre, despite this year's struggles. And any GM in baseball would have given ARam that deal. The only reason DLee's deal was mediocre was because he got hurt. While no one ever thought he would repeat his monster year, if he doesn't hurt his wrist he would have been much more than mediocre. No GM can control for freak injuries. Most of the deals that Hendry has missed on were lesser players. Yes, Soriano was a terrible deal. And Zambrano was pretty bad too, though no one really expected him to pitch as poorly as he did, and I would argue that any GM in the league would have given Z that deal as well. Bradley was bad, but I liked the risk taking when it happened. Fukudome is overpaid, but underrated. The rest are misses around the edges.

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.

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  • 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.