Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

39 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (one slot is open), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL and one player has been DESIGNATED FOR ASSIGNMENT (DFA)   

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, and nine players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, three players are on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-23-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Hector Neris 
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
Christopher Morel
* Matt Mervis
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 9 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL: 3
Kyle Hendricks, P 
* Drew Smyly, P 
* Justin Steele, P   

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P

DFA: 1 
Garrett Cooper, 1B 
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

John Henry is mad about premature media reports?

Submitted by CubbyBlue on

 

So it's come to this.
Apparently Boston Red Sox owner John Henry got mad and is further delaying the Theo Epstein to the Cubs deal because of "premature media reports"?

Sit back and put yourself in the shoes of a Boston Red Sox owner.
Your team gags at the end of the season and doesn't even get in the playoffs - the biggest slow motion choke in the history of baseball.
Your manager leaves amid rumors of pill popping and perhaps a lack of leadership.
You hear rumors your team was ordering Popeye's and drinking in the clubhouse during games.
And your general manager wants to leave what was just a couple years ago a world championship team and organization to go to the most famous loser franchise in baseball.

John Henry's not mad about any stupid premature media reports.
He's mad because his toy broke and he's lashing out.

I heard that Bud Selig may go try to be the adult at the negotiations and save the day.

Whatever.
Honestly, I can't wait to hear what the hangup turns out to be, and surely the Cubs won't be portrayed very nicely, either.
My guess is it will be something silly.

 

Comments

Submitted by The Real Neal on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 10:37 pm

As Rob and I argue about the value of getting Theo into the office as soon as humanly possible, it made me wonder what the guys on staff are doing. Do you suppose Ari Kaplan has suddenly become the most popular guy in the office? Knock, knock: "Hey Ari, have you got some time to show me about this Sabermorphics this week?" From Ari's website: Ari combines technology, statistical analysis and business acumen for a fresh look at evaluating players for maximum return on a baseball club’s investment both on and off the field. He has worked with some of the top-tier baseball Managers, coaches, and players to understand strengths, weaknesses, and habits of players. It sounds like a good part of his work may be in evaluating the kinds of returns a free agent will bring, both on the field and in marginal revenue.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 10:04 pm

Nothing preventing the Cubs from doing the (probably easy) deal with Moorad for Hoyer and installing him as GM, except that Epstein might prefer they wait a little longer. (He wants to get on with his life, too.) Once the Cubs have Hoyer, it's an untenable situation for the Bosox. The Cubs have a new GM, they're still waiting.

Submitted by John Beasley on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 10:23 pm

I jumped another 1800 spots on the season ticket waiting list this year, after jumping about 2700 the year before that. I moved up a total of 65 spots the three years prior to that.

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Submitted by John Beasley on Mon, 10/24/2011 - 10:39 am

I'm been on the list since sometime around 2004-05. The only way I seem to make decent progress toward the top is following a hopeless season. But even after 2006 I didn't really move up much. So if this franchise can put together any kind of reasonable streak of success under Epstein, I may not even get a call for a few decades yet.

Submitted by Rob G. on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 10:40 pm

Under Epstein's guidance, Boston went 839-619 (.575) in the regular season and 34-23 in the playoffs, winning more than 90 games in all but two seasons.

Submitted by Cubster on Sat, 10/22/2011 - 10:40 am

Theo's first move? Bob Howry signed as pitching coach, Stevie Eyre signed as pitching coach for left handers. Howry: "My philosophy is to throw only fastballs." Eyre: "We need more guys like John Grabow. I saw a flaw in his mechanics and he should be fine now."

Submitted by Old and Blue on Sat, 10/22/2011 - 10:06 am

I don't remember who posted this URL, but there's a funny bit in it:
With Gonzalez entering his walk year and determined to test free agency unless he got a deal he couldn't refuse, Hoyer dealt him to the Red Sox for three prospects and utility man Eric Patterson, who for the Padres did more harm than good, both on the field and for team chemistry.
http://insidethepadres.blogspot.com/2011/10/hoyer.html

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Submitted by Rob G. on Sat, 10/22/2011 - 10:08 am

I think Epstein out-negotiated his former protege in the Gonzalez talks. For the Padres, the trade will be defined by how prospects Antony Rizzo, Casey Kelly and Reymond Fuentes perform. None, at present, is viewed by non-Padres scouts as a good bet for stardom. Among some scouts, Fuentes needs a bounceback year to regain prospect status.. tough crowd... Rizzo in a half season at age 21, put up a OPS over 1.000 in AAA with 26 HR's in 413 PA's, near a 10% walk rate and about a 20% K rate for his minor league career. Kelly wasn't his normally dominating self in AA, but certainly not a bad season. http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=kelly-001cas

Submitted by Old and Blue on Sat, 10/22/2011 - 10:32 am

Edgar Renteria, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Carl Crawford, and John Lackey. Crawford is especially disturbing. It's Boston's Soriano, maybe worse because Crawford's assets are built around speed and defense, and he's 30. You guys out there know better than I but I seem to remember that being a 7 year contract - too lazy to look it up. Levine on espn.chicago was trying to suggest the Cubs need to go after CJ Wilson, who wants a ton of money and surely a long term contract. I really don't know much about the guy, other than what I see in the stats, and he's had 2 good seasons of 200+ inning baseball. Prior to that, no more than 74 innings. I assume he was a reliever before. I don't like long term contracts to any pitcher, really, and it's one area where it's important to develop the farm system. Something Hendry actually did well for a little while. I'm not going to be one of those who gets excited about a CJ Wilson signing. Theo has his work cut out for him if he wants this team to turn it around any time soon. I hope he (and we) show a little patience and doesn't make any dumb ass long term signings.

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Submitted by The Real Neal on Sat, 10/22/2011 - 10:44 am

Crawford was 28 when he signed a 7-year deal (through his 35 season). Soriano was 30 when he signed an 8 year deal (through his 38 season). To make a rough comparison, how much more would you have liked the Soriano deal if it just expired? Wilson is going to get ace money, but he's really a #2 starter (and yes, he was a reliever prior to 2010). Sabathia who is old (30) and probably will get a six year ($150 million) deal if he opts out and Darvish, who may not get posted but will probably cost something approximating Daiske's contract ($110 million) are the only ace caliber starters on the market. The Cardinals may not re-up Wainwright, but I expect they will. That being said, there's no ace pitching in the world series. How fun would it be if the Cubs signed Sabathia (.627 OPS) and got Dontrelle Willis (.665) to go along with Carlos Zambrano (.646), though?

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Submitted by The E-Man on Sat, 10/22/2011 - 10:43 am

He's an ace and recognized by myriad baseball writers and managers as such. I guess that "Ace" is somewhat subjective b/c there is no definitive, absolutely agreed upon definition by every person, connected with the sport. He performs on the big stage, like other "Aces" have done throughout baseball history - not like Ryan Dempster. Many evaluators and armchair GM's like yourself (well, not like you) will go by Whip, K/BB, and era. AND, the intangibles of how tough the pitcher is under duress. Zach Grienke is an "Ace" and imploded when the team needed him the most. Give me Carpenter any day. CY + 2nd in CY 2009. Here is his Post-Season resume: 4 Seasons (9 Series) 8 2 .800 3.10 Including a .643 WHIP in 2 WS starts. We'll have to agree to disagree.

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Submitted by Old and Blue on Sat, 10/22/2011 - 10:48 am

I guess the bottom line is that I'd be a crummy GM these days. Free agency is such a huge risk. I'd be nervous at almost any signing, even Albert. Who I consider an amazing player. At some point, you just have to take the plunge, and yeah, I'd like the Soriano deal ok if it just expired. I even really actually liked it at the time, but I did think it was a huge roll of the dice. Hendry gambled that they could win it all and he lost.

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Submitted by johann on Sat, 10/22/2011 - 10:08 am

Both Crawford and Lackey had excellent stats before the signing. Sure the deal for Crawford was too long but there was no reason to expect he would fall off this fast. If he had continued to perform even close to what he had before coming to Boston the Red Sox would be in the playoffs and if they won another World Series no one would care if he wasn't that good in 3 or 4 years. Trying to blame Theo for these players completely falling off is some major revisionism in my opinion. While 2007 was certainly an outlier for Lackey, he had nothing lower than a 115 ERA+ before going to Boston. He dipped a tiny bit in 2009 but I don't like using one year to judge someone good or bad (Cubs seem to think if someone has one good year, you should sign them for lots of money). Carl Crawford, outside of 2008, consistently had an OPS+ of over 110. Very good batting average, not great OBP but not bad. I would have supported both signings for the Cubs if we had a team where a couple signings like that would get us to the World Series because you already have so many other pieces. Red Sox had that.

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Submitted by Old and Blue on Sat, 10/22/2011 - 10:54 am

I'm not slamming the whole Theo thing, I'm just aware that he's not God, and fixing the Cubs is gonna be a tough nut for him to crack. I'm glad about what the Cubs are doing right now. I feel strongly that Ricketts is putting together a good team of professionals to fix a very bad organization. I'm pretty hopeful that the team will get some better teachers into the minor leagues, that kind of thing. I'm also a realist when it comes to modern free agency. Crawford was not a good signing IMO, but Boston was pretty stacked, and they can actually afford a signing like that. Last year's drop off may have also been an aberration. He may bounce back. It would have sucked if the Theo deal had fallen through. Now all the guy has to do during his 5 year contract is bring a World Series to the Cubs. Piece of cake.

Submitted by jacos on Sat, 10/22/2011 - 10:28 pm

So @LynchieWCVB reports Cubs prez Crane Kenney was holding up Theo talks 'for his own interests' and is in hot water with Commish #redsox He atleast deserves a shoe to the sack.

Submitted by johann on Sat, 10/22/2011 - 10:44 pm

Just to put in perspective the kind of player Theo was signing to Boston before he collapsed, here is Lackey before Boston vs Garza with ERA+: Lackey: 2006 129 2007 150 2008 119 2009 115 Garza 2006 78 2007 117 2008 119 2009 110 Lackey had been the better pitcher. Sure he's making a lot more money, but if you have the money to spend and know your team is good enough to win a World Series and spending all that money can help that happen how can you possibly say that's a bad move? The bad move is when you give a contract like that on a team that doesn't have much chance of winning a World Series. I would just like to know how Theo could have predicted such a fall off and how he can possibly be blamed. I can guarantee you if the Cubs were oh so close to winning a World Series and could sign a pitcher putting up those kind of numbers even if it were for too much money but with a very good chance they could help us win it all now and for the next couple years we would back it. Especially if the payroll and roster were such that it wasn't preventing us from filling real needs at other positions.

Submitted by Rob Richardson on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 10:50 am

http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/story?storyId=7134646 "But I love playing in Chicago. I love being a Chicago Cub, and I want to be here for the rest of my career. I'm happy that Theo is going to be in charge now and really looking forward and excited and getting an opportunity talk with him. And hopefully it's not just picking up an option for this year, but I'll go out there and play the best I can and be here for a long time."

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 10:29 pm

via rotowurld: "Jamie Moyer (elbow) still plans on playing in 2012." ... "The lefty has been throwing 60-pitch bullpen sessions and will soon contact teams that might want to watch him throw." via crunch: "VIVA MOYER! HELL YEAH, DUDE." he turns 49 next month, btw...julio franco, take that...satchel paige, you're next.

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Submitted by Jumbo on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 10:17 pm

I don't think the solution to Z is to get a manager who won't put up with his act. The solution to Z is to minimize the effect of his act. Had the Cubs not made a gigantic issue of him leaving the clubhouse, or had just lied and said that he was given permission, they wouldn't have nearly the issue they had. Of course they went out and smeared him in addition, but other teams have this kind of things happen all the time and just keep it all in house. If the guy ever wants to pitch again he has to put it all out there next season. You have to keep him and let him be your #3 starter behind Garza and Dempster. You'll never get him to be more self motivated than in a contract year, even if he says he'll retire.

Recent comments

  • Bill (view)

    I would have kept Cooper rather than Wisdom, but at least I can understand why they did it.  In a team that lacks dominant power hitters, Wisdom can be a dominant power hitter, at least in streaks.  I suppose that there is always the possibility that the streaks longer in both duration and frequency.  I will be content if they essentially make a 100 % DH commitment to Mervis against righties and Wisdom against lefties.  When a regular needs rest, give them total rest, rather than a DH rest.  Do this for at least 2 months, and then re-evaluate at that point.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    This is Cubs adjacent but…


    Jordan Walker just was optioned by the deadbirds. For all the talk of the Cardinals development machine, they’ve really missed on a lot of can’t miss superstars lately. Walker has struggled. Gorman has been okay. They’re already trying to push Carlson out the door. Their pitching system has been so bad they had to go out and sign basically a full rotation over the last two offseasons.

    They’ve still developed a few of those pesky solid players, like Donovan, Edman, and Nootbaar. Their two best prospect to MLB players have been Adolis and Arozarena, neither of which is a cardinal.

    I hope they never figure it out again. Cardinal failure brings me such joy.
     

  • Raisin101 (view)

    Thank you so much! I really appreciate not only all your posts but how eager you are to respond to our questions.

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Is it just me or does it seem that official scorers are becoming less likely to call a misplay an error? 

     

    Guess I've hit my cranky old-man phase in life.  "I remember back in the day when an error was an error.  Official scorers have gone soft.  Now where did I put my readers?!!??"

     

    Sidenote, maybe Bellinger should be a little more careful against the Astros.  That was the series last year that a play at wall put him on the IL.   

  • crunch (view)

    i hated the almonte pickup, but he's 9-10 out of 12 for good outings, following a great spring.  hope he can keep it up.

    i already miss cooper, but yeah...the thin OF roster backup the team seems to want to carry probably got wisdom preference over cooper.  i could live without seeing wisdom at 3rd unless it's a blowout, though.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Things I've been wrong about:

    -Tauchman is fine as a 4th OF. I knew that. I just want a better LH DH option and he was really the DH for us until Seiya got hurt. I'm glad Mervis is getting a chance at it. Caissie is coming for that job for sure. But Tauchman continues to be highly useful as a 4th OF with Seiya being hurt

    -I wanted Yency to go to get guys at Iowa a chance. Guys like Palencia and Sanders or RileyT. Maybe even Hodge! But Yency has been better the last two plus weeks. He did hit 96 the other day. He was 93 in Texas to open the season.

    -Leiter has his split working enough. It just needs to stay there

    -I was surprised Jed picked Wisdom over Cooper. I wonder if this happens if Seiya wasn't hurt. Wisdom has more power. Cooper is the better hitter. Jed picked Wisdom and Wisdom had an option left as well.

    -Palencia just doesn't miss enough bats. Similar to ManRod, just two yrs younger. ManRod is killing AAA for TB right now!

    Things I got right so far:

    -Hendricks. Sorry Kyle. You got paid though!

    Jed, you missed there.

    -Smyly. If Jed could've traded him before or during ST, then he should have and saved some cash.

    -Mastro.  Not a LH DH. Pinch runner. Defensive utility. Maybe he's better than Madrigal but didn't get a legit chance to prove it.

    -Luke Little is good. He's had one bad outing. That's it. Needs to get better entering with guys on base. But he needs to stay in MLB.

    -Oh yeah....Morel is doing fine at 3B! He'll get better as well!!

  • crunch (view)

    bellinger "right rib contusion"

  • Childersb3 (view)

    South Bend just lost the lead in the bottom of the 9th on the weirdest scenario, ever.

    It's absolutely pouring rain....men on 1st and 2nd, 1out....JPatterson asks for a new ball, but no time out was called....he throws the old ball toward the dugout (not sure if it rolled out of play).....the ump declares the runners get two bases each so one run scores. Then a single up the middle ties the game.

    The rain was coming down in buckets at this point.

    Just weird

  • crunch (view)

    ...and bellinger is gone in the 7th because of that 2nd blown chance and the wall he bounced off of...

    hopefully his rib cage/shoulder feels better tomorrow, we just got happ back.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Phil,

    Any thoughts on Y. Rojas' stuff and Y. Melendez's game (I believe I've asked about him before, sorry)?

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