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

Brainstorm Session: Site Improvements

UPDATE 2: Bah, issues...will have to wait a couple of days on the archives.

UPDATE: I'm going to try and start importing our archives from the all-baseball.com and MVN days tonight. It may crash everything.


I'm not gonna be able to muster anything coherent about the Cubs this week. The organizational meetings start October 19th and I'm sure we'll start hearing some rumors around then about what the Cubs offseason plan might be. I think we can all pretty much guess it now anyway, left-handed bats, Dempster or another starting pitcher and filling out the bullpen.

That all being said, I'll probably be spending a good portion of the offseason working on improving the site and while I'm never at a loss for ideas, I would love to hear what things you guys would like to see. Just throw as much spaghetti as you can at the walls and we'll see what sticks. There's no such thing as a bad idea...except the really stupid ones. Now this sort of thing has a tendency to just lead to a bitchfest about everything that we don't currently offer or what sucks, but try to keep it positive and offer ideas on additions and improvements if you can.

And to help your brain get going, some topics to think about:

  • Content - what more would you like to see of? What less would you like to see of? Ideas for regular features? Anything you'd like to come back that seems to have disappeared.
  • Site Layout - Fuck that logo is big, make it smaller! Needs more advertising, etc.
  • Site Functionality - Pop-up comments, Searches, etc...
  • Community - Rate comments, posts, more chat oppurtunities, ban one commenter per week?
  • Merchandising - Is there an 8x10 photo of Arizona Phil you want for your desk? Let us know..
And whatever else you'd like out of your Cubs site of choice....
Tags

Comments

"And whatever else you'd like out of your Cubs site of choice...." Why do you care what we propose to BCB? ZING!!!! I've said it before and i'll say it again: FAN POST ABILITY!!!!!! Like SB Nation has.

On serious note, can anyone find Scully's call of Dodgers winning game 3. I heard it on WSCR today and all he does is rips Cubs after final out. Weird.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

I agree on Scully. That was really weird. I'm paraphrasing, but he says, "The Cubs are dead," right after strike three to Soriano and then he says that "everybody in the state of Illinois" thought the Cubs were going to go all the way. I'm sure some South Siders and some Cardinals fans around Belleville or so might disagree.

I'm assuming that over the winter we'll get a little more AZ Phil, which is always good. Reports on things most of us can't watch are always nice, which is a big part of why I like AZ Phil's Reports and Mike Wellman's occasional AAA contributions. Good stuff.

A different layout - more like a multi-section news site, less like a blog. Different sections for all the regularly updated content - game threads and recaps, analysis, AZ Phil, Weliman, etc. AZ Phil threads at the least deserve to be separated from the rest of the content - a different column or something. It throws off the pace at which the rest of the site moves, and the information is of a more timeless nature - better for reference. Edit: I also thought merchandising was a good idea. I need my TCR boxers - or at the least a TCR knife scabbard.

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

I'd love it if TCR could become a one-stop shop for all things Cubs. - Game recaps/box scores (maybe not as in-depth as Trans' writeups, but enough so I don't have to go to ESPN or chicagosports.com to find out what happened in the game). - Various Sections (e.g. Cubs news, reports from the farm, opinion pieces, trade rumors, stats, links to relevant articles on other blogs/sites, etc) - How about Hot Cubs Fan of the Week. Once a week, someone scours Facebook to find the hottest chick in Cubs gear (shouldn't be hard), and posts her on here. Hey, chicks drive clicks. Basically I don't want to have to visit any other site to read about the Cubs. Maybe this is too time-consuming, or just too much scope for a site focused on one team, but that's what brainstorming is for.

I read the site, scroll down to the bottom and read what I missed. If I hit reload, it doesn't show me new comments it just leaves me at the bottom. So I have to scroll to the top, click the TCR button, then click 'new comments' each time I want to refresh. It makes my life very difficult. I'd like a 'new comments' button at the bottom of the page...just above the "post a new comment' place. Plus, I'd like breasts watermarked in the background.

Definitely agree about a separate section for AZ Phil's posts, he is teh bomb. Some general site rules would also be cool. Namely, I've seen at least one Cubs fan site I used to frequent lose it's hipness over politics, we don't want that here. Let's agree that it's all baseball/Cubs, all the time, and keep the other stuff to more appropriate blogs. There has to be a better visual way of doing the comments, isn't there? It seems hard to follow various trains of thought in the longer threads, maybe that's because of a lack of quoting function in the comment box? Just say no to avatars, that serves no useful purpose. Perhaps a section on fantasy baseball tips, especially in the spring as roster selection time nears?

[ ]

In reply to by Jim Hickmans Bat

"Some general site rules would also be cool. Namely, I've seen at least one Cubs fan site I used to frequent lose it's hipness over politics, we don't want that here. Let's agree that it's all baseball/Cubs, all the time, and keep the other stuff to more appropriate blogs." I like it without the hard and fast rules. It seems there is already an implied "don't be a dick" rule in place that Rob enforces when things (rarely) start to get out of hand. It allows a little bit of off-topic goofiness from time-to-time and still gets rid of people like the infamous Towel guy who constantly abused the loose standards of Web congeniality.

I liked popup comments too, but it's not a huge thing. If we could make the poster's name stand out a little more it would be helpful when skimming. Maybe set it off at the very top of the post by itself. How about setting up a way to "rate" a poster or a post? So that especially enlightening or interesting posts could have 17 stars or thumbs ups or something? If that were in place I would probably skim a 150 post thread that I missed rather than skipping it altogether. Also, how about more recaps of playoff victories? You guys haven't done one of those in years.

Just as a general comment, I think posts about your reaction to a game are far more interesting than the game previews that comprise a good portion of the content on this blog. The previews are good and everything, but I can get essentially the same thing from Yahoo sports. Obviously, the same cannot be said of your postgame thoughts. Those are unique and entertaining and pretty much the reason why I stop by this site.

We need an occasional funny photoshop post especially after bad games and terrible losing streaks. I promise to come out of retirement and contribute if you add this. We definitely lost a lot of original Cubs humor after Trans decided to dedicate more of his time to that academic bullshit.

Rob, sorry if this was mentioned already but what about a mobile site? I have an iphone so it would be nice for the site to recognize I was on a mobile phone and load a "stripped down" version of the site. BTW I don't post much, but this site has been amazing and added to the awesome season (for the most part) we all had as Cubs fans! Keep up the good work!

I love this site, it's great. Not alot of suggestions for improvement. I do need a Cubs Farm System--Top 30 prospects update. After the playoffs, I need to think about the future.

I would suggest that the "Latest on TCR" sidebar on the top left be removed. Not that I don't like it, but its dead giveaway when surfing at work :)

I'm all for banning one commenter a week, as long as it's Chad every single week. Also, I think what I really want is a TCR team photo for my desk that I can put next to my new picture of Katy Perry's bobos.

I stumbled over TCR following the 2003 catastrophe and have really enjoyed the steady improvements. Than being said, I'd say resist the urge to "fix" TCR too much. Its pretty good as is. As mentioned above a 'refresh comments' button at the bottom of the page would be nice. I'd vote against post rating stuff, and please, no avitars. -(pretty good conception of RobG, Carlos, Chad already, though Johann's mom remains tantalizingly mysterious).

haha Dodgers go Phils!

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

am I the only one who wants the team that beat us to do well? I always view it as showing the Cubs are better if they lose to a winner. If they go on to lose, then it makes the Cubs look even worse.

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

I'm sure there are others who feel that way.

For myself, I could care less how it reflects on the Cubs losing. If the Dodgers win the whole thing it's not going to make me feel any better about the Cubs losing in the NLDS.

Plus I still don't think the Dodgers are all that good and it insults me when crappy baseball teams go far in the playoffs. 

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Honestly, I Couldn't care less who wins. I suppose I'm rooting for Tampa just so some new blood takes down the old guard (Red Sox). I also like the idea of ratings being crappy for the WS. If I had a gun to my head, here is the order of who I want to win it all: 1. Rays 2. Dodgers 3. Phils 4. Red Sox

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

The Cubs already look bad no matter how you slice it. Revenge is all we have left.

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

Me too. I think the worst part of last year was watching the team that scalped us, get scalped by Colorado. It was liked getting kneeded in the head after someone kicks you in the balls.

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

You mean like last year, when the Cubs got swept by a team who got swept by a team who got swept?

More idiot proof HTML, or remove it entirely and get something like the more sophisticated boards have (like parachat where you select the font you want), and a spell checker with Maddox and Clemmons in it so Chad doesn't have a stroke. Some monkey was making fun of my html tags because firefox showed them differently than explorer, or something. You know you've got a good argument going when you're complaining about the use of italics. edit: God my spelling...

Back on topic since my first post was completely off topic. - Make headlines bigger so each topic is clearly seperated. - Make hyperlinks a different color, there is too much black bold so it's hard to differentiate what is bold for effect, and what is bold for a hpyerlink. - I love AZ Phil's posts, but it seems odd right before a playoff game to have the top story be about the AZ instructional team winning a game in Mesa. Maybe a seperate section for minor league topics? Otherwise, I've gotten used to the other quirks so I think it's really good now. I am strongly opposed to Avatars, emoticons, and other misc, junk that would be attached to everyone's post. It might be interesting the first time to see what a user uses for an avatar, but it gets old and cluttered very fast. I like simple.

[ ]

In reply to by blockhead25

"- I love AZ Phil's posts, but it seems odd right before a playoff game to have the top story be about the AZ instructional team winning a game in Mesa. Maybe a seperate section for minor league topics? I thought the exact same thing. Well, actually, I thought 'who gives a shit?'. Ok, I know there are plenty who are interested...me included, sometimes...but it seemed pretty irrelevant at the time. Maybe separate, 'AZ Phil's Dissertations' section would make sense. And, I think Phil's payroll summary that you've got on the right side is a great idea. It needn't be a post that is read and forgotten, but sometimes the posts are more useful reference-wise, that we'd be able to glean a few numbers from periodically. Payroll, depth charts, etc... Personally, I think an occasionally updated depth chart on the side of the screen (maybe with simple numbers added) would be pretty cool.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • 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.