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

Cubs Win All Important Simulated 2009 NL Central Crown

Baseball Prospectus updated their team depth chart with new PECOTA information and the Cubs are hands down the class of the simulated National League Central. The Cubs come out with 96 wins and an easy division crown with the Brewers being their closest competition at 83 wins. That's also the best record in the NL and second best in the league behind the 98 imaginary wins that Boston has under their belt.

Replacement Level Yankees blog ran some of their own predictions using The Hardball Times  projections back in early January and came up with 91.5 wins for the Cubs. That half win is going to be tough.

It's probably a good time to point out that PECOTA had the Indians winning 92 games last year and Tigers 90, although it did predict the Rays for 90 wins to its credit. I can't seem to find the full 2008 NL Predictions, but it did land the top two spots in the NL Central last year and had 89 wins for the Cubs. I believe it nailed two division winners (Angels and Cubs) and four playoff teams (had Dodgers and Red Sox as the wild card) overall in 2008.

So congrats to the 2009 Cubs - NL Paper Champions!


UPDATE: It appears the Brewers are going to sign Braden Looper which should throw the whole PECOTA system off its axis(/dripping sarcasm). Also, Rosenthal says Rich Aurilia took a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants and the article is worded to indicate that he may have had a similar offer by the Cubs and Phillies.

Comments

LEFT HANDEDNESS 4-EVER!!!!!!! We could sign Adam Kennedy, and field a lineup of: C:Paul Bako 1B:Micah Hoffpauir 2B:Adam Kennedy SS:Mike Fontenot 3b:Aaron Miles LF:Carlos Zambrano CF:Joey Gathright RF:Kosuke Fukudome I know Z is a long shot...but just think of the runs that could be scored with that juggernaut of lefties!!!! PECOTA would explode, and the planet would spin off it axis...

ARod confesses his sins to Father P. Gammons "It's been a rough 15 months here for me," Rodriguez said. "I was stupid for three years. I was very, very stupid." He also said: "The more honest we can all be, the quicker we can get baseball [back] to where it needs to be." Rodriguez said he stopped taking substances after injuring himself at spring training in 2003 with the Rangers. "It wasn't a real dramatic day. I started experimenting with things that, today, are not legal," he said, "that today are not accepted ... ever since that incident happened, I realized that I don't need any of it." http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3894847

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

Greetings. Just returned from cruise of Bahamas. On Saturday night we arrived in Nassau and took a cab to Atlantis resort. We walked around their aquarium, amazing. On par if not exceeds Shedd Aquarium. My wife and I decided to check out casino and we walked by the blackjack tables and lo and behold...A Rod. My wife spotted him first at the $100 table. He was sitting with a brunette and a blonde with two casino security guards standing by him. The girls were not that hot, imo. No one approached him while he was playing but being a dick that I think he was, was proven as he was text messaging while he was playing. It was surreal as behind him on the bar TV's was ESPN which was showing Arod steroid coverage. Then the tension broke as Dave Wannstedt walked by and we all laughed at him. Good to be back, lets play ball.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

I was at a basketball camp and Michael Jordan came to watch his son's games (Jeffery and Marcus were roughly in 9th and 7th grade respectively). He sat on the bleechers all by himself. No one walked up to him, no one said "hello Mr. Jordan" everyone just let him sit there and enjoy basketball. And this is a camp full of 7th-12th graders who love basketball and most likely grew up idolizing this man. I imagined AROD to be a complete dick, and now I have semi-proof.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

No one approached him while he was playing but being a dick that I think he was, was proven as he was text messaging while he was playing. I am not quite sure what this sentence actually says, but how does texting make him a dick?

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

In many casinos, it's generally poor taste to use your phone or PDA or whatever while you're at the table. Kind of a rude thing to do. I've seen people get REALLY offended. A lot of casinos even outlaw phones at the table all together. You have to leave the table to use your phone.

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In reply to by CPH2133

"Bringing Down the House"...and whatever the movie that was made that was based on that. Or maybe I have the book and movie reversed, eh. Its not the rude part as much as the cheating part. The inventive things that someone can do in a casino with texting isn't really something casinos enjoy. That being said, I don't think they expected A-Roid to be cheating for a few hundred bucks. Its not like he was there to play baseball.

Was it able to project any of the following: games played for Milton Bradley? starts for Rich Harden? double plays for Derrek Lee? 360 degree strikeouts for Kosuke Fukudome? bunts for a hit by our leadoff hitter? I was also curious the other day. Do you think the Yanks will ever use CC as a DH on his off days, or at least take the bat out of the hands of another fielder when he starts?

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In reply to by Mister Whipple

I agree with Whipple - was actually thinking about donating (the equivalent of a modest annual magazine subscription) before this discussion to acknowledge all the hard work that RobG, AZPhil, Cubster, et al put in to my Cubs news product of choice. RobG/TCR Staff: Fwiw, you have my (and Whipple's) support to... Let us readers know (in a way you think is appropriate) what you need to make the site the success that it is - we can make it our little fundraiser for the year. Your personal use of any of those types of resources should be part of what little perks you get for spending all the time you do, not the other way around.

Joey Gathright volunteers to play LF (on Charlie's team) two RF's, who's batting Babe Ruth? Adam Kennedy? Geez, Ray Durham wants in.

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In reply to by Cubster

Oopsie. That's what happens when I don't take what I'm doing even a little bit seriously and honestly can't say why I felt compelled to post. For what it's worth, I could see making an argument for Ray Durham on the Cubs much more so than Adam Kennedy.

MLBTR link says Griffey Jr. thinks he'll have a job by next week... http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/feb/08/padres-prior-another… “I tried to fight through being hurt,” Prior said. “I tried making starts when I was hurting; it was a helpless feeling.” In April 2007, famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews performed arthroscopic surgery on Prior's right shoulder – completing three procedures in one operation, including the repair of a 180-degree tear of the labrum and a split in the capsule. “None of the three parts of the surgery were new,” Prior said last year. “But Dr. Andrews said it was the first time they had all been packaged in one operation.”

from Rob's link: Last year, Prior was days away from facing hitters in his first bid with the Padres when he felt a sharp pain in his surgically repaired shoulder, “like I had been stabbed.” On June 4, Prior underwent his second round of surgery in just more than 13 months. A second straight season had been wiped off the books. ------ Remember he's had two shoulder surgeries. The 2nd was done in SD (San Diego by team physicians Heinz Hoenecke and Jan Fronek) for what sounded like a tear of the subscapularis or at least the capsule near where that tendon inserts. When so many combined things go wrong and get repaired, it gets tough to figure whether something new happened or whether things healed a bit too tight. Not in blame mode, just there are subtle degrees that make a pitchers' normal anatomy different than Ike Ironworker. Prior's 2nd surgery: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080601&content_id=2813827&vke… Subscapularis muscle pic: http://www.eorthopod.com/images/ContentImages/shoulder/shoulder_anatomy…

completing three procedures in one operation, including the repair of a 180-degree tear of the labrum and a split in the capsule. ------ I seem to remember Will Carroll talking just about a capsular shift to tighten up a loose shoulder and not much about a severe labrum tear (180 degrees usually means a repair with multiple anchors from 12'oclock to 6.). Not sure what the 3rd procedure was...maybe a rotator cuff partial tear debridement?

Rotoworld has a blurb with a quote from Ed Wade saying if they had the $$, it would go to starting pitching...

I find it hard to believe the Cards finish behind the brewers. a) they won 86 games and get Carpenter back for a nice 1-2 punch. Not to mention pujols played hurt most of the year. b) they cards are a model franchise, the brew crew has not established that pattern yet. c) who pitches for the brewers?

Although I'm surprised that the Cards let Kennedy go (especially so late in the offseason) I don't see any sense in the Cubs signing him. The last thing we need is another "attack of the Neifis" like we did a few years ago with Macias, Neifi and Rey Ordonez.

Regarding the BP projections, they also projected the Cubs to lead the league in OBP last year. I think they're a little high on the Mets' offensive projections, if that's a new ballpark effect, then I think they're low on their pitching. The Giants, as we all seem to agree, are one big bat away from contention in their projection. It's very unlike them not to go out and get that guy.

Giants offered Crede one year deal. -------- miss a little, miss a lot when you go to Paradise. Giants trying to accumulate as many 3B as possible: Uribe (minor league deal), Aurelia (not sure but also not guaranteed deal) and now Crede.

Jeff Weaver signs with the Dodgers (per rumors site): He'll have to outpitch Jason Schmidt, Claudio Vargas, Eric Stults, Ramon Troncoso and Shawn Estes to win the fifth spot in the starting rotation. Jeff Weaver also see's dead people.

they still have a solid 3-4-5 in the rotation. Just no 1 or 2 unfortunately for them.. --- reminds me of the year Maddux went to the Braves. The Cubs promoted Mike Morgan and acquired Jose Guzman. Presto! NO #1 or #2. in 92, Morgan was 16-8 behind Maddux' 20 wins. in 93, Morgan was 10-15; Guzman 12-10 in 94, Morgan was 2-10; Guzman 2-2

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In reply to by JoePepitone

I rarely post, although I have honor of being a TCR top giver during the pledge drive. I'm the only one with a link to a website. I live in Bucktown and run into Doug Glanville 3 to 4 times a year walking his dogs. The first time I ran into him I had a brian cramp and called him Kevin Foster. He laughed and said " I know Kevin Foster". Hopefully he didn't think I confuse every african american that plays for the Cubs to look the same. The reality is both players came from Evanston, and that's why I got confused. Next time I run into him, I'll say " the triple"!!! ( from the four game of the playoffs againist Florida in 2003)

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In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

If I were A-Rod I'd be spending an enormous percentage of my $275 million on deserving charities. I think you're right, though. Looking back to find out each individual that cheated is kind of ridiculous at this point. Good for the press, bad for just about anyone else. Does it do any more discourage steroid use in professional or amateur athletes? I doubt it. Linking the names and the samples seems to indicated they at some point wanted to know who took the PEDs they were testing for, not just how many. Either that or somebody didn't think the whole procedure through, which is pretty unforgivable when you're messing with this many livelihoods and reputations.

Reading over at Rotoworld... According to the New York Daily News, "a Mets official did not rule out signing Bobby Abreu, but indicated that any contract likely would have to be for one year at less than $4 million." Last week there were reports that the White Sox offered Abreu a one-year, $8 million deal. Abreu is a poor defensive outfielder, but hit .296/.371/.471 with 20 homers, 22 steals, 100 RBI and 100 runs last season for his 11th straight year with an OPS above 800. Damn if Abreu is going that cheap, i think we might have royally fucked up with the Bradley deal.

Damn if Abreu is going that cheap, i think we might have royally fucked up with the Bradley deal. --- Unless Fukudome adjusts to the league and soon, it actually makes his contract the real albatross. Nobody talks about it but against lefty's I'm liking the idea of Reed Johnson leading off. Against rightys, well that's the dilemma (Miles, Theriot...meh)

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In reply to by Cubster

If Johnson is an acceptable leadoff man against lefties, then I don't see why Fontenot wouldn't be just as acceptable against righties. If Fukudome performs decently--can get that OBP over .360 and keep it there consistently--he'd be another option. Also, Theriot has a career .350 OBP against RIGHTIES. That's not great, but it's okay. I'd rather see a leadoff man with an OBP over .360 or .370, but .350 tops most of our recent leadoff hitters. Oh, guess what. He's also got a .395 OBP against lefties for his career. That's about .020 points ahead of Johnson. So if we're talking about a starting lineup against lefties, why not Theriot first and Johnson second? Johnson hits more doubles and that would put two decent career OBPs vs. lefties at the top of the lineup in front of Bradley, Ramirez, Lee, and Soriano. I fully expect Soriano to spend a lot of time in the leadoff spot this year though. If he struggles elsewhere in the lineup, management will freak out and put him in the 1-spot again. I hope I'm wrong about that, though. I don't see much reason that he shouldn't be able to adjust to the 3-6 spots if given some time. Aaron Miles belongs nowhere near the starting lineup unless he's smoking hot with the bat or there are injuries on the middle infield.

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In reply to by Rob G.

Sori can swallow his pride and do what is best for the team... at least Lou has a little bit of control over that. If Soriano can get over his ego and move to the OF for the better of the team (even a crappy team like the Nationals), he can sure as hell do what is best for the Cubs, and that to me is either act like a leadoff hitter or move down the lineup, possibly to the 6 hole. I assume Lou makes those decisions, and with his length of service as a successful manager, Sori should just shake his head yes, swallow his pride and move down the lineup... unless Lou gets a chubby for those 1-0 leads that Sori provides 8 times a year... As for the other stuff, Lou can't help that Theriot is a midget and Harden's arm falls off after 150 innings...

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In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

I think you missed Rob's point. What happens if Soriano tries to take more pitches and does what Tyler Colvin did this year in AA ball? Throughout the first half of the 2008 season or so, Colvin's walk percentage was up drastically. But his batting average and slugging percentage dropped drastically. So basically you had a Colvin that walked more, but since he was hitting under .250 and not driving the ball, his OBP was about the same as it was before and he wasn't an asset to the team. Just deciding to take pitches won't automatically make Soriano hitter that gets on base a lot. That said, I'd love to see his overall plate discipline improve, but that's clearly not how he has designed his offensive game. Also, I'm sure Soriano would like to steal as many bases as possible. As for moving him down in the lineup, I'm all for that. But make sure that he has enough to time to adjust. If you're going to bat him 5th, bat him 5th. Don't bat him 5th for five days and then bat him 1st again because he went 3-20. If it's two months later and he's still batting .200, then you start ask yourself why he can't adjust and consider other options. But you've got to commit for a while if you really want to find out if he can handle it.

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In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

No, I got that. And I'm all for putting the high OBP guys in front of the high batting average and slugging guys. I think Soriano's stats would look pretty good in the number 5 spot. I think my plan for the top of the lineup would be: Fukudome/Theriot* Lee Bradley Ramirez Soriano *Depending on their performances--I'd also be willing to slot Fontenot into the leadoff spot against righties and Johnson in against lefties if Theriot struggles. In the comment to which you are responding, thoug, I just wanted to point out that raising your OBP is not necessarily as easy as saying, "I'm going to take more pitches." Which you seemed to be implying in a previous post--which Rob also responded to.

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In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

this argument never gets old...okay, yes it does..

Lou's filling out the lineup card and he doesn't strike me as a guy that would keep Soriano batting leadoff if he hated the idea. I'm sure, just like everyone else, realizes there are more ideal leadoff men out there, I just don't think he believes there's one on the Cubs right now. 

He doesn't seem to like Theriot in that role and the only other option imo is pre-All Star Break Fukudome. If anyone says Aaron Miles, I will punch them in the ribs.

But I think your anger is misplaced, Soriano has said he'd bat anywhere they put him. Maybe he prefers to bat leadoff, but I really doubt he'd throw a fit about it.

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In reply to by Rob G.

I was about to comment on all this...wow...yeah... "Lou's filling out the lineup card and he doesn't strike me as a guy that would keep Soriano batting leadoff if he hated the idea." agreed and a great start... also, while soriano may prefer and claim to mentally feel better hitting leadoff...i hesitate to label it as an ego thing or something he's pushing on anyone. that said, i agree with all that wasted RBI production from a guy who hits like he does. hell, if people wanna argue production like soriano's can leadoff they might as well argue fuku could do it better paying attention to the kind of stats you'd want out of a leadoff guy. ...and no, i wouldn't put either up there batting 1st, myself.

Rob (or whoever I should address this to) is there a counter for each member and the number of comments made? I'd be interested to see how many the leader has. I'd guess it'd be Rob G. but thats just a guess. Also, I was wondering the rough number of unique hits TCR has gotten. I dunno, just interested is all.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    LHP Blake Weiman appears to have been the last cut from the AAA Iowa roster. He is with the Tennessee group at Minor League Camp.

     

  • crunch (view)

    bruce bochy is hobbling rather badly for a guy who's had 2 hip replacements.  his gait is extremely wonky taking the lineup card to the ump.

  • 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.