Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus one player is on the 60-DAY IL 

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

Last updated 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

10 Questions with Steve Holley

Last year we did 19 questions with Inside the Ivy's Steve Holley. Due to budget cuts and the recession, we paired it down to 10 this year. You can find a list of their top 20 Cubs prospects either here or here.


1. Let's start right at the top, you named Tyler Colvin as the Cubs top prospect. What position do you think he'll end up playing in the majors and how worried should I be about that Ryan Harvey-esque 4:875:1 K/BB ratio

There has always been a good deal of emphasis placed on the strikeouts totals of low to mid-level minor league players. But if you want a player to develop into the type of hitter that Colvin projects as (lets say 20-25 HR potential), you are more often than not going to have to accept that strikeouts come with the territory. That doesn’t mean that Colvin is content with striking out. Working to lower them has always been at the top of his priority list, and toward the end of last season, he made a few adjustments in his approach that seemed to help him see more pitches and get into some good counts.

I believe he’s capable of playing any of the three outfield positions (though center is most ideal), but where he ends up may depend a lot on what Felix Pie does, or perhaps what the organization decides to do with Pie. On an unrelated note, Colvin got a little behind the eight-ball in spring training with a nagging elbow problem toward the end of his stint in big league camp. That could explain his slow start this season.

2. Speaking of Ryan Harvey, he made your list at #19, is there any hope that he'll ever see Wrigley Field without having to buying a ticket? Any whispers about putting his golden arm to use on the mound?

I believe it’s possible, but it has been six years (or thereabout) since he saw a pitcher’s mound. Anyway, when I inquired about the possibility of Harvey making a switch to pitcher last year, the Cubs’ farm director declined to go in-depth on the matter because the season was still in full swing and Harvey had just returned from a hamstring injury. For probably the first time, though, the notion wasn’t completely dismissed outright. Take that to mean what you will.

Realistically, I want to say this is a make-or-break year for Harvey offensively. Some good news is that he reported to camp in the best shape he’s probably ever been in and has dropped a considerable amount of weight from last season. The added baggage he had been carrying around may have been slowing him down more than anyone realized, and the weight loss should help him avoid some of those nagging injuries he’s had.

3. How disappointed am I going to be if they trade Sean Gallagher? I know his "stuff" doesn't match up with some of the top pitching prospects in the game, but I just don't see a lot of 21-year olds putting up numbers like he did at in the upper levels of the minors, like he did last season (Gallagher is now 22).

While his stuff may not be the best in the game, he’s a safer bet to reach the big leagues than several of those with “better” stuff, and he has matured quite a bit since last season. I’ve seen him this week with the Iowa team and he looks fabulous. He’s down to 215 pounds (he said he’s dropped 35 pounds all told) and that should help him go deeper into games, as he does not have to pitch with as much exertion. His fastball is constantly low to mid-90s and he still possesses a sharp curve. Additionally, the work the Cubs put in with him on developing a slider has started to show dividends now that Gallagher has learned the different grips between a slider and curve. His mechanics are more consistent now, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sean in the big leagues on a full-time basis very soon.

4. Our own Arizona Phil is a big Josh Donaldson fan, putting him at the top of his own prospect rankings. What are your thoughts on him and do you think he can stick at the catching position?

Unless he gets caught up in the depth at the position on down the road, I don’t see why he can’t stick at catcher. There’s been zero talk of him changing positions. While he did have a fair amount of passed balls (11) last season, he also threw out 40 percent of runners and that’s the number that sticks the most with me. Peoria will be a good challenge for him because he’s still relatively new to catching and has yet to handle a staff of 12 or 13 pitchers for a full season.

5. What deal with the devil did Kevin Hart make to turn his career around? He went from the often forgettable "player to be named later" in the Freddie Bynum deal, to Cubs minor league pitcher of the year and making the playoff roster. Is it all because of his new cutter?

The cutter was certainly a key addition that threw hitters off because the scouting reports on Hart read that he was primarily a sinkerball pitcher with an average to above average slider. He can throw both the cutter and his two-seam fastball effectively, and now he is striving to sharpen up his standard four-seamer. While he pitches off his fastball and slider, last year was the first year he really felt comfortable throwing his changeup. If he’s able to fully develop that pitch, he could be downright nasty. Aside from that, is it not entirely possible that the Orioles, in their quest to sign every recognizable ex-Cubs prospect on the planet, might have missed the boat and undervalued one of their own?

6. How much pressure is on the Cubs to try and get Jeff Samardzija to the majors as quickly as possible, considering they handed out what has to be the first-ever major league deal for a fifth round pick (that's an assumption on my part)? And how much pressure does Samardzija feel to justify that contract?

If the Cubs feel pressured, they’re wearing their poker faces well. Samardzija most certainly does not feel pressured. When I first met him last year in Daytona, I was a bit surprised by how loose he appeared. This was around the time he was moved into the bullpen and rather than being upset over it (or his near 6.00 ERA), you could find him in the clubhouse watching wrestling videos on YouTube. I don’t think he’s overly careless; I just don’t believe that he’s easily sidetracked or disrupted.

7. Maybe you can explain to me why the Cubs have spent a good portion of the off-season chasing the Orioles Brian Roberts, when we seemed to already have a left-handed, top-of-the-order candidate who plays second base in Eric Patterson. I know his defense at second base is suspect, but couldn't Jim Hendry used the time he spent on the phone with Andy Macphail and just picked up a fungo bat and hit 1,000 groundballs a day to Patterson?

You got me on this one. For what it’s worth, the Cubs say they are still plenty high on Patterson and that his slip-up last year is water under the bridge. That’s about all I can tell you.

8. The biggest surprise on your top twenty list was the inclusion of Justin Berg at #11 (acquired in a trade for Matt Lawton in 2005). What are you seeing or hearing that should make me keep tabs on him?

I figured to get some questions as to why I ranked Berg as high as I did. For me and everyone else that is high on him, it’s all about his sinker. He can touch 93-95 mph with it, and it’s the best such pitch in the Cubs’ farm system. As a matter of fact, he has drawn comparisons to Brandon Webb from a few people – namely Dennis Lewallyn, Tennessee’s pitching coach who worked with Webb while in Arizona’s system.

When you look at numbers, there is some similarity in Berg’s and Webb’s minor league careers, particularly in terms of their wildness. They’re both similar in build, too. What Berg needs is to control and repeat his delivery, especially with the sinker because his slider is a solid pitch as it is. I’ll add that Berg has a lot of guts. He pitched his first game last year with the flu, and ended up vomiting in the clubhouse by the middle innings. His coaches felt that put him behind the eight-ball and that it took him longer to catch up than the rest of the staff.

9. One of our readers ("Crunch") wanted to ask about Casey Lambert, the Cubs 6th round pick last year out of Virginia that the reader had an opportunity to watch a few times in the ACC. Has his fastball improved (low 90s rather than high 80s)? Does he have or working on a 3rd pitch? Are the Cubs gonna keep him in relief (if he has a 3rd pitch developing/developed)?

The plan is to keep him in relief. His fastball still sits in the upper 80s and he spent much of Instructs last year working on the development of his changeup. It has become a pretty solid offering for him, but the hard curveball is still his bread and butter.

10. Give me a name (or two) of a player that you think is a good bet to take a big leap forward this year?

I’ll go with Kyle Reynolds, the third baseman at Tennessee. He put together an incredible run last year beginning in June at Daytona, finishing with 21 home runs – 20 of which came in the second half. He suffered an ankle injury midway through the season, and being out of the lineup gave him time to work with Richie Zisk on some things mechanically with his swing. The work paid off and his confidence shot up through the roof.

-----------

Thanks to Steve for his time and be sure to check out his live blog of Sean Gallagher's start in New Orleans tonight. You can submit questions as the game goes on. You can also read Murton's reaction to Eric Patterson getting called up at Scout.com.

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Comments

Not sure if everyone gets the same articles, but the lead article on my Yahoo! home page has a big picture of Alfonso Soriano and is titled "Soriano and the five dumbest on-field injuries" Nice...

Marty Brenneman ripping the Cubs fans on the air after the Dunn home run was thrown back (along with another 15 or so balls). "Far and away the most obnoxious fans in baseball, in this league, are these fans right here...that is so typical of Chicago Cubs fans." "You simply root against them, I've said all winter they talk about winning the division but it won't happen because they are the Chicago Cubs and they'll find a way to screw this whole thing up." What a prick, and he had Jeff Brantley, another jackass by his side. You can hear it at this link: http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-080417-…

[ ]

In reply to by Paul Noce

That's a remarkable piece of audio. There has to be a backstory that some Cincinnati Reds fan might be able to relate here, but that would require knowledge of computers and typing and the English language, so maybe I'll just speculate.

Back when Thom Brennaman was the Cubs' announcer in the early '90s, he would always refer sarcastically to Lou Piniella as "Uncle Lou," and Brennaman and Steve Stone would giggle at their little private joke without actually explaining its origin. I always assumed that Marty Brennaman and Piniella must have had some falling out when Lou managed the Reds. If that's the case, it could explain why Marty nearly burst a blood vessel over this business with the bleacher fans (who, truth be told, ARE largely a bunch of drunken, disinterested jerks, especially at night games.)

 Regardless, Marty Brennaman can go to hell. (No offense, Marty.)

[ ]

In reply to by Paul Noce

You know, Marty's got a point about how the Cubs will certainly screw up something and won't win the division. I mean, just look at last year. You know, how terribly we played down the stretch in September--how our power that was missing all year just never showed up--how our pitching staff just couldn't put cobble together an ERA that would get us in, perhaps in the neighborhood of 2nd in the league--how our big free-agent acquisition never showed up in the last month. If only we hadn't had that typical Cubbie collapse last September, we might have had a shot to win the division in 07. Oh well. Marty's probably right about 08, given recent events. Such aplomb is rarely found in a broadcaster.

Ah Brennamen...where to start? Jealous? Mad over Thom's treatment from the Cubs? Who knows but Cincinnatti people in general don't like Cubs fans and I'm not sure why that is. Sure the 15 balls thing was stupid but he took his criticism way beyond that. I think there is some jealousy from the way that baseball has shifted away from small market teams like the Reds.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

on to the 20th inning. it is amazing just how checked-out the COL announcers are...they're just being bluntly messy and barely talking game at this point. first 20 inning game since 2003, stl@fla (april 27th). ---edit to the 21st...longest game in rockies team history (time and innings). ---edit top of the 22nd...its 4:10am and im watching live baseball on american soil. neat. rusch pitching, tavarez on 1st, 2 out...makes 4 pickoff throws to 1st...next pitch tavarez steals, wild throw by the catcher, tav. advances to 3rd....troy t. promptly hits a rbi double. bottom 9th...man on 1st...bench hitters long gone for both sides...guess who gets to end the game at 4:22am eastern with a K...that's right...rusch. i'm going to bed. i may not have much to do tommorow, but i want to be awake for most of it. and yeah, i pretty much assumed no one is watching this text cap live...i'm just bored. =p

Pretty classy, Brennaman. A handful of drunks in the bleachers at a night game are apparently representative of millions of Cubs fans. Awesome. One of the things I appreciate about Len and Bob (and Steve and Chip before them) is that they've struck a good balance between being Cubs fans and being professional broadcasters. Brennaman's a fucking douchebag.

"And then they'll have no one to boo but themselves...oh, they NEVER blame themselves." What fans ever blame themselves or boo themselves? Has this ever happened in the course of human history?

Brantley is about as intelligent as Silent Towel and Marty is obviously an old, bitter man. Screw them both. I wonder why the Trib waited to post this MP3 until after the Reds left town? I'm sure they could have posted it yesterday morning.

Out of respect for Marty's daughter, a friend of mine from college, I'll refrain from posting my reaction to Marty's outburst. Ah, screw it, go fuck yourself, Marty. That was ridiculous. Keep rooting against the Cubs and keep rooting on that terrible team you have to watch every day.

How about this choice quote by Gary Hughes from the article linked by Rob G. regarding Murton's reaction: “[Lou Piniella] felt that we should be a little more left-handed,” said Hughes. “We’re a little too right-handed and I think that’s part of it. (The other part is) Patterson was doing a little better down here, whereas Matt’s gotten off to a little slower start.” Are you fucking serious, Gary Hughes you mongoloid. Patterson was doing better down there? Wasn't he hitting .222 or something awful like that? The very next sentence in the article: "Murton entered the week with a .400 batting average in nine games..." It would be nice if the Cubs' front office at least knew how their own players were doing. I think Gary Hughes gets his information from www.ericpattersonsmother.com.

[ ]

In reply to by Doug Dascenzo

I guess it depends on what stats you are looking at. For batting average you are more than right. Perhaps though Hughes and Lou were referring to Patterson's 3 doubles, a triple, and a homerun in just 11 games. Murton is still at all singles through his first 13 games. Not saying I agree one way or the other, but just that it matters what they were looking for.

Reds fans aren't the only ones who hate the Cubs and their fans. Cards fans and many Brewer fans I know have an over-the-top dislike of all things Cub. Might have something to do with their being second rate towns of the midwest. Chicago is the New York of the midwest and they probably reserve as much venom for us as many Chicagoans do for New York teams. Cub fans are obnoxious but often in a creative way. I was at the game when all the balls came on the field and it was hilarious.

For what it's worth, most Reds fans I know enjoy watching the Cubs and love road trips to Wrigley. They are as pissed over Marty's comments as we are.

[ ]

In reply to by Stevens

just seeing if people are paying attention :)

Sean's twin brother Steve has actually lost 75 pounds, Sean himself, just 35.

 so my bad, yeah, Sean Gallagher=35 pound weight loss

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Steve and Sean's uncle, Gallagher, has lost 75 pounds worth of watermelons in the past month alone.

[ ]

In reply to by Stevens

Black Gallagher BI%CH!!!!

Recent comments

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1. 

  • crunch (view)

    amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.

    neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.

  • Eric S (view)

    Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it). 

  • crunch (view)

    boo.

  • crunch (view)

    smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.

    this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

    like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.

    anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.

    I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.

    If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.

    Give him a chance. 

    But Wesneski probably gets it

  • crunch (view)

    alzolay...bro...

  • crunch (view)

    wow.  what a blown call.  go cubs, i guess.