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

TCR Friday Notes

...just a few notes promoted from the comments and other site fun.

- Rich Hill will get his next start skipped with the day off Monday. 10 or so days off should really help him with his control problems.

- Another gem from ex-Cub, now blossoming writer Doug Glanville; that includes this gem:
And I recall seeing an electric young pitcher, Kerry Wood, when he was the ripe old age of 19. He had yet to set foot in a major league stadium when we watched him pitch in an instructional league game in Arizona. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop me and everyone else from realizing that he was a man among boys. Years later, he would set the record for most strikeouts in a game. He just had something that made his blank sheet of experience rise to the top of a pile of bullet-point-riddled résumés.
- So what do you think Joba Chamberlain said to Erin Andrews before the interview to solicit the look of disgust at the end of this video? (Hat tip to Deadspin for the link)

- Another Deadspin find, Joe Smith heckling with the fans at Wrigley earlier this week. Note to all cameraman though, let the pictures and sound tell the story. You do not need to do the play-by-play that Smith is heckling with the fans, while he's, you know, heckling the fans.The part where him and the fans are going back and forth, is enough of a tell that heckling is indeed going on, and you jabbering that this is Joe Smith heckling with the fans at Wrigley, doesn't let us hear what is actually being heckled.

- Rotoauthority has a nice piece using Pitch F/x that examines Kosuke Fukudome's at-bats. .

- We broke out a mobile version of the site last week for you hardcore readers. Unfortunately the automatic redirect was messing things up for some people, so just bookmark the mobile site at: http://thecubreporter.mofuse.mobi. I hope to be adding an RSS feed of the comments soon.

- Let's all welcome the Just One Bad Century girl to the website (on the right sidebar). That should class up the joint a little. They do have a neat site over there and some fun apparel and other goodies at their store. Buy some stuff and she stays!

- And finally, an update on our TCR Donation Drive. Drumroll please! (Numbers flip on the big board...band starts playing) We're up to 35 donations and $820. Woo! Thanks for all your support and we'll make one last push on Wednesday before announcing the final total. Remember, there's gifts for the top 3 pledges.

Enjoy the weekend!

Comments

It's pretty clear you don't read the comments from us plebes.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

you're not that special, dude. no offense, but you're pretty competitive. fwiw...we got a phrase around here called "3/44" that's a bit more tactful than your centrist post above. hell, it don't matter how you say it, but i doubt even you read every word of every post. i know i don't.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

it's also pretty clear that I wrote

 "just a few notes promoted from the comments"

wtf did you think that meant?

a lot, (I would say most) of our readers don't even read the comments and definitely not all of them, so if I think it's noteworthy I'll mention it. 

I like Glanville's writing a lot, but his memory is a little faulty in this case: I recall seeing an electric young pitcher, Kerry Wood, when he was the ripe old age of 19.... Years later, he would set the record for most strikeouts in a game. Years later? Wood was 20 when he faced the Astros that day, and he didn't set the record he tied it.

for a start and call up Tiggy to give us a second loogy and then when Hill's turn comes up whatever member of the pen is pitching worse have a "shoulder injury" that needs some DL time. I agree with Rob the time off isnt a good thing for him.

I would've loved to have had some vid of the times when Lenny Dykstra was playing for the Mets and regularly got into it during warm - ups at Wrigley. I witnessed a few back then, and it was mostly just funning around, no nasty stuff.

[ ]

In reply to by Dmac

I remember being in the left field bleachers one day long ago and during pre-game warmups we were on the Reds outfielders pretty good. One of them (can't remember that well, was busy killing teen brain cells that day) turned around eventually and just said "yell anything you want, I make a hundred bucks for every dollar you get."

[ ]

In reply to by Chad

I second Chad's shirtless version motion. Besides, the Cubs have really only had a bad half-century plus. Up until the 40's they were pretty damn good. Even though he grew up on the north side, my dad became a Sox fan (that's HIS problem) just because he was sick of all the obnoxious Cubs bandwagoners back then who knew nothing about the game. Kind of like how every other person you see suddenly owns a Red Sox hat.

Never thought I'd say this, but Red Sox Nation really sucks - almost as bad as Patriot Nation. Not that they're any worse than some Cubs fans, though. "...just said "yell anything you want, I make a hundred bucks for every dollar you get." Roger Maris was always getting into it with the fans, and his typical retort was "oh yeah? How much money do you make?" After awhile his teammates starting yelling at Maris to "hit 'em with your wallet, Rog!"

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.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • 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.