Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

37 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (three slots are open)

Last updated 11-17-2023
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 20
Adbert Alzolay 
Michael Arias
Javier Assad
Ben Brown
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
Porter Hodge
* Bailey Horn
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Daniel Palencia
Michael Rucker
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 8
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
* Matt Mervis
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Luis Vazquez
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 7
Kevin Alcantara
Alexander Canario
* Pete Crow-Armstrong
Brennen Davis
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman

 


Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Roosevelt Rides Again!

Submitted by Dr. Joseph Hecht on

CSN's Patrick Mooney broke the news that Theodore Roosevelt Lilly III is back with the Cubs. No, the 38 year old crafty one, who retired last November isn't being brought back from the netherworld to be another soft tossing lefty to flip at the trade deadline. He's there in a new capacity, per Rotoworld:

Ted Lilly has been hired as a special assistant for the Cubs front office. He will work with young players in Cubs camp during spring training and then help the organization with scouting for the draft.

Then there is this quote from TL upon making the decision to take the Cubs gig:

Ted Lilly: "I want to be around the game and I feel like I have something to offer. This is the organization I would prefer to be with.”

A little more from Gulliver and the Voyage to Lilliput after the jump...

Carrie Muskat at cubs.com says that Lilly, Theo and Jed started discussions about a role with the Cubs during the recent January Cubs Convention.

"His reputation with the Cubs is sterling, which is fantastic, and not only as a person but as a competitor," Hoyer said. "I really liked what he had to say. A lot of guys want to get back in and don't want to work that much, and he made it clear he wants to work and wants to get involved in scouting. I think we'll use him in a variety of ways. He feels he has a pretty good eye and likes to try to evaluate but also was really humble and knows he has to learn how to do it. He was excited to get back involved and I think we'll feel out how to use him."

The terms of this contract have to be less stressful than when Lilly signed on for 4/40 in December 2006. GM Jim Hendry was on the stretcher to get an angioplasty when that deal was closed.

My thought is he's being brought back to teach those who will listen on how to slide into catchers given the new rules that are being invoked. Yadier Molina still aches from this lesson. Of course there are many reasons to love Ted Lilly. The TLFC, the TL Supercomputer, TCR has a long track record of showing some Ted Lilly love. Given that link showing some of Lilly's best Cub outings, maybe Travis Wood will learn a trick or two from the master crafty-sman.


Samardzija had better watch out if he gets too pranky, cause TL is THE master prankster.

Tags
Ted Lilly

Comments

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 03:47 pm

boni got the start at SS today. they're giving him every chance to be the 2nd/SS "supersub" along with his CF/LF capability. he came up as a middle IF'r and has always gotten shots there with various teams, but he's never been able to stick there because of his D.

Submitted by Cubster on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 03:41 pm

Almora rbi single (shortly after Vitters gets picked off 1st), then a 2 run blast by Olt. 6-3 Cubs over A's in the 8th.

[ ]

Submitted by Newport on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:15 am

Since you are talking about boners, I was at the game today, sitting in the front row maybe 30 feet from 3b. Bryant looks STIFF out there on D. I don't see his glove working at 3b long term. If anyone is interested in two of these seats(face value) for the 3/11 game, let me know. I have 6 but only need 4. They are in the front row right next to the cubs dugout. It's actually a row in front of the dugout. Look to your right and you have a nice view right into the dugout. It's hot as fuck(for a person who has spent this winter in Chicago) until about the 3rd inning.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:19 am

it's early spring arizona sun...get a wide brim hat that has ventilation to breathe and you'll be all good. i haven't been to AZ in a year and 1/2...one of my favorite places to visit and hike (even more than hawaii). i wish they still had full-time spring training games in tucson (one of my favorite places on this planet). i had some fun times at TEP and Hi Corbett Field watching games. i understand why teams left (and why many vets would skip the phoenix-area to tucson bus trip), but i'd rather be in tucson for anything but the games.

[ ]

Submitted by Ryno on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:23 pm

"It’s not so much that Baez's approach is overly aggressive. I think that comes off as a pejorative statement at times, and being aggressive isn’t always a bad thing. You want to see hitters take advantage of opportunities and drive the baseball with authority. I think Baez’s biggest problem at the plate is that his confidence with the bat/swing creates an environment where everything thrown in his general direction is considered an opportunity for him to drive the ball out of the park. It’s often hard to distinguish between being aggressive and being overly confident, but in Baez’s case, he’s not a grip-it-and-rip-it hitter; rather, he’s a guy who thinks he can turn around whatever a pitcher has to offer and send it out of the park." I think this is a distinction without a difference. And if this is true, I mean I'm kind of tired of free swingers... meh.

[ ]

Submitted by Jackstraw on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:06 pm

There is a difference, at least in my mind. To this point Baez's view is that nobody can beat him consistently. To this point his stats suggest he's been proven correct. Moving forward he's surely going to come across guys who can beat him more often than not. What he does in response to that seems to be the key as to whether he's a AAA flameout or a perennial MLB All-star, and why the consensus is he has more space between his ceiling and floor than other high-end prospects. I read into the BP guy's definition of grip it and rip it that he thinks that condition is un-alterable.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:18 pm

some guys can get away with it...we'll find out if he can when he's exposed at higher levels. we may have to live with his high-K tradeoff, though. unlike some load-and-release hitters, he at least has the "unteachable skill" of extremely quick hands/wrists through the batting zone...just like soriano was so quick for many years with his hands/wrists he could stand in the front of the box hoping to feast on breaking stuff that was breaking late as well as being able to respond to fastballs. age caught up with soriano...but so did the learning curve of adapting and he's tweaked his approach a little bit. i'm not trying to say soriano and baez hit the same, but they're both aggressive swingers with extremely quick hands/wrists (at least soriano in his youth, anyway). no one's ever called soriano's swing nice/pretty/etc...baez at least has better praise in that department.

[ ]

Submitted by Ryno on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:01 pm

And if you only had one guy like that in your lineup, you can get away with it. For several years now we've had a lineup chock full of free swingers and the results are dozens of 5-10 pitch innings from opposing pitchers. If you don't have the other 90% of your lineup working the count, you will never realize the benefit of a free swinger.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:39 pm

cross your fingers and hope d.vogelbach can play LF in the future with the drop in weight. soler and almora seem to be guys heavily prone to swing even if they don't K much. bryant might be patient...hard to tell at this point. a.alcantara showed great improvement with his walk rate last year even though he still K'd a lot. that's at least a bit promising (especially for a 21 year old playing in AA).

[ ]

Submitted by Charlie on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:21 pm

I'm not sure the quote is particularly clear, but I would draw a distinction between the Javier Baez aggressive approach and the Starlin Castro aggressive approach. Castro gets into trouble when he swings at a pitch out of the zone just because he knows he can dump it into RF just beyond the 2B. Baez gets into trouble because he thinks he can drive anything. I'd call Baez's approach aggressive and in need of refinement. I'd taking Baez's aggressiveness of the type we see in Castro at times. But, obviously, they'd both be better off if they were a bit more selective and put themselves in situations to take aggressive swings on good hitters pitches/counts. It'll be interesting to see how badly and how long Baez struggles against polished pitchers who can locate their breaking balls, which he hasn't faced yet. That part of his game might not become apparent until he spends a while in the majors, and that'll be when we see how his "aggressiveness" plays or gets adjusted.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:20 pm

heh...he turned that "hole away" weakness into "whatever, i'll swing at that, too...just make better contact off the bat" he was the best bad-ball hitter i've ever seen. even when you pitched him correctly he would swing at something stupid to swing at and do something with it.

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:36 pm

b.brenly calling the KC/ARZ game...spots henry blanco in the dugout...calls him "hank white" ...now he's calling KC pitcher francisley bueno "frank good" i miss brenly.

[ ]

Submitted by Carlito on Wed, 03/05/2014 - 03:58 pm

Agreed. I think JD might be a bust, but gotta give him a couple more years I guess. I remember being skeptical of Brenly early on too. But JD and Kasper were two ships passing in the night as far as chemistry last year ... I hope they learn each other's sense of humor because so far it's just been awkward.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Thu, 03/06/2014 - 03:22 am

JD was rather awesome with the astros...but he knew the team rather well and that helped a lot in his banter. it really seems like he came on board with the cubs without doing a lot of homework. i hope it gets better as he spends more time around the team (and i hope he's getting exposure to the kids in spring training). bob not only came on board having done his homework, he dove head-first into getting to know what's going on in the minors (beyond what his kid was doing) as well as the major league team. i totally agree on the point about jd and len not matching wits well even though they were both trying to joke around...it was painfully awkward too many times for far too long. len/bob were great at setting each other up for jokes and playing off each other's commentary. len/bob had great chemistry and bob was a strong color guy for the cubs.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    morel played somewhere besides 3rd and SS...he got 8 innings in CF, 2 putouts and an assist.

  • crunch (view)

    ryan flaherty new cubs bench coach.

  • crunch (view)

    bellinger wins comeback player of the year.  the AL winner was liam hendricks and his 5ip before he got tommy john...setting himself up for a 2025 shot at the award.

  • Bill (view)

    I hope that Perlaza goes on to have a successful career.  On most Cubs teams prior to the current administration, he would have been one of their more highly ranked prospects.  As far as the others are concerned, one or more may well go on to be much better than expected, but unfortunately there is no way to tell which one at the present time.  You can't keep everyone.

  • crunch (view)

    s.gray signs with the cards...3/75m

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Another one of the nine Cubs post-2023 Rule 9 minor league 6YFA has signed, as RHP Carlos Guzman (acquired from the Tigers for Zack McKinstry at the end of Spring Training) signed a 2024 minor league contract with the Mets. 

     

    So RHRP Yovanny Cruz (SD), C-INF P. J. Higgins (CIN), and now Carlos Guzman (NYM) have already signed 2024 minor league contracts with new MLB organizations, and OF Yonathan Perlaza is headed for Korea (Hanhwa Eagles).

  • crunch (view)

    ...and back to 3rd for another game.  at this point i'm gonna hang back and when/if he actually plays 1st then i'll find it notable.  i am glad he's playing a good amount of 3rd, though...give the club one more good look at him there.  shrug

  • crunch (view)

    morel played SS last night (no errors)...hit a homer and a double.  he's got 2 of both in 19PA.

  • crunch (view)

    e.escobar was throwing 95-97mph on his fastball in 2023.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    One more thing about Edwin Escobar. Even though he had accrued less than one year of MLB Service Time prior to signing with Nippon Ham in 2017 (he ended up eventually with Yokohama), he will have Article XIX-A rights by virtue of the seven seasons he spent in Japan. So he will be essentially locked on the 40-man roster (or at least he can't be outrighted without his consent), and he will be a FA whenever his contract expires. 

Click HERE for the last 50 comments