Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus two players are 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 4-18-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Jameson Taillon 
Keegan Thompson
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

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

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Miles Mastrobuoni, INF
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Seiya Suzuki, OF

15-DAY IL
* Justin Steele, P   

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 





Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Cub Power and Wood Arm Fry Padres

Alfonso Soriano laced a two-out line-drive two-run double down the LF line and Dioner Navarro followed with a towering two-run HR over the RF bullpens to rally the Cubs to a 4-2 lead in the 6th, and then Jorge Soler slugged a solo home run to the top of the berm over the LF fence and Christian Villanueva drilled two-run HR over the left-center fence to key a five-run 8th, as the Cubs defeated the San Diego Padres 9-3 in Cactus League action this afternoon at Dwight Paterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ.

LHP Travis Wood contributed with both his arm and his bat, throwing four innings of one-hit shutout ball with six strikeouts, and roping a line-drive lead-off single and then scoring on the Soriano double to ignite the four-run 6th. On the negative side, Wood did walk three over the course of the 4.0 IP (63 pitches - 35 strikes).

box score

RHP Scott Feldman got the start for the Cubs and worked three innings (51 pitches - 33 strikes), allowing two runs on four hits (including a Mark Kotsay two-run line-drive double into the RF Corner) with three strikeouts. He was aided by two nearly identical outstanding defensive plays by SS Alberto Gonzalez, as the veteran utility infielder made two diving stops to his right and then righted himself and make a pinpoint throw to 1st base to retire the batters. Before you get too excited, Gonzalez also booted a routine grounder for an E-6 that should have been turned into a 6-4-3 DP.

In addition to Gonzalez's two highlight-reel stops & throws, catcher Dioner Navarro picked a runner off 2nd base and nailed another runner trying to steal 2nd.

Down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the 6th, the Cubs rallied for four runs off SD RHP Tim Stauffer.

Travis Wood ripped a line-drive single to left and David DeJewsus lined a single to RF to start the inning, Then with two outs, Alfonso Soriano laced a line-drive double into the LF corner to drive-in Wood and DeJesus, and Dioner Navarro followed immediately with his two-run HR over the bullpens in RF. 

The Cubs added some insurance, putting-up a five-spot in the 8th against Padres RHRP Dale Thayer.

Jorge Soler slugged a one-out solo HR to the top of the berm in left, and then Dave Sappelt lined a single into left-center and Logan Watkins walked. J. C. Boscan roped an opposite-field line-drive RBI single to RF to score Sappelt, and Steve Clavenger lifted a sacrifice fly to left to plate Watkins. Christian Villanueva then completed the Cubs scoring with a two-run HR over the left-centerfield fence, his team-leading third HR of the Spring.

Carlos Marmol and Michael Bowden followed Feldman and Wood to the mound, each throwing one inning. Marmol had an easy 1-2-3 8th (F-8, 4-3, 6-3), but Bowden allowed a run on two hits in the 9th (one a bloop double that fell between Sappelt, Villanueva, and Edwin Maysonet near the foul line in short left, and the other a line-drive RBI single that glanced off the glove of second-baseman Logan Watkins).

 

Comments

Today is the first day that Draft-Excluded players can be sent to the minors (a Draft-Excluded player is any player on a minor league reserve list eligible for selection in the 2012 Rule 5 Draft whose contract was selected & who was added to an MLB 40-man roster between last August 15th and the December 2012 Rule 5 Draft), and it's also the first day that a Rule 5 player can be sent to the minors (or reclaimed by the organization from which the player was drafted), so look for lots & lots of transaction activity around MLB today.   

BTW, the Cubs Draft-Excluded players are Chris Rusin, Trey McNutt, Christian Villanueva, Logan Watkins, and Rob Whitenack, which is why McNutt, Villanueva, Watkins, and Whitenack have lasted in Big League Camp this long. (Rusin has pitched very well so far, so he could be one of the last cuts).  

Then next Friday is the last day that an injured player who did not accrue any MLB Service Time in 2012 can be sent to the minors, so Junior Lake (sore shoulder) has to be optioned by that date or else the Cubs would be stuck having to place him on their MLB DL (and pay him at the MLB rate) if he is not ready to play by MLB Opening Day.

Next Friday is also the deadline to release a player who is signed to a non-guaranteed contract and pay the player 1/6 of his 2013 salary as termination pay. (If a player signed to a non-guarateed contract is released 15 or fewer days prior to Opening Day, he gets 1/4 of his salary as termination pay). This would apply to Ian Stewart, who is signed to a $2M non-guaranteed contract. However. if an injured player is released he must be paid 100% of his salary, so the Cubs would have to wait until Stewart is cleared to play in a game (and probably not until he actually does play in a game) before they can release him (presuming they are inclined to do so). Which is why Stewart would be smart to string the injury out as long as possible, if he thinks he might be a release candidate.   

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Alberto Cabrera was at Minor League Camp today, but the other five had not yet arrived.

Several pitchers threw "live" BP at Minor League Camp today, including Jose Arias, Paul Blackburn, Esmailin Caridad, Lendy Castillo, Corbin Hoffner, Pierce Johnson, Su-Min Jung, Austin Kirk, Ryan McNeil, A. J. Morris, Loiger Padron, Jasvir Rakkar, and Austin Urban.

Urban threw the ball very well, and this was actually the first time I've ever seen him throw to hitters. He's been on the DL for his entire Cub career prior to this season with a back injury (he was drafted out of an Iowa JC in 2011 and got an "overslot" bonus to sign), and has yet to pitch in a game of any kind.  

And Dillon Maples is hurt again. It's either his elbow or his shoulder.

For all you Daury Torrez fans out there (and I know you are there), he has arrived, he is in uniform, and he has been assigned to the Daytona Squad (at least temporarily). Some of you may be aware that Torrez was the only Cub prospect rated in the Baseball America Top 20 DSL/VSL prospects list last month.

BTW, Torrez, RHP Erick Leal (acquired from AZ in the Tony Campana deal), and catcher Erick Castillo are the only DSL players in camp (so far) who have not previously been in the U. S. 

Venezuelan 3B (ex-C) Mark Malave is also in camp, but he was at Instructs post-2011 and at Extended Spring Training last year. (Malave is notewoirthy because he received a $1.6M signing bonus from the Cubs as a 16-year old in 2011).

And FWIW, Dan Vogelbach is assigned to the Kane County squad, and has been taking grounders at 3rd base.

smell the desperation...


Yanks reaching out to Chipper Jones' agent and have asked about Derrek Lee.


Garza passed some tests, may start throwing on Wednesday and hoping to get at least one Cactus League start in...

"Indians purchased the contract of LHP Rich Hill from Triple-A Columbus." minor league contract hurdle passed...back in the bigs. scoreless 5.2ip with 8Ks so far this spring.

"Ian Stewart (quad) is scheduled to make his Cactus League debut on Thursday."

josh booty (ARZ) in a b-game vs live batters for the 1st time yesterday. 1ip 1h 2bb 0k...1wp 1pb...faced 6 batters, 2er (50/50 knuckle/fastball)

Jim D. steps into the booth for the 1st time as a cub...5 seconds later ninja gives up a homer to start the 5th. welcome to the cubs.

Monday was a big day for Mark Grace. It's been one month since the former Cubs and D-backs first baseman began serving a four-month jail term after being charged with four counts of aggravated DUI last August. He didn't exactly celebrate the milestone. Grace was busy throwing batting practice to some D-backs Minor Leaguers, which is part of his new gig. He is picked up by a driver at 6 a.m. every day and has to return by 6 p.m. each night, which he spends at Tent City. A four-time Gold Glove first baseman, who starred for the Cubs from 1988-2000, Grace will be a hitting coach for the D-backs' Arizona Rookie League team this summer. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130311&content_id=42…

Italia goes up 4-0 in first over D.R. on a 3-run HR by some dude named Colabello. Rizzo walked and scored a run.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

i'm about sick of it...this is the last season i want to deal with it. that said, there's not a lot on the expected FA market next season...plus, there's a chance that some of the more attractive options could be re-signed before this season ends. signing...trading...whatever...i want to see a product worth watching next year...and the discussion not focusing on "i wonder what we'll get in trade after spring training and midseason with the current signings." almost every signing this year was followed by "he should be useful in june/july for trade bait."

[ ]

In reply to by tim815

that's a bit extreme. we got kids in the 2014/2015 pipeline...we got a major market team. this isn't KC/TB/etc. nothing says that if you spend money you're automatically going to suffer on the farm. hell, look at the kids traded away during the hendry era...the cubs didn't lose many gems in order to take on helpful players or bloated trash. nothing (except a no-trade or a 10/5) says if you get a bunch of bloated payroll players you can't get rid of them (BOS and MIA recently). it's not either/or...you can have both. the team isn't competing this season and they signed e.jackson + fuji in preparation for something in the near future.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I'm with you, Crunch. I completely understand that rebuilding is necessary and often painful, but this team should be spending a helluva lot more than they are. There's no reason they can't put together a competitive team while developing talent. This is probably my last summer living within earshot of Wrigley Field, and it fucking sucks that it's going to be another complete waste. I've lived in Wrigleyville for the past 10 years and was really hoping for one more good run before I have to move to the burbs. I know many have been waiting much, much longer, but it still blows that my last years in the city have been marred by unwatchable teams with sky-high ticket prices.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

I just moved to Naperville after a decade in wrigleyville. I'll be driving in this year, the train takes too long. Also, if anyone wants tickets, let me know. They are often available for dirt cheap. It took me three years to finally get seats where I can see the whole scoreboard.

[ ]

In reply to by Doug Dascenzo

I know we keep repeating ourselves here on both sides of this argument, but it's not as simple as spending money and competing. Obviously you need to not commit to bad contracts which run a couple years longer than optimal, a lot of teams will do this to get prime talent for a title run. When rebuilding that is suicide. Also you can't sign anyone who costs you a draft pick. Some prime talent will not come to your org because they know you are not gonna compete at an elite level for a couple years. Also it IS possible that winning 79 games or 83 games is counterproductive especially if it costs a lot of money just to be competitive. It seems clear that they are upgrading tons of aspects of the structural integrity of the whole Cubs organization, stockpiling some amazing talent in lower minors, already in many people's eyes have a top 10 farm system... Etc. I just think it is not as easy as saying 'they should be doing this and that.'

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

It's important to home-grow talent, I get that. When you're picking up mid-pile free agents, you're just getting a guy some other team didn't feel like re-signing. And the top talent, if you feel like trying to outbid the Yanks, will cost you oodles and will probably not pay off in the long run.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

i understand them walking away from a.sanchez, but i was thrilled to see they were in the hunt for him. i'm a little disappointed that it seems m.garza wants to test the FA market vs getting locked up in a $13-15m a year multi-year deal. given what a.sanchez got, garza should get $15m+ if he's the pitcher he has been for the past many years.

Rizzo 0/3 with a a BB, K and run through 7.2 IP, just popped up off Casilla to leadoff 8th inning and Italia down one.

Has anyone used unblock or unotelly with MLB.TV? I'm interested to know if it works or not and if you are happy with the service. I'm not located in Canada, so I'm not sure if that matters in regards to unotelly. And there's always the risk that MLB breaks it somehow mid-season, so I would want to go with the month-to-month subscription.

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Indeed they do TJW!

    For the record I’m not in favor of solely building a team through paying big to free agents. But I’m also of the mind that when you develop really good players, get them signed to extensions that buy out a couple years of free agency, including with team options. And supplement the home grown players with free agent splashes or using excess prospects to trade for stars under team control for a few years. Sort of what Atlanta does, basically. Everyone talks about the dodgers but I feel that Atlanta is the peak organization at the current moment.

    That said, the constant roster churn is very Rays- ish. What they do is incredible, but it’s extremely hard to do which is why they’re the only ones frequently successful that employ that strategy. I definitely do not want to see a large market team like ours follow that model closely. But I don’t think free agent frenzies is always the answer. It’s really only the Dodgers that play in that realm. I could see an argument for the Mets too. The Yankees don’t really operate like that anymore since the elder Steinbrenner passed. Though I would say the reigning champions built a good deal of that team through free agent spending.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    The issue is the Cubs are 11-7 and have been on the road for 12 of those 18.  We should be at least 13-5, maybe 14-4. Jed isn't feeling any pressure to play anyone he doesn't see fit.
    But Canario on the bench, Morel not at 3B for Madrigal and Wisdom in RF wasn't what I thought would happen in this series.
    I was hoping for Morel at 3B, Canario in RF, Wisdom at DH and Madrigal as a pinch hitter or late replacement.
    Maybe Madrigal starts 1 game against the three LHSP for Miami.
    I'm thinking Canario goes back to Iowa on Sunday night for Mastrobuoni after the Miami LHers are gone.
    Canario needs ABs in Iowa and not bench time in MLB.
    With Seiya out for a while Wisdom is safe unless his SOs are just overwhelmingly bad.

    My real issue with the lineup isn't Madrigal. I'm not a fan, but I've given up on that one.
    It's Tauchman getting a large number of ABs as the de factor DH and everyday player.
    I didn't realize that was going to be the case.
    We need a better LH DH. PCA or ONKC need to force the issue in about a month.
    But, even if they do so, Jed doesn't have to change anything if the Cubs stay a few over .500!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Totally depends on the team and the player involved. If your team’s philosophy is to pay huge dollars to bet on the future performance of past stars in order to win championships then, yes, all of the factors you mentioned are important.

    If on the other hand, if the team’s primary focus is to identify and develop future stars in an effort to win a championship, and you’re a young player looking to establish yourself as a star, that’s a fit too. Otherwise your buried within your own organization.

    Your comment about bringing up Canario for the purposes of sitting him illustrates perfectly the dangers of rewarding a non-performing, highly paid player over a hungry young prospect, like Canario, who is perpetually without a roster spot except as an insurance call up, but too good to trade. Totally disincentivizing the performance of the prospect and likely diminishing it.

    Sticking it to your prospects and providing lousy baseball to your fans, the consumers and source of revenue for your sport, solely so that the next free agent gamble finds your team to be a comfortable landing spot even if he sucks? I suppose  that makes sense to some teams but it’s definitely not the way I want to see my team run.

    Once again, DJL, our differences in philosophy emerge!

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    That’s just kinda how it works though, for every team. No team plays their best guys all the time. No team is comprising of their best 26 even removing injuries.

    When baseball became a business, like REALLY a business, it became important to keep some of the vets happy, which in turn keeps agents happy and keeps the team with a good reputation among players and agents. No one wants to play for a team that has a bad reputation in the same way no one wants to work for a company that has a bad rep.

    Don’t get me wrong, I hate it too. But there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

    On that topic, I find it silly the Cubs brought up Canario to sit as much as he has. He’s going to get Velazquez’d, and it’s a shame.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Of course, McKinstry runs circles around $25 million man Javier Baez on that Tigers team. Guess who gets more playing time?

    But I digress…

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Seems like Jed was trying to corner the market on mediocre infielders with last names starting with "M" in acquiring Madrigal, Mastroboney and Zach McKinstry.  

     

    At least he hasn't given any of them a Bote-esque extension.  

  • Childersb3 (view)

    AZ Phil:
    Rookie ball (ACL) starts on May 4th. Do yo think Ramon and Rosario (maybe Delgado) stay in Mesa for the month of May, then go to MB if all goes "solid"?
     

  • crunch (view)

    masterboney is a luxury on a team that has multiple, capable options for 2nd, SS, and 3rd without him around.  i don't hate the guy, but if madrigal is sticking around then masterboney is expendable.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    I THINK I agree with that decision. They committed to Wicks as a starter and, while he hasn’t been stellar I don’t think he’s been bad enough to undo that commitment.

    That said, Wesneski’s performance last night dictates he be the next righty up.

    Quite the dilemma. They have many good options, particularly in relief, but not many great ones. And complicating the situation is that the pitchers being paid the most are by and large performing the worst - or in Taillon’s case, at least to this point, not at all.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Wesneski and Mastrobuoni to Iowa

    Taillon and Wisdom up

    Wesneski can't pitch for a couple of days after the 4 IP from last night. But Jed picked Wicks over Wesneski.