Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full) 

42 players are at MLB Spring Training 

31 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE at MLB Spring Training, and nine players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors. 
11 players are MLB Spring Training NON-ROSTER INVITEES (NRI) 

Last updated 3-17-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 17
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
Daniel Palencia
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

NRI PITCHERS: 5 
Colten Brewer 
Carl Edwards Jr 
* Edwin Escobar 
* Richard Lovelady 
* Thomas Pannone 

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

NRI CATCHERS: 2  
Jorge Alfaro 
Joe Hudson 

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

NRI INFIELDERS: 3 
David Bote 
Garrett Cooper
* Dominic Smith

OUTFIELDERS: 5
* Cody Bellinger 
Alexander Canario
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

NRI OUTFIELDERS: 1 
* David Peralta

OPTIONED:
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Ben Brown, RHP 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, RHP 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Keegan Thompson, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

 



Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

When They Pull Out a Knife, The Cubs Pull Out Jeff Baker

The Cubs countered the Cardinals acquisition of Mark DeRosa with one of their own, acquiring 2B/3B Jeff Baker from the Colorado Rockies. It's like countering a handgun with a slingshot. Seemingly running out of players to put on the disabled list, Baker is already on it with a left hand sprain suffered back in April, so he should fit right in with the Cubs. He did start a rehab assignment in mid-June, so I presume he's ready to play again and the Rockies were just out of roster space.

The player the Cubs are sending back is unknown at the moment, most likely a player to be named later.

UPDATE: The Cubs send Hi-A Daytona pitcher, Alberto Albequerque to the Rockies. I can't tell you anything about him other than he was having a nice season for the Cubs and he had shoulder surgery back in April of 2008.

UPDATE #2: The Cubs will DFA Ryan Freel to make room on the roster. They have 10 days to try and trade him for a spare minor league part, but chances are he'll just get released.

Comments

where Baker fits in... He doesn't take Miles or Blanco's spot since he can't backup shortstop. That means taking Ryan Freel or Jake Fox's spot, which doesn't seem like someone we needed to replace. Unless he has options left, but then I would presume the Rockies wouldn't have traded him.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Well he plays the exact same positions as DeRosa and bats right handed, so all the people clamoring for DeRosa's return should be able to explain where he fits. Sam Fuld is also on the roster. Fuld and Baker would seem to make Freel redundant, or maybe the Cubs have another trade in mind with Fox being the centerpiece. Maybe they want to make him a straight platoon partner with the Fontenaught. BP has him as an average 3B a hair below average at 2B and a pretty poor outfielder. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/dt/bakerje03.php

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

I should add that it wouldn't surprise me to see Fonte-not get optioned at some point here....

I assume Fuld is just holding Reed's spot and either Fox or Freel gets sent away with Aramis coming back Monday. I guess the other one gets sent awy with Baker. 

~shrug~

Jimmy Rollins, guy who challenged for the longest hitting streak record a few years ago is 0-for in his last 27! at bats. That's 0-27, folks. No hits in his last 7 games, also sat for four games. Hasn't had a big league HIT for nearly half a month. He dropped his OPS down to .569. It's puzzling because he's such a good contact hitter; He destroyed the WBC (24 AB, 417/500/750). FYI... Aaron Miles: .500 OPS, 123 AB

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

We talked about him a bit a few days ago. Though I didn't examine that 0-27 streak, it doesn't seem like he's striking out a lot. According to fangraphs he's traded about 5% of his hit balls from line drives to fly balls, and his fly balls aren't leaving the park. Bad luck and not squaring up on the ball quite as well as he did in his 'MVP' season. He's a great buy low candidate for the Cubs, though the Phillies fans would probably burn the town down.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

I'd love to get him. It would improve us defensively at short and give us a 'reason' to get Soriano the hell out of the leadoff spot. We would need to give up a starter and Theriot, and I just don't see our starters being a good fit, unless they really like Zambrano. For Zambrano and Theriot I guess they'd have to add someone. Lilly would be the best fit for us to trade, but I doubt they would want to bring his flyballs into that ballpark. *edit: BP indicates that Rollins is losing it as a shortstop. I didn't notice last year, and don't know if I've even watched a Phillies game this year.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

That would be great. He's having a rough year, but he's NOT a 200 hitter. We all know that. The only problem I'd have with it is in the short term, this year, we already have so many guys under-performing, do you risk adding another under-performer? Plus the Cubs have relatively few trading chips (as in guys who are a good value for the money on their contract).

He played last night! 0/3 FWIW, I like Jeff Baker...except for the "but he's injured" part. He hits the ball hard when he hits it.

i kind of remember Baker was a decent pinch hitter but couldn't find his split stats as a PH on the baseball reference site. one thing I did notice though was his stats for Wrigley Field: .500 .556 1.000 1.556 (9 at bats, hohoho...) I do agree that Fontenot's roster spot is the most likely he will replace as Hendry addresses the importance of getting more right handed. and I wonder what it will take to take have one of the disabled folks push Andy Blanco off the roster...since he's the only true SS on the team.

I keep a list of Cub pitching prospects ranked according to K/9 minus H/9. Basically it's a list of guys with more Ks than hits allowed--the unhittables. Marmol is a good example: he gives up BBs, not hits. Anyway, Albuquerque has been moving up the list all season, and is in 6th place today. 34.2 innings, 26 hits, 14 walks, 44 strikeouts, 3.14 K/BB, 1.17 WHIP, 11.58 K/9, 6.84 H/9. So he's not the guy I would have traded.

Considering what we gave up, trading for Baker is a fine gamble. If he fails, all you really lost was a decent minor league pen arm, not the end of the world. I don't really like Baker all that much, but whatever. I imagine he'll get the shot at 2nd base. Seems like it's going to be another quiet international signing period for us, in regards to the big time talent.

[ ]

In reply to by toonsterwu

Interesting how the Cubs decided to focus revenue to Australiasia yet rarely if ever goes for top Latin American players. The Real Neal mocked me for stating we should try to sign all of our draft picks (and therefore draft more players in late rounds that fall for signability reasons) to try and further develop our farm system. Personally I think a realistic effort, overpaying for some (though not to an unreasonable level). Two examples from this draft are Erickson and Addison Dunn. Both are players that appear to have major league potential, both are unlikely to sign. I feel the same about international signings. The Real Neal scoffs at spending significant money on high school sophomores. And from past history and looking at the players individually, it is unlikely a particular player will make the majors, much less be a star. But if you scout well and sign many of them, you can potentially find Vladimir Guerrero and Alfonso Soriano. And the Cubs sign all their draft picks and some of them (like Lincecum, Laporta, Greene, etc.). I think my ideas could have cost $80-$100 million over the last 10 years. But it would have saved some of that money by removing some of our free agent signings (not sure Marquis ever signed, Dempster not resigned, etc.). I am sure this idea will be mocked. And probably 9 out of 10 times (if not more) the signings will not make major impact on the Cubs. But a few successes and the Cubs could have more stars on their team from the farm. And for a team that depends so heavily on free agents for its stars(our whole starting OF, for example), rebuilding our system to where it was earlier this decade (or better) would be great. And money needs to be spent to do it.

[ ]

In reply to by springs

Sorry if I came off as mocking. It's just that, look at the low percentages of guys who are first round picks who become stars. If you drop an average of $2 million on say, 10 'overdraft' kids and latin kids every year, that's $20 million a year. How do you get to $80 to $100 million over $10 years? Note, the Cubs are already spending probably $5 million a year on these kids bonuses, and some years (Prior, Smardizija, Vitters) more. You're just not being realistic. You're assuming that way too high a percentage of these guys are even going to become Jason Marquis (who was a 35th overall pick).

with whose spot Baker is taking...

If it's been mentioned, I apologize. But I hadn't realized that Casey's newborn passed away until reading this article. Best wishes to his family for the tragic circumstances they are going through. http://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/story/806469.html. He's back with Boise now.

So Freel is the fall guy. A week ago that would have made more sense as he looked lost, but getting to play a couple of days in a row he looked like he was just beginning to become the Ryan Freel Sparkplug we used to see in Cincy. Interesting.

[ ]

In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

Paul - in case you didn't get it, I wasn't really calling you a moron; I was trying to find a place to add in this link, which I think is hilarious. I always love it when people call other people "morans", because it is irony (and white trashiness) at its finest!

[ ]

In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

I got it. I think that picture was up at Desipio for a long time, or was it here? I haven't seen it in about a year.

[ ]

In reply to by Chad

Apologies for being a moran, friends... I've only been frequenting this site for 6 months now, so I have no knowledge of what has been posted before that (and no desire to look back and find out). Sorry for my ignorance - where does the 3/44 come from? By now, I realize it means "old news", but how did it come about?

[ ]

In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

It's Jason Schmidt's contract with the Dodgers. A lot of TCRers broke the news those first two days, and then again the day after that.

[ ]

In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

Jason Schmidt's contract with the Dodgers. News of it was broken over and over again.

[ ]

In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

I was merely giving you a mild ribbing. I know you are newish. 3/44 comes from the day that the news broke that the Cubs had offered free agent (at the time) Jason Schmidt a 3 year 44 million dollar contact. People posted it about a 100 times. And actually, I was the one who coined the term. Oh yeah, long time ishers, it was me.

[ ]

In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

there was a rumor that the Cubs offered Jason Schmidt a contract for three years/$44 million and everyone kept repeating  the news and links for the next day or two and then it became a TCR meme...3/44 for repeating ourselves.

It was replaced briefly by Scott Eyre is broke, but that doesn't quite ring like 3/44.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Thanks, guys and Chad, for the explanation. I was actually scared that it was some sort of gay leet-speak, or crap like that...

[ ]

In reply to by Ahone Ahtwo Ahthree

Well, it is true that you're now gay. Someone upthread should have mentioned that.

[ ]

In reply to by O.Julius

Dang it all, now I need to start waxing my bum and give the old lady the heave ho...

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 8:53am.
where Baker fits in...

He doesn't take Miles or Blanco's spot since he can't backup shortstop. That means taking Ryan Freel or Jake Fox's spot, which doesn't seem like someone we needed to replace.

Unless he has options left, but then I would presume the Rockies wouldn't have traded him.

==================================

ROB G: Jeff Baker is out of minor league options, and has been since 2007. He signed a Major League contract and was added to the Rockies 40-man roster straight out of Clemson post-2002 (he was a teammate of Khalil Greene at Clemson), and he was optioned to the minors in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 (he got four minor league options under the so-called "Todd Van Poppel Rule").

Baker can refuse an Outright Assignment and opt for free-agency beginning on 8/15 when he reaches three years of MLB ST, but if he were to get outrighted prior to that date he could not refuse the Outright Assignment  

Also, Baker will be eligible for salary arbitration for the first time in his career post-2009, unless he gets non-tendered on 12/12/09 (or gets outrighted prior to 8/15/09).

TCR 2009 Cubs Payroll, 40-man Roster, and Depth Chart have been updated.

As for Alberto Alburquerque, he has had arm problems (elbow and shoulder) for much of his carerer, but he's finlly healthy this season and was throwing in the mid-90's at Daytona.

I would compare him to Marcos Mateo (but Alburquerque has a better fastball), and as of right now, I would have rated Alburquerque as one of the Top 5 minor leaguers most-likely to get added to the Cubs 40-man roster post-2009 (along with Welington Castillo, Steve Clevenger, Tyler Colvin, and John Gaub).

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    SF snags b.snell...2/62m

  • Cubster (view)

    AZ Phil: THAT is an awesome report worth multiple thanks. I’m sure it will be worth reposting in an “I told you so” in about 2-3 years.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The actual deadline to select a post-2023 Article XX-B MLB free agent signed to 2024 minor league contract (Cooper, Edwards, and Peralta) to the MLB 40-man roster is not MLB Opening Day, it is 12 PM (Eastern) this coming Sunday (3/24). 

    However, the Cubs could notify the player prior to the deadline that the player is not going to get added to the 40 on Sunday, which would allow the player to opt out early. Otherwise the player can opt out anytime after the Sunday deadline (if he was not added to the 40 by that time). 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Today is an off day for both the Cubs MLB players and the Cubs minor league players.  

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    For those of you keeping track, so far nine players have been called up to Mesa from the Cubs Dominican Academy for Minor League Camp and they will be playing in the ACL in 2024: 

    * bats or throws left 

    Angel Cepeda, INF 
    * Miguel Cruz, P
    Yidel Diaz, C 
    * Albert Gutierrez, 1B
    Fraiman Marte, P  
    Francis Reynoso, P (ex-1B) 
    Derniche Valdez, INF 
    Edward Vargas, OF 
    Jeral Vizcaino, P 

    And once again, despite what you might read at Baseball Reference and at milb.com, Albert Gutierrez is absolutely positively a left-handed hitter (only), NOT a right-handed hitter.

    Probably not too surprisingly, D. Valdez was the Cubs #1 prospect in the DSL last season, Cepeda was the DSL Cubs best all-around SS prospect not named Derniche Valdez, Gutierrez was the DSL Cubs top power hitting prospect not named Derniche Valdez, E. Vargas was the DSL Cubs top outfield prospect (and Cepeda and E. Vargas were also the DSL Cubs top two hitting prospects), Y. Diaz was the DSL Cubs top catching prospect, and M. Cruz was the DSL Cubs top pitching prospect. 

    F. Marte (ex-STL) and J. Vizcaino (ex-MIL) are older pitchers (both are 22) who were signed by the Cubs after being released by other organizations and then had really good years working out of the bullpen for the Cubs in the DSL last season. 

    The elephant in the room is 21-year old Francis Reynoso, a big dude (6'5) who was a position player (1B) at the Cardinals Dominican Academy for a couple of years, then was released by STL in 2022, and then signed by the Cubs and converted to a RHP at the Cubs Dominican Academy (and he projects as a high-velo "high-leverage" RP in the states). He had a monster year for the DSL Cubs last season (his first year as a pitcher). 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    DJL: The only players who definitely have opt outs are Cooper, Edwards, and Peralta (Opening Day, 5/1, and 6/1), and that's because they are post-2023 Article XX-B MLB free agents who signed 2024 minor league contracts and (by rule) they get those opt outs automatically. 

    Otherwise, any player signed to a 2024 minor league contract - MIGHT or - MIGHT NOT - have an opt out in their contract, but it is an individual thing, and if there are contractual opt outs the opt out(s) might not necessarily be Opening Day. It could be 5/1, or 6/1, or 7/1 (TBD).

    Because of their extensive pro experience, the players who most-likely have contractual opt outs are Alfaro, Escobar, and D. Smith, but (again), not necessarily Opening Day. 

    Also, just because a player has the right to opt out doesn't mean he will. 

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    I love the idea that Madrigal heads to Iowa in case Morel can’t handle third.

    The one point that intrigues me here is Cooper over Smith. I feel like the Cubs really like Smith and don’t want to lose him. Could be wrong. He def seems like an opt out if he misses the opening day roster

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Childersb3: Both Madrigal and Wisdom can be optioned without any restriction. Their consent is not required. 

    They both can be outrighted without restriction, too (presuming the player is not claimed off waivers), but if outrighted they can choose to elect free agency (immediately, or deferred until after the end of the MLB season).

    If the player is outrighted and elects free-agency immediately he forfeits what remains of his salary.

    If he accepts the assignment and defers free agency until after the conclusion of the season, he continues to get his salary, and he could be added back to the 40 anytime prior to becoming a free-agent (club option). 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Phil, 
    Madrigal and Wisdom can or cannot refuse being optioned to the Minors?
    If they can refuse it, wouldn't they elect to leave the Cubs org?

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    In my opinion, the biggest "affirmative" mistake the Cubs made in the off-season (that is, doing something they should not have done), was blowing $9M in 2024 AAV on Hector Neris. What the Cubs actually need is an alternate closer to be in the pen and available to close if Alzolay pitched the day before (David Robertson would have been perfect), because with his forearm issue last September, I would be VERY wary of over-using Alzolay. I'm not even sure I would pitch him two days in a row!  

    And of course what the Cubs REALLY need is a second TOR SP to pair with Justin Steele. That's where the Cubs are going to need to be willing to package prospects (like the Padres did to acquire Dylan Cease, the Orioles did to acquire Corbin Burnes, and the Dodgers did to acquire Tyler Glasnow). Obviously those ships have sailed, but I would say right now the Cubs need to look very hard at trying to acquire LHSP Jesus Luzardo from the Marlins (and maybe LHP A. J. Puk as well).