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

Dong Dinger Slams Door on Angel Comeback Bid

Dong-Yub Kim blasted a grand slam to cap at five-run 8th, as the Cubs outlasted the Angels 11-8 in Cactus League Extended Spring Training action this morning at Fitch Park Field #3 in Mesa, AZ  

DY Kim was one of seven highly-regarded Korean teenagers signed by the Cubs during the years 2007-10 (RHP Dae-Eun Rhee, OF Jae-Hoon Ha, SS Hak-Ju Lee, OF Kyung-Min Na, RHP Su-Min Jung, and RHP Jin-Young Kim were the others), receiving a $550K bonus as an 18-year old in February 2009. (The Cubs spent a total of $4M+ worth of signing bonuses on the Korean prospects).

Kim made his U. S. debut at AZ Instructs post-2009 as a raw, multi-tool outfielder, showing plus-speed, HR power, and a RF cannon-arm. He reminded me of a young, teenaged, Korean Jose Canseco. However, he sustained a torn labrum in his right shoulder at Instructs, causing him to miss the 2010 season, before finally returning to full active status in 2011.

Because of his shoulder injury, he no longer has a RF arm, and so he has been relegated to playing LF and occasionally 1st base. Although he has improved some defensively over the past couple of years, he still struggles to track high fly balls and hard-hit liners, and his outfield defense can best be described as below-average.

While his arm is not what it was when he signed, he still has plus-speed and is a good base stealer, and he will occasionally show-off his BP HR power (as he did today), although he does not hit as many home runs in games as he probably should because he is not a good hitter (he struggles to hit breaking balls, he strikes out a ton, and he rarely walks).

Cub fans will sometimes talk about this prospect or that prospect being at the crossroads and that this is a make-or-break year, but for Dong-Yub Kim, it probably is.

Here is the abridged box score from the game (Cubs players only):

CUBS LINEUP:
1. Danny Lockhart, 2B: 1-4 (K, 1B, 1-3, 4-3, R)
2. Carlos Penalver, SS: 1-4 (K, 1B, 6-3, 4-3, R)
3a. Jeimer Candelario, 3B: 1-3 (4-3, E-5, 1B, RBI)
3b. Mark Malave, 3B: 1-1 (1B, R)
4. Dan Vogelbach, 1B: 1-4 (2B, 3-6-3 DP, K, K, R)
5a. Gioskar Amaya, DH #1: 1-2 (F-9, 2B, BB, R)
5b. Wilfredo Petit, C: 0-0 (BB, R)
6. Trey Martin, CF-DH: 1-3 (P-4, L-4, 1B, F-9 SF, RBI)
7. Xavier Batista, RF: 1-2 (2B, BB, L-8, BB, 2 R, RBI)
8a. SLOT WAS SKIPPED FIRST TWO TIMES THRU BATTING ORDER
8b. Trevor Gretzky, DH #2: 1-2 (K, 1B, R)
9. Dong-Yub Kim, LF: 1-4 (6-3, K+WP, F-8, HR, R, 4 RBI, SB)
10. Wilson Contreras, C-DH: 1-3 (4-3, 1B, E-6, 2 RBI)
11. Garrett Schlecht, DH-CF: 0-2 (HBP, K, P-5, R)

CUBS PITCHERS:
1. Ian Dickson: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 1 K, 50 pitches (33 strikes), 5/2 GO/FO
2. Sheldon McDonald: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 GIDP, 23 pitches (19 strikes), 4/1 GO/FO
3. Pete Levitt: 2.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 1 K, 1 GIDP, 26 pitches (19 strikes), 4/0 GO/FO
4. Felix Pena: 2.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R (5 ER), 2 BB, 0 K, 39 pitches (23 strikes), 2/4 GO/FO

CUBS ERRORS: 1
SS Carlos Penalver - E-6 (errant throw on attempted force play at 2nd base allowed runner to advance to 3rd base - eventually scored unearned run)

CUBS CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Wilson Contreras: 1-1 CS, 1 PB
Wilfredo Petit: 0-1 CS

CUBS OUTFIELD ASSISTS:
RF Xavier Batista - threw out batter-runner 9-6 trying to stretch single into double

ATTENDANCE: 19

WEATHER: Sunny and a bit breezy at times with temperatures in the 80’s

Comments

Looks like another solid outing for the leftie, Sheldon McDonald. Even with all the offense in today's game a couple of innings of effective shut down offense. Interesting he pitched earlier in the game than in previous outings last week.

[ ]

In reply to by Raisin101

Tue, 04/17/2012 - 10:20pm — Raisin101 Re: Dong Dinger Slams Door on Angel Comeback Bid Hi Phil, How has Ian Dickson looked so far? ================================ RAISIN: Ian Dickson has looked very good. He looked OK at Instructs last fall, too (1.69 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, and a .211 Opp BA), except his control is better now than it was then. Dickson is a big kid (6'5 with long arms) but he doesn't throw hard. He has been throwing strikes, though, and he is good at changing eye levels with his fastball. He also has a solid change-up and a curve that he throws for strikes, and he mixes up his pitches very well. He seems to be a bright bulb. When the Cubs drafted Dickson (2011 35th round - $100K "over-slot" bonus), they were kind of taking a chance because he hadn't pitched in almost a year after suffering a torn ACL shortly after throwing a no-hitter in the Valley League (a summer collegiate wood bat league) following his sophomore year at Lafayette. I remember him strapping a big old ice bag around his knee after every outing last fall at Instructs, but I haven't seen him do that this year. He actualy might be a decent starting pitcher prospect. Nothing special or eye-popping about him to this point, but he could be effective if he can continue to throw strikes. He reminds me a bit of Randy Wells.

[ ]

In reply to by bartlettcubsfan

Tue, 04/17/2012 - 11:22pm — bartlettcubsfan hey phil, how about the other korean kid, jin young kim, doing? heard that he gained some weight... ================================== BARTLETT: Jin-Young Kim has put on some weight. (Not a good thing, BTW). For a kid who got a reported $850K bonus, he has not been impressive. He gets hit fairly hard (sometimes very hard) almost every time he pitches, and that's going back a couple of years now. I liked Taiwanese RHP Yao-Lin Wang better when they were both at EXST last year, and I haven't changed my mind. JY Kim has a long ways to go to become a legitimate MLB prospect.

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).