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

Professor Pentland and the Homer's Odyssey

Jeff Pentland played with Reggie Jackson and has tutored Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Carlos Beltran and Matt Kemp, to name-drop just a few. He has advanced degrees in biomechanics. His playing days were on both sides of the chessboard; pitcher and hitter. What he doesn't know about the art/science of hitting may not be worth knowing.

No wonder the Dodgers fired him as their hitting coach last year.

It's not like there wasn't a precedent. But gurus like Pentland are never out of work any longer than they care to be. This year he signed on with the Seattle Mariners (again) as the hitting coach for their Triple A affiliate, Tacoma of the Pacific Çoast League. The Rainiers hit only .235 in April but this month they're banging away at a better than .300 clip and carrying a 13-game homer streak as Pentland settles in. He stepped away from the batting cage while the Rainiers are in Des Moines taking on the Iowa Cubs and talked with TCR.Pentland said he's still occasionally in touch with Bonds but has no contact with Sosa. In fact, he parlayed his history with Bonds, dating to Arizona State where he coached while Bonds played, into a breakthrough with Kemp when Pentland was trying to establish a rapport after joining the Dodgers.

"I just mentioned something I'd once worked on with Barry," Pentland said. "Matt's eyes lit up. He said, 'You worked with him?' I had instant credibility." With Kemp maybe, but not enough with the Dodgers when the brass went looking for a scapegoat despite the breakout success of the latest Pentland protege.

Ask Pentland if any of his former star pupils got carried away with experiments in home remedies for slumps like brainiacs who cheat on exams without needing to and he gets circumspect. Inasmuch as he didn't blow any whistles when investigators interviewed him for a couple of hours during the compilation of the Mitchell Report it's no surprise that Pentland didn't confide anything while he sat and spat there in the confessional of the visitors' dugout at Sec Taylor Field. Whatever personal suspicions he may harbor are kept to himself.

"I didn't make judgments one way or another," he said when asked specifically about Sosa's power surge. "He was a grown man and I treated him that way." Read into that what you will.

Pentland joined the Cubs midseason in 1997. Over the following winter he had a heart-to-heart with Sosa, convincing him to swing easier to make more contact. The following summer Sosa and McGwire mugged Ruth and Maris in what's since become a dark alley of the record book.

"Sammy had very big, very strong hands," Pentland recalled. "He liked to use a bat that was thicker-handled than sluggers usually use." And lighter-barreled?

Pentland was gone from Chicago by the time Sosa's infamous corked bat incident occurred but he seems sympathetic about it, recalling that equipment used to come at Sosa in bunches during his seasons in the sixties.

"I used to check out his bats because he got 'em all the time from manufacturers and I never found one that was altered. You can tell a corked bat just by the sound the ball makes coming off of it," Pentland said, adding that if he'd found a suspicious weapon in Sosa's arsenal he would have pointed it out to him.

He brought up the juiced balls conspiracy theory during the discussion of enhanced performance.

"I remember George Brett at that time saying how the balls bounced twice as high as they used to," he said.

Pentland's been in the game for decades now. He says the same approach doesn't work for everybody and believes players are generally more sensitive than formerly due to the increased pressures that come along with increased paychecks. Besides PEDs and turbocharged gear, Pentland notes the modern player has tools at his disposal that are completely legit and equally accessible to pitchers and hitter alike.

"All of the videotape and the computerized spray charts and tendency data are so sophisticated now," he said. "You really have to take advantage of that stuff. I tell the guys here about guys I know in the big leagues that got there and stayed for 10-12 years, more by working hard than raw talent."

He may look and sound like just an ol' country batting coach spouting his accumulated wisdom like tobacco juice but it's more complicated than that. He's a biomechanic who tinkers under the hoods of living, breathing machines. Just picture him talking applied physics to Sammy Sosa and try to imagine how many bombs Einstein might have hit with a database, juiced balls, weight training and a good video tech backing him up.

Baseball might have been very, very good to him, too! 

Comments

I seem to remember Sosa hitting a lot more singles past the second basemen when Pentland was around. Hitting a bit more to all fields. I've given up on Rudy. This team would get out hit by the EXST team.

Nice write-up Mike, I'll take in my first Iowa Cubs action of the season. When they stroll into Memphis for a weekend series. What is Gerald Perry up to these days? I liked the offense when he was the Hitting Coach in Chicago. And he has shown OBP improvement at every stop he has made.

"Armando Benitez has agreed to a contract with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League." wow, he still exists. he's 39, btw...i would have guessed older.

RE: the twitter in the twitter box:
TomLoxas profile TomLoxas Speaking of #Cubs rebuilding have always agreed with @dan_bernstein when he says watching your team get good is the most fun in sports.
That may be true. Watching it get bad, however, is the least fun.

The early returns on Vogelbach are anything but positive. Does anyone have any insight into what is going on? Seems like he should be stuck at Fitch until he shows SOMETHING.

CCO is also reporting AZ Phil's numbers from EXST. Unfortunately they need to be paddled because he's not getting credit for "unofficial numbers". http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2012/05/cubsminors52412.php#more
Javier Baez (IF) - Extended Spring Training: Unofficial numbers - .329, five doubles, three triples, eight home runs, 26 RBI, 10 stolen bases Jeimer Candelario (3B) - Extended Spring Training: Unofficial numbers - .315, eight doubles, three triples, home run, 14 RBI, two stolen bases Dan Vogelbach (1B) - Extended Spring Training: Unofficial numbers - .183, three doubles, triple, two home runs, eight RBI

good news, Castro in his rightful #2 spot bad news, Joe Mather batting 3rd. DeJesus9/Starlin6/Mather8/LaHair3/Soriano7/Stewart5/Barney4/Hill2/Demp1 vs. Burnett not that it makes a heap of any real difference

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Carrie Muskat‏@CarrieMuskat ‪#Cubs‬ Ian Stewart sidelined because of soreness in left wrist. Nothing new, just same discomfort he's dealt with all season

Baseball America chat: Itto (Aguadilla, PR): Is it time to start worrying about Brett Jackson SO rate and recent slump? Ben Badler: The strikeouts are a concern, but we've always known that's just part of who he's going to be. The swing and miss is going to keep his AVG down, but he does take his walks, he hits for power, he has speed and can be a quality defender in center field, so I think we're talking more about small adjustments than any radical overhauls that need to be made here. Navin (Pasadena, CA): What are your thoughts on the slow start in Peoria for SS Marco Hernandez? Ben Badler: Concerning. It's not time to panic, but I'm very surprised he's struggled so badly at the plate. Itto (Aguadilla, PR): What kind of numbers Anthony Rizzo is capable to have once he reach the majors? Ben Badler: A .290/.360/.480 type guy with good defense in his prime years is certainly possible. I'd chop some off those numbers at first though as he adjusts to major league pitching. http://www.baseballamerica.com/chat/?1337964862

Signed: C Brian Esposito (released by Reds), SS Diory Hernandez (released by Astros) Released: RHP Charles Thomas, 1B Ryan Durrence Acquired: LHP Hunter Cervenka from Red Sox as player to be named for OF Marlon Byrd Acquired: C Koyie Hill from Reds for cash considerations Recalled: RHP Randy Wells, LHP Scott Maine, LHP Travis Wood Added to 40-man roster: RHP Blake Parker, C Koyie Hill, C Blake Lalli Removed from 40-man: 2B Blake Dewitt (outrighted to Triple-A) Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Chris Volstad, LHP Scott Maine Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Zach Cates, RHP Casey Weathers, LHP Jeff Beliveau, C Chad Noble Reinstated from DL: RHP Starling Peralta, LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith, C Micah Gibbs http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/2012/05/minor-league-tran…

via cm's twitter, via rotowurld: "Steve Clevenger (oblique) is slated to play nine innings with Triple-A Iowa on Monday and Wednesday before being reevaluated." ...also, marmol is slated to throw today/tomorrow for AAA, evaluated, then back to the bigs if it's all good. ...and in garza-trade news, bad news for a good dude "Rays manager Joe Maddon said Friday that Brandon Guyer needs surgery on his left shoulder."

Miguel Montero 5/60. Yikes. Also, why wasn't Koyieieieieieieie sac bunting in his first ab after Barney stole second? He ended up grounding out to the right side, but shit, if you have an opportunity to take the bat out of his hands you fucking do it, dammit!

Rod Lopez taken out with some sort of injury after starting and throwing one pitch. Jay Jax takes over. No Rizzo in the lineup tonight. Clevenger is batting 3rd and catching. Lined out to SS in his first at bat (and Sappelt gets doubled off of 2nd).

The I-Cubs actually won last night, 2-1 over the Memphis Redbirds. Sac fly by BJax in the 7th scoring Clevenger who started the inning with a double and a top of the 9th HR by Valbuena. Maine gets out of a bases loaded jam on the bottom of the 9th. Marmol had a scoreless 7th (BB, single) RLopez came out in the 1st after one pitch with a tight groin and is so far day to day per a Muskat tweet. Jay Jax had his best outing pitching 5 innings of one run ball. Rizzo didnt start, pinch hit in the 8th and grounded out.

I hate the phrase, "rebuilding year" ------- More of a deconstructing year? --More hits than runs --Good starting pitching without wins
At heart, any deconstructed dish (ball club) should contain all the classic components found in the “original.” The difference is in the preparation. When creating a dish (ball club) utilizing deconstructive techniques, the ingredients are essentially prepared and treated on their own. It is during the plating and presentation stages that everything is brought together.
Problem is we're not at the plating stage. You can choose what seems more appealing... For example, just make sure you add enough vodka: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jt3_11/2506733701/

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).