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

Transmission's Archives

World Series Game 7 Recap: Chicago Cubs 8, Cleveland Indians 7 (10)

YOUR WORLD CHAMPION CHICAGO CUBS

Box Score, Play Log, Game Graphs

W - Chapman (2-0), all of us.

L - Shaw (2-1)

S - Montgomery (1), my faith that sometimes things work out.

 

Things to Take from This Game:

1. Cubs get to Kluber, Miller

Fowler got things started right with a leadoff home run. Kluber consistently left the breaking stuff up in the zone, and struck out no one in four innings. A Russell sacrifice fly and Contreras double plated two more in the fourth.

2. Baez, Ross, atone for defensive miscues

Baez made a couple of errors of youth and enthusiasm, first throwing away a grounder he went to his knee for, and then missing on an attempted barehand turn of a double play. But he made up for it by chasing Kluber from the game with a solo home run at the top of the fifth. Similarly, David Ross entered the game with Jon Lester, and had a throwing error and then let a wild pitch clang off his facemask that scored two runs. He promptly homered off of Andrew Miller.

3. Hendricks solid, Lester heroic.

Hendricks was functional if not especially dominant, but got the quick hook from Maddon after he walked Santana with two outs and no on in the fifth. Lester suffered from a squibber, a wild pitch, and some rough defense from Ross to give up two runs with two outs in the fifth, but then settled down and pitched masterful relief. Maddon pulled him with two outs in the eighth and one one, bringing in Chapman. Guyer promptly doubled to bring the game to 6-4. And then....

4.Rajai F'ing Davis

With 4 outs to go and Cleveland at a 3.5% Win Expectancy, Davis golfed a home run out down the left field line, tying the game at 6.

(We somehow survived that, and then, with 1 out to go in the bottom of the 10th and a 4.5% Win Expectancy, Davis again tormented us with a lined single to center to bring Cleveland to within a run, at 8-7. However....)

5. The 10th...

After a rain delay postponed the start of the tenth, Schwarber singled, Bryant hit a sacrifice fly to advance the pinch-runner Almora, Rizzo got an IBB, and then a go-ahead RBI double by Zobrist and RBI single by Montero gave us an 8-6 lead.  Carl Edwards Jr. and Mike Montgomery nail down the save, in a nail-biter, as we hang on to win 8-7.  A 10th-inning, Game 7, World Series victory on a rally started by a guy who missed the entire season from game 3 to the start of the world series, and saved by a couple of untested young relievers. But perhaps most indicative of what this year has been all about, eight different Cubs drove in an RBI, in a true team effort. After the game is over we learn the players called a meeting during the rain delay. David Ross gets carried off the field on Rizzo's and Heyward's shoulders, after the preliminary on-field celebrations.

 

All your best-team-in-the-world details, below...

 

World Series Game 1 Recap: Cubs 0, Indians 6

Kluber and Co. Dominate.

Box Score, Play Log, Game Graphs

 

W - Kluber (1-0), called strike-three, looking.

L - Lester (0-1), dumb-sign guy, hitting with RISP, moving up tomorrow's game over weather.

 

Things to Take from This Game:

1. Schwarbird decloaking...

Yeah, take one guess who hit the only rocket off of Kluber. Schwarber struke out on a full count in his first at bat, then launched a 380 foot rocket of a double in his second AB. After a Zobrist single, Kluber got pulled with just 88 pitches for Andrew Miller. You have to wonder if Kluber would have left the game for Miller, if anyone other than Schwarber was coming up in that situation. Schwarber works a full count, and a walk, with what appeared to be a very good eye, as he was on a couple of pitches and laid off a couple other tough ones. Schwarber came up again against Miller, with a chance to tie the game, in the 8th. Again he worked a count, before K'ing.  A tough result in a key situation, but still: He's ready.

2. Kluber was terrific

I've had a chance to see some of Kluber's best games, and this was up there with anyone. When he's on, his fastball gets crazy horizontal movement, running left-to-right. And, dear god, he was on. 8 of the first 11 K, almost all of them looking.  He got pulled for Miller, who, after walking Schwarber, got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam, and that was about it.

3. Lester had 2 bad moments.

Lester ran into some wildness and some balls-in-play problem with two outs in the first. That, and a line-drive homer by the 9-hitting catcher, Perez, gaves Cleveland an early 3-0 lead that they would not rescind.

4. Roberto F. Perez.

I couldn't have named Cleveland's catching tandem this year. Whatever happened to Yan Gomes? Oh well. Roberto Perez hit three home runs all year, but two today. In addition to the liner off of Lester, he hit more of a no-doubter, 3-run job, against Rondon in the 8th to put away the game.

Game 172 (NLCS Game 6) Recap: Cubs 5, Dodgers 0

NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

 

Box Score, Play Log, Game Graphs

W - Hendricks (1-1), patient Cubs fans.

L - Kershaw (1-1), insufferable talk of curses.

 

Things to Take from This Game

 

1. Kyle Hendricks, Cy Young Worthy.

We saw Peak Kyle tonight, with masterful, easy dominance working an 89-90 fastball all over and keeping the changeup darting. He was backed up by our usual, superior defense, save one harmless error from Baez, who more than made up for it on other plays, including the game-ending double-play turn.

2. Leadoff XBH and two-strike RBI.

The Cubs led off the first and second with doubles, and the fourth with a home run. They drove in several runs on two-strike pitches from Kershaw.  This was a dominating offensive performance against Kershaw, being able both to jump on him early in the count, and also to work counts.  Kershaw struggled to put anyone away.

3. Vintage Cubs.

Tonight, the Cubs were the superior defensive team, with the superior starting pitching, a relentless offense and a valuable home-field advantage. It was a game worthy of the time capsule for representing what we've been about this magical year.

Game 146 Recap: Cubs 4 Brewers 5

Not Tonight

Box Score, Play Log, Game Graphs

W - Nelson (8-14), Clubhouse attendants who don't want to clean up after champagne parties

L - Grimm (1-1 ), Dummies who stay up late when they should be preparing to teach tomorrow.

S - Thornburg (10)

Things to Take from This Game

 1. Montgomery looks good.

Mike Montgomery pitched a fine 6 innings with just 1 earned run, two more coming in unearned, walking one and striking out seven.  For a sixth starter in September it was an encouraging audition for the post-season, or 2017. He even knocked in a run with a single back up the middle, for his first career hit.

 2.  Russell with some yips.

Hopefully it's just a one-off thing, but Russell sailed throws high, wide-right, and wide-left tonight, for two errors. One of them resulted in two runs. Stay tuned.

3.  Soler hit a ball very hard.

Soler's laser-beam 2-run HR and a couple of Heyward doubles down each line were the offensive highlights of the night.

 

The deflating details, below

Game 43 Recap: Cubs 3, Cardinals 4

A(nother) tough loss.

Box Score, Play Log, Game Graphs

W - Rosenthal (2-1), late-inning drama, Cubbery, Cardinals pinch-hitting

L - Warren (3-1), wasting great starts, confidence

Things to Take from This Game

1. Lackey makes it look easy, until...

 Lackey worked briskly, threw strikes, and had a good fastball and swing-and-miss slider--he K'd five consecutivey, early in the game. This was the sort of bulldog or workhorse mentality, take your pick, that we were promised with his off-season signing. For the first 6.3 innings it looked like RBI singles by Montero and Rizzo, and an RBI fielder's choice by Russell would hold up. Lackey finished with 4 hits and 1 walk allowed, and 9 strikeouts.

2. ... Adams continues Cards pinch-hit heroics

Take a look at the game graph, which nicely illustrates the late-inning drama. See that jagged move upward? Adams's pinch-hit game-tying home run moved the Cards' Win Expectency from 15.8% to 52%. It was really quite stunning, in the context of how effortlessly Lackey had been cruising along.

3. Grichuk saddles Warren with the loss.

Continuing the theme set by Lackey, Warren looked dominant for his first five batters, only to jar us out of whatever remaining sense of confidence we might have had. He rolled a slider, and the badly slumping Grichuk hit out to right for the game-winning home run.

Game 40 Recap: Cubs 8, Giants 1

Oh, dear god.

Box Score, Play Log, Game Graphs

W - Arrieta (8-0), Outfield Walls (Countless-1), rebuilding our run differential, staying up late

L - Peavy (1-5), Heyward's torso (1 of 1), Balls in McCovey Cove (1 of 104), getting up early

 

Things to Take from The Game

1. Cubs lose Heyward to probably-serious injury on certainly-best catch of the year.

Jason Heyward made a Jason Heyward catch running full-speed before making a leaping, twisting, belly-flop dive. He hit hard with his right side just before his left shoulder and face smashed into the outfield wall. He appeared to be in a lot of pain and was helped off the field by a couple of trainers. Early reports identified it as a "right torso and abnominal area" injury.

2. Soler has a very encouraging game.

Soler showed a good approach in his at bats, and was rewarded with a single and a home run, coming right after Zobrist put one in the Cove. Soler also had an extra-base-hit-robbing catch at the wall, and then an also helpful, if less-than-graceful, catch on another deep drive.

3. The pitching duel is exactly what we thought it would be.

Peavy looked every bit as bad as his line, and it could have been worse. The big damage was a Kris Bryant three-run home run. Arrieta had to wait through long Cubs half-innings, a replay challenge, and an injury delay, and didn't look like Peak Arrieta early on. He settled in though, and gave up just one run through seven, looking steadier the deeper he went in the game.

Game 37 Recap: Cubs 2, Brewers 4

Brew Who?

Box Score, Play Log, Game Graphs

W - Anderson (2-5), 3 unassisteds, shifting the third baseman, the "tourniquet" stat.

L - Hendricks (2-3),  lame no-hit bids, homerless streaks.

S - Jeffress (11), what I should do more often when doing recap drafts.

Things to Take from This Game.

1.  Chase Anderson?!

Chase Anderson looked every bit as awful as his over-6 ERA suggested in the first few innings, with rockets getting hit all around the park.  None of them dropped in, though, and he threw strikes, eventually settling in to a very less-than-dominating no-hit bid.

2. One bad inning.

Other than a Lucroy solo homer, Hendricks looked sharp and efficient through the first five. But he got knocked around in the sixth, with the big damage being a gap-splitting double by Chris Carter.  Cahill came in to get eight straight outs and looked quite sharp doing it. Stuff-wise, the Cubs pitching looked better than the Brewers, most all of the night.

3.  Late firepower

With two outs in the ninth, Chase Anderson suddenly remembered he was Chase Anderson. Blame it on going with an off-brand hypnotist. Heyward did what few thought possible, and barreled up a ball for his first home run of the season, just escaping the reach of the right fielder, Santana. Bryant followed with a no-doubter to left, but Jeffress then came on to K Rizzo and end the game. Those of us who stuck around to the bitter end appreciated this modest moment of drama in an otherwise stupid game.

Game 9 Recap: Cubs 8, Reds 1

No Contest

Box Score Play Log Game Graphs

W - Hammel (1-0), Augie Ojeda tribute videos. Harry singing the Stretch

L - Iglesias (1-1), pseudonymous middle-relievers, throwing to unoccupied bases

 

Things to Take from This Game

1. Hammel pitches around some walks

Hammel was reasonably sharp, pitching out of a couple of instances of mild-to-moderate trouble. 4 hits, 4 walks, 3 Ks in 6 IP with no runs allowed, and a booming RBI double at a point when the game still was awkwardly close.

2. Bryant heats up

Kris Bryant hit his second home run in as many days, going 2 for 3 with a walk overall. Fowler also had another big night, with a fine defensive play in CF thrown in, as well.

3. Best Team in Baseball

The first team to 8 wins played an errorless game with really no blemishes of any sort to speak of, other than a bit of wildness from Hammel and Grimm getting into some utterly inconsequential trouble in the 9th that he soon got out of. The consensus in Parachat was that the game was a sure thing by the time we were up 3-0.

Game 75 Recap: Cubs 1, Mets 0

Quick Work

Box Score Play Log Game Graphs

 

W - Hendricks (3-4),  MLB's average length of game, magic.

L - Niese (3-8), that Home Run Big Apple thingy, losing your game summary right before publishing.

S - Motte (3)

 

Things to Take from This Game

1.  Hendricks with a good outing.

Kyle Hendricks pitched 6 efficient, scoreless innings, giving up just one walk and three hits. He struck out six with lots of movement - if not always command - on all of his pitches. Other than a one-out double that was quickly pitched around, he wasn't in trouble at all. The defense also was flawless, save a bad route and awkward catch by Fowler.

2. The offense continues to struggle.

There isn't much to say about the offensive performance.  Castro walked twice.  Bryant had a hit and a walk. The scoring came from a no-doubt double by Szczur that scored Bryant. We loaded the bases, once, so there was that...

 

3. The bullpen delivered.

Rondon, Strop, and Motte each had convincing scoreless innings to preserve a 1-0 lead.

 

The 2 hour and 22 minute, happy details,  below

Game 70 Recap: Cubs 2, Dodgers 5

After further review... still lost.

Box Score, Play Log, Game Graphs

 

W- Who knows? Eh, Howell I guess (3-1), who cares, let's go home.

L- The very concept of the "Win" also, Hendricks (2-4).

S - Jansen (10)

Things to Take from This Game

1. Starters Struggle 

Hendricks was off his game, with the big damage coming on a Justin Turner 3-run Home Run. Bolsinger looked tougher, getting several Cubs to swing over a diving "spike" curveball, but he couldn't make it through five. With Bolsinger getting Rizzo to GIDP in the fifth and picking up some help from Howell to get out of the inning, the Dodgers shut down the only good shot at a big inning.
.

2. Denorfia gets TOOTBLANed

With two outs in the ninth and down by three, Denorfia got Thrown Out On the Bases Like a Nincompoop, running into the final out of the game trying to get to second on a liner off the left field wall.  Van Slyke got a perfect bounce off the wall to him, played it perfectly, threw perfectly, and still just barely beat Denorfia. And it's not as if we likely were to come back against Jansen down by three with two outs in the ninth and a runner on second.  But still, oof.

3. Grimm Looked Good

Justin Grimm struck out the first four batters he faced, in dominating fashion, before losing some steam in his second inning. It still was an encouraging performance.

 

The I-could-have-been-paying-more-attention-to-the-season-premier-of-Big-Brother-17,-but-instead-I-recapped-this?!?! details, below

 

Game 69 Recap: Cubs 1, Dodgers 0 (10 innings)

Nine Over

Box Score, Play Log, Game Graphs

 

W- Motte (5-1), fly balls to center, getting paid by the word, pitchers duels

L- Peralta (1-1) going to bed early, offense

Things to Take from This Game

 1. The Cubs "Know How to Win"?

For those who put weight in such things, this sure looked like a knowing-how-to-win/will-to-win/clutch/piss-vinegar-and-gumption sort of game.  An error-free pitcher's duel against a big-time opposing pitcher and team, won in extra innings by the supporting cast after yeoman's work from the bullpen. There's precious little to complain about with this victory.

 

2. Hammel outduels Greinke


Hammel looked in command of this game from the first pitch, and by both the line and the eyeball was superior to Greinke, who also was dealing.

 

3. Waiting to go to Jansen


0 to 0 after nine, Mattingly went to the just-off-the-DL Joel Peralta, not the unhittable Kenley Jansen.  Jansen only surfaced to clean up a bases loaded, no outs mess, and he nearly did.  If Gonzalez doesn't bobble a potential double-play ball at first, he might have made it out of the inning untouched.

 

4. Fan catch of the year.


Seriously. 

 

The gory details, below

 

Game 1 Recap: Cubs 5, Braves 16

I Returned to TCR to recap THIS?!?!

 

Box Score, Play Log, Game Graphs, Photos

 

W-  Lowe (1-0), calls for instant replay, people making their team or career debuts

L- Zambrano (0-1), dignity. 3 hours of my life

 

Things to Take from This Game

1.  Not So Good: Zambrano, Samardzija

Zambrano got knicked by a series of softly hit singles before giving up a 3-run home run to Neo Heyward.  Some throwing mistakes and a McCann homer in the second chased Zambrano from the game, having given up 8.   The fourth reliever in, Samardzija, walked three in a one third of an inning.

2.  Good:  Byrd, Marshall, Russell.

Byrd gave the Cubs a very early and short-lived lead with a 3-run homer in the first.  Marshall and Russell gave the Cubs a chance to get back in the game with a Ramirez 2-run Homer, as they pitched 4 and 2/3 of scoreless relief, before turning things over to Samardzija, Berg, and Grabow

3.  McLouth Lies like a Dog.  And Fakes It.  And Just Isn't Very Nice. 

Down 8-5 with Ramirez on 1st, Byrd smoked a liner to left center.  McLouth made a diving catch with the ball popping out on contact with the ground.  But McLouth faked the catch, threw it in, and the umpires, missing the call, declared Ramirez doubled off of first.   We went from having the tying run at the plate with no outs, to no on and two outs.  After Soriano predictbly ended the inning; it was all downhill from there.


 

The gory details, below

 

Soriano by the Pitches

Hoping to understand Alfonso Soriano's hot and cold streaks this year, I turned to the incomparable Fan Graphs to break down his present and historical success against different pitches.  The results suggest that Soriano is losing the skill that made him one of the more feared hitters in the game, but that he might have found a method to compensate for this loss.  Below is a chart showing the percentage of fastballs Soriano has seen each year since 2005, with 2009 broken down per month. It also shows his ranking among hitters seeing the fewest fastballs, his "runs above average"  number on fastballs, (wFastball) and how high he ranks among all hitters, and his overall OPS. (As in, not specific to fastballs)  The most important thing to notice here is his wFB rank.

 

Date  Fastball%  FB% Rank  wFastball wFB Rank
 OPS
2005  47.9  147/147  27.6  15/147  .821

2006

 54.1  150/159  23.7  25/159  .911
2007  54  150/161  23.3  27/161  .897
2008  53.2  134/145  17.9  38/145  .876
April 2009
 45.9  196/197  3.3  55/197
 .965

May 2009

 43  185/185  3.6  60/185  .657
June 2009
 49.1  180/184  2.4  72/184  .585
July 2009
 44.8  190/190  .7  112/190  .992
August 2009
 36.7
 179/190
 -.6  156/190  .220

 

You probably have noticed a couple of striking trends going on here.  First, Soriano has progressively moved from being one of the most effective hitters in baseball against the fastball to being quite pedestrian. Second, pitchers have not noticed and adapted to this change:  They contiue to avoid throwing fastballs to Soriano as if he were the same hitter he was in 2005.  He's not.

So how do we explain Soriano's April and July, when he hit like the hitter for whom the Cubs offered that premium contract?

Finding  that answer requres looking at Soriano's results swinging at sliders.

Snark Weak

Snark is the blogging equivalent of pennies:  easy to throw around, but no matter how much is thrown, it doesn't buy much.  Using too much of it in one place is a real jerk move, but when one just don't have any currency more valuable to offer, for a short while you can make due with each.

That weak analogy aside, let's snark up the Cubs sports media.  From the headlines at the Sun-Times, I learn...

Bench player doesn't mind the opportunity to play every day

Pitcher has a tired arm, therefore he will rest it.

Player would prefer not to hold an unflattering record.

 

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).