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

Cubs to Sign First Round Pick Andrew Cashner

Arizona Phil has been all over the Cubs signings, but I did want to mention that the big fish of the draft, first-round pick(19th overall) Andrew Cashner will sign this week with the Cubs. The contract details:

As part of his contract with Chicago, Cashner will receive a signing bonus of $1.54 million. He’ll also receive $75,000 that will go toward finishing school, plus bonuses that will coincide with promotions. Moreover, Cashner will receive an invitation to big league spring training in 2009.

He should be in Arizona by next week and likely to Boise soon after. The Cubs have signed all but one of their first 27 picks, that one being 10th round pick RHP Alex Wilson out of Texas A&M.

Comments

Kind of funny read your mention: "The Cubs have signed all but one of their first 27 picks, that one being 10th round pick RHP Alex Wilson out of Texas A&M." Juxtaposed with this from the same article: "“We’ve pretty much signed everyone we wanted to,” Chicago Scouting Director Tim Wilken said."

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

yeah, i wouldn't count room/board, but yeah...luckily i live in a state where they don't treat 18 year olds like they need to mortgage their immediate lives in order to get an education from a public non-commuter college. it was all just blah blah blah'ing anyway. -edit- for reference, in-state almost every UNC program college (UNC-CH, UNC-W, NCSU, etc) costs around 3-6K in tuition per year. they can pay their profs 100s of K a year, have their buildings built, their research pimped out in proper labs, and all that stuff without sending students out in the world 100K in debt. not that has anything to do with wilson, though...just fwiw.

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

yeah, some states have insane in-state tuition. we get a good chunk of out-of-state people coming to UNC-CH/NCSU because the out-of-state tuition is as cheap (or cheaper) than their own in-state tuition. we're not even talking about "rich kids" who just want to get away from their parent's grasp in another state or kids with scholarships. UNC-CH...that school everyone loves cuz of their basketball program... $3750 a year tuition. add on another 2-3K in fees/taxes/weirdness...(roughly 20K per year out of state, tuition only...but fees/etc. are a level playing field for in and out of state students). it's pretty common for an in-state student to come out of the UNC system less than 20K in debt. many, like myself, barely saw few K of debt when they finished.

"Maybe Teflon Wilken is fucked not Wilson." It appears that all of the Cub's minor - league clubs are doing much better, at least as far as their W/L records show. Haven't you told us incessantly that their farm system was awful, primarily because of their standings? Wilken sucked according to you, all because of that one, lonely stat. So which is it, he sucked then but still sucks now?

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Thanks for the BP link, I had only read bits and pieces of it. I really wanted Lincecum that year and thought he'd fall to 13 (not trying to be some nostradamus here, I am just a big Pac10 guy who actually had seen Lincecum at UW).

Thanks, Rob - I remember reading about Wilken's excellent reputation and above - average track record regarding prospects from his previous stints, and was overjoyed when came over to the club. So the very least everyone can do is to give the man a few years before we can even begin to judge his efforts. Those who criticize have no idea about the Cub's incredible lack of any success with their farm systems in the past, aside from a brief period when Dallas Green was running things.

Off topic, but did anyone else hear a rumor that Braun is the PTBNL in the Sabathia deal? WSCR reported that Steve Stone's sources told him that's the case. So, 433 says that a radio guy said that Steve Stone said that someone told him that Braun is included. Not exactly a verified story, but has anyone else heard this?

[ ]

In reply to by 433

I haven't found anything on the interwebs even discussing Braun as the PTBNL, so maybe this was just wrong or a joke something, but it was presented on WSCR's Mully/Hanley (sp?) show as seemingly legit. So for now, I'll just say "nevermind."

[ ]

In reply to by 433

Melvin pointed at the presser today that the PTNBL can't be someone off the 40-man roster. So I assuming if Stone isnt talking out of his ass, he probably heard the guy who is the PTBNL was Mat Gamel who is a Braun clone, a butcher at 3b who can really hit.

In other news, why are the Cubs sending Cashner to "finishing school"? Are his manners really that bad?

"But what's he done for us?" Trollboy, your act has grown stale and tired. Nothing to offer except snark without substance - go play outside in your sandbox and fling your poo at the neighbors for a change.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

wow, then obviously you've never cross referenced your rants on this board, old boards, and other boards not even remotely related to baseball. the fact you're on your 3rd ID on this board and your "bluewater boats" tag is on other boards kicking the same "im never wrong, why must i share this air with stupid men?" attitude... well... you gotta be used to this by now. -edit- see where i said '3rd ID on this board'...well, since TECHNICALLY this isn't the "old TCR" what i said was 100% wrong and therefore the entire statement is wrong. the old posts and other info, while they may exist, cannot be discussed because of the technical error. there nav...i saved you a reply about how retarded i am because you've only had 1 name on this particular board while conveniently ignoring the point.

cc sabathia is 12/40 lifetime (.300/.317) with 2hr (1 this season). 12K, 1BB

So this whole CC Sabathia thing made me do some research on the Cubs' minor league system (since I haven't read an AZ Phil post for quite some now) and I was struck by how pathetic Tyler Colvin's numbers are. Maybe AZ Phil has addressed this in another post (he probably has, he addresses everything) but I'm wondering, is the guy hurt? Did Wilken just fuck up? My other thought was, how is it that we couldn't come up with a package to satisfy Cleveland? Is our system so bad still that we couldn't find 4 prospects or so to make a trade with? Or do you guys think that Hendry just simply made the decision that Sabathia wasn't worth giving up a lot of prospects for. After all, it seems like free agent pitchers typically don't do very well after signing big contracts (Z will go against this trend I hope). I dunno if there are stats about this, though. Speaking of pitching, and sorry if this is 3/44, but the article on Lincecom's pitching mechanics in SI was very interesting. The writer pointed to two Cubs guys, Brownlie and (of course) Prior as two prospects who had lousy mechanics according to the former Mets pitching coach Petersen. That article made me wonder where Wilken stands on that kind of thing. One of the articles RobG pointed to in his links on Wilkin seemed to indicate an appreciation for Lincecom but I am wondering if Wilkin subscribes to this whole biomedical (or whatever the hell they called it in the article) stuff. And I'm also wondering what Dr. Hecht has to say about all that. So many questions. I think it's all the fires here in CA. The smoke is getting to me.

Over at NSBB, they are saying Kaplan said that Huddy could be a target: http://www.northsidebaseball.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=49650 It makes sense as Tex is going to bolt in the off-season and Glavine and Smoltz are likely to hang them up at the end of the year. Plus they dont have Turner's money to throw around to fill the holes and the guys they have brought up from the farm havent worked so they might want a package of near MLB ready guys. Something like 1 of Marshall/Gallagher, 1 of Veal/Russell/Atkins, Ceda, Murton would seem to work.

[ ]

In reply to by Wes

Remember when the Cubs tried to sign Hampton, with a reported offer around 100 million for 7 years, before he went to the Rockies? That's not dodging a bullet, more like avoiding a missile. Hampton made his debut in 1993, and in his 17-year career he has now earned $121,575,086 from his contracts alone. This comes to $880,979 for each of his 138 career wins. He was a much better bargain early on though, and since signing his big 8-year contract prior to the 2001 season he has been paid $107,382,086 for a grand total of 53 wins, or $2,026,077.09 per major league victory. With all of the injuries it has cost the Braves and Rockies (and Marlins) $801,358.85 per game that he has even pitched in. There are other bad contracts out there, but this was one of the worst.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

They dont have have a chance to compete in 09. They will be missing 25 HR and 80 RBI's that Tex can provide and the 30 wins you could count on from Glavine and Smoltz. They have the worst pen in baseball and to add to the misery the guys they have called up from the farm have been bad. Atlanta needs a mass influx of guys that can help them on the cheap. Just as Milwaukee was a perfect fit with Cleveland because they had a influx of power hitting corners ( Im sure the PTNBL will be one of those), we would be with Atlanta because we have an influx of guys who are MLB or should be MLB ready soon a who can be solid contributors to a club and Hendry is probably willing to do a 5 for 1 deal.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

Injuries and underperformance have just hit them hard. They projected to have a rotation of: Smoltz, Hudson, Glavine, Jurrjens, and either Hampton or James, with Soriano as the closer. The infield of McCann, Jones, Escobar, Johnson, and Texeira on paper was one of the best, and Francoeur was supposed to be solid in RF. They had some OF spots to fill, and needed to some young guys to step up and fill out the bench and bullpen, but Atlanta has seemingly always found a way to do this. It was hard to predict that NONE of the young bats would do anything with the playing time, Francoeur would be briefly demoted to AA, Smotlz and Glavine and Hampton would be on the DL (well Hampton yes), and Soriano would have just 9 IP by mid-season.

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).