Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

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

28 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, and twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors. 

Last updated 3-26-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 15
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

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

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
Alexander Canario
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Ben Brown, P 
Alexander Canario, OF 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Keegan Thompson, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

We’re Movin’ on Up…

Cubs front office promotions include Oneri Fleita and Mark O'Neal. FLEITA WAS: director of player development and Latin American operations NOW IS: vice president of player personnel It's a new title, so what becomes of Oneri's old position? Is this a cost cutting move (24 fewer letters on his business card)? O'NEAL WAS: head athletic trainer NOW IS: director, athletic training I think it lets Mark O'Neal take care of the entire body now instead of only things above the neck (he was getting tired of working on Z punching people in the noggin). My congratulations to Mark O'Neal. Keeping the team healthy makes my life on TCR that much easier! CARL RICE WAS: director of information systems and special projects NOW IS: senior director of information systems and special projects Looks like our Cub computer whiz is either a year older so he got the elder statesman title or he took a course in Spanish, so now they get to call him señor. JAY BLUNK WAS: director of sales and marketing NOW IS: vice president of marketing and broadcasting The promotion includes getting a key to the executive washroom. His first action will be to get rid of the remaining Andy McPhail monogrammed hand towels.

Comments

will most of these guys still be around when the new ownership takes over (whenever that will be)?

I hope the new owner would be inclined to keep Fleita and Wilkenson on the club for the future - both seem well - respected by their peers, which is not something we usually said about past Farm Directors.

Looking at the front office roster, it's like an aircraft carrier. It takes awhile to get up to full speed and takes even longer to turn around. Ownership changes that lead to personnel changes will start with changes at the top and then filter down. So it's possible there will be changes at these levels but I'm not expecting much change in 2008. The 4 changes were promotions to people who were already department heads, just giving them new and improved titles (and hopefully putting them in higher tax brackets).

I'd guess these "promotions" are just morale boosters and resume padding in case the new owners fire them all.

both seem well - respected by their peers, which is not something we usually said about past Farm Directors. Like Jim Hendry?

someone brought it up the other day but I didn't see it answered, according to that link Ed Lynch is "Special Assistant to the General Manager"

and how appropriate that our marketing department is larger than our baseball operations department. :)

and how appropriate that our marketing department is larger than our baseball operations department. :) Is that different than other organizations?

I was joking of course..... I'm sure it's pretty standard across the MLB board.

I was joking of course….. I know... I was more curious if anyone knew what was typical. My guess is that you are right that the Cubs structure if fairly standard.

What all of these seem like is a promotion to account for the fact that they'll have more staff working under them. The Cubs have been notorious for having a small front office in the past, so this seems like a step in the right direction.

Ed Lynch is “Special Assistant to the General Manager” ===== Yes, as far as I know EL is still on the Cubs payroll. Why? Mostly to make sure AZ Phil is really in attendance at the Arizona Instructional League and AFL games. Remember Phil's reporting attendance (usually 8 or 9), well often EL was one of those he was including. Also I believe EL was responsible for the advance scouting reports the Cubs used on the Dbacks for the NLDS. Ouch. Correct me if I'm wrong Az Phil. Anyone remember Captain Wrongway Peachfuzz from Rocky and Bullwinkle? That's Eddie. Ed's the super scout that when invited to dinner, he winds up staying on as a permanent house guest. Sort of like finding out that Ron Reagan is still on both the federal payroll and the cubs payroll.

yeah I saw the Ed Lynch mention a few days ago and that's where someone asked what, if any, role Ed still had with the team but it didn't appear to have been answered. Apparently once you're "made" in the Cubs organization, they can't get rid of you no matter how incompetent you are. I wonder if he's Fitzsimmons cousin or something that f*** up all the time but everyone has to tolerate him or they get the woodchipper.

Craig Monroe disappeared into the Springfield Mystery Spot w/ Ozzie Smith, from what I hear. He's not on the 40 man according to Cubs.com and a player search on MLB.com turns up no team affiliations.

His first action will be to get rid of the remaining Andy McPhail monogrammed hand towels. Dusty never did figure out how to dry his hands after lunch...

Well, Carrie maintains the Cubs 40-man roster at cubs.com, she thinks Floyd has a player option and started 108 games. So take that with a grain of salt... They do need to get some guys on the DL onto the 40-man I believe if they want to protect them like Prior, Pagan and Guzman. So maybe they've made a quick decision on Monroe. It also seems that with Prior still traveling with the team on occassions that there's a good chance the relationship is still good and he'll be sticking with us. Just a guess though....

as Cubster mentioned in the other thread, Kranitz named the O's pitching coach to add another ex-Cub to their list.

Working on the Cub's farm Trying to train future Cubss Getting out my fungo bat Hitting some deep flys Scouting out the bullpen Slapping down the rosin bag Standing by the clubhouse door Telling some old stories Cub farm young man, I'm gonna teach you to play Cub farm young man, I'll rake and hoe the infield Cub farm young man, don't you see the Cubs are calling? All apologies to Spinal Tap

what..."senior director of information systems and special projects" doesnt get its own post? lazy...

Why do I feel it necessary to point out once again that "Joe Pepitone" (see comment # 19) is not me? I know I didn't copyright that particular screen name but somehow, the fact that people might incorrectly attribute his statements to me kind of ... bothers me. Hey you -- the other Joe Pepitone -- could you settle for being Joe P., or put a "II" after it or something like that? Just want to avoid any identity confusion.... Thanks!

(sings) "Big bottom Big Bottom Talkin' 'bout Darryl Ward My team's got him ...." You shouldn't have started it, Chad.

the other pepitone has gone as Hollinger before fwiw.... too hard to keep track for me but if you notice it again, stay on him to politely change his nickname

On the other hand, Cubster, if you want to post any of your humorous observations or comments using my ID, feel free...

Rob G.: as Cubster mentioned in the other thread, Kranitz named the O’s pitching coach to add another ex-Cub to their list. That's not exactly a terrible name to add, imo.

The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone's connected to the leg bone. The leg bone's connected to this red thing. This red thing's connected to my wristwatch. Uh oh. Signed, Cubster

Here's a gem from McCarver last night- "We had our friends at Stats, Inc. check and see whether more multi-run innings came with a lead off homer or a lead off walk. You would think that a lead off walk would lead to more big innings than a lead off home run. Not true. A lead off home run, this year, has lead to more multi-run innings than lead off walks. It's against conventional thinking." See Chad has been right all this time. ;-)

Rob G. — October 17, 2007 @ 3:37 pm Well, Carrie maintains the Cubs 40-man roster at cubs.com, she thinks Floyd has a player option and started 108 games. So take that with a grain of salt… They do need to get some guys on the DL onto the 40-man I believe if they want to protect them like Prior, Pagan and Guzman. So maybe they’ve made a quick decision on Monroe. It also seems that with Prior still traveling with the team on occassions that there’s a good chance the relationship is still good and he’ll be sticking with us. Just a guess though…. =========================== ROB G: MLB clubs have until 11/20 to reinstate players from the 15-day and 60-day DL. The exception is a player who is eligible to be a FA under Article XX of the CBA (that is, players with at least six years of MLB service time who are unsigned for the following season). Those players must be reactivated from the DL no later than the start of the FA filing period that commences the day after the conclusion of the World Series. Otherwise, players on the 15-day DL (like Angel Pagan) can be reactivated at any time up until 11/20, because they are already on the 40-man roster. As for the two players who remain on the 60-day DL (Angel Guzman and Mark Prior), the Cubs do not have to reactivate either of them from the 60 until 11/20, so the Cubs can wait until the conclusion of the MLB FA filing period (15 days after the conclusion of the WS, probably no later than 11/15), because by that time Floyd, Kendall, Trachsel, and Wood (and possibly Eyre and/or Ward if either were to opt to decline their player option to remain with the Cubs in 2008) will have filed for FA, and when a player files for FA, he is automatically removed from his club's 40-man roster. So if Craig Monroe was removed from the 40-man roster (and there is no transaction report to indicate that he has been removed), it wouldn't be to clear a spot on the 40 for Guzman or Prior. That will take care of itself next month once players eligible to be a FA under Article XX of the CBA file for free-agency and are removed from the Cubs 40-man roster. However, it is possible that the Cubs have designated Craig Monroe for assignment (DFA) with the intention of trying to trade him. Just as they reactivated Roberto Novoa from the 60-day DL and placed him on Outright Waivers the second week of October instead of waiting until 11/20, they could DFA Monroe now instead of waiting to non-tender him on 12/12. The other possible reason the Cubs would DFA somebody on their 40-man roster (like Monroe) now would be to clear a spot on the 40 for a minor league FA, like maybe Josh Kroeger. The Cubs retain exclusive negotiating rights with their own minor league free-agents until October 22nd, but if the Cubs wanted to add Kroeger to their 40-man roster, they almost certainly would have done so prior to the player becoming a FA last Monday (October15th), and again, there is no transaction report to indicate they did that.

The leg bone’s connected to this red thing. ====== ...so Mr Whipple, you're the one who pinned the red name tag on the tibia in anatomy class. Candlestick, Professor Plum, Library. Do I win?

See Chad has been right all this time. Chad? Right? Not possible... But seriously... Chad has been WRONG all this time - Chad is the one saying all the time that home runs kill rallies...

Couldn't someone just look at the average # of runs scored in an inning after a homerun and compare it to the average # of runs scored after a walk, 1B, 2B, 3B, HBP? This "rally killer hypothesis" should be relatively easy to test given the right dataset.

Actually, the writers and readers of Fire Joe Morgan (www.firejoemorgan.com), in reacting to McCarver's quote. By the data they've posted, it looks like a leadoff HR leads to a multi-run inning more often than a leadoff BB by slim margins each year, except in 2005, when leadoff BBs edged HRs out very slightly. (All data and analysis copyright and patent whoever.)

*above should read "Actually, the writers and readers of Fire Joe Morgan (www.firejoemorgan.com) are doing just that, in reacting to McCarver's quote." Stupid coffee! Make me more alert!

Statistically the lead-off home-run vs. walk results are not surprising. It's really the probaility of scoring 2 runs after getting a lead-off walk, or scoring only 1 run starting fresh (after a lead-off HR). Heck there is nothing to say that you can't get a walk after the homerun, essentially making the innings starting the same except in the latter scenario you only need ONE run to get counted as a multi-run inning.

The amazing part about lead-off HRs in an inning: It seems that almost 100% of the time that the Cubs do it, Santo can be overheard praying to the ghost of Leo Durocher for back-to-back jacks. This corresponds with Pat Hughes' numbers: Having to carry the radio broadcast upwards of 94% of the time. Can't ignore stats like that. In all seriousness, with this team, give me the home run any day - we'll just waste the stupid walk.

There are plenty of black people in DC with dough. By sheer numbers probably more than most cities despite DC's small size. It's just that nearly all the poor people are black. And I'm sure if, as he says, he'd like to go to DC or Atlanta to interest African Americans in baseball again, he'll no doubt include some tickets for the less advantaged in his contract. If I were him I'd go to DC. Unless it rains a hell of a lot this winter, Atlanta will be running out of fresh water by baseball season. Should be the first water crisis of what will be an ongoing problem for... well, forever.

Didn't mean to imply that all black people are poor. Sorry if it came out that way. Just saying, that's a damn poor city outside of a couple of exclusive neighborhoods. Lots of the money is in Virginia and Maryland, which are much less diverse. Almost every MLB city has a lot of black people though, Torii.

With a new stadium coming on-line in 2008 and the likely spike in ticket sales that go with that, the Washington Nationals might be more-inclined to sign a FA like Torii Hunter than they would have been in years past, The Nats were last in the N. L. in runs scored in 2007 and a power-hitting CF would help to address the need for more offense, so Hunter would seem to be a good fit there.

My bad, didn't know there was another Pepitone running around here. Sorry to get you all huffy.

Chad is the one saying all the time that home runs kill rallies… Actually, I'll admit that I've said that from time to time, as well. But, it isn't always true, of course.f

There's a lot of black folks in Miami. None of them go to the games. There's a lot of Cuban and other Hispanic folks in Miami. None of them go to the games. There's a lot of white folks ... well, you get the idea.

Once again: A: leadoff homer cannot kill a rally because the rally hasn't started yet. B: during a rally there are players on base which forces the pitcher to pitch from the stretch as well as worry about stolen bases and giving up multiple run homers. As well, worrying about walks as they become exponentially worse the more runners that are already on. this effects how a pitcher throws and what he throws. once the home run is hit, clearing the bases, the pitcher can either go back to pitching from the windup as well as not worrying as much about a walk or can go take a shower as often times the home run is the final nail in that pitcher's coffin for the day. Then a rested reliever can come in and PROBABLY be more effective.

what does a leadoff homer have to do with a guy who walks anyway? aside from the possible mental sting of giving up a homer to lead off the inning the immediate game and how the pitcher should approach everything resets. you could probably do a study looking at leadoff walks vs. leadoff singles and find a link that one is better than the other based on nothing but outcomes...doesnt mean anyone should champion it as a walk being better than a hit or vise-versa.

leadoff HR's lead to more multi-run innings than a leadoff walk... situation 1 - HR, up 1 run and 1/2 way to multi-run game situation 2 - walk, man on 1st 270ft. away from 1st run yeah, wow...etc. gee, wonder what's happening there.

maybe in 3 weeks ESPN (covering all 3 baseball teams (nyy/nym/bos) and some guy named Bonds for the past 20+ years) will be over it. manager of the yankees...200+m worth of lineup should be able to manage itself. let farnsworth manage...new 3rd base coach is a keg.

This blows. Pinella should be accepting the Yankee offer as Girardi perpares for his cubs to meet the Indians in the World Series. Where is Scott Bakula when you need him?

Fans are bitching on on the Orioles blogs about MacPhail turning the team into the Cubs of the American League. They just picked up Roberto Novoa as noted earlier to go along with this awesome bunch: Jon Leicester Rocky Cherry Paul Bako Scott Moore Freddie Bynum Corey Patterson on their ACTIVE roster. The manager Dave Trembley was a longtime manager in the Cubs minor league system. And newly hired pitching coach Rick Kranitz was the Cubs bullpen coach before moving to Florida a couple years ago. Kranitz is interesting in that he was thought to be the lowest paid pitching coach in the major leagues even though he was PC of the year in 2006. "Kranny" was recently called up personally by Dusty Baker and offered a job with the Reds but turned it down to go with MacPhail's Orioles. (what happened to your mojo Dusty?) Joe Borowski credits Kranitz with rescuing his career because he remembered how Joe was throwing when he was effective with the Cubs and corrected his mechanics in three days. So now I hear (and I hope this isn't 3/44) that MacPhail isn't done siphoning off "talent" from the Cubs. Now he's after recently promoted player personnel honcho ONERI FLEITA and super scout BILL HANFORD to fill out his front office. When will the madness stop?! Go MacPhail Go!

"ESPN.com says Mattingly and Girardi are leading contenders fwiw." I read that Mattingly had already said no way.

where?

Why are all of the articles calling Torre's decision a "shocking" or a "surprising turn"? Is anyone even remotely surprised by this? While it had certainly been up in the air, I'd heard plenty of reports before hand that Torre wasn't going to accept a one year deal, where he'd be in the exact same waiting game situation a year from now.

nobody in their right mind takes a paycut to work at the same job in the same place, just don't work that way.

torre has gotten paid REALLY well to sit around and take crap from his superiors. steinbrenner, while defending the hell outta torre on occasion, has verbally bitchslapped him as if he was a waiter who spilled coffee on steiny's crotch. through it all, he took it... will he even bother to get another job or just go home and wait for the HOF? he wasnt a bad catcher/player in addition to his managerial success stats.

I like Joe but he made 20 million in three years with the highest payroll in baseball. He was offered 5 million in a one year contract. If he turned the offer down because of a paycut I have news for Joe-- he is not going to get that type of money from anyone else.

not the point though, you may leave a job to take a pay cut because you didn't like the environment but you certainly don't take a pay cut to put up with the same old sh** over and over. No one in their right mind would no matter the job. Torre will probably just go into the broadcast booth is my guess.

And yeah the highest payroll but crappy pitching staffs year after year with completely misguided funds.

Where is Scott Bakula when you need him? ======= Chadmeister! A Suliban Temporal Cold War reference? ...or at least a Quantum Leap of Faith.

"nobody in their right mind takes a paycut to work at the same job in the same place, just don’t work that way." Tell that to the pilots that work for American Airlines. Rob, it happens more that you think it does. Cubster, maybe it's my lot in life to become the man that rights the wrongs of history. Sadly, the first place I go is to Wrigley Field, game 6.

I'm sure the one year contract had just as much if not more to do with the decision than the money. You know if Torre signed a one year deal, he would be right back in the same spot next year, spending the week after the season ends dangling in the wind waiting to hear if George will allow him to come back. The pay cut on top of that was only designed to be an insult.

You'd think Andy would just be dying to get Ed Lynch on the Oriole's payroll. Or how about Ohman, Wuertz and Cedeno for Bedard. That would pump up the ex-Cubs on his roster.

According to ESPN the Yanks offered Torre 5 mill ion with bonuses of $ 1million per post season series win. As in 1 mill for ALDS 1 mill for ALCS 1 Mill for WS

Chad said: "B: during a rally there are players on base which forces the pitcher to pitch from the stretch as well as worry about stolen bases and giving up multiple run homers. As well, worrying about walks as they become exponentially worse the more runners that are already on. this effects how a pitcher throws and what he throws. once the home run is hit, clearing the bases, the pitcher can either go back to pitching from the windup as well as not worrying as much about a walk or can go take a shower as often times the home run is the final nail in that pitcher’s coffin for the day. Then a rested reliever can come in and PROBABLY be more effective." But, with a homer, all runners on base, and the one at the plate are absolutely guarnteed to score. I agree with you that it is better to have a pitcher pitch from the stretch. But I highly doubt statistically that you are likely to score more runs without that "rally-killing" homer. Even if the chance of getting on base increases from 30 to 40% when a pitcher pitches out of the stretch, the guarnteed runs are still a better bet. Anyway, McCarver's quote was absolutely mind boggling stupid....looks like everyone agrees on that.

I think playoff incentives for a manager are pretty ridiculous. There is so much in a season that is beyond a mangers control, including who the owners and GM put on the field, who gets injured and when, and who goes through a slump at the wrong time. I think Torre's decision was a no-brainer, and I think the Yankees knew it too. The Yanks were trying to cover their own ass by offering him something that sounded good and kept him the highest paid manager, but they knew he would not accept a pay cut and a 1 year deal with BS playoff incentives.

sure block, any team will take the runs and let the rest of the inning play out. But what i'm saying is that once the bases are cleared, the momentum changes as does the dynamic of the inning. Part of what keeps a rally going is the pressure being put on the pitcher by the offense. The homer changes everything.

Re: #47 -- Thanks, Hollinger. Just want to avoid identity confusion.

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch.