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

Let's Internet

A tour of the latest from the web...

-  A rather random rumor that the Cubs may have some interest in A's shortstop Bobby Crosby.He's set to make $5.25M this year, so you know he wouldn't cost much in prospects and the A's would probably have to eat at least half his salary. If he's willing to be a utility guy, he'd be a step up from Aaron Miles. Baseball Prospectus projects Crosby at a .243 EqA versus Miles .232. Defensively, Crosby's been a bit above average (according to UZR) to below average (according to BP) at shortstop but probably has a strong enough arm to handle third base. Of course, he'd be replacing Joey Gathright or Micah Hoffpauir on the roster - unless Lou comes through with a six-man bench - and in that case he'd be replacing Bobby Scales, Jake Fox, Luis Rivas or Corey Koskie, in which we'd finally have an acceptable scenario for acquiring Crosby. That is unless the Cubs wise up quickly on this Aaron Miles fiasco that is about to be unleased upon unsuspecting fans.

- Caption fun with Ted Lilly at Big League Stew. Comment #3 has to be the winner.

- Dave Pinto runs through the Cubs expected offensive output. Marcel Projections and the Lineup Tool come up with 5.15 runs per game with the projected lineup, 5.42 with the optimum lineup. The Cubs scored 5.31 runs per game last year.

UPDATE: One wonderful reader pointed out that the probable lineup has Fukudome batting second which(to steal kmokeefe's line) is improbable (at least to begin the season). Let's try it on our own using the lineup of Soriano, Fontenot, Lee, Bradley, Ramirez, Fukudome, Soto, Theriot and the pitcher as suggested by Lou (actually Lou suggested Aaron Miles batting second, but we'll do that next).

That comes up with 5.29 runs per game. The optimal lineup of Bradley, Soto, Fukudome, Ramirez, Lee, Soriano, Fontenot, Pitcher and Theriot comes up with 5.469 runs per game. Flipping Miles for Fontenot results in: 5.025 runs per game and 5.317 with the computer-generated optimal lineup. 

- Lou took on Steve Phillips...Lou will win.

- Baseball Analysts takes a look at the All-Time One Teamers - the best player at each position to play for only one club. I checked on Ryne Sandberg(80.8) and Ernie Banks (80), but both are out-WARP'd by the author's choices of  Charlie Gehringer (85.3) and Cal Ripken Jr. (120.7). I was quite surprised to see Lou Whitaker(85.7) with a better career WARP-3 than Sandberg; I think I'll need to add him to my subjective Hall of Fame class.

UPDATE #2: Clearly I need an editor, as it was pointed out that Sandberg played 13 games for the Phillies in 1981.

- The miracles of science. We'll be taking donations for TCR's own $10,000 electrolysis machine in April.

- Split-squad action today, Cubs travel to Goodyear to take on the Indians; Carl Pavano vs. Chad Gaudin to start. Milton Bradley will DH in that game as well. Here's the lineup from Muskat:

CF Joey Gathright, SS Aaron Miles, 1B Derrek Lee, DH Bradley, LF Jason Dubois, RF Brad Snyder, 3B Bobby Scales, 2B Nate Spears.

Jeff Samardzija will lead the team in Las Vegas tonight versus the White Sox. MLB.com shows radio for the Indians game and TV for the White Sox game.

Comments

the probable lineup used to calculate the 5.15 has fukudome hitting 2 i find that improbable.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Did they do a lineup projection for a the games Soriano,Bradley and possibly Aramis miss? It's better than average that Soto's off days might make us trot out a Theriot Miles Reed Johnson lee Kfuk Koskie/Rivas Bako Gathright

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

So you are saying that it is better than a 50-50 chance that Soriano, ARam, and Bradley are all hurt at the same time? Someone needs to take a class on probability. Here are the average games played by Bradley, ARam, and Soriano over the last three seasons, respectively: 94, 146, 134. That means that there would be approximately a 42% chance that Bradley would miss a game, a 10% chance ARam would miss a game, and a 17% chance that Soriano would miss a game. That would mean that there would be less than a 1% chance that all three would miss the same game. If you combine that with the chance that Soto would get an off-day on the same day (based on Soto's games played last year), you get a .09% chance that all four would miss the same game. But sure... "It's better than average."

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

While the chances of all 3 being out at the same time is very very low, based on those percentages what is scary is that the chance of at least one of the three being injured for a given game is like 56%! Yikes!

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

Hey WISCGRAD, as the resident statistician, I was hoping you might be able to help out with this question I had after reading big_lowitzki's post - Are the odds that all three will be out at the same time affected at all by the increased probability that the games each will miss are consecutive? Saying Bradley has a 42% chance of missing a game seems a little misleading, because if he's injured he might have a 100% chance of missing, say, the next 30 games. It's not like flipping a coin where the odds of missing a game reset each day. Also, this probably isn't something you would know, but I wonder if anyone has ever done a study on the likelihood of a player getting injured in a given month. Intuitively, it might seem more likely for a player to get injured in April due to cold weather, and maybe August due to being worn down from the grind of playing all summer. If there is an increased likelihood of guys getting injured in certain months, and we have a few injury-prone players, that might mean that there's an even better chance of them all being injured at the same time. All right, I've thought about this too much now.

[ ]

In reply to by Doug Dascenzo

This was more to the point I was trying to make. It isn't a huge leap to conclude that. 1. Milton Bradley misses somewhere between 35-60% of every season 2. Alfonso Soriano has spent at least 1 stretch on the DL in each season he has been in Chicago. So it is better than an average bet that those guys will miss some time. Mark Prior and Kerry Wood both had stretches where they were durable and healty. However we saw what happened when we built our roster around the plan that they would be a healthy 1 and 2.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

So it is better than an average bet that those guys will miss some time. Sure... "some time." But that is different than saying that it is an average bet that they will miss time together. And even more different than saying those two, along with Aram, will miss time together. And even MORE different than saying that those three will miss time together along with Soto.

[ ]

In reply to by Doug Dascenzo

I thought about that exact question too, but the probabilities wouldn't change. Because while there is a chance that Bradley would miss the first four weeks of the season and Soriano would miss say the last week - meaning they never overlap - it could also be that they both get injured at the same time and ALL of their days overlap. So if you change the unit from games to say weeks or months, the probabilities still say the same. Basically, what you've pointed out though is that our "less than 1%" answer is a bit misleading. Rather than saying each season we should expect 1 or 2 games in which all 3 are injured, we would really expect this to never happen in like 9 of 10 seasons, and in 1 of 10 to see a two-week span where all three are on the DL.

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

FWIW (not much), Excel's FORECAST function has the following predictions for games played in 2009 based on their games played going back to 2001 when each of them became full-time players: Bradley - 101 Soriano - 124 Aramis - 138 I'd love to see Bradley in the 120-130 range, but this is probably acceptable for the NL Central, right?

Bobby Crosby? ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. ............................................. No.

Here's the problem...though Crosby was already going to be shopped, he's already said he wants to be traded because he doesn't want to be a backup. So why trade for an expensive, shitty and pissed off SS?

[ ]

In reply to by The Joe

well Crosby isn't going to get that job right now unless an injury happens and he'd probably be happy just to get out of Oakland at the moment. And if/when the clock strikes midnight on Theriot, I'd rather have Crosby as a back-up option. Then of course, the deal will probably still be out there if they are looking for a replacement for Theriot.

The rumor seems much ado about nothing to be honest....

I suggest the A's trade Crosby for Ronnie Cedeno and Garrett Olson...so that they can flip Olson for Peavy. Scott Eyre still broke?

Bobby Dickerson doing the managing today in Goodyear versus Indians. Lou went to Vegas.

I finally got a response from Cubs.com on my waiting list position. I have numbers 27406 and 27405. Anyone want to do a 2 for 1? JD, I know you do...

[ ]

In reply to by CPH2133

I'm around 19K-something. When this came up a few months ago, I calculated that, at the rate I'd moved up over the last 2.5 years, it'd take me another 3,000 years to have a shot at season tickets.

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

Yea, i'll need ever longer. Can you leave your spot on the waitlist in your will? The cubs just need to build a new, huge stadium that has 100,000 seats, Wrigley is a dump (ducks)...maybe i'll have a chance then.

[ ]

In reply to by The Joe

Or, give the economy another couple years of being in the shitter, and I bet you'll see your number start to move up. I'm guessing season tickets are one of the first things to go for a lot of people/businesses when money starts to dwindle.

[ ]

In reply to by Doug Dascenzo

While that is most likely right, if they cant afford their season tickets (the companies, people who have them now) there will be no way in hell I can afford them! But I'll make it happen if my number ever comes up. I'm assuming to climb 30 thousand spots (which will most likely never ever come up) but if it did it'll be 40 years from now. Right after retirement...with some money coming in from retirement...sounds like a match made in heaven.

[ ]

In reply to by CPH2133

I was on the list and forgot my account. So I contacted them and they said they didn't have a record of me and I should sign up again. I recently contacted them again and they sent me both numbers...but they're right next to each other so that doesn't really make sense.

I noticed you left out Milton's first name in your lineup. He was the only one. Can we refer to him as "DH" from now on?

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

it was a cut and paste, standard journalism practice to omit the first name once it's been mentioned in an article.

I'm pretty sure Miles isn't going anywhere, but how would you propose getting rid of him if you could? To Rob or anyone else.

speaking of the lineup, she missed the catcher.. Mark Johnson batting 9th..

Cubs get 2 runs in 1st...Snyder 2 rbi single after Gathright, DLee got on with singles, 1st and 3rd. Bradley popped to 2nd, Dubois was hit by pitch which loaded the bases for Snyder's 2 run single

god bless the edit option... Scott Eyre is still broke, how's Howry doin'

Gaudin sucketh...hit by pitch, double, HR, double ugly...3-2 Tribe "they are teeing off and not wasting time" "Rothschild to the mound..." did I mention that I love having an edit option... Spears triples.

I have a feeling that "Scott Eyre is broke..." is the new, "3/44" Thanks Dr. Aaron B for the redundancy. Thanks Dr. Aaron B for the redundancy.

Hate to be a downer, fellas, maybe it's the economy or something, but I'm not real optimistic about the year. Of course, I don't see much competition in the division, but I think Chi, Stl, Mil, and Cin will all be contenders. Cincy will surprise.

Miles beats a high relay throw in a 5-4-nope DP attempt. 3-3 as Spears scored

Gaudin settled down after the first...3 IP, 3 K, 3 ER, 4 H, 0 BB for the day. Campusano in now.

Brian Schneider in according to Pat Hughes...Schlitter I assume.

is there any way to disable auto-play on videos on all websites? It ranks up there with pop-up and pop-under ads on Internet annoyances...

Dr. Aaron B drank way TOOOO much last Friday... --- reminded me of the Leo Durocher commercial Hey, fellas...let's have another Schlitz

WBC Fun: *Pedro Martinez - 2IP, 3H, 2ER, 1BB, 2K (Dominicans lose 6-1 to Baltimore) *La-T-Roy Hawkins - 1IP, 2H, 1ER *JJ Putz - 2/3IP, 3H, 3ER, 2BB, 1K Lastly, through 5 1/2, South Africa has scored 6 runs. It's not newsworthy, but I'm just stunned.

Ryne Sandberg qualifies as a one-team player despite the 13 games he played with the Phillies?

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).