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

The Fantasy Reporter

I know you all come here for your Cubs fix and I don't pretend to be some sort of fantasty baseball expert (that would be readers "The Joe" and "JD"), but my fantasy draft is Saturday and I feel like sharing. I much prefer a points league over the traditional 5x5 roto leagues, but mostly the same advice applies. If anything, the points league is a bettter reflection of the reality of baseball and our playing fantasy baseball gives us a better understanding of the sport itself. If you do play in a roto league, you need to be more worried about stolen bases than I am.

And just so you know that I'm not completely full of it, I have been playing since 1999 and besides one very unfortunate injury-riddled season, I usually finish "in the money" so to speak. I don't alway take the league, but I'm almost always in contention. Once again, not trying to pass myself off as some fantasy baseball expert, but you could do worse. If anything, I hope to convince you to acquire Troy Tulowitzki if you're in a keeper league. He's going to be a monster for the next six seasons.

So here's some general draft strategies and ideas on a handful of players. Those who play in a league with me are probably going to be wondering why there are so many players mentioned that are on my current team or have been recently or I've inquired about. Well, I liked them for a reason, so there you go.

Draft Strategy

I don't have any fancy system with some trademarked name that I follow or some strict regiment of who to draft in which slot. I do have some guidelines though.

1-5: Offense, Offense, Offense - no time for risk-taking and pitchers are inherently a risk.

6-10: Start looking for pitching and watch for the inevitable run on closers that is going to happen. There will still be some value offensive picks though on position players that people have forgotton about.

11-20: A lovely song and dance to fill out your roster with a mix of value picks and need.

21-25: High Risk, High Reward and Catchers...fill out the roster if needed, but I usually start looking for prospects or troubled assets and injury risks here.

- Other than a few select pitchers, I generally try to land what I consider sure thing offensive players in the first 5 rounds. Those few select pitchers this year are Tim Lincecum, Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay. There's plenty of other good to great pitchers, but I'm worried about Johan and Webb's arm issues, C.C's fatness and the lack of run support that Jake Peavy will get this year. Everyone else you can flip a coin if they'll be effective or healthy in my opinion, so don't waste a top pick on them.  There's a good chance you can find just as good a pitcher in round 10-20 as the top 5.

- Joe Mauer, Geovany Soto, Brian McCann and Russ Martin are the only catchers worth taking in the top 10 rounds. Don't talk yourself into anyone else. Victor Martinez and Jorge Posada are in the discussion, but you have to really worry about their injury risks. Otherwise, I'll pass until Round 20 or later (we have 25 rounds) and grab whatever is left and play the waiver wire over the year. The second tier of catchers are Ryan Doumit, Chris Iannetta and a Chris Snyder/Miguel Montero combo from the Dbacks. Everyone else is completely interchangeable over the year and you're probably better off just trying to play the hot-hand.

- I'm a big fan of good players that had a down year usually due to injury or unexplained phenomenon. Some examples from 2008 include Fausto Carmona, Justin Verlander, Troy Tulowitzki, Alex Rios, Alfonso Soriano, Howie Kendrick and Aaron Hill.

- I'm thoroughly intrigued by Adam Dunn this season. I think he feels he has something to prove and - as a bonus - qualifies at 1B and LF. He also had an extremely low BABIP last season.

- Never underestimate the Coors factor or the Ballpark factor for left-handed hitters in Texas. Matt Murton, Ryan Spilborghs, Carlos Gonzalez and Ian Stewart are worth watching in Colorado, just keep an eye out for who might be winning the job out of spring training. Everyone knows about Josh Hamilton by now, but Chris Davis and Jarrod Saltamacchia are good high upside guys..

- I constantly fight myself over closers. In our points league which has an innings limit, relievers and closers are quite valuable as they offer a much higher innings per points average than a starter. In a roto league, you'll get the benefit of more strikeouts per inning pitched. On the other hand, closers are always available during the year and you'll particularly want to pay attention to the Tigers, Mariners and Cardinals this season. So I'm never sure how early I should start picking closers, but I will say that if you don't get stuck with a complete dud, they're always tradeable during the season. Papelbon, Rivera and K-Rod are pretty much sure things this year and I'm quite high on Jonathon Broxton taking the role in Los Angeles.

- I'm pretty good at picking players a year too early from their breakout season. For example, keep an eye out for Alex Gordon and Kelly Johnson this season.

- An easy way to look for overrated versus underrated is their BABIP or batting average in balls in play. Couple it with line drive percentage and you have a good idea of players to watch out for, whether on the rebound or to slump. From Fangraphs, the top 10 highest BABIP last year, if they're in bold, they had a line drive percentage below 20% which means I'd avoid them unless everyone else in your league is reading the same thing. A BABIP over .330 is usually tough to sustain, anything over .360 is virtually impossible to sustain, unless you're Ichiro Suzuki.

  1. M. Bradley (.396)
  2. C. Jones (.388)
  3. M. Ramirez (.373)
  4. F. Lewis (.367)
  5. Matt Kemp (.363)
  6. M. Holliday (.361)
  7. N. Markakis (.351)
  8. B.J. Upton (.351)
  9. J. Mauer (.350)
  10. R. Ludwick (.349)

Now the flip-side, 10 lowest BABIP hitters:

  1.  P. Konerko (.247)
  2. K. Millar (.249)
  3. M. Ellis (.249)
  4. N. Swisher (.251)
  5. J. Giambi (.257)
  6. A. Dunn (.262)
  7. M. Jacobs (.264)
  8. J. Kendall (.267)
  9. E. Encarnacion (.267)
  10. R. Hernandez (.269)

I wouldn't take a chance on all those guys, but Konerko, Dunn, Swisher, Giambi and Jacobs are certainly very interesting.

The BABIP numbers are even more reliable when it comes to pitchers. The top 10 unluckiest last year, where league average is about .290.

  1. K. Millwood(.366)
  2. I. Snell (.358)
  3. L. Hernandez (.345)
  4. N. Robertson (.343)
  5. A. Petitte (.339)
  6. M. Parra (.337)
  7. A.J. Burnett (.328)
  8. J. Vazquez (.328)
  9. Z. Duke (.327)
  10. J. Beckett  (.327)

I'd still avoid Livan Hernandez and Kevin Millwod, but they should be slightly better for next year. Everyone else is probably being underrated in your drafts. And now the flipside, the 10 luckiest pitchers last year.

  1. D. Bush (.245)
  2. T. Wakefield (.247) 
  3. A. Galarraga (.247)
  4. G. Smith (.258)
  5. S. Olsen (.266)
  6. D. Matsuzaka (.267)
  7. J. Guthrie (.267)
  8. J. Saunders (.267)
  9. G. Floyd (.267)
  10. C. Hamels (.270)
Now pitchers with knuckleballs and really good change-ups have been able to beat the league average BABIP consistently so I wouldn't worry much about Wakefield or Hamels. Smith and Saunders throw a healthy amount of change-ups, but I can't speak to their quality and their minor league numbers don't suggest they can maintain that level of luck.

I'll come back Wednesday with a more thorough positional breakdown.

Please take a moment today to vote on the best Cubs Season Ever.

Comments

Hey Rob is it too late to join a fantasy baseball league? Are there beginner leagues? I got talked into fantasy football a couple years ago (even though I like baseball better) and won back to back! Now, I'm thinking I ought to be spending that time on my favorite sport. Just wonderin

[ ]

In reply to by Bud

you can probably join a league up to a week before the season starts. Unfortunately there will be no more TCR-sponsored leagues, but if you're a reader and looking for people you have my full permission to advertise here.

Yahoo is my favorite set-up, the MLB Open League we played last year was a nice simple points league with little time involvement if you want to just get started. Weekly lineup changes only and you draft an entire pitching staff rather than individual pitchers, nice way to get into fantasy baseball. I'm not a fan of head-to-head leagues, but a lot of people like them. Most leagues let you sign up and find a league with open spots.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/fantasy/wsfb_c/info/index.jsp

 

 

Thanks for the Roto v Points soapbox. TCR2 (or the WTCR, if you will :)) is in discussions on what to use

[ ]

In reply to by SJS

i dont wanna call roto "training wheels" or etc...but roto is generally a great one for casual or mixed-skill fans. even if you make the stats tracked complex pretty much everyone can "get" and properly weigh how player 1 vs. player 2 vs...player 10 might compare to each other on a linear value scale. it involves treating a SB the same as a HR, but it also involves a whole lot less time for roster/player management.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

well most all of the "expert" leagues are roto based. NFBC, Tout Wars, Jail etc are all standard vanilla 5x5 roto. Points leagues are fine too, I don't see them much differently if you expand the categories between roto or points to 8x8 at least. I try to use rate stats as opposed to counting stats as often as possible in my roto leagues. H2H leagues are flukish but can be fun if you don't mind getting beat by teams with inferior rosters in a handful of weeks over the season.

[ ]

In reply to by SJS

whatever works for people, but roto league and managing categories doesn't seem very baseball-like to me and I prefer something that resembles the game. Obviously you don't have to have stolen bases as a category, but having it equal to a home run and then fighting over Joey Gathright coming into the league is kind of silly to me.

 

 

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I've annoyed everyone in the Yahoo TCR league with my roto babble, so I'll post it here too. Because this is American, and it's a free country damnit! Roto to me requires to be a more skillful manager. You have to weight your surplus and fill your shortages without giving too much of your excess away. In points-based leagues you just need points. It doesn't matter where or how. Also, HR's are inevitable worth more, despite actually being more common than SBs. That's like making RBI's worth more than triples. Or a W more than a complete game. In roto all stats are created equal. You have to be aware of your teams skills and deficiencies and address them as so. Points to me is the "well, player A has more points than player B, I'll add him" (granted you have to take into account what they'll do in the future, but you get the point) you don't have to consider "well, I need to address this category. Is the marginal increase in category X worth losing some of my surplus in category Y". Roto requires you to be more aware of your team and the league as a whole, where in points you just need to amass points, it doesn't matter what anyone else si doing because you're just trying to get as many points as possible. Roto makes you compete against someone, not just numbers. Points leagues are dumb.

[ ]

In reply to by CPH2133

only problem i have with points leagues is how they break the points out and how much importance is placed on specific categories. i gave up bitching about it long ago when i play points leagues...i just check out how the points are laid out and where the weaknesses/strengths are. bitching about it just ends up being arguments over +/- 5 to 20 points in a category vs. what you'd prefer to weigh the value of point category.

[ ]

In reply to by CPH2133

you're clearly a communist...

I guess I see some of your point, but a HR is worth more because well it's worth more in baseball. Stolen bases, especially if you don't account for getting caught stealing, being on the same value as a HR or a run scored or an RBI is just kind of dumb...and anti-American. But I harp about stolen bases when it's easy to set-up a roto league that doesn't have stolen bases.

I've never felt like playing a points league was easy to manage, that's for sure.  On the other hand, I've played roto league and felt like, "gosh, this is really dumb".  We have an innings limit in our league which definitely makes the pitching side a challenge on what type of players you need to acquire. Yes, ultimately total bases is the biggest factor in a points league on the offensive side, but we do account marginally for defense and other factors. 

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

God, defense in fantasy baseball. YUCK! I heard the devil just started a fantasy baseball league...it's a points based league...with defensive categories...anyone else see Rob and Devil in the same room?....didn't think so... I'm just using SB's as an example. If you weren't a racist you'd enjoy treating all categories equal in roto. Points leagues are never fair. There is always some category/type of player that gets too much love in the points that shouldn't. There is never a perfect points system, but roto is the definition of perfect. So it's your call. That being said it's not difficult to see which players are a little overvalued in whatever setup the points system has and get those guys.

matt vagbag just called the WBC the "world baseball event" maybe he shouldnt host 20 hours of shows a day for the mlb network.

I shall take your advice and pick up all of the guys you like, one round before you would have picked them. Unfortunately, I don't really understand all that stat stuff. Usually, I just pick the guys who I think are the prettiest...and also Chone Figgins. He's actually quite bugly. Bud, I'd suggest going to Yahoo Sports. You can sign up for a league, and I imagine they're still available. Yahoo is probably the best.

I have a great deal of fondness for the guys who way overpay on the second tier 2B and SS in like the 6th-9th rounds while I load up on pitching. They're taking guys like Tulowitski and Stephen Drew while you COULD get a guy like Hardy or Orlando Cabrera 4 or 5 rounds later for close to the same production: Drew: 291/333 44 2B 21HR 67RBI 41BB 109K Hardy: 283/344 30 2B 24HR 74RBI 55B 98K Cabrera: 281/334 332B 8HR 57 RBI 56BB 71K You take Drew, I'll follow that with Volquez, Gallardo, or Cain and then still get Hardy 4 rounds later. I've won my keeper league full of those suckers 4 years in a row. I think it's great.

MLB network's 30clubs/30days program covers the cubs tomorrow (tuesday). they show it a few times per evening/night.

this nederlands vs. PR game is goods... bernie williams (yes, that one) just blew tieing the 1-0 game in the bottom 3rd getting thrown out at home.

I am not a complete fan of our points league but i do like our keeper system. If a player has a down year/injured you got a chance to keep him at a very low draft round. For example Rafael Furcal is atleast a 6th round pick on draft day. In our league, Furcal is being kept on a 25th round pick. That is a hell of a bargain.

new MLB player for WBC...video quality looks better, we'll see what it's like on Opening Day though. Netherlands nailed Bernie Williams at the plate, up 1-0 in the 4th over Puerto Rico.

Netherlands! Netherlands! 1st/3rd with one out, pitching change and they get the double play...still up 1-0 in the 4th.

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).