Cubs MLB Roster

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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

(Cubbie) Blue Dominates Red Once Again

The Cubs won their third in a row and take the opener versus the Cincinnati Reds on a cold and windy night at Wrigley. Rich Harden and Aramis "Two-out RBI" Ramirez did the heavy lifting with some assistance from Micah Hoffpauir and Chris Dickerson's glove.

Why the Cubs Won: From what I was able to watch, Rich Harden rebounded quite nicely from his last start, needing just 92 pitches to get through six innings while fanning eight. If the Cubs weren't already up by five, you have to think he could have easily come out for the 7th inning. The mid 90's velocity still isn't there as he sat in the 89-92 range (topping out at 93 mph), but he dazzled the Reds with his lethal fastball/change combo. There was a bit of a scare in the fifth when  Wily Taveras hit a sharp grounder up the middle off Harden's glove that ricocheted to his right. Harden scampered to try and make the play but his cleats failed him and he landed face down in the grass, groin and shoulder still in tact though.

Aramis came through with the big hits tonight, a two-out RBI single in the fifth - an opportunity that was only afforded to him thanks to Chris Dickerson dropping a Derrek Lee flyball two at-bats earlier. Then in the 6th, he picked up Reed Johnson who struck out with the bases loaded to drive in two more - once again with two outs - which pretty much put the game away. Hoffpauir kept up his torrid start with his first home run of the season in the second and then hit a sac fly to center before curiously being pinch-hit for in the sixth.

Fail: After Harden showed off his speed beating out a well-placed sac bunt attempt to load the bases in the 2nd, Alfonso Soriano struck out and then Kosuke Fukudome flied to center to end the threat. Neal Cotts faced three batters, giving up a hit, another walk and striking out one.  Geovany Soto air-mailed a throw to second base that Ryan Theriot made a nice play on to keep from going to the outfield and almost got the swipe tag out on a stolen base attempt by Joey Votto. Replays made it look like he did get Votto on the hand, but the bad throw by Soto made it a tough call for the ump. After Jay Bruce fouled a ball to the Bartman seat where a fan made the catch, Bruce immediately singled in the Reds second run. The crowd, for no good reason, booed the fan who caught the ball although Soriano wasn't going to make the play, and the ball was farther in the stands than in Game 6. A rogue calico cat launched from the bleachers took a swipe at a grounds crew member before getting tossed by its tail. And the MLB.tv delay that is about 10 pitches behind this year.

Armchair Managing: In the 6th, with the bases loaded and Micah Hoffpauir due up, Lou pinch-hits with Reed Johnson when the Dustinator goes to lefty Daniel Herrera. A reasonable move with Johnson's .837 OPS vs. lefties in his career, plus with the Cubs up three at the time, a defensive upgrade. But Hoffpauir already hit a home run plus a deep sac fly to center and has been scorching hot since about 2007. Johnson unfortunately struck out, although Ramirez picked him up with a 2-out, 2-RBI single, but I'm not sure you want to take the bat out of a hot hitter's hands.

Death Pool: Neal Cotts leads the way but  0-for-2009 Joey Gathright is making a strong case for the first player to get dropped from the original 25-man roster.

(Photo credit: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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Comments

think gath is probably safe...he's supposedly a great clubhouse guy and doesn't mind bench work. lou seems to like him, he's got speed, and he can adequately play all 3 OF slots. i dunno if the guy will get 200ab, but i bet he'll see 80+ games. gath is 0 for 4...1bb, 8 games.

What a shame we couldn't get through a 7-2 game without having to go to Marmol.

Re: the Dickerson error... I think Kasper had it right--Dickerson had to be affected by how close the ball came to hitting the edge of the basket. Too bad D-Lee hit that ball into that wind, but worked out for us anyhow.

Did that cat really get chucked from the bleachers? How the hell do you get into the stadium with an adult cat? And furthermore, how do you sit in the bleachers for a good hour and a half with a cat without getting mauled or noticed by security? Crazy. I've got Cotts in the first to be DFA'd pool. Lou didn't look very pleased with him. At least the car jumper can pinch run, Cotts offers nothing at this point.

How long is it going to take before Lou moves Aramis up to 3rd in the batting order. Having the 1.000+ OPS's of Soriano, Fuku and Ramy at the top of the order to get the most at bats makes sense doens't it? Watching DLee bat these days hurts my eyes, he's got to get moved down in the order.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Well, I just learned a new word. I agree, Lou does have a short leash with his pitchers and it's exacerbated when they walk guys, but what is he supposed to do? Just let Cotts keep failing? If he leaves him in to walk the bases loaded last night and someone manages a hit or a HR, all of a sudden we're looking at a real tight game that should have been a blow out. Right now, the only time I trust Cotts is if we're already losing by 10 runs or so. Lou can try to help him succeed all he wants, but if you can't get the job done there's only so much positive reinforcement a manager can give. We know Cotts can be effective, but he's not right now and Iowa is the right place for him to get it back together.

[ ]

In reply to by CPH2133

From AZ Phil, a couple of threads back. Q-BALL: Neal Cotts is only making $1.1M, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Cubs DFA him and see if anyone is interested, and if nobody is interested, the Cubs could try to outright him to AAA. He can refuse an outright assignment because he has three-plus years of MLB service time, but if he refuses, he terminates his contract and the Cubs don't owe him any termination pay. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personally, I'd have given Cotts one more hitter last night. He'd actually recorded an out, so he was having a great outing (for him). Single was a roller up the middle. It seems to me as a manager you need to have a range of responses, from pat-on-the-back to ass-kicking. Also seems to me that Lou has a pretty small range of responses to struggling pitchers.

Lou has always liked Cotts--at least theoretically--and has been unusually patient with him considering what he's gotten from Cotts in return. One of my first impressions of Lou was him raving about Cotts' arm in spring training '07.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

For the money he's making, it would be a shame to give up on Cotts. He had a great spring training, so I'm not sure what happened mentally between then and now, but you can tell he is fighting himself just to throw strikes. I've seen Cotts pitch in a game 3 times this season, and every time there has been a shot of Lou Piniella in the dugout bitching at Rothschild after a walk. I'm sure Lou's already tiny level of patience he normally has is wearing razor thin, but I think we are better off having Cotts work through his issues rather than jumbling our roster and moving Marshall to relief so we can bring Samardzija up to start. I'm not sure why we didn't make a Cotts-like offer to Joe Beimel. Since he signed a $2MM contract with Washington, he probably could have been had for less to play to a contender (you would think).

http://espn.go.com/chicago/columns/blog?post=4086195&name=levine As far as the possibility of trades, some teams have contacted the Cubs about their relief corps. The Cubs can't send either David Patton or Angel Guzman to the minors without going through the waiver process. Guzman is out of options; Patton, because of the Rule 5 draft in December 2008, must stay on the big league team all season or be subject to waivers before he can return to the minors. The Cubs would lose both pitchers without compensation if they tried to put them through the waiver process. In the short term, look for Samardzija to be called up as soon as the Cubs can trade one of their relievers.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I think it is time to start giving Vizcaino some more high leverage innings. He is our 3rd best reliever, IMO (outside of Gregg and Marmol).

[ ]

In reply to by mannytrillo

That really scares me. Vizcaino has a history of catastrophic late inning collapses. I mean really epic stuff. He's got good stuff, but when he gets excited or in trouble, that slider tends to REALLY flatten out.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I would hate to see Guzman go, after all the work and time the Cubs have put into him and the quality of stuff he has, it seems like we are just now seeing what he can do. If they can trade Patton for a lefty specialist or AAA prospect, it would seem to be worth it.

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).