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

Vizcaino DFA'd

As had been rumored, the Cubs have gone and designated Luis Vizcaino for assignment and promoted Jeff Samardzija. Vizcaino has 72 hours to clear waivers and then the Cubs have 7 days to trade or release him. Vizcaino is owed $3.5M for 2009, some of which has already been paid by the Cubs, plus he had a $4M option for 2010 with a $500K buyout, which I believe the Cubs are still responsible for.

Muskat's article suggests that Jim Hendry was trying to deal Vizcaino - possibly to the Washington Nationals - but he was unable to finalize anything, so they decided to DFA him instead. Which makes me ask, what's the fucking rush? A Trib article that Cubnut linked to in the previous post  that I can't seem to get to work now, suggested Vizcaino got in Lou's doghouse by showing up late on Opening Day, but that's hardly enough to burn $4M. As far as I know, Jeff Samardzija bobblehead day wasn't scheduled yet, so I don't know why he needed to be called up by April 23rd at the expense of Vizcaino. And you know, Vizcaino hasn't sucked so far, say like one Neal Cotts. A matter of fact, you could say he's been good with 3.2 IP, 3 K's, 0 BB's and 0 ER. And let's not even get into the Cubs burning over $5M between Vizcaino and Gaudin (if they don't find someone to take Vizcaino's contract) and then crying poor all offseason on why they didn't want to resign Kerry Wood and had to move Mark DeRosa and Jason Marquis.

But, the Cubs and Hendry have 10 days still to do something with Vizcaino so I'll save flying off the handle until the final end game is clear, but at the moment this series of moves sure looks like some of the most serious roster blundering since the day they resigned Neifi Perez.

 


The other bit of news is that Milton Bradley will sit until he's 100% and when he comes back he'll be batting 6th in the lineup. Anyone who watched the game last night could see that Bradley was still favoring his groin, so probably the right move, although the Cubs probably should have just DL'd him from the beginning to start saving themselves from that third year option that is contingent on days on the disabled list. With Bradley struggling and Micah Hoffpauir hitting, probably not a big deal in the short term. I'll be curious how this will affect the lineup though.

 

Comments

Interesting lineup change today. Fukudome, the hot hand, gets to bat 3rd, and Theriot and his .400+ OBP bumps all the way from 8th to 2nd. Soriano Theriot Fukudome Lee Ramirez Hoffpauir Soto Fontenot Zambrano Hopefully we get effective Zambrano today.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

Taveras, Dickerson, Votto, Encarnacion, Bruce, Phillips, Hernandez, Gonzalez, Harang for the Reds

Shouldn't Soto get a day off today?

Lou said Bradley would bat 6th on his return, so I'm guessing he just slots where Hoffpauir is hitting and that'll be the lineup for awhile.

Have to wonder if any DL decisions regarding Bradley, now or in the future, automatically become contentious because of their potential impact on that option year. Not saying Bradley would necessarily raise a stink, but I'm sure his agent would be on the phone if Bradley felt he could tough it out and the Cubs wanted to DL him anyway.

This afternoon's lineup by way of Wittenmyer/Twitter: sori, riot, fuku, lee, rami, hoffp, soto, font, z

 

DL'ing monopoly guy seems to be the popular move, but I disagree. All you gain by DL'ing him is a roster spot so you can bring up some scrub from Iowa. I say let him sit day-to-day, who knows, maybe he'll clobber a game winner one of these days. Plus, it would be a good time for him to serve his 2-game suspension as long as he's active. And the Cubs, geesh, throwing money around like Timothy Geithner. Still Vizcaino represents the past, Samardjiza is the future... ... yea that was sarcasm.

"Bradley was unavailable after Piniella's remarks. A Cubs spokesman said Bradley had no comment" -- Sullivan Apparently Milton missed the part of Lou's nice chat where he suggested MB talk to the media.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

I guess he should just do his thing and talk to the media, but to be honest, I don't really give a shit if he does or not. He's a ball player, not the mayor. I think the media thing is blown out of proportion.

So now it looks like, what, we got zippo for Marquis except giving away millions to a guy who won't be around for even one month? Man, I know a lot of people felt Marquis was nothing but he was not all that bad as a # 5 starter. Hendry obviously has had the touch with some moves but this has to rank as one of his top ten worse moves.

[ ]

In reply to by blibli5

if a deal can't be worked out in the 10-day window, the Cubs will be on the hook for Vizcaino's salary minus whatever he signs for with another team (chances are the league minimum). If that's how it goes down, the Cubs will have saved a grand total of $1M plus the pro-rated league minimum on the deal.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

technically it's $9.875 for Marquis and $875K to the Rockies plus the $4M they owe Vizcaino, but still $5M in savings on the deal.

But you're right, I was assuming they'd need to spend money to replace Vizcaino, but at the moment, it's on someone they're already paying.

Wasn't there talk of giving Soriano and Theriot the day off today? At least Soto, day game after a night game.

Top ten favorite memories from the Luis Vizcaino era? So many to choose from, it's hard to know where to start. Beyond bizarre. Cotts has been a disaster (but not a surprise), they send Shark to Iowa to stretch out as a starter, Vizcaino has a 0.00 ERA --- so the logical move in April is to cut Vizcaino and move Shark to middle relief, where he will get inconsistent work, and keep Cotts because any lefty is a good lefty. Oh, I get it. No, wait, I don't.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Are you really surprised? He showed up out of shape and seemingly out of touch with his role on the team. We're talking about a guy who's been inconsistent his entire career. I wish we had the cash to just work him into a platoon situation so they can try to give him some months off here and there..

Lordy, they're talking about the bat issue again... geez... Probably because of the ump who got smacked with the bat and had to be taken to the hospital. Well if it was anything like the umps we've seen in the past week or so he probably got hit with the bat because his eyes were closed or he was drunk or something. Bleh... Want a safe sport? Go golf.

Is today April Fools Day? I mean Hendry can't be serious can he? I know, I know I hate Hendry so anything I say is biased. But when he does stupid shit like this it is obvious why so many people don't like him as a GM. He releases a guy who has a 0.00 ERA making $3.5MM while keeping a guy who has a 3.33 WHIP and .354 BAA only making $1.1MM. Why cry poor the past 6 months, but then throw like $10MM down the shitter releasing/trading players? This seriously makes ZERO sense. There has to be some part of the story we are not hearing as it makes no sense to release Vizcaino over Cotts. What a fucking joke!!!

[ ]

In reply to by mannytrillo

Len and Bob alluded to some "tardiness issues" during the telecast today, which leads me to believe it wasn't a one time thing on opening day. Seems like the Cubs are trying to go the ATL route and make sure everyone in the organization does things the right way (although signing MB would seem to contradict that theory). Anyway, all of these issues will become insignificant once half our starting lineup gets out of their current slumps (Bradley, Soto, Fontenot, Lee).

The Cubs are almost unbearable to watch right now.

Did Theriot get thrown out on a strike steal or a botched hit and run?

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

Straight steal, he had a great jump and had it stolen if not for the fact that it ended up being a high fastball on Hernandez's throwing side. He was standing up to catch it and then threw a perfectly placed ball to second. Any other pitch he would have been safe. But it was a total rally killer regardless.

Wow, Neal Cotts is a fucking bum. Can we just throw at Votto's head every time he's up? The dude kills us.

Cotts just gave up HR to Votto...HA HA HA HA HA Neal FUCKING Cotts Amazing...Absolutely...Amazing!!!

I see Vizcaino is available. Maybe Hendry can deal Cotts for him....

I think The Joe was kidding, but it's true, I'd rather see Cotts make the guy earn runs over walking them on base. Of course better yet, I'd prefer to just not see Cotts pitch at all. I'm willing to cut him some slack, though, because he's white.

Yeah, sure is great to have this guy back... More gas for the fire!!!

You really can't make this shit up. The Cubs decide to release Vizcaino, keep Cotts and bring up Samardick. Cotts gives up a HR to a lefty and Samardick gives up 4 hits and 2 runs in an inning. And sometimes I wonder why this organization hasn't won a title in 101 years now.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • 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. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Seconded!!!

  • crunch (view)

    another awesome spring of pitching reports.  thanks a lot, appreciated.