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

Winter Meetings 2009 Day Four

8:27 AM

Cubs select RHP Mike Parisi from the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round of the Rule 5 draft.

Looks like all the major league teams passed on Round 2 and no Cubs were taken in the major league phase.


The rumor news should be pretty light today as teams head back home.

- Wittenmyer wrote last night - apparently before the Lowell/Ramirez trade that isn't quite official went down - about Boston's possible interest. He then goes through the usual suspects.

The Tampa Bay Rays are still there for a deal that would include moving heavy-salaried Pat Burrell and the Cubs sending cash. The Los Angeles Angels have had exploratory discussions but would need a lot of cash in the deal or for the Cubs to find a way to rid the Angels of their $23.5 million commitment to Gary Matthews Jr. And the New York Mets, according to a team official, might be willing to step back into the fray as part of a three- or four-team deal that could send Luis Castillo ($12 million next two years) to the Cubs.

Wittenmyer then goes through all the teams that have zero interest including the Twins (Bradley called the organization racist back when he was in high school), A's and Indians (not looking for a reunion), plus some mystery GM of a team that had to assure one of his players that Bradley wasn't going to be joining the club.

So that's going well...

- Rosenthal tweets once again, that the talks between Rays and Bradley are at an impasse.

- Tim Brown joins Rosenthal in saying Rangers are probably out as potential trade partner for Bradley.

- Rule 5 draft is today, Cubs are always good for losing a player or two. For a brief and poorly organized history, visit Wiklifield (I will clean that up sometime in the near future, unless someone cares to do it).

Comments

The jury is still out on Veal, but the Cubs have been relatively good in the Hendry era at not losing future major-league players, though Wells certainly could have gone the other way in Toronto. I remember thinking how idiotic it was to leave Sisco unprotected ... one shouldn't project too much onto prospects, I suppose.

The Milton saga has taken on a life of its own. It is becoming exhausting. I think Hendry really hurt his position here. Eventually Bradley will be moved, but not on the Cubs terms. Ricketts may have to okay Hendry to add a little more payroll. I am wondering if the Cubs can convince a team to swallow more of Milton's contract if they throw in another player to sweeten the deal. I do not have any suggestions and Hendry probably does not want to compound his mistake, so the chances are probably unlikeley.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

"Ya think so? You mean the Milton Bradley contract didn't work out as expected?" Ryno, specifically the last few days. I was refering to openly talking about Bradley being moved, not willing to eat money, approximately how much they are willing to eat, Crane Kenny opening his mouth yesterday, and the fact that he was suspended at the end of the year. He tried and failed to create a market for this guy. I am not saying a deal would have been made that would work out favorably for the Cubs, but all the hoopla the last few days did nothing positive toward making a deal. Hence the reason I said, "Hendry really hurt his position here".

[ ]

In reply to by thedirtbag

m.bradley probably had to be suspended at the point he was suspended. fighting von j. isn't a quick trip to being loved by anyone in upper management. sure, Z has done a LOT of the stuff m.bradley has done, but there's a major difference between the 2 guys...getting into bradley's head is a team sport for fans and it works. what's not being brought up a lot is how some teams don't want bradley not because of lockerroom chemistry, but because their own fans would/could turn bradley into...well, we've seen it. bradley shows up at wrigley, hits like a man on a mission at home, and gets crap thrown at him like it's part of the price of admission. this is NOT new to the cubs (it's happened to him on other teams) and bradley falls for it EVERY season. without the handholding, babying, and constant reassurance bradley is at the fan's mercy. manny being manny might fly in boston because his ego will let him shrug off any fan criticism...boston would eat milton bradley alive.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

It still seems like Bradley could be flipped for a guy like Derek Lowe. That is the direction that Hendry really needs to go. Chances are that the Braves aren't willing to do that as of today. However if the Braves can't move Lowe by Feb, then I'd bet they would listen. Hendry needs to sign Aubrey Huff now. Then worry about trading Bradley later.

So the Cubs need to move Milton Bradley to even be players in the Mike Cameron sweepstakes. Obviously not a lot of spare cash floating around this winter. But what about next year? Here's a few impact guys who are scheduled to be free agents next offseason: Roy Halladay Cliff Lee Joe Mauer Carl Crawford Josh Beckett Victor Martinez Derek Jeter Brandon Webb Plus, these guys' teams have options: Albert Pujols ($16M team option, no way he gets loose, obviously) Lance Berkman (at $15M, depends how bad Houston is in 2010) Jose Reyes Jimmy Rollins (option is only $8M so I'm sure the Phils will pick it up unless he's hooked on smack or something else) Aramis Ramirez (it's his player option for $14.6M) The Cubs have their own free agents, namely Derrek Lee and Ted Lilly. But even with those two coming off the books, can this team really afford to be in on any of these guys? Also, with how this team's offense is likely to look in 2010, unless Derrek regresses badly, will the team really be able to afford to let him walk, even if it's to get in on a younger guy like Crawford or Mauer? I don't really have a point, I just wonder if Hendry will be in last-minute dump mode on guys like Dempster and Fukudome trying to clear payroll to re-sign Lee and Ramirez and if the best free agent corps in some time will slip past him.

Is this guy coming back from an injury? How the hell do you drop from MLB to Rookie ball in one offseason?

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

Headline from a subscription-only story at Scout.com: Mike Parisi fared well in the AFL while three other (Cardinals) pitching prospects struggled on the mound. Maybe one of you AFL followers have more info on this guy?

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

lazy copy and paste of his AFL league stats. Team League W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO GO/AO AVG SUR AFL 3 2 4.44 7 6 0 0 0 26.1 26 14 13 1 6 15 2.05 .257 Still not striking out a lot, but a 2:1 GO/FO ratio - wonder if that is the result of the cutter, or his crappy sinker.

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

"He had Tommy John surgery in August of '08." according to mlbtraderumors.com

First it was Ibanez and now it's Granderson. Lou seems annoyed that, for whatever reasons, Hendry isn't getting him the players he really wanted. Today:
INDIANAPOLIS - Lou Piniella, who has gotten used to losing out on free agents to the Yankees, is lamenting the fact his Chicago Cubs did not have either the chips or the financial resources to acquire Curtis Granderson, but predicts the All-Star center fielder will improve his on-base percentage now that he's no longer surrounded by all the free swingers in the Detroit Tigers lineup. "Our primary need is an outfielder who can hit fifth, and Granderson was our No. 1 choice," Piniella said Wednesday. "There was just no way we could get him, and once again the Yankees swooped in and got their man.... Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2009/12/10/2009-12-10_madde_…

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Yeah...Lou's won 1784 games as manager, and back to back division titles in 2007-2008. We donated that to the A's because Aaron Miles stinks, and shoudn't have been signed, let alone to a 2 year deal. Paying $1 million is better than paying $2.7 million for that sack of worthless. We're expected to donate $5 million to another team because Milton Bradley was mistakenly expected to play well, and live up to a mistake of a 3 year contract.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Ok. Lou was certainly asleep at the switch last season at times it seemed. But was it his managing that caused: Soriano's injuries Soto's injury Ramirez' injury Bradley's poor performance Gregg's poor performance I was pointing out that, while last season was an off season, that "putting up" with Lou...is not like putting up with Bruce Kimm or Jim Essian.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

The job of a manager is to get the best out of the players. Lee and Wells, maybe Marshall and Ramirez when he was healthy. So out of 30 something guys, Lou did his job with four of them. He did things that were puzzling in the way he handled Bradley. Miles hasn't been known to be discountent, but he "had to go". Lou didn't like Pie, but he wanted speed so we swapped in Gathright. Despite what Lou says to the press - Jim discussed all of these moves with Lou prior to making them. He said to Lou "Do you think you can handle Bradley" and Lou sais "Yes." But when Bradley turned into a disaster, where is Lou manning up and saying "wow, that guy is too much for me to handle"? What does Lou say? "I wanted Granderson and Ibanez." I am not sure what his problem is, but he utterly failed at the most important part of his job in 2009.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

You can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit TRN. The Cubs could have had Bobby Cox, Billy Martin, or Leo Durocher managing this team, and they still would have struggled. Bradley should have been an upgrade, but failed miserably. Where has he gone that he has not had issues? Texas? They are welcome to him...but they didn't want to sign him long term after 2008. I'd point to Piniella's handling of the Ramirez injury, failing to move Soriano down in the lineup sooner, or his handling of the bullpen as major issues from last season, ahead of massaging poor Milton's ego. Soto was hurt, got out of shape at the WBC Lee had a good season Fontenot stunk, not ready/able to be the full time 2B Theriot was respectable, but still lacking range at SS Ramirez was hurt, played well when there Soriano shouldn't have been playing on his injured knee. It should not be his responsibility alone...he hurt the team too often last season. Fukudome was better than 2008, but still faded sown the stretch Bradley? We've covered him...extensively. Big Z..so Lou made him a head case? Lilly had a solid season Dempster was better than I thought he'd be, just not 2008 good Wells was a pleasant surprise Harden gave up a lot more flyballs than usual it seemed. Lou's fault? Kevin Gregg is an average at best closer. He was again in 2008. Marmol need to find the strike zone. And so on. Lou was certainly not at his best last season, but there aren't many miracle workers managing these days.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

My point is that Lou sucked, Bradley sucked, Miles sucked (along with others). Why does Lou not take any repsonsibility for it? Besides throwing his players under the bus, he's now doing the same to his GM, building excuses for 2010 two months before spring training. They both need to go, but at least when Hendry screws up he acts like a man about it.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

Lou needs to realize he can't pigeon-hole players and demand really specific things like that. Saying, "our primary need is an outfielder who can hit fifth" is ridiculous. It's like saying your first baseman absolutely has to hit for power. Well, if you can trade for a guy like A-Rod to play SS then suddenly you don't need a first baseman with power. How about focusing on acquiring really good players regardless of where you think they can hit in the order, rather than these stupid notions like, we need a left-handed centerfielder who can hit between 20-30 HRs, and is a Scorpio.

"The Boston Red Sox have reached a preliminary agreement to trade third baseman Mike Lowell to the Texas Rangers for catcher Max Ramirez, sources told ESPN." [] 'However, on Thursday morning, Rangers GM John Daniels said the deal is not yet done. "Reports of the deal were somewhat overstated," Daniels said.' http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4730311

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

I debunked all those Yahoos on Monday night. I knew that Bradley was not going to get traded, and it is sad that no GM wants to take a financial risk on on a player whose antics were made even more public via one of baseball's most viewed teams. Excuse my language, but what the fuck was Jim Hendry thinking when he signed Milton Bradley? If he does not get shown the door after this year, then I just think this Ricketts Group is going to be the same as all the others. I would think it would piss me off as a new owner to no end realizing that my main personnel guy is going to stick me with a $20MM hit right after I just bought the team.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Didn't the Rays sign Burrell before the Cubs signed Bradley? I think the revisionist TB offer is a CYA by Hendry

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Burrell signed 1-5-2009 Bradley signed the next day So that confirms that Hendry bid against himself. Dunn and Abreu both signed on 2-11

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

There would be plenty of ways the Cubs could get out of a deal like that. (failed physical?)
Sorry, Dr. aaron. Not only is it a breach of contract to do so but such behavior would truly be douchebaggery of a degree that would surpass the Himes/Stanton Cook treatment of Greg Maddux when they pulled an offer off the table and refused to allow Maddux to accept it 1 day later, thus leading to Maddux leaving the Cubs as a Free Agent. Himes/Cook was douchey (and stupid) but legal. I really don't want that level of jerkiness being associated with a team that I cheer for again.

So the consensus is that the Cubs had a signed deal with Milton Bradley. Only they had to clear payroll to sign him? So to recap the Bradley signing from last offseason..... The Cubs secured the services of Milton Bradley,at a discount no less. After a fierce bidding war between several unnamed MLB teams. As an act of Bradley's goodwill he didn't demand a 4th year player option or a No-Trade clause.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

Even if there was not a signed contract, if the Cubs and Bradley had agreed on the terms verbally and thus Bradley stopped talking with any other potential suitors, changing the terms or pulling out of the deal after Burell signed with TB would be a pretty asshole move. I don't know what legal repercussions it would have, but I don't Hendry would want to give the team the reputation of screwing over players in that way. If you want to wait and see what other people get, you don't tell Bradley that you've agreed on the contract and are just waiting to free up money. Whether Hendry ever said that, I don't know, but that seems to be the hypothetical we're discussing.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

You can look in the archives here at TCR... http://www.thecubreporter.com/archive/all/2008/12 December 30th. But if you really want to know what happened. Ibanez was the 2nd choice for the Cubs and the first for the Phils, who had a spot open in left. The Phils signed him before the Cubs did, but that didn't matter to Hendry because...Bradley was the first choice of the Rays and the Cubs and received very similiar offers from both. His agent got that turned into a 3-year offer (with the injury clauses) from the Cubs and he signed. The Rays then went with their 2nd guy - Burrell and the Nats said 'OK, we'll take Dunn for $20 and 10 years, thanks guys." And finally Abreu got a job from the Angels when he and Garrett Anderson were the only "names" left to fill left field spots, and the Angels didn't want Anderson back. So it could have been worse, we could have had Burrel or Anderson, but it would have been better, at least offensively if we got one of the three other guys. Hendry wasn't the only GM who preferred someone over Abreu.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

I think the recap is Cubs wanted a left-handed right fielder that could bat in the middle of the order, that meant Bradley, Abreu, Ibanez or Dunn (was there anyone else?). They decided, rightfully in my opinion, that Bradley is the only one that can actually play right field. They made an offer that was better than the 2 yr offer that the Rays made, on par with what Ibanez received and then made it official once they moved DeRosa and Marquis. Then Bradley slugged 50 pts below his career averages and was an insufferable douche while Lou and Hendry acted surprised by his behavior.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Well summarized! Don't forget to mention that around the same time, we had Hendry acquiring who he thought were the right trading chips to get a Jake Peavy deal done. To me, it felt like JH had spent so much time and energy working to get Jake Peavy that he didn't spend enough time on the OF need for last season. The big mistake was giving Milton Bradley a 3-year contract. Once Tampa Bay stepped up with a 2-year offer, given Milton's history of 1 year with a team and out the door, we needed to step away and look at other options. Hindsight is always 20/20 though. Hendry has made a mess of this, no doubt, but I'm not ready to run him out of town for it. We won 83 games last season with our top 4 starters all spending significant time on the DL, huge underperformances by Soriano, Soto and Fontenot, and a major injury to Aramis, arguably our best clutch hitter. Assuming we don't have the same degree of bad luck again this season, we should no doubt improve on 83 wins. Hendry knows he fucked up with Bradley and Miles, and he is working hard to correct these mistakes. I applaud him for not jumping at the crap offers (Carlos Silva??) I'm sure he received at the meeting. Let's see how it all plays out, shall we?

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).