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

Updates on Beatings, Byrd and Berg

Update:

Lineups for Cubs @ Diamondbacks...

Cubs vs. Ian Kennedy
Fukudome 9, Theriot 4, Byrd 8, Colvin 7, Nady 3, Ramirez 5, Castro 6, Soto 2, Gorzelanny 1

D-backs vs. Tom Gorzelanny
Young 8, Johnson 4, Upton 9, Montero 2, Reynolds 5, LaRoche 3, Drew 6, Gillespie 7, Kennedy 1


The dramatic high point of my Independence Day was seeing a little kid take a dump in our community pool.

Speaking of the Cubs...

Sunday's 14-3 loss marked not just the Cubs' second defeat to the Reds by 11 or more runs in the course of their four-game series, it was the Cubs' third such shellacking in their past nine home games. (You may have forgotten this doozy from a couple weeks back.)

Not sure what other point to make about this except personally, I'm pretty numb to the whole business. The 14-3's no longer bother me any more than the 3-1's or 2-0's.

Acceptance is the last of the Seven Stages of Grief, right?

— For the second consecutive year, the Cubs placed just one player on the NL All-Star team. Last year it was Ted Lilly; this year it's Marlon Byrd, a first-time All-Star whose performance this season (.309/.355/.482) has been one of the Cubs' few bright spots.

Alfonso Soriano, who was voted onto the team by the fans in '08 and named as an extra in '07, finished 11th among NL outfielders this time around with a little over 865,000 votes. That meant Soriano collected about 40% as many votes as the Dodgers' Andre Ethier, who came up third in the fan tally for an outfield spot behind Ryan Braun and Jason Heyward.

Peter Gammons (@pgammo) tweets that the Cubs are "talking Lilly deal" and hoping to re-sign the lefty as a free agent at year's end. Gammons also says that the Cubs are "marketing" Derrek Lee.

Marketing a .227-hitting, 34-year-old first baseman can't be easy, but we do have the "Easiest GM To Make A Deal With" in our corner.

— Aramis Ramirez was out of the Cubs lineup Saturday and Sunday because of recurrent problems with his left thumb and swelling in "the meat portion of his left hand," according to the manager.

Since his return from the DL nine days ago, Ramirez had gone 7-for-30 and at one point, had raised his average to .180. That's the highest it's been since he was hitting .200 (3-for-15) following the fourth game of the season on April 9th.

(UPDATE: Per batting orders posted above, Ramirez is in Monday's starting lineup.)

Wittenmyer tweets that the Cubs have recalled Justin Berg and re-demoted Jeff Stevens, who gave up three hits, three walks and four runs in yesterday's bloodbath without retiring a hitter.

The Cubs open a three-game series in Arizona Phil territory on Monday afternoon, with Tom Gorzelanny opposing Ian Kennedy. As Bleed Cubbie Blue put it so succinctly a little while ago, "Cubs' awful offense to face Diamondbacks' putrid pitching. Something's gotta give."

Comments

Berg back up - hmm. This revolving door is tiresome. Why not let Diamond have an opportunity to secure a bullpen spot? Diamond has shown the ability to get a strikeout, and, as a starter, he's stretched out. Berg has a 1:1 K/BB rate at Iowa - the last thing the MLB bullpen needs.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

because it would involve bringing in someone who doesn't know the system, scouts, etc... ...or you'd promote internally but lose a guy who has knowledge of the system in the process. unless hendry is a rouge or some kind of distraction to the suits of the organization that work under him (not likely on either) it probably wouldn't change much of what's going to happen. it's just so close to "go time" on dealing.

[ ]

In reply to by Ross_Barnes

Submitted by Ross_Barnes on Mon, 07/05/2010 - 1:04pm. Berg back up - hmm. This revolving door is tiresome. Why not let Diamond have an opportunity to secure a bullpen spot? Diamond has shown the ability to get a strikeout, and, as a starter, he's stretched out. Berg has a 1:1 K/BB rate at Iowa - the last thing the MLB bullpen needs. ==================================== ROSS B: The problem with bringing Thomas Diamond up to MLB right now is that once added to the Cubs 40-man roster he would have one minor league option left, and so it would be better to wait to add Diamond to the 40 (and bring him up to Chicago) until no earlier than mid-August, so that his last minor league option will be preserved for use in the 2011 season in case the Cubs need to send him back to Iowa sometime after they bring him up. Another issue with Diamond is that he takes a bit longer than the average pitcher to get warmed-up, and so he profiles better as a starter than as a reliever at this time. But then the problem with using him as a starter is that he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be much more than a five-inning pitcher. As a result, he is not as highly-regarded by the Cubs Player Development people as you might think he would be, although he does have quality stuff and he appears to have bounced-back nicely from his TJS. FWIW, I rate Diamond as the Cubs #15 prospect as of right now.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

Submitted by Dr. aaron b on Tue, 07/06/2010 - 11:34am. So in your opinion Diamond profiles better in the bullpen? If so wouldn't it make sense to use him in that role right now?(In Iowa) ============================= AARON B: It depends. If Diamond can improve his command and throw fewer pitcher-per-inning, he would profile as a starter. If he can get loose faster than he does now, he would profile as a reliever. Both are possibilities. Bottom line is, he has big league stuff. Right now, I would say if nothing changes, he will remain a starter and you would just have to accept a typical outing of five (occasionally six) innings per start, hoping that he can learn to pitch-to-contact just a bit more than he does now. His inabilty to get loose fast enough to be used as a reliever might result from his post-TJS, although it also might be something in his DNA (he was a starter pre-TJS). You might be surprised how many pitchers have this problem (can't go deep into ganmes as a starter, can't get warmed-up fast enough to be a reliever). It can be a career-killer even for guys with quality stuff.

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

Thanks for the info Phil. Diamond sounds like a guy who would prove very useful in a tandem starter set-up (say with Gorz) if the Cubs ever thought about such an idea. As you suggest, maybe continued arm strengthening will produce more durability as the second half proceeds. I see Chris Rusin threw a great game for Daytona today (7 IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 7K). The guy throws a ton of strikes (only 9 BB in 70.1 innings). Michael Brenley is also on fire: an OPS of almost 1100 since June 1st!

soto's getting closer to that .400ob% and just hit another double. he keeps it up he'll be resting more or hitting in the 9 slot rather than 8. he should know better.

I am thinking that Ricketts likes Hendry, and that we are in for another year at least. What WOULD be terrific, as has been discussed, is a real baseball pedigreed "overseer", ala John Scherlholz, or someone of that type, to watch over him on deals. Crane Kenny, on the other hand, should get the boot.

it is definately time to cash-out on cashner and send him back to AAA to stretch him out as a starter again... he's not fooling anyone for weeks.

mr. gibson has marched his top 3 relievers out all on the same day to protect this 3-run trailing score. heilman pitching 2 games in a row and yesterday he came into the 8th... i think he's lost his closing gig for no apparent reason...and it's probably to the guy that just gave up a homer to soriano.

haha...grace up in the booth talking about rushing the cubs booth and getting into a fight for the sake of the team and pumping up the ARZ diamondbacks. awesome. they're debating which one gets to fight bob and which gets to fight len...they both want to fight len for obvious not-getting-your-ass-kicked reasons. ha...

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

And here's a question to go with that. Why is it that a bunch of whoevers on TCR can figure out that one fucking win does not a season make, and after every single one Lou says we should just enjoy it?? Mind boggling *edit* In a game that saw Randy Wells take a no-hitter into the seventh inning, the Cubs managed to strand an astounding 17 baserunners, falling one short of the National League record of 18. The Cubs were an anemic 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position. "We played a good baseball game," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "We got a lot of opportunities, but we got enough of them in, and let's enjoy the win." And from today's game recap: The nine runs were the most the Cubs (36-47) have scored this month and the most since an 8-6 victory over the rival White Sox on June 27 at U.S. Cellular Field. The most recent time they scored as many as nine times against a National League foe was in a 9-4 win at Milwaukee on June 9. "This was a good game for us offensively," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "We put some runs on the board. We hit the ball with some power. We hit the ball with men on base. It was good to see. It was a good win for us." This has been the depths of the Cubs' despair: Until Monday, they had lost the first game of their past 11 series dating back to a May 25 victory at home over Dodgers. They are 12-21 dating back to May 30 and haven't won back-to-back games since June 16-17 against the A's at Wrigley Field. Though the Cubs are 28-45 against the rest of baseball, they are 8-2 against the National League West and 4-1 vs. the D-backs. I may or may not have been screaming 'Fire Lou' before, but I sure as shit am now. The man is either senile, mentally retarded (no offense intended to actual persons with special needs) or has no fucking clue where the team he's supposed to be managing actually is in the world. http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100703&content_id=11… http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100705&content_id=11…

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

I believe he simply mispoke when refering to Oswalt and Haren as FA to be. I think he was just talking about the top line starters who's names have been thrown out there as trade candidates this month. I must have missed the part about his inside access to the Brewers. Perhaps he's only refering to what he's heard through his baseball contacts and heard in the media. I've never read the MLB TR chats. But I know Tim Dierkes is a Cubs fan.

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

MLB TR has gotten better about not revising their site to match their "predictions" and we don't have to deal with an army of people spamming their site on the internet. That said...any opinion anyone on that site has that's not supported by someone else's real work is pretty useless, imo. MLB TR's period of introduction was one of the messiest roll-outs to force-feed half truths and "sources" that didn't exist. The revising of posts after the fact to make stuff true was just disgusting. At least they now realize they can just collect other people's news/content and rely on that rather than making stuff up. YEARS...of putting up with this asshat mass-spamming his site...I'm glad he "made it" so he could leave the rest of us that aren't sheep alone.

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

The obvious conclusion then is that the players' and coaches picks should be taken away. They have a long history of not knowing what the fuck they're talking about when awarding the Gold Gloves, and now we have five years of evidence that they'll fuck this up too. Actually now that I think about it, it was better to have one group with an oversight of the entire roster fill it, because now by the time the manager gets it, his hands are probably tied to a large part about who gets to go to fill "needs" and the every team requirement.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Well, it's a combination of having his hands tied, but then also making bad choices - which happens when you tie peoples hands, there is very little margin for error. By the time the manager gets to make any decisions, most of the roster is filled. He gets to select 9 players and in selecting those 9 players he has to select 5 pitchers and 4 position players. He can't deviate from this. He also has to make sure all teams are represented. And, to boot, he is required to consult with major league baseball and league managers while making these decisions. That last part is not specified to us as fans, and I am not sure what exactly it entails. But my guess is that MLB has the final say on whether or not someone like Strasburg should be an All-Star. I am also guessing that managers of unrepresented teams get asked who they think their one guy should be, etc. So when Manuel got to make his picks this year he had to still select a Pirate, Astro, and Diamondback among his 9. There are no pitchers worth a shit on the D-Backs so he went with a position player, and chose Chris Young over Kelly Johnson. Similarly, he could go with Astro closer Matt Lindstrom, but there are 5-6 other better closers out there. So he took Michael Bourne from the Astros. At this point, he really can't take McCutchen or Jones from the Pirates since he only has two more position slots left and should probably take 2 infielders. So the Pirate becomes Evan Meek, the best pitcher they have this year. So now he is free to select 4 other pitchers and 2 infielders that he feels give him the best shot to win the game AND rewards those players who have had good first halves. He first takes his own Ryan Howard. Then realizes he probably needs the final guy to be someone who can play the other infield positions and takes Omar Infante, which is a rather dumb selection, but that's his rationale I would guess. For his pitchers he already has 3 closers and Meek, so he wants starters. There are a glut of solid starters he can pick from and he selects Carpenter, Hudson, and Gallardo. He could take another like Pelfrey or Silva, but at this point he has to be shocked that he doesn't have a SINGLE left-handed pitcher on the staff. And the thus takes Arthur Rhodes. I would have taken Billy Wagner myself. The NL now has only Rhodes to match up against any left-handed bats the AL uses late in the game. This is unfortunate, but there are very few lefties in the NL having good seasons. [Luckily, the AL roster is also terribly constructed, and the ONLY left-handed hitter not starting is David Oritz, so expect Ortiz to be saved until a key at-bat and Rhodes to be saved to come in and face him] At this point, Manuel names his final man ballot of 5 players and goes with Votto (whom he probably should have picked over Howard), Wagner (the lefty reliever he really needs), Bell (one of the best closers still available), Gonzales (another speedy OF), and Zimmerman (a backup 3B). This is odd. Most managers have a theme for this pick. Like they need one more power bat off of the bench and here are 5 to pick from. But it's as if Manuel isn't thinking about a "need" here. Finally, Manuel can replace injured players, but this is also tricky. With Utley injured, Prado, the next second basemen on the players ballot was named the starter in his place. I can't find exactly how this is ruled, but how it has been written about it sounds like MLB decided this. I think Manuel was then allowed to select a reserve second basemen to replace Prado - Bradon Phillips. Apparently they didn't go to the 3rd players choice?? But I can't find this out for sure. Because with Tulowitzki, the players selection, out, MLB simply went to the third players choice - Jose Reyes and named him. Manuel it appears had no say. Most significant about this is that Prado is now starting and 2B. He could always be named the reentry person, but for roster construction, if Prado is a reserve, maybe Manuel doesn't take Infante and takes Votto or someone like that instead. All told, it's a terrible way to build a team. A roster of 34 players shouldn't have any holes in it and there shouldn't be any major snubs - but there are both. In addition, the process is very shady. I had to dig for a while to find out which reserves were named by the players ballot and which were manager selections. They are announced simply as a batch, and MLB doesn't note this anywhere that I could find on its website. The less info they give the less criticism there is. For instance, why the fuck the players and coaches voted for Matt Capps, one of the least nasty and intimidating closers in the league. It would be like voting for Joe Borowski just because he leads the league in saves at the break. The point of the players ballot was to overcome this, to elect the stars that they respect and fear, regardless of stats that may fool fans. But that is not happening.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

This might be the first time we've ever been in agreement. I should buy a lottery ticket or something today, or brace for the Apocalypse... I think though it depends on what the goal is. If the goal is to create the best roster of NL players (with the every team caveat which I am fine with) to take on the AL in a competitive game (this one counts) for World Series home field advantage, then I think it has made things worse. But it has effectively ended the era of the manager selecting 7-8 of his own players for the roster. It has also spread the All-Star accolades around quite a bit more to new players each year.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I don't think Lebron is going to have an hour long reality special on ESPN to say he's leaving Cleveland. It'll be a big hype about helping the home town, keeping his roots, all that stuff. I assume the ESPN source about Wade and Bosh is not the same source that said James and Bosh to Chicago was a "done deal" a week or so ago.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

So, a shitty movie makes another movie good? Man, the Cubs are good because Baltimore sucks. The movie was cliched, predictable, about 15-20% of the jokes were actually funny and mainly it rests on the love that people already have for the films. The one cool thing about it was the Totoro cameo; Lasseter is a huge Miyazaki fanboy. Also, I posted that, knowing that it would piss people off. The fact that you disagree, though, reinforces my opinion.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I loved UP and I tend to appreciate Pixar. I wasn't actually saying that the movie was 'bad', though maybe me comments said that. I was merely saying that it is overrated, obviously IMO. It's at 99% on RottenTomatoes. There was a girl sitting next to us (in her early 30's) who laughed like it was her first movie. I did enjoy it, but I just couldn't understand the hype, other than it was a 'Toy Story' movie.

peavy has detached muscle in his back. ouch!

via paul "gangsta vibes" sulivan's twooter feed: Lou Piniella has no regrets, and will stick it out the rest of the season, no matter what: "I'm not a quitter." ---- imo, they might as well let lou/hendry ride out the season and figure out what's next. it's just so "whatever" at this point and it seems like we're gonna lose a chunk of the team this offseason anyway.

Tendon ruptures are associated with anabolic steroids, but you know they are all going to deny any association. Still, here are quotes from illustrious Dr. Andrews and from Peavy's former GM, Kevin Towers...odd that they are quoted in the same article by Verducci in 2005. http://www.injuryupdate.com.au/forum/archive/index.php/t-496.html
Noted sports orthopedist James Andrews, of Birmingham, says he "seldom used to see these muscle-tendon injuries" in baseball. "It was always the sport for the agile athlete with the small frame," he says. "Over the last 10 years, that's changed. You'd have to attribute that--the bulking up and the increased injuries--to steroids and supplements."
Kevin Towers: "It matters when you're doing contracts or when you're looking to acquire a player from another team," he says. "It's a factor whether you're going to open discussions on a long-term contract or go year-to-year. It's become a key issue because a lot of small-market clubs can't continue to insure players. The cost of insurance has gone so high that it's more and more difficult to insure these contracts."

Tendon ruptures are also associated with cortisone shots (corticosteroid, not anabolic steroid)...still, the latissimus insertion would be an odd place to give a cortisone shot. Often "trigger point" cortisone injections are given but this (the lat insertion) would be an unlikely place for one to inject.

Lat Dorsi rupture, case report. Fairly recent, Oct 08. Article says only 7 case reports and only one near the tendon insertion. http://www.orthosupersite.com/view.aspx?rid=31522
Spontaneous rupture of the latissimus dorsi muscle is a rare injury, and few reported cases were avulsion injuries at their humeral insertion. Seven cases of spontaneous rupture of the latissimus dorsi muscle have been reported, but only 1 occurred at the myotendinous junction.1-7 The mechanism of this injury is reported to be forceful resisted arm adduction or extension, and reported injuries were rock climbing and attempting to pull up on an overhead handhold,5 waterskiing injury during pull-up with ski rope,3 overuse in golf in the leading arm, 6 and abduction-external rotation with horizontally extended arm during a professional steer wrestling performance.2 The latissimus dorsi muscle is not a critical muscle for activities of daily living; however, the significance of the muscle is increased in professional or elite athletes.

found a newer article from Oct 2009 on Latissimus Dorsi tears (Am Journal of Sports Med)... http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/37/10/2016.abstract A series of 11 baseball players, 10 pitchers using data taken over 10 seasons, from 3 major league teams (seems like Indians, Cardinals and Rangers based on where the authors were from). 10 of 11 were pitchers. Of the pitchers 5 had isolated LD tears, 4 had nearby Teres Major tears and one had both. The symptoms all occurred with release and follow thru (just like Peavy) and none had any warning symptoms prior to injury. All of these pitchers were treated non-surgically, and all but one returned to pitching in the same season (within 3 months). One pitcher had a recurrent injury 6 months after his return.

4 had nearby Teres Major tears --- I recall that former Cub reliever Tom Flash Gordon had a posterior shoulder muscle tear, and from what I remember it was theTeres Major muscle that was injured in the 2002 season. No surgery, just progressive rehab x 3 months. http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/030802/spo_0308020073.shtml Gordon was out from spring training but came back around July 2nd to pitch in 19 games with the Cubs before being unloaded to the Astros. So much for unloading veterans and getting anything of value. August 22, 2002: Traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Houston Astros for players to be named later and Ross Rohlicek (minors). The Houston Astros sent Travis Anderson (minors) (September 11, 2002) and Mike Nannini (minors) (September 11, 2002) to the Chicago Cubs to complete the trade.

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).