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

Randy Wells is the Day 2 King Of The Mountain!

 

There are 2 spot open for the back of the Cubs starting rotation, and watching who wins 'em ought to be pretty entertaining even if you feel it's a foregone conclusion that it's Randy Wells and Carlos Silva or Wells and Andrew Cashner.

Randy went 2 innings of 2-hit ball with a strikeout yesterday, and he started so that was against the Brewer "starters".
Young Cashner had a throwing error and a wild pitch that resulting in one of the 2 runs he gave up in his two innings.

If we were keeping simple tabs on these guys, I think so far Wells would have a "good", Cashner a "not so good" and I already can't remember what James Russell did the other day, but I think it was a "not so good".
I might re-visit this illustration as time goes on to keep tabs on who's "king of the mountain" because surely there will be some headlocks and brawling and tumbling down the almighty mound...

Uh, and Reed Johnson led off and got a couple hits, Tyler Colvin got a triple.

Ryan Dempster starts today, and we'll see who comes in in the 3rd - maybe it's Coleman or Looper.

Also, the Cubs are looking for a PA announcer at Wrigley.
Here's the story, and they're having you send your audition tape to CareerBuilder 

It says you must have a "deep knowledge of baseball", which I think in this case means being able to pronounce "Samardzija" and... like that one game where the tornado sirens went off?
As official PA guy you should be able to yell, "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

Comments

I guess mariners are sticking with him, I just assumed he was released. 3/3 today it is a contract year, so he may try this time.

From Musket's write up of today's win (tomorrow's preview). Carlos Pena will be back in the lineup at first. Let's see if the Brewers utilize the defensive shift again. Milwaukee did that Monday, and Pena grounded out both times. So much for my hope that Pena will use the whole field.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

I don't know what Pena's problem is, but I doubt it's the shift. Adam Dunn hit .260 against the same shift, with more home runs than Pena. Looking at the mlb.com home-run charts in their home ballparks, I see that Dunn hit 20 home runs in Nationals Park, Pena hit 18 in Tropicana. 13 of Dunn's HRs were to the right of dead center, while 12 of Pena's were to the right of dead center (and 1 was dead center). One curiosity is that all of Pena's 5 other HRs were to the left of the distance sign in left center, while all of Dunn's 7 left-field HRs were to the right of that number. Dunn never came anywhere near the left-field line. At any rate, if Pena wants to learn to swing toward left, there is a knowledge base of Cub alums he can call up for advice, guys like Jacque Jones, Hollandsworth, Choi, Edmonds, etc., etc. By the way, if you want to see a good old-fashioned dear-to-my-heart dead-pull hitter, look at Tyler Colvin's home runs.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

Historically, Hank Aaron was an all-fields home run hitter, though he gradually became more of a pull hitter late in his career -- possibly after he realized he was close enough to Ruth's record to break it. I recall Sosa also hit quite a good number of his home runs to right field, especially later in his career when he stood so far off the plate and couldn't catch up on fastballs like he used to. Edit: I used to have a baseball game that used spinners on top of discs that showed a player's batting outcomes with hall of fame players. I can't recall the name of it, but the background of the game board was Wrigley Field with the center field bleachers NOT covered with the Astroturf hitting background. Anyway, I had "Hall of Fame" player disks and the Hank Aaron disc was nearly equally divided between home runs to left, center and right fields, whereas Ernie Bank's disc was heavily weighted to left field home runs, very few to center and none to right.

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    That’s a fantastic deal for SF

  • 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?