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

Paul McCartney's Wrigley Field Playlist

Ahhh, just going for a laugh where I can find it.
Please click on the white thumbnail - there's a gif there I promise.  

Comments

I'm going to guess Nick Weglarz is the outfielder coming back to Chicago. Along with a borderline pitching prospect (Sickles grade C, but not in the top 20) from Low A ball.

If the Cubs manage to deal a bunch of veterans between now and mid-August, let's say Fukudome, Johnson, Pena, and Grabow, and they let Ramirez walk at the end of the season, and they release DeWitt or at least leave him as a bench player, who plays for the Cubs for the rest of the year and next year? Are we looking at a team like this in 2012: 1B LaHare/Baker (Fielder?) 2B Barney SS Castro 3B Baker/LeMahieu/Flaherty/Smith LF Soriano CF Byrd RF Colvin C Soto/Castillo/Clevenger Bench DeWitt Marwin Gonzalez? The Cubs have almost no one in the minors to replace starters or bench players. Flaherty stopped hitting upon his promotion to AAA, LeMahieu has been doing nothing but providing an empty batting average, Marquez Smith is 26 and only putting up an .802 OPS in the hitter-friendly PCL (a league where Welington Castillo puts up a .950+ OPS and LaHare is over 1.000). I count myself one of the resident prospect-philes here, but in the second half of this season, there has been little in the minors to get very excited about for 2012. The most promising pitchers are hurt, struggling, or both, and the best position player prospects are a year or more away probably; Flaherty seems to take a long time to adjust to each next level, Szczur probably won't arrive until 2014-ish, LeMahieu needs to add power/patience to his game, and Jackson's season following the hand injury has been disappointing. Castillo is the only bright spot as he shows tons of power, but even so that's in the PCL and he has significant defensive lapses--and we don't need a starting catcher right now. It sure would've been nice if the Cubs had a vet or two having a career year and not weighed down by excessive salary--because they need to stock up on near-ready prospects or dependable, low-salary players for 2012.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

The other choice seems to be to retain Fukudome, Johnson, Pena and Grabow and have another season like this one. Personally, I would prefer to lose with Lemahieu/Flaherty/Smith getting time at the majors and Brett Jackson not far behind. Let Jay Jackson and a healed Cashner pitch at the majors and see how they do. I think the prospects we received for Fukudome were fair compensation and neither will probably be extremely productive major leaguers. But I will take the promise of Abreu and the hope of some serviceable relief from Smith while figuring out if Colvin (or someone else) can be useful at the major league level than retaining another season of underperformance with veterans.

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

Submitted by Cubster on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 10:06am. per Jim Bowden... http://twitter.com/#!/JimBowdenESPNxm/statuses/96611158282342400 Chicago Cubs source has confirmed that the Cubs have acquired OF Abner Abreu, P Carlton Smith from the Cleveland Indians for Fukodome & cash ========================================= CUBSTER: RHRP Carlton Smith will be a Rule 55 minor league FA (6YFA) post-2011 if he is not added to the Cubs 40-man roster by the 4th day following the World Series. He was drafted out of HS in 2004 by the Indians, but did not sign right away. He instead attended Okaloosa-Walton CC in Florida, and then was signed as a "Draft & Follow" in April 2005. He was converted to a reliever in 2009. Smith will probably be tried as the closer at Iowa and then will get called up in September and pitch in middle-relief for the Cubs. OF Abner Abreu was signed as a 16-year old in October 2006, and will be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft for the first time post-2011. He is hitting 352/405/831 with 8 HR in 21 games in July at Hi-A Kinston (Carolina League) and has 19 SB (3 CS) in 91 games, so he appears to be the type of toolsy guy with too many K and not enough BB favored by the Cubs. He has played both CF and RF after being moved to the outfield from INF in 2009, and has spent the last two seasons at Hi-A, so I would think he will probably go to Daytona and replace Matt Szczur in CF, with Szczur going on the DL (dislocated finger). Or he could be moved up to AA Tennessee, with Matt Spencer or Ty Wright moving up to Iowa, as Tyler Colvin gets recalled from Iowa to replace Fukudome. Evan Crawford, Michael Burgess, and Nelson Perez are also possibilities to get moved up to AA from Daytona.

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

http://www.indiansprospectinsider.com/2011/07/abreu-named-player-of-wee… High-A Kinston outfielder Abner Abreu did it again as he was once again named the Carolina Player of the Week for the period from July 18th to July 24th. It is his second Player of the Week honor for the month of July, his second in three weeks. For the week he hit .522/.560/1.087 (12-for-23) in six games and had 2 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 8 R, 2 BB, and 7 K. He had at least one extra base hit in five of his six games, and was propelled by a big weekend on Friday and Saturday where he went 7-for-8 with 2 HR, 1 3B, and 7 RBI. Abreu, 21, was also named the Cleveland Indians Minor League Player of the Week for the same period last week. ------------------ Around the Farm: July 23 (Abner Abreu...Again) 9:59 AM JIM NO COMMENTS Around the Farm takes a quick look at some of yesterday's performances by Indians prospects throughout the system. The positions listed below are where the player was playing in yesterday's game. Could the Indians' organization be witnessing the blossoming of one of their biggest talents, right before their eyes? Might the Indians have a power-hitting, five-tool, right-handed hitter residing at High A Kinston? Abreu has tantalized the Tribe brass and faithful before, and was rated the #5 prospect right here at IPI in 2010. Is this the real deal, or just a blip on the radar? Abner Abreu: RF, Kinston: 3-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 K: That's right, Mr. Abreu remains in the spotlight for his second straight game, after a big 4-4 night on Friday. He followed up with another near perfect game, and has been absolutely raking over the past month. He's 7-8, with four runs, two homers and seven RBI in the last two games, and has a ten game line of .424/.487/.909. I know the old adage, 'fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me," but this is the kind of talent that keeps showing up with Abreu. If he was consistent, he has the tools to be the top prospect in the organization. He still remains a project, however, but his selection seems to be getting better. At 21, he still has plenty of time to become a special baseball player.

from jim callis Abreu has bat speed/pop, Smith has arm strength. Org types more than prospects. @l2uff: who are abner abreu and carlton smith #cubs #indians aren't we all excited now about the Cubs making deadline deals? anyway, what's a better deal for Cubs, getting a decent prospect for Pena or saving the $5M next year?

Any truth to the story that Carlos Pena's contract isn't $5 now +$5 jan 1st but actually looks like this: $3 Million signing bonus $4 Million paid during 2011 season $3 Million to be paid 1-1-2012

from an earlier post on fuku... only plays vs. righties...doesn't have much power left...plays RF/LF...not very fast even if he makes 500K a year what would you expect to get for that? cleveland is buying 2 months of a corner OF with doubles-power that rarely plays against lefties...he gets on base, but his speed is average.

If the Cubs trade Carlos Pena to the Pirates at the deadline as rumored, can he fly with the Cubs to Pittsburgh Sunday night or does he have to fly by himself? Weird either way.

Fuku was a very good defensive right fielder and a patient batter with no power that couldn't hit lefties - his skills were worthless to marginal at best. If the Cubs received a broken bat and a bucket of balls for Fuku it doesn't matter. What matters is that Colvin or Campana should be playing everyday to determine if he has a future with the Cubs.

Ironically, only two of the songs you mentioned (The Long and Winding Road and The Fool on the Hill) were songs Paul sang. On the other three songs, John sang lead vocals. So Crane would probably be luck for at least those three. Sorry to get all Beatles geeky on you there.

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).