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

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Comments

[ ]

In reply to by superjimmer

Javier Baez was shut-down with a sore arm halfways thru Instructs. I don't know whether it was an elbow or shoulder problem though. Also, he did something you don't often see an 18-year old do... The Instructs Cubs had been working on pick-off plays at 2B in the morning workout, and they tried one during the game. The pitcher delivered the pitch without even looking back to 2nd base where Baez was standing, and Baez had a fit, throwing his hands up in the air and yelling at the pitcher to pay attention. You very seldom see a young player yell at a teammate like that on the field.

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

some guys from high end highschool baseball programs have issues with bullying or pushing around their teammates. this has become a lot more prevalent the past 5+ years, imo. there's some real horror story control-issue kids out there who aren't even 20 years old yet and a lot more coming up through high schools. i dunno what baez's issue is, but any 18 year old barking at a teammate like that on a pro contract needs to get his ego in check...hopefully it was just a bad night/day and his immaturity was venting in a way time and experience will tame.

[ ]

In reply to by superjimmer

i still think baseball would be a lot more interesting if someone hired kevin mitchell to manage a mlb team. ozzie couldn't hope to compete. i'm shocked mitchell hasn't done prison time for his temper...i don't mean jail time...i mean prison. he's not "crossed the line" too hard, but he was/is a guy who can snap and do some screwed up stuff at any given moment. i wonder what elijah dukes is up to...last i heard he was trying to be a rapper.

[ ]

In reply to by superjimmer

Wed, 01/18/2012 - 7:33pm — superjimmer New Well it's a good thing Zambrano won't be his big league mentor then! Phil, you think he is a SS long term? ========================== SUPERJIMMER: Baez was bit erratic at SS when i saw him in the AZL and Instructs. He makes all the plays, but he also plays too fast and tends to rush his throws. He does have more range than I had expected given the pre-draft scouting report that projected him as a 3B. He might have hurt his arm overthrowing trying to impress his new organization, but he does have a strong arm. If it gets to the point where he does not display enough range to remain at SS, he certainly has enough arm for 3B. But hopefully the Cubs will give him a full-shot at SS, because a bat like that at SS is pretty rare. BTW, I think his demeanor on the field (he's chippy with umpires, too) is just a part of his competitive personality. He plays with a lot of fire, and while having a Billy Martin or a Jimmy Piersall on the field can be kind of annoying at times, I'll take intensity over doesn't give a shit anyday.

[ ]

In reply to by JohnT

I see the parallel, but most of Z's worst behavior occurred later in his time with the Cubs. The Edmonds stuff was earlier, but not when he was first up if I remember right (not looking it up). I guess my point is that Z seemed to get worse the longer he was on the team. If Baez gets worse from here instead of maturing and getting better, only then will I have any concern about him

[ ]

In reply to by Jumbo

If you recall, when Z first came up he used to get angry on the mound, stomp around muttering, give the ump the butt, yell at the centerfield scoreboard...that type of thing. But I think he left all his frustration out there on the field. Even though Z said he was just being angry with himself, Cubs opponents didn't like it, so the Cubs told him he needed to act "more mature" and made him bottle all that up when he was on the field. And I think that led to him bringing the frustration and accompanying emotion into the dugout.

I already emailed my Senators and State representatives. SOPA has no chance to pass. PIPA is a bit more likely though.

Tom Verducci is out with his latest Red Flag list of young pitchers who saw significant increases in their innings pitched over the season before. Says that in the last six years compiling these lists ~80% of pitchers on it saw an injury or significant decrease in performance the next season. Notables for Cub Fans: #3 is Jaime Garcia, 24, Cardinals (+57) #7 is Yovani Gallardo, 25, Brewers (+41 1/3) #11 Mike Leake, 23, Reds (+36 2/3) Interesting: Verducci gives the responsibility for Leake's increase on Reds GM Walt Jocketty rather than Dustbag Baker. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/tom_verducci/01/18/year.a…

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

Isn't a 36-inning increase for a 23-year-old pretty normal? That doesn't seem like a huge increase. Can't argue with Garcia and Gallardo - if you're pushing for a championship, you gotta go for it.

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/42159/mlb-insider-keith-law I think they're going to be creative with the major league roster while they try to boost the farm system (which, sneak preview here, isn't going to rank very high, even with the addition of Rizzo/Cates). If there's a younger free agent, or an upside play, they'd be in on him, but I don't see them going after the John Lackeys of free agency any time soon. Brian Lahair and Matt Adams, any chance either of them profile as more than a AAAA or bench player? And what would you expect a full seasons in the majors stat line look like? KLaw: Adams is more than that, certainly. Not really sold on LaHair, nor do I expect him to get much rope now that Rizzo has been reunited with his baseball guardians. Keith, why on god's green earth would any team be willing to take on Soriano for his final 3 years of his deal even if the Cubs pick up 46 of the 54 million remaining on his deal? KLaw: Well, so far no one has proven that stupid, so I think that's your answer. thinks Domonic Brown is a change of scenery guy...get them on the phone Jedstein.

View of rival executives: Matt Garza's $10.225 million arbitration request greatly complicates any interest in him as a trade target. ...GMs...like cost certainty and aren't wild about chance of $10.2 million salary. from Buster Olney

whoops... from Heyman and Bruce Levine garza actually filed at $12.5M, w/ #cubs at $7.95M. misread chart. the $10.225M was midpoint (seemed like weird filing #) well there's an easy win for Cubs although trading him will be harder until deal is settled.

From Rotoworld: According to a report by broadcaster Yancen Pujols, Indians' right-hander Fausto Carmona was arrested in his native Dominican Republic for using a false identity. The story was passed along by Jorge Arangure of ESPN Deportes. Maximo Baez Aybar, who handles PR for the Dominican police, confirms that Carmona (whose real name is actually Roberto Hernandez Heredia) was arrested outside the consulate while trying to secure a work visa.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Rodrigo Lopez was an MLB Article XX-D free-agent post-2011, so per the new CBA he will get an automatic $100K retention bonus if he is not released by the 5th day prior to MLB Opening Day or added to an MLB 40-man roster by MLB Opening Day, and he has automatic "opt-out" rights on June 1st if he is not added to an MLB 40-man roster by that date.

[ ]

In reply to by 10man

btw, i still find it odd the cubs have a "new school" front office...not in a sabermetric/etc. way, but in a FLA way where everyone knows the GM isn't really pulling the strings and there's the "real" president doing business stuff with the "operations" president that acts as a GM. larry benifest hasn't been the FLA GM for like 4 years, but everyone knows he's running the roster and management.

[ ]

In reply to by 10man

McPhail was president in Baltimore as well and probably GM/president with Cubs in the time between Lynch and Hendry. Theo's job title just means he doesn't have to answer to anyone on baseball decisions which is of course why he took the job. I'm sure Jed has plenty of leeway to pursue deals on his own with Theo's approval and they sound like they discuss everything.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

yeah, no one's getting paid to sit around and pretend to fill a role. everyone's working...it's just that "president of baseball operations" is starting to define itself as more important/influential than the GM on some teams. there's weirder organizations. the power mike scioscia has over the roster, including minors and involvement in upper management, is kinda awesome for a guy who's "just" a manager.

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

I'm willing to bet that the Theoworld is more like the tech biz, which is the business I work in. We have some pretty rough and tumble meetings. They can get a little tense sometimes, especially when somebody throws a tantrum, which happens. When it does, they will sometimes walk out to cool down, while the rest us of sit somewhat amused. I think a well run group doesn't have any interest in group think, and it doesn't creep in because things work best when people don't agree. Divergent points of view and all. You see a lot of it in the tech business, and I get the sense that even Ricketts, who himself comes from a tech-oriented company in Ameritrade, has some of the qualities I'm used to seeing. I'm not worried about groupthink with these guys. I think the roster is still shit right now, but I don't think it's because of group think. I think it's because Hendry handed off an abomination and, hopefully, they're not done yet.

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

lucky you. at a NCR division i worked at a hivemind group ran us all into the ground with the overwhelming reach in vision without the ability to keep up with it. salespeople made promises that didn't exist in the software, or worse not even in it's development timeline, and that was -our- problem, not sales. if it wasn't part of the software development timeline, it is now. upper management and sales were so in bed with each other this went unchecked. they only cared that they picked up the client. no one worked 40 hour weeks...50+ was the norm. we had a cot office set up for people to sleep in like a dorm. within a 12 month span a single-office, 40 person operation ballooned to a near-200 person, 2 office operation in 2 different states across the country (which lead to unsynched work between offices who start and end work with a 3 hour discrepancy). 5 months of this was followed by the other office being suddenly shuttered when management realized they made a needlessly stupid mistake...one of many. ...at IBM the problem was the opposite for me. there was tons of levels of management and they were so out of sync no one knew what anyone was doing and you could go days without anything to do.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I love internal business chatter. Our accounting software is so antiquated that I went through two years of completed projects (over about 6 months time) so that someone in the company could start to measure our actual performance versus the estimated costs. And accounting is pissed at me now because we're upgrading our accounting system to something without a Stegasaurus logo on it. We're a small company, but I still can't believe that it got this far and that I'm the only one in the joint who can tell you how much it costs us to do something

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Lucky me maybe but I am lucky only in that I have a good nose for smelling out crap. I can usually tell on an interview if a place is toxic. I can't think of any places I really hated working at off the top of my head -- a little contract gig at Bell & Howell years ago I guess, but even then there was a guy who would stop by and ask me if I saw that week's Hill Street Blues butt shot of the week, so there was some humor there at least. I can't tell since I don't work in the TheoCorp but I get the sense they are not running a ship like what you experienced at NCR. For one thing, it's a much smaller group. I would imagine, or at least hope, that the meetings they have are boisterous. Theo talks like he likes to gather opposing opinions together. If he doesn't and just looks for yes men, then I doubt the Cubs will be successful. Those kinds of environments rarely are.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

Doesn't change the gut feeling I had about his coming from a tech biz culture. from wikipedia
From 1995 to 1996, he served as vice president with Mesirow Financial until moving to ABN AMRO as vice president in their brokerage division.[1] Ricketts is credited with pioneering the idea of using of the Internet and other technologies to help companies sell their investment-grade bonds directly to retail investors, as opposed to limiting sales only to institutions.[13][14] He helped launch the first successful version of this system while at ABN AMRO. In 1999 he left ABN AMRO to found Incapital.[1]

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

i'm doing a contract right now for the founder of E*Trade...who oddly, or not, is/was an old guy in the 80s who foresaw computer + internet + stocks before people were really using the internet. what's even more odd is the contract i'm doing is a greenhouse design for indoor vegetable production using an entirely different pre-mid-life crisis degree in horticulture. if they actually get the funding (or he gives up the loot to do it himself) the island of Kauai (Hawaii) has one hell of a community center in the future. he's building a performing arts space and already has a mini-golf course on this piece of land he's looking to turn into a mish-mash of distracting/educational entertainment. there's not a lot there for kids/youth/expression right now. hell, they only got a Walmart and Costco on the island in the past decade.

the anti-humor/pro-bro "The Heckler" twitter feed almost had me believing the compensation issue had been settled...then i finished reading the sentence.

gary carter's brain cancer is getting worse...not responding to treatment and new tumors are forming. he's probably not too much longer without some good luck. :/

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).