Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full) 

28 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, and twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors. 

Last updated 3-26-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 15
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
Alexander Canario
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Ben Brown, P 
Alexander Canario, OF 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Keegan Thompson, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Cespedes Was Overrated, Soler is the New Flavor of the Month

I was trying to get my prospect list-mania article up and then Firefox ate half my work. I'll save it for a future date. In the meantime, now that the A's have signed outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to a 4/$36M deal, I'm comfortable calling him totally overrated. Jorge Soler is the real prize of the Cuban "draft class" and the guy the Cubs should be pursuing. I'm kidding around of course, Cespedes would have been a nice get for the Cubs, but it was not meant to be. The latest report was that the Cubs were now stepping up their pursuit of Soler with a number of $27.5M being thrown out there to try and land him. That report is from the same guy that said Marlins were the clear frontrunner for Cespedes as of yesterday, so salt meet grain. Of course, if I understand this correctly, Soler hasn't been declared eligible yet nor established residency, so certainly more teams will be rumored to be involved once that all falls in line. The last I heard on the timetable was to expect something around the start of the season.

Baseball Prospectus put up their top 101 major league prospects. On the topic of Soler, Goldstein says he'd rank him #38/#39 depending if you count Cespedes as a prospect. As for the Cubs, Brett Jackson at #44, Javier Baez at #66 and Anthony Rizzo at #75. Former Cub Hak-Ju Lee at #65 on his list.

Thanks for all the feedback on the survey over the weeked, a lot of good ideas in there and a lot of nice complements as well.

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http://www.baseballprospectus.com/chat/chat.php?chatId=899 Re: Soler Kevin Goldstein: Classic RF profile. Tons of raw power, good arm, good overall athlete. Would be single digit pick in the draft. 25-27.5 million. Re: Vogelbach's weight Kevin Goldstein: Nobody is going to care about the weight if he mashes. The problem is, like any 1B prospect, he HAS to mash, or he's just not much of a prospect. Re: Baez at SS Kevin Goldstein: It's way less than 50%. Maybe 10% at best. He's a 3B, maybe 2B in the end.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Nobody knows what Szczur is going to do yet. He's done great for playing his first years dedicated to ball. Doesn't necessarily mean he'll get better and doesn't mean he won't get better. I'm sure they just don't want to talk him up and then potentially look bad--most prospects don't make it to the majors anyway, so a bet against is always a safer bet.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/ask-ba/2012/2612968.html says Concepcion would be #19 on their Cubs rankings between Reggie Golden Jae-Hoon Ha. The 19-year-old stands out more with his advanced feel for pitching than he does for his pure stuff. His fastball ranges from 86-92 mph and his curveball ranges from inconsistent to solid. "If everything works out," one scout said, "maybe he becomes Randy Wolf." 7M dollars people...

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Well, Randy Wolf in his prime would certainly be worth $7MM in today's market. Team Theo have correctly calculated that lefty pitchers are more valuable in Wrigley than righties, so the only negative I see with the Concepcion signing is the 40-man slot aspect, that seems kind of dumb. Also, why the lack of interest at BA on Reggie Golden? The guy mashes, big-time. Sure, there are still question marks, but the #18 prospect in the Cubs system? No way. I'd have him closer to 11 or 12. If I recall, AZP is pretty high on Golden, and I'm pretty confident he's seen Reggie play a lot more than have anyone at BA.

Trib's Dave Van Dyke article sounds like the Cubs on the verge of signing Soler... not sure if I'm reading too much into his phraseology:
When the winter began, there were three major Cubans who could become free agents, and the Cubs appear to have landed two of them , although not the top-rated one. The Cubs are expected to add 19-year-old outfielder Jorge Soler after acquiring 19-year-old pitcher Gerardo Concepcion, according to multiple reports from the Dominican Republic, where Soler is staying. Concepcion was signed earlier, although the Cubs have not announced it. Soler is waiting for official clearance from MLB before being declared a free agent, although he can be signed.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-0214-cubs-chi…

someone tweeted that the Score has confirmed the report...take that for what it's worth. Still confused by it all since he hasn't established residency or any of those other hoops that Cespedes went through. one report was 3-4 year deal in the 27.5M range (egads). That better not include a get out of jail free card like Cespedes deals does.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Goldstein seems to believe it as well. https://twitter.com/Kevin_Goldstein answered my questions too... They just agree to. Agent did same w/ Maya, Hechavarria. RT @Hopjake: @Kevin_Goldstein how can the Cubs sign him when he not FA? I believe he has agreed, just can't officially sign yet. RT @davidrelliott: @Kevin_Goldstein Sarcasm on Soler? Or you think he IS a Cub? and more likely a 3-4 year deal, but unlike Cespedes won't be allowed to become a free agent. Cubs will still have him for the full 6 years of major league service time.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Goldstein says its a done deal now too, so yeah, I think it's time to get excited about this signing.......he says it's a 4-year deal but NOT with accruing service time, NOR does he gain free agency at the end of the 4 years. So it's akin to other Latin signings, Cespedes is the exception. Apparently, Soler's agent did similar deals with other Latin players in the past. Cubs and Soler agree to deal, they just wait on residency to formalize it. KLaw puts Soler as the Cubs #2 behind BJax, Goldstein puts Soler #1. I think I'd be comfortable putting him at #4 behind BJax, Rizzo and Baez, but regardless, it looks like we just added a top 50 prospect to the system, bravo Team Theo!

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.