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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

Cubs Go Solar

This all seems still seems a little less than 100%, but there was a report early in the evening from the Tribune and Dave van Dyck saying the Cubs are "expected" to sign Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler according to "multiple reports" from the Dominican (it's more fun if you read that with air quote hand gestures).  The folks at Cub Hub seemed to have heard from the Score confirming the deal. Kevin Goldstein has no reason not to believe the reports, saying Soler's agent made similar agreements with other players he's represented before they offiicially became available to sign. Soler of course has yet to complete the legal gymnastics that Cespedes had to go through, so any confirmation from the Cubs is probably not going to come anytime in the near future. One report is suggesting a 3-4 year deal in the $27.5M range. The difference in that deal to Cespedes is that Soler would not get the clause in his contract where the club would not offer arbitration or auto-renew him once the deal is completed, meaning he'd be under the Cubs control for 6 full years of major league service time which doesn't start until he makes his major league debut. Once the initial contract runs out, he'd either sign a new one or just default to either pre-arbitration or arbitration depending on where he's at with his service time, similar to what Jeff Samardzija is going through right now.

Presuming it's all true, the Cubs added two blue chip prospects to their stable of minor leaguers this offseason. Most agree that Soler would easily be a top 5 pick in the draft. He plays center now, but most think he'll outgrow the position and will end up in right field. He's got a plus arm and good speed so it doesn't sound like defense will be much of an issue. Soler stands at 6-3" and 205 pounds at the moment  and BA compared him favorably to recent Royals draft pick Bubba Starling saying Soler has "explosive bat speed and power potential" with "five-tool potential".

Goldstein said he'd jump to #1 on his Cubs prospect list, Keith Law would put him second behind Brett Jackson. Goldstein earlier said he'd be around #38/#39 on his top 101 of major league prospects.

And for what it's worth, it's allegedly pronounced So-Lair, but that's not so good for the puns and renewable power jokes.

Tags

Comments

no mlb contract...woo. lot of loot and faith in investment, though.

Seems like a very fair deal especially considering future spending caps. I'm happy.

Seems the Cubs have addressed the lack of power in the system-- in the past year they've added/will add Soler, Rizzo, Vogelbach, Shoulders, and Baez. What legit power prospects did they have before that? Golden? Vitters?

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In reply to by Dusty Baylor

I heard Brooks Kieschnick on the radio the other day saying, "This is lifetime Longhorn Brooks Kieschnick and you're listening to ..." whatever the hell the sports radio station is out here in the Austin area.

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In reply to by Old and Blue

I never understood the handling of Kieschnick...he hits .295/.370/.495 in AAA in 1995...he gets 100 PA's in 1997...and that's it? From your #1 draft pick? Ugh.

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In reply to by Charlie

"Golden? Vitters?" At 23, Richard Jones was a little old for the Midwest League, but he was the second-best slugger (.538 SLG, .900 OPS) in the Cub minors, after LaHair.

Theo has done more in the last few months to strengthen the farm system than all the years of McPhail and Hendry combined. Finally someone gets it in the front office. That and I believe they are much better talent evaluators than anyone else before them.

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In reply to by MikeC

Agreed. The combination of little hope for this season but enormous hope for the future is something I haven't experienced since the players Dallas Green drafted were moving through the system. Of course, at that point, Green was already gone and Jim Frey was going about a destruction of the farm system from which it has never fully recovered.

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In reply to by tbone

I concur. Little by little, the farm system is being resurrected and they are clearly going to continue acquiring young talent which will give us a perennial playoff contender.

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In reply to by MikeC

That and I believe they are much better talent evaluators than anyone else before them.
Although that's a little like saying vacations are more pleasant in California than in Antarctica. I have to give Ricketts a little credit here. When he bought the team he emphasized building the team from the ground up. You hear that a lot, so skepticism was understandable. Then, last off season, he dumped all kinds of coin on the draft, even spending wads of money on Dillon Maples, who I guess everyone else thought was unsignable. Then he hired The TheoCorp, who do seem much better at player evaluation than Hendry was, especially with position players (Hendry was actually pretty good with pitching). Now, he's given the go ahead to TheoCorp to spend heavily on Soler, which is good because the window for that kind of activity is closing fast. He hasn't made a big splash in free agency, but I pretty much felt decade long contracts to first basemen isn't a very good idea, so I don't blame him there, and other than those two, there really isn't much out there that I'm thinking, "damn, I wish they'd sign that guy". This is all good stuff. I doubt Soler will make his way to Triple A right away but I hope he does, since I live near Round Rock in Texas and they'll be playing the Iowa Cubs at home a few times this year.

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In reply to by MikeC

I know it is easy to just bag on Hendry, but this isn't a true statement. Look at some of the early 2000 top 100 lists. They have a bunch of Cubs on them. There were 6 in 2001 and 7 in 2002 and 5 in 2003 and 6 in 2004. Where you really saw a decline is after Hendry became GM. After his drafted and signed guys were gone and stockilledthesystem took over.

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In reply to by ced landrum

I was probably more excited about Green's minor leaguers than those of the early 2000s because I saw a lot of them play in Peoria and Iowa. Also, overall, they were just better players.

Okay, I guess I am happy with this outcome. Now what? Anyone see anything else happening before the last couple weeks of spring training?

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In reply to by Jace

I'm keeping my eye on Byrd and Soriano. Given any chance to unload these guys before Opening Day, I think they will take what they can get. I also think they will extend Garza, which will make him easier to trade and more valuable at the Deadline.

Levine on Espn Jackson & Rizzo could be up in June Theo comp prospect and cash, no one big Garza- if yanks, BoSox, angels lose pitcher to injury in ST cubs would want big package . Otherwise 5/65 like Danks

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In reply to by jacos

Levine's right. Jackson and Rizzo could be up in June. Or they could be up sooner. Or later. Barring any situations arising which don't allow them to be up in June. Or sooner. Or later.

What was the final outcome of Blake DeWitt? Is he a FA now?

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In reply to by artskoe

likely no one put a waiver claim in (believe AZ Phil said they have 3 days to do so). From there, they have 10 days total to decide on outrighting him or releasing him. Considering DeWitt probably wants to keep his $1.1M, he'll probably accept the outright.

Now twitter is all aflutter about Soler not being close to being a done deal. The Tribune is getting really good at pushing out scoops before they happen. I'm beginning to trust it like I trust the National Enquirer.

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In reply to by Rob G.

that's true, about the paperwork, but I still don't trust the Trib much these days. Van Dyke usually is ok though. It's really hard to know. Does Soler have a twitter account?

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In reply to by Old and Blue

Carrie Muskat @CarrieMuskat Reply Retweet Favorite · Open #Cubs are interested in Jorge Soler but rumors that team has contract set ** not true**. Lots of teams with interest in Cuban OF

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In reply to by The E-Man

Soler's agent is Barry Paver-- also Z's agent. FWIW-- Kap says that reported 4/$27.5 deal is "ludicrous." So add 4/27.5 (=ridiculous - laughable - absurd - funny - comical) to the TCR lexicon. Or if, as I suspect, Kaplan is diametrically wrong as usual, then 4/27.5 means ridiculous but true.

@jorgearangure: On Soler/Cubs. Both sides may have a deal, but would now have to give impression they don't because it's against US and MLB rules Shared via TweetCaster

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In reply to by Vegas Brian

There it is. I was awaiting Az Phil's input, but I figured there would be at least smoke there

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In reply to by Rob G.

...would be potentially subject to an OFAC fine and, in theory, disciplinary action from MLB. Even if there is proof on this count, this might just be a slap on the wrist. I have a feeling this shit would be hard to prove definitively.

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In reply to by Jace

i'm a ron paul fan. you can't trust LAMEstream media. i get my news from ContrailsKill98 and EndTheFedSchoolSucks at youtube like all sane people. wake up sheeple! (tm)

this might just be a slap on the wrist. --- Theo under house arrest or just ankle bracelets?

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Seconded!!!

  • crunch (view)

    another awesome spring of pitching reports.  thanks a lot, appreciated.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 90-92 
    CUT: 87-89 
    SL: 82-83 
    SPLIT: 81-84
    CV: 73-74 
    COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes...  if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...   
     
    JOE NAHAS
    FB: 90-92 
    SL: 83-85 
    CV: 80-81 
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...   

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 86 
    SL: 79 
    COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...   

    FRANKIE SCALZO JR
    FB: 94-95
    CH: 88 
    SL: 83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning... 

    MICHAEL ARIAS
    FB: 94-96
    CH: 87-89
    SL: 82-83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...   

    ZAC LEIGH: 
    FB: 93-94 
    CH: 89 
    SL: 81-83 
    CV: 78
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...   

    JOSE ROMERO:  
    FB: 93-95
    SL: 82-84
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...