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

Game 26 Thread - Maholm vs. Billingsley

Right now, the Cubs have 14 Home Runs on the year, Matt Kemp 12...the race is on. If you're in the area, apparently there are some $4 tickets available thanks to the wonders of dynamic pricing. I'd certainly pay that to see Kemp and Castro play.

Dodgers Cubs
Gordon, SS *DeJesus, RF
M. Ellis, 2B
*Campana, CF
Kemp, CF
Castro, SS
*Ethier, RF
*LaHair, 1B
Rivera, LF
Soriano, LF
*Loney, 1B
*Stewart, 3B
Hairston, 3B
Barney, 2B
A.J. Ellis, C
Soto, C
Billingsley, P
*Maholm, P

The big news I suppose is that Carlos Marmol is out as closer for the time being, with Rafael Dolis and James Russell set to share duties depending on matchups. Kerry Wood could be a possibility down the road. This drastic move should easily put about 10-15 extra wins in the Cubs column the rest of the way as they'll undoubtedly never blow a game. Fun fact, Rafael Dolis walk rate is 4.7 BB/9 and he gives up a lot of groundballs for Ian Stewart to butcher, much like he did yesterday to cost Marmol his job. Between Soriano and Marmol, the Ricketts are going to have to hire Kobayashi to eat all that contract money.

The Dodgers, for what little it's worth, have signed Bobby Abreu and optioned a former Cub in Justin Sellers to make room for him.

May the fourth be with you.

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I guess I could just care less who is closing for the Cubs right now or next year. More important to find 2-3 decent relievers than one dominant closer. It's also more important for the Cubs to figure out where they are going to get a couple of top of the rotation pitchers and legitimate major league position players at 2B, LF, and potentially 3B and C. There really isn't all that much reason to worry about who is pitching in the 9th until you know who your 1 and 2 pitchers are, who is actually going to drive in runs, and who are going to be the 2-3 reliable pitchers to bridge the gap between rotation and pen. People worry too much about saves.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

You don't think Dolis can improve those numbers? That's a question, not a challenge to the assumption. The way he throws seems okay, he doesn't have the scary arm motion Marmol had when he was good, and his slider, although not as wicked as Marmol's, can be effective. If he improves his ratio just a bit, he could close. There are very few great closers, like it was mentioned. And, as you say, most of the time they have some killer pitch (which I think Dolis may lack from my limited views of him - but I've heard Brenley say that he has great stuff and I like his opinions). At the same time, playoff advancing teams always find a closer for at least that one season. For us, you would think it doesn't matter, but it kind of does because it is tough on young players to see leads vanish quickly. That takes a toll. I asked my friend Frank the Baseball psychologist and he tells me that is so.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

if you can go 2-3 days in a row, your arm rebounds well, and you have an out pitch vs lefties and righties you're good to go. there's a lot (well, not a ton) of guys who get passed over on closing roles even though they got the stuff because they can't work the load without endangering their arms (SF believes this about s.romo). a guy like s.marshall makes for a rare-ish non-power-pitching lefty closer, but he's got pitches for both lefties and righties that's effective. after the marmol thing ends i hope the cubs never look further than 4-7m for paying for a closer. i know marmol technically fits that bill, but i'd also rather not see them trying to save such a small amount of potential millions on his kind of risk/reward possibility.

From BA's Hot Sheet. Not so Hot Sheet to be more exact: •Ronald Torreyes, 2b, Cubs: Torreyes has shown some good things and some bad early in the high Class A Florida State League season. The pint-sized second baseman is hitting just .205/.274/.289 in 23 games, including a 1-for-25 (.040) stretch over the past week. The good news is that Torreyes' terrific hand-eye coordination and bat control have not deserted him. Even this past week, he has not struck out once, and he only has seven strikeouts all season. His early performance has been underwhelming, but as a 19-year-old in the FSL, there's no need to panic here. • Gerardo Concepcion, lhp, Cubs: The Cubs gave Concepcion a rather stunning five-year major league deal worth $6 million in March, a move that was widely derided throughout the international scouting community. While the deal was seen as a significant overpay, Concepcion at least figured to be able to handle the low minors without much issue due to his success in Cuba's Serie Nacional at a young age. Instead, the 20-year-old's first two low Class A Peoria starts have resulted in 12 rus in 5 2/3 innings, including a start this week in which he couldn't even get out of the first. Concepcion is throwing strikes, but he's also struck out just two of the 32 batters he's faced, a pattern consistent with his middling strikeout rate in Cuba with a very hittable fastball that sits in the high 80s. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/prospect-hot-sheet/2012/…

among qualified hitters Bourn, Span, Sweeney, Tejada, Ellis, Scutaro, Polanco, Walker, Carroll, Rollins, Bloomquist, Suzuki,Bonifacio (no XBH's), Brantley, DeJesus, Pennington, Reyes, Murphy, Peralta, Morel, Aybar, Byrd those aren't all that surprising, these are: McCutchen, Soriano, Francouer, Y. Alonso, Choo, Pujols

Why was Maholm taken out after 88 pitches and breezing along? Can our bullpen hold this lead for 3 innings? I don't like the odds. I would have kept him in unless there is something I don't know. Hopefully we can score a few more runs.

This dynamic pricing can suck my dick. Pretty sure I won't be able to keep my season tickets at this rate. Can't even give them away if Joe Schmoe can get them directly from the Cubs for $4 on a beautiful Friday afternoon. They really are ass fucking their best cu$tomers with this......at least they could use some lube. --------sits on ice pack--------------

Big Kerry Wood fan from way back, but you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. I can't help but think he's done.

I am only guessing but it seems as if the Cubs have been in the lead into late innings in more than 50% of their games. With any modicum of a decent bullpen, they would be right near the .500 mark. Kerry Wood can kiss my ass.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

Yahoo says 4 blown saves 2 by Marmol, 1 by Dolis and 1 by Wood 1 of Marmol's and Dolis's came on Thursday, so that's just 3 losses. The other Marmol blown save was against the Cardinals and Cubs came back to win. Wood's came against the Nats on Opening Day and they lost, so it's cost them 2 games I believe. I hope you're not expecting perfection from the bullpen. they're probably a few tie games that the bullpen blew as well but I'm not looking that up and wasn't your main point.

[ ]

In reply to by johann

ESPN shows 2-7 as relievers and 8-9 for starters, I think you're missing a Randy Wells loss. but we were talking about blowing leads and closing out victories, weren't we? 2 of those 7 reliever losses I believe are covered by the blown saves I mentioned. I don't know the numbers but I would guess that teams generally float to .500 in games tied from the 7th inning on, but I can't say for sure. I'm certainly not defending that it's a good crop of relievers, for god's sake they have Camp, R. Lopez at one point and Marmol. But it's hardly been this rash of blowing games lates. It's pretty much a bad team all around with some decent starting pitching at times. I personally think they can play around the .500 mark give or take a few games the rest of the way, but probably can't make up that hole they already dug themselves into.

From Van Dyck's tribune article on Cub victory: "James Russell relieved Maholm in the seventh and gave up in a while getting two outs." So I didn't see the game, did Russell pitch for a while, then he kinda gave up... or something?

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).