Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

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

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

OPTIONED: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Cubs Acquire Henry Rodriguez from Nats

Submitted by Arizona Phil on

The Cubs have acquired 26-year old Venezuelan flame-throwing RHRP Henry Rodriguez from the Washington Nationals for minor league RHP Ian Dickson.

Dickson was the Cubs 35th round draft pick out of Lafayette College in 2011, and was used as both a starter and a reliever at Kane County this season, posting an ugly 6.88 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in 35.1 IP and 11 Games (3 GS). He was a candidate to get demoted to Boise (and probably released post-2013) if he hadn't been traded. 

Rodriguez was Designated for Assignment by the Nats on June 4th to make room on their 40-man roster for LHP Ian Kroll, so they had until Friday (6/14) to either trade him, release him, or send him outright to the minors. However, because it takes two days to get a player through waivers, Washington really only had until 2 PM (EDT) Wednesday (today) to trade him. (He was NOT placed on waivers, otherwise he could not have been traded).
Despite the 102+ MPH fastball, Rodriguez has struggled big-time with control this season (16 BB in 18 IP, and a career 98 BB in 144.2 IP), and that's probably why the Nationals lost their patience with him.  

Rodriguez is out of minor league options, and he will be (first time) eligible for salary arbitration post-2013. NOTE: Darwin Barney, Cody Ransom, James Russell, Jeff Samardzija, Nate Schierholtz, Luis Valbuena, and Travis Wood are the other players presently on the Cubs 40-man roster who will be arbitration-eligible post-2013 (and Julio Borbon will probably be eligible for salary arbitration as a "Super Two"). 

The Cubs will need to drop a player from the 25-man roster when Rodriguez reports, and that will probably just be a matter of placing RHP Zach Putnam (sore elbow) on the 15-day DL.

RHP Eduardo Sanchez (who was Designated for Assignment to make room on the Cubs MLB 40-man roster for H. Rodriguez) does NOT have the right to elect free-agency if outrighted (he has not been outrighterd previously in his career, he has not accrued three years of MLB Service Time, and he was not a "Super Two" player post-2012). However, if he is outrighted he would automatically become an MLB Rule 55 minor league FA (so-called "six-year minor league free-agent") at 5 PM on the 5th day following the conclusion of the 2013 World Series, unless he agrees to a 2014 minor league successor contract prior to the deadline, or is added back to an MLB 40-man roster prior to the conclusion of the 2013 MLB regular season.

C-1B-3B Steve Clevenger (strained oblique) is eligible to be reintstated from the Cubs 60-day DL tomorrow (Thursday 6/13), and as much as Manager Dale Sveum likes the flexibility provided by having a 3rd catcher on the roster, it does not look like there will be room for Clevenger on the 25-man roster at this time. So look for the Cubs to reinstate Clevenger from the DL and then option him to Iowa. (He will get recalled if anything happens to Welington Castillo or Dioner Navarro, or whenever Navarro gets traded), Another player will need to be removed from the 40-man roster when Clevenger is reinstated, and that could very well be (that man) Putnam again, who could be transferred to the 60-day DL after spending one day on the 15-day DL.

MLB Article XX-B free-agents signed to Major League contracts after last season received automatic "no trade" rights through June 15th, so therefore Scott Baker, Shawn Camp, Scott Feldman, Edwin Jackson, Carlos Villanueva, Dioner Navarro, and Scott Hairston can be traded without having to give their permission beginning this coming Sunday. NOTE: Carlos Marmol and Alfonso Soriano also have "no trade" rights, but their "no trade" rights are contractural (Marmol through the 2013 season, and Soriano through 2014). 

Tags
Cubs Trades
Henry Rodriguez
Ian Dickson
Eduardo Sanchez
Steve Clevenger
Zach Putnam

Comments

Submitted by QuietMan on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 06:30 am

AZ Phil - The Cubs took in quite a bit of cash when they sold the rights/contracts of Micah Hoffpauir, Bobby Scales, and Bryan LaHair (with their approval) to teams in Japan. Can the Cubs sell Ian Stewart to a team in Japan without his okay or would he need to approve the deal? I think I already know the answer here. But the movie Mr. Baseball sticks in my head. And as we all know evrything that happens in movies is true.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 06:43 am

Q-MAN: When an MLB club sells a player to Japan, they don't sell his contract. 

What happens is, the player is given permission (in advance) by his MLB club to negotiate with an NPB (Japanese) club. So it's the player's choice to negotiate with an NPB club, but only after he receives permission from his MLB club. 

Then if the player reaches agreement on a contract with the NPB club, the player requests his Outright Release and the NPB club sends a cash payment to the MLB club (as happened with Hoffpauir, Scales, and LaHair). This cash payment is negotiable, and if it's not enough, the MLB club can just refuse to release the player.

If the NPB club and the MLB club do agree to the cash payment amount, then the MLB club releases the player.

If it's a minor league player (as was the case with Scales and would be the case with Ian Stewart), he just gets released. If the player is on the MLB club's 40-man roster (as was the case with  Hoffpauir and LaHair), the club places the player on Outright Release Waivers with the stipulation that the player is being given his release so that he can sign with a Japanese club. If he were to be claimed (and he could be), the player can decline the claim (all Outright Release Waiver claims have a player refusal right). 

The whole thing is kind of similar to the NPB posting system. It's just that the quality of player going from the U. S. to Japan doesn't match the quality of player who usually comes to the U. S. after being posted. Of course an NPB free-agent is not bound by the posting system, and an MLB free-agent doesn't have to request his release, so it only applies to players who are under a club's control.  

Submitted by QuietMan on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 06:57 pm

Theo on Baez (and more): “A lot of his errors have been extreme plays at the end of his range or weird things on rundowns or trying to do too much,” Epstein said. “He needs to polish that up. We actually feel better at this moment about his ability to play shortstop every day in the big leagues than we did on Opening Day because of the way he’s playing shortstop. He needs to clean it up but I have no doubt he can play shortstop at the big league level.” http://muskat.mlblogs.com/2013/06/11/611-extra-bases-2/

Submitted by billybucks on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 06:34 pm

Not making this up....the player in today's starting line-up with the highest Slugging % is....Travis Wood.

Submitted by John Beasley on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 06:27 pm

Cubs are 7-21 against NL Central and 18-17 against the rest of baseball.

Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 06:12 pm

apparently twitter updated their widgets without telling anyone...anyway upper left box is fixed now.

It is a far more appeasing aesthitic...and any images tweeted show up now.

Submitted by QuietMan on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 06:56 pm

Jim Callis‏@jimcallisBA #Cubs sign 9th-rder Charcer Burks for $170k. Texas HS OF, great workout right before the draft, ran 6.5 in 60, held own w/wood. #mlbdraft

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 06:57 pm

for the 2nd time in 2 years i.stewart has closed his twitter account after saying/writing something stupid.

Submitted by Jumbo on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 06:34 pm

Hey everybody - as a daily reader I feel like I know some of you so I thought I'd pass on that we had our third child and first boy this morning. Drinks are on me - Cheers!

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 06:23 pm

btw, there's a lot of "100mph" thrown around about h.rodriguez, but he's dropped his velocity the past few years. he throws a lot more 96-98mph that touches 99+mph on occasions more-so than he's bringing 99-100+mph. he was bringing it at/near/over 100mph more consistently 09-10. ...still...97mph...hell yeah.

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 06:43 pm

c.archer didn't fare so well tonight after a promising showing last time out vs BAL...though it didn't sting his ERA too badly. 103 pitches in 4 innings...ton of pitches in the 3rd and 4th. his control issues were worse than the 4 walks show (58-103 strikes-pitches). 4ip 4h 4bb 7k, 2er

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Submitted by Old and Blue on Thu, 06/13/2013 - 06:50 am

Rizzo is struggling again (5 for 32 in June), but I'm not as concerned about him as I am Castro. I am beginning to question if Sveum is the right guy for this team right now. I know Sveum can't make these guys hit, but your two top core guys are looking really bad lately, and are clearly not on an upward trend. The Cubs have invested a ton of money on their success, and it's not happening. And I know we don't expect much out of Barney hitting-wise, but a .281 OBP from a non-OPS second baseman isn't acceptable for a major league team. Castillo should also be a better hitter than he is. He shows flashes, but ... If a manager is supposed to get the best out of your players, either TheoCorp is doing a really lousy job of getting good players, or Sveum is doing a lousy job of getting the best out of these kids. The TheoCorp regime is going to be measured by how well guys like Castro and Rizzo do. These guys are in their formative years in terms of development at the mlb level and right now Sveum is lording over some seriously bad numbers.

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Submitted by billybucks on Fri, 06/14/2013 - 06:38 am

I was thinking the same -- it will be a tough mid-year performance review meeting for Dale. Theo: "OK Dale, we agreed that your top prioriy this year was to develop the kids, who will be part of our future core -- and, of course, we hired you because you are a good hitting coach. Let's talk about the progress Castro, Rizzo, Castillo and Barney have made this year." Dale: "Each has regressed significantly since last year. Castillo is the only one hitting over .250, and he has all of 11 RBI. Castro and Castillo openly reject the concept of OBP. Barney is god-awful; this could be his last year as a professional baseball player. Rizzo has hit one HR since May 6. On the plus side, Travis Wood is really clobbering the ball." Theo: "uh, Dale?" Dale: "Yeah?" Theo: "Get the hell out of my office."

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Submitted by WISCGRAD on Fri, 06/14/2013 - 06:32 pm

My first thought is that Theo is probably smart enough not to put much stock in a mid-year review, because he knows that 60 games or so is not enough of a sample size to gauge performance. Rizzo's BABIP is 40 points below where it was last year, and his OPS is still comparable (.778 vs .805) and he has 100 fewer at-bats at this point, and he has been admittedly slumping the last few weeks. I would expect a natural rebound over the remaining 3.5 months, and he will end up having a nice season for his first full big league campaign at age 23. Castillo's BA is about the same as last year, but his walks are way down and he has hit fewer home runs (though the same number of doubles). But we only have 194 PAs from this year to compare to 190 PAs from last year at this point. But he's a career .265 minor league hitter and a career .258 major league hitter, and hitting .256 this year. So I would guess his power will bounce back a bit and he will draw a few more walks as the season continues and that OPS will creep up by the end. And if he plays good defense and has an OPS close to 700 or so during his first full big league season at age 26 then I think everyone will be happy. I think the main thing with those two guys is to see them get 150 games under their belts and not see any major regressions. Over the last month (since May 14th) Barney's OPS is .645 and his career OPS is .647, last year it was .653. He just really struggled the first 25 days or so after coming off the DL. Does his defense makeup for the fact that his OPS is about 75-100 points worse than most starting second basemen? I don't know. But he's almost 28 and has nearly 1500 PAs. He is what he is I think, and expecting Dale or anyone else to improve him is probably unrealistic. Castro is really scuffling, there is no denying that. But from comments from the Cubs brass it sounds like they think its growing pains as he works on parts of his game at the plate, and are hoping he will come out of this slump a better hitter for it. But we won't know that until the end of the season or even next year. On the plus side, Valbuena's OPS is .760, which is 110 points higher than last year. I don't know if he can keep it up, but he sees a lot of pitches per at bat and walks a lot.

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Submitted by crunch on Fri, 06/14/2013 - 06:18 pm

if the kids understand their roles...are putting their work in...aren't pissy towards outlook/organization...dale is doing his job, imo. you can't really look at production and tie it to the manager unless it's being dragged down by "headcase issues" aggravated by the issues above. if castro is sucking because he hates showing up for work, can't understand why he's being bounced around in the lineup, has to deal with a clubhouse he doesn't want to show up to, is getting a bit lazy with work because of a lack of being appropriately pushed, etc...that's a manager issue. if workplace/environment issues are solid i can't blame castro's regression on the manager anymore than i can give total credit to him for valbuena/ransom becoming one the best 3rd base combos in the league.

Submitted by crunch on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 06:06 pm

COL/gray agree to terms. assigned to Grand Junction (R)...season starts in about a week.

Submitted by QuietMan on Thu, 06/13/2013 - 06:01 am

Mostly fluff on Vogelbach: “He’s had a good year, so far,” said Brandon Hyde, the Chicago Cubs director of minor leagues. “He’s athletic. He has improved defensively. He has stayed on top of his conditioning. He does some things physically that we didn’t anticipate him doing.” Despite his 6-foot, 250-pound frame, Vogelbach has deceptive speed on the basepaths to match his prowess as a power hitter. He has stolen three bases in four attempts. “I’ve lost a lot of weight,” said Vogelbach, who has weighed as much as 268. “My body fat has gone down a ton. At 250, I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been in before.” http://www.news-press.com/article/20130607/SPORTS/306070031

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Submitted by crunch on Thu, 06/13/2013 - 06:39 pm

CUBS WIN! ...cubs pitchers with 20Ks through 14...masterful pen work all around (8ip 3h 0bb 14K, 6 pitchers)

Recent comments

  • Bill (view)

    A good rule of thumb is that if you trade a near-ready high ceiling prospect, you should get at least two far-away high ceiling prospects in return.  Like all rules-of-thumb, it depends upon the specific circumstances, but certainly, we weren't going to get Busch for either prospect alone.

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    Right on schedule, just read an article in Baseball America entitled "10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention".  Zyhir Hope was one of the prospects featured. It stated that he's "one of the biggest arrow-up sleeper prospects in the lower levels right now."

     

    Not sharing to be negative about the trade, getting a top 100 prospect who is MLB ready should carry a heavy prospect cost.  But man, Dodger sure are good at identifying and developing young talent. Andrew Friedman seems to have successfully merged Ray's development with Yankees financial might to create a juggernaut of an organization.  

  • Sonicwind75 (view)

    I suspect Brown will spend some time in the bullpen due to inning restrictions.  Pitched only 93 innings last year and career high is 104 innings in 2022.  I would expect them to be cautious with a young player with his injury history.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
    I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
    I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
    That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
    I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
    We'll find out soon enough!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa? 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Pro teams have to play their "big money" guys if they are healthy and not "locker room" issues.
    The Cubs wanted to deal JHey off well before they bought him out. They just didn't want to pay him to play for someone else for that long. Jed did give him 20+mil to play for LAD last yr.
    Jed might also let Kyle walk at some point this year. Similar scenario to JHey, except Jed thought Kyle was going to be good/solid in '24!!
    You'd think Smyly is in the same book as well. Same with Neris (he's a 1yr vet RP, so he's not really in this convo too much).
    That's ~35mil between those three and those three are going to get opportunities until at least late June) over younger guys even if their performance is "iffy".
    But, Jed is going to play Taillon a lot. They have to try and justify that contract and hope a veteran works out.
    So, Taillon, Imanaga, and Hendricks are locks for the rest of April and probably May.
    Assad, Brown and Wicks handle the last spots until Steele is ready.
    Now, you're question has real merit when Steele comes back. That will interesting if Brown is still good and Hendricks is still bad. But Taillon is entirely safe as long as he's healthy.

    And the bullpen moves were "money" based as well. Smyly has actually been okay. But he hasn't been clearly better than Little. Little had one bad outing. But Smyly makes 9mil. If they needed another RHRP and one of Little and Smyly had to go, it was going to Little. But that doesn't mean Smyly is one of the best 13 arms for the team. 

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