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

Tuesday Cubs Hot Stove Round-Up

- Rosenthal says the Braves are growing impatient and may pull their offer by Friday when free agency opens up. USA Today says "one team" is demanding a resolution by the 14th (let's take a guess on which team).  Rosenthal goes on to say the Padres have sent counter-offers to the Cubs and Braves, although he doesn't think either team will up the ante. In terms of players involved, he mentions Sean Marshall and possibly Josh Vitters.

- Sullivan thinks the Cubs are offering about 4/50 to Dempster right now.

- The Toronto Globe and Mail thinks Dempster is pretty likely to stay a Cub and says he'll take a discount if the Cubs acquire Peavy.


UPDATE: Buster Olney says the Cubs and Padres are trying to get a 3rd team involved and that Josh Vitters might be in play. I'd be surprised if the Cubs dealt Vitters or Samardzija myself, but you never know.

 

Comments

Can we have the old Rich Hill back? A Z, Peavy, Demp, '07 Hill, Lilly rotation would be alright. Of course they won't score any runs in the playoffs, so who gives a shit. What happens to Harden? I'm sorry, I should know this, but I've tried to think about the Cubs as little as possible the last two months.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

if by some miracle, we do get Peavy and Dempster, the thought of Peavy, Harden, Z, Dempster, Lilly would be pretty damn exciting, but you have to wonder about the Marquis situation.

It's a good bet the Cubs would have to shed some salary for at least one-left handed bat and Marquis would be a lot harder to move than Harden and would get you much less in a trade. On top of that, you have to wonder about rotation stability. Assuming you've traded at least Marshall and possibly another starter, you've got a lot of guys in the rotation that our injury risks. Who steps in when they go down withouth Marshall and let's say Atkins or whatever. 

We'd still have Gaudin and they could sign Lieber or something like him again and I'll assume Samardzija isn't getting traded and there's always Rich Hill, but the pitching staff could fall apart quickly. And I think it's a safe bet that if the Cubs got Peavy and Dempster that Harden wouldn't be resigned after this year.

Now I'm not advocating it, I'd love to see them move Marquis and roll the dice with that kind of talent, but it's certainly something to think about. And Harden would definitely be the best trading chip we have.

I love the idea of getting swept in October by scores of 1-0, 2-0, 1-0. They ask if it could get worse, well yeah, that is worse.

Baseball Prospectus has their top 11 Cubs prospects: Five-Star Prospects 1. Josh Vitters, 3B Four-Star Prospects 2. Jeff Samardzija, RHP 3. Jose Ceda, RHP Three-Star Prospects 4. Hak-Ju Lee, SS 5. Andrew Cashner, RHP 6. Tyler Colvin, OF 7. Dae-Eun Rhee, LHP 8. Ryan Flaherty, Two-Star Prospects 9. Welington Castillo, C 10. Donald Veal, LHP 11. Micah Hoffpauir, 1B Just Missed: Matt Cedra, INF; Jay Jackson, RHP; Logan Watkins, INF http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=8296 The rest of the content in the link is subscriber only.

There isn't anybody on Baseball Prospectus' list or combination thereof that I wouldn't trade for Peavy. Samardzija has the NTC, and Cashner/Flaherty can't be traded until after June 15th or whenever the June draft is held this year.

please oh please http://www.desipio.com/?p=1782 The Jake Peavy to the Cubs rumors will not die, and today they took a turn for the interesting. A source within the Padres organization claims that it’s “basically a done deal” (whatever basically means) that Peavy is headed to Chicago, and that the Cubs will send back Felix Pie, Sean Marshall and Ryan Theriot. Is this one of those “I know a guy, who knows a guy” deals? Yes, that’s exactly what it is. So I have no idea if it’s true. All I can say is that the “source” is a guy who actually should know. and from the comments.. Andy 10 The source of this rumor reports to Kevin Towers directly. Nope, not Masur or Vasgersian.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Interesting. That would seem to seriously conflict with today's rumors about the Braves having pieces in place, but perhaps they ended up asking for too much. I have a bad feeling though this will be akin to the '05 blog from some dude that Furcal signs with the Cubs, only to have him sign with the Dodgers the next day. Rob, I'm guessing the "please oh please" is more about shedding Theriot than acquiring Peavy? :)

Realistically we have nothing to offer pitching wise (exception Szamarja or Harden) compared to the Braves. If this deal gets done with pie, marshall and theriot then it's silly not to take it. I wonder if Giles will be in this deal to shed all of their salary...find this third team...what else would we be giving up? There is no way we are getting rid of Marquis and his 9mil this year if this deal gets done. In all honestly they should let Dempster walk this was his best year by far when you compared it to his past. He's not worth the 12-15 he may get on the open market. If you can get a good deal on Wood then go for it but he's also not worth 12-15 per year. Peavy Z Harden Lilly Marquis or Hill (in my prayers) Any body have details on Hill in the Venezuela league..he's getting hammered. Don't count on him to do anything. It should be interesting.

His source at Cubs- No chance for Dempster resigning, he wants 5/85 Wood gone also, Tampa very interested Peavy trade needs third team(duh), Peavy needed because of no Dempster ~grain of salt~

I'd do the Peavy deal pretty much under any circumstances, Vitters might hurt a little but I'll take a pitcher with Cy Young stuff over a prospect.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

if it was 28 year old Randy Johnson, then yes. The difference is that Jake Peavy has Cy Young stuff and has one one. Meaning that he's put up the numbers deserving of a Cy Young award and will probably continue to show his Cy Young stuff. Kerry Wood will not put up Cy Young numbers nor will Randy Johnson. Why are you trying to pick this nit when you God Damned well what he's trying to say?

I've read in a couple places now about maybe Adam Dunn to the Cubs. Can he even play RF? He sure can't play LF worth a damn, but if he has a strong arm (I don't know, does he?), there's no reason he'd be any worse in RF than in LF, right? He would certainly address the Cubs' age-old need for a LH power bat in the middle of the order. If they signed him, I imagine he would be the heir apparent at 1B once Lee's contract is over. Final question, this one about Brian Roberts. Would the Orioles at all be interested in Mark DeRosa as part of a Roberts trade? I wonder if the Cubs could put together trade packages for BOTH Peavy and Roberts; I'm not convinced the Cubs have enough quality young players, but maybe DeRosa would help them get it done. If the Cubs DID somehow acquire Peavy, Roberts and Dunn, I'm buying my World Series tickets right now.

[ ]

In reply to by Chad

dunn's arm isn't that bad, but it's not good or accurate. he's also battled off/on soreness with his throwing arm almost yearly. much like the entire package that is adam dunn he's got an amazing set of tools he applies really oddly. it makes me wonder how good of a player he could be if he actually liked the game as much as some other players out there. there's more than a few that think dunn could use a clemens meets schilling lockerroom "talk" to get him into the game more.

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).