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

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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 
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The End of the Kerry Wood Era is Near

On the heels of the Cubs acquiring Kevin Gregg, reader "jacos" heard on WSCR that Jim Hendry has said that Kerry Wood is pretty likely to have played his last game as a Cub.

Wood wanted a three year guaranteed deal and the Cubs, skeptical of his injury history, don't feel he's worth that much risk. We'll see what the open market has to offer, but someone will take a chance on his talent. You can't blame either side on their positions in my opinion. The Cubs were burned for years expecting Kerry and Prior and others to be healthy, that it's understandable of their more cautious approach. Kerry though had a very good season, really didn't have any arm issues last year besides a blister and after living off a few one year deals, he has every right to look for some security.

I don't think the book is closed, but we're on the last paragraph. Or maybe I'm just reading the appendix now.

Comments

coming from the belief camp that you dont pay a guy 10+m to throw 1/3rd of a season of ball...i don't blame them. classy kerry went from hero to dog to dead dog and back to hero again. at least he gets to go out on a positive (as of now) note after a rollercoaster of health issues and fan patience with the cubs.

Swisher heading to Yankees for minor league pitcher Jeff Marquez(sP). (almost done deal) And WSox talking to RSox sbout Dye.

Kerry Wood- Thanks for 10 frustating, exciting, horrible, wonderful years. Good luck and I see him with the Cubs in the future in some capacity. A good guy.

It will be interesting to find out where Wood ends up. I think him and Gregg are just about equal. I'm also not going to shed any tears about Ceda until he shows up in the major leagues and shows he can throw strikes.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I'm still not convinced there is alot of difference between Wood and Gregg...Wood walks a few less people but thats about it. Look Kerry Wood is a Cub favorite and always will be, but he wasn't so great that we can't afford to lose him. I hope he goes over to the AL or at least stays out of our division, but I think Gregg will be an adequate replacement. If they keep Gregg, Lou will have a big decision to make on who gets the 8th and 9th between Gregg and Marmol.

[ ]

In reply to by Jeff_Pico

I think as a GM, you want Gregg getting saves and Marmol on fireman duty. This, I think, will help Gregg to reach Type A status and raise his market value (which will keep him from accepting Arbitration offers). Also, it will lower Marmol's winnings in arbitration and thus keep his cost down. I also think it will maximize Marmol's value because the manager will mostly use him in situations where the team has the most to lose--runners on base, or best hitters coming up. As a manager, I think you probably follow conventional wisdom and use your most dominant reliever as your closer. Marmol is clearly the most dominant pitcher in the bullpen. Marmol will be the closer.

Woody - you were a very loyal guy. And you smashed sosa's radio when it needed to be smashed and no one had the balls. You will always have a place in my heart.

right but you can also include the Hee Seop Choi for D.Lee deal. Regardless only Nolasco will haunt the Cubs from that mess even if Ceda becomes the next Francisco Cordero or some similar 2nd tier closer. Mitre was nothing but a 5th/6th SP now with TJ and on a minor league deal with the Yankees and Pinto would be a nice loogy but still, nothing that couldn't be dealt for what was then a positional need CF/leadoff hitter in Pierre. Regardless of how it turns out, if you take financial semantics out of the equation you can look at it as D.Lee, J.Pierre, Gregg, Josh Donaldson(supp pick for Pierre signing with LA) for Nolasco, Pinto, and a Ceda wildcard so although the Marlins will probably get over on Hendry on 2 of those 3 deals, but the Lee trade was such a good deal for the Cubs it sort of evens it all out. Plus if Gregg does become a Type A and it nets the Cubs a future value the 3 deals could swing to the Cubs side in the end.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

But I also had to watch Juan Pierre for a year, so it is just barely a wash. Only players I think we miss now are Gallagher and Nolasco, might end up sort of missing Pinto and Ceda depending on how our own bullpen performs. Considerring we essentially lost two #3 starters and two potentially decent relievers, we did well. Got a starting first baseman, an injury-prone ace, a strong reliever/swing man, and a backup closer. Plus it looks like we've got at least one A-type free agent (Gregg). I really liked Murt, but I don't miss the frustration of watching the guy pound grounders into the dirt. Your game is in the air, doofus!

(blank) A. Met B. Angel C. Cardinal D. Rangers E. Rays F. Cub G. (none of the above) pick no more than two I go B or D...Angels or Rangers.

Cant keep signing every one to long term contracts. (warning light siren turned on) Gregg's arbitration number will be alot less then Wood's number. Hendry feels Wood deserves big money for his family. Hendry feels bad, more friendship then business relationship with Wood. Wood would be welcome back as coach after career.(insert towel joke here) Dempster- Not concerned with deadline. Would like to keep. Needs to "finish rotation" Dempster or not. Team will be better then 2008 team come ST. Payroll not going down. No final number yet. Increase in payroll does not mean they can keep everyone. Hendry asked about Lou saying too much pressure with too many fans on bandwagon, team "tried too hard"(today's trib)~CMON LOU~ Hendry- can never have too many fans, "we just screwed up." Cubs need more lh hitting, some through FA or trades. Not taking lightly on how poorly they played in playoffs. Cub will keep going until knock door down. Feel team is good trying to make better.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

"Hendry feels Wood deserves big money for his family. Hendry feels bad, more friendship then business relationship with Wood." Wood says something about Chicago being better for the family. I think these guys are both walking away from the bargaining table and looking over their shoulder to see if the other guy will call them back. They're negotiating by other means. Hendry won't pay Wood what other teams will, and Wood wants just a little more. Stay tuned.

from Rotoworld

Yankees acquired first baseman-outfielder Nick Swisher and RHP Kanekoa Texeira from the White Sox for infielder Wilson Betemit, RHP Jeff Marquez and RHP Jhonny Nunez.

nuts....would have been a nice option for the Cubs.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I don't know much about Marqus or Nunes, but I think the Cubs could've come up with a comparable package. I wonder whether Hendry doesn't think much of Swisher, or if he was distracted by other discussions.

#27 Kerry will be a*new

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 11/13/2008 - 3:32pm.

(blank)

A. Met

B. Angel

C. Cardinal

D. Rangers

E. Rays

F. Cub

G. (none of the above) pick no more than two

I go B or D...Angels or Rangers.

============================

ROB G: I'm gonna say the D'backs.

Woody still has a house out here, and Arizona needs a reliable closer.

I'm guessing Wood to Rays. I'll miss him. He'll probably always be my favorite Cub...after Jose Macias. I dreamt that the Cubs 'signed' Corey Patterson. Something exciting better happen soon. Gregg doesn't count.

What are the possibilities the Cubs got Gregg as a trading chip for Peavy? The Padres need a closer, and supposedly are cutting ties with Hoffman.

G) I'm saying Brewers. Stays close to Chicago and MIL trains in AZ as well. definitely do not see the DBacks in on Wood. They just shot down Randy Johnson's proposal of taking a 50% pay cut and they need to sign a 2B yet too. Plus they have Pena, Qualls, and Rauch as three guys who can close on any given day.

I really like Kerry Wood and will miss him, but I absolutely agree with this decision by Hendry. I had lost total faith in Wood by the end of last season and the one positive with the fast playoff exit was that we didn't have to see Woody choke in the playoffs which was my bigger fear. Wood was always a little weak in the nerve department (but never short on guts). I don't think he is a reliable closer or a worthy investment, and with his injury history the long term deal is a big nono. Hendry will make better use of that money. I still think Peavy is a possibility, but I'll happily take Lowe, Sheets, Sabathia and say goodbye to Dempster. Big contract for Dempster after ONE good year is also a big ol' risk I hope Hendry doesn't take.

To win in the playoffs more than anything we need a #1 starter. There is no one on the roster now that you can feel good about should we make it to game 1 of the postseason. Z is WAY too up and down. If living without Wood and Dempster means we can sign Lowe or Sabathia (probably not due to $ and years) or trade for Peavy, I am all for it. For goodness sake, I hope they get a LH outfielder for RF and a Loogy and be done. Forget about getting a 2B unless you trade DeRosa. His upper teen HRs and 80 rbis look great coming from 2B, but look aweful Jacque Jones-ish (or Burnitz-ish) coming from right field with worse defense to boot.

If the Cubs want the two draft picks they'll get for losing Kerr Wood, they will still need to offer salary arbitration to Woody if he doesn't sign with a new club by December 1st.

And then the Cubs need to be financially prepared in case KW (for some reason) decides to accept the offer.

Same goes for Ryan Dempster.

The Cubs will almost certainly NOT offer salary arbitration to Bob Howry (the third Cubs Type "A" FA) just to get two draft picks, though, because he probably would accept the offer and then the Cubs would be stuck with him.

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

It'll be interesting to see where the Cubs are at Dec. 1. I'm sure they'll offer arbitration to Woody since he's sure to decline it and, even if he didn't, they'd be fine with that also. I find myself tempted to offer arbitration to Howry, if we've shored up the rotation and perhaps got a bat by December 1 (get to work, Jim). If we have all that and offer arb. and he accepts, can't we just make Howry the long reliever or stick him in mop-up duty? Or they could always release him in ST. I want those picks!

The people who wanted Swisher, I'm curious as to why. He's had two mediocre years in a row, and last year didn't even get on base very often (his primary value in addition to HRs). He's not a terrible fielder but not all that great. Didn't even hit righties well last year.

Andrew-- You're an asshole, don't you even DARE suggest the Cubs tempt fate and offer arby to Gas Can Bob. No. I honestly could not deal with that outcome, .... Seriously, I really really hope this means Hendry views a big LH power bat as his #1 priority. If so, I am 100% in his corner so far. As I mentioned in the other thread, I like the Ceda for Gregg swap just fine. Will miss #34. NOT just another employee.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/sports/story.html?id=95… (Twins Justin Morneau);Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia; New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez; Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter; Twins catcher Joe Mauer; Baltimore Orioles designated hitter Aubrey Huff; and outfielders Carlos Quentin of the Chicago White Sox, Grady Sizemore of the Cleveland Indians and Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers. The National League Silver Sluggers are: first baseman Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals; second baseman Chase Utley of the Philadelphia Phillies; third baseman David Wright of the New York Mets; shortstop Hanley Ramirez of the Florida Marlins; catcher Brian McCann of the Atlanta Braves; pitcher Carlos Zambrano of the Chicago Cubs; and outfielders Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers, Matt Holliday of the Colorado Rockies (since traded to the Oakland A's) and Ryan Ludwick of the St. Louis Cardinals.

There's been some talk of Rick Ankiel being available. I wonder what the asking price would be--and I'd hate to see the Cubs help the Cards get better. But he would fit the CF/RF lefty slugger need, no? Wouldn't be the OBP type that we might hope for, but he's got real power. Maybe he could counsel Rich Hill on pitching mechanics and control.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

i don't have the foggiest idea of what you are talking about. "Normal" woman are not super hot chicks. And you can't say that pretty girls are encouraged at a young age to, well. be pretty. No one cares wins the Ms. College Bowl competition but they put Miss America on national TV. Also, it's a well known fact that men have fragile egos and feel inferior around smart women. So women often pretend to be dumb to not chase off the cavemen. This is more a knock on men than it is women. I am not saying that women are stupid. I am saying most hot chicks aren't that bright. And don't forget, I live in Los Angeles.

My take on Wood's destination... Cleveland. As in Tribe. They need a closer badly and have the money to take on his salary. After having Wickman and Boroski closing, the fans there will think the radar gun is hitting 110. ...and at least my son can wear his #34 Cub jersey to harass the WSux when the Indians come to town. Of course Woody might just bite on the Rangers if his hero Nolan Ryan comes dialing with dollars...

I will say that I am very disappointed in this decision. I'm not shocked, as this has been rumored for awhile, but its still an decision I just don't like. On the purely emotional side, I think its a shame that Wood took the risk on back to back one year deals with the Cubs because he seemed like he wanted to stay here, they gave him a chance to close, he performed well, and now when its time to reward him, they are cutting him loose. Obviously, he more than earned his money during 2004-06 when he was being paid $12 mil for not pitching, but I would have liked to see the loyalty be more of a two way street at this point in time. There's also the matter of simply enjoying the chance to keep watching the same player spend his entire career with one team, which is certainly a rare thing these days. On the baseball side, I think the Cubs get worse with this deal. I trust Marmol and Wood at the back of the pen a whole lot more than Gregg and Marmol. Bullpens are fickle and a great pitcher one year can be horrible the next (see pretty much any FA relieve the cubs have signed under Hendry), but I really did like the combination of Wood and Marmol, and knowing when one struggled -as they both did during stretches during 08- the other could step in. And on the seriously concerned side, I see a major rival 90 miles to the north whose closer just retired and who was willing to pay 10 million to a risky Free Agent closer last year. The thought of Kerry Wood pitching against the Cubs in a pennant race is something that I don't like from an emotional or baseball side.

[ ]

In reply to by Jeff_Pico

That's sort of like saying Greg Maddux and Steve Trachsel are pretty much the same guy. Walks and strikeous, are probably the two most important things you look at with a pitcher. Wood was a bit unlucky with his defense last year. If he puts up the same BB/K/HR numbers like he did last year for the next three years, he probably won't have any ERA's over 3. But Gregg was hurt, and he's done better in the past, so hopefully he'll get up to a 10K/9 guy with the Cubs. Pretty good trade, and I had thought of Gregg as an obvious target for Hendry, but didn't want to Jinx Wood coming back. I'll miss Kerry. He's an easy guy to root for. I guess he'll wind up with the Mets.

[ ]

In reply to by Jeff_Pico

You keep saying that Wood and Gregg were not much different this year, but lets actually looks at some real numbers (mostly taken from this post at Fan Graphs: Wood/Gregg: ERA+: Wood, 137 - Gregg, 125 BB/9: Wood, 2.44 - Gregg, 4.85 K/9: Wood, 11.40 - Gregg, 7.60 HR/9: Wood, 0.41 - Gregg, 0.39 FIP: Wood, 2.32 - Gregg, 3.84 Wood has significantly better BB and K numbers, and a significantly better FIP. You refer to save numbers: Save %: Wood, 85% - Gregg, 76% Wood, again, is significantly better. Wood is also significantly better in WHIP (1.08 to Gregg's 1.28). I don't dislike Gregg, and I don't think that Wood was nearly as good as someone people think he was this year, but Gregg really isn't in Wood's league.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

What's FIP? Fielding independent pitching. It basically looks at K's, BB's, HBP, and homeruns, as those are the only things that a pitcher has complete control (assuming you don't factor in wind and ballpark differences). THT's definition:
Fielding Independent Pitching, a measure of all those things for which a pitcher is specifically responsible. The formula is (HR*13+(BB+HBP-IBB)*3-K*2)/IP, plus a league-specific factor (usually around 3.2) to round out the number to an equivalent ERA number. FIP helps you understand how well a pitcher pitched, regardless of how well his fielders fielded. FIP was invented by Tangotiger.
Were there any pitchers in baseball who bested Wood's K/9, BB/9 and HR/9 rates last year? Do you mean bested in all three? Believe it or not, LaTroy Hawkins, once he got to Houston, was better than Wood in each category (I know... sample size). Other than that though, I don't see any pitcher who bested Wood in all three categories. Wood was third in the NL and 6th in MLB (among pitchers who through more than 45 innings, my arbitrary number to include relievers) in FIP. All four ahead of Wood were relievers - Saito, Devine, Papelbon, Broxton, and Rivera.

[ ]

In reply to by Doug Dascenzo

With relievers the correlation between how well you're pitching and how often you're pitching is so strong it's hard to figure anything out. If a guy throws 80 one year it may be that he just had a good or lucky year, and the next year his ERA goes back to his normal 4.00 or whatever, so his manager uses him less. It's pretty rare that relievers strike out guys as frequently as Marmol has in his last two years. You're talking Dibble, Lidge, F-Rod, Rivera for one year, Wetteland early in his career. All of those guys got moved to a closer role, so it's hard to say if they could have continued their ways as setup guys, but most of their K numbers also dropped to more human standards.

[ ]

In reply to by Chad

The point is that your exampledoesn't happen. If you give up a lot of groundballs, and you don't have a crappy infield, then your FIP will marginally under-represent your talent. Soft tossers, like changeup artists and knuckballers, tend to get a few more outs by their fielders than hard throwers. But your example isn't realistic. If a guy has a BABIP of .260 one year, the odds are more likley that it's going to be .300 next year than .260. There's hundreds of thousands of innings of data that show this. Yes there's a little wiggle room for some pitchers, but by and by if you have a .200 BABIP against for a year - you're due for a reality check the following year.

ChicagoCubsOnline.com wrote: "His daytime stats last season were very interesting. Gregg posted a 1-2 record in 24 games with 10 saves, a 0.82 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP while opponents hit .149 against him."

Rosenthal sez: Texas planning on making a run for KW and a few other tidbits http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8793068/ChiSox-GM-is-up-to-something… One rival executive predicts that the Rangers will make a strong run at free-agent closer Kerry Wood, who was born in Irving, Tx., a suburb of Dallas; Wood has allowed only three home runs in 90 2/3 innings the past two seasons, making him a reasonable choice for hitter-friendly Rangers Ballpark. Many in the industry were surprised by the Cubs' willingness to part with Class AA right-hander Jose Ceda for one year of righty Kevin Gregg. Ceda, 6-foot-4 and 275 pounds, is a big, strong reliever with dominating power stuff. "He looks like Armando Benitez," one exec says. From a scouting perspective, that's a compliment. (Cubster sez: no it's not) Outfielder Jeremy Hermida could be the next arbitration-eligible Marlin to be traded, but having already moved four others, the Fish are now flexible enough to be choosy. The Cubs like Hermida as an affordable left-handed hitting option in right field, and the Rays are among the other teams interested ...

Mourning Wood... Although I agree with the decision to trade for Gregg and let Wood walk, I still hate to see him go. Even through all of his injury woes, Kerry was a good guy. He played hard (when he could) and he was a good clubhouse guy (just ask Sosa). I think it is a mistake to evaluate this trade and the decision to let Wood go at this time. It just seems to me that there will be more moves that will be made possible by these moves. Maybe Gregg will go to San Diego for Peavy, Maybe Wood will still come back. Who knows? The off-season is just starting. If Kerry doesn't come back to the Cubs, I can definitely see him signing with Texas.

the Nationals are throwing out the whole rebuilding and patience plan... Rotoworld says they're going to make a run at Teixeira and earlier in the week were talking about Manny Ramirez. Doubtful they land both, but looks like they'll be players in the FA market. Be nice if the Cubs could somehow acquire Nick Johnson, just for the bench. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but he's damn good when healthy.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

If you've got the money, this is probably the off-season to strike on big ticket FA's, sort of like the year when Tejada and Vlad signed. If not for the Yankees, I think that FA's would be a real bargain this year. The guys that the Yankees are in on are going to probably get paid comparably to last years guys (+5%). I can't figure out how Manny makes sense for the Nats though. Manny is for a team that is one player away - not 4 regulars, 3 starters and a closer away.

[ ]

In reply to by Andrew

Yeah there's probably something fucked up with offering Dempster a four year deal at $12.5 per and not offering Wood a one year deal for $10 million. Some smart GM is going to sign him to a one year contract with 3 vesting years and wind up with a pretty good closer with the upside that if his tendinitis is a thing of the past he could move to the rotation and be one of the game's best starters for $10 million. Maybe it will still work out with Kerry somehow, but it sure seems like Hendry has decided he doesn't have room for a high salary guy in the bullpen. I'd take Mitch Atkins and Wood over Marquis and Weurtz.

[ ]

In reply to by Andrew

Something doesn't seem quite right about this. The player says he'll sign for one year and the GM says "No, you need to go somewhere else to sign for three or four years." If Wood really will sign for one year to stay in Chicago, maybe the Cubs should revisit this. Gregg, Marmol, Wood in the 7th, 8th, and 9th could be awesome (although I'm not 100% convinced that Gregg is going to stick around). Actually, it may be in Wood's best interest to sign a one-year deal. With the glut of relievers on the market, if he has a good 2009, he could end up signing for even more next off-season.

Am I the only one who wouldn't be angry if we didn't land Peavy? I don't think... I've been excited about this trade since day one. The exact opposite of the Harden trade.

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).