Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

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

Best Cubs Drafts

I was intrigued by the recent ESPN article that proclaimed the 1968 Los Angeles Dodgers draft to be the best ever. The Dodgers picks that year were exceptional. All told across the various January and June drafts, the Dodgers drafted and signed EIGHT players that would go on to have successful major league careers. They are listed below with their career WAR according to Baseball Reference:

  • Ron Cey 53.5
  • Davey Lopes 42.2
  • Steve Garvey 37.7
  • Doyle Alexander 35.5
  • Joe Ferguson 21.0
  • Geoff Zahn 20.7
  • Bill Buckner 14.8
  • Tom Paciorek 7.6

 Though knowing the Cubs would never come close to that, I decided to see what their best drafts would be. I examined every draft for the Cubs and noted all players with a career WAR (according to Baseball Reference) of 3.0 or higher. For active players, that was 3.0 as of June 4, 2014. The full list by year is below.

 I thought 3.0 would be a very low bar and I would see a lot of players, but sadly the Cubs have had eight years through 2005 in which they did not draft and sign even a single player that accumulated that much WAR over their careers. Overall, in most years, the Cubs were lucky to draft one or perhaps two future Major League regulars. The “Best Draft” in Cubs history would probably have to be 1984 with Maddux and Moyer, followed by 1985 with Palmeiro and Grace. The only draft with much depth was 2001 with Prior, Nolasco, Soto, and Theriot.

  • 2009: DJ LeMahieu 3.6
  • 2008: Andrew Cashner 4.3
  • 2007: Josh Donaldson 13.7, Darwin Barney 6.0
  • 2006: Jeff Samardzija 5.2
  • 2005: NA
  • 2004: Jerry Blevins 3.6
  • 2003: Sean Marshall 9.7
  • 2002: Randy Wells 7.9, Rich Hill 3.2
  • 2001: Mark Prior 16.5 , Ricky Nolasco 11.0, Geovony Soto 10.0, Ryan Theriot 6.4
  • 2000: Dontrelle Willis 20.3
  • 1999: NA
  • 1998: Corey Patterson 9.6, Eric Hinske 8.2, Will Ohman 3.5
  • 1997: Jon Garland 22.5, Scott Downs 11.1, Michael Wuertz 5.3
  • 1996: Kyle Lohse 20.6
  • 1995: Kerry Wood 27.7, Justin Speier 7.8
  • 1994: Kyle Farnsworth 6.6
  • 1993: Jose Molina 3.9, Kevin Orie 3.1
  • 1992: NA
  • 1991: Steve Trachsel 29.4, Doug Glanville 10.9, Terry Adams 4.4
  • 1990: NA
  • 1989: NA
  • 1988: NA
  • 1987: Frank Castillo 7.8, Mike Harkey 6.3
  • 1986: Rick Wilkins 13.9, Joe Girardi 5.7, Jerome Walton 3.7
  • 1985: Rafael Palmeiro 71.6, Mark Grace 46.1
  • 1984: Greg Maddux 106.9, Jamie Moyer 50.4
  • 1983: Dave Martinez 19.1, Rich Amaral 5.2
  • 1982: Shawon Dunston 11.5
  • 1981: Joe Carter 19.3, Darrin Jackson 11.4, Billy Hatcher 3.9
  • 1980: Craig Lefferts 9.3
  • 1979: Scott Fletcher 32.0
  • 1978: Mel Hall 8.7
  • 1977: Randy Martz 3.8
  • 1976: Ron Davis 5.1
  • 1975: Lee Smith 29.6
  • 1974: NA
  • 1973: Mike Krukow 24.1, Donnie Moore 7.0
  • 1972: Ray Burris 16.4
  • 1971: Burt Hooton 35.9, Dennis Lamp 15.4
  • 1970: Rick Reuschel 70.0
  • 1969: Bill North 26.7, Larry Gura 21.7, Roger Metzger 3.9
  • 1968: Oscar Gamble 23.0
  • 1967: NA
  • 1966: Joe Niekro 29.9, Bill Stoneman 4.6
  • 1965: Ken Holtzman 27.6, Joe Decker 6.9

Comments

this 1/2 inning interview with "the dude who made the shawn-o-meter" 25 years ago is one of the most nervously awkward things in the booth of a cubs game in quite a while...and edwin jackson pitching a slow inning doesn't help. ...and they send him home "early" after a long string of questions and ejax's 2nd walk in a row with 1 out.

That's Eloy Jimenez on the left, Manny Ramirez in the middle, and Gleyber Torres on the right

I wonder what happened with Paul Blackburn last night at Kane County: 30 pitches...2/3 IP, 3 walks...1hit, 2 ER. Ugh

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    For sure. This lineup isn’t exactly stacked as is, and subbing out a Cooper or even a Tauchman for Madrigal won’t do it any favors.

  • crunch (view)

    the ESPN bottom graphic taking up 1/8th of the screen sucks.

    i only use ESPN during baseball season and i'm forced to watch a baseball broadcast designed to be broadcast in sports bars and betting parlors where the news/scores of other games is as important as what you're actually tuned in to watch.

  • crunch (view)

    morel triple to start the season....yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    LHP Blake Weiman appears to have been the last cut from the AAA Iowa roster. He is with the Tennessee group at Minor League Camp.

     

  • crunch (view)

    bruce bochy is hobbling rather badly for a guy who's had 2 hip replacements.  his gait is extremely wonky taking the lineup card to the ump.

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.