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

Yet Another Win For Darwinism; Barney DFA'd

Survival of the fittest and all, and Darwin Barney has just been naturally selected off of the Cubs 40-man roster. So Emilio Bonificaio is activated and Barney gets DFA'd, with Alcantara and Bonifacio both in the starting lineup tonight. Barney will end his Cubs career with over 2000 PA's (holy shit..really?) and a place in the Hall of Cubs Punch Lines. I'm sure a stand-up guy and all and his glove work was spectacular, but he was the hitting equivalent of the sad trombone. But on this day, we celebrate his Cubs career, let's take a fond look back.

  • Won the Gold Glove in 2012
  • Was Not a Douchebag like Ryan Theriot
  • Cost Less Than a Million Up Until This Year

Yeah, I got nothing else. $20 virtual dollars he ends up with the Giants or Cardinals.

Comments

Draft Pick Standings

  1. Rockies .404
  2. Rangers .404
  3. Cubs .412 (all 3 teams at 40 wins, Cubs with 2 less losses)
  4. Astros .414
  5. Arizona .430

[ ]

In reply to by JoePepitone

Yikes "At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul." Principal to Billy Madison

not sure how accurate the WAR listing is on the BR draft page by year, but I got Barney as #3 (discounting Donaldson) of the Hendry era (since 2002).

  1. Josh Donaldson 14.1 (none with Cubs)
  2. Sean Marshall 9.8 (obviously not all with Cubs)
  3. Randy Wells 7.9
  4. Darwin Barney 6.8
  5. Jeff Samardzija 5.7

Yeah, I never had a problem with Barney. He just couldn't hit well, hit with power, or run particularly well. But he'd be a nice 25th man to backup second and short on a contending team. He plays great defense and good fundamental baseball. And seems like a good clubhouse guy, hustles, etc. I would have actually rather seen Bonifacio let go than Barney, but its a six and a half-dozen situation to me; and I assume they made this move thinking about potential trades from here on out. Also, I would love to just watch those highlight clips of Barney. I'd spend 10-15 minutes watching them all. And I don't mind a few adds (even though the banners and sidebars are already covered in them); but I sure as hell won't sit through a 15-second annoying McDonalds commercial between EACH ONE. MLB.com is terrible.

per Roto... Lone star state Cubbery:
Rangers placed C Geovany Soto on the 15-day disabled list with a right groin strain. Soto lasted just three games on the Rangers' active roster. He missed the first three-and-a-half months of the 2014 season following knee surgery and will now likely be sidelined through mid-August. Robinson Chirinos will again serve as the primary catcher in Texas.

The Cubs have ten days to either release, trade, or outright Darwin Barney to the minors, but because he was not replaced on the 40-man roster by another player when he was Designated for Assignment, the Cubs could also choose to return Barney to the 40-man roster and option him to minors.    

Because it has been more than three years since he made his debut on an MLB 25-man Active List, Optional Assignmemt Waivers would be required before Barney can be optioned to the minors, and it takes two days to get a player through waivers. So clubs will sometimes DFA a player when they need the player's slot on the 25-man roster, to give themselves time to secure Optional Assignment Waivers, and then once Optional Assignment Waivers have been secured, the player can be returned to the 40-man roster and get optioned to the minors. . 

Barney has never been optioned to the minors, so he has all three minor league options left. Also, Barney cannot refuse an Optional Assignment until he has accrued five years of MLB Service Time, and he has accrued a few days less than four years of MLB Service Time to this point in time.  

He can elect free-agency if he is outrighted to the minors (but not if he is optioned), but if he does get outrighted and then elects free-agency, he would forfeit what is left of his 2014 salary (but only if his contract is not guaranteed).  



Tony Four Sacks /league leader //fourth straight game

alca killed a fastball down the middle to RF. huge HR. hendricks with 7 shutout...even if it is vs SD.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

Rizzo's HR production is truly remarkable, given that he is the only legit hitter who can do any damage in the lineup. In the future, Castro should hit 7th -- lousy OBP, moderate power. His bat isn't anything special if he's not playing SS. Olt & Lake combined tonight -- 0-for-8, 5 Ks. Not good, fellows. Not good.

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

Soler has been playing like a man among boys across the board and needs to get on the fast track, so that promotion makes immediate sense. But I'm a little surprised by the Almora promotion. He's been hot lately, but his BB% remains frighteningly low and has been pretty much throughout his pro career.

It will be interesting to see if Almora's hitting changes out of the FSL which is notoriously tough on hitters. Also it will be interesting to see if he needs to make an adjustment to AA pitching. Relative to normal age for AA, how young is he for that league?

The Iowa OF has been Szczur (.246), Jackson (.217) and Kalish (.208). With the Solar promotion, it will be interesting to see who loses at bats. The end of the BJax era or Kalish?

So what are the dominoes here with Olt and Soler going to AAA and only Wada, a pitcher, coming up? I assume someone has to be released or demoted to AA?

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

The I-Cubs had 14 pitchers active (including Kyuji Fujikawa) prior to Wada getting called-up, so Olt would replace Wada on the Iowa Cubs Active List, and I would think Manny Ramirez will probably be placed on the 7-day DL with some kind of vague "soft tissue" injury to make room for Soler. 

And then Szczur and Jackson will probably share CF, and Vitters and Kalish will probably share LF duties.  

At Tennessee, Almora plays CF (obviously), so Jae-Hoon Ha would move to RF.

Billy McKinney can play CF (his natural position) at Daytona, with Schwarber in LF (when he isn't catching) and Bijan Rademacher in RF, although the Cubs could move Pin-Chieh Chen back down to Daytona from Tennessee to play CF for the D-Cubs (both John Andreoli and Rubi Silva are on the Tennessee 7-day DL and one or both could be reinstated at any time), or they might move Hannemann, Martin, or Dunston up to Daytona from Kane County to play CF.  

And.....when is Lake going to follow Olt to Iowa? He has been going south for a while with his plate appearances.

Q-MAN: That makes a lot of sense. Why waste Lake's last minor league option with only six weks left in the minor league season? 

Olt has two options left, so he'll still have one left next season even after using up one this season. But I still don't understand why he wasn't sent down earlier. 

The Eloy Jimenez moonshot HR last night for AZL Cubs at Cubs Park (Riverview Park) went over the LF berm and his walk-off RBI double hit off the right-centerfield wall.

2014 13th round draft pick Kevonte Mitchell (now playing CF) continues to impress... 6'4 "long-strider" with above-average speed, good baserunner, enough range to play CF, and a line-drive stroke with plus bat speed... 

And AA RHP Ivan Pineyro (forearm strain) was throwing strikes with a 91-92 MPH fastball and an occasional change-up in his return to action (two innings). He looked very good for not having pitched in a game in more than two months.  

Cubs top pitching prospect RHP C. J. Edwards (shoulder) is scheduled to get the start tonight for the AZL Cubs versus AZL Rangers at Surprise, so it looks like both Pineyro and Edwards are working their way back to Tennessee.

So I assume Olt will get most of his ABs at first base? He obviously needs some reps. He may have one more brief window with the Cubs after the Cubs are finished with their summer cleaning frenzy. If he gets regular ABs at first, we're talking about some serious thunder in Iowa. Bryant, Baez, Olt, and Soler, and 4Aer Valaika smacks a few, as well.

[ ]

In reply to by Carlito

I have some doubts about this: "This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs." Because yesterday, that same article quoted Renteria as saying he *couldn't* get Olt at bats because they weren't seeing enough left handed pitchers. That got struck out of the article later for some reason. I don't really understand how Renteria expected Olt to NOT have problems at the plate playing that sporadically. Even veterans don't hit as well when they don't play. That said, with the suddenly ridiculously high number of prospects the Cubs have in their system, Olt is going to need to light it up in Iowa if he wants to stick around.

This is from a Keith Law chat lasy week: In you evaluation of Baez you mentioned makeup concerns with lapses in concentration and effort. Any chance that this is similar to the concerns that were expressed with Hanley Ramirez in the minors and he just bored with the minors? Klaw (2:16 PM) I've heard about coaches having trouble with Baez, and I've had scouts/execs from other teams saying he's got some questionable off-field relationships. But I'm much more concerned about a guy who has shown a habit of taking plays and at bats off from the moment he got into the minors, and even in a nationally televised game on Sunday still couldn't bother to make a routine throw properly. (A few more Baez questions & comments) Klaw (2:47 PM) I've seen Baez every year since his senior year of high school - when he was always last out on the field to start each inning, and wore a different cap to stand out from his teammates - and there's always been something. An at bat mailed in. A play not made, or not made correctly. A groundball not run out. Baseball's a hard game for most players. Even Manny Ramirez was a ridiculous worker when it came to hitting. (Fielding, not so much.) You don't see or hear the same concerns on Bryant or Soler or Almora. http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/50901/mlb-insider-keith-law ------------------------------------ Has anyone heard anything like this from someone other than Law?

[ ]

In reply to by George Altman

It kind of doesn't matter unless Baez becomes a star and a pain in the ass. Everything I've been reading lately though says he has a matured a lot. He looked like a player playing with a ton of intensity when I saw him in Round Rock, and he played second like he'd been playing at the MLB level for years, and playing it well. No matter what AZ said, it may have been a different Baez, people can change pretty quickly at that age under the right influence. You know that a kid is cocky when they put an MLB tattoo on the back of their neck before their first pro game. Big deal, he's got some swagger. This team could use it.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

Cub fans should seriously boycott all future EJax starts. He has, by far, the worst ERA among NL starters this year, and was second worst last year. What is the fucking point of running him out there every 5 days to pitch like crap? It's bizarre.

Well, seeing how this awesome SD lineup KO'd the likes of Wada and EJax makes Kyle Hendricks' win all the more impressive.

Junior Lake....who could have predicted a 3-pitch punch-out with the bases loaded? Pack your bags, son -- you can room with Mike Olt.

Just thinking about this AAA team from last night and what a collection of current and former highly ranked prospects it was. I put the highest pre-season Baseball America prospect ranking for each by them and the year. All of these guys played in the game last night: Szczur - #64 (2012) Jackson - #32 (2012) Baez - #4 (2014) Bryant - #8 (2014) Soler - #34 (2013) Olt - #22 (2013) Vitters - #43 (2008) Vizcaino - #40 (2012)

Recent comments

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    That’s a fantastic deal for SF

  • 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?