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

Braves @ Cubs: Blair vs Lester (Game 22)

The Braves are in town to assume the position.
ATL (5-17): RHP Aaron Blair (0-1, 5.06)
CHC (16-5): LHP Jon Lester (2-1, 1.98)
First pitch: 1:20pmCST

Lester beat the Reds at Wrigley on Friday, giving up 1 ER in 7 innings. He walked one and struck out eight. The Braves are 44-218 (.202) against him. Aybar is 7-20, and Pierzynski, Mr. Personality, is 7-21.

Blair made his MLB on Saturday and lost to the Mets (3 ER, 5.1 IP, 1 K, 2 BB). He was among the busload of players the D’Backs sent over for (the former pitcher) Shelby Miller.

In injury news:  Montero’s back sends him to the DL, and Federowicz is called up. Bryant rolled his ankle and is having a precautionary MRI. It doesn’t sound serious, but he’ll probably get a day off.

Teheran (0-3, 4.60) vs Lackey (3-1, 4.97) tomorrow at 1:20pmCST.

Go, Cubs!


Comments

Cubs have a guy you never heard of who gets hits every night for South Bend and is hitting .390 after 64 PAs. Daniel Spingola, left/left, mostly RF, 31st rounder last June.

Ross just threw another runner out today and with his ability to control the opponents running game it got me thinking what the catcher plan is for Lester after this season. Montero is not good at throwing out runners and I'm not sure would be a great long term match if they decide to keep him. Schwarber if he catches definitely wouldn't be a good fit. Contreras has decent throwing #s and seems like someone who when he comes up could make a good primary catcher but do they maybe have him be that, release Montero and sign a primary defensive catcher to catch Lester? Of course Lester learning to throw to first would be the best solution but if he can't Ross leaving is going to create a difficult dilemma there.

The "I got on base" celebration is getting dangerously close to what was jokingly described in parachat a couple weeks ago. When parachat becomes reality, we all lose.

holy shit lester...just that. wow. double play ball turns into a single out play which turns into 0 outs...and lester is left holding the ball while the bases go loaded with 0 outs.

ruh roh, 24-hour Lester YIPS narratives coming at you after that failed attempt to field a bunt. Time to log off.

Tomorrow's Sun-Times Headline after Lester's 1 ER, 10 K effort. "150M Lester Fails to Field Sac Bunt."

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

not sure either, but in most cases I imagine someone else can field it. And if you bunt it directly at him, he would have enough time to underhand toss it or just run it over?

Today's bunt, he really, really didn't want to field it. Not sure if he lost it in his glove after that or just wasn't going to make the throw. It's not ideal obviously, yet still hasn't had any real impact on the team.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

well, how long do keep pretending that a bunt hit well back to the pitcher that would be a double play for many pitchers isn't a "thing"? it's a story. it's not like it's a physical defect people are picking on. no one gave chuck knoblauch a pass when he lost the ability to throw a ball to 1st. it's a unique curiosity for a guy who throws a ball on a professional level for a living. he has a lot of 4-5 out innings. this is at least the 2nd time he's turned a double play ball into 0 outs just this year that i've noticed and he's got a slew of "4-out" innings under his belt, too.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

unique curiosity is a good description...

he has a lot of 4-5 out innings. this is at least the 2nd time he's turned a double play ball into 0 outs just this year that i've noticed and he's got a slew of "4-out" innings under his belt, too.

and 1.83 ERA

Cubs should trade him, get a worse pitcher that loses games instead but can make a throw to 1b.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

that's an interesting leap. so, we ignore the thing that keeps happening and if one chooses to not ignore it then one obviously wants to replace him with dan harren. it's fair game. the guy, on multiple occasions, puts the team in 4+ out innings because a guy who throws a ball for a living can't throw to a base. it's not like this happened once or twice or three times or four times or... one can focus on the positive while...at the same time...note that he's doing something uniquely strange that puts the team at a disadvantage. there's nothing awesome about 4-out innings, increased pitch counts, or putting guys on base because he can get out of it better than dan harren.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

there's nothing anyone can do about anything going on out there. i don't even post every one he fumbles into. i also post about HRs and other crap. it's happening, good or bad things are happening. this is an interesting thing to me. just because it's a negative thing doesn't make it "woah." we had 1000000000 posts about leadoff men and 2nd batters during the dusty years when everyone knew speed leads and contact-with-low-Ks hits 2nd. we all knew what's up. some people talked about it.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I'm pretty sure there is not a single person ignoring it at this point In all of baseball and it's a thing everyone is talking about. That said he also managed to get out of a bases loaded, zero outs situation with no runs given up and that is something very few pitchers could do and it wasn't just because of a few balls called strikes. So....Let's not just talk about Lester when there are throwing issues because there has been a lot more good than bad just this game let alone this year.

[ ]

In reply to by johann

we might have seen another inning of lester out there if he didn't throw 30 pitches last inning because of a base throwing issue...on a day where he's very tuned in. i've accepted what's happening with lester, but turning a double play into 0 outs is noteworthy even if some people don't want to be reminded of it.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Of course it's noteworthy. I was going to make a post about it if you hadn't. But per Robs point the headline should be "Lester pitches 7 innings with only 1 ER and and 10ks" with "he got himself into a jam by not throwing on a fielded bunt which he was able to pitch out of." As a paragraph in the article and not the headline. Or as I write this the headline should be Szczur hits a grand slam but Lester kept them in it the whole game which can be a sub headline.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

It's really not any more newsworthy than a pitcher who runs up and misses it with his glove, walks the batter instead, or throws it into right field where some runs score. Holding the ball was brilliant. He knew he didn't have the throw eyed. And then he follows up with a gutsy performance. The guy rocks.

[ ]

In reply to by JoePepitone

I agree that it is frustrating and baffling and I am surprised more teams don't try and take advantage of it. However, in the end, I would rather have a pitcher that has 4-5 outs innings versus 4-5 runs innings.

Boom!

GRAND SLAM SCZURURUWSRAURRUZUZRUZURZ

17-5!

Cubs record for last 3 months of regular season baseball: 59 - 23. (Aug, Sept/Oct and April, with one still to go). That's a .720 winning percentage and projects to 117 wins over 162 games. That's a lot of dance parties.

Looks like Soler has decided to take the "can't play in the cold" thing head-on. No longer wearing the cold-weather under gear.

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).