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

No Peavy Deal for Cubs

As reported in multiple places, including here, the Cubs are baling out on the Jake Peavy trade talks. Writes Ken Rosenthal:

The Cubs were frustrated by the Padres' attempts to seek five or six players for Peavy with one team executive saying, "They're looking for a Herschel Walker-type deal."

Comments

Good. The cost was just outrageous. How can the Pads expect such a huge return and have the other team pick up the entire $85 million? That's not how baseball has worked in recent years. Hopefully this means we keep Derosa. Can we package Theriot and Dempster to the Siberian Professional League for Miss Uglugchuk?

i would guess peavy is not to happy the price may come down when towers realizes he has a disgruntled player also wonder what owner thinks about still having that contract. lets move on to right field i want ibanez

Does that mean we still can't trade Marquis! I think he'd still look better in another uniform!

I would rather have Randy Johnson, Josh Vitters, Sean Marshall and the trade pieces of Felix Pie and Ronny Cedeno over Peavy anyway. I wonder if Jimbo now hits the trade market for a RF and use the FA money for Bradley or Ibanez to get Johnson and Trevor Hoffman. I wonder if the O's would do Pie for Scott? Given the volume allegeldly for Dero, Jimbo should put him on the block and see what he can get.

Would it have been amazing to have the rotation of Peavy, Z, Dempster, Harden and TL? Of course. Does not trading away everyone and their Johann's mother for this deal and pursuing Randy Johnson make more sense. Yes, I think it does. On another note, I'm wondering when the last person posts a 3/44 "Peavy deal is off" post.

Maybe Hendry was surprised by the interest that DeRosa generated and he realized he could improve the team even more. So instead of Hoffman, how about a leadoff man joining Bradley and Johnson?

[ ]

In reply to by Timmer

I wrote this in another thread, but just a thought...

a Chone Figgins for Mark DeRosa trade would make a lot of sense...

I'd rather keep DeRosa probably, but if the goal is more LH bats and a little more "athletic", not to mention a potential leadoff hitter, it's not too bad.

Angels were said to be wanting more power from the third base spot, although they should just give the job to Brandon Wood then. I also think they'd want more than just DeRosa. I think last year they said they would want Aramis Ramirez for Figgins, so yeah, they're a bit delusional.

 

[ ]

In reply to by Timmer

After watching Marmol crap out in June, I want more protection than Kevin Gregg if that happens again if he is the closer. Plus we have a leadoff guy on this team already that Lou wont hit there and two if Fontenot is upgraded to an everyday player if they trade Dero.

[ ]

In reply to by Chifan

in what type of baseball is Mike Fontenot considered a leadoff hitter?

I am still curious on why Lou thinks Theriot isn't one...the only things I can think of is his tendency to swing at the first pitch and/or he got fed up with him getting caught stealing last year.

Ibanez talks heating up and likely going to the Phils as per ESPN? Let's get Abreu or Bradley! Wonder what the contract will be for? 2-18?

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

Wow, A Clement sighting. I wondered where he was. He ain't been right since he got clonked on the head with a line drive. When the Dads started asking for DeRo, I felt this trade was degenerating into the ridiculous. Peavy wanted to come here. Shoulda woulda coulda. Towers is the clown here. He should hook up with Baltimore's owner.

We haven't heard the last of this story this Winter, I bet. I think that with Sabathia and Burnett deals being wrapped up, the market for pitchers will start to clear pretty soon. That may cause both sides to reassess...and more likely Towers, because he is the one that needs to cut payroll. I wasn't too happy with the idea of helping out the Phillies by trading DeRosa to them. While not in the same division, they are a strong NL team and we didn't need to be making them a better and deeper one. Is it possible to sign Randy Johnson and then only pitch him on days when the wind is blowing in?

signs with Reds...

so with the Brewers falling apart (and they should really just trade Fielder and Hardy by this point for a boatload of prospects), who's the Cubs top competition next year?

Cardinals "should" have a mostly healthy Carpenter and Wainwright back, plus looking to add a Fuentes or another closer. Greene is actually an improvement over someone, so I'm thinking they should be the big contender. Kind of depends what they do with Ankiel and Ludwick.

Reds pitching has the potential to be pretty damn good as well. Enough young hitters where you don't know if they'll all click together like the Brewers did in 2007 and make a run.

Unless the Astros find 2 starting pitchers, I don't see them doing much. Pirates are, well, the Pirates.

a cold winter blast no peavy, but not too peaved let's play two today (It's the wrong day of the week; just couldn't help it.)

Hendry today, reported by Sullivan/Rogers:
"I see Marshall being a huge, valuable guy," Hendry said. "We knew exactly what we were getting into with Rich Harden. ... The adaptability Marshall had [last season] was very admirable. You have to be mentally strong [to be a spot starter]." Hendry said he was looking beyond the 2009 team when he decided not to do a Peavy trade. He sees Vitters as a key part of the future, as he is expected to be ready to take over at third base if Aramis Ramirez opts not to exercise his player option for 2011 or the club doesn't exercise its option for '12. "The Chicago Cubs are a big-market club," Hendry said. "But still, you have to have a flow of talent coming to allow you to operate the way you need to operate."

I was the biggest Peavy-trade supporter here, so I'll chime in. I'm disappointed that it sounds like Peavy won't be here. I think he would have given us the best rotation in baseball (even over the Yankees' forecasted rotation) and a great improvement over last year's club.I understood that it was going to cost something to get him though and so I never saw the trade as a sure bet, even when it seemed to be. I'd much rather have Peavy for the next 5 years at $70 mil or so than Dempster for the next 4 at $52 mil. It's too bad that Hendry apparently couldn't wait long enough to do a Peavy deal before re-signing Demp. Part of me still wonders whether the Cubs will monitor the situation and see what happens in the next month or so. It seem clear now that Towers is about as big of a delusional fuck-up that MacPhail was last year who played the media just as badly first with the Braves and then with the Cubs. No doubt someone got to him and told him to raise the stakes on the Cubs. I knew that things had changed from their end when DeRosa's name started getting tossed around, and when Towers had suddenly discovered a third or fourth team to deal with. Towers is likely to have a very pissed player, a pissed fanbase, and perhaps a pissed owner to deal with in the coming weeks, so chances are that Peavy's name will remain in trade rumors. However, perhaps not with the Cubs. Hendry's comments as reported above by VirginiaPhil (via Sullivan/Rogers) seem like he's made up his mind. Unless the price drops drastically, I don't see the Cubs revisiting this topic.

[ ]

In reply to by Andrew

my own wild-ass-guess based on recent hendry talk to the media seems to lead to chc/sd looking for a "big name" SD wanted to rope this whole trade together without chc shifting marshall/vitters in any way. seems the task was harder than it might have seemed... just a guess, though.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

albeit the need to move Jason Marquis wouldn't have been there. Exactly, which I think did impact matters in the end. I agree with crunch's assessment of the situation, with the addition of a tight payroll for the Cubs. It seems like the insurmountable obstacles to me were, in no order: 1) Padres wanting too much 2) Cubs not wanting to give up Vitters/Marshall (who else do we have???) 3) Cubs tight payroll (probably tighter than expected from the Demp signing -- I don't think Hendry thought it'd be that high)

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

If they hadn't re-signed Demp, than Towers would have had the upper hand in the negotiations. As is, signing Demp allows Hendry to walk away knowing that even without Peavy the rotation is good enough to get the cubs to the postseason. IMHO adding RJ on a one year deal and signing Bradley to the less than 4 years he is looking for (Perotto on BP said he was looking for 4 year $40 mil) would give the cubs a good offense and allow them to have some bargaining chips come july for whatever the biggest need is. I also like the inquiries into Figgins, though adding him and Bradley is 2 big injury risks.

I heard Hendry's comments on WSCR this afternoon, and he came as close as Hendry ever comes to saying, in effect, that he's done with dealing with Towers. Very polite, but the context was the important part of his response. Shades of the McFail fiasco last year.

The Cubs were frustrated by the Padres' attempts to seek five or six players for Peavy ...Yeah, because clearly it's easier to find Peavy-caliber players than it is Marshall-caliber players. *sigh* Whatever.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=257494 "It was just one of those rare occasions that we thought it was worth trying to go in and kick the tires and see if it was possible," Hendry said. "Or, how can we make it work if we can do it? As the week progressed, the volume of the depth we had to give up became the sticking point for me. "Out of respect to the player, he was worth looking into." sounds more respectful of Towers in the print version what Dmac got from the radio, not that I doubt Dmac's account (comment #47).

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/12/11/SPC014MF… "Randy's really interested," one of his agents, Barry Meister, said Thursday, the final day of the winter meetings. "We made a check list of everything that's important, and San Francisco checks off on every box. They're in the National League. They'll be competitive. They train in Arizona. "San Francisco has a lot of appeal." so is there another team in San Francisco that I forgot about? one that doesn't count Randy Winn as their best offensive player.

This whole thing has been a big distraction from getting done what they need to accomplish this off season, although there is still time. A LH RBI bat is needed, but only because FUKUDOME was / is a $14 million bust. Why is no one talking about this? If you sign someone for $10 million to play RF, and FUKU is in center, your outfield will cost $42 million next year! You could have afforded Manny in LF and whatever you want in RF with Johnson/Pie in center for that price! I know there would be no takers, but if there was any possible way to move FUKU they should be doing it. I hate the Sox, but look, they have moved Swisher and Vasquez so far. That is moving out the overpaid deadwood, and good management. The FUKU contract at this point is much worse than Marquis. I admit I was happy we got him last year, but the deal has not worked out by any measure, and now we essentially have to fill the same hole via expensive FA two years in a row. Am I the only one who would like one more solid arm in the bullpen, preferably LH? Just think, if FUKU could hit we could have kept Wood.

From Rotoworld (via SI): The Mets and Cubs are reportedly talking about a Jason Marquis deal. There was talk about Aaron Heilman for Marquis as recently as yesterday, but it's believed the Mets turned down that deal weeks ago. Scott Schoeneweis for Marquis would make a lot more sense. Both are entering their contract years. Schoeneweis is owed $3.6 million, while Marquis is due $9.875 million.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

My fault. I did a quick search of the comments for "Mets" and nothing relevant came up. Speaking of 3/44, don't these winter meetings represent the two-year anniversary of the beginning of "3/44"? Still going strong.....

Listening to Bruce Levine today, he stated that Towers was looking fo "...6 or 7 players from the Cubs." IF that's the case, that is just fucking nuts. I love Peavy, but its not like all of the names bandied about were completely useless Todd Hundleys. Again, if there was no pitching talent on the team already, then I'd understand a bit more. But on paper, it is now the strongest starting core in the Division. If the owner, in the throws of his divorce, really needs to slash payroll, the price will come down. You can bet on it. Hendry did the right thing in this case.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

It's really Hendry's bad luck that 2 players who could really help the Cubs (B. Roberts & Peavy) have GM's who are baseball-retarded. If Roberts doesn't accept the 'long-term' contract offer from the O's, Andy McFail will be lucky to get an offer for him better than Cedeno, Colvin, and Marquis + $4.5 million or any comparable talent from any other team. Peavy's value will be lucky to be half of what Towers asked for today when July 31st comes around, especially if getting his NTC waived involves taking on his $23 Million option for 2013. My wish list remains (in this order): (1) Leadoff hitter (Furcal or B. Roberts); (2) LH RF (Bradley or Abreu); (3) Randy Johnson only if Marquis can be traded with absorbing little (< $2.0 million)of his salary.

Sorry to do this, but, Rashid Davis is not a professional football player. Go back to the Arena League, dude. You suck.

Ibanez apparently signs with Phillies for 3/30 and Marquis-Mets is on the backburner according to Mets sources.

Will he take Burrell's position, then? 'Cause he ain't gonna take over for Vittorino or Werth. Well, good, and bad for the Cubs. Good in that he will not be on the north side patrolling RF. Bad, in that Bradley will want a similar deal, I'm sure.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

2009 will work if they can trade away Marquis without gaining another big salary. Heileman or Schoeneweise make sense to me. 2011 could work considering Ted Lilly will be a free agent (if the Cubs don't then need to get some starting pitching). 2010 might be a stretch. I guess DeRo is coming off of the books in 2010, but that isn't exactly going to pay for Bradley, plus depending on how Cedeno, Theriot, and Fontenot play, we might need to get a second baseman and/or a SS. I think, though, that if Hendry can make it fit in 2009, he'll get the deal done and leave future payrolls for future consideration, as he's done with all the backloaded NTC clause contracts he's been signing lately. I still think there are better fits, but they come via trade rather than free agency, and that appears to be pretty complicated this year. Luke Scott makes sense to me.

If your paying attention to the NFL, once an asshole always an asshole. Terrell Owens bitching and complaining again and sabotaging another NFL franchise. How many days till he calls Romo a racist? Just keep that in mind if Milton Bradley becomes a Cub. He is of the same mind set of Terrell Owens. A me first type of guy where everyone is always conspiring against them to bring them down. Mix in a little uncontrollable rage and you got a fine human being.

- sigh - you're probably right MIKE C. Lou is paid, in part, to handle players like this. He has a LOT of experience doing this. Possibly, they would be with the team for the same amount of time.

If Paul Bako is the Cubs first FA signing, I will puke. Oh, I forgot about Chad Fox already getting resigned.

Rotoworld sez Reds will make an offer for Burrell. Because Baker and Adam Dunn worked out so well...

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/deluca/1327539,CST-SPT-deluca12.article Towers kept putting left-hander Sean Marshall on the table. Never did the Cubs give a nod of approval to Marshall being part of the package. Then the Cubs' brain trust considered all of the money they would be taking on in a Peavy deal. Financially, they could make the right-hander fit in 2009. Even 2011 and beyond. But 2010 was a real sticking point. The Cubs' payroll will be supersized in 2010 without Peavy. Adding him creates a lot of stress

Jason Marquis ($9.875M), Rich Harden ($7M) and Mark DeRosa ($5.5M) come off the books after the 2009 season, plus Reed Johnson (who will probably get somewhere around $2.5M in 2009) and Kevin Gregg (who should get something like $4.5M in 2009). So that's about $28M off the books going into 2010, with Carlos Marmol, Ryan Theriot, Sean Marshall, Rich Hill (if he's still around), and Mike Fontenot (who is a virtual lock to be a "Super Two") becoming first-time salary arbitration eligible post-2009 additional to the others who are already eligible for salary-arbitration (Gaudin, Cotts, Wuertz, and Cedeno, presuming they are still on the team).

Why not just go with Marquis the first half of the season and then unload him mid-season when you might be able to get someone to pick up his remaining salary? He's got a career 4.25 ERA, 49-33 record, and averages 6.2 IP per start the first half. That's awesome for a fifth starter. Keep him.

Navigator: The longer the Cubs hang onto Marqus, the more likely somebody will take back his entire contract. Once it gets to Spring Training and some of the FA losers realize just how lousy their starting rotationa are, a guy like Jason Marquis (one year for $9.875M) will suddenly look like a bargain.

Agreed. Hendry was at a real disadvantage trying to move Marquis at this stage of the off-season. His market value will increase once all of the FA's are off the board and teams start realizing they need someone (anybody) to throw 200 innings next year. The fact that Hendry was willing to shop Marquis now (and eat a sizeable part of his salary) shows how much he likes Peavy. (And perhaps how much Piniella dislikes Marquis).

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).