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

Room for One More: The Rule 29 Draft

No time like the holiday season to be grateful for what we have... and to keep in mind that there is always... Room for One More... 

Most of you are familar with the Rule 5 Draft, held the last day of the MLB Winter Meetings every year, where MLB clubs can select players off minor league rosters. The Cubs lost Donald Veal in the Major League Phase of the draft just last week.

And then there's the Rule 4 Draft (formerly known as the "Amateur Draft" and now known as the "1st Year Player Draft") held in June, where MLB clubs select high school and college players. RHP Andrew Cashner (TCU) was the Cubs #1 pick in last June's Rule 4 Draft.

Less well-known and more rarely held is the MLB Expansion Draft, used in 1960-61, 1968, 1976, 1992, and 1997 to distribute major league talent to expansion teams like the New York Mets, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays, and Florida Marlins, as they joined the American League or National League  Over the years, the Cubs have lost guys like Don Zimmer, Dick Drott, John Boccabella, Bill Stoneman, Joe Girardi, and Miguel Cairo in various expansion drafts.    

But there is one MLB draft that has never been held.  

In the event that an incident occurs where at least five players from the same MLB club are killed, dismembered, or permanently disabled during the season, MLB has a "Rehabilitation Plan" in place under Rule 29 that includes financial support and a "Restocking Draft" for the stricken club. The plan has existed in basically the same form since 1965, so the method for allocating talent to the affected team essentially follows the mechanism used to distribute players to MLB expansion teams in 1960-61.    

Under this plan, after a reasonable period of mourning, and presuming that the Commissioner and MLBPA jointly agree that the club's season should continue, each of the other 29 clubs would be required to contribute five players (including at least one pitcher, one infielder, and one outfielder, and one catcher if the club is carrying at least three catchers) from its Active List (25-man roster) into a pool of players, and from this pool, the club that suffered the loss would be allowed to select replacements for the players lost in the disaster. . 

No club would lose more than one player, and any player with a "no trade" right would be exempt from inclusion in the pool. The five players made available by each club would have to include as many players with a minimum of 60+ days of MLB service time as were lost in the disaster. Players on the Disabled List can't be included in the pool unless the club certifies that the player is healthy enough to be immediately reactivated if selected.

So if a disaster had occurred sometime last season and Rule 29 had been invoked, the Cubs probably would have placed the likes of Ronny Cedeno, Daryle Ward, Jon Lieber, Scott Eyre, and Bob Howry in the pool. Fortunately, the MLB Rehabilitation Plan (and the Restocking Draft) has never been needed, but considering the number of airplane flights taken by clubs every year, MLB has been lucky (so far).

Some fans might recall the tragic losses over the years of several members (or even entire squads) of various sports teams, including the U. S. Olympic Figure Skating team, the Cal Poly, Marshall University and Wichita State football teams, the University of Evansville basketball team, the U. S. Amateur Boxing team, and various international soccer teams, in plane crashes, and certainly there is also always the possibility of a hotel fire or bus crash or terrorist attack that could kill or maim scores (including members of a sports team).

While individual major leaguers have died during the season in a car crash (Josh Hancock) or a plane crash (Thurman Munson), or have been shot to death (Lyman Bostock), or fell off a bridge at Niagara Falls (Ed Delahanty), an entire team has never been lost.

Eight members of the minor league Spokane Indians were killed and one was critically injured in a fiery bus crash in 1946, but the only time more than one MLB player has been killed in the same incident was during Spring Training 1993, when two members of the Cleveland Indians (pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews) were killed in a boating accident in Florida (a third player--veteran LHP Bob Ojeda--was seriously injured).   

The NFL (if 15 or more players from the same club are killed or permanently disabled in a single incident during the season), the NBA (if five or more players from the same team are killed or permanently disabled in an incident during the season), and the NHL (also if five or more players from the same team are killed or permanently disabled) also have plans in place for restocking affected clubs in the event of a common disaster, but hopefully the plans will continue to remain just theoretical contingencies. 

Comments

"So if a disaster had occurred sometime last season and Rule 29 had been invoked, the Cubs probably would have placed the likes of Ronny Cedeno, Daryle Ward, Jon Lieber, Scott Eyre, and Bob Howry in the pool."

For the team that had suffered the airplane crash or other calamity and had to pick from that lot, I believe this would amount to compounding the tragedy.

Fascinating piece, AZ Phil.

Great, creepy little story in that Snopes.com article. That might explain the nervous, freaked-out look on the face of Ronny Cedeno. Perhaps he has a recurring "Room for one more, sir" nightmare that has kept him permanently distracted on the baseball field, causing numerous lapses as he constantly looks over his shoulder for the ominous figure from his dream.

it was brought up earlier by someone else that felix pie wasn't playing which i countered with "he is playing, but not as much recently"...along with a slower DEC. schedule with more days off and a rainout. well, things are still slow with days off, but pie is seeing almost no starts and mostly PH/late-inning replacement work. he last saw a game on sunday (2 days off between then and now), but that was only for pinch hit work. is he just hanging with family? hurt? just slowing down for the season? mid+NOV gets confusing on a lot of these latin (non-AZ/HI teams) because they tend to open up the rosters or play players that weren't playing earlier...felix pie was "late" to winter ball, himself.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I know the consensus is pretty much that it's lights out/case closed for Pie with the Cubs, but I can't help but think that maybe he's playing a bit too MUCH baseball. Hasn't he been playing winter ball for, like, the last 15 years or so?

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

I think Pie needs to play year-round till he learns how to hit. Carlos Marmol, on the other hand, has nothing to prove, and there he was pitching an inning for Licey the other day. I can't imagine that the Cubs are happy about him not taking the months off. From Marmol's point of view, a) it's fun to play near home, and b) the Cubs don't pay me enough.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Seconded!!!

  • crunch (view)

    another awesome spring of pitching reports.  thanks a lot, appreciated.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 90-92 
    CUT: 87-89 
    SL: 82-83 
    SPLIT: 81-84
    CV: 73-74 
    COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes...  if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...   
     
    JOE NAHAS
    FB: 90-92 
    SL: 83-85 
    CV: 80-81 
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...   

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 86 
    SL: 79 
    COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...   

    FRANKIE SCALZO JR
    FB: 94-95
    CH: 88 
    SL: 83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning... 

    MICHAEL ARIAS
    FB: 94-96
    CH: 87-89
    SL: 82-83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...   

    ZAC LEIGH: 
    FB: 93-94 
    CH: 89 
    SL: 81-83 
    CV: 78
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...   

    JOSE ROMERO:  
    FB: 93-95
    SL: 82-84
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...