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

Murton and Other Notes

Two quick notes from Gordon Wittenmeyer...

The Cubs are getting enough interest from other teams in outfielder Matt Murton that a deal might get done by the end of the weekend to keep the Cubs from having to send the .296 career hitter to the minors.

They're just making sure no injuries occur today and Murton will most likely be out of here.

The battle between lefties Sean Marshall and Carmen Pignatiello for Eyre's vacated spot is going down to the final day.

Manager Lou Piniella said before Friday's late game that each lefty would get an inning of work during the two-game set against Seattle.

It seems Lou really want to give Marshall every chance to win that spot, even though Pignatiello has easily outperformed him this spring.

Comments

from the Astros...

and an AZ Phil question...

If the Phillies decide to dump Lahey, does he go back through the whole waiver process or just starting from the teams that didn't get a chance to claim him? Can the Cubs put a claim in? 

If I recall this correctly, Phils were near the bottom of the order but it goes NL first, than AL? Are there a few teams below the Phils that could still grab him? 

Some how i got linked to MLB Trade Rumors (which i refuse to ever visit) and picked up what some of the other blogs were saying about Murton. The gist....is an outstanding hitter, good power, excellent speed on the basepaths. You go to Cubs blogs and he isn't that good of a hitter, has no power, and can't run the bases. Basically he is worthless junk. I hope he finds a new home where he can play everyday.

Ohh and the Astro's are going to pay Woody $6.5 million to not pitch for them. Smart move...

I agree that Murton is a nice player, but where does he fit in with the Cubs? Nowhere. I'm fine with trading him as long as we get something valuable in return.

Trading Murton only makes sense if you think that Fukudome and Soriano are immune to injury or some other GM makes Hendry a very strong offer for Murton. I suspect we'll need a fill-in corner outfielder for at least a month of this season due to injuries, and I'm not yet convinced that Fukudome's game is going to translate into what Cubs fans are hoping for. With 600 plate appearances you can reasonably expect these things: an average around .300, an OBP over .360, 20ish homeruns, flashes of exciting opposite field power and a frustrating ground ball rate. You can also expect well above average defense in left field, according to The Hardball Times, and quickness out of the box if not a great speed on the base paths. Murt has great potential and is already a strong ball player. The Cubs' major mistake is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on two corner outfielders who will block a young, cheap, productive player. Murton may not outperform Soriano or Fukudome overall, but the difference between them may not add up to the improvement the team could have made spending those millions of dollars or something other than another outfielder. Then again, Murton may outperform Soriano in batting average and OBP, something you look for in a top of the order hitter, and likely will outperform Fukudome in average and power, something you look for in a number 5 hitter.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

I think you're being overly optimistic about Fukudome. I've said this before in another thread, look at what Iwamura did in his final three seasons in Japan and then what he did in his first season with Tampa. His stats in Japan were extremely close to Fukudome's, and people projected him to hit somewhere near 20 homers last season. He hit 7. His slugging numbers dropped approx 150 points from his previous 3 years. Fukudome's line this year is probably going to be more like .285 or less, 8-10 hr's, and if he's hitting second 50'rbi's or less. His obp probably drops to .340ish. An ok number two hitter but not an impact bat. Unless he's been dogging it all spring on purpose, his power numbers in the majors will be way down. As for Murton, he's a poor fielder but I love his bat. A guy who has proven he can draw walks, hit around .300, hit a lot of doubles and a fair number of hr's. To trade him or send him to Iowa is a mistake. With the cold Wrigley weather and a ton of home games in April and May, Murton would get plenty of AB's, far more than Fontentot will. And Reed Johnson was a nice addition to platoon in CF but he's not a particularly good hitter vs rhp's. Murton is.

how little Murton is valued by teams trying to acquire him. Apparently the Padres were thinking something like $50,000 including tax out the door. At least that's what this story in the San Diego Union implies.
Attempting to fill a need for right-handed power off the bench and an emergency catcher, the Padres acquired corner outfielder/first baseman Justin Huber from the Royals and optioned utility man Luis Rodriguez to Triple-A. Huber hit 18 home runs in 286 Triple-A at-bats last year. The Australian has batted .204 in 38 major league games with four doubles. Manager Bud Black said Huber, a catcher early in his professional career, could make it more likely that Black would use either of his other catchers as a pinch hitter. Huber, 25, is out of minor league options. The Padres are to send $50,000 or a player to the Royals within 30 days. They preferred Cubs corner outfielder Matt Murton but were unwilling to give up a prospect for him.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

Think it shows Hendry (at least for now) won't give up Murt for less than a prospect more than it does SD thinks he's worth 50K including tax... murt's pretty exclusively a LF'r who's not really flashy there. i'd rather see soriano in RF, murt in LF, and spend the loot elsewhere, but it wasnt and now this situation is here. it's pretty highly doubtful murt will spend much time in AAA this year for the cubs or whoever he may be traded to.

Submitted by Rob G. on Sat, 03/29/2008 - 10:15am.

and an AZ Phil question... If the Phillies decide to dump Lahey, does he go back through the whole waiver process or just starting from the teams that didn't get a chance to claim him?

Can the Cubs put a claim in?

If I recall this correctly, Phils were near the bottom of the order but it goes NL first, than AL? Are there a few teams below the Phils that could still grab him?

================================

ROB G: If a club decides not to keep a player they acquired via waiver claim and places the player back on waivers, the waiver process starts all over again from scratch. The Cubs could put in a claim, but because Lahey is a Rule 5 player, if they are awarded the claim it would just put the Cubs back in the same position they were in before they placed him on waivers. That is, they would have to keep him on their 25-man roster for the entire 2008 regular season.

If more than one team claims a player off waivers, the club from the same league gets the claim, and if more than one club from the same league makes a claim, the club with the lowest winning percentage gets the claim.

The previous season's standings are used to determine waiver claim order through the end of the waiver period that extends through the 30th day of the regular season (this year that's April 28th), and then starting with the waiver period that commences with the 31st day of the regular season (April 29th in 2008), the current standings are used to determine waiver claim order.

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.