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

Tunney Vision

This story is already so old and stupid I apologize for putting it up.
But Tom Tunney suggesting the Wrigley Field scroreboard be replaced with a jumbotron "as big as you want" is, well, I kinda drew Tunney's Vision here.
Really, I just care about making a better baseball team, and usually Chicago politics are just fun to watch.
But this thing gets under my skin.
Did you see "Django Unchained"?
If not, this'll go over your head so I apologize:
Tunney is an ouchebag.
The D is silent.

Now please go back to watching Phil's far more insightful post about Travis Wood!

ps: thanks for the suggestions, guys.

Comments

Don't know what happened on my first attempt, and Rob I couldn't find a "delete post" button.

"Cubs manager Dale Sveum confirmed Thursday that right-hander Michael Bowden will have a bullpen spot." also... "Cubs manager Dale Sveum said Thursday that Matt Garza (lat) is a week or so away from throwing off a mound."

Az Phil, Have you seen Vizcaino throw at all?

[ ]

In reply to by Hagsag

HAGSAG: I have not seen Arodys Vizcaino throw yet.

BTW, today is the first day that a player on an MLB 40-man roster can be placed on the 15-day Disabled List, and it's also the earliest date that a 15-day DL assignment can be backdated if the player is placed on the 15-day DL between today and the start of the MLB regular season. Players on the 15-day and 60-day DL cannot play in MLB Grapefruit League or Cactus League games, and if the DL assignment is backdated, the player cannot have played in an MLB Grapefruit League or Cactus League game during the backdated period, but the player can play in minor league Spring Training games.

It seems very likely that the Cubs will place Arodys Vizcaino, Scott Baker, Matt Garza, and Ian Stewart on the Disabled List prior to MLB Opening Day, and Vizcaino and Baker will either be placed on the 60-day DL directly or wlll be transferred to the 60-day DL from the 15-day DL (a player can be placed on the 60-day DL or transferred from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL only if the club's 40-man roster is full) to make room on the 40-man roster for IF-OF Brent Lillibridge and whichever NRI pitcher gets the last slot in the bullpen (at this point, probably LHP Hisanori Takahashi).

If for some reason the Cubs don't want to place Baker on the 60-day DL (and I don't see why they wouldn't, since he is now back at "square one"), they could recall Junior Lake from his minor league Optional Assignment prior to Opening Day and place him on the 60-day DL (Lake has a stress fracture in his rib-cage and probably won't be ready to play until May), except Lake would both accrue MLB Service Time and be paid at the major league salary rate (rather than the minor league split salary) while he is on the Cubs MLB 60-day DL, so I doubt that the Cubs would want to do that unless they were really stuck for a 40-man roster slot. 

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Can't say I've paid a ton of attention, the roster will change within a week of the season starting anyway..but is this right?

C: Castillo, Navarro

INF: Rizzo, Barney, Castro, Valbuena, Lillibridge, one bench spot open

OF: Soriano, DeJeus, Schierholtz, Hairston, Sappelt

SP: Samardzija, Jackson, Wood, Feldman, Villanueva

BP: Marmol, Fujikawa, Camp, Russell, Rondon, Bowden, one bullpen spot open

Still Competing for Bench: Clevenger, Gonzalez

Still Competing Bullpen: Wade, Takahashi, Dolis, Putnam

DL: Garza, Baker, Stewart, Vizcaino

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

speaking of...

the new LB

With word that the Bears have reached terms with D.J. Williams to fill one of those vacancies presents more questions. Cheaper and younger (30)? Yes. But Williams' best season was six years ago, and he's gone down a slippery slope since. There have been driving-while-impaired issues. Urine sample swapping issues. Is Williams the better choice than the stability of Urlacher and/or Roach, even if it required some financial juggling? Williams no doubt has something to prove after Denver decided he wasn't worth $6 million. Can he prove it positively? And how will he fit into a group that swore by Urlacher, and to a lesser extent, Roach?

hopefully him and Marshall room together on road trips...

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Urlacher had something to prove, too. I haven't paid much attention to the Bears upper management structure since they switched McCaskeys, but that sure smelled like Ted Phillips still to me.

Today's lineup will be the starting 8 for opening day. DeJesus, Castro, Rizzo, Sori, Schierholtz, Castillo, Valbuena, Barney

Apologies if someone else has posted this link. If you did, I missed it. http://www.csnne.com/blog/red-sox-talk/lessons-boston-guide-theo-his-ne… I liked: "Forbidden fruit," Epstein says of free agency and he shrugs. "We just didn't have the patience to make it across the gap without giving into temptation . . . Free agency is where you get your worst return on investment. It's really that simple. The draft and the international market, that's where you get your best return, dollar for dollar. And free agency is the worst return on investment." Epstein shrugs again. "We knew that but we did it anyway. It was a negative lesson." There was a time where I really looked forward to the free agency period of the hot stove league, but today free agency mostly means bad signings. There will come a time, hopefully soon, where the Cubs will need to add a big time free agent to get them over the hump. But that free agent signing is almost certain to become an albatross at some point because of today's free agent system.

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

He slaps "The Cubs Way" again and admits he's counting on some of that optimism in Chicago because he and Hoyer and Sveum and the rest will not take any short cuts. Last year, when they were going through the 101-loss season, they kept reminding each other to stay together and to remember that it's a long term plan.

that should go over well with some

 

cubs score 4 in the bottom 7th for a 1 run lead...give marmol the top 8th...alarming lack of control today...mid-season form...sigh. walk, hpb, ground out, ground out (play at home), passed ball scoring run, walk, ground out. marmol was throwing a ton of sliders today...most missing, even the ones swung at...lot of movement/action on them, though. tie game...6-6 going to middle 8th.

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).