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

Cubs vs. Royals: Series Thread (Games 124-126)

The Cubs return home hot on two-game winning streak. They'll take on the AL Central trailers, the KC Royals, to start the homestand. See below for the matchups.


Game 124, Friday, August 20, 1:20 pm central

CHC: RHP Zach Davies (6-9, 5.00 ERA)

KCR: RHP Brad Keller (7-12, 5.62 ERA)

Davies allowed three runs, zero earned, in six innings against Miami.

Keller's been pitching with the MLB club since 2018 but only just turned 26. He's having a down year right when one would hope to see him come into his own. He's never been one to miss many bats, and the BABIP fates have been unkind to him this season.


Game 125, Saturday, August 21, 1:20 pm central

CHC: TBD

KCR: LHP Kris Bubic (3-6, 5.09 ERA)

Oh, look it's Kris B.! This one was a 40th overall pick in 2018 and is going through his sophomore slump. He got knocked around to the tune of seven runs over 1.1 innings by the Cardinals last time out.


Game 126, Sunday, August 22, 1:20 pm central

CHC: RHP Alec Mills (5-5, 4.19 ERA)

KCR: RHP Carlos Hernández (3-1, 4.33 ERA)

Alec Mills may be the Cubs' most valuable starting pitcher by the time this season is over. He's neck and neck with Kyle Hendricks so far and no one else is really in contention.

Hernández has split time this season between the bullpen and rotation while with the MLB club. He brings a plus fastball and middling other stuff.

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

schwarber belongs at DH...he doesn't half-ass it in the field, but even at his best it's sub-par.

speaking of lost talent, i doubt we'll see bryant again since SF seems to be absolutely in love with him.  i get the feeling rizzo wouldn't be coming back even before recent post-trade public crosstalk.  i would not be shocked to see baez return unless hoerner has an impressive comeback to finish the season.

Dan Winkler has been released, Johneshwy Fargas has been sent outright to AAA Iowa (and he can - NOT - elect free-agency), Jake Jewell was optioned to Iowa after Friday's game, and Keegan Thompson has been recalled (effective Saturday). 

Jake Arrieta in SD (mlbtr update): The veteran right-hander made his first start as a Padre on Wednesday at Coors Field. He allowed five runs over 3 1/3 innings against the Rockies before departing due to the hamstring issue that today landed him on the shelf.

--life goes on

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

Then there's Cole Hamels who has made a combined $19 million from the Braves ($18M) and Dodgers ($1M) the last two seasons, throwing a total of 3.1 MLB innings in the process. So a little over $6 Million earned per out recorded - not too shabby for Mr (and Mrs) Hamels!

wonder if JD sweats boog/sutcliffe working together because their long history lends itself to a more comfortable booth.

it's not a JD issue, it's just that boog is more willing to take crap from sutcliffe without overanalyzing it and just rolling with it.  it's kinda weird cuz sutcliffe is way more combative and confrontational, yet boog has a lot easier time with chemistry between him/sutcliffe vs JD.

[ ]

In reply to by bradsbeard

yeah, they got decent history at ESPN.

it seems boog is more likely to take crap from sutcliffe and let it roll off whereas boog seems to be more defensive (in a non-humor way) with jd for no real reason other than their relationship isn't as established.  it's kinda weird cuz sutcliffe is way more aggro with boog.

bubic (KC) throwing a no hitter through 6ip with rain imminent.

he's pretty much having the best game of his career right now.

[ ]

In reply to by Eric S

I've seen a lot of Owen Caissie out here in Mesa, and the best ceiling-comp I can think of is Freddie Freeman.

While Caissie has an above average arm that plays in RF, he otherwise does not look particularly comfortable in the outfield, and he has (at best) just average speed (and he's not going to get any faster as he matures), but he would make a good target at 1B. So the Cubs really need to move him to 1B ASAP and find somebody to teach him the finer points of the position. If he can't handle 1B, he might be just a DH.  

Besides, the Cubs already have a gaggle of legit MLB outfield prospects (B. Davis, Crow-Armstrong, Canario, K. Alcantara, Pinango, Velazquez, Roederer, Nwogu, etc).   

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

It's probably a little bit early for this and I may not be around to see it, but here is my projected Cubs Opening Day lineup 2026: 

1. Nick Madrigal, 2B 
2. Reggie Preciado, 3B 
3. Brennen Davis, CF 
4. Owen Caissie, 1B 
5. Kevin Alcantara, DH 
6. Alexander Canario, RF
7. Pete Crow-Armstrong, LF 
8. Cristian Hernandez, SS 
9. Miguel Amaya, C 
Adbert Alzolay, SP  

Nico Hoerner will be a FA after the 2025 season, but otherwise the bench could be guys like Pablo Aliendo or Malcom Quintero (catcher), Alfonso Rivas or Jared Young (1B-LF), Kevin Made or Ed Howard IV (INF), Christopher Morel (INF-OF), and/or Nelson Velazquez, Yohendrick Pinango, Cole Roederer, or Jordan Nwogu (OF). And there's even more possibilities than that.  

As for pitchers, Kyle Hendricks will probably be long gone by 2026, but some combination of Justin Steele, Keegan Thompson, D. J. Herz, Jordan Wicks, Brailyn Marquez, Kohl Franklin, Ryan Jensen, Caleb Kilian, Alexander Vizcaino, Jeremiah Estrada, Riley Thompson, Yovanny Cruz, Anderson Espinoza, and/or Benjamijn Rodriguez could fill out the rotation behnd Alzolay, with maybe Manuel Rodriguez, Ben Leeper, Codi Heuer, Ethan Roberts, Danis Correa, Michael McAvene, Chris Clarke, Eury Ramos, and/or Cayne Ueckert (RHRP), and Burl Carraway, Brendon Little, Brandon Hughes, and/or Bailey Horn (LHRP), and/or some of the guys who don't make the rotation in the pen.  

And the Cubs should get a pretty good 1st round draft slot next year, so whoever that is could be ready for MLB by 2026.  

cubs lose.  13 in a row at home...ties team record.

3-17 in august so far.  2 of those wins were 1 run wins.

If the Cubs keep up that 3-17 pace, they should get 6 more wins this season for a 60-102 season record.
The others, if they maintain their current win percentages:
BALT 50 wins
AZ 54 wins
TEX 57 wins
PITT  57 wins 

MIA 66 wins 

WAS  69 wins

MIN 70 wins 

KC 72 wins
COL 74 wins
 


So the Cubs are on pace for the 5-6th pick. If you use their current win percentage (.429), they would be on track for 69 wins (15-21), which gets them a pick in the 6-9 range. The teams in this draft choice competition include MIA, WAS, COL, MIN, KC.  Probably locks in the top 4 are BAL, AZ, TEX and PIT.  The series loss to MIA and KC recently (albeit perversely) helped.  It looks tough to get better than that 5th pick because their current 0.176 win percentage, as ugly as it is, will be a  tough ask to get worse...unless they go full Ditka.

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

ARZ is 7-3 in their last 10.  that's 1/6th of a season's wins for them in mid/late-August.

the cubs have been unwatchable for a bit over a month.  ARZ has been unwatchable nearly all season.

BAL is f'n amazing...18 losses in a row.  23 is the modern record (1961 PHI).  21 is the BAL team record (1988).  they play the extremely underperforming LAA next.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • 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.