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

Samardzija Down, the Other Fox Up....

It looks like I was on to something yesterday when I mentioned that Jeff Samardzija might get sent down. Chad Fox gets the call-up and has been added to the 40-man roster. As in years past, when Fox blows out his arm and has to go on the 60-day DL, the Cubs can call up anyone from their organization for the playoffs to take his spot (as long as he was with the organization by September 1st I believe).

Also, Derrek Lee sits again with the bulging disc issue and the lineup for tonight is Soriano, Riot, Bradley, Ramirez, Soto, Johnson, Hoffpauir, Miles and Harden against lefty Mike Hampton

Comments

I hope no one is too excited about Chad Fox. I think the Cubs just feel like they owe him one from Dusty re-ruining his arm a few years ago. Fox had problems with control though the last few times he's been on the team so I don't see him exactly coming into Lou's good side. My nickname for Fox: twigs and duct tape. As in whats keeping his arm held together :)

Glad Smardzdick got sent sent down as he clearly is not ready for the bigs yet, but I am sorry it needlessly came up at the expense of losing Vizcaino.

So, we ate $3.6M in salary for cutting a guy who hadn't given up a run yet, so that we can give Samardzija a few weeks in the bigs and replace him with Chad Fox? A bizarre move a few weeks ago, now just turned into an idiotic one.

[ ]

In reply to by Banks1954

Although I approve of a lot of the offseason moves that Hendry has made and a lot of how Lou has handled playing time, there has been some embarrassing mismanagement of the roster recently. Skipping over my probably unjustified love of prospects, I'll just look at the bullpen. The releases of Gaudin and Vizcaino made very little sense; Vizcaino certainly could have done what Samardzija did in his few weeks and is probably as likely to succeed as Chad Fox is, and Gaudin makes at least as much sense for the Cubs bullpen as does Patton (who I like, but how often do Rule 5 pitchers work out?). Also, the trade of Wuertz looks like a mistake (at least the Cubs got a couple minor leaguers back for him). How much better would the Cubs bullpen look with some or all of those guys still in it? Keeping all three would have been tough, but clearly there was room for at least one and possibly two (if they end up returning Patton). Just so this isn't entirely a "FIRE HENDRY!!!!" rant; they've done a good job putting together a competitive team lately, and I really think the offense and rotation will give them time to find an adequate combination of relievers.

[ ]

In reply to by JoePepitone

Some other notable Rule 5 picks: Our own Hack Wilson, Tony Taylor* and Guillermo "Willie" Hernandez Cecil Cooper George Bell Darrell Evans Fernando Vina Bobby Bonilla Mitch Williams Josh Hamilton Joakim Soria ....and of course, the greatest Rule 5 pick of all-time, Roberto Clemente himself. *The Cubs got some decent play from Taylor and turned him into Don "No-Hit" Cardwell via trade. Which was turned into Larry Jackson via trade. Which was turned into Fergie via trade. Which was eventually turned into Bill Madlock via trade. Which was then turned into Bobby Murcer via trade. The Cubs got one HELLUVA lot of value out of Tony Taylor.

Go Reed Go!!! Gathright might never start again in CF, not that that would be a problem. Oh wait, I shouldn't be posting now as the Cubs are winning. I am suppose to be hiding from TCR...sorry!

Hunter Pence should have to look at 4 pitches about a foot inside every time he steps to the plate against the Cubs. He absolutely murders Cubs pitching, so why not make him really earn first base instead of all the XBH he gets?

Trade idea: Oakland is desperate for sluggers, we need middle relief help, and a lefty reliever would be particularly welcome. What if the Cubs sent Jake Fox to the A's for Jerry Blevins, who was sent to Oakland for Jason Kendall two years ago? Would help both teams....

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.