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

Theo Epstein, the Commissioner, and the World Series

 

Never thought I'd see a general manager elevated to rock star status.
Or "President of Baseball Operations" or whatever Theo Epstein's new title is with the Chicago Cubs.
Either way, oh MAN!
I could not be more excited, more happy, more re-energized about our favorite team than right now.
Well, a World Series title would be nice.

No pressure there, Theo.

Okay, back to the Series.
Never has Tony LaRussa been so personally on the ropes.
The Hangmen were out in St. Louis just yesterday, and damage control is attempting to fix things, but I don't think they can recover from all the incredible blunders from the other night.
Remember Playoff Lou pulling Zambrano?
That was NOTHIN compared to Tony's 8th Inning of Disaster.
I'm so watching. 

Comments

How about this--> "The Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune skipped coverage of Game 5, opting not to replace news reporters dispatched to cover news conferences involving the Red Sox's and Cubs' new general managers." Which brings up a recurring nightmare of mine should I manage to live long enough to see the Cubs in a World Series, and that is NO ONE WILL CARE ANYMORE. All the Chicago papers will be long gone and the games will only be available on Univision in Spanish*. *on tape delay after midnight because of conflicts with regional soccer games

know why javascript no longer works on the site? the tabs on the sidebars and the comments mostly. I did do a small upgrade of the software, but as far as I recall it was still working after that, but shortly thereafter. this seems to be the error I'm getting using the firefox error console. $ is not a function any thoughts, let me know. you can email me here. http://www.thecubreporter.com/user/2/contact

Re: Castro "This kid is 21 years old. Most 21-year-olds are maybe getting into high-A ball ... When (Yankees shortstop) Derek Jeter was just about the same age, he made 56 errors in the low minor leagues. So there is, with defense especially, there's a maturation that comes only with time and experience. Offensively, the things he's done at the big-league level at his age are the things that guys who go on to be 10-time All-Stars, guys who actually go on to be Hall of Famers do. ... His ceiling is immense." This can't be true. I read all the time on TCR that Castro's defense is intolerable and that he'll never be a .350 OBP guy.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I see the Renteria. I sometimes also think Tony Fernandez. I think Castro will hit better than either of them, but that's really just speculation on my part. Both Renteria and Fernandez could run better than Castro when they were younger, and probably had better overall athleticism. Fernandez won 4 gold gloves, which I don't see Castro doing at this point. Hard to see how Castro will develop; he may or may not develop power or patience or get better defensively. If he returns comparable value to Renteria or Fernandez, we could do a lot worse. Interestingly, the Baseball Reference similarity score for a 21-year-old season closest to Castro's is Garry Templeton. That would be be a lot less exciting.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

That's a far more accurate argument than we gave up too much or we gave up 4 top prospects. I think Hendry thought we could somehow contend in 2011, and taking a look at the 2011-12 off-season saw that the SP pool available was blah at best. So he moved on Garza. I don't fault him for trying to make the team better. I think in the long run this will be one of the best trades the Cubs have made since the ARam/DLee trades. In effect we traded an injured kid pitcher and Kaz Matsui for Garza. The other 3 will most certainly never do anything significant in the majors, and Archer/Lee might not either. Even if they do become MLB regulars they'll have to have pretty damn good careers to be better than Garza.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

"Garza isn't any more talented than Archer or Lee." i know you don't like the trade, but that is insane. put garza on the market right now as a FA who can leverage club bidding for him and he's fetching 15-20 million a year 3-5-7 years from someone. hating a guy, hating a trade, whatever...can't rewrite history on what the guy was expected to do, what he did, and what he is. garza is head over heels more talented than archer in pretty much every evaluation you can lay on either of them...from stuff to results. i don't know how to compare garza to a SS that's barely old enough to drink in most countries so i won't.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Drinking at work must be fun. If the Cubs are going to trade him, the major stumbling block will not only be the almost $18 million owed for 2012 but a $19.4 million vesting option that would guarantee a contract for 2013 if Zambrano finishes in the top four of the 2012 CY Young voting. That clause alone could cause teams to hesitate before acquiring Zambrano.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 11:51am. I never noticed before that LeMahieu has a very high fielding percentage in the minors, .980, which includes .985 at second and .980 at third. In 2011, he played 61 games at third at Tennessee and Iowa without an error. Flaherty's FPct at third is .904, while Vitters' is .906. ====================================== VA PHIL: D. J. LeMahieu has looked very good at 3B so far in the AFL. He has made some really outstanding stops & throws. LeMahieu is also showing excellent patience at the plate and has been running the bases very well, too. He already was the Cubs best pure hitting prospect (albeit without HR power), but his stock is definitely on the rise. With Jeff Baker eligible for salary arbitration again, I suspect the Cubs will be looking to move Baker, with LeMahieu taking Baker's slot on th 25-man roster in 2012. Whether LeMahieu will hit with enough HR power to be the starting 3B (presuming Aramis Ramirez does not return) is still TBD.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

theo is going to act as a hybrid GM anyway...kenney is going to be a partial sub-president doing president things (got the rubber stamp on players taken away)...hoyer and theo shouldn't butt heads over the loss of hoyer's power, so that shouldn't be an issue. it looks like there's more role bleeding beyond all that, too...neat...*shrug* some teams have presidents that are more figureheads than workers (TEX)...some teams have managers who are almost as powerful as the GM (LAA)...team philosophy is in an era of wild experimentation in some organizations. the cubs joined that experimental era in style this week.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

"Isn't one of those jobs already occupied?" Why just one of the jobs? I read that Fleita and Wilken will both report to McLeod. That's two levels below where they reported when Hendry was head of "baseball operations." It will be interesting to see who runs the draft in June, but the answer is pretty obvious today. Wilken won't like it, and will likely leave when his contract is up.

[ ]

In reply to by JoePepitone

They are the front office equivalent of the Minutemen, and Theo is D. Boon. /post-punk'd Wait, that ends in tragedy! They are the front office equivalent of Husker Du, and Theo is Bob Mould. Wait, no, they hated each other! Ummm... How about they're not my favorite punk rockers, just great execs. I'll take that.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

I understand that when we raid other organizations for management we have to compensate in some way, but doing it twice in the span of a few weeks is kind of painful. This had better be a front office super group. --- Dude, we're giving up Cubs prospects, which means they will never amount to squat.

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

Submitted by QuietMan on Wed, 10/26/2011 - 9:12pm. @NCTPadres Dan Hayes Team source said #Padres aren't likely to acquire PTBNL until after Rule 5 draft (Dec. 8), though no date is set. ============================================ Q-MAN Which means the Padres compensation will probably be a player who was eligible for selection in the December 2011 Rule 5 Draft but wasn't selected, meaning the Padres would get a Rule 5 player without the accompanying roster restrictions associated with a player who are actually selected in the draft. (That is, the Padres won't have to add the player to their 40-man roster or keep the player on their 25-man roster throughout the 2012 season). The Cubs have until 11/20 to decide which players to add to their 40-man roster (protecting them from selection in the Rule 5 Draft and thus also presumably protecting them from being potential compensation available to the Padres). CUBS MINOR LEAGUERS ELIGIBLE FOR DECEMBER 2011 RULE 5 DRAFT: Abner Abreu, OF Jeffry Antigua, LHP Jeffrey Beliveau, LHP Smaily Borges, OF Michael Brenly, C Justin Bristow, RHP Michael Burgess, OF Kyler Burke, LHP (ex-OF) David Cales, RHP Matt Camp, IF-OF Hung-Wen Chen, RHP Manolin DeLeon, RHP Eduardo Figueroa, RHP Ryan Flaherty, INF Luis Flores, C Marwin Gonzalez, INF Yohan Gonzalez, RHP Gian Guzman, INF-RHP Marcus Hatley, RHP Jay Jackson, RHP Junior Lake, INF Blake Lalli, 1B-C Jordan Latham, RHP David Macias, IF-OF Oswaldo Martinez, RHP Craig Muschko, RHP Jon Nagel, RHP Jake Opitz, INF Blake Parker, RHP Nelson Perez, OF Ramon Reyes, RHP Dae-Eun Rhee, RHP Rebel Ridling, 1B Carlos Romero, C Nate Samson, INF Brian Schlitter, RHP Ryan Searle, RHP Marquez Smith, INF Matt Spencer, LHP (ex-OF) Larry Suarez, RHP Matt Szczur, OF Jose Tineo, RHP Josh Vitters, 3B Ty Wright, OF With Beliveau, Flaherty, Lake, Szczur, and Vitters virtual locks to get added to the Cubs 40-man roster by the 11/20 deadline, the player most-likely to go to the Padres as compensation after the Rule 5 Draft will probably be from this group (presuming they are not added to the Cubs 40-man roster by 11/20, and that they are not selected in the Rule 5 Draft by another club): LHP Jeffry Antigua LHP Kyler Burke INF Marwin Gonzalez RHP Jay Jackson RHP Dae-Eun Rhee RHP Ryan Searle I don't know if compensation involving the Red Sox will be be handled the same way, though, since Theo Epstein is presumably a bigger prize than Hoyer/McLeod and might require a player or players of greater value.

Jed Hoyer -- Executive Vice President/General Manager Jason McLeod -- Senior Vice President/Scouting and Player Development The Cubs website should get another dose of updating... http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/team/front_office.jsp?c_id=chc -------------- under Baseball Operations: Theo Epstein -- President of Baseball Operations Randy Bush -- Interim GM Scott Nelson -- Director, Baseball Operations and... under Minor League Department: Oneri Fleita -- Vice President, Player Personnel and... under Scouting Department: Tim Wilken -- Director, Amateur & Professional Scouting so if Wilken and Fleita now report to McLeod...anyone have a better understanding of what the new organizational chart will look like?

BTW, both Chris Carpenter and Andrew Cashner have been throwing 98-100 MPH in the AFL. If the Cubs are so inclined, they could put together a pretty good in-house bullpen in 2012, with some combo of Marmol, Cashner, Samardzija, Carpenter, Dolis, and Coello (presuming he is added back to the 40-man roster) from the right-side, and Russell, Gaub, Beliveau, and/or Maine from the left-side (presuming Marshall is moved to the starting rotation in 2012). First test of Team Epstein is to see if they will sign veteran MLB middle-relievers (such as Eyre, Howry, Grabow, Mercker, Remlinger, et al) to multi-year deals like Hendry used to do, or build the bullpen from within and allocate that money elsewhere. The Cubs right now have the best collection of young MLB-ready relievers since I don't know when. Remember, while the bullpen is VERY important, it does NOT have to cost a lot.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

Submitted by Charlie on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 4:12pm. Hasn't Cashner sealed up a rotation spot, barring injury? Seems like Carp would make the bullpen, if he's still with the Cubs by the time the season rolls around. ------------------------------------ CHARLIE: First of all, I think Chris Carpenter is going to Boston. Too bad, too, because with his high-90's fastball and sharp breaking ball combo, Carpenter has been the most-dominant reliever in the AFL so far. As for Andrew Cashner, while he may eventually end up in the starting rotation, it won't be next season. The Cubs are priming him for a return to the bullpen in 2012.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Submitted by crunch on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 4:21pm. i've been saying all through theo-fest that if carp/cashner go it's not worth it to me...i hope this whole process sticks to the rhee and vitters of the cubs' system...guys that still have legit upside, but aren't the 2 guys we can definitely use in 2012. ================================= CRUNCH: If Theo can find a way to keep both Carpenter and Cashner, that would be great. It will be interesting to see if Bud Selig becomes involved in the compensation process (presumning the Cubs and Red Sox don't come to an agreement by next Tuesday). The one method MLB has used to move players from one club to another is the expansion draft, and that usually means a club gets to protect 15 players on its 40-man roster(including all players with "no trade" rights, such as Zambrano, Soriano, and Dempster), and then the expansion team gets to pick one. Then you can pull back three players, and the expansion team gets another pick. If Selig uses that method (and its the only one he knows), and if the entire Cubs system is made available (with the exception of players who were signed within the last year, who cannot be traded or otherwise assigned), that would really make it tough for the Cubs, because otherwise Brett Jackson, Trey McNutt, and Jae-Hoon Ha would not qualify for selection in a traditional expansion draft. If the Cubs were allowed to protect 15 players (but not just limited to players on the 40-man roster), I would think they would be: Darwin Barney Chris Carpenter Andrew Cashner Starlin Castro Ryan Dempster Matt Garza Brett Jackson D. J. LeMahieu Carlos Marmol Sean Marshall Trey McNutt Alfonso Soriano Geovany Soto Matt Szczur Carlos Zambrano Which would leave guys like Jeff Baker, Marlon Byrd, Welington Castillo, Casey Coleman, Tyler Colvin, Blake DeWitt, Rafael Dolis, Ryan Flaherty, Jae-Hoon Ha, Jay Jackson, Bryan LaHair, Junior Lake, Jeff Samardzija, Nick Struck, Josh Vitters, and Randy Wells (to name a few) available for selection, with some combination of W. Castillo, Dolis, JH Ha, Lake, Samardzija, and Vitters pulled back after the first pick. BTW, Jeff Samardzija would have to be included in the "List of 15" if the Cubs do not decline their 2012 $3M club option, because he has "no trade" rights. If the Cubs do decline the option before players are selected, Samardzija would revert to being an "auto-renewal" player, the Cubs could unilaterally cut him up to 20% for 2012 (taking his salary down to $2.4M), and he would lose his "no trade" rights and could be left off the list. While Hendry probably would not do that, Team Epstein might.

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

I'm hoping Theo moves Marmol. I don't care how filthy he is 2/3 of the time he takes the mound--and he is undeniably unhittable--the other third of the time he can't hit the broad side of a barn. It costs the Cubs ballgames and it's not acceptable. I'd be more than satisfied with the Cubs kiddie corps for a bullpen in 2012, minus Marmol, plus Wood back for the one veteran presence. Assuming Boston doesn't steal someone like Carpenter or Cashner, I have to think the Cubs have an enviable bullpen outlook for the near term. St Louis and Texas have shown that you don't need to spend a lot of money on the bullpen, just stock it with plenty of young, fresh, hard-throwing arms. Phil, I guess it's possible the Cubs just return Coello to Boston as part of the Theo compensation, no?

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In reply to by Jim Hickmans Bat

Submitted by Jim Hickmans Bat on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 6:06pm. I'm hoping Theo moves Marmol. I don't care how filthy he is 2/3 of the time he takes the mound--and he is undeniably unhittable--the other third of the time he can't hit the broad side of a barn. It costs the Cubs ballgames and it's not acceptable. I'd be more than satisfied with the Cubs kiddie corps for a bullpen in 2012, minus Marmol, plus Wood back for the one veteran presence. Assuming Boston doesn't steal someone like Carpenter or Cashner, I have to think the Cubs have an enviable bullpen outlook for the near term. St Louis and Texas have shown that you don't need to spend a lot of money on the bullpen, just stock it with plenty of young, fresh, hard-throwing arms. Phil, I guess it's possible the Cubs just return Coello to Boston as part of the Theo compensation, no? ============================ JIM H: With the way he pitched out of the bullpen at Iowa the last two months of the season (he was absolutely unhittable), if Robert Coello is not added back to the Cubs 40-man roster by the deadline (4th day following the conclusion of the World Series) and becomes a minor league FA, he should be in high demand among a lot of the other MLB clubs. If the Cubs re-sign him to a minor league contract for 2012 but don't add him back to the 40-man roster, he becomes a good candidate to get selected in the December 2011 Rule 5 Draft. I would think the Red Sox would probably like to get Coello back (although the guy ultimately responsible for bringing him to the Red Sox as a minor league FA is now the Cubs President), but not if they can get somebody like Chris Carpenter instead. For those of you not familiar with Coello, he is a 26-year old ex-catcher who was drafted by Cincinnati out of a Florida JC in 2004 (20th round), but got released in 2006 before ever getting out of Extended Spring Training. He was then signed by the Angels and converted to a pitcher at AZ Instructs 2006 and he pitched for the AZL Angels in 2007 (I saw him pitch several times), but he opted for free-agency after the 2007 season as a previously-released minor league FA. He spent the 2008 season pitching in Indy ball, and was signed by the Red Sox to a minor league deal in 2009. He rocketed through the Sox system, getting brought up to Boston in September 2010. He was traded to the Cubs for 2B Tony Thomas at the start of Spring Training last February, was optioned to Iowa at the end of Spring Training, and then was outrighted to AA in May after getting shelled at Iowa as a starter. However, he was promoted back to Iowa after four quality starts at Tennessee and was moved back to the bullpen, and was an outstanding reliever for the I-Cubs over the last couple months of the season. He is presently pitching in Venezuela (VWL), and is doing very well down there, too. He has a dynamite splitter. The Cubs would be fools not to add Coello back to their 40-man roster.

Bullpens are usually a crap shot. Guys can come out of nowhere, even guys that have failed in the past, and have good years. Guys who have had good years in the past can bomb any particular year. Very few are good every year. I have theory on Marmol. In the past he has always gone into funks for a few games every year, but came out of them fairly quickly. This year the funks were more often and for longer periods. I have never been particularly a Rotchild fan,but it seems now in hindsight, that he could pull Marmol out of his funks much better than whatever the current guys name is.

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In reply to by Rob G.

Submitted by Rob G. on Thu, 10/27/2011 - 4:56pm. http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects... Adduci and Jonathan Mota re-sign. ========================================================== ROB G: With Jim Adduci and Jonathon Mota having re-signed, here is the updated list of Cubs minor leaguers eligible to be free-agents post-2011: ARTICLE XX-D MINOR LEAGUE FREE-AGENT (1): Brad Snyder, OF (has already filed) NOTE: A minor league player eligible to be an Article XX-D free-agent is not eligible to be a free-agent if the player is added back to an MLB 40-man roster by the end of the MLB regular season. A player eligible to be an Article XX-D minor league free-agent can file for free-agency beginning on the day after the conclusion of the MLB regular season up through October 15th. The player’s former club does not receive any compensation if the player signs with a new club. ======================================================================= MLB RULE 55 MINOR LEAGUE FREE-AGENT: NOTE: A minor league player eligible to be a Rule 55 free-agent is not eligible to be a FA if the player is added to his club’s 40-man roster by the 4th day following the conclusion of the World Series. SIX-YEAR MINOR LEAGUE FA (11): Justin Berg, RHP Marco Carrillo, RHP Angel Guzman, RHP Dylan Johnston, RHP (ex-OF) Mario Mercedes, C Scott Moore, INF Chris Robinson, C Carlton Smith, RHP Alvaro Sosa, RHP (ex-C) Jeff Stevens, RHP John Urick, 1B (player-coach) PREVIOUSLY RELEASED (5): Adrian Aviles, LHP (previously released by LAD) Dan Berlind, RHP (previously released by MIN) Austin Bibens-Dirkx, RHP (previously released by SEA) Robert Coello, RHP (previously released by CIN) Carlos Figueroa, INF (previously released by COL) =========================== BTW, the 4th day following the conclusion of the World Series is also the deadline for adding players back to the 40-man roster who were outrighted to the minors since the last Rule 5 Draft (Berg, Coello, and Stevens, plus Brian Schlitter).

Source indicates that the CBA holdup has moved OFF of hard slots for the draft, but capping draft and int'l spending is in play.

sirguygrand @ @RockBigFly24 hows the knee? 27 minutes ago RockBigFly24 Rock Shoulders @ @sirguygrand great thanks for answering 23 minutes ago Knee good, English..not so much.

Recent comments

  • 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.

    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?

  • 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.