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

And After The Holiday Weekend...

...a whole lot of nothing.

- An article in a Dominican paper says the Cubs (so far) have been the most aggressive at pursuing Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.

- No real news out of the Cubs convention beyond the Kerry Wood signing ($3M with a $3M option for 2013) and the new patio deck in right field with the LED scoreboard.

- "One change the Cubs have already made was tweaking Tim Wilken's assignments, so that he's now director of amateur scouting and not carrying the additional workload of pro scouting." Word was Randy Bush occasionally had to rinse out the toilets at Wrigley Field to save a few bucks.

- McLeod allegedly said that he was rather surprised by the lack of player preparation amenities at Wrigley and there are plans in place to remedy it.

- Today is the day that teams and players file their arbitration number, the Cubs have yet to agree with any of their players: Jeff Baker($1.4M), Blake DeWitt($1.2M), Geovany Soto($4M), Matt Garza ($8.7M), Randy Wells ($2.2M), Ian Stewart($2M) or Chris Volstad($2.6M). The estimated figures come from Matt Swartz. Add that to the current player committments, auto-renewals (about $5-7M) and $5M owed Pena and the Cubs current payroll for 2012 is around $110M.

- Craig Counsell has decided to retire, but he will stay with the Brewers organization rather than joining Dale Sveum's staff.

- David Schoenfield ran a nice piece examining the best players in any 5-year year period starting from 1969. Ryne Sandberg and Sammy Sosa show up twice each.

Comments

I heard Marlon Byrd's dropped 20 lbs. or so. Food allergy (gluten/dairy or something along those lines) was the explaination. No mention of Victor Conte being involved or not.

cone of silence so far on these arbitration numbers for Cubs, numbers were due at 10am PST and you expect a few deals have already been made.

Hey all, I am looking for a little crowd sourcing. I am participating in a media immersion class for Journalism major at Ball State that is going to give us the chance to go to Spring Training in Florida and cover different kinds of baseball related stories. What I am really looking for right now if anyone has any ideas that can jump start some research of mine that are really great stories or ones that specifically deal with Indiana ties or so. If anyone has any ideas than great. If not, its whatever, just trying to use every mean I can to find a unique and interesting story I could do while I am there. Obviously these stories would only be useful for teams in Florida during spring training. Thanks.

[ ]

In reply to by sbwilliams

Bullington was always the best Indiana story because of his success but also partly because of his failures. He's in Japan, though. Storen is an Indy guy. Interesting media angle there because his Dad is Mark Patrick, long time Indy TV sports anchor. Although, dunno how much of that you get because Patrick just got canned a couple months ago from local talk radio. Tommy Hunter is an Indy guy. So is Brandon Beachy. Kokomo native & Indiana Wesleyan grad. I also always hear about Tommy John showing up at a game somewhere during Spring Training. He's from Terre Haute. Plenty to talk about there. EDIT: Didn't scroll down to see your next post, but I'll leave this here anyway.

The Jake Fox idea is pretty good. Especially considering he dealt with the same issue last year and dominated in spring training and it didn't translate into the season forcing him to be DFA'd again. My prof is a stickler on the stories being unique. So she disapproves of a story of hey this guy is trying to come back from adversity. This may work because of succeeding and being set back. Brandon Beachy has been discussed and would be a great story. Reds are in Arizona. In fact about all of the teams around Indiana are in Arizona. My professor is making it difficult by expecting such specific criteria on stories when we are pretty limited because of the access in Indiana and how none of the target audiences major league likes can really factor into ideas. It has been frustrating so far. I was originally looking at economic stuff. (I am into hard news). But I don't know if ticket prices or anything like that have been a bother for tourists or attendees to spring training games. Need to do more research on that.

[ ]

In reply to by Vegas Brian

Kershaw is in his first arbitration eligible season. Garza is in his third. Typically your first year arbitration rate is lower, then goes up from there. Obviously there's a wide range of what you can get in your first year of arbitration. I think Lincecum asked for 10M, then got a two year 21M extension. Now he's arb eligible again and asking for 21 for just next year - or something like that

Ball State possible story: Hank Steinbrenner attended Culver Military in Indiana. The Yankees train in Tampa. Several business related topics such as the luxury tax, new collective bargaining, etc that are affecting the way they do business. Another spin-the effect of media revenues on their business. Just some thoughts-good luck! and yes I'm a Ball State grad.

DeWitt signed for $1.1 million; Soto $4.3 million; Stewart $2.237 mill; Baker $1.375 mill; Wells $2.705; Volstad $2.655 million. #Cubs $14.372M with Garza outstanding, if he settles for $9M that'll be right around the $23M total projected above.

Iowa Cubs 2012-I'd be interested in knowing from Az Phil who he thinks the Iowa Cubs will be next year. I'm of the belief that the braintrust wants a cohesive unit that will come up as a "team". From that standpoint, getting Rizzo, Bjax, Vitters, Castillo, etc...to play together and bond will be crucial to the chemistry, so I'm guessing they'll be in Iowa for a little longer than we would like or expect. Thanks in advance for your input and yes this is my first post in a long time. Hello everyone!

I wish Gail Fischer would elaborate on that tweet about Marshall (God, Twitter allows them to be even LESS accountable). "Welcome to Cincinnati!" "I wanna go back to Chicago." Then again, who doesn't want to leave Ohio?

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

She ran into him in the grocery story? That's awesome. I'd also like to have him back (he seems like a quality dude) but I am very much against paying a lot of money for any RP that's not Kerry Wood. [edit] And to be fair, you're right she said that just before the other post (though I didn't see it when I looked initially)...so my immediate Twitter/sports-journalist ire is unfounded in this instance. My apologies to you Ms. Fischer and to you Reginald Twitter III.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Tue, 01/17/2012 - 6:51pm — Cubster New I just did the math by counting all my fingers and toes twice and the Cubs currently have 41 on their 40 man roster. I had to use Antonio Alfonseca's pitching hand to get the number right. Aren't they worried about someone from the commish's roster police pulling them over for a ticket? Tue, 01/17/2012 - 6:54pm — Rob G. just means Wood's deal isn't official yet... I recall (possibly last year) it was at 41 for a few weeks over the Christmas break while they figured things out. ======================= CUBSTER & ROB G: A free-agent with previous MLB and/or minor league experience who signs a Major League contract must be added to the club's MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) when the contract is filed with the MLB Commissioner (within 20 days of signing) or when he is added to the club's Active List (25-man roster), whichever comes first. So even though the Cubs have signed Kerry Wood and the signing has been reported, the Cubs do not have to officially add KW to their 40-man roster until the contract is actually filed with Bud (no later than February 2nd). Meanwhile, Woody's roster status is "contract pending." BTW, last off-season the Cubs signed Kerry Wood on December 17th when their 40-man roster was full, and they did not make a corresponding roster move until 19 days later. (The Cubs placed Brian Schlitter on waivers on Monday January 3rd, and the Yankeres were awarded the waiver claim on Wednesday January 5th). The Phillies subsequently claimed Schlitter off waivers from NYY on 2/15, but both waiver claims were voided by the MLB Comissioner on 4/11 and Schlitter was returned to the Cubs on that date (and waiver payments were refunded) because Schlitter had what was diagnosed as a pre-existing right pronator flexor injury. Schlitter then spent the entire 2011 season on the Cubs MLB 15-day and 60-day DLs (and accrued a full-year of MLB Service Time while collecting $414.5K in the process), before getting outrighted to AAA by the Cubs on 10/4. Note that if Schlitter had been placed on Outright Waivers prior to 11-20-2010, his having a pre-existing injury wouldn't have mattered and the waiver claim would have stood, or he could have been outrighted to the minors if no claim was made at that time. (Injured players who accrued MLB Service Time during the previous season--as was the case with Schlitter in 2010--can only be outrighted to the minors starting on the day after the conclusion of the MLB regular season up until reserve lists are filed with the MLB Commissioner on 11/20). So the gaffe actually ended up costing the Cubs about $435K (the waiver payment received from NYY that had to be refunded, plus having to pay Schiltter a $414.5K major league salary while on the MLB DL for the entire 2011 season). I believe Hendry was quoted at the time as saying something like "We're happy to have him back," which actually might have been true, if it wasn't that it ended-up costing the Cubs $430K+ to get him back.

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

When the Cubs do make a roster move, it might go like this: Let's say the Cubs decide to try and outright Marcos Mateo (because he is out of minor league options). If so, Mateo might have been placed on Outright Waivers last Friday (if the Cubs knew Wood had signed prior to 2 PM EST), or else they had to wait until Tuesday 1/17 (Monday 1/16 was a holiday). You don't want to DFA him, though, because then you are committed to making a move involving him, and you might not want to do that. If Mateo was placed on waivers last Friday (1/13), he would clear waivers at 1 PM EST on Wedneday 1/18, and if he were placed on waivers on Tuesday 1/17, he would clear waivers at 1 PM EST on Thursday 1/19. If he is claimed, he's gone (as happened with Jeff Bianchi a couple of weeks ago). If he is not claimed, the waivers are good for seven days (but the Cubs do NOT necessarily have to outright him to the minors). As long as Mateo has already signed his 2012 contract, he can be outrighted as soon as he clears waivers. But if he has not signed his 2012 contract, the Cubs would have seven days to try and sign him. If they can't sign him, they can't outright him to the minors. They could trade him or release him, but they can't outright him (the same situation that would have occurred if Jeff Bianchi had not been claimed off waivers). That's because a player who is eligible to be an MLB Rule 55 minor league free-agent (so called "six-year minor league free-agent") cannot be outrighted after 5 PM on the 5th day following the conclusion of the World Series unless and until he signs a major league contract for the following season. So if Mateo is not claimed off waivers, and if he has not yet signed his 2012 contract (the one that was tendered on 12/12), and if the Cubs can't convince him to sign before the waivers expire (seven days), and if they don't want to release him or can't trade him, then they can just let Mateo's waivers expire, and place a different player on Outright Waivers, somebody who is not eligible to be a Rule 55 minor league FA. (That's why you don't DFA Mateo). So if not Mateo, then who? Probably Alberto Cabrera. If Cabrera is claimed off waivers, he's gone. But because he is not eligible to be a Rule 55 minor league FA, he can be outrighted to the minors even if he has not yet signed his 2012 contract. BTW, all of this could happen much faster than seven days. Perhaps Mateo has signed his 2012 contract (auto-renewal contract signings are usually announced in a batch release in February or March), and the Cubs already know that Mateo can be outrighted if he is not claimed. Or the Cubs might already know that Mateo has not signed and that he will not sign until Spring Training, just so he can't be outrighted right now. (Mateo's agent might have told him to hold-off signing just for this reason). In that case, the second choice could be made very quickly. Or instead of messing with Mateo and trying to convince him to sign his contract, and then trying to outright Cabrera instead, a signed player with less than five years MLB Service Time could get outrighted (if not claimed off waivers). For example, Manny Corpas, Andy Sonnanstine, or Blake DeWitt could get outrighted. Because each has accrued at least three years of MLB Service Time, the player would have the right to refuse the outright assignment, but if he does, he forfeits his 2012 contract & receives no termination pay. (Most players don't do this unless they think they can get a comparable contract and a better opportunity elsewhere). One other thing to keep in mind is that a player selected in the Rule 5 Draft and any Draft-Excluded Player (a player eligible for selection in the Rule 5 Draft who was added to the 40-man roster after August 15th) cannot be outrighted until 20 days prior to MLB Opening Day. So as of right now, Rule 5 pick Lendy Castillo can be traded, but can't be outrighted or released, and the Draft-Excluded Players (Bryan LaHair, Jeff Beliveau, Steve Clevenger, Junior Lake, Josh Vitters, and Matt Szczur) can be traded or released, but can't be outrighted.

Found this over at BCB, but allegedly a quote from Theo: "Patience at the plate will be the new rule", [ followed by] "...It's not a player's at bat, it's the team's at bat". love it.

"According to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, the Astros have agreed to a two-year contract with Jack Cust." so much for that new GM. MOONEYBAWLS! ...and the agent of the year award goes to...gregg clifton!

Saw a blurb on roto I think? Cespedes claims Cubs are the most persistent team with interest. Sounds good? I thought the consensus was that he is too old and over-hyped, we should be looking at Soler instead. I don't think we really need a younger version of Soriano on the team.

Again: Ozzie was lateral. Gruden was lateral. Beane to Boston was lateral. Tice and Epstein are not lateral. In order to keep Tice at offensive line coach last year, the Bears had to promise him the OC job when Martz expired. The Red Sox were not about to promise Epstein Lucchino's job. Screw them. If they wanted Epstein, they should have made room for him.

Heyman...
Darvish, rangers agree to main terms. Just wrapping it up.
Evan Grant...
The six-year deal is worth approximately $60 million. Deal is done. Darvish a Ranger.
Jeff Passan...
Source: Yu Darvish deal is for six years and $60 million. Bonuses can add up to $10 million.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 90-92 
    CUT: 87-89 
    SL: 82-83 
    SPLIT: 81-84
    CV: 73-74 
    COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes...  if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...   
     
    JOE NAHAS
    FB: 90-92 
    SL: 83-85 
    CV: 80-81 
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...   

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 86 
    SL: 79 
    COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...   

    FRANKIE SCALZO JR
    FB: 94-95
    CH: 88 
    SL: 83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning... 

    MICHAEL ARIAS
    FB: 94-96
    CH: 87-89
    SL: 82-83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...   

    ZAC LEIGH: 
    FB: 93-94 
    CH: 89 
    SL: 81-83 
    CV: 78
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...   

    JOSE ROMERO:  
    FB: 93-95
    SL: 82-84
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...

  • crunch (view)

    pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"

    mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit.  nice.

    he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons.  he's not lean, but he looks healthier.  good for him.