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

Round and Round Goes Rizzo

Coming into tonight's action Anthony Rizzo trailed Omaha's Will Myers (Double A and Triple A combined) by eight for the top spot in all of minor league baseball in total bases. So he homered twice and doubled to briefly wrest the lead away before Myers homered off of Jeff Beliveau to break a 7-7 tie in the top of the 9th and give the Storm Chasers a hard fought win in a series opener at Principal Park.

The I-Cubs climbed out of two four-run holes dug for them by punching bag Jay Jackson who faced 24 batters and threw 88 pitches in his three+ innings of hard labor.

By the way, all of Rizzo's demolition was inflicted upon left-handed pitching. The discrepancy that marked his splits early in the year has narrowed considerably. He's now hitting well above .300 against southpaws too.

Geo Soto caught half of the game to ease into his rehab stint. He went hitless but was nicked by a pitch in one at-bat and also reached on an error ahead of Rizzo's 22nd homer in the 5th. Rizzo has homered four times in two days. His double came on a 3-0 pitch. In between roundtrippers he struck out swinging on an off-speed pitch in the 3rd. His second homer came on that same pitch after he took a fastball inside.

Ty'Relle Harris tossed three+ frames of hitless relief while Iowa fought back to tie the score.

Josh Vitters had two hits and started an inning-ending 5-4-3 with a diving stop that was the most sparkling defensive play I've seen him make. Having said that, I'll eat my notepad if he ever amounts to anything at the big league level. He just ain't got the look.

Brett Jackson played left to Dave Sappelt's center tonight and was allowed to stay in the two hole despite the lefty starter. He managed a bunt single in five trips and fanned twice more.

Poor (Jay) Jackson. Inasmuch as the game was versus an AL affiliate he didn't even get to bat, something he probably enjoys more than pitching these days and is probably better at. 

Comments

Ether gets 5/85 with an easily attainable 6th year vesting option that would take it over 100m. Let Joe Sheehan take this one... @joe_sheehan: Locking $85MM into a non-star corner outfielder from 31-35? That usually ends well.

Interesting tweet from everybody's favorite, Peter Gammons in the tweet box:
In their 8 months Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein have brought 3 young potential mid-order bats to organization:Rizzo, Almora, Soler.
I forgot about Almora when I posted my posted my potential 2016 lineup of Castro, Rizzo, Soler, and Candelerio. So now we have - 3- Starlin Castro SS 4- Anthony Rizzo 1B 5 - Albert Almora 6- Javier Baez 2B 7 - Jorge Soler RF 8- Jeimer Candelerio 3B I'm with Mike. I saw Vitters a couple times and I'm not sold, either. If the above lineup lives up to the hype these prospects have generated, it will be a hell of a lineup. But the percentages are never good even with good prospects. Some of them will go bust. Hell, Almora might even go to college. Still, it's good to see Theocorp thinking like a good small market team. Hopefully they can get something for the few tradable veterans they have. It'll be interesting to see if Ricketts will start thinking like a big market team and get some good MLB-ready players, or continue to watch the fans disappear from Wrigley.

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

I have only seen Vitters in a few games watching online, so I am interested in hearing your thoughts on him. I think Vitters will actually produce in the majors about what he produces now....280 15-20 HR few walks or strike outs. But that again is based on just a few games and projection based on his age and his level (if he were just drafted and was his current age and hitting like this at AAA, we'd likely have higher projections). So I am interested in hearing your thoughts.

[ ]

In reply to by springs

**I think Vitters will actually produce in the majors about what he produces now....280 15-20 HR few walks or strike outs. ** That may be true, but that really isn't that good, especially for a (hopefully) competitive team at a premium offensive position. And it especially isn't good enough if he can't play 3b at the MLB level, and has to move to 1b (or the OF). If he produces what he does now - 760 OPS, mediocre (at best) defense - that simply isn't major league caliber for a 3b. And there is little reason to believe that he could produce what he is producing now against major league pitching. Don't get me wrong - I haven't given up on Vitters, but we need to see something better than a 760 OPS from him for him to start playing in the big leagues.

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

"we need to see something better than a 760 OPS from him for him to start playing in the big leagues." It's circular to say that Vitters won't be good because he hasn't been good. You draft and sign elite talents and then you look for them to hold their own and then eventually break out. A comparison might be another 3B about the same age as Vitters, Will Middlebrooks, who showed signs of breaking out in Pawtucket in April and was promoted to the Red Sox where so far he is hitting much better than his .787 OPS in four years in the minors. It's hard to find minor-league splits these days but I would guess that Vitters' numbers are impressive over the last four or five weeks. Anyway, he's back on my watch list. To a veteran Cub fan, it's kind of a fairy tale that young players get better. Sometimes they get a lot better, fast. Cub fans haven't seen that over the last few decades. Yet it happens, and often it's inevitable. I guarantee you that Castro's OPS will rise by 150 points in the next couple of seasons.

[ ]

In reply to by big_lowitzki

Where did I say that ["Vitters won't be good because he hasn't been good"]? "[T]here is little reason to believe that he could produce what he is producing now against major league pitching." To me that says there is little reason to believe that he can do better. I pointed out that (a) he already is doing better and (b) young guys get better. You don't have to believe it. I don't necessarily believe in Vitters myself, but you have to trust your scouting director and wait until a first-rounder is out of minor-league options like they did with Colvin.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

To me that says there is little reason to believe that he can do better. Correct. So far there has been little reason to believe that he will do better in the big leagues than he has been in minors. I stand by that. But I did NOT say that won't be good because he hasn't been good. I know that you hate to admit this...but minor leagues performance IS a good predictor of major league performance. You don't have to believe it. You seem to continue to miss that I said that I still have hope in the guy. It doesn't matter what I believe - what matters is what Vitters does on the field. I want him to get better. I still think that he can get better. But so far he hasn't really done it. Look - I have never said Vitters won't be better. And yes, he has been better over the last two months. But I would like to see a lot more than 150 at-bats (or so) of success before I say that Vitters WILL be a successful MLB player. So far he simply hasn't been good enough.

[ ]

In reply to by tem99

I just brushed up a little on Shea Hillenbrand. Looks like Theo Epstein made it a priority to replace Hillenbrand with someone (Bill Mueller) who could actually play third. I think we can assume that whoever mans third next year and beyond will be a glove-first guy with a little pop like Stewart (but not Stewart). This reminds me that Vitters has no future at third with the Cubs and will have to hit like a left fielder--which means he'll have to hit better than Hillenbrand. If Vitters is Shea Hillenbrand, he's a bust.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

I doubt if Vitters makes 2 All-star games, he'll be considered a bust, that's a decent career for most players. Maybe not as good as we all hoped at the beginning, but decent enough. Mueller was a cheap pick-up by Red Sox as defensive insurance and a guy that took pitches, take a spot start here and there. He wasn't a replacement by any meant, he just made Hillenbrand expendable with his amazing play that season. There's no way they could have counted on Mueller to do what he did in 2003. And they got a decent haul at the time in Byung-Hung Kim for Hillenbrand for something they needed help.

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

Not all of those guys will work out or stay at those positions. You may end up with Candelario, Vogelbach, Shoulders, Vitters all at 1B, and maybe none of them or two or three of them will end up good enough to make the majors. You've got Brett Jackson, Szczur, Ha, possibly Lake, and Reggie Golden who might turn into something in the outfield. Or none of those guys could be any good. Etc. Maybe Marco Hernandez or Arismendy Alcantara turn into decent players. Maybe Watkins is actually the 2nd baseman of the future, producing about the same value as Barney does now around the time that Barney starts earning more money. Maybe Torreyes starts hitting again and pushes his way up the prospect list. What I see in the Cubs system now is that they have a lot of prospects for 1B (Rizzo, Vogelbach, Shoulders, Candelario, Vitters), 3B (Vitters, Candelario, Baez, Lake), and OF (Jackson, Soler, Szczur, Ha, Lake, Dunston Jr., Trey Martin, etc.). They have a few interesting prospects at SS and 2B (Baez, Hernandez, Torreyes, Alcantara). And they have almost nothing at catcher (Castillo, Micah Gibbs?), Starting Pitcher (McNutt, Whitenack, Burke) or Relief Pitcher (not that minor league relievers are significant prospects anyway). But who is close to the majors on that list? Rizzo, Jackson, Castillo, and maybe Vitters. Everybody else is several years away. So it's nice to see that there are a significant number of names that could be interesting, but any of those guys could stagnate (or regress) and never be productive above A-ball. Most Cubs prospects are so far away that we have 0 idea what they will turn out to be. We won't have a sense of these guys value until sometime in 2014, for most of them, and by then many of them could be playing different positions, have developed or failed to develop power or strikezone judgment, etc.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

"Starting Pitcher (McNutt, Whitenack, Burke)" Burke has been surprisingly good as a starter but not better than Francescon, Loosen, Jensen, Kirk, Jokisch or Del Valle, most of whom have comparable numbers at a higher level. Here are their levels, innings, hits, walks, Ks, WHIPs: Burke (Peoria) 67.2 inn, 51 h, 20 bb, 48 so, 1.05 whip Francescon (Peoria-Daytona) 75.1 inn, 47 h, 22 bb, 60 so, 0.92 whip Loosen (Daytona) 42 inn, 28 h, 16 bb, 40 so, 1.05 whip Jensen (Peoria) 66 inn, 47 h, 23 bb, 53 so, 1.06 whip Kirk (Daytona) 78.2 inn, 71 h 18 bb, 46 so, 1.13 whip Jokisch (Daytona-Tenn) 80 inn, 65 h, 25 bb, 62 so, 1.13 whip Del Valle (Daytona) 48.1 inn, 44 h, 12 bb, 35 so, 1.16 whip As for McNutt, I think Cub fans should forget about him and Jay Jackson and learn some new names.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

I knew I'd have to duck for cover quoting Gammons, but it was worth it to read everyone's posts. Overall, it looks like the team has some interesting prospects down the line, but it's way down the line, and that isn't going to help Ricketts sell tickets. Theocorp needs to do a lot more than stock up on potential guys for 2016. And Ricketts, at some point, is going to have to break open the wallet.

From I-Cub game notes (a foretaste of the new & improved 'Cub way'?): The Cubs have committed three errors in their last 13 games and lead the league with a .983 fielding percentage. The Cubs are tied with Nashville for the fewest errors in the league this season with 41. Brett Jackson leads all outfielders in fielding this year. He has handled 136 total chances over 58 games without committing an error. He has started in all three outfield positions.

Re JV: I just don't think he passes the eyeball test. He doesn't appear to be especially athletic & he doesn't exude any zest or flair for the game...strikes me as a journeyman @ best; not the sort you watch & think, 'this kid's something special...' although obviously there were scouts who thought exactly that about him ( at one time)...

[ ]

In reply to by Mike Wellman

I'm not sure you'll find anyone past his immediate family that thinks he'll be anything special in the majors. If he can ever get his defense to a passable level at some position, his bat should play in the majors. Young, contact, some power...it's a good combo. I don't see an All-Star or anything, but a good guy to have until he's 30. Someone put Shea Hillebrand out there as a comp once, I can sort of see that.

Looks like Vlad is going to officially call it quits . HOFer? I certainly think he deserves it, better than Dawson for sure. Probably gonna take him awhile though.

Rosenthal says Cubs are reluctant to take on a long term rebuild process, but Dempster should be available. Says Indians may be one of the few good fits for Soriano.

AZ PHIL: on many occasions you have touted Jay Jackson's hitting. Has any of the Cubs' staff indicated to you any time limit on trying him as a position player? The Cubs have a lot invested in this guy, and I am sorry to say but I believe he just hasn't figured it out. Seems like its kickin' a dead mule. They have had some success moving position players to pitchers. why not the other way in this case?

Hawks to add a pitcher to roster today. Big name draft pick. Announcement this afternoon sure to be Pierce Johnson

Iowa vs. Odorizzi and the Royals AAA team Volstad gives up 5 ER in first on 4 hits 1B, FO-7, BB, 1B (1 R), 1B (1 R), 3B (2 R), GO-3 (1 R), PO-3 Bottom of 3rd, 5-0 Omaha

‏@jonmorosi #Cubs fire Rudy Jaramillo, replace him with James Rowson.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

I don't know if it's a hitting coach thing, but I definitely see teams that seem to work the count as a team. I remember the blue jays years ago using that approach against K Wood and Prior. It's a good approach to certain kinds of pitching, and I think a well coached team can have better at bats than others.

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In reply to by Rob Richardson

same...i'm sick of marquee managers/coaches/etc... we had 2 teams this offseason "pick a guy off the street" to manage teams...ventura/matheny...it's not like CWS/STL are cellar dwelling $30-40m payroll teams or something. staying away from having $6-$8m tied up in coaches/managers is a great start to putting a little more on the field, imo.

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In reply to by Rob G.

Wrongway... James Rowson, the minor-league hitting coordinator who is replacing Rudy Jaramillo as the Cubs' hitting coach, had impressed Theo Epstein & Co. with his work on prospects like Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo. He's considered excellent in helping hitters improve their plate discipline and learn to "grind out'' at-bats, and benefited from working under Kevin Long with the Yankees. Jaramillo, who was working for his third manager in three years, worked his rear end off to help Alfonso Soriano and other Cub veterans but Epstein decided he wasn't what he wanted long term.

@DKnobler Some rival execs speculating Dempster could be traded early. Some saying right after All-Star break, others guessing pre-ASG.

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In reply to by Charlie

Eovaldi would be a great grab, but I doubt they'd give him up. Otherwise a ton of B/C arms in there. Jerry Sands has always intrigued me or Scott Van Slyke. Tim Fedorowicz (good defense, poor bat) and Gorman Erickson (good bat, poor defense) are the 2 catching prospects. Of course, Federowicz hitting decently in AAA this year (834 OPS), while Erickson is struggling in AA.

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In reply to by Rob G.

Two decent starting pitching prospects would probably be the best we could hope for, and it looks like most of what the Dodgers have is minor league arms. For Garza I would hope they get at least one pitcher that is close to MLB ready, though (if they trade him, that is). Everybody knows who Dempster is--a good start to the season is only going to influence them so far, so I'm not expecting a bunch of blue-chippers or something.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

None of those sound like anything close to enough for Dempster. Especially if he is indeed the biggest name on the market. Lonnie Chisenhall would be a reasonable haul. Brian Matusz sounds reasonable.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

However his stock is down right now. Huh? Dempster is owed a ton and teams can't recoup prospects by offering arbitration anymore. Good news is Cubs have ton of suitors and are one of the few sellers. They'll get a decent haul, but mid-rotation upside starters is probably the peak, maybe an average regular position player. There's no All-Stars or potential All-Stars coming unless the Cubs really nail it on the prospect evaluation. Matusz is about right, same premise as trading for Volstad and Stewart. Once upon a time prospects with lots of service time left to figure it out, but still a lot of question marks. 2 3-Star prospects otherwise, maybe someone gets desperate and coughs up a 4-star. I'm certainly not expecting any top 100 prospects.

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In reply to by Dr. aaron b

there's no gamble, you can't get prospects by offering arbitration anymore unless the player is with the team the entire season. We'll see how much the Cubs are willing to pay this time, it's one thing when it's a headache you want to get rid of, another when it's a valuable trade chip. I doubt they pick up more than half and I doubt teams will give up a ton for a 2 months of a 35 year old pitcher.

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In reply to by Dr. aaron b

Just to clarify, free-agent compensation no longer involves arbitration. In order to get a draft pick a club will have to offer the MLB Article XX-B FA a one-year guaranteed contract with a salary at least equal to the average salary of the 125 highest-paid MLB players from the previous season, and it must decide whether to make this offer by the 5th day following the conclusion of the World Series. If offered such a contract, the player has a week to accept or decline, and if the player declines and signs with another club, the player's former team automatically gets a supplemental 1st round pick (between the 1st & 2nd round) in the next Rule 4 Draft (First-Year Player Draft), with the slot dependent on the standings from the previous season (worse record gets a higher slot). So the Cubs could opt to keep Dempster, and then after the World Series offer him a guaranteed 2013 contract with a salary at least equal to the average salary of the 125 highest-paid MLB players in 2012 (probably about $13M), and if he accepts the Cubs get to keep him for another year, and if he declines and he subsequently signs with another club, the Cubs get a compensation draft pick between the 1st and 2nd rounds in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft (probably pick #31 or #32 overall). The Cubs could opt to do the same thing with Matt Garza when he becomes an Article XX-B MLB FA post-2013.

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In reply to by Rob Richardson

wow, rangers didn't even make the list. he's got friends in TX...though most are in Austin-area. they might stay away because of fear of HR given up/cost...they can't sign all those guys long term when they're performing at that kind of level.

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In reply to by Rob Richardson

Slick-fielding shortstop Jose Iglesias would allow the Cubs to move Castro to third base, someone else daring to suggest Castro is moved to 3B? unpossible that being said, not a trade I'd want the Cubs to make.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

that was kinda my issue with him being rushed to the bigs. he was ready, true...but the cubs are in a position where they might have to pay him a lot of money based on a slugger potential that could easily show up as not show up. you could make a solid argument for him being a 20-30 HR guy as easily as him being a 10-15 HR guy at this point. i just wish they would have waited til 2011 to work him into the bigs. it's not like the 1 extra year would be a slam-dunk for evaluation, but he's just sooooo young, still. both his D and bat/power could get better as easily as they could stay where they're at.

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In reply to by John Beasley

there's a number of hope+woo posts for rudy outside of the scattering in that thread. also, "going nuts with joy is an overstatement, but i saw it as a generally welcome thing that would help the club do something or other awesome...some people did note how "meh" he did outside of TEX." i didn't see as much "most people saw it was a bad signing" thing as much as the "woos" and hope stuff. either way, it's better than doing this kind of stuff on manager money.

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.