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

Navarro Blast Propels Cubs to Victory over Giants

Dioner Navarro hammered a three-run home run to cap a four-run 1st inning, and Jeff Samardzija and six relievers combined to throw a six hitter, as the Cubs edged the San Francisco Giants 4-3 in the Cubs 2013 Cactus League home opener before a sparse crowd (7,784) this afternoon at cool & blustery Dwight Patterson Field at HoHoKam Park in Mesa, AZ.

box score

The Cubs scored all four of their runs in the bottom of the 1st off Giants starter Matt Cain.

Starlin Castro ripped a single with one out, and was safe at second when SF 1B Brad Belt made an errant throw to 2nd base on what should have been the start of a 3-6-3 DP, with Anthony Rizzo reaching 1st base safely on the play. Alfonso Soriano then smoked a line-drive infield single off Matt Cain's left knee to load the bases (Cain remained in the game, although he was clearly limping), and the first run of the day scored on a Nate Schierholtz RBI ground out. Dioner Navarro followed with his three-run HR over the RF fence and into the Giants bullpen to finish the Cubs scoring for the day.

Jeff Samardzija got the start for the Cubs and had his sinker working very well today (4/0 GO/FO). He was sailing right along with two outs and nobody on base in the top of the 2nd when he surrendered a Francisco Peguero double and a Guillermo Quiroz RBI single. For the day, The Shark allowed just the one run on three hits, with two strikeouts and no walks over the 2.0 IP (33 pitches - 21 strikes).  

Carlos Marmol worked the top of the 3rd (22 pitches - 12 strikes) and gave up a run, walking the lead-off hitter and then allowing a one-out RBI rocket double into the RF corner by Pablo Sandoval, before striking out Roger Kieschnick (Brooks' cousin) swinging to end the frame.

Cory Wade was next, and went two innings (26 pitches - 16 strikes), allowing one unearned run on one hit, no walks or strikeouts, and 1/4 GO/FO. The unearned scored as the result of an error by Cubs 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo, who dropped a low (but catchable) throw from Starlin Castro that allowed Brandon Crawford to reach base safely to lead-off the inning, and Crawford would eventually score on a sacrifice fly.

Casey Coleman, Kyuji Fujikawa, James Russell, and Shawn Camp threw a combined four innings (one inning a piece) of one hit shutout ball with five punch-outs (and no walks) as the Cubs held on for the victory. Fujikawa was especially sharp, showing some life on his fastball and a great splitter.

Cubs pitchers walked only one Giants batter all day, while strikng out eight.  

The Cubs offense did not score after putting up the four spot in the 1st, but DH Brian Bogusevic (opposite-field line-drive double down the LF line) and Johermyn Chavez (line-drive double off the LF fence--or Cole Gillespie's face) collected extra base hits. Chavez's double was absolutely crushed, and probably never got higher than eight feet off the ground before reaching the fence.  

The weather was not ideal (cold northwest wind), but stiill the sparse crowd was a bit of surprise, given that it was both the Cubs Cactus League home opener and a Sunday.  

 

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

If Brett Jackson is optioned to Iowa out of Spring Training and then is not recalled before June 11th, he cannot be a free-agent until post-2019 (at the earliest). But if B-Jax is optioned to Iowa out of Spring Training and is recalled before June 11th, he could be a free-agent post-2018 (UNLESS he is optioned to the minors in some future season).

This is similar to what happened with Anthony Rizzo last year, where the Cubs optioned him to Iowa out of Spring Training and then waited to recall him until just after the point in the season where he would not go over one year of MLB Service Time through the 2012 season (he ended up at 0+168 MLB Service Time through the 2012 season, ensuring that he cannot be a free-agent until post-2018).

The Cubs screwed-up with both Travis Wood and Welington Castillo, however,

If the Cubs had waited five more days to recall T. Wood in May, or if they had optioned him to Iowa for ten days over the All-Star Break (when a 5th starter wasn't needed for ten days, and so that T. Wood could have stayed sharp by getting a start for Iowa at Omaha on the Thursday after the MLB All-Star Game instead of remaining on the Cubs 25-man roster and not pitching for ten days), he would have fallen just short of two years of MLB Service Time through the 2012 season (he ended up with 2+004 MLB ST), meaning he would not have been eliigible to be a free-agrent until post-2017, instead of post-2016 as is now the case.

Likewise, because Welington Castillo was recalled when he was (7/31, after Geovany Soto was traded), he ended up with nine days over one year of MLB Service Time (1+009) through the 2012 season, making him eligible to be a free-agent after the 2017 season, instead of post-2018 if he had (for example) been left at Iowa until after the conclusion of the PCL season on Labor day. (The Cubs could have brought up a veteran 4-A catcher like Juan Apodaca to platoon with Steve Clevenger and get them through the month of August, until Castillo was recalled in September).

Both T. Wood and W. Castillo are now out of minor league options, so it won't be possible to get their service times any lower without outrighting them to the minors (which isn't likely to happen unless the player turns out be a stiff, and then it wouldn't matter anyway).

A club has to be careful with guys who are down to their last option year (as Travis Wood and Welington Castillo were last year, and as Rafael Dolis and Alberto Cabrera are this year), because you aren't going to get another chance to manage the player's MLB Service Time (which determines when a player can become a free-agent). So the Cubs need to try and make sure that Dolis does not accrue more than 50 days of MLB Service Time in 2012, and make sure that Cabrera does not accrue more than 107 days (both will be out of options in 2014). 

BTW, falling just short of a full season of Service Time (as happened with Rizzo last season) will NOT affect when the player will become eligible for salary arbitration, because if he falls short of three years of MLB Service Time by even as much as 30-40 days, the player would still be eligible for arbitration as a "Super Two." It only affects when a player can be a free-agent.

AZ PHIL: Pitching? Hey PHIL - have you seen Kyle Hendricks or Michael Jenkins much? If so, how do they project in your opinion?

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

E-MAN: I have never seen Kyle Hendricks pitch, but supposedly he has pinpoint control and the stamina needed to be a starter.

I presume you mean Michael Jensen, and if so, I have seen him pitch, though not since Minor League Camp last year. He has an above-average fastball (he was topping out at 94) and a plus-slider, and last time I saw him his change-up was still a work in progress. He reminds me a bit of Nick Struck at a similar stage. I think he has the upside to make it to MLB, though I can't say if it will be as a starter or reliever. A lot depends on the change-up. I remember writing that I thought he projects as a reliever, but he certainly had a fine year as a starter at Peoria last season.  

via rotowurld, via paul sulivan's twitter... "Cubs manager Dale Sveum expects Matt Garza (lat strain) to be ready for Opening Day if he's able to resume throwing in the next few days."

nate sureholds 2r HR off billingsly... dodgers tie in bottom 1st off a shaky-control c.villanueva...only throws .2ip (threw a bunch of pitches, probably not injury). he only gave up a 2r single, but he walked 2. d.mcdonald 3r HR off capuano, top 3...blasted. w.castillo goes back-to-back...cubs up 6-2.

Vin Scully just announced the Cubs are "going a different direction, that's why they traded Soriano (alfonzo) to the Nationals." I swear he said it...

...and d.willis has an arm injury...probably not a good one given his reaction and quick hook.

God Bless, DVR. Cubs Dodgers game replayed at 3:00 am CST on MLB network.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

That was beautiful. A bit of Ring Lardner, a bit of Hunter Thompson. (Wouldn't you love to have Ralph Steadman do the illustrations for that story?) Of course, it also documents the unraveling of the prospect-driven 1989 Cubs--which of course we cynical long-time fans remember even as we plan for the 2017 World Champions, driven by Soler, Baez, Vogelbach, and Almora...

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

i still think "wade davis becoming a starter under a long/cheap contract" is the elephant in the room that no one seems to want to acknowledge. i wonder if some people writing about this trade even saw him throw a cutter last year...or how sharp his curve has tightened up... his newly established cutter is "woah"...it's not just good, it's really good.

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

true that. the royals are going "all in" on 2 pitchers...and i still can't believe they had to throw in odorz... they're heavily counting on their young bats to start hitting...and they gave up a promising young bat in the process of making that bet plus backing it up with pitching.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • 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.