Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus two players are on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, ten players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two players are on the 15-DAY IL, and two players are on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 4-17-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Colten Brewer
Ben Brown
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 10 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Jose Cuas, P 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Luke Little, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

10-DAY IL: 2 
Seiya Suzuki, OF
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 2
* Justin Steele, P  
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 2 
Caleb Kilian, P 
Julian Merryweather, P
 




Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Brewers Claim Casey McGehee off Waivers

Submitted by Arizona Phil on

The Milwaukee Brewers claimed 3B-1B-C Casey McGehee off Outright Waivers, and RHP Billy Petrick was sent outright to the minors, as the Cubs trimmed their Reserve List (AKA "40-man roster") to 37 yesterday.

The Cubs selected McGehee out of Fresno State in the 10th round of the 2003 Rule 4 draft, and while he has played mainly 3B in his pro career, he also can play 1B and catcher. As a catcher, he has a strong, accurate arm, but his receiving skills need work.

McGehee was rewarded with an NRI to Spring Training with the big club last February, and was added to the Cubs 40-man roster and was brought up to Chicago from AAA Iowa last month (getting the nod over Jason Dubois) when Manager Lou Piniella was looking for another right-handed bat for the stretch drive. Before being summoned to Chicago, McGehee had a fine '08 season at Iowa, where he hit 296/345/429, with 30 doubles, 12 HR, and 93 RBI.

The 26-year old McGehee is presently playing winter ball for Culiacan in the Mexican Pacific League (he's spent his last three winters there). where he is hitting .326. 

McGehee has three minor league options available and is three years away from salary arbitration, so he would naturally be attractive to a small market club looking for a cheap, versatile player for the nominal cost of a $20,000 waiver claim.

It's not exactly clear why the Cubs felt the need to place McGehee (or Petrick) on Outright Waivers at this time, because the Cubs already had one opening on their 40-man roster (LHP Carmen Pignatiello was outrighted to the minors earlier ths month), and six additional slots on the 40 will open up once the eight players eligible to be free-agents under Article XX of the CBA file for FA during the Free-Agency Filing Period that commences today (two of the players eligible to be MLB Article XX free-agents are still on the 60-day DL, so they will not create openings on the 40 when they file, but the other six will).

Because McGehee was brought up to the big leagues after August 15th, the Cubs had until four days after the conclusion of the World Series to make the outright assignment, or else they would have had to wait until 25 days prior to the start of the 2009 regular season to do it. But the Cubs really didn't have to outright McGehee in order to remove him from the 40 and keep him in the organization for 2009. 

They could have waited until December 12th to drop McGehee from the 40-man roster, simply by non-tendering him and then re-signing him to a 2009 minor league contract (with an NRI to Spring Training) for the MLB split contract minor league minimum ($65,000), the same salary he would have received if he was on optional assignment to the minors. Of course McGehee could have refused the offer, but it was probably the best way to try and keep him in the organization for 2009 if they felt they needed his slot on the 40 for somebody else. 

The two players who were succesfully outrighted off the Cubs 40-man roster this month (Pignatiello and Petrick) are both eligible to be six-year minor league free-agents, so it really wouldn't have mattered much if either of them had been lost off the waiver wire.

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Billy Petrick
Cubs Roster
Casey McGehee

Comments

Submitted by Chifan on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 10:53 am

AZ Phil, Why do you think that the Front Office decided to take McGehee off the 40-man roster? If they wanted to create space they could have easily DFA'd Fox, Fuld, Harben, or K. Hill? It seemed during his playing time they clinched, he was looking like someone who could be a valuable RH bench bat next year at some point. Are there alot of valuable players in the farm system that we need to protect from the Rule V draft and Minor League Free Agency or do they just feel that Fox is a better as a RH corner IF/OF and emergency catcher option?

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 10:22 pm

Submitted by Chifan on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 10:53am.

AZ Phil,

Why do you think that the Front Office decided to take McGehee off the 40-man roster? If they wanted to create space they could have easily DFA'd Fox, Fuld, Harben, or K. Hill? It seemed during his playing time they clinched, he was looking like someone who could be a valuable RH bench bat next year at some point.

Are there alot of valuable players in the farm system that we need to protect from the Rule V draft and Minor League Free Agency or do they just feel that Fox is a better as a RH corner IF/OF and emergency catcher option?

==================================

CHIFAN: Good question.

There was really no obvious need to remove Casey McGehee from the 40-man roster right now, because there will be six more slots available on the 40 once the Cubs Article XX free-agents file for free-agency over the next couple of weeks, and I can't see the Cubs adding more than five minor league prospects (Mitch Atkins, Donald Veal, and Nate Spears for sure, plus possibly Justin Berg, and maybe J. R. Mathes) to the 40-man roster by the 11/20 cut-off date.

And even if they do add five minor leaguers, and even if they re-sign Dempster, Wood, and Blanco, that still leaves one slot open even if McGehee had remained on the 40.

Now, if the Cubs definitely felt they wanted to outright McGehee during the off-season, instead of non-tendering him on 12/12 and then trying to re-sign him to a minor league contract, they needed to outright him prior to next Monday. That's because a player who is brought up to the big leagues after August 15th can't be outrighted between the 4th day after the conclusion of the World Series and 25 days prior to the start of the following year's regular season.

But why outright McGehee and not Brad Snyder (for example)?

The Cubs claimed Brad Snyder off Outright Waivers from Cleveland last month, but the Cubs were the last MLB club in line to make a claim on that player at that time. That's because the Cubs had the best record in the N. L. at the time, and all of the clubs in the A. L. and all of the clubs below the Cubs in the N. L. standings (and that's everybody) would have been awarded the claim if they had made one. So if there was no interest in Snyder then, why would there suddenly be any interest now?

And I would think McGehee would have more value than Jake Fox among the right-handed hitters at the top levels of the Cubs farm system, too. Fox has only one minor league option remaining and has yet to show he can hit at AAA, while McGehee is an accomplished AAA player with three minor league options left.

But the bottom line is, the Cubs didn't need McGehee's roster slot right away, and even if the slot would have been needed eventually, Snyder or Fox would seem to be better choices to cut.

BTW, Adam Harben was outrighted last month after the Cubs claimed Brad Snyder off waivers, and Harben is eligible to be a six-year minor league FA.

MLB should be releasing the list of minor league free-agents sometime in the next couple of days (or next Monday at the latest), and then we'll find out how many Cubs minor league free-agents signed 2009 minor league contracts with the Cubs after the conclusion of the MLB regular season.

Article XX-B minor league free-agents (those are the players who were outrighted during the 2008 season who had at least three years of MLB service time or who had been previously outrighted in their career, where the player deferred his right to be a FA until after the season) are allowed to file for free-agency anytime between the end of the MLB regular season and October 15th, and then they can sign with a new club immediately (see Jayson Nix), but all other minor league FAs have to wait until the end of the MLB Free-Agency Filing Period to sign with a new organization.

Until the conclusion of the World Series, MLB clubs have an exclusive club option to add their own minor league free-agents to their 40-man roster. After that, the minor league FA can still opt to re-sign with his old club, but then it becomes a mutual agreement rather than an absolute club option. Usually if a minor league FA doesn't re-up with his old organization prior to the end of the World Series, it means he has decided to try his luck elsewhere.

[ ]

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 10:19 pm

Phil, you're the second person today to suggest that the Cubs should have released Jake Fox and kept McGehee. I just don't see it. McGehee has crappy numbers. Fox's aren't bad. Apart from Fox's hitting 31 home runs at two levels in 2008, and leading the Southern League in SLG--compare them at the same age, 24, in 2007 at the same place, Tennessee (AA). McGehee: 384 AB, 9 HR, .273/.338/.422. Fox: 359 AB, 18 HR, .284/.327/.504. Neither one is a major league catcher. McGehee can play third better. Both can play first and a little outfield. Without power, neither one has a chance. Fox has shown some power: 105 HRs in 6 seasons (31 this year) to McGehee's 54.

[ ]

Submitted by Charlie on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 10:41 pm

Fox didn't just play in AA because the Iowa Cubs had plenty of outfield/first base/DH types, he also was in AA because he tanked pretty badly at AAA. The Cubs did sign Jason Dubois later in the year, who is the sort of player Fox probably hopes to be someday, so it stands to reason that if they had room for Dubois then they had room for Fox, had he performed at the AAA level. I can't seem to find Fox's splits for the 2008 season, but I wonder also whether his numbers in AA, which were improved in both power and walks from what most people probably expected of him, were very different late in the season from what they were early on--did he get his walks and hit his homeruns against guys who started the year in AA, or guys who were promoted from A-ball? Fox still has enough power to be a little bit intriguing, but it's definitely time for him to succeed for an extended time at AAA, including taking the occasional walk and striking out less.

[ ]

Submitted by Charlie on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 10:58 pm

Thanks Rob. Looks like Fox was fairly consistent in his time in AA, though his first month wasn't so great. OPS by month in AA: May: .731 (77 AB) June: .918 (100 AB) July: 1.059 (102 AB) August: 1.160 (105 AB) (BABIP shoots 60 points to .378 without an increase in line drive percentage) It does go up as the season progresses, which could indicated that the opponent talent was dropping off or just that Fox was getting his shit together. In Iowa his stats work out this way: April: .539 (94 AB) (30 K and a line drive % of just 9.4 -- clearly a bad month at the plate) May: 1.457 (23 AB) None of this proves my previous speculation, but it doesn't do much to disprove it either. This doesn't matter enough for me to spend much more time on it.

[ ]

Submitted by VirginiaPhil on Fri, 10/31/2008 - 10:41 pm

At Tennessee, Fox played corner outfield 40 percent of the time. I really don't know if he qualifies as a decent outfielder. I know he's heavy and probably slow, but he strikes me as more aggressive and athletic than someone like Dubois. Mark DeRosa, don't forget, doesn't set a very high bar in right field. Right now the Cubs have no righty hitting off the bench, and Fox does give them an emergency catcher, useful in late innings. He was the only right-handed hitter with pop at AA or higher apart from Dubois and Matt Craig, and McGehee, if you will.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 10:52 pm

September-October is the busiest time of the year for waiver claims, even moreso than the end of Spring Training. Just in the last two months, 13 players have been claimed off Outright Waivers, Casey McGehee getting claimed by the Brewers being the most recent one. Here is the complete list: CLAIMED BY BOSTON: RHP Dewon Day from CHW RHP Virgil Vasquez from DET CLAIMED BY CUBS: OF Brad Snyder from CLE CLAIMED BY KC: RHP Jairo Cuevas from ATL CLAIMED BY MIL: RHP Todd Coffey from CIN 3B Casey McGehee from CUBS CLAIMED BY STL: LHP Charlie Manning from WAS CLAIMED BY SD: RHP Charlie Haeger from CHW RHP Scott Patterson from NYY 2B Travis Denker from SF CLAIMED BY TOR: LHP Reid Santos from CLE RHP Dirk Hayhurst from SD RHP Bryan Bullington from CLE

Recent comments

  • Childersb3 (view)

    I wanted Almonte gone last week, but that was before Merryweather went down and Little got demoted. Almonte in his last 5 appearances has gone 4.1 IP with no ER or Runs. NO hits, 3 BBs and 8 SO. He did hit 96 with his 2S FB in AZ on Tues.
    I don't see Jed waiving him when we have injuries all over and guys with options that can be sent down.
    I probably won't like the move Jed makes, but he can't play the "let's hope no one wants his 1.7mil remaining deal and we can hide him in Iowa" card.
    That's why I think the current Bullpen stays as is and Wicks goes to Iowa.
    I don't like that, but that's the fix I see.
    We'll find out soon enough!!!

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Teheran minor league deal is done, per MLB.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    Based on Phil’s sound analysis it sounds like a no brainer for Almonte to be placed on waivers as today’s roster move. We shall see.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I suspect Counsell/Hottovy will use the piggy-back extensively, with Taillon and Hendricks pitching as the "pig" (and with a very short leash) and some combo of Wicks, Brown, and Wesneski (whichever two do not start) as the "backers."  

    Keep in mind that Keegan Thompson has a minor league option available, and if Yency Almonte is not outrighted by 4/26 he cannot be sent to the minors without his consent after that date. Almonte is out of minor league options, so I am talking about him getting outrighted to the minors if he is not claimed off waivers, and if he is claimed off waivers, the Cubs save the pro-rated portion of his $1.9M salary, which helps lower the Cubs 2024 AAV.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Totally agree. The 26 man roster very rarely consists of the 13 best position players and 13 best pitchers.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Based on what Jed has done in the past, I’d say the plan is to

    -give Hendricks another few starts
    -give Taillon some runway ot get his season underway

    -Mix and match in the bullpen and see what sticks

    Jed usually doesn’t do a whole lot of waiver wire plays in-season, at least early in the season. He only reallly did that after he blew up the rosters in 21 and 22 because they needed bodies (guys like Schwindel, Fargas, etc).

    I think he’s a little handcuffed by a full 40 man in that he can’t really maneuver much with giving anyone showing ability at AAA (R Thompson/ Sanders/ Edwards etc). Brewer has the most tenuous grip there, and we will see what kind of chance he gets. Other than his spot, there isn’t a ton of 40 man wiggle room.

    I’m very curious to see what happens with Brown now that Taillon returns. Bullpen? Wicks to Iowa? 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Pro teams have to play their "big money" guys if they are healthy and not "locker room" issues.
    The Cubs wanted to deal JHey off well before they bought him out. They just didn't want to pay him to play for someone else for that long. Jed did give him 20+mil to play for LAD last yr.
    Jed might also let Kyle walk at some point this year. Similar scenario to JHey, except Jed thought Kyle was going to be good/solid in '24!!
    You'd think Smyly is in the same book as well. Same with Neris (he's a 1yr vet RP, so he's not really in this convo too much).
    That's ~35mil between those three and those three are going to get opportunities until at least late June) over younger guys even if their performance is "iffy".
    But, Jed is going to play Taillon a lot. They have to try and justify that contract and hope a veteran works out.
    So, Taillon, Imanaga, and Hendricks are locks for the rest of April and probably May.
    Assad, Brown and Wicks handle the last spots until Steele is ready.
    Now, you're question has real merit when Steele comes back. That will interesting if Brown is still good and Hendricks is still bad. But Taillon is entirely safe as long as he's healthy.

    And the bullpen moves were "money" based as well. Smyly has actually been okay. But he hasn't been clearly better than Little. Little had one bad outing. But Smyly makes 9mil. If they needed another RHRP and one of Little and Smyly had to go, it was going to Little. But that doesn't mean Smyly is one of the best 13 arms for the team. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Childersb3: I think there was an issue with Luke Little coming into a game with men on base. He seems to need a "clean" inning to be dominant. So he is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AAA. Same goes for Michael Arias. He needs to come into a "clean" inning, and is a future closer and needs to be used in that role at AA. Porter Hodge is a more versatile pitcher, a better version of Keegan Thompson (multi-inning RP). But Little, Arias, and Hodge (probably in that order) are the Cubs top three RP prospects (all three are Cubs Top 15 prospects).

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    So, let’s do a little war gaming. Taillon is back for tonight’s game. He pitched two rehab games, just a few innings each, and not especially sharp. Let’s face it, he hasn’t been lights out since the Cubs gave him the big contract. In other words, as flat out bad as Hendricks has been, the chances of Taillon being the savior don’t look exactly promising.

    If Taillon is equally ineffective or perhaps even worse, what’s the next move? Winning teams can often find a way to work around a dud fifth starter - kinda. Two dud starters make things much more difficult.

    I believe the biggest reason for the recent bullpen moves was dissatisfaction with the recent blowing of big leads and the recognition that the bullpen wasn’t all it was thought to be. In other words, they are exploring alternate options and configurations. If similar juggling becomes necessary (even more so than it already is), what kind of reasonable maneuvering do we think could be explored?

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Cubdom needs to prepare themselves for Wicks to be sent to Iowa for Taillon to come up.
    Ben Brown has 4 appearances. Wicks has 4 appearances.
    Ben has 16.1 IP.  Wicks has 17 IP
    Ben was a 1.1 WHIP.  Wicks has a 1.7 WHIP. Wicks does have significantly more SOs. 
    Ben has been better, though.
    I love Wicks. I think he's a fighter and his stuff has improved.
    But, Jed isn't ditching Hendricks just yet. He should. But he won't.
    Hendricks should go to the IL and Taillon-Imanaga-Assad-Wicks-Brown should be the rotation.
    Wont' happen though.

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