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

See, The Winter Meetings Were Productive for the Cubs

The Cubs finalized some deals that certainly were discussed over Winter Meetings and made a number of roster moves today.

First, they claimed 25-year old RHP Liam Hendriks off of waivers from the Minnesota Twins. He was a roster casualty with the Phil Hughes signing. While he has done nothing remotely good in 156 innings at the major league level, he's put up at the very least an outstanding 2.99 ERA in the minors over 580.1 IP.  Those numbers were good enough to get him on the BA's Twins Top 10 list for 2011(#6) and 2012(#7).His strikeout rates are trending the wrong way and I don't know if that's an arm issue or just more of the Twins pitch-to-contact approach, but certainly seems worth the risk as a possible back-end starter/in-season depth.

The Cubs also signed non-tendered OF Ryan Kalish, formerly of the Boston Red Sox. A 9th round pick in the 2006 draft, Kalish was the 98th rated prospect in baseball before the 2008 season and usually in the middle of the pack of the top 10 Boston prospects lists back then. Injuries though have curtailed his career and he got a minor league deal with a spring training invite from the Cubs. Again, he'll be playing his age 25 season next year so certainly worth a flyer.

To round out the day, they also signed INF Ryan Roberts and C John Baker to minor league deals with spring training invites. Nothing to see there, move along.

And of course yesterday, they traded left-handed hitting OF Brian Bogusevic for right-handed hitting OF Justin Ruggiano. Ruggiano has some decent splits versus lefties (.834 career OPS/.506 SLG), so he'll certainly come in as an occasional short-side platoon-mate for Schierholtz or Sweeney and bench bat and if he plays like he did in 2012 or in the minors, maybe he'll get some more at-bats.

On the minus side, the Braves ended up signing INF Mat Gamel to a minor league deal with a spring training invite, which is a shame as I was hoping the Cubs would give him a chance this spring.

As I hypothesized yesterday and anyone can tell by reading the stories from the last few days, the Cubs will likely sign some type of starting pitcher, maybe Scott Baker, maybe Jason Hammell, maybe someone else in that price range and then probably 1-2 right-handed relievers and there are plenty of those names still out there. Otherwise, the only headling grabbing move anyone should expect is if they end up dealing Jeff Samardzija or sign Masahiro Tanaka. They can always surprise I suppose, but they seem pretty committed to Rizzo, Castro, Baez, Bryant, Soler and Almora and whomever else pushes their way into the conversation.

Certainly not the type of offseason manuevering that will get the casual fan to even remotely acknowledge the Cubs existence and certainly not the type of moves that anyone can hope for more than 70 wins next year, but certainly the type of moves that will allow them to start bringing up the next class and let some of the current guys figure things out at the major league level. I can't say I like all these moves, frankly, they're flat out boring, but I understand the process and understand what they're trying to do.

Comments

I missed this yesterday. Bruce Levine‏@MLBBruceLevine Cubs have talked about former WhSox Lefthand starter Clayton Richard (FA) They have not made an offer. (See him as bullpen man )

"Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Tim Beckham tore the ACL in his right knee while working out and will miss a significant portion of the 2014 season." they're having bad luck with minor league SS knees in TB.

It sounds like TheoCorp is being stubborn - in a good way - about Samardzija. He's had a pretty mediocre career but he's the perfect candidate for Cubbery. Cubs trade him, and he has a Cy Young year or two. I'm glad TheoCorp is holding firm on top prospects for him.

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

It's interesting to me that Samardzija's raw potential but inconsistency has produced a situation where he thinks he'll get paid like an Ace, but the Cubs are only willing to pay him like a #3 in an extension, and the Cubs want Ace prospects for him, but GM's are hoping they can get him for #3 prospects. I don't know how the trade stuff will work out, but I would bet that if Samardzija hits the open market healthy, he will get paid more like an Ace than like the pitcher who owns the stats he's put up so far.

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

d.price is still out there...and could probably be had for the rumored TOR package, if not less... plus, next offseason is shaping up to be the best pitching FA market in quite a while...pending mass signings. BOS will probably play heavily in it since they have 70+million coming off the books and they're set to lose 3 SPs. unfortunately for some, it's also shaping up to be one of the worst FA bat markets in quite a while.

I for one am happy to have Coomer in the booth. I never liked him as a Cubs player honestly, but we went to the same high school and I used to practice at his facility growing up. Keith never clicked, and I'm ready for Pat to maybe finally have a strong partner.

[ ]

In reply to by John Beasley

My only notable memory of Ron Coomer the Cub was him spitting out little bits of chew after he reached base. I generally am not repulsed by what ordinary people look like, but Coomer alternating between spitting and licking his lips non stop while being a fat sloppy bastard made me feel superior to a professional athlete for brief moments. Otherwise, there's no fucking way that he could be any worse in the booth than Moreland.

valbuena's had a nice run into Dec so far in Venezuela... .322/.427/.471 in 23 games overall...3hr, 4 doubles. he's been playing a good bit of 2nd, fwiw.

"The Cubs are believed to still be in the mix for free agent relievers John Axford and Mitchell Boggs. On the starting pitching front … Jason Hammel and Scott Baker remain possibilities for the Cubs." http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2013/12/pitching-staff-remains-wo… i haven't heard a m.boggs link yet. no idea what the hell happened to that guy last year. his stuff looked the same...velocity ticked down a touch, but he was still throwing 93-94mph. he was very hittable and had cruddy control with both STL and COL. even in AAA he sucked for both organizations.

We might be seeing a lot more of Ryan Roberts and his tats. Rotoblurb: Bruce Levine of 670 The Score believes that the Yankees interest in Darwin Barney could increase now that the Royals have signed Omar Infante. Levine notes that the two sides talked earlier about Barney. The 28-year-old is coming off a brutal season offensively where he slashed .208/.266/.303 with seven homers and 41 RBI in 141 games. He is an incredibly skilled defender though, and could be an inexpensive option to fill the Bombers hole at second base. And if Jorge Soler was getting a bad rep for his effort: Sahadev Sharma‏@sahadevsharma For those who saw Jorge Soler loafing to 1st on groundballs in AFL, Cubs specifically told him to take it easy out of the box on grounders. Didn't want him to reinjure himself.

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

a quick look around twitter is full of yanks fans filled with rage at the thought of taking on d.barney...especially since they already have b.ryan. meanwhile the crack cocaine chicago fans are smoking seems to be high quality based on the amount of times they're throwing the name "brett gardner" around...which i hope most are just jokes. bless their optimism.

braves are supposedly the "mystery team" in on g.floyd, not the cubs (as speculated in hope by some), and they're close to an agreement. this also may impact the whole braves/ninja rumor thing.

m.ellis (rumored to be a target for the yanks @2nd) close to signing with STL.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

it seems beyond silly. trade ninja...get prospects...take those prospects and package more prospects from the cubs system in a trade package to get price. beyond that, there's a ton of SP coming available next year if the cubs want to throw some loot at SP without losing prospects. sure, the cubs have excess 3rd + vogelbomb, but they'll probably need them as trade bait for a specific need later on. the issues with this team are SP-heavy, but that's far from the only issue.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

It seems like if the Cubs think they have the $190 million to spend that Rosenthal suggests for Price, they could drop $80+ million on Samardzija (the Anibal Sanchez money that Rob G. referenced), and outbid everyone on Tanaka and maybe even the other SP to be posted. Am I crazy to think that spending 1.5-2x as much to get the absolute top free agent doesn't make sense when the difference in wins might not be that great? Or am I overvaluing Samardzija and undervaluing Price dramatically? Can anybody direct me to some theory on why any team should drop their cash on the most expensive free agents?

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

I think you're exactly correct. If the Cubs could re-sign Samardzija and win the bidding war for Tanaka at those prices, it would be a huge win. Add Vizcaino, Edwards & Johnson with Wood to the mix and 2015-16 would look a lot better.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

I agree that this doesn't make much sense, BUT I also don't have much faith in Samardzija. I'm really hoping someone overpays in prospects this offseason. I don't see any point in turning those into another pitcher right now...especially with a good pitching FA class and a week hitting one forthcoming. After 2014, they can figure out who'll they want to keep and the rest can be dealt for need.

Jim Bowden grades the NL offseason so far...NL Central: Cards A, Reds C-, Brewers D+, Pirates D... only other team with an A is the Nats.
Chicago Cubs -- Grade: D The Cubs need to stop messing around with Jeff Samardzija and either trade him for prospects or sign him to a long-term extension. This team has a ton of position-player prospects who will arrive in the next two years, but they need to figure out who is going to be on the mound.
http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/the-gms-office/post?id=8485&refresh=true

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

totally agree with you. Gonzalez says this which leads me to think he would go where he could start: "The Cubs envision Sanchez as a reliever, according to a source. Several other teams interested in Sanchez prefer to employ him as a starter -- a role that Sanchez has performed for most of his career."

Gavin Floyd to Braves on 1 year deal for about $4M.

Presume they're a little less interested in Samardzija at this point, considering how many SP's they already have.

"According to Sanspo.com, Rakuten Golden Eagles owner Hiroshi Mikitani will allow Masahiro Tanaka to be posted this offseason." not official, btw. with the new system there will probably be a whole lot of clubs in on this.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

*shrug* hard to tell. randy johnson was wild to the point of having to throw a lot of 130-160 pitches a games until he found his control at age 30/31. he was still throwing 130-150+ pitches a game after that, fwiw, but he was getting a better innings return out of it. also, udalbo is trying to control more than just a fastball/slider combo (fb, slider, change...occasional curve, occasional splitter).

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

someone else might have a better handle on his value, but i've heard so little about the market for him that i have no idea what he's looking for or what others might offer. guys like arroyo and garza have had a lot more buzz on them.

Mooney on Tanaka: Two industry sources with knowledge of the team’s financial picture said there’s no chance, predicting the Cubs will be out of the running. One club official questioned why they would pour $100 million into one player when there are so many holes in the roster. Another stressed the considerable risk in giving a pitcher a megadeal. http://www.csnchicago.com/cubs/posting-agreement-set-cubs-plan-take-sho…

vogelbomb turns 21 today...and he's still slimming down while bulking up the muscle...let's hope legal alcohol doesn't set that process in reverse.

"The Giants were interested in Mark Mulder but backed out after he requested a major league contract." really mulder? dude hasn't pitched since 2008. he hasn't had a good season pitching (majors or minors) since 2005 after spending 06-08 being on/off injured and sucking when he did pitch.

Cubs sign Jose Veras for 1/$4M, $5.5M option for 2015

still hope they add Bailey or Hanrahan

cubs just gave j.veras 1/4m...option for 5.5m in 2015. he's as good as his control in any given outing.

before being shipped to the Tigers in July for outfield prospect Danry Vasquez and a player to be named later who turned out to be right-hander David Paulino.
Flipper Alert:
They call him Flipper, Flipper, faster than lightning, No-one you see, is smarter than he, And we know Flipper, lives in a world full of wonder...
source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/flipperlyrics.html

minor leaguer chat with Jason Parks, BP:
Arismendy Alcantara (Iowa): I feel like I have much more #want than Soler, but he's got some serious #rig and a big ceiling. I think I'm a better bet to reach mine though. Any chance I'm a better pro? How do I fit in this crowded infield in three years? Jason Parks: Soler has a higher ceiling, but less feel for the game and less ability to make adjustments. He's a higher rated prospect because of the enormous raw power, which could end up manifesting itself as 30 bombs at the major league level, something you will never bring to the table. But you have a good chance of being the better major league player, despite not being the better minor league prospect. I know that's a ridiculous statement, but I believe it to be true. You could be Jose Reyes-light, and Soler could end up a AAAA type.
ORWahoo (Tigard): How would you order these middle infielders? Jonathan Schoop, Arismendy Alcantera, Rossell Herrera, Mookie Betts Jason Parks: Schoop, Alcantara, Betts, Herrera
Albert Almora (Chicago): Which of my tools is my best asset? Thanks! Jason Parks: Hit tool. But I think you are a sum player; a combination of average (to solid-avg) tools that should play up because of your overall feel and instincts for the game. You have playable skills. You will play in the majors. Are you a star or more of a solid-avg regular type? That's a big debate among my scouting sources. It ranges from role 5 to role high 6 (if you think the power shows up).
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/chat/chat.php?chatId=1103

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

that's a big thing about almora... pretty much everyone believes he's going to be a MLB player...but whether he is a reed johnson (with better D) type or something more is up for debate. ether way...CF role playing starter or a leader with the bat in CF...good option to have in a hard-to-fill position.

more commentary from Transaction analysis regarding Veres from BP...
The Cubs didn’t find a trade match for lame duck closer Kevin Gregg last summer, but Veras has the potential to be a bit more than that. Indeed, the difference between Veras and Balfour has been, to FIP’s eye at least, quite small: Veras, 2011-2013: 3.63 Balfour, 2011-2013: 3.44 Veras has had the less forgiving ballparks, though Balfour has faced a slightly better level of opponent. Regardless, by FIP’s standards that works out to about one or one and a half runs difference per season, which makes a) Balfour a bad deal or b) Veras a bargain or c) FIP slightly less than conclusive. B seems as good an explanation as any, so for now veras numquam perit. —Sam Miller
Fantasy Jose Veras Looks like there's a new sheriff in town. Veras was a success in the closer's role in Houston last year, and there's no reason why he can't be equally successful for a more talented Cubs team in 2014. It's not a lock that he'll run with the job, but with the lack of any clear alternative on the North Side, the financial incentives to have Veras racking up the saves, and the trade value he could have at the deadline if the Cubs don't take a big step forward, he should get every opportunity to win it. Assuming that happens, he'll likely slot in just outside of the top 20 closers, with his value depressed due to a high likelihood of a mid-season trade and a decently-sized flameout risk.
Pedro Strop He'll get a shot at this job eventually, so dynasty leaguers holding onto Strop shouldn't be too worried, but he loses just about all of his mixed league value for the time being. With a 2.83 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and 42 strikeouts versus 11 walks in 35 innings for the Cubs in 2013, his time remains near, and he is a strong handcuff, if you're into that sort of thing. —Bret Sayre

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

The Cubs are a team that is big on IFs, but if Strop has the year he had last year and Veres does as well as he should, the Cubs could be one of those 7 inning teams. Those teams are always dangerous. IF Shark and IF Rizzo have good years, and IF Castro rebounds, they may even break even. IF the Cubs get Tanaka... Oh, never mind.

Rockies finished up their Christmas shopping today

Drew Stubbs from Indians for Josh Outman

Jonathan Herrera to Red Sox for Franklin Morales and Chris Martin

C. McGehee to Marlins on a 1 year deal

R. Doumit goes to Braves for LHP Sean Gilmartin...exciting.

So what's left for the Cubs?

Trade Samardzija..or not

Sign Tanaka...or not

Probably sign another low-end/cheap starter

Maybe one more bullpen arm

Go into season with outfield of Sweeney, Schierholtz, Lake, Ruggiano and Roberts/Kalish, etc? Oy.

Maybe Vitters, Jackson, Bryant, Olt, Soler make their way to Wrigley by some point to prove useful, otherwise a big drop in power from last year. Lake should ultimately be platooning anyway, but not like he's going to be taking up someone else's at-bats at this point.

 

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I love this game...

Cubs 2009 payroll - $135M (3rd)

Cubs 2010 payroll - $146M (3rd)

Cubs 2011 payroll - $125M (6th)

Red Sox 2012 payroll - $173M (3rd)

Angels 2012 payroll - $154M (4th)

Phillies 2013 payroll - $165M (3rd)

but I do look forward to your Hall of Fame worthy analysis on the uselessness of sabermetrics in today's baseball organizations

 

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

the jump to conclusions game ignores that i wasn't making a comment on the uselessness of sabermetics. there's more than 1 element in play...such as an extremely big payroll... it's not an either/or game. contrary to the beliefs of some, it co-exists. it even exists in the middle of the road with teams like STL. imagine TB + OAK with $125-$175m of payroll every year and how that might impact BOS's (or anyone's) WS victories...or BOS's own chances if they had 1/2 - 2/3rd the payroll in the years they won...or whatever. when someone says "sabermetrics obviously works because of victories in a short series"...well, that's a hall-of-fame warning size in itself. that said, it was an off-the-cuff chest-bumping comment anyway. but yeah, having top-5 payrolls is something i don't think you can toss aside for the hell of it no matter how the team is constructed. oakland's lack of WS victories isn't a testament to how crappy sabermetrics is...tampa bay's lack of WS victories isn't a testament to how crappy sabermetics is...or is it? ...of course it isn't.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

when someone says "sabermetrics obviously works because of victories in a short series"...well,

Well no one was fucking saying that...the James quote was a fun exclamation point

The point of the whole exercise that, per usual, flew way past your head, is that about 90% of teams use sabermetrics at this point (which of course goes way beyond OBP) and there's really no point in wasting anymore of anyone's time having to justify it's importance in today's game of baseball. The Joe Morgan/Hendry's/crunch's of the world that continue to dismiss it's importance and usefulness are the baseball equivalent of traditional marriage supporters.

Fun fact, the correlation of wins vs payroll since about 1999 has been heading down...pretty easy to see why.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

did you even read what i wrote? ...or the bill james quote you listed before your "drops mic" punchline? ...or the part where i wrote about it being "an off-the-cuff chest-bumping comment anyway" after the only point you saw relevant out of everything else i wrote? seriously, i have no idea how you only read that one single thing out of everything else around it.

"The Brewers are showing interest in Michael Young for their first base opening, sources tell FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal." cubs not finishing last place in the division keeps getting a little more likely.

"According to Sports Hochi in Japan, the Rakuten Golden Eagles are prepared to offer Masahiro Tanaka an $8 million salary to stay with the team next season. It would be the largest single-season salary ever for a Nippon Professional Baseball player, per Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker" it's been kicked around by some that now that the posting fee has been lowered to a $20m limit, tanaka could be looking at a $100m contract...either way it seems like he'll more than lap $8m a year if posted, maybe even up to $15m a year right out of the gate.

j.sanchez minor league deal...incentives if he makes the major league team. no idea if he's starting or pen...

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Jonathan Sanchez is an Article XX-B player (he has accrued at least six years of MLB Service Time) signed to a minor league contract, so he gets a $100K retention bonus if he isn't released by 12 noon on the 5th day prior to MLB Opening Day or added to the Cubs MLB 40-man roster by 3 PM on MLB Opening Day, and he gets an automatic June 1st opt-out if he qualifies for the retention bonus (doesn't get released and isn't added to the 40-man roster). 

Tanaka not to be posted Japanese owner does not want Japanese league to be "MLB minor leagues " according to Gammons.

And we're back...today's fun was all our hosts fault. They had to restore from a backup from this morning so some things were lost. Apologies to all...

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    LHP Blake Weiman appears to have been the last cut from the AAA Iowa roster. He is with the Tennessee group at Minor League Camp.

     

  • crunch (view)

    bruce bochy is hobbling rather badly for a guy who's had 2 hip replacements.  his gait is extremely wonky taking the lineup card to the ump.

  • 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.