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

Denorfia and Dunston Help Cubs Salvage Tie at Riverview

Chris Denorfia (on Cubs MLB 15-day DL - strained hamstring) belted an RBI double, walked, and scored a run and Shawon Dunston Jr (on Myrtle Beach Pelicans 7-day DL - right shoulder injury) doubled, stole two bases, and scored a run for the Cubs, and Jesus Lopez drilled a two-run single, doubled, and walked and Vicmal de la Cruz singled, doubled, and scored a run for the Athletics, as the Cubs and A's played to a 5-5 tie in Cactus League Extended Spring Training game action this morning on Field #6 at Mesa CubTown at Riverview Park. 

The game was called after eight innings of play. 

RHP Pierce Johnson (on AA Tennessee7-day DL with a lat strain) continued his EXST rehab, working three innings (37 pitches) for the Cubs and allowing two runs on four hits (two doubles and two singles) and no walks, with three strikeouts (all three swinging) and a 4/2 GO/FO. Johnson had excellent command today and threw a high percentage of strikes (71%). His fastball velocity sat consistenty at 92 MPH (max), with only an occasional drop-off to 91.  

18-year old Colombian RHP Erling Moreno (2014 TJS) made his second game appearance in a week. The 6'3 righthander allowed two hits (a single and a double) in 1.2 IP, and successfully escaped a "runner at 3rd and out out" situation. Moreno's fastball velocity sat at 89-90 (down a couple of MPH from last week), but he displayed outstanding command of all of his pitches, most noteworthy an advanced change-up (unusual for an 18-year old) 

Cubs 2014 5th round draft pick RHP Dylan Cease (2014 TJS) also made his second game appearance in a week (he faced the A's at Fitch Park last Monday), but he did not fare as well as Moreno. While he only allowed one run, he also allowed six of the ten batters he faced to reach base (three singles and three walks, plus a WP) in just 1.1 IP. Cease's fastball velocity was at 95-97 MPH in both innings, down a couple of ticks from his outing last week when he touched 99.

Prior to the Cactus League EXST game, RHP Marcelo Carreno (post-2013 shoulder surgery) and RHP Trey Masek (2014 shoulder surgery) squared-off in a two-iining "sim" game on Field #3.   

Here is the abridged box score from today's Cactus League EXST game (Cubs players only): 

CUBS LINEUP
1. Shawon Dunston Jr, DH #1: 1-4 (F-8, E-6, 2B, P-6, R, 2 SB)
NOTE: SLOT WAS SKIPPED FIFTH TIME THRU BATTING ORDER 
2. Chris Denorfia, LF-DH: 1-3 (BB, K, 2B, K, R, RBI)
NOTE: SLOT WAS SKIPPED FIFTH TIME THRU BATTING ORDER 
3. Eloy Jimenez, RF: 1-5 (1B, F-9, E-5, K, K, R)
4. Joey Martarano, 1B: 1-4 (K, K, K, 1B, R)
5. Frandy de la Rosa, 2B: 1-4 (E-4, 2B, K, 3-1, R)
6a. Tyler Alamo, C: 0-2 (F-7, E-5)
6b. Alberto Mineo, C: 2-2 (1B, 1B, RBI)
7a. Ho-Young Son, SS: 0-2 (F-9, 6-3) 
7b. Carlos Sepulveda, SS: 1-2 (4-3, 1B) 
8. Adonis Paula, 3B: 0-4 (K, K, P-3, K)
9. Roberto Caro, DH-LF: 0-1 (BB, L-6, SB)
NOTE: SLOT WAS SKIPPED FIRST TWO TIMES THRU BATTING ORDER
10. Robert Garcia, CF: 0-4 (1-3, K, K+WP, 5-3)

CUBS PITCHERS
1. Pierce Johnson: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R (2 ER), 0 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 4/2 GO/FO, 38 pitches (27 strikes) 
2. Erling Moreno: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 3/1 GO/FO, 25 pitches (17 strikes) 
3. Dylan Cease: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 3 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 2/0 GO/FO , 40 pitches (22 strikes) 
4. John Michael Knighton: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 3/2 GO/FO, 38 pitches (21 strikes) 

CUBS ERRORS: 1 
SS Carlos Sepulveda: E-6 (fielding error allowed batter to reach base safely) 

CUBS CATCHERS DEFENSE
Alberto Mineo: 0-1 CS 

WEATHER: Sunny with temperaturs 100+ 

ATTENDANCE: 5 

Comments

RE: Aroldis Chapman. A few weeks ago, Jeff Sullivan did a story trying to determine the mid-summer trade value of Aroldis Chapman. Basically, there are no great comps in recent history. The closest he came up with was Craig Kimbrel, but I think that's much different for a few reasons, most importantly Upton's salary dump. Anyways, Sullivan decided he think Chapman's value is a top 30-50ish overall prospect, plus another interesting upside guy. In Cubdom, that means it would be Chapman to the Cubs for one of Almora or Edwards, plus one of Stinnett, Sands, or Cease (or someone of similar value). I think I'll take that deal if I'm the Cubs. I don't know if the Reds make that deal, which makes me think Sullivan's projection is off. For the record, Chapman is earning $8.05M this year and is eligible for arb again this winter. It's 1.5 years of team control.

So I was reading that Rob Neyer article in the Twitter feed and he makes so many mistakes. Is he normally that bad? Never really read him.

Castro's HomeRun trot is RIDICULOUS. Maybe the slowest I have ever seen. What goes on in his head? I defend him, I like him, but some of Castro is truly inexplicable.

[ ]

In reply to by Carlito

"What goes on in his head?" Not a lot of metabolism going on in there, and most of it expended in gum-chewing. (C'mon, guys, lighten up. If you can't call a dumb player dumb, what's the point of talking? Fortunately, we don't acquire players like that any more.)

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.