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

Nationals @ Cubs: Jackson vs Lackey (Game 109)

WAS (64-43): RHP Edwin Jackson (2-1, 3.75)
CHC (57-51): RHP John Lackey (8-9, 4.87) 
First pitch: 1:20pmCST

The good news is we get to face Edwin Jackson. The bad news is that there’s a very real possibility that this team will not beat Edwin Jackson. At least we’re not still paying him. After three appearances with the Orioles and the inevitable DFA, Jackson was scraped up by the Nationals--his fifth team since getting booted from the Cubs. In three starts for Dusty, he’s 2-1 with a 2.84. In other words, he’s due to return to form. The Cubs are 30-94 (.319) against him. Avila is 8-23.

Lackey gave up 2 ER over 6 innings to win his third straight game. He’s 3-0 with a 3.27 in August. That’ll work. Overall, the Nats are 62-205 (.302) against him. Werth is 7-18 with a HR.

Lester (8-6) and Fedde (0-1) close out the series tomorrow at the same time.

Go Cubs!

Comments

I am presuming that Tommy LaStella will be recalled from AAA Iowa in the next day or two once the Cubs bullpen situation/workload has settled down a bit, at which point Rob Zastryzny will very likely be optioned back to Iowa. 

Beginning on Sunday August 13th, any player on an MLB 40-man roster who has minor league options left and who has not been opltioned to the minors previously during the season can be optioned to the minors without using a minor league option year, as long the player spends no more than 19 days on optional assignment to the minors (meaning a player optioned to the minors on 8/13 could be recalled on 9/1 when MLB Active Lists expand).  

This comes into play with the Cubs because Addison Russell will be eligible to be reinstated from the 10-day DL on 8/13, and so LaStella could remain with the Cubs after Russell is reinstated (presuming Russell is reinstated after ten days) while another position player like Ian Happ or Albert Almora could be optioned to the minors for 19 days and then recalled on 9/1, with no minor league option spent in 2017.  

Also, the Cubs will likely add pitchers and position players to their MLB Active List and (in some cases) to their MLB 40-man roster to augment their bullpen and bench when MLB active lists expand in September. However, calling up players who are not already on the MLB 40-man roster would require removing as many players from the 40 as are added, since the Cubs MLB 40-man roster is full. 

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In reply to by Childersb3

CHILDERSB3: Aramis Ademan is probably the Cubs #2 position player prospect right now. I have seen him in Mesa two different years and several different times, at Extended Spring Training in 2016, at AZ Instructs post-2016, and then at Minor League Camp and Extended Spring Training in 2017, and he is the rare five-tool shortstop. He has the arm and range to stay at SS and he has the knack for making the big play and timely defensive stop when his team really needs it, he has above-average speed and is a savvy baserunner, he has outstanding bat on ball skills and a good feel for the strike zone, he makes hard contact, and he has XBH and HR power (I saw him pull a home run onto the south bank of the Loop 202 Red Mountain Freeway in an EXST Cactus League game in 2016 when he was only 17). Ademan jumped over AZL and went directly to Eugene this season after hitting 270/337/371 in 98 PA (28 Cactus League games) at EXST and then he got moved-up to South Bend about a week ago, and he will likely be assigned to the Cubs Advanced Instructs team post-2017 before (probably) heading to Myrtle Beach in 2018, so it should be fairly obvious that Ademan is on the fast track, and - AS THINGS STAND RIGHT NOW - he projects to be the eventual replacement for Addison Russell at shortstop (if he doesn't get traded in the meantime). Ademan is the real deal.  

D. J. Wilson played both baseball and football in HS and was all set to go to Vanderbilt before the Cubs gave him 1st round money to sign after drafting him out of South Canton HS in the 4th round in 2015. He reminds me a bit of Lenny Dykstra, in that he plays CF and runs the bases like his hair is on fire, and he has above-average HR power for a guy 5'8. The main problem with Wilson (besides being a tad over-aggressive from time-to-time) is that he is a streaky hitter and he sometimes struggles to make contact and then he expands his strike zone, but he can mash when he gets into a groove. He is not an elite defensive CF like Albert Almora and Trey Martin are, but he is good enough to stay there. One scout told me that he thought Wilson would never be anything more than a 4th OF at the big league level because of his below-average "hit tool," but the Cubs Player Development people think he will hit and that he will be a front-line major league CF. Time will tell. He will likely join Ademan on the Cubs Advanced Instructs team post-2017 and then open the 2018 season in CF at Myrtle Beach. 

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In reply to by Arizona Phil

Thanks AZP. So, we still have one more real SS prospect. That's honestly amazing considering how many have already come before him (Castro, Baez, Russell, Torres, Paredes). That's a pretty impressive streak of MLB SS players/prospects.

3 losses in a row and a "normal" lineup rather than a maddon panic lineup of weirdness. good for him. i was kinda expecting the pitcher hitting 6th, rizzo leading off, arrieta in RF batting 2nd, etc. needs more mimes and penguins.

Pirates still making moves. Traded for Sean Rodriguez and claimed reliever George Kontos today.

Only one run surrendered - Javy's throwing error did not help, but looking forward to Wilson's first relief appearance with the Cubs where a run doesn't score

heyward drops below .700 OPS for the first time in about a month. he had a nice little streak, but then it died out. .304 ob% .387 slg% ugg. at least he's still benefiting from WAR formulas that over-weighs outfield D...as if getting a D whiz that can't bat worth a damn is something unable to be found in the minors rather than something teams generally don't want to screw with handing 600+ PA a year. yes, he's far above average, but his 2 chances a game are a bit out of whack vs his supposed "replacement level" peer. i don't get it. he's not supposed to be this bad even though he's a kinda boring hitter even at his best. what has happened the last 2 seasons? it's not injury...it's not age/abuse... *shrug* i've read a lot about it and seen a lot of it happen in front of me, but it's kinda crazy he's not dug himself out of this hole.

Having Zobrist and Heyward both in the lineup with their sub-.700 OBPs is a killer, particularly when Zobrist hits anywhere other than leadoff. His bat looks dead. At least Hayward gives you defense and base running.

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In reply to by billybucks

i still believe heyward is better than this, but im running out of ways to believe he can get better and i can't see anything he's doing "wrong" at the plate as much as he just looks weak at the plate. at least that's something. it seems he could "turn it around" without actually doing anything major to turn it around. hard to believe he's peaked at such a young age. he doesn't have far to fall from "good" to "meh" when he's a .350-ish ob%, 30 double, 10-15 homer guy, but i'd settle for anything near that rather than what we've got the past year and 2/3rd out of him.

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.