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

The Bourjos Conundrum

3/24 UPDATE:

The Cubs released OF Peter Bourjos prior to the 12 PM (Eastern) deadline on Saturday.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

3/22 ORIGINAL POST:  

An Article XX-B MLB free-agent who signs a minor league contract at least ten days prior to MLB Opening Day and then is either not released by 12 PM (Eastern) on the 5th day prior to MLB Opening Day or added to an MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) or MLB 60-day Disabled List by 12 PM (Eastern) on MLB Opening Day will automatically receive a $100,000 retention bonus, and the player can unilaterally opt-out of the minor league contract on June 1st if he has not been added to an MLB Active List (25-man roster) or an MLB Disabled List by that date.

CUBS ARTICLE XX-B MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS SPRING TRAINING 2018:
Peter Bourjos,OF

So, the Cubs need to decide by mid-day Saturday what they want to do with Peter Bourjos. 

Here are their choices:

They could just release him and forget about him.

Or they could release him and then (if he agrees) re-sign him to a different minor league contract (because it would be signed less than ten days prior to MLB Opening Day, there would be no retention bonus or automatic player opt-out). The new contract would not likely include a retention bonus but it could include an earlier player opt-out date (the Cubs did this with Munenori Kawasaki a couple of years ago). 

Or they could assign him to Iowa and pay the retention bonus and deal with the player opt-out when it gets closer to June 1st.

Or they could add him to their MLB 40-man roster (and Opening Day 25-man roster).

The problem with adding Bourjos to the MLB 40-man roster (and Opening Day 25-man roster) is that it will be difficult to send him to the minors if his spot on the 25 is needed at a later point in time. Bourjos does have minor league options available, but once he is added to the 40 Bourjos must give his consent before he can be optioned or sent outright to the minors. And this is NOT the same thing as having the right to elect to be a free-agent if sent to the minors. He has that, too. It's just that the Cubs can't even attempt to send him to the minors unless he gives his consent. So if the Cubs add Bourjos to the 40 and find out later that they need his spot on the 40 (or even just on the 25), they would have to either release him (and be on the hook for his $1.4M major league salary) or trade him (if anybody is interested)... unless he consents to a minor league assignment (not likely).

Last year the White Sox signed Bourjos to a minor league contract prior to Spring Training, and once they decided he wasn't a fit on their MLB 25-man roster, they traded him (and his Article XX-B rights) to the Tampa Bay Rays. And Bourjos ended up spending the entire 2017 season in MLB with the Rays. Perhaps something like that could happen again this year.  

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by Hagsag

what's not to like about a guy who's put up a .231/.288/.366 line in the past 4 seasons over 1100+ PA? besides, he makes jason heyward look good. hell, even if people like his speed he sure isn't showing it this spring. he seems even slower than he's been in his recent past. he's not slow, but he's not a burner. it's hard to tell whether they need a "5th OF'r" because happ/almora are covering CF, and there's a slew of corner OF options to cover the expected regulars. also, there's technically no "speed guy" on the bench even if bourjos is a weak version of speed off the bench. there's a lot going in different directions of whether he's possibly useful or not.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I believe I can answer that question: He wouldn't be that useful--not useful enough to be worth adding to the 40-man right now. Almora, Happ, and Heyward can all play CF. Zobrist and Bryant are also available to play LF and RF. If there's no AAA coverage for CF in case of injury/injuries, go get someone who's been released / waived and also release Bourjos and see if you can re-sign him, as AZ Phil notes, to a minor league contract.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

Hannemann seems like he’s done enough this spring to be viewed as a reliable CF option if it comes to that. Would require a 40 man spot but the Cubs wouldn’t have to give him one until he was needed. If adding Bourjos wouldn’t cost Butler, I’d be ok with it. But even though Butler probably isn’t going to be anything great, I’d say the chance that he can put it together is worth letting Bourjos catch on with another team.

Theo could hire him as an Assistant to an Assistant? He could work for Murton.

Patrick Mooney @PJ_Mooney

Source: Going with eight-man bullpen, #Cubs are releasing Peter Bourjos as the veteran outfielder intends to look for a big-league job after a strong spring.

"Madison Bumgarner suffered a fractured pinky finger on his left hand after being hit by a comebacker in Friday's Cactus League game."

doh.

out 6-8 weeks.

Injuries happen, sometimes randomly as in the course of competition, sometimes not like doing something recreationally that is simply stupid. Baum is a true talent and is in the last two years of his option based contract at a current bargain of $12M. Baum is out 8 weeks then rehab and then prep, July 1?  SF Giants are now down two SP'ers who eat innings, Samardz out till beginning of May. Wonder if they might want to make a move on Butler? 

"The Bourjos Conundrum" has concluded.

he's signed a MLB deal with the braves.  good for him.  he got a chance to show he's "worth it" and it paid off, even if it's with a team that won't get him a ring (barring insanity levels of unexpected).

Bourjos the Brave.  Sounds familiar.  Early season of Game of Thrones or else Monty Python.

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.