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

Your 2018 Eugene Emeralds!

Here is the 2018 Opening Day roster for the Eugene Emeralds. The roster is provisional and subject to change.

The Emeralds first game is Friday night at home versus Vancouver (the Blue Jays affiliate in the Northwest League) 

Teams that play in the NWL have a 35-man Reserve List limit - AND - a 35-man Active List limit (with 25 players designated "active" for each game, of which ten must be pitchers). However, because players selected in last month's MLB First-Year Player Draft (Rule 4 Draft) and any Rule 4 draft-eligible player signed as a Non-Drafted Free-Agent (NDFA) after the draft do not count against a minor league reserve list until next November 20th, once the 2018 draft picks start getting assigned to Eugene, there will be players (2018 draft picks) on the Emeralds' active list who are not on the reserve list and (presuming there are players on the Eugene DL) there will be players on the Emeralds' reserve list who are not on the active list, effectively creating a general roster that exceeds 35 players.   

Also, there is no restriction on minor league service time for players in the NWL until July 1st, at which point there can be a maximum of three players with four or more years of MLB and/or minor league partial or full active seasons accrued (VSL/DSL seasons excluded) on the active roster. 


EUGENE EMERALDS 

SS-A 

* bats or throws left 
# bats both

PITCHERS: 20 
Jose Albertos (SP)
Luis Aquino 
Sean Barry 
* Faustino Carrera (SP) 
Yan de la Cruz
Hector Alonso Garcia (see NOTE)
Dalton Geekie
* Danny Hultzen (see NOTE
* Brailyn Marquez (SP)
Junior Marte (see NOTE)
M. T. Minacci (see NOTE)
* Eugenio Palma 
Jeffrey Passantino 
Eury Ramos (SP)
Stephen Ridings
Andry Rondon (see NOTE)
Jose Rosario (see NOTE)
Casey Ryan 
Jake Steffens
Mitch Stophel  
NOTE: H. Garcia, Hultzen, Marte, Minacci, A. Rondon, and J. Rosario are on the Eugene Reserve List but will likely either be placed on the Eugene DL or assigned to one of the AZL Cubs rosters.  

CATCHERS
: 3
Cam Balego (also 1B-3B)
Gustavo Polanco (also 1B)
* Jonathan Soto (also 1B)

INFIELDERS: 5 
Luis Diaz (2B-3B)
Rafael Mejia (1B) 
Christopher Morel (3B-SS)
Ramsey Romano (3B-2B-SS-1B-LF-CF-RF)
Luis Vazquez (SS)

OUTFIELDERS: 5  
Fernando Kelli (CF-LF)
* Kwangmin Kwon (RF-LF-CF) 
* Ruben Reyes (LF-CF-RF)
* Jonathan Sierra (RF)
Nelson Velazquez (CF-RF-LF)

MANAGER
Steve Lerud 

COACHES
Armando Gabino (Pitching Coach)
Osmin Melendez (Hitting Coach)
Jacob Rogers (Assistant Coach)

ATHLETIC TRAINER
Sean Folan 

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING COACH
Dallas Lopez 

Comments

Even before the 2018 draft picks arrive, this is a talent-laden Eugene Emeralds team with ten legit prospects:   

1. Christopher Morel, 3B-SS (org Top 10)
2. Nelson Velazquez, OF (org Top 15) 
3. Jose Albertos, RHSP (org Top 15)
4. Jonathan Soto, C (org Top 15) 
5. Brailyn Marquez, LHSP (org Top 20) 
6. Luis Vazquez, SS (org Top 20)
7. Fernando Kelli, CF (org Top 25) 
8. Luis Diaz, 2B (org Top 25)  
9. Eury Ramos, RHSP (org Top 30) 
10. Faustino Carrera, LHSP (org Top 30) 

There are only four pitchers (Albertos, Marquez, Carrera, and Ramos) on the Eugene Opening Day roster who were stretched-out to be starting pitchers at Extended Spring Training, so the Cubs may try and stretch-out Jeffrey Passantino as a SP, or possibly move a RP down from South Bend (perhaps Brendan King or Enrique de los Rios) who could be stretched-out as a SP or piggy-back with another pitcher at Eugene. It's also possible that one or two of the recently-signed college SP the Cubs selected in the draft (like Richan, Vega, Whitney, and/or Patterson) could be ready to work as a SP (or piggy-backer) at Eugene in fairly short order. 

Cubs sign 2nd rd pick OF Brennan Davis (High School, Miami (FL) Commit) for $1,100,000 which is only $39,100 over slot, I thought for sure he'd be the trouble of the Top 10 rds signee.

The Cubs have placed LHP Danny Hultzen (2016 shoulder surgery) and RHP Jose Rosario (elbow) on the Eugene 7-day DL, and RHPs Hector Alonso Garcia, Junior Marte, M. T. Minacci, and Andry Rondon have been transferred from the Eugene reserve list to AZL Cubs #2.   

I noticed on the roster at the Eugene Emeralds web-site that Fernando Kelli is listed as a switch-hitter, but I have seen Kelli a lot (post-2016 AZ Instructs, 2017 EXST, post-2017 AZ Instructs, and 2018 Minor League Camp and EXST), and I can tell you I have never seen Kelli bat LH.

It's possible that Kelli was a switch-hitter when he first signed with the Cubs or maybe he was a switch-hitter in the DSL in 2016 before he came to Mesa for the first time, but he is strictly a RH hitter now (at least since post-2016 AZ Instructs) with a line-drive stroke, and other than occasionally laying down a bunt (usually at the behest of his manager), he is looking to drive the ball into the OF. So despite his plus-speed (he is probably the fastest player in the organization), he does not seem to enjoy playing "small ball."   

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.