Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus one player is on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Cubs vs. White Sox: Lester vs. Giolito

CHC (39-33): LHP Jon Lester (5-5, 4.08 ERA)
CHW (35-36): RHP Lucas Giolito (10-1, 2.22 ERA)
First pitch 7:05pmCDT

Having squandered the opportunity to join the league-wide pile-on against Ivan Nova last night, the Cubs try to dodge the two-game sweep at the hands of the Sox' best pitcher. Lester heads things up on the run-prevention side. He allowed six earned runs while suffering a loss against the Dodgers last time out. Going back to May 18 he has an ERA of 7.59. Jose Abreu is 6-15 with a homerun off of him.Lucas Giolito is finally backing up the prospect hype. He leads the AL in ERA and is tied with the Twins' Odorizzi in wins. He most recently defeated the Yankees, contributing six innings and allowing one earned run on four hits and four walks. Current Cubs have seen very little of him. They are 6-41 as a group with eight walks. Javy is 2-6 with the only dinger in the bunch. Schwarber is 1-3 with with 3 walks.

Paging the front desk: The Cubs' offense is overdue for their wake-up call.

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by Mike Wellman

yes...also, he's the world's best pitching coach who has known how to "fix" every pitching problem with at least 1000 pitchers he's seen while calling games.

him and hawk were just toxic, bitter, and he's at least a bit less of all that since hawk left.

he's a true chicago baseball institution, though.  he's earned it.

The Brewers and Cards have basically regressed in lock step with the Cubs lately, but not gaining a couple games over the last 10 or so feels like a huge missed opportunity. This has been a really tired stretch.

I don't quite know if Lester is just completely done, or is he "going through a bad stretch"?

To actually count on him as a "stopper" seems ubsurd. It was Hendricks. But not now.

There have been a couple off-season moves that did not aid the team at all - namely the subtraction of LaStella, and addition of Descalso.

The Cole signing was the best.

And, while not this year, the trade for Q will go down as one of the worst in Cubs history, unfortunately.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

Hamels or Hendricks seem likely to be the defacto stoppers, but the Cubs failed to give Cole more than one run worth of support.

Lester's been hurt by BABIP and HR/9, both of which can swing hard in small samples. But he runs that fine line between weak contact and getting mashed even when he's doing well. I think he's probably done being an ace, but not done contributing.

Re. Q: Cubs got 1.3 fWAR from Chapman in 2016 and gave up Torres. It seems no more Q's fault they haven't won a world series with him than it was Chapman's fault they won it with him. If the Cubs won the series with Q this year, would you change that evaluation, or do you think Eloy will be that much better than Gleyber?

is there anyone in baseball who loves to shed their helmet while running as much as almora?

cubs win!

MIL lost, so the cubs are in 1st by a half game.

The thing about Tim Collins is that because he has Article XIX-A rights (he has accrued at least five years of MLB Service Time), he must give his consent each time he is optioned or outrighted to the minors, and while he obviously did give his consent when he was optioned to the minors after being signed in March and then again in April and again in May after brief call-ups to MLB, he is no longer willing to do it, and so to get him off the 25-man roster, the Cubs have no choice but to release him (if he isn't traded or claimed off waivers sometime in the next seven days). 

The Cubs could give Alzolay three starts (6/20 vs NYM, 6/25 vs ATL, and 6/30 at CIN), then option him to the minors on 7/1 when (presumably) Craig Kimbrel and Tony Barnette are brought up, then leave Alzolay at Iowa for 14 days through the All-Star Break, and recall him to start the game on 7/15 or 7/16 vs CIN (if Hendricks isn't ready to come off the IL after the ASB). 

Chatwood announced as starter for tonight, but since Alzolay was scheduled to go for Iowa today I don't think it's a fluke he was called up.  He could piggyback nicely after Chatwood throws 96 pitches in 4 innings with 9 Ks and 5 walks.

kinda neat...

"Per ESPN.com's Jeff Passan, Major League Baseball's executive council has granted the Rays permission to explore a plan that would allow them to start the season playing home games in Tampa Bay and finish their home schedule in Montreal. "

for a team like TB that likes to under-pay their people, talent having to have 2 residences (or just a place to crash) is a bit of a kick in the teeth, though.  since it's an AL market, most everyone who has to play them will already have their papers for travel into canada (because TOR)...so that's not too disruptive.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    a recently converted 2-pitch guy with repeatable command is very promising.  having good stuff is one thing, but command of it is key.

    it will be nice to get him in some age-appropriate competition asap to see if it plays well.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    RHRP Hunter Bigge was sent back to Minor League Camp in Mesa from AAA Iowa and has been assigned to the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp to make room for recently signed free-agent C Curt Casali on the Iowa Cubs active roster. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    21-year old 6'5 RHP (ex-1B) Francis Reynoso continues to impress with his high velo FB / hard SL combo. He just arrived from the Cubs Dominican Academy a couple of weeks ago and is presently assigned to the Mesa (ACL Cubs) group at Minor League Camp, but given his stuff and his ability to command it, he could end up at South Bend by the end of the season (he also is Rule 5 Draft-eligible post-2024).    

    As I have mentioned here previously, Reynoso was a first-baseman in the Cardinals organization 2021-22, and he struck out 83 times in just 213 PA between the DSL and the FCL before getting released in December 2022. Then the Cubs signed him last June and converted him to a RHP at their Dominican Academy, just like they did in 2021 with ex-SS Michael Arias after he was released by the Blue Jays. 

  • crunch (view)

    that's moneyballs as hell.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    In case you are wondering if Casali can be called up more than once in 2024 and still return back to AAA each time, an Article XIX-A player (that is, player has accrued at least five years of MLB Service Time) can choose to sign a 45-day waiver each time he is called up whereby the player promises not to elect free-agency if he is sent back to the minors (optioned or outrighted) within 45 days of the call-up. However, the player would have to be placed on Outright Assignment waivers (and so he could get claimed off waivers) each time he is outrighted back to the minors (if the player is out of minor league options, which Casali is). Obviously a player does not have to agree to sign the waiver, but I suspect the Cubs asked Casali if he would be willing to do it (and he probanly said he would) before he was signed.

     

  • Jackstraw (view)

    On the bright side, Counsell's daily rate is only $21,857.92 this year, rather than the usual $21,917.81, due to it being Leap Year and all.  So, a much cheaper questionable decision.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    As I mentioned here last Monday when I posted the Iowa Cubs Opening Day roster (see above), the Cubs would be looking for a catcher to replace Jorge Alfaro as the primary catcher at AAA after Alfaro somewhat surprisingly opted out. And so the Cubs have signed veteran catcher Curt Casali to a 2024 Minor League contract and he will be the # 1 catcher at Iowa and will be available to get called up in case anything happens to Gomes or Amaya.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    If Steele's MRI is bad enough to warrant an IL stint (and that would appear to be the case), the Cubs could bring up an extra bullpen arm (K. Thompson or Palencia) until Steele's next scheduled start next Wednesday when a replacement SP can be called up (Wesneski or Brown), at which point the temporary RP can be sent back to AAA.

  • Charlie (view)

    I'd like to see the Cubs use that DH spot to get another impact bat into the lineup. This year they are more likely to use it to get a bench quality player more ABs and to take starters out of their defensive roles because they don't yet have another impact bat to put in there.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    I think ideally the DH is a fourth OF or backup corner IF (or both) who is a good hitter and can rotate into the spot vacated when a starter needs a day off from the field.