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

Cubs vs. Giants: Darvish vs. Rodriguez (Game 126)

CHC (67-58): RHP Yu Darvish (4-6, 4.21 ERA)
SF (63-63): RHP Dereck Rodriguez (5-6, 4.79 ERA)
First pitch 7:05pmCDT

The Cubs kept pace with the Cardinals by winning their third in a row, pushing the Giants back down to .500 in the process. Darvish takes the mound today. He must be itching for a win after shutting out the Phillies for 7 innings, striking out 10, and getting a no decision in the process. On July 23 he allowed four earned runs to the Giants in six innings of work. Alex Dickerson took him deep and is 2-3 with a homerun and a double off of Darvish. As a group, current Giants are 16-77 off of the righty with a .552 OPS and 17 strikeouts to only two walks.Dereck Rodriguez is suffering the sophomore slump, seeing his ERA go up to 4.79 from the 2.81 he posted in 118.1 innings last year. His strikouts are down, his walks are up, and his HR rate has doubled from the low .68 per nine innings he managed in 2018. Last time out he held the D-Backs scoreless through 7, allowing only three hits and one walk. Tony Kemp is 1-3 off of him and the remaining active Cubs who have faced him are 0-10 with four strikeouts.

Comments

contreras was doing drills in the OF today...not a bad 1st step to being back.

according to b.levine, theo says zobrist is being paced to return sept 1st.

also, the b.morrow era is over.  he had a setback and now he's not expected to pitch again this year.   thanks for the nice 30.2ip, bro.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

To be eligible to play in the post-season Ben Zobrist must be reinstated from the Restricted List and added back to the Cubs MLB 40-man roster prior to midnight on August 31st (and because he will be reinstated after July 31st, the reinstatement also will require approval from the MLB Commissioner), so presumng the Commissioner gives his blessing, I would expect the Cubs to reinstate Zobrist from the Restricted List sometime after the game versus MIL on Saturday 8/31 and then make a corresponding 40-man roster move (which must be done at the exact same time Zobrist is reinstated). Zobrist would then be officially activated (placed on the Cubs MLB Active List on Sunday 9/1 when active list roster limits expand from 25 to 40. 

The easiest (but also the costliest) move would be to recall LHSP Justin Steele from his Optional Assignment and place him on the MLB 60-day IL (he has been on the AA Tennessee 7-day IL since 6/24 with a strained oblique), but doing so would increase Steele's daily salary from about $250 per day to about $3,000 per day (the difference between Steele's minor league split salary as a player on an MLB 40-man roster for the first time -- $45,300 per year  -- and the MLB minimum salary --- $555K per year -- pro-rated over the final month of the MLB regular season) or about an additional $80,000 in payroll and AAV (which will be taxed at the 20% rate plus an additional 12% surcharge because the Cubs are over the $206M CBT luxury tax threshold).

Steele would also accrue MLB Service Time if he is recalled and placed on the Cubs MLB 60-day IL, and because he would be placed on the 60-day IL on 8/31 he cannot be on the Cubs Post-season Eligibility List so he could not be replaced on a post-season series roster by a minor league player who is not otherwise eligible. In addition, because he would accrue MLB Service Time during the 2019 season, Steele could not be sent outright to the minors during the off-season or Spring Training should be suffer a significant injury during the off-season or Spring Training (which he could be if he were to remain on Optional Assignment through the conclusion of the MLB regular season).

So there are several good reasons not to recall Steele and place him on the 60-day IL on 8/31, although if it has to be done that way it can be done that way. 

Other possible moves to open up a slot on the 40 for Zobrist prior to midnight on 8/31 would be to release a player like Daniel Descalso (but that doesn't appear likely right now), or maybe DFA Mark Zagunis and then try and secure Outright Assignment Waivers so that he can be sent outright to Iowa (he would not be eligible to elect free-agency if outrighted and he would not be a minor league 6YFA until post-2020, although he would be eligible for selection in the December 2019 Rule 5 Draft). 

heyward / cast / bryant / rizzo / baez / schwarb / happ(2nd) / caratini / darvish

Somebody wake up Grandpa Joe and remind him that having Holland face righties i— any righty — is a no-no

Cubs need their three-hole hitter to start stepping up at the plate and do something crazy like driving in the two-hole hitter

d.holland still sucks.

cubs tied this one out of sheer suck going on both sides of this game.  i'm waiting for the cubs to lose this one 18-17 in a few hours.

Oof. The lead off walk - horrible. That second hit allowed (which tied the game) on the ankle high fastball - tuff luck. 

"i am required to say it's a see-saw battle." - len

"it's going to come down to the kicking game." - jd

Funny (ha ha) to remember that at one point in this game Yu had retired 12 straight Giants

That was a good send by the butterman - great throw by Yaz Jr

Try as he might, Eddie Vedder can’t find da butterman

Thanks. I’ll show myself out now

Woo Hoo!!! Cubs win a crazy one!  KB with another late inning, game winning homer - good stuff!

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.