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 @ Mets: Hendricks vs. Syndergaard (Game 132)

CHC (70-61): RHP Kyle Hendricks (9-9, 3.20 ERA)
NYM (67-64): RHP Noah Syndergaard (9-6, 3.71 ERA)
First pitch 6:10pmCDT

The Cubs started the road series with a win over Marcus Stroman and continue with another tough match-up today. Hendricks takes the mound, fresh off a very good performance against the Giants that yielded him a win. He pitched seven scoreless, collecting seven strikeouts and allowing three hits along the way. The Mets most dangerous hitters have seen little of Mr. Tenure Track, but Todd Frazier is 3-12 with two doubles and two walks. The bullpen should be extremely well rested following an off day and an 8-inning start from Yu.Noah Syndergaard has missed slightly fewer bats this year and has a higher ERA than usual, but most of his peripherals suggest he's been pretty near as dominant as in his past. He's still averaging 98 MPH on his fastball and getting groundballs in almost half of all balls in play. Current Cubs have been shockingly fine against him. Javy, who broke out of a slump in a big way last night, is 4-7 with two strikeouts off the fireballer. Bryant is 3-8, Heyward is 4-11, and Russell (also with a HR yesterday) is an adequate 2-6. No current Cubs has homered off the righty. Rizzo, 2-10 with four strikeouts off of Syndergaard, may just get another day to rest his back.

Comments

With the season over for both AZL Cubs #1 and AZL Cubs #2, the Cubs have supposedly assigned several of their AZL pitchers to throw "live" BP to Ben Zobrist. It doesn't appear to be happening in Mesa, however. 

Ben Zobrist must be reinstated from the Restricted List (and added back to the MLB 40-man roster) prior to midnight on 8/31 in order to be eligible to play in the post-season.  

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

For formality sake, they could do it after their game on the 31st and option somebody from the Iowa to Chicago shuttle. However would that person still be required to be "sent down" for 10 days even without a minor league season to hypothetically participate in?

[ ]

In reply to by erich081

ERICH081: As long as the Cubs wait until after the game on 8/31 (it's a day game) to reinstate Zobrist from the Restricted List, there does not need to be a corresponding move on the Cubs MLB Active List (25-man roster) because rosters expand from 25 to 40 on 9/1. But he must be reinstated prior to midnight on 8/31 in order to be eligible to play in the post-season, so he will very likely be reinstated from the Restricted List sometime after the game on 8/31 but prior to midnight and then he will be placed on the Cubs Active List prior to the game on 9/1.  

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

There is still the issue of who Ben Zobrist replaces on the Cubs MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) when he is reinstated (presumably after the game on Saturday). 

1. I have mentioned Justin Steele before and why the Cubs probably would prefer not to recall him from his Optional Assignment and place him on the MLB 60-day IL to make room for Zobrist on the 40. They can do it, but not only would it cost the Cubs an extra $80,000+ in salary (the difference between Steele's minor league split salary and the MLB minimum salary he would make while on the MLB 60-day IL plus the additional CBT tax and CBT surchage the Cubs would have to pay on the salary because they are over the CBT threshold), but Steele would also accrue 29 days of MLB Service Time while on the 60- day IL, and he could not be outrighted to the minors during the off-season or Spring Training if he were to sustain a major injury (which he could be if he does not accrue any MLB Service Time in 2019).      

2. Daniel Descalso could be transferred to the 60-day IL. Because time spent on the 10-day IL counts toward the 60 days a player must spend on the 60-day IL before he can be reinstated, Descalso would be eligible to be reinstated on 9/22 and would be eligible to play in the post-season. He also could continue his Minor League Rehab Assignment with AAA Iowa while the I-Cubs are playing in the PCL playoffs after Labor Day (although it might seem hard to believe, there is no restriction on an MLB player doing an Article XIX-C Minor League Rehab Assignment with a minor league team participating in a league playoff). If this happens, the Cubs would just be delaying their 40-man roster decision unitl 9/22, but by then there will be only seven days left in the MLB regular season and it wouldn't cost as much in terms of salary and MLB Service Time to recall Justin Steele from his Optional Assignment and place him on the MLB 60-day IL (Steele is shut-down with a strained oblique). Or maybe somebody else will get hurt in the meantime and will be placed onto or transferred to the 60-day IL by 9/22. 

3. Somebody could get Designated for Assignment. That could be Descalso, too. The Cubs could offer to either transfer him to the 60-day IL, give him his release, or outright him to the minors. It would be his choice. If he takes his release, the Cubs would be on the hook for what remains of his contract (offset by the pro-rated MLB minimum salary if he signs a major league contract with another club after being released). If he accepts the Outright Assignment, he gets an NRI to Spring Training and has a chance to make the Cubs Opening Day roster next season or else play at AAA Iowa. If he goes on the 60-day IL, he remains inactive possibly beyond 9/22, but he would remain with the club and be eligible to play in the 2019 post-season if activated from the IL. 

There are several other candidates on the 40 besides Descalso who could get a DFA, including a post-2019 free-agent like Derek Holland. Also a minor leaguer presently on the 40 who will be out of minor league options in 2020 (Alec Mills, Randy Rosario, Duane Underwood Jr, and Mark Zagunis) and thus will have no value as a "Des Moines - Chicago shuttle" guy in 2020 could get dropped to make room on the 40 for Zobrist on 8/31.

Something to keep in mind about Cole Hamels being on the Paternity Leave List is that he must be reinstated after three days (max), so Hamels must be reinstated on Friday even though he isn't scheduled to start until Saturday, and then somebody who is presently on the 25-man roster will have to be placed on the Injured List or optioned to the minors or DFA'd when Hamels is reinstated, and if a player presently on the 25 is optioned to the minors, he must remain on Optional Assignment to the minors for at least ten days unless he is recalled to replace a player who is placed on an MLB inactive list (IL, Paternity, Bereavement, etc).  

It used to be that a player could be recalled after spending less than ten days on Optional Assignment if his minor league team's season had ended (so for example James Norwood could be optioned to AA Tennessee -- which unlike Iowa will not be in the playoffs -- on Friday and then recalled on Tuesday after Tennessee's last game on Monday), but that is no longer the case. If Norwood (for example) is optioned back to the minors when Hamels is renistated from the Paternity Leave List on Friday, he cannot be recalled for at least ten days (until Monday 9/9) unless he is recalled to replace a player who is placed on an MLB inactive list. That's why you will sometimes see a player placed on the Injured List in September. 

heyward / cast / bryant / baez / schwarb / russell / happ(1st) / caratini / hendricks

rizzo expected to miss tomorrow's game, too.

this game is good.  the rain can stop now, plz...need to finish this one.

hendricks comes to the plate before throwing a pitch...thor's thrown 29 for 6 runs and 1 out.

hendricks pulled with 2 on and 4 in with 2 outs in the 5th.

he had a 9 run lead not too long ago.  cubs up by 5.  phelps in to clean up the last out.

harsh no-decision for hendricks.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    LHP Blake Weiman appears to have been the last cut from the AAA Iowa roster. He is with the Tennessee group at Minor League Camp.

     

  • crunch (view)

    bruce bochy is hobbling rather badly for a guy who's had 2 hip replacements.  his gait is extremely wonky taking the lineup card to the ump.

  • 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.