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 @ Brewers: Series Thread (Games 10-12)

The Chicago Cubs (4-5) make their first trip northward to take on Milwaukee (5-4) for the second time this season. Having dropped 2 out of 3 in Pittsburgh, the Cubs will try to push and elbow their way to middle or front of the NL central pack. Benches cleared-ish in the last Brewers vs Cubs series, so don't be surprised to see some literally pushing and elbowing if Contreras finds himself on the receiving end of a beaning again. See below for matchups.


Game 1, Monday, April 12, 6:40 pm central

CHC: RHP Adbert Alzolay (0-1, 7.20 ERA)

MIL: RHP Freddy Peralta (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

Alzolay was on the losing end of this matchup on April 6. He allowed 4 earned runs on a 3-run homer to Trais Shaw in the 1st inning and a solo homerun to Narvaez n the 4th. The Shaw homer came on a 1-0 curve and Alzolay followed it with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning. It was an uneven performance overall, but he did go 5 innings and struck out 4 while getting a 5-1 grounder to fly ball ratio.

Peralta fully shut down the Cubs offense for five innings in that game, striking out 8 and allowing only 1 hit in 5 innings. He did walk 4, but the Cubs hitters looked befuddled by his high-spin fastball. Kris Bryant had the lone hit of the game, a double. Brent Suter pitched 3 hitless innings in relief and Boxberger finished things up, with little of note there aside from plunking Contreras on the upper arm (a day after Willson had taken one to the helmet). With the quick rematch, perhaps Cubs hitters will have a better feel for their approaches against Peralta.


Game 2, Tuesday, April 13, 6:40 pm central

CHC: RHP Kyle Hendricks (0-1, 3.00 ERA)

MIL: RHP Brandon Woodruff (0-0, 2.45 ERA)

Game 2 of the series is another rematch. Last time, neither Hendricks nor Woodruff factored in the decision. Hendricks rebounded from a frustrating opening day by striking out 6, walking one, and allowing 4 hits and no runs in 6 innings. Workman took the loss in the 10th inning, following three innings of 1-run relief from Mills, Chafin, and Kimbrel.

Woodruff didn't win the game but had the best pitching performance of the day last time out. He struck out 8 in 7 scoreles innings and allowed only one hit while managing not to hit any batsmen. The only piece missing from Woodruff's game at this point is durability. Due to health or circumstance, he's never made more than 22 starts in a season. If he can pass that mark in 2021, more fans outside the NL Central might finally learn who he is.


Game 3, Wednesday, April 14, 12:40 pm central

CHC: RHP Jake Arrieta (2-0, 2.25 ERA)

MIL: RHP Corbin Burnes (0-1, 0.73 ERA)

Jake Arrieta has been the best Cubs starter so far, following a solid first start with a 6-inning win in which he worked around 7 hits and 3 walks to allow only 2 earned runs. He managed that in somewhat surprising fashion, collecting only one double play and getting 8 outs in the air while striking out only 4. Still, it seems like a decent snapshot of reasonable hopes for Arrieta in 2021.

Corbin Burnes has been lights-out in his first two starts of 2021, striking out 20 while walking 0 and allowing only 2 hits in 12.1 innings pitched. Cubs hitters don't have extensive history against him, with only Javy having seen him 10 times (he has a homerun as his lone hit in that small sample).

Comments

Sorry that I couldn't access things for opening day and then got busy for the next couple series. Glad to have a baseball routine to share with you all again!

cubs covid...chris young tested positive.  j.adam, d.winkler, and b.workman are now on the "injured list"

Well, Chafin ... not your night I guess ... looks like its time to catch up on the latest installment of Falcon and the Winter Soldier

i know we're only 10 games in and you can't get good numbers on that, but this is a full-team hitting slump aside from marisnick and his 12 PA.

no one on this team is this bad, but all of them doing it at once is crazy.  bad ABs, tons of swings and misses, crap contact...

upon reflection (and another hit in the 9th) i need to give props to k.bryant...he's a 1-man show right now for the regulars.

Patrick Mooney @PJ_Mooney
Cubs manager David Ross says none of the team’s players on the COVID-19-related injured list have tested positive: “We’re going to err on the side of caution.”

pedro strop returns!

slider looks great, but (as designed) he rarely throws it in the zone...fishing for swings/misses and bad contact.  he's got great command of it nibbling low and both sides of the plate.

fastball coming in 92-94mph without much movement.  you could tell in the arias AB how much he didn't want to throw him a fastball (continuing to throw the slider on a 3-1 for a foul, and walking him with a slider on the next pitch).

1ip 1h 1bb 1k, 0 r/er

CONTRERYES!

wow, a cubs moment to root for.  that's been a while.

Shelby Miller selected, Alzolay optioned. Adam returns, Wieck optioned. Romine returns, Wolters DFA

[ ]

In reply to by Sonicwind75

With a title like, "It's probably time to be worried about Javier Baez," I think TCR readers might be ahead of the game.

The comps in the analysis are interesting, of course! Having watched a lot of Javy, I wonder less *if* he will make an adjustment offensively and more *how long* he will take to adjust. I don't expect him to start walking at a heightened rate (as some of the comps did). Instead, I think he'll find a way to cut down and make more contact, probably by finding a way to hit a couple of those elevated fastballs that are currently getting by him. But will he have to bottom out more first? I am a little worried the adjustment might be so significant that we don't see it until after the trade deadline or even next season. Is a nigh-free-agency Baez motivated enough to try a Rizzo style 2-strikes choke?

[ ]

In reply to by Rob Richardson

BOB R: I would think that the Cubs will almost certainly extend a QO to Bryant, Baez, and Rizzo, and possibly even to Davies.

Kimbrel and Arrieta are not eligible to receive a QO because they got one earlier in their careers, but of course the Cubs aren't going to decline Kimbrel's 2022 $16M option and then offer him $19M instead, and while still a serviceable veteran MLB SP, Arrieta seems to be in decline.  

Bryant won't accept a QO because he is a Boras client, but Rizzo and Baez might and Davies probably would. If nothing else the Cubs would get a 2022 draft pick between the 2nd and 3rd rounds if the player is offered a QO and then declines it and then signs with another MLB club before the next season's draft, and if the player accepts the QO, it's only a one-year contract (the best contract in baseball from the club's POV).

Also, keep in mind that with the draft moved to July (ASB) a player who declines a QO and then waits until after the draft to sign with a club so that the draft pick compensation is removed (as Kimbrel did in 2019) will now have to wait more than a month longer, and so I'm not sure how many players would wait that long to sign just to get the yoke of draft pick compensation off their neck. 

With the SS market expected to be flooded post-2021, Baez might be smart to accept a QO and then enter free-agency post-2022 when he could not be offered another QO, even though he would be a year older. 

And I'm not sure how much of a FA market there would be for Rizzo given his age (he will be 32 by the end of this season) and draft pick compensation if he is offered a QO. So I could see Rizzo accepting a QO and then continue to negotiate with the Cubs for a longer deal (even if it's just three years) throughout the post-2021 off-season. Rizzo is actually in a tough spot as far as impending free-agency is concerned. 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

My concern with extending Baez is that so much of his game relies on elite athleticism. He may not age gracefully when that slips even just a little bit.  Old man baseball skills like plate disipline are not his forte. 

Trying to think of a good recent free agency comp to Rizzo.  Justin Turner?  Carlos Santana?

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

CHARLIE: If you think of Javy Baez for what he is, it's easier to understand his actual value. The expectations are too high and so he just can't meet them. And he's not going to change.  

On the positive side, Baez is a plus defender at SS, and an outstanding game-changing base-runner who hits a lot of HR. On the negative side, he doesn't take walks, he strikes out a ton, and he chases too many unhittable pitches. 

Javy Baez reminds me a LOT of Shawon Dunston, somebody who hits maybe 7th in the order and does what he does with a few warts. He just can't be a dude in the batting order. He doesn't do the things he would need to do to be that guy. He is what he is. 

[ ]

In reply to by Dolorous Jon Lester

So, me and Shelby Miller.  ERA's of infinity.

1966, Arlington Heights, Berbecker Park.  Me, a weak hitting, modest fielding, enthusiastic 1B, 2B, and OF.  Gritty.  Playing for the Rebels.  One of our two actual pitchers having an off day.  The other one being saved for our next game, against a league leading team.  We're down 9-2, or so.  Coach calls huddle on the mound, says "who wants to pitch?"  My hand shoots up.

I face seven batters.  Walk four and hit the other three.  I don't recall the precise order of BBs and HBPs any more.  Now we're down 13-2 or so.  Coach comes to get me, I revert back to 2B.  "He's squeezing me, skip", I might have said.  My pitching career ends that day. I retire after one more year, with no more pitching appearances, so a career BAA of .000 and an ERA of infinity.

[ ]

In reply to by Jackstraw

I mentioned this in my pitcher reports from Spring Training. Although he had good raw stuff, Shelby Miller displayed command issues in Cactus League Spring Training games. 

I believe he was a victim of his own opt-out. He would have been best served pitching in the minors until such time as he could get his command straightened out. He's clearly not ready to pitch in MLB right now, but the Cubs apparently would rather have him pitch (ineffectively) in MLB while he is still getting into game shape, rather than risk losing him as a free-agent if they had not selected his contrtact prior to the opt-out deadline. 

The problem is, Miller has Article XIX-A rights so he has no usable minor league options. He cannot be optioned or outrighted to the minors without his consent, and he probably would prefer the Cubs release him rather than accept a minor league assignment or remain in the minor leagues (or at the ATS) past his opt-out date.

Under Article XIX-A, if Miller declines a minor league assignment and is released, the Cubs would be on the hook for 100% of Miller's remaining salary, only potentially offset by the MLB minimum salary if he were to sign a major league contract with another MLB club or if he were to sign a minor league contract and then subsequently has his contract selected to the MLB 40-man roster.

This is different from Article XX-D (player has accrued at least three but less than five years of MLB Service Time and/or has been outrighted previously in his career), where if a player with Article XX-D rights is outrighted he can elect free-agency immediately or defer free-agency uintil after the conclusion of the MLB regular season (presuming he isn't added back to the 40 in the meantine), but if he does elect free-agency immediately his contract is terminated and the club owes the player nothing more. 

off-day tomorrow.  ATL gets to come into town next to strike out 20 cubs and give up 2-4 hits.

we're trying to get at least 2 guys hitting .250 or move over here in cubs nation.  i'm pretty sure this is still chili davis's fault.

Recent comments

  • 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.

    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?

    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.

  • 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. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Seconded!!!

  • crunch (view)

    another awesome spring of pitching reports.  thanks a lot, appreciated.