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 @ Atlanta: Series Thread (Games 22-25)

The Cubs (10-11) depart Wrigley for warmer climes, sunk below .500 yet again and in 4th place in the NL Central. They'll come into their second series against Atlanta (9-12) with much improved stat lines. The team is now 14th in the majors in runs scored and equally middle-of-the-pack in OBP (14th) and SLG (11th). However, they've scored 44 of their 92 total runs in 3 blowout wins. Most recently, they were shutout by yet another dominating Brandon Woodruff start. Fortunately for the Cubs, Atlanta has similarly struggled offensively, most recently suffering shutout losses on both sides of a double-header to Arizona. Everyone knows both rosters are too good for this offensive ineptitude to continue. This week's question will be, which team is too-gooder? See below for the matchups in the 4-game series.


Game 22, Monday, April 26, 6:10 pm central

CHC: RHP Zach Davies (1-2, 8.80 ERA)

ATL: RHP Charlie Morton (1-1, 3.91 ERA)

Zach Davies only went 4 innings in his last start, allowing 2 earned runs on 2 walks and 5 hits, and it was still one of his better starts of the young season.

Cubs fans haven't seen that much of Charlie Morton since 2016, when he pitched in only 4 games for Philadelphia. I remember him primarily as a sinker-balling Pirate. In 2017, however, he started the second act of his career, and it has involved a lot more strikeouts.


Game 23, Tuesday, April 27, 6:20 pm central

CHC: RHP Trevor Williams (2-1, 4.66 ERA)

ATL: RHP Ian Anderson (1-0, 3.27 ERA)

Williams had another solid start last time, keeping the Cubs in the game long enough for the team to eventually overtake the Mets. He struck out 6 and allowed 2 earned runs in 5 innings pitched. Mets batters had a few hard hit balls off of him and he did not get his usual quota of ground balls, but he walked only one and missed enough bats to stay out of trouble.

Ian Anderson earned his first win in a 6.2 inning performance against the Yankees in which he allowed 0 earned runs. Prior to that, he earned 3 no-decisions while putting up decent starts and solid peripherals. He does struggle to find the strike zone at times, so the Cubs' patience could come into play. He went 3-2 in 6 starts last season, striking out more than 11 per 9 innings in a promising debut season. He sits mid-90s with the fastball but his changeup is his best pitch--he uses it about 30% of the time.


Game 24, Wednesday, April 28, 6:20 pm central

CHC: RHP Kyle Hendricks (1-2, 5.68 ERA)

ATL: RHP Huascar Ynoa (1-1, 3.68 ERA)

Hendricks earned his first win of the season and went 6 innings against the Mets in his last start. Hopefully, he can stop alternating between very Hendricks starts and absolute trash. The warm, humid weather in Georgia should help his stuff. Marcell Ozuna is the nemesis to highlight in this one: he's hitting .393 with 2 HRs in 28 ABs against Hendricks.

Ynoa had his early-season stats a bit messed up by the Cubs on 4/17. He allowed 6 earned run on 7 hits (3 homeruns) in 4 innings. Since then, he returned to being very hard to hit. Excluding that start against the Cubs, he's allowed 8 hits in 18 innings pitched.


Game 25, Thursday, April 29, 6:20 pm central

CHC: RHP Adbert Alzolay (0-2, 5.40 ERA)

ATL: TBD (possibly RHP Kyle Wright, 0-0, 4.15 ERA, 4.1 innings pitched)

For the second start in a row, Alzolay left an otherwise strong start with runners on base. And for the second start in a row, a lefty reliever allowed those inherited runners to come around to score. He's shown the right combination of promise and inconsistency to continue getting starts and to continue getting pulled if he allows a couple baserunners around mid-game. He has yet to face any team other than the Brewers and is yet to matchup with any starter other than Freddy Peralta. As ATL has not yet announced a starter, it's always possible Peralta will pop-up in Georgia just in time to foil Alzolay again.


Next up: 3 games in Cincinnati.

Comments

so...this and some highschool kids is what gets a team y.darvish, huh...

davies with a 10.00+ ERA after giving up 4 runs in the 1st inning of his 5th start...started the game with 8.80 ERA.  yow.

stay stretched out a.mills...

nico leading off again.  contreras is a big fan..."This guy needs to be in the lineup on a daily basis. He’s a high-energy guy. He takes good at-bats and he’s always looking for ways to win the game. That’s Nico Hoerner.”

bryant is out with a sore right biceps...available off the bench.  this could be a multi-game thing.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

i straight up don't get why he's not more popular with cubs fans.  bryant/rizzo have their weird co-energy.  baez became a bigger star than both of them (and sold the most merch for years).  contreras has been a steady performer and has stood in all their shadows.

rick wilkins got more love, it seems...well, at least for those 2 seasons wilkins was a thing.

at least people don't hate him.  he just seems like a fan afterthought, though.

bryant back (in LF), rizzo leading off, baez still out/sore with hoerner at SS...bote on borrowed time unless he shows something at 2nd while duffy slots in at 3rd.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

huge bote fan, but he's not doing a damn thing with the bat to stay in the lineup once everyone is healthy.

he needs to show something to keep getting starts...especially for a guy who has a good history of coming off the bench cold ready to hit.  that's awesome, yet adding to the slow month to work against him as a starter.

can't say that ross hasn't given him a great amount of chances to prove himself.

Cubs recall Justin Steele from the ATS, DFA Brandon Workman (about time I would say) 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

The Cubs have released RHRP Brandon Workman. He was Designated for Assignment last Thursday. 

So the Cubs are now on the hook for Workman's $1M salary, but it would be offset by the pro-rated MLB minimum salary if he were to sign an MLB contract with another club, or sign a minor league contract with another club and then have his contract selected to an MLB 40-man roster. 

i.happ and d.bote might not make it off the bench for any significant time any time soon...

i know hoerner is hitting well, but his 7 walks is what's blowing me away about his current game play.  he wasn't even showing this kind of discipline in spring.  i know hitting 8th so much helps, but walks isn't part of his game.

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.