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. Dodgers: Series Thread (Games 29-31)

The Cubs dropped the final game in Cincinnati in dramatic fashion, letting the back-and-forth slugfest fade away with a soft single from Castellanos. It was a more competitive series than many we've seen from the Cubs this year. But it was also costly. They are now 4 games under .500 at 12-16, in last place, and likely down Ian Happ (3-5 with a homer in the game) who had to be taken off the field after a nasty collision with Nico Hoerner in shallow center field. The extent of Happ's injuries have not yet been reported in detail, but it would be shocking if he were right back at it for the next game. Jake Marisnick is the most likely to see playing time in center if Happ is out, but Joc Pederson is eligible to return and the Cubs could get creative in the corner outfield spots if they want to start Heyward in CF.

The 17-12 LA Dodgers roll into Wrigley with a trio of aces ready to kick the Cubs while they are down. LA enters the series third in the NL in runs scored and first in WRC+. They're also third in the NL in ERA. Cubs fans have been hoping to see the team find their footing going back to April 17, when a 13-4 win vs. Atlanta looked like a sign of the offense breaking out. More than two weeks later, the north siders are still trying to get their legs under them, now with some of the toughest competition in the league in their way. See below for nightmare fuel the pitching matchups.


Game 29, Monday, May 3, 6:40 pm central

CHC: RHP Kyle Hendricks (1-3, 7.54 ERA)

LAD: RHP Walker Buehler (1-0, 3.16 ERA)

Hendricks continued a frustrating start to the season, having possibly his worst start thus far in a loss to Atlanta. He allowed 7 earned runs for the second time this year, this time going only 3.2 innings. Issuing zero walks would be a silver lining if not for the fact he got hammered to the tune of 11 hits, including three homeruns. He's had two perfectly fine starts this year, which give some hope that his command might return at any time.

Walker Buehler has come into 2021 like he made a resolution not to issue any free passes. He's struck out 31 and walked only 2 in 31.1 innings. In his last start he allowed 5 earned runs while striking out 10 Cinicinnati Reds. Most current Cubs have seen little of Buehler. Tony Wolters is 1 for 17. Kris Bryant is 3 for 6.


Game 30, Tuesday, May 4, 6:40 pm central

CHC: RHP Adbert Alzolay (1-2, 4.71 ERA)

LAD: LHP Clayton Kershaw (4-2, 2.09 ERA)

Adbert Alzolay pitched 6 innings to earn a win against Atlanta's Bryse Wilson on April 29. It was his third solid start in a row. He leaned heavily on his breaking ball, with pitch tracking counting more than 50% of his pitches as sliders. He has a few shapes to that breaking ball though--I'm not convinced a few of those weren't variants of his curve. This will be the Dodgers' first look at Alzolay.

Kershaw had looked to be on the decline from 2017-2019, putting up very good numbers but nothing quite like his peak years. Then in 2020 he pitched like a beast and he has kept up that act so far in 2021. He pitched seven scoreless innings against the Reds in his last start, earning his fourth win on the season and his 179th in his career. Javy (4 for 8), Bryant (2 for 4), Contreras (3 for 7), and Rizzo (4 for 8) have all had some success in limited regular season appearances against the veteran lefty.


Game 31, Wednesday, May 5, 6:40 pm central

CHC: RHP Jake Arrieta (3-3, 4.31 ERA)

LAD: RHP Trevor Bauer (3-1, 2.48 ERA)

After making five straight solid starts, Arrieta turned in a clunker his sixth time out. He allowed three homeruns and seven earned runs in 3.2 innings pitched, bloating his ERA by almost a run and a half. Hopefully, he can get back to competitive if not dominating starts. Max Muncy is 4 for 10 with two homeruns and Corey Seager is 4 for 8 with a single homerun off of Arrieta.

Trevor Bauer cashed in on his Cy Young performance in the shortened 2020 to sign with the NL's foremost behemoth. In the early going, he's nearly picked up where he left off. He's struck out well over a batter per inning while limiting walks and holding opponents to an absurd 14.9% line drive rate. Last time, he went 8 innings deep in a loss to the Brewers in which he allowed two earned runs on only 4 hits and 2 walks. Rizzo is 6 for 14 with 2 homeruns off of Bauer.

Comments

Apparently Joc Pederson is back for the Dodger game tonight. Keegan Thompson to alt site.

K.B. in a 4-way tie for the MLB lead in HRs after yesterday's game. Rain day question: What kind of package do we think the Cubs could realistically get for him at the deadline if he's still looking like an MVP contender at that point? (Obviously, there's still time for the Cubs to rebound and for MIL to blow their division lead.)

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

my entire cubs trade handicapping world is still shook by the trading of a starter locked up multiple years on the cheap for a slew of 18-20 year olds and a "replacement" middle rotation guy that has a 88mph fastball.

coming off a season where they were a first place club they traded for years away, not next year...

we shooting to be competitive in 2025 or we doing something else over here?

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

I'm assuming K.B., Kimbrel, Arrieta, and anyone else on a one-year contract who isn't injured or terrible will be sold by the deadline. In the most optimistic scenario, the front office turns around and tries to extend Rizzo and another member of the 2016 core in order to bridge competitive windows with a little nostalgia. So I would assume you trade K.B. for the best overall package, but preferably with at least one good pitching prospect who is at most a year away from MLB. I am, however, extremely bad at both predicting and evaluating trades.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

Was looking for a comp and closest I could find was Manny Machado going to Dodgers as a rental in 2018.  Orioles got one legit prospect, Yusniel Diaz, who was a top 50-100 prospect; along with some lotto tickets.

But like Crunch mention, after Darvish trade who knows.  Hopefully with fans in the stands and capacities increasing that the Cubs can act like a major market team and either eat some of Bryant's and Kimbrel's contracts or take back a bad contract in order to improve the quality of the return. 

[ ]

In reply to by tim815

I'm speaking more about the potential mindsets at the trade deadline.

As for Darvish, I don't have insider info as to what was on offer but I find it hard to believe that if the Cubs had been willing to pay more money on the deal, the quality of prospect wouldn't have risen.

Also, if the offer they accepted WAS the actual best offer, the answer from Jed should have been "no." That's only in a vacuum where ownership wasn't desperate to shed salary, of course.

[ ]

In reply to by Sonicwind75

jed had to beg for the loot to sign joc pederson as "extra" payroll.  it was supposed to be worse than it is on the loot.

still seems "wtf" to blow that darvish trade on a garbage bag full of kids who are all 3+ years away as a minimum for a team that's going to be mostly intact in 2021.  the only major loss to FA was j.jeffress...who ended up signing a minor league deal.

evidently the team fell apart on the day off...

arrieta to the 10d IL (right thumb), hoerner to the 10d IL (left forearm), winkler to the 10d IL (right triceps), and happ is day-to-day with a rib injury.

wtf...

i.vargas, k.ryan, and k.thompson up.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Whatever happened to Jake Arrieta (right thumb abrasion) must have happened at the airport or sometime after the road trip, because his IL assignment was backdated only to yesterday (5/3) when it otherwise could have been backdated to 5/1 (the day after he last pitched in a game). 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

yeah, it's weird because "supposedly" a cut on his thumb is why he pitched like crap last time out...or that's the story they're going with.  you'd think they'd want to date it back further.

beyond that, it seems like all or most of these injuries would have been known pre-game yesterday.

Beautiful day in Des Moines for the long-awaited "lid-lifter" on the next season of I-Cub baseball! 

thompson's got some good movement on his stuff (not extrodinary).

his mid-90s fastball looks effortless.  he's got a cutter he can bring 90+.

It's the opening night for MiLB, I knew SB was now A+ ball, and of course I get confused the first time I look at the GameDay for SB just now.

That's going to take the full season to get used too.

damn this is a good game.

bauer keeps coming close to screwing up badly and gets out of it.  cubs have a 1 run lead and it seems like it should be a few more.

thompson looked great since an "average at best" 1st inning.

kimbrel blew the save, giving up a solo homer, but this isn't a case of "kimbrel sucking"...he looked good.

still...boo.

hol up...we really bringing maples into a game where a guy starts on 2nd with 0 out?

alright...we're living dangerously.

TIED!

wow.  baez.

i wish i didn't have to crash and get up early.  hate missing the rest of this.  wow.

If you predicted the Cubs take both sides of the doubleheader vs Kershaw and Bauer, I hope you put some money on it.

RHP Kohl Stewart was recalled from AAA Iowa as the "27th man" for Game # 2 of the doubleheader but he did not pitch in the game.

The 27th man is only available for both games if the doubleheader was scheduled as the resuilt of a postponed game from a previous series, so since the doubleheader resulted from the first game of the current series being postponed, the 27th man was only available for the second game.  

Even though he was recalled as the "27th man" on Tuesday, the Cubs could keep Stewart on the 26-man Active List roster and place a player on the IL or option somebody else (like Keegan Thompson) to Iowa on Wednesday instead, or they can just option Stewart back to AAA. 

If Stewart is optioned, the 10-day recall clock does not apply, since he was a "27th man."  

Since Jake Arrieta won't be ready to pitch in four or five days, I hope they keep Keegan up there. I'd say he deserves to start one more game for them until Jake comes back.

j.means throws a no-hitter for the O's...first since jim palmer in 1969.

also, this is the 3rd no-hitter on the year that would have been a perfect game if not for a sole "mistake" (2x hbp (rondon/musgrove) + dropped 3rd strike (means)).

pedro strop has elected to become a FA.  aww.  can't blame him, though.

good luck and thanks for the 2 game reunion, i guess.

it would be nice if ross would let a pitcher throw 100+ pitches...or even 90+...

Rizzo gets the interview, but that's Matt Duffy's game. Did not see that coming after the Contreras DP and the Javy non-DP.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

Matt Duffy and Jake Marisnick have been everything we possibly could have hoped for.  They've been a large part of the offense slowly starting to perform.

 Also, I know Wolters doesn't hit much, but he kept that inning going for Anthony. Wolters' at bats have been far superior to those of Romine. Romine can stay on the injured list.

a.pujols getting released by ANA...

he's useless, he's been useless for years, but there goes a legend.

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.

    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.

  • 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.