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 @ Pirates: Series Thread (Games 47-49)

The Cubs took two out of three from the Cardinals in St. Louis and climbed to 1.5 game out of first place. Meanwhile, the Brewers trail the Cubs by only half a game. The Cubs will have a chance to take on the last place Pirates yet again. The season series stands at five and four in the Cubs' favor heading into the week. The Pirates will be doing their work without Colin Moran, Philip Ervan, and, of course, Ke'Bryan Hayes. The Cubs may miss Willson Contreras, depending on how he recovers from taking a fastball to the wrist from his battery-mate, Kimbrel. Jason Heyward remains on the IL, and team sparkplug Matt Duffy is working around some back pain. See below for the pitching matchups for the series.


Game 47, Tuesday, May 25, 5:35 pm central

CHC: RHP Jake Arrieta (4-4, 4.46 ERA)

PIT: TBA

Arrieta surrendered 7 hits and four earned runs to the Nationals in his last start. Things didn't look all that bad until Juan Soto took him deep in the fifth. Overall, it was still a solid second start after his return from a brief IL stint.

Pittsburgh has not yet announced their starter for this game. 27-year-old righty Cody Ponce is an option. He's been working in AAA so far this season and last appeared on May 19. He made five MLB appearances with the Pirates in 2020, including 2 starts. He took a loss on August 2 of last year, giving up one unearned run on one hit while recording only one out.


Game 48, Wednesday, May 26, 5:35 pm central

CHC: RHP Trevor Williams (2-2, 5.97 ERA)

PIT: RHP Wil Crowe (0-2, 4.91 ERA)

Williams's inconsistent work in May has earned him a quick hook of late. He was pulled with one out to go in the fifth inning during his last start despite allowing only two earned runs and striking out five. He's totalled only 13.1 innings in 4 May starts so far. His strikeout numbers remain promising, but his WHIP is far too high as a result of both too many walks and plenty of hard contact.

Crowe has made one relief appearance and one start against the Cubs so far this year, allowing 3 earned runs in 6.2 innings pitched. He has struggled with his control at times this season, averaging over 4 walks per nine innings.


Game 49, Thursday, May 27, 11:35 pm central

CHC: RHP Kyle Hendricks (4-4, 4.74 ERA)

PIT: LHP Tyler Anderson (3-4, 4.73 ERA)

Hendricks earned the win and went 6.2 innings in his last start against St. Louis. His one blemish so far in May was a start against the Pirates in which they blooped and grounder-ed him to the tune of six runs, four earned, while averaging his lowest exit velocities in any single start of the season.

Anderson has already faced the Cubs twice and has split those two games. In his most recent start he allowed 9 earned runs to Atlanta in five innings pitched.

Comments

contreras sits...pj higgins gets a chance to improve his 0-7 start.

he's still d2d, but that may change.

Cubs place INF Matt Duffy on 10-day IL with lower back strain that he has been battling for a week or more and select contract of 1B-3B Patrick Wisdom from AAA Iowa. To make room for Wisdom on the MLB 40-man roster, RHRP Jason Adam (on AAA Iowa 7-day IL after undergoing surgery for a broken ankle) has been Designated for Assignment. 

The Cubs could have recalled Adam from his Optional Assignment and placed him on their MLB 60-day IL to clear a slot on the 40 for Wisdom, but if they did that Adam would get paid at the MLB rate (pro-rated $595K) instead of his minor league split rate (pro-rated $250K). If the Cubs release Adam, his termination pay is what's left of his 2021 minor league split salary. 

Injured players cannot be outrighted to the minors during the season, so Adam will certainly be placed on Outright Release Waivers and any club can claim him for $1. However, unlike the Cubs, any other MLB club that claims him would be on the hook for his pro-rated MLB salary, because an injured player cannot be optioned to the minors after being claimed off release waivers. 

So Adam will be released, and the Cubs will pay him what's left of his $250K minor league split salary. It's very possible that the Cubs will then offer Adam a new 2021 minor league contract at the AAA minimum ($16,800) so that he can continue his rehab with the Cubs, but if they do, he does not have to sign it. 

sigh...nico goes down hard in the infield and he's in bad pain.

be nice if it was a cramp...it doesn't look like a cramp.  left hamstring...

Phil, do you have any idea if Sergio Alcantara can play in the majors? He played a little for DET last yr. He's hitting for Iowa now. He's young (24). If Nico is out for a while (didn't look good / hamstring strain), with Vargas gone, Sergio reads like the next option. 

We'd have to open up another 40man spot. We're running out of space. Lots of guys already on 60day IL. Probably M. Rodriguez would have to go.

Thoughts?

phew.  i like good kimbrel.

STL down by 4, but it's still early.  if STL loses the cubs will only be 0.5 games out of 1st.

Hard for me to root for the WSox but they certainly have helped bring the Cardinals back to the pack.

Cubs sign the player formerly known as Dee Gordon to play in Iowa.

Tommy Birch (Iowa beat writer) now reporting OF Rafael Ortega is getting called up, not Sergio Alcantara. Maybe this means Nico injury isn't as bad as it looked, so they don't want to call up Alcantara and his no options because they don't want to risk losing him.

 If it is Ortega, guess we better prepare for a healthy anti-vax dose of Eric Sogard.

[ ]

In reply to by Dolorous Jon Lester

I don't understand why the Cubs signed Strange-Gordon to play at Iowa when they need a 2B and not another LH-hitting back-up corner OF to replace Hoerner on the MLB 26-man active list roster.   

Strange-Gordon was playing every day (mostly at 2B and occasionally at SS or LF) at AAA Nashville as recently as last Friday and was hitting 333/378/500, so it's not like he needs to go to AAA to get into playing shape. 

Even if Sogard plays 2B pretty much every day, Strange-Gordon would seem to have more value on the Cubs MLB 26-man roster right now than a back-up OF. He can play 2B-LF, be the emergency back-up SS, and even PR late in games if you need to try and steal a run.  

Why is he going to AAA??? 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

Maybe they know Duffy will be back (no pun) sooner, but they are expecting Heyward/Marisnick back later. If that is the case, then they could use another OF on the bench. Pederson, Happ, Martini, Bryant is a bit thin for depth. I was also thinking that maybe they are further evaluating Hoerner before making a decision on Strange-Gordon. 

Ortega brought up, S. Miller DFA. Ortega in lineup, Rizzo's back is bugging him again, KB1B.

no words for that awesome/stupid play by PIT allowing contreras to score.

some teams deserve last place.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Some more observations on that play: 

1. Contreras read the play perfectly. On some other angles you see that he hustles to 3rd, makes the turn, & waits.  If shenanigans are happening behind you  & JB is going to be safe at 1B, you don’t want a TOOBLAN between 3B & home for out #3. Willy reads what JB is doing & goes for it.

2. Javy’s suicide drill direction change at home was a pretty impressive physical feat.  He doesn’t get tagged & doesn’t interfere, and there were a lot of people in that real estate

3. After JB slides in to 1B & gets up to run to 2B, he touches 1B again with his left hand as he is standing up just to be sure. His presence of mind is uncanny... or he is Quicksilver from the X-men movies. 

The Javy video was the lead in story and shown repeatedly at least 5 times on MSNBC/Morning Joe  this AM at 5am and then 7AM rebroadcast. Ah, little league baseball is fun.

The Orb of Little League that surrounds Javy sometimes envelops others.  At some point I fully expect him to hit the ball over the head of an outfielder who is either looking at bugs in the grass or trying to decide if that cloud looks more like a beagle than a bunny.

[ ]

In reply to by Jackstraw

if they decide to lock him into a long-term contract, once his skills have declined enough that he needs to play the OF they need to get rid of him ASAP.  he'll spend his entire time in the OF looking for 4-leaf clovers in the grass or throwing his own glove up in the air to catch it.

Recent comments

  • 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. 

  • 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.