Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus one player is on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Cubs @ Giants: Series Thread (Games 56-59)

The Cubs swept the Padres to climb to a season high 9 games over .500 and to maintain a narrow lead over the Cardinals for first in the NL Central. Next up, they have a four-game series against the San Francisco Giants, who are now first in the NL West thanks in part to the Cubs' victories over the Padres. See below for the weekend's matchups.


Game 56, Thursday, June 3, 8:45 pm central

CHC: RHP Zach Davies (2-2, 4.65 ERA)

SF: RHP Anthony DeSclafani (4-2, 3.65 ERA)

Davies finished up a vastly improved May with a five inning and one run start against Cincinnati. In May he pitched 31.1 innings and allowed six earned runs despite allowing 12 walks and collecting only 15 strikeouts. Those peripherals are out of line with his career averages, but hopefully they will catch up with the improved results.

Anthony DeSclafani suffered through a rough 2020 season in which he had a 7.22 ERA and a depressed strikeout rate across 11 starts for the Reds. Since joining the Giants, he's back to his career norms except for an improved groundball percentage. DeSclafani is one start removed from an absolute mess in which he allowed 10 earned runs in 2.2 innings to the Dodgers. Last time out, he rebounded somewhat against the same opponents, allowing two earned runs in 4.2 innings.


Game 57, Friday, June 4, 8:45 pm central

CHC: RHP Jake Arrieta (5-5, 4.41 ERA)

SF: TBD

Arrieta was wild in his last start, allowing four walks compared to three strikeouts in 3.2 innings in a loss to Cincinnati. He allowed five runs, two earned. In four main starts, he allowed 10 earned runs, walked eight, and struck out 13 in 19.2 innings pitched.


Game 58, Saturday, June 5, 6:15 pm central

CHC: RHP Kohl Stewart (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

SF: TBD

In his debut with the Cubs, Stewart allowed one run, zero earned, while going five innings as Trevor Williams's substitute. He struck out only two, but he mostly kept the ball on the ground. More of the same would be welcome as Trevor Williams continues to recover from an emergency appendectomy.


Game 59, Sunday, June 6, 3:05 pm central

CHC: RHP Kyle Hendricks (6-4, 4.62 ERA)

SF: RHP Johnny Cueto (4-1, 3.45 ERA)

Hendricks has continued to build on a solid May and improved command with a win against the Padres. He allowed three earned runs but went 6 innings contribute to the sweep of the Padres. Since May 1 he's allowed only three walks compared to 30 strikeouts.

Johnny Cueto's age 35 season is off to a great start. His velocity is up a tick compared to last year and his walk rate is way down compared to the last two seasons. Last time out he went seven innings and allowed one earned run to earn a win against the Angels. Kris Bryant is five for ten with a homerun off of Cueto. Joc Pederson and Anthony Rizzo are a combined eight for 56 with 16 strikeouts off the veteran righty. Javy is 0-9 with five strikeouts.


Comments

The Cubs have until 1 PM (Eastern) tomorrow (Friday) to trade Tyson Miller, because otherwise they will need to place him on Outright Assignment Waivers no later than tomorrow (and the daily waiver call deadline is 1 PM Eastern) so that his 47-hour Waiver Claiming Period ride will end within the seven-day DFA period (Miller was Designated for Assignment last Sunday), and a player cannot be traded while he is on waivers. 

should be getting both j.marisnick and j.heyward back pretty soon...both getting their 2nd rehab start in iowa tonight.

holy f'n joc pederson water shot.

wow.  the only doubt was fair/foul...not how far and high it was going.

Rex isn't completely to blame there. He shouldn't have fallen behind 3-0 to Crawford, but why did Davies start the inning at all? Or, at least why did he stay in after the leadoff guy got on? Ross had to see that Zach was done after the 4th inning. 

Oh well. Rossy let a SP try to go 5 innings to help his bullpen out a bit. Our lineup will have to pick up the slack.

Tyson Miller claimed by TXR... lots of people seemed to be bummed to lose him. When I look at his #s, they really don't seem that strong. There was 1/2 a great sesason at AA, followed by getting blown-up in the 2nd half of the season at AAA. Can someone enlighten me?

wow.  scott kazmir still exists in the baseball universe...and he's a sf giant...alright.

totally missed his comeback.

power bats, gear up...

[ ]

In reply to by George Altman

he reverted back to his old cubs days (vs what he was doing in PHI), throwing the curve more than the change, but it's just not working out with everything 3-4mph slower than it was with less movement.

i am rooting for him.  the first 5 games were good...it's been shakey the past 6 games.  nothing he's done aside from his 1st start made me feel like this dude needs to have a playoff rotation spot, though.

rizzo and contreras were arguing in the dugout.  rizzo had to be led away into the clubhouse.

wtf...

[ ]

In reply to by Hagsag

we're about to find out how serious they were about the "we're going to be competitive in 2021" thing...especially if they're still competitive in a month.

after trading away a cheap, many years controlled, near-CY winner for a bunch of 18-20 year olds...i'm not holding out much hope for now.

i sure as hell am not hearing about cubs trade targets even with all the injuries...hearing more about who might want bryant from the cubs even with them sitting in 1st place.

all that aside, i'm not sure how valuable the market is right now.  club control for 2022 doesn't mean much when there's a serious question about how much of 2022 we're going to have because of the labor market.  there's also a very large surplus of corner OF + SP talent that should be available for trade with no "difference maker" types in that mix even if they're not bums.

kimbrell might be one of the hottest targets if the cubs make him available.  him and richard rodriguez (PIT), and ian kennedy (TEX)  are the top guys and not much on their tier...kimbrell is the top dog, easy.

heyward activated...martini DFA'd.  heyward is in the lineup tonight.

b.wieck optioned to AAA and cory abbott is making his MLB debut (out of the pen).  wieck has pitched great, but he's a convienent casuality of needing a arm that can put in long-man work.

j.marisnick will probably be activated tomorrow or monday.

also the cubs claim dakota chalmers from the twins for some reason i cannot fathom.  i guess they're bored now they don't have d.maples to fix.

no longoria...to the IL with the shoulder he injured yesterday in a collision.

happ hitting 3rd and heyward hitting 5th...good luck cubs.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

There are 14 potential Cubs free-agents post-2021, so who are the in house replacements? 

CATCHER: Back-up Austin Romine is a FA post-2021, but #1 catcher Willson Contreras is under club control through 2022, P. J. Higgins is a cheap long-term back-up who can also play 1B-2B-3B, and future #1 catcher Miguel Amaya will get a 4th minor league option in 2023 if he isn't ready by then so there is no rush to get him to MLB before 2024. If Amaya isn't ready in 2023, that would leave a gap of one year (2023) that could be filled by signing a veteran catcher as a one-year bridge between Contreras and Amaya. 
 
1B:: Anthony Rizzo is a classic Cubs "legacy" player (Gabby Harnett, Phil Cavarretta, Ernie Banks, et al) and so I think it is very possible that he will accept a Qualifying Offer post-2021 (which should be somewhere around $20M) and then continue to negotiate with the Cubs during the off-season. From the Cubs POV, they will want a multi-year deal that protects them from Rizzo going down periodically with back issues (and once you get a back problem, it never goes away) by offering him a lower base salary but with significant performance bonuses tied to PA that (if met) would pay Rizzo something like "Joey Votto money" ($22M-23M AAV) for three or four years. Otherwise, Patrick Wisdom or David Bote could play 1B if Rizzo leaves post-2021 and the Cubs don't sign a FA to replace Rizzo, or Alfonso Rivas could emerge as the everyday 1B in 2023.  

2B: Sogard is a FA post-2021, but Nico Hoerner is under club control through 2025. 

SS: Baez is a FA post-2021, so it's Sergio Alcantara until one of the faraway SS prospects (Howard, Preciado, Made, etc) is ready, probably not before 2025. 

3B: Duffy is a FA post-2021, so it's Patrick Wisdom or David Bote until Chase Strumpf is ready, or Wisdom or Bote could remain the 3B and Strumpf could fill Bote's 2B-3B back-up role once he hits MLB.     

LF: FREE-AGENT best bat you can find, although Pederson/Cubs have a mutual option for 2022, but mutual options are very rarely exercised on both ends.   

CF: Jake Marisnick (mutual option) is a likely FA post-2021, so it's probably primarily Ian Happ in CF until Brennen Davis arrives (likely MLB ETA of 2023 or 2024). However, Happ is salary arbitration-eligible post-2021, so it's possible (albeit not likely) that he could get non-tendered post-2021. 

RF: Kris Bryant is a FA post-2021 and will not return unless the Cubs outbid every other MLB club once he becomes a FA, and Jason Heyward is signed through 2023, or the Cubs could release Heyward post-2022 and eat the last year of the deal like the Angels did with Pujols especially if somebody like Brennen Davis emerges before Heyward's deal is done and the Cubs play Davis in RF instead of CF. 

DH: FREE-AGENT best bat you find and/or Contreras can DH on days he's not catching so his bat can be kept in the lineup even when he's not catching. Boie or Wisdom are other possibilities for DH if Rizzo comes back and Bote or Wisdom are not needed at 1B.   

BENCH: Preferably minimum salary guys only, but maybe a couple of $1M veterans like Sogard, Duffy, and Marisnick could be signed for 2022. 

SP: Arrieta (mutual option for 2022 not likely to happen) and Davies are FA post-2021 and could be traded at any time even if the Cubs are in contention. Hendricks in under club control through 2023 or 2024 (vesting option for 2024), and Trevor Williams is under club control through 2022 (will be salary arbitration-eligible poist-2021 so he could get non-tendered). Otherwise, long-term it's Alzolay, K. Thompson,  Abbott, Marquez, Sanders, or anyone else in the system who emerges as an MLB SP over the next year ot two. Alec Mills and Kohl Stewart can be rotation fillers until whenever they are pushed aside.    
BULLPEN: Kimbrel is under club control through 2022 although the Cubs could buy him out post-2021 (or trade him), Chafin (mutual option for 2022) will probably be a FA post-2021, Tepera, and Winkler are FA post-2021, Brothers is under club control through 2022, and Holder is under club control through 2023, although because they are salary arbitration eligible one or both could get non-tendered post-2021, but otherwise Nance, Megill, Steele, Maples, Wieck, and Wick (when and if healthy) are clearly MLB-ready right now and are under club control long-term, plus there are a number of other potential MLB relievers percolating at AAA and AA (M. Rodriguez, Stock, Ueckert, et al)  who could emerge as MLB pen arms very soon. 

I don't think the Cubs will trade their better prospects while Hoyer is GM, so it will be a matter of signing a couple of FA bats (a LF and a DH) to replace Bryant, Baez, and Pederson in the lineup, and one FA SP (preferably at least MOR level if not TOR) to replace Davies and Arrieta. 

It's very unfortunate that the Cubs traded Darvish and Caratini, because with them the Cubs would certainly be the best team in the N. L. Central in 2021 and the Padres wouldn't be as good, and with Darvish as the # 1, Hendricks as the # 2, and Alzolay as the # 3, the Cubs would actually have had a genuine shot at getting to the World Series and maybe winning it. And as it turned out, the Cubs only saved $11.5M in 2021 payroll by trading Darvish, because they had to pay $3M of Darvish's 2021 salary and are paying Davies $8.5M as Darvish's replacement. 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

Assuming Javy goes to free agency do you think it likely the Cubs will look at some of the other big free agent SS names?  Maybe a player like Correa who is a more well rounded hitter than Javy?  I love Javy but his plate approach is not the type of approach that tends to age well.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    steele MRI on friday.  counsell expects an IL stint.

    no current plans for his rotation replacement.

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1. 

  • crunch (view)

    amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.

    neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.

  • Eric S (view)

    Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it). 

  • crunch (view)

    boo.

  • crunch (view)

    smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.

    this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

    like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.

    anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.

    I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.

    If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.

    Give him a chance. 

    But Wesneski probably gets it

  • crunch (view)

    alzolay...bro...