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. Marlins: Series Thread (Games 105-107)

The Cubs enjoy the continued presence of Willson Contreras and Ian Happ as they continue the season post trade deadline. See below for matchups against the Marlins.


Game 105, Friday, August 5, 1:20 pm central

CHC: LHP Justin Steele

MIA: RHP Edward Cabrera


Game 106, Saturday, August 6, 1:20 pm central

CHC: LHP Drew Smyly (3-6, 4.42 ERA)

MIA: RHP Pablo Lopez (7-6, 3.41 ERA)


Game 107, Sunday, August 7, 1:20 pm central

CHC: RHP Adrian Sampson (0-2, 3.74 ERA)

MIA: RHP Jesus Lazardo (2-4, 3.97 ERA)

Comments

yet another david "4.2ip" ross pitcher exit.

steele did throw 93 pitches, but yeah...ross gets really sketchy once a pitcher gets into the 5th inning.

They may have a bunch of weak hitters, but record-wise, the Marlins are a much stronger team than the Cubs.  Who was it that said, "you are what your record says you are"?

"The Cardinals and Cubs are slated to play a two-game series on June 24-25, 2023, as part of the MLB London Series at the baseball-configured London Stadium, MLB and the MLB Player Association announced on Thursday."

neat.

the cubs + reds get the field of dreams game this year, and cubs + cards get the london game next year (first since 2019).

[ ]

In reply to by Dolorous Jon Lester

i was thinking about how embarrasing for MLB the FoD game would be once contreras + happ were gone.  they at least have those guys still around to make it a barely-above minor league quality game.

a way past prime joey votto and hoping it's a night where c.morel is actually producing doesn't make for an exciting game.

t.mancini only has 3 hits since being traded to HOU.

all 3 have been homers, the latest a grand slam.

Saturday am, Cubs just took him off the IL then dfa'd Andrelton Simmons. Chalk that up to a failed trade deadline flip exercise.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Only thing I can say in defense of the Simmons signing is that I did approve at the time of building more positional depth. After Hoerner, the SS cupboard was pretty bare (couldn't count on Morel breaking out).  In retrospect, maybe a AAAA utility type would have been better (Machado?)

contreras is still every bit a cheerleader.

higgins hits a homer and he's jumping around in the dugout.  ...and morel is, too, but i'm pretty sure he spends 16+ hours a day doing that no matter what's going on.

smyly gets a hell of an ovation coming back into the dugout after 6.2ip of great pitching.

cubs fans are appreciating the tallent left.  owners need to recognize and respect this.  this is small market bullshit and fans doing the best with what they're given is best left for teams like tampa bay and pittsburgh.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

The pen is going to be a bit sketchy, but I think the rest of the roster is looking as good as it has all year. Hopefully Morel's hammy isn't a major concern. Cubs have a very soft schedule for the next two weeks. Good time to go on a little run. 

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

This is how an August non-trade "trade" would work with regard to Drew Smyly...   

Orioles keep winning and determine they need a veteran starter.

Orioles (Mike Elias) calls-up Cubs (Hoyer / Hawkins) and says "If you put Drew Smyly on Outright Assignment Waivers, we promise to claim him." 

Now, from Baltimore's POV they can't be sure of being awarded the claIm because another club with a worse record and a better waiver claim priority could also make a claim and be awarded the claim. That's the chance the Orioles would be taking, but it wouldn't cost them anything if they don'r win the claim.

From the Cubs POV, it doesn't matter who wins the claim, as long as somebody does. They need to make sure that at least one club will for sure claim Smyly, because if he is placed on Outright Assignment Waivers in August and isn't claimed, the Cubs can't put him on Outright Assignment Waivers again until September 1st, and then Smyly would no longer be post-season eligible (the post-season roster-eligibility deadline is midnight 8/31).

As long as somebody makes a claim, the Cubs will get the $50,000 waiver claim fee and the claiming club assumes 100% of what remains of Smyly's contract (right now that's about $1.5M in 2022 salary plus his $5.25M 2024 salary or $1M club option buy-out). This is the best the Cubs can get for Smyly, and the longer they wait into August the smaller the salary offset and the greater the chance that Smyly might get hurt. (Injured players cannot be placed on Ouiright Assignment Waivers until after the conclusion of the MLB regular season). 
 
The Cubs are not going to extend Smyly a QO so they won't get a 2023 comp draft pick once they pay the post-2022 buy-out, so they might as well get what they can for him now, even if it's just $50,000 plus a 100% salary offset/savings.

And Smyly probably wouldn't mind going to a contender, either!.  

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

If you are wondering about Jason Heyward being placed on Outright Assignment Waivers, even if his knee was 100% a player with full or partial "no trade" rights (and Heyward is a "10/5 player" so he has an automatic full "no trade") cannot be placed on Outright Assignment Waivers unless and until he waives his "no trade" - IN ADVANCE. He can't wait to see who claims him and then waive his "no trade." (Not that any club would claim Heyward's albatross contract). 

totally missed that dwight smith died on july 22nd...congestive heart failure, 58 years old.

he was part of that late-80s/early-90s group of cubs kids that showed up with strong bats, but quickly faded...dwight smith, jerome walton, rick wilkins, etc...

he was a guy who stayed in good physical shape post-retirement.  tough one.

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.