Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

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


28 players are on the MLB ACTIVE LIST, plus seven are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, two are on the 10-DAY IL, and three are on the 15-DAY IL


Last updated 9-22-20239
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 14
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Daniel Palencia
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Marcus Stroman
Jameson Taillon
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 6
Nico Hoerner
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom
* Jared Young

OUTFIELDERS: 6
* Cody Bellinger
Alexander Canario
* Pete Crow-Armstrong
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman

OPTIONED: 7
Keven Alcantara, OF 
Ben Brown, P  
Brennen Davis, OF 
Jeremiah Estrada, P
Caleb Kilian, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Michael Rucker, P

10-DAY IL: 2
Jeimer Candelario, 1B
Nick Madrigal, INF

15-DAY IL: 3
Adbert Alzolay, P
Brad Boxberger, P 
Michael Fulmer, P 

60-DAY IL: 4
Nick Burdi, P
Codi Heuer, P
* Brandon Hughes, P
Ethan Roberts, P
 

Minor League Rosters

Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Cubs @ Diamondbacks: Series Thread (Games 148-150)

Submitted by Charlie on Fri, 09/15/2023 - 09:18 am

The Cubs took only one game from the last place Rockies in a series full of mistakes. They had Thursday to travel and regroup. Their rebound opportunity comes against the Diamondbacks in Arizona. Both teams face Wild Card stakes as the season nears its conclusion. Marcus Stroman has been building up his arm and could be pushes for an early return to big league action as the Cubs scramble for the postseason. See below for daily matchups.

 

Game 148, Friday, September 15, 8:40 pm central
CHC: LHP Justin Steele (16-3, 2.49 ERA)
ARZ: RHP Brandon Pfaadt (1-8, 6.25 ERA)

Game 149, Saturday, September 16, 7:10 pm central
CHC: RHP Kyle Hendricks (6-7, 3.71 ERA)
ARZ: RHP Zach Davies (2-5, 6.81 ERA)

Game 150, Sunday, September 17, 6:10 pm central
CHC: LHP Jordan Wicks (3-0, 1.99 ERA)
ARZ: RHP Ryne Nelson (7-8, 5.53 ERA)

Tags
2023 Series Thread
Arizona Diamonbacks

Comments

Submitted by crunch on Fri, 09/15/2023 - 09:11 pm

pfaadt vs steele?  it's like ARZ has given up before taking the field.

yeah he's a very high end prospect because of his stuff and control, but he gives up hits and way too many homers since he left A-ball a couple years ago.  he's overmatched and playing on a team trying to make the playoffs.

...and hendricks vs z.davies...battle of the 88mph titans.  well, one generic-level titan and another guy that that's terrible, but for some reason is getting a chance to pitch for a team trying to make the playoffs.

cubs better win at least 1 of these and they should win both.

Submitted by crunch on Fri, 09/15/2023 - 09:34 pm

tauchman CF (PCA bench), morel DH...

madrigal seems to be the main 3rd by far with candel gone.  since he came back in july his line is .243/.282/.342 in 119 PA.

[ ]

Submitted by Jackstraw on Fri, 09/15/2023 - 09:51 pm

Which I don't immediately understand.  Cubs homepage (FWIW) has Steele-Hendricks-Wicks as listed starters for AZ series, and Cubs have an off day Mon.  First potential need for Stroman as a starter is Tues.  Are Cubs planning on having Stro be a reliever to build back up, or are they now so convinced in the rest of the bullpen (?!?) that they can go one bullpen arm short? Palencia was a danger, but could certainly eat an inning or two when the Cubs were up/down 5.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Sat, 09/16/2023 - 09:51 pm

A player on an MLB IL cannot be sent on a minor league rehab assignment without his consent, and if the player consents to a rehab assignment he can designate which minor league affiliate to which he will be assigned, and once on a minor league rehab assignment the player can stop it at any time. 

The only power the club has is that the the club does not have to send a player on a minor league rehab assignment. 

Evan though sending an injured player to a club's Arizona or Florida Spring Training site to rehab is not considered to be minor league rehab assignment, the player still must consent to it, and he can unilaterally decide to leave at any time once he is there. 

Obviously Stroman agreed to go to Mesa to rehab on the back fields by throwing bullpens and "live" BP on his own schedule, but he also must NOT have agreed to go on a rehab assignment to Iowa or Tennessee.

He must have shown the training staff and coaches in Mesa that he was healthy enough to pitch, but since he was not stretched out sufficiently to be an MLB SP, the Cubs really had no choice except to reinstate him from the IL and put him in the bullpen (or use him as a two-inning "opener").  

You might have noticed that Brandon Hughes and Nick Burdi had no problem accepting a minor league rehab assignment and staying on it, but that'e in large part because while they are on a minor league rehab assignment they accrue MLB Service Time, get paid at the major league rate instead of at the minor league split rate, and they even get major league meal money.

Same thing for Stroman, EXCEPT unlike Hughes and Burdi, he can't be optioned to the minors if he declines to go on a rehab assignment to a minor league affiliate. 

If Hughes and/or Burdi had declined to go on a minor league rehab assignment or decide to stop the rehab assignment at some point after initially agreeing to accept it (which is their right), the Cubs would just reinstate them from the IL and option them to the minors. So in the case of Hughes and Burdi, it's better to just  accept the rehab assignment, stay on it as long as you possibly can, and keep your mouth shut.   

Submitted by crunch on Fri, 09/15/2023 - 09:50 pm

happ and suzuki HR #18 for the both of them...trying to join the 20+ HR club before the season's end with bellinger, swanson, morel, and wisdom.

Submitted by crunch on Sat, 09/16/2023 - 09:31 pm

suzuki and morel swapped RF/DH last night a bit before the game, but suzuki is back in RF tonight (morel DH).  PCA rests again with tauchman getting CF.

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 09/17/2023 - 09:01 pm

dross loves using cuas with men on during mid-inning pitching changes.  i mean, it's worked out so far, but it seems like gambling with how wild he is.

Submitted by crunch on Mon, 09/18/2023 - 09:20 pm

a.wainwright throws 7ip of scoreless ball vs MIL (7ip 4h 2bb 3k).  it's his only scoreless outing of 2023 and his first since August of last year.  he did it at home and the crowd was giving him huge props during the 7th while he was getting through it.  he has been absolutely consistently terrible this year.

also, contreras hit his 20th HR, 3 seasons in a row of 20+ homers...4 if you want to toss out the 2000 COVID season.

Submitted by Cubster on Mon, 09/18/2023 - 09:00 pm

Kyle Schwarber hit his #45 HR in the Phils win tonight, on the flip side, his batting average is .197. 

Recent comments

  • crunch 09/27/2023 - 09:02 pm (view)

    happ finally gets HR #20.  he joins bellinger, morel, suzuki, swanson, and wisdom with 20+ HR.

  • crunch 09/27/2023 - 09:29 pm (view)

    took tailon 5 pitches to give up a HR to the 2nd batter of the game.  phew...

  • crunch 09/27/2023 - 09:59 pm (view)

    candel's back and playing 1st.  tauchman DH'ing...  j.young optioned to AAA...forgot he was here.

  • crunch 09/27/2023 - 09:49 pm (view)

    he's wearing this one for life whether he likes it or not.  you can't pull a brant brown in the last week of the season when it's 4 teams going for 2 playoff spots...especially with your last games going forward vs teams that are 1st place in their division.

    he might as well do whatever it takes to move on because it's part of the drama of this chase for the post-season no matter how the cubs do here on out.

  • Arizona Phil 09/27/2023 - 09:33 pm (view)

    FWIW, the year Brant Brown dropped the fly ball in Milwaukee the Cubs made the playoffs anyway, although they did have to play a tie-breaker play-in game with the Giants at Wrigley Field to get in as the N. L. Wild Card team (there was only one Wild Card team in each league back then)...  

  • Charlie 09/27/2023 - 09:16 pm (view)

    Ron Santo's voice came out of me while watching.

    I am really hoping for a bounce back by Suzuki tonight. That error in that moment could really get in your head -- and unfairly shift the public perception of the player for a long time.

  • Arizona Phil 09/27/2023 - 09:28 pm (view)

    F NOLDARAN: 

    The Cubs have no control with respect to Marcus Stroman or Drew Smyly exercising their player options for 2024. 

    Stroman will get $21M in 2024 if he exercises his player option and Smyly gets $10.5M in 2024 (includes a $2M salary escalator based on IP in 2023) if he exercises his player option (both likely, especially Smyly). 

    Kyle Hendricks has a $16M club option for 2024 or else a $1.5M buy-out, and it remains to be seen if the Cubs will exercise the option (which is really just a $14.5M savings because of the buy-out). I would think the Cubs will exercise the club option, because they can always trade him.  

    Also, the Cubs will be paying performance bonuses post-2023 to Yan Gomes (either $250K or $500K based on games started at catcher) and Smyly ($2M based on IP). Also, Cody Bellinger gets as $1M bonus if he wins N. L. Comeback Player of the Year Award (which is very likely).

    So with the $3M+ in performance bonuses still to be paid, the Cubs 2023 payroll AAV will likely end up just slightly under the 2023 MLB $232M CBT threshold, possibly within $1M (TBD).  

    BTW, as things stand right now it appears that the Cubs will have somewhere in the vicinity of $30M in 2024 salary to spend on additions to the roster (I am presuming that Bellinger will opt-out, that Stroman and Smyly will not opt out, that the Cubs will pick up the club options on Hendricks and Gomes but will not pick-up the club option on Brad Boxberger, and that the Cubs will tender 2024 contracts to only three or four of the arbitration eligible guys -- Steele and Alzolay for sure, probably Merryweather, plus MAYBE Tauchman and/or Leiter), with Nick Burdi, Codi Heuer, Nick Madrigal, and Patrick Wisdom likely to be non-tendered (or traded prior to being non-tendered if another club is interested). 

    However, I suspect that the Cubs will attempt to re-sign Heuer and Burdi -- and Tauchman and/or Leiter if they are non-tendered -- to 2024 minor league contracts with an NRI to Spring Training. Brandon Hughes and Ethan Roberts are not arbitration-eligible but they also are likely to be non-tendered and then the Cubs will attempt to sign them to 2024 minor league contracts with an NRI to Spring Training.

    MLB Contract Tender Day this year is November 17th (the Friday immediately prior to Thanksgiving), so I expect to see a lot of transaction-related activity at that time throughout MLB. 

    However, the deadline to add Rule 5 eligible players to the MLB 40-man roster is PRIOR TO MLB Contract Tender Day, so the Cubs will need to drop as many players from the 40 as roster slots are needed PRIOR TO MLB Contract Tender Day.

    The players presently on the 40 who are most likely to be Designated for Assignment (and outrighted if not claimed) to clear slots on the 40 prior to MLB Contract Tender Day for Rule 5 Draft eligibles would probably be Michael Rucker, Jared Young, Jeremiah Estrada, and Caleb Kilian (in that order), although the Cubs could also just DFA one or more of the players they have  already decided to non-tender and not re-sign (like Madrigal and/or Wisdom, and maybe Leiter and/or Tauchman). 

    At 9 AM (Eastern) on the day after the final game of the World Series (two or three weeks prior to MLB Contract Tender Day) is when unsigned MLB Article XX-B players are automatically declared free-agents (they do NOT have to file, it's automatic), so that's when Bellinger, Boxberger, Candelario, and Fulmer will be removed from the Cubs MLB 40-man roster, and then at 5 PM (Eastern) on the 5th day after the final game of the World Series is when all players still on a club's MLB 60-day IL (Burdi,  Heuer, Hughes, and Roberts) are automatically reinstated to the 40-man roster.

    So by 5 PM (Eastern) on the 5th day after the final game of the World Series, the Cubs 40-man roster will likely be full (subtracting free-agents Bellinger, Boxberger, Candelario, and Fulmer, and adding Burdi, Heuer, Hughes, and Roberts back from the 60-day IL). 

    5 PM Eastern on the 5th day after the final game of the World Series is also the point in time when unsigned minor league players eligible to be a post-2023 MLB Rule 9 6YFA are automatically declared free-agents, unless the player is added to the MLB 40-man roster or has signed a 2024 minor league successor contract. This will impact the Cubs with respect to OF Yonathan Perlaza and SS Luis Vazquez (two legit prospects who are eligible to be minor league free-agents post-2023).  

  • Sonicwind75 09/27/2023 - 09:07 pm (view)

    Ron Santo's "ohhhh nooooo" is what immediately came to my mind. 

  • crunch 09/26/2023 - 09:52 pm (view)

    in 1 week of play, masterboney has gone from a line of .206/.289/.265 to .262/.333/.328

    11 hits and 1 walk in 21 PA.  9 singles, 2 doubles.

  • crunch 09/26/2023 - 09:36 pm (view)

    that was a true kick in the teeth loss.  6 run lead blown.  ARZ won.  CIN won.  MIA postponed (vs NYM)

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