Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

37 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (three slots are open)

Last updated 11-17-2023
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 20
Adbert Alzolay 
Michael Arias
Javier Assad
Ben Brown
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
Porter Hodge
* Bailey Horn
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Daniel Palencia
Michael Rucker
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 8
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
* Matt Mervis
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Luis Vazquez
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 7
Kevin Alcantara
Alexander Canario
* Pete Crow-Armstrong
Brennen Davis
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman

 


Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Cubs @ Brewers: Game 162

Submitted by Charlie on

Despite a victory over the Brewers in the penultimate game of the season, the Cubs found themselves eliminated from the final NL Wild Card spot as the Marlins defeated the Pirates. The final game of the season will have no playoff stakes--but it's always nice to end on a win and send a rival to the postseason with a little whiff of failure. The Cubs will rest Justin Steele and give Drew Smyly the start. Look for role players and youngsters to get some opportunities as well. Adrian Houser, 7-5, 4.32 ERA, will start for the Brewers. Join us in the comments as the 2023 Cubs finish out their final lap.

Tags
2023 Gameday Thread

Comments

Submitted by CTSteve on Sun, 10/01/2023 - 10:03 pm

The final day of a not-entirely-disappointing season. Thanks everyone for your insights and humor along the way.  

Hopefully, next year will be a bit longer. Go Cubs, '24!

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 10/01/2023 - 10:25 pm

tim wakefield has died.  curt schilling took his dignity in his last days.  curt schilling and being selfish + self centered, name a better combo.

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Sun, 10/01/2023 - 10:03 pm

Jordan Wicks and Hayden Wesneski were (technically) optioned to ACL Cubs (Mesa Spring Training Complex) today, but for those who believe that they will lose a day of MLB Service Time as the result of it... 

If a player is optioned to the minors during the period of time beginning on the Friday after Labor Day extending through the conclusion of the MLB regular season, the player accrues MLB Service Time while on Optional Assignment.  
NOTE: If a player is optioned to his club's Spring Training Complex because all of his club's minor league affiliates have concluded their regular seasons and post-seasons, the player will accrue MLB Service Time while on Optional Assignment. 

Wicks and Wesneski will be paid at the minor league rate rather that at the MLB rate for one day, however. The MLB rate for players making minimum salary is about $4,000 per day versus about $630 per day (minor league rate for Wesneski) and about $315 per day (minor league rate for Wicks because this is his first season on an MLB 40-man roster). 

Also (by rule), ALL players on optional assignment to the minors MUST be recalled on the day after conclusion of the MLB regular season, no matter how many days the player has been on optional assignment.  

In addition, for clubs not active in the post-season, all players on a 10-day or 15-day IL are automatically reinstated on the day after the final day of the MLB regular season. Players cannot be placed onto the 60-day IL or transferred to the 60-day IL once the MLB  regular season has concluded, extending throughout the off-season up until the first official day of Spring Training (the day pitchers & catchers report) when players can be placed into the 60-day IL (but only if the club's MLB 40-man roster is full). And minor league players cannot be placed on a minor league 60-day IL any earlier than the first day of the minor league club's regular season. 

However, players who are already on the 60-day IL are not  - AUTOMATICALLY - reinstated until the day after the conclusion of the World Series (for players who are MLB Article XX-B free-agents, like Michael Fulmer), or the 5th day after the final game of the World Series (everybody else). 

A minor league player on a minor league 60-day IL is automatically reinstated at 5 PM (Eastern) on the 5th day after the final game of the World Series, which is the exact same moment in time when players eligible to be a Rule 9 minor league 6YFA are automatically declared a free-agent, and the exact same moment in time when a club's minor league Domestic Reserve List is expanded by ten (formerly 180 to 190, now 165 to 175). 
 
Three more things happen tomorrow (the day after the final day of the MLB regular season): 

1. A player who was outrighted to the minors and had the right to elect free agency after being outrighted but deferred the choice until after the conclusion of the MLB regular season can elect free agency up until October 15th. Edwin Rios and David Bote are the two Cubs in this situation, and I expect Rios to file, but Bote will not because he very likely does not want to forfeit his 2024 $5.5M salary plus $1M buy-out post-2024); 

2. Injured players can be placed onto Outright Assignment Waivers (and can be outrighted if not claimed) beginning on the day after the final day of the MLB regular season and extending up until reserve lists are filed in mid-November;

3. Players who were signed after being selected in the previous Rule 4 Draft (MLB First-Year Player Draft) begin to count against a club's minor league Domestic Reserve List begining on the day after the final day of the MLB regular season. So for the Cubs that means 18 of the players signed after being selected in the draft will be automatically added to the club's minor league DRL tomorrow (the other two 2023 draft picks are on the ACL Cubs 60-day IL), and the Cubs will have 162 players on their DRL with 18 more players on a minor league 60-day IL who will be automatically reinstated at 5 PM (Eastern) on the 5th day after the final game of the World Series (offset by players who will be declared post-2023 Rule 9 minor league free agents at the exact same time). 

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 10/01/2023 - 10:06 pm

it would be nice to not see masterboney on this team in 2024.  he had 2 weeks of good production spread over an entire season and still managed to gets ABs even though his ceiling is "i hit singles."

carrying masterboney and madrigal is a redundant waste of a roster space and some teams wouldn't have either guy around.  both those guys ate a combined 450-ish PA this season.

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 10/01/2023 - 10:31 pm

waino K's in his pinch hit appearance.  STL crowd before and after the PA big pops...curtain call...all that stuff.

Submitted by azbobbop on Mon, 10/02/2023 - 10:27 am

Mastrobuoni can be a classic utility man. Left hand bat adds to his value.

Madrigal was a case of building up the asset value of a player to send him elsewhere. I don’t think he was ever viewed as a long term solution at third base. He can be a second division second baseman but not enough stick for third base and really can’t play shortstop. I expect he will be moved this winter.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Mon, 10/02/2023 - 10:05 pm

Some things to keep in mind about post-season 40-man roster "clean-up"...  

If a player is outrighted to the minors and he is not signed for the next year, his salary MUST (by rule) be at least 80% of what he actually was paid the previous season. So (for example), Ethan Roberts made the MLB minimum salary ($720K) in 2023 because he was on the MLB 60-day IL for the entire season, so the very least he can be paid in 2024 - ON A MINOR LEAGUE SPLIT SALARY - is about $575K, when the minor league split salary for a player like Roberts would normally be around $125K.

So the Cubs will almost certainly non-tender Roberts (which also gets him off the 40) rather than try to pass him through waivers  and outright him, and then they will offer him a minor league contract with a salary more in line with the normal minor league split (about $125K), plus an NRI to MLB Spring Training. 

Same goes for Codi Heuer and Brandon Hughes (if the Cubs want to drop them from the 40). It would be stupid to try and outright them, because even if the Cubs can do it, they would have to pay them too much in salary in 2024.  

Besides being able to re-sign the player for considerably less money, the other advantage of a non-tender is that the player does not have to be placed on waivers and so there is no risk in the player getting claimed by another club. 

The problem with a non-tender is that there is only one MLB Contract Tender Day (its the Friday prior to Thanksgiving), and so that's the only day when a player can be non-tendered. Also, the  player doesn't have to re-sign after being non-tendered, He is an unrestricted free-agent and can sign with another club. So if the club really doesn't want to lose the player off waivers but also doesn't want to pay him 80% of what he was paid the previous season and also doesn't want him to occupy a slot on the 40 in the off-season, a non-tender is the way to go, even if the player decides to sign elsewhere. Often times a club will negotiate a  minort league contract with the player in advance of the non-tender.  

A non-tender threat is also sometimes used to avoid the possibility of going to arbitration with a player who is "on the bubble" (40-man roster-wise) for the next season. This could apply to arbitration-eligibles Nick Burdi, Mark Leiter Jr, Nick Madrigal, Julian Merryweather, Mike Tauchman, and/or Patrick Wisdom. (Codi Heuer is also arbitration-eligible but because he is injured there is no way he will remain on the 40, and Adbert Alzolay and Justin Steele -- who will be a "super two" -- are also arbitration-eligible, but they are locks to be tendered). 

In this case the Cubs would make it clear to the player that they have no interest in possibly losing an arbitration hearing, so the club offers the player an MLB contract for the next season with a salary satisfactory to the Cubs, and if the player declines, he just gets non-tendered.   

So, the non-tender candidates are Roberts, Heuer, and Hughes  (virtual locks), but with the player very likely re-signed to a 2024 minor league contract with an NRI to MLB Spring Training, plus possibly arbitration-eligibles Burdi, Leiter, Madrigal, Merryweather, Tauchman, and Wisdom. Or any one of them could get traded (although trades involving players on MLB 40-man rosters are prohibited until after the conclusion of the World Series), but otherwise the player could just be non-tendered. (Of those six, I would say Merryweather is the one most-likely to be retained on the 40 no matter what). 

There are two other players (Michael Rucker and Jared Young) who could get outrighted (if not claimed off waivers), but if they are outrighted they can elect free-agency (and probably would). 

Then there are the guys who can be outrighted and can't elect free-agency if they are outrighted, but because the are MLB Rule 9 eligible if on a minor league roster they cannot be outrighted after 5 PM Eastern on the 5th day after the final game of the World Series (when minor league players are declared free-agents) or else until the player has signed a contract for next season.

These players are Miguel Amaya, Javier Assad, Alexander Canario, Jose Cuas, Jeremiah Estrada, Brandon Hughes, Miles Mastrobuoni, Christopher Morel, and Keegan Thompson. Obviously Amaya, Canario, Assad, and Morel (and probably Cuas) are safe, but if the Cubs want to drop any of the other players from the 40 (especially Estrada and Thompson) and they don't do it by outright assignment prior to the deadline after the World Series, a non-tender is the last chance to do it before Spring Training, since players in this position are usually advised by their agents to not sign their contract until they report to Spring Training.  

So there are very few players on the 40 who can be sent outright to the minors after MLB Contract Tender Day.  

One unusual problem the Cubs have this year is that the two minor leaguers most likely to be added to the 40 prior to the Rule 5 Draft (OF Yonathan Perlaza and SS Luis Vazquez) are eligible to be minor league free-agents on the 5th day after the World Series, so the Cubs will need to open up roster slots for Perlaza and Vazquez much sooner than usual. 

Once the six free agents have been removed from the 40 and the six players on the MLB 60-day IL have been reinstated, the 40-man roster will be full. So two slots will have to be opened by other means (not by free agents leaving and not by non-tender).  

I would say the most-likely moves to open up the two slots on the 40 needed for Perlaza and Vazquez will be by placing Rucker and Young on waivers, and if they are not claimed they will be outrighted, and once outrighted they will probably elect free-agency (unless the player signs a 2024 minor league successor contract). 

The other possibility is Jeremiah Estrada could get dropped from th 40, and while (unlike Rucker and Hughes) he cannot elect free-agency, if he does make it through waivers and gets outrighted, he would be declared a Rule 9 minor league 6YFA on the 5th day after the final game of the World Series. Again, the Cubs could offer him a 2024 minor league successor contract if he isn't claimed off waivers, but Estrada would not have to sign it. 

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 10/03/2023 - 10:35 am

i can't believe they gave 450-ish PA to 2 guys who combined for 21 doubles and 3 homers while david bote sat around in the minors with more pop in his bat even though he can play 3rd just as well as either of the other 2 guys who combined for .310 ob% and .330-ish slugging.

masterboney in particular was only "hot" for 2 weeks (mid-july/late-sept) out of the season and pure trash in between those games.

bote got paid 4m last year to ride the bus in iowa.  he gets 5.5m to do it next year.  a .323/.447/.548 spring training line couldn't save his slot in the majors last year...no idea what he'd have to do this spring to get him back on the 40-man.

[ ]

Submitted by Childersb3 on Tue, 10/03/2023 - 10:37 pm

We'll see what they do with 3B
Is it Candelario?
Does getting Alonso or signing Belli effect their 3B choice?
It's just a shame they didn't give it to Morel in May and let him get settled there.
He made some nice plays at 3B in his limited time.
I saw him in person make a great play toward the bag in Yankee Stadium. Looked smooth. Made a nice quick and accurate throw.
I'm seeing analysts predict Chapman to Cubs.
Defense over Offense is what they're saying.

Bote, Morel, or Slaughter would've been interesting to watch 3B this year.
But Jed was committed to showing "someone" Madrigal had value.
Of course, he did fine. But that's your point. He was just fine. We had a lot of guys who were just fine.

The Mastro love was just odd to me.
He was the OD RF. That was crazy to me.
We had Velazquez and Morel. Suzuki was a RH bat. But Mastro beat out all others b/c he had the LH bat. Just aggrevating.

[ ]

Submitted by crunch on Tue, 10/03/2023 - 10:00 pm

truth...and personally, i'd give him ABs (especially at 3rd) over the 2 singles-hitting-ceiling guys that got the shot.  i'm sure he can cover the ob% and defense while surpassing the power of anything masterboney and madrigal brought to the team.

i don't view bote as a solution at 3rd, but i find it hard to believe he couldn't outperform either of the main options they had there for a huge chunk of this season.

[ ]

Submitted by George Altman on Tue, 10/03/2023 - 10:35 pm

I hope their top priorities are Bellinger, 2 RPs better than Fulmer/Boxberger (ideally 1 LH), and a 3B (Chapman my 1st Choice). That will put them right up to $237-257M AAV limit, but I don't see a playoff berth doing anything less.

If they really want Alonso, Morel would be a good opening piece of that offer. 

Unfortunately, Stroman will opt in ($23.7M) and Smyly ($11.5M) will be back. Steele, Taillon, Assad, Wicks will be rotation pieces. Would love a SP2 FA but don't see how they keep an effective offense and improve their bullpen while adding that.

[ ]

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Tue, 10/03/2023 - 10:03 pm

It used to be that teams did not want to trade within their own division for PR reasons, but I don't see that with Ben Cherington in Pittsburgh or with Hoyer / Hawkins in Chicago, so the Cubs might target Pirates 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes and closer David Bednar.

Hayes is a Gold Glove defender, a decent enough hitter (105 OPS+ in 2023), and he's under control at a VERY reasonable price ($8.75M AAV) through 2029 (with a club option for 2030). 

Bednar is first-time salary arbitration-eligible post-2023 and under control through 2026. 

One thing about the Cubs is that they can afford to overpay (which is what they would have to do to get both Hayes and Bednar) with a package consisting of a decent young MLB position player to replace Hayes in the lineup (like Christopher Morel, who could play LF in Pittsburgh) and prospects like outfielders Alexander Canario, Owen Caissie, or Kevin Alcantara (Pirates pick one, leaving the other two for the Cubs), a power-hitting 1B-DH like Matt Mervis or Haydn McGeary (Pirates pick one, leaving the other one for the Cubs), SS Luis Vazquez (who is MLB-ready but will never play SS in Chicago), 3B B. J. Murray (who could replace Hayes at the hot corner in Pittsburgh by 2025 if not sometime in 2024, and he obviously would be blocked in Chicago if the Cubs get Hayes), and an MLB-ready SP like Hayden Wesneski. 

[ ]

Submitted by Childersb3 on Tue, 10/03/2023 - 10:46 pm

I understand this is a cost saving and control idea. But I wouldn't be happy giving up ONKC or Alcantara for Hayes and/or Bednar.

I'm not saying they aren't good players. They are. They've never been "tested" with playing for a good team, but that isn't their fault. They produce good results. But not Jaguar and Big Red.

Canario won't get to play for the Cubs, just like Velazquez, so he should probably go. Same for Mervis and Vazquez. Wesneski can get better but Bednar would certainly help us.

But not to big power hitting OFs that are 21 yrs old and younger at AA already. I'm still holding out hope for the ONKC-PCA-Jag left to right OF. I'm just not giving up on that.

Hayes for Morel kind of stings. I'd love for Morel to get a full year at 3B. Even if he failed there miserably, I'd like to give him a shot.

Phil always comes up with common sense angles. This trade idea fills needs for sure and fills them with cost saving effective players.

I'm thinking Morel goes to NYM for Alonso.

We'll see what Jed cooks up.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    reliever market is f'n crazy.  guys that aren't "lights out" but still good are getting crazy loot.  josh hader gonna get crazy paid if these early contracts are an indication of the market.

    emilio pagan - 2/16m (8m average)

    nick martinez - 2/26m (13m average)

    reynaldo lopez - 3/30m (10m average)

    it also makes me wonder how much j.assad is worth as a trade piece in this market...or how valuable he is to the team to save money.  these swing guy types are going to start making good loot for relievers.  in 2023 there were 5 pitchers in all of MLB that pitched 200+ IP...8 in 2022...4 in 2021.  Pre-COVID you have to go back to the strike shortened 1994 to find less than 10 pitchers with sub-200 IP (Greg Maddux the only guy in 94).

  • crunch (view)

    thomas hatch is going to fight ham in japan.  he was on PIT's 40-man.

  • crunch (view)

    morel played somewhere besides 3rd and SS...he got 8 innings in CF, 2 putouts and an assist.

  • crunch (view)

    ryan flaherty new cubs bench coach.

  • crunch (view)

    bellinger wins comeback player of the year.  the AL winner was liam hendricks and his 5ip before he got tommy john...setting himself up for a 2025 shot at the award.

  • Bill (view)

    I hope that Perlaza goes on to have a successful career.  On most Cubs teams prior to the current administration, he would have been one of their more highly ranked prospects.  As far as the others are concerned, one or more may well go on to be much better than expected, but unfortunately there is no way to tell which one at the present time.  You can't keep everyone.

  • crunch (view)

    s.gray signs with the cards...3/75m

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Another one of the nine Cubs post-2023 Rule 9 minor league 6YFA has signed, as RHP Carlos Guzman (acquired from the Tigers for Zack McKinstry at the end of Spring Training) signed a 2024 minor league contract with the Mets. 

     

    So RHRP Yovanny Cruz (SD), C-INF P. J. Higgins (CIN), and now Carlos Guzman (NYM) have already signed 2024 minor league contracts with new MLB organizations, and OF Yonathan Perlaza is headed for Korea (Hanhwa Eagles).

  • crunch (view)

    ...and back to 3rd for another game.  at this point i'm gonna hang back and when/if he actually plays 1st then i'll find it notable.  i am glad he's playing a good amount of 3rd, though...give the club one more good look at him there.  shrug

  • crunch (view)

    morel played SS last night (no errors)...hit a homer and a double.  he's got 2 of both in 19PA.

Click HERE for the last 50 comments