Cubs MLB Roster

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40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full) 

42 players are at MLB Spring Training 

31 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE at MLB Spring Training, and nine players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors. 
11 players are MLB Spring Training NON-ROSTER INVITEES (NRI) 

Last updated 3-17-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 17
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
Daniel Palencia
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

NRI PITCHERS: 5 
Colten Brewer 
Carl Edwards Jr 
* Edwin Escobar 
* Richard Lovelady 
* Thomas Pannone 

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

NRI CATCHERS: 2  
Jorge Alfaro 
Joe Hudson 

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

NRI INFIELDERS: 3 
David Bote 
Garrett Cooper
* Dominic Smith

OUTFIELDERS: 5
* Cody Bellinger 
Alexander Canario
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

NRI OUTFIELDERS: 1 
* David Peralta

OPTIONED:
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Ben Brown, RHP 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, RHP 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Keegan Thompson, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 

 



Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Cubs Decade in Review: 2000 Season

The New Year is fast approaching which means it's time for everyone's year in review articles. This year we get the added bonus of the end of decade. Due to the baseball schedule and offseason, I'll be looking at each individual season from the end of the previous season to the end of that season. Let's travel through the looking glass together and remember simpler times.

Don Baylor #25

The Cubs finished off 1999 at 67-95 and dead last in the NL Central. Failure at that level demanded change and the Cubs fired Jim Riggelman and hired Don Baylor in November of '99 to start off the offseason and lead the Cubs into 2000. Jeff Blauser, Mickey Morandini, Benito Santiago, Steve Trachsel, Lance Johnson and Gary Gaetti were all on their way out and in mid -December, GM E. Lynch pulled a trade for Ismael "Blister" Valdez and Eric Young from the Dodgers for Terry Adams, Brian Stephenson and Chad Ricketts.

Free agent signings included Ricky Guiterrez, Todd Van Poppel, and Joe Girardi. The immortal Augie Ojeda was acquired from the Baltimore Orioles. Manny Alexander was sent to the Red Sox for center fielder Damon Buford. Y2K hit and all the computers kept working.  The first move of the decade was signing reliever Brian Williams...he had a 9.62 ERA in 2000 and was released by the end of May. Willie Greene was signed..he played 109 games in 2000. The Cubs traded for Sarge Jr. from the Padres for Rodney Myers.

The Cubs season began in Tokyo versus the Mets and Jon Lieber defeated Mike Hampton with Rick Aguilera getting the save. Opening Day Lineup:

E. Young - 2B, D. Buford - CF, M. Grace - 1B, S. Sosa - RF, H. Rodriguez - LF, S. Andrews - 3B, J. Nieves - SS, J. Girardi - C, J. Lieber - P

Kyle Farnsworth started the 2nd game in Tokyo...the Cubs lost 5-1.

Kevin Tapani, Andrew Lorraine and Scott Downs rounded out the 5-man rotation for April. 7 years later Scott Downs would become a good reliever for the Toronto Blue Jays. Ruben Quevedo made his debut in relief in April, he would get his first start at the end of May. Julio Zuleta made his debut in April. The team finished March and April at 10-17. On May 2nd, Kerry Wood made his 2000 debut after missing all of 1999 after Tommy John surgery.  The game was against the Houston Astros and he pitched 6 innings and struck out four and the Cubs won 11-1. They finished May 10-16 and Wood finished the season on 8-7 with a 4.80 ERA and 137 IP. His 8.7 K/9 rate was the lowest of his career (not including the 19.2 IP he threw in 2006).

On May 11, Glenallen Hill hit a home run off Steve Woodard that hit the rooftop of a building across the street. A legend was born...

After a disappointing 1999 and terrible start to 2000, GM E. Lynch offered to resign in mid-May, president Andy MacPhail convinced him to stay. In the June draft, the Cubs selected Luis Montanez with the third pick...Chase Utley went at #15 to the Phillies. The Cubs also drafted Bobby Hill, Todd Wellemeyer, Ryan Jorgenson, Dontrelle Willis, Jon Leicester, Jason Dubois, Buck Coats, Carmen Pignatiello and Jason Szuminski in that draft. The Cubs reacquired Brant Brown for Dave Martinez on June 9th in a deal with the Texas Rangers. The Cubs went 12-13 in June.

On July 19, Lynch quit anyway and MacPhail took over as GM. He traded Glenallen Hill to the New York Yankees two days later for Ben Ford and Oswaldo Mairena. On July 25th, he traded Ismael Valdez back to the Dodgers for Jamie Arnold, Jorge Piedra and cash. Valdez made 12 starts for the Cubs and had a 5.37 ERA. At the trade deadline, Henry Rodriguez was traded to the Florida Marlins for David Noyce and eventual pinch-hitter extraordinaire Ross Gload. Scott Downs was sent to Montreal for Rondell White. The Cubs had their best month of the year, going 17-9 in July.

They finished the last two months at 17-42 and finished the second straight season in last place in the NL Central - 65-97.  They were 11-29 in games decided by 5 runs or more. Will Ohman made his Cubs debut in September. Sammy Sosa only hit 50 home runs. It was Mark Grace's last season as a Cub.

Comments

Wow. I remember a game where Valdez hit a double and when he got to second he started to grab his calf and looked to the bench to try to get out of the game and the bench just ignored him. "Monster" Hill-another marvel of modern science. Ed Lynch- still with the Cubs in some capacity?

My fondest Don Baylor memory is during a rainy WGN broadcast when the camera man convienently turned to Don Baylor right at the point in which his finger was up his nose so far, all you could see was a knuckle. The WGN camera crew is well known for their timing.

I fondly remember the ole Baylor offensive strategy. 1. Lead off with a hit 2. Sacrifice the runner to 2nd 3. Sacrifice the runner to 3rd 4. Pray for a hit or wild pitch Not a lot of heavy scoring during the Baker era. The fact he was hired AFTER he employed this same strategy in Colorado, tells us all we ever need to know about how well the Cubs front office has been run over the years.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Yeah, that's nice. The Bulls have/had done this with Hinrich and Nocioni. I would want to do this if I was a player because that money is worth more now than it is later. By year 4 or 5 you are totally fucking loaded anyhow, so who gives a fuck how much you make?

for all the hand wringing over hendry not doing anything, it's not like there was much to do. trade milton, find replacement, sign a reliever, maybe sign a starter, explore 2nd base situation (which seems to be already settled anyway with baker/fontenot unless one becomes trade bait). it's not a big shopping list...the team's biggest missed chance so far is not being able to sign cameron in time to pay him 8m a year for a couple years...meh...no biggie, imo.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

not batting one of the team's best power hitters with low ob% first might help...so would him playing a full season.
same player batting first and they went to the playoffs in 2007 and 2008 with a great offense, if they're better next year, Soriano's spot in the batting order won't be the reason. They lost a talented pitcher in Harden and haven't replaced him and are about to give away Bradley, so they won't be marching out the same team.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

given that i say you can march the same team out there and "somehow" win more games doesn't mean i'm approaching this from a historical statistical perspective. soriano was wasted in the 1 slot and moving him out of that slot i can see nothing but good happening for his skill set. it was people who looked at historical data that say he's a leadoff hitter and somehow turns to total crap when he moves elsewhere...as if anything changes at all with his plate approach or how he's pitched to.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Hendry made the team significantly weaker last off season. Without making some big changes this offseason expect the same kind of season in '10. Kicking Miles out the door was a good first step in reversing the '08-09 offseason shitfest, but, and I'm sorry to say this, but the bullpen needs a serious overhaul before the team will do much. Relievers lost at least 8 winnable games in the first half of the season, maybe more. I would even go as far as to say a good bullpen would have put the Cubs in the playoffs this year. With even a small lead at the all-star break and Ramirez back off the DL, I'm not certain the Cards would have been such aggresive buyers at the trade deadline.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

that's the thing..i don't see a reason to believe big changes have to be made to a team that's already got it's big pieces figured out. ultimately we're bitching about the support role taken up by milton...who's contribution is on the same level as fuku (and hopefully soto). the team has 3 legit power hitters up the middle...that's a luxury a lot of teams don't have. cubs paid heavy for it, but they got it. they're looking an above average support player (milton or replacement) and making the pen stronger. big whoop.

Well the end of the decade actually comes Dec. 31, 2010, but who wants to be picky? When it does come, there will be some big changes in store for this club. The window is closing fast, sorta like they talked about for the Bears after their 2006 Super Bowl appearance. I would not want the job of GM - I'd rather be the President so I can tell GM (General Motors) what to do...

[ ]

In reply to by The Joe

There are two issues of note here: First, sometimes people have a hard time counting because they do basic subtraction and forget to count the first or last item in the sequence. The end of the first year will start as year zero and finish at the beginning of year 1. So we are 1 year into the decade on January, 1, xx01, We are 10 years into the decade on January 1, xx10. you can't substract 1 from 1000 because that equals 999. Mind blowing stuff. When the new decade/millennium starts depends on when you start counting. Second, the who millennium debate traces back to the initial western calendar. The king/president of England/Europe (it was actually a roman) instructed a monk named Doinysius Exiguus to make a calendar and assign a number year to it based on when the Anno Domini started. He did so and numbered year 1 to be the first complete year following the birth of Jesus. In doing so, year zero would be considered to be the complete year in which Jesus was born, but is often referred to as 1BC. So 1 BC and 1AD start and finish exactly one year apart, meaning there is no actual year zero. Or to be more precise, we started counting at the beginning of year number 1, not year number zero. Because of this second point, the end of the first year AD, should have been January 1, 0002. This is convenient because it allows us to count simply (see point 1), but we're losing a year when we do so. If you count up to year 10, you'll have ten fingers up, but in actuality you're counting to the beginning of the tenth year. The end of the tenth year is January 1, 0011. So while convention logic is to say that the new millenium began on January 1, 2000, anyone who cares to view it precisely realizes that January 1, 2000 is the beginning of the 1000th year AD. All the people who celebrated on this night were in fact a year early. The true millennium started on January 1, 2001. I got drunk both years celebrating, but I find it an interesting story to share.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

I'm not being facetious when I say this: You're a smart motherfucker. I'd never intentionally choose to associate with you or someone like you in my real life, but if you're looking for a pat on the back for being smart, consider this your pat. Yay TRN.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

So to my knowledge, there is no right or wrong in this. But I'll try to make my case for the decade ending and starting at zero. Of course when we count things, we start with 1. But not when considering aspects of time. When you are born, you are zero. Once you've been around for a year, you are 1. Start a stopwatch? 1 will show up after a second, minute, or hour has passed. Maybe think of a car around a race track. If counting laps, you would not say 1 until the lap is complete. So my best logic goes against what sir Neal states. Perhaps I'm the rebel of the given domain, though.

[ ]

In reply to by kmokeefe

The point is that years are not an abstract. Years were started with 1 AD, consequently the first decade was not finished until 10 AD. A decade as vorare pointed out is just 10 years. From June 17th 1994 to June 16th 2004 is a decade. If you start counting decades from year 1, then 2010 not the start of a new deacade. Taking that example forward, Rob's type of lists could start from whenever you think the Cubs started. And as we discussed at work yesterday, the Myans didn't think the world was going to end in 2012, they just need to make a new calender.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

You keep saying years started with 1 AD like it's a fact. Traditional calendars are mixed on this, the popular Gregorian supports your claim, but Buddhist and Hindu calendars implement a year zero. It just depends on your view of a year. If you consider it a discrete variable, then you start with 1. If it's viewed as a continuous variable, where counts refer to intervals, than you would start with 0. The Gregorian calendar is definitely the most widely used, and according to it the decade does not end until 2011 begins. But it's just established by a choice made a long time ago. It's not factual.

[ ]

In reply to by kmokeefe

That calendar is what the names/numbers of our years mean. So in the regard that the world recognizes 2009 as 2009, it is a fact. It is also a fact that the first year was called year 1 at it's beginning and throughout that year. They could have called it year zero and it would agree with the baby example above. Had they been living in the moment and concluded that they were living through their first year AD that would be more understandable than to label the first year to start as 1 and finish as 2. It really is nothing more than an academic point. Doesn't really matter In the regard that year zero doesn't mean anything in the grand cosmos then 2009 doesn't mean shit.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

I took the ACT... when they run the decade leaders, they start with year 0, for example Mark Grace had the most hits in the '90's from 1990-1999, so I'm sticking with that.. although I certainly understand the logic behind starting with 1, there's no reason to start the revolution with a harmless decade in review post that just about everyone is doing now.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Thank you. But I'd rather have speed first-to-third which will never happen...

[ ]

In reply to by JoePepitone

Sandberg was a drafted that low because everyone was sure he was going to play college football, following his setting the state record for passing yards. No one bothered actually asking him. Grace is a good one. It seems like there was another guy recently I'm forgetting.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Bold move. They'll only build something if it means it'll get used. Clearly Mesa didn't finance the half-built apartment building behind my house that's been there for 3 years.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

The body language eminating from the Ricketts mob is not good for Mesa at the moment. It says a lot that they happily flew an entire posse down to Naples recently while a nervous Mesa group is flying themselves up to Chicago because they can't get the Cubs to tell them which sites, if any, they're interested in.

quickly looking through Google Maps, Fort Myers would be the closest to the Cubs and that's an hour drive (Twins and Red Sox). Everything else ranges from 2-4 hour drive... In Arizona, the longest drive is 2 hours to Tucson which most of the vets skip.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Man, Ricketts is not endearing himself to the fans at all so far. It might seem relatively minor to some, but I think moving from AZ to Naples will really upset A LOT of fans. What does Naples have to offer besides humidity and thousands of 90 year olds on the brink of death? The Cubs have planted roots in Mesa, and developed a loyal following down there. I know we've heard AZ Phil's take on the likelihood of moving and why, but I'd love to hear his take on how he would personally feel about it if they did move. I know we'd lose an amazing amount of valuable information. Anyway, between not signing anything resembling a valuable player for 2010 and potentially pissing a lot of people off with moving Spring Training, Ricketts kind of seems like a huge douche.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

I don't know, isn't Florida a favorite vacation spot for the Midwest? also, considerably closer...
Not as much as Phoenix, I think. I've heard Phoenix referred to as Chicago's far, far southwest suburb. I'd understand the move more if they weren't talking about Naples. Two hours from the other Grapefruit league teams, and four hours from Disney World? Seems to undercut any potential baseball or monetary reasons for the move.

[ ]

In reply to by billybucks

I looked in up when we were having our Cubs fans cannot be racist debate, and his ERA with the Cubs was pretty darned good, like 3.48 or something. The problem was that he just refused to hold a 1-run lead in the 9th. 2 run lead, fine. 1 run lead in the 8th? Fine. 1 run lead in the 9th? We lose.

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

He had 13 blown saves, 29 saves and 4 holds as a Cub. In 2005 he's blown saves were: 1 run 1 run 1 run - at which point he was 4/7 and lost his closer role. 1 run 6th inning - actually a blown hold. His big problem was probably that the 2005 Cubs weren't any good. In 2004 he blew 9 saves. These are how many runs he had to play with by game. 1 run 1 run 1 run 1 run 1 run 1 run 1 run 3 (but came in with the tying run at the plate after Dempster started inning) 1 run That's really pretty amazing. For a year and a month he blew 13 saves - but he had no margin of error in EVERY save he blew. That has to be some sort of record. Dusty also probably overworked him late in '04.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    SF snags b.snell...2/62m

  • Cubster (view)

    AZ Phil: THAT is an awesome report worth multiple thanks. I’m sure it will be worth reposting in an “I told you so” in about 2-3 years.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The actual deadline to select a post-2023 Article XX-B MLB free agent signed to 2024 minor league contract (Cooper, Edwards, and Peralta) to the MLB 40-man roster is not MLB Opening Day, it is 12 PM (Eastern) this coming Sunday (3/24). 

    However, the Cubs could notify the player prior to the deadline that the player is not going to get added to the 40 on Sunday, which would allow the player to opt out early. Otherwise the player can opt out anytime after the Sunday deadline (if he was not added to the 40 by that time). 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Today is an off day for both the Cubs MLB players and the Cubs minor league players.  

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    For those of you keeping track, so far nine players have been called up to Mesa from the Cubs Dominican Academy for Minor League Camp and they will be playing in the ACL in 2024: 

    * bats or throws left 

    Angel Cepeda, INF 
    * Miguel Cruz, P
    Yidel Diaz, C 
    * Albert Gutierrez, 1B
    Fraiman Marte, P  
    Francis Reynoso, P (ex-1B) 
    Derniche Valdez, INF 
    Edward Vargas, OF 
    Jeral Vizcaino, P 

    And once again, despite what you might read at Baseball Reference and at milb.com, Albert Gutierrez is absolutely positively a left-handed hitter (only), NOT a right-handed hitter.

    Probably not too surprisingly, D. Valdez was the Cubs #1 prospect in the DSL last season, Cepeda was the DSL Cubs best all-around SS prospect not named Derniche Valdez, Gutierrez was the DSL Cubs top power hitting prospect not named Derniche Valdez, E. Vargas was the DSL Cubs top outfield prospect (and Cepeda and E. Vargas were also the DSL Cubs top two hitting prospects), Y. Diaz was the DSL Cubs top catching prospect, and M. Cruz was the DSL Cubs top pitching prospect. 

    F. Marte (ex-STL) and J. Vizcaino (ex-MIL) are older pitchers (both are 22) who were signed by the Cubs after being released by other organizations and then had really good years working out of the bullpen for the Cubs in the DSL last season. 

    The elephant in the room is 21-year old Francis Reynoso, a big dude (6'5) who was a position player (1B) at the Cardinals Dominican Academy for a couple of years, then was released by STL in 2022, and then signed by the Cubs and converted to a RHP at the Cubs Dominican Academy (and he projects as a high-velo "high-leverage" RP in the states). He had a monster year for the DSL Cubs last season (his first year as a pitcher). 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    DJL: The only players who definitely have opt outs are Cooper, Edwards, and Peralta (Opening Day, 5/1, and 6/1), and that's because they are post-2023 Article XX-B MLB free agents who signed 2024 minor league contracts and (by rule) they get those opt outs automatically. 

    Otherwise, any player signed to a 2024 minor league contract - MIGHT or - MIGHT NOT - have an opt out in their contract, but it is an individual thing, and if there are contractual opt outs the opt out(s) might not necessarily be Opening Day. It could be 5/1, or 6/1, or 7/1 (TBD).

    Because of their extensive pro experience, the players who most-likely have contractual opt outs are Alfaro, Escobar, and D. Smith, but (again), not necessarily Opening Day. 

    Also, just because a player has the right to opt out doesn't mean he will. 

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    I love the idea that Madrigal heads to Iowa in case Morel can’t handle third.

    The one point that intrigues me here is Cooper over Smith. I feel like the Cubs really like Smith and don’t want to lose him. Could be wrong. He def seems like an opt out if he misses the opening day roster

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Childersb3: Both Madrigal and Wisdom can be optioned without any restriction. Their consent is not required. 

    They both can be outrighted without restriction, too (presuming the player is not claimed off waivers), but if outrighted they can choose to elect free agency (immediately, or deferred until after the end of the MLB season).

    If the player is outrighted and elects free-agency immediately he forfeits what remains of his salary.

    If he accepts the assignment and defers free agency until after the conclusion of the season, he continues to get his salary, and he could be added back to the 40 anytime prior to becoming a free-agent (club option). 

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Phil, 
    Madrigal and Wisdom can or cannot refuse being optioned to the Minors?
    If they can refuse it, wouldn't they elect to leave the Cubs org?

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    In my opinion, the biggest "affirmative" mistake the Cubs made in the off-season (that is, doing something they should not have done), was blowing $9M in 2024 AAV on Hector Neris. What the Cubs actually need is an alternate closer to be in the pen and available to close if Alzolay pitched the day before (David Robertson would have been perfect), because with his forearm issue last September, I would be VERY wary of over-using Alzolay. I'm not even sure I would pitch him two days in a row!  

    And of course what the Cubs REALLY need is a second TOR SP to pair with Justin Steele. That's where the Cubs are going to need to be willing to package prospects (like the Padres did to acquire Dylan Cease, the Orioles did to acquire Corbin Burnes, and the Dodgers did to acquire Tyler Glasnow). Obviously those ships have sailed, but I would say right now the Cubs need to look very hard at trying to acquire LHSP Jesus Luzardo from the Marlins (and maybe LHP A. J. Puk as well).