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

Mike Wellman's Archives

Connecting Dots

Before recently throwing in with Super Agent Scott Boras, Super Free Agent Carlos Correa was represented by the mega-agency that’s been buying up MiLB teams, including the Iowa Cubs. The former sub-rivalry with the Memphis Redbirds will now be a sib-rivalry since the teams share the same owner. Strange bedfellows. But that’s beside my primary point of interest. The I-Cubs’ ownership had been local for decades, most recently under the community-spirited auspices of a man whose resume includes a Pulitzer Prize in journalism.

Business Trips

Odd that both the C-Cubs & I-Cubs are idle today.

The locals have punched their playoff ticket and begin a best-of-five series in Round Rock tomorrow night, albeit with a carcass of a roster now that fire marshals have revised MLB dugout capacities upward. Game three and any others required are slated for Des Moines over the weekend.

The Incredible Shrinking Lead

Down five games in ten days and plunging like a stock market correction, the I-Cub divisional lead that’s been in double digits much of the summer has been cut to five as the PCL regular season enters its final week. Granted, it still sits at five with only eight games remaining, but the last four are versus the onrushing Memphis Redbirds, winners of nine of their last ten (including a series sweep of Iowa), here in Des Moines, culminating with the season finale on Labor Day.

Do All Roads Lead to Losses?

The I-Cubs headed to Memphis late last week with a road record that was the envy of their parents and a magic number of nine. Had they swept the four-game set with the Redbirds, they’d be returning home tonight with a chance to clinch their quarter of the PCL and lock in their spot in the divisional playoffs. Instead of the broomers, alas, they were doomed and got broomed.

Balls

J-Hey reached double figures Tuesday night, less than halfway through the season after managing only eight all of last year, and he’s not the only one who’s putting up some impressive HR numbers in 2019.

Old Ballplayers Never Die

Jackson (Red) Hollis passed away last fall. Cancer finally got him out at the age of 90. He was a fixture at Principal Park, home of the Iowa Cubs, where he preached the gospel of baseball for even more seasons than he played the game professionally.

I wrote an homage to him last summer for our local paper near the end of the minor league season that sketches an outline of who he was and why he is missed.

KB KOs Fans on the Farm

I’ve been up pretty close at the KB circus here in Des Moines this week. After watching Tuesday night and yesterday afternoon from the camera well adjacent to the I-Cub dugout while our hero played 3B, I am hoping to perch in the LF corner this afternoon since he is penciled in at that spot and hitting leadoff today. Impressions so far: He is so damn disciplined at the plate!

ASB Filler: Bush League Ballhawking

On I-Cub Opening Day in Des Moines this year, I bundled up and took a seat right behind the bullpen of the Oklahoma City Dodgers. During that first game of this 2018 season, Max Muncy, (sounds like a private eye, don’t you think?) grounded a foul ball down the right field line into the pen. A Dodger reliever retrieved it and casually flipped it to me, the 64-year-old kid shivering in the front row.

Let's Play Two (Before Lunch)!

The I-Cubs have added some wrinkles to the traditional doubleheader format this year. Call it schedule change brought about by the rising tide of global warming. This IS the Pacific Coast League, remember, and Des Moines IS the city where a game was once played in front of an official attendance of zero due to floodwaters surrounding the ballpark.

Opening Day featured a twinbill in anticipation of inclement weather, not in consequence of it.

Less Than Adbert-ized

The first two home starts were no-hitters into the 6th. The third began similarly. First inning: 10 pitches, nine strikes, three up/three down. After that, Adbert Alzolay labored. A pair of two-run homers in the second, a solo shot in the fifth. None of the three was windblown. That initial frame was efficient and economical but the other three+ required 80 pitches. Let's put a positive spin on the outing and call it a learning experience. It certainly wasn't a confidence-boosting springboard to the major league debut that's reportedly in the offing next Saturday.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    LHP Blake Weiman appears to have been the last cut from the AAA Iowa roster. He is with the Tennessee group at Minor League Camp.

     

  • crunch (view)

    bruce bochy is hobbling rather badly for a guy who's had 2 hip replacements.  his gait is extremely wonky taking the lineup card to the ump.

  • 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.