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

Missed It By That Much

Those Jake Peavy talks will probably heat up again once the Ricketts take over the team or Rich Harden hits the disabled list, but just how close were they to completing the trade over the winter?

 They were so close, in fact, that Peavy's side had begun the process of negotiating how much of his salary would be deferred. I's were being dotted, t's were being crossed.

Buster Olney makes it sounds like they were in the middle of the press conference before the red phone rang from Sam Zell to put a stop to the deal. I guess we may never know, but Padres general manager Kevin Towers certainly thought a deal was just about in place, so there's probably more truth than fiction to that story.

The other newsworthy item is that USA Today pegs the Cubs total payroll at $134,809,000. That's the third highest in baseball behind the Mets and Yankees and well ahead of the fourth place Boston Red Sox ($121,745,999).

NL Central Payroll

 Cubs $ 134,809,000
Astros
$ 102,996,414
Brewers
$ 80,182,502 
Cardinals
$ 77,605,109
Reds
$ 73,558,500
Pirates
$ 48,693,000 

 

By USA Today's numbers, the Cubs increased their spending by $16.5 million from last season and are outspending their closest division rival by nearly $32M. 

Division
Teams
 Difference Rounded
NL East
Mets over Phillies
$36M
NL Central
Cubs over Astros
$32M
NL West
Dodgers over Giants
$18M
AL East
Yankees over Red Sox
$80M
AL Central
Tigers over White Sox
$19M
AL West
Angels over Mariners
$15M

 

Well, it's not quite the Evil Empire, but I think it's safe to retire the Cubs don't spend enough clichés. And while you still have to make the right decisions with that money, the Cubs and Jim Hendry are working at a decided advantage...a $32 million advantage.

Comments

I forget; can you recap for us who was supposedly headed to SD in that deal? I remember Marshall for sure, plus maybe Josh Vitters, but can't recall exactly. Need a refresher.

Over to the right of me as I post lies Arizona Phil's updated estimated payroll and there are some glaring discrepancies , e.g. USA Today has Ryan Dempster at $9MM and AzPhil has it at $12MM. http://content.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/teamdetail.aspx?ye… As for the so-called spending advantage, there's spending and then there's spending. Hendry just blows money out his ass. Backloaded contracts, guaranteed contracts for chumps who get cut before the season starts, long term contracts for total busts, etcetera, etcetera..... ad infinitum.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

some of those they're not counting bonus money...

some of them are higher though, so I don't know the reason for the difference. Most of it was grabbed by stories when the contracts were signed and Cot's Baseball Contracts.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

The difference is because of Dempster's $4 million signing bonus he got this year. USA Today only is showing his base salary which isn't showing the whole picture. And don't forget Hendry giving out no-trade clauses to everyone except Jose Macias...:)

[ ]

In reply to by mannytrillo

Most likely he got the signing bonus last year, to dodge some of the expected tax hikes.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Very possibly true, but it would still likely count against this years budget/payroll.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

further investigation...

they have the salaries at $1M higher for Zambrano, Ramirez, Soriano, Fukudome, and Lilly. They have $250K higher on Lee.

$3M lower on Dempster (which is weird, because it should be a $4M bonus)

they also don't seem to be counting any payments for Marquis, Bako, Blanco or Gaudin.

Cubs have been a playoff team two years in a row and look like they're headed for a third so I'm going to lay off the management team. My new whipping boy is Corey Fukudome, the Cubs' bakayaro!

Hendry sucks, spending 30% more than everyone else in a weak sister division doesn't make him Billy Beane. Blind squirrels find acorns. Ed Wade GM'd a team to the World Series for chrissakes.

Beat up on Hendry if you want, but I truly believe most GMs rely on their managers to tell them what they need. It's no coincidence Lou has had better tools to work with than Dusty had. I'm also convinced Fuku is perfectly capable of being an impact player. It's too soon to write him off. Hendry isn't some GM genius, but he's no Littlefield, either.

[ ]

In reply to by mannytrillo

No no, you can't just post a snide comment and think you made your point. Tell me how you think the coversations went between Dusty and Hendry. Or do you suppose they just never talked? I'm really confused. This is the manager who would routinely field Neifi Perez when better (albeit not much better) options were available. Of course another $30 mil would help, but who cares. Dusty wasn't going to get it done.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

I have absolutely no clue how the conversations between Dusty and Hendry went, nor do I know how they go between Hendry and Lou. I would think it would be a collaborative effort to decide what they need and who to get. But I do think they did talk, as I am sure most managers/GM's do, most likely daily.

Farnsworth time for KC with a 1-run lead in the bottom of the 8th... I'm going to go set-up my lawn chair to watch this fire burn.

Farnsworth closing for the royals today? ...why

[ ]

In reply to by kmokeefe

not closing...bottom of the 8th.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

yeah...I both didn't look at the posts directly above me annnnnnnd mistook an 8 for a 9 on gamecast...well done

Count me in with the Hendry is decent, not great crowd. He's done a real nice job of getting the free agents that he wants. He's used his minor league talent to engineer a lot of trades that helped the big league team. And he's relied on his scouts to resurrect several players from the scrap heap and get useful play out of them (Dempster, Barrett and Edmonds come to mind). His biggest dings are that he is not as fiscally sharp as he should be, the Cubs big wallet covers up some sloppy decision making at times. And he has the most maddening fetish for overpaying for fringe players, I don't know that I've ever seen anything like it. $5MM deals to Neifi, Blanco and Aaron Miles, huh? A million bucks and trading a warm body for Jose Macias? Weird. Overall, I'd rate Hendry's tenure a solid B.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

C+/B- Does he suck as bad as Ed Lynch of Andy McFail? NO Is he Billy Beane,Theo Epstein,Josh Byrnes or Walt Jocketty? NO I suspect that even a total Dud like Dave Littlefield could have backed into a couple of 90 win seasons if Pirate management had let him outspend everyone else in the central by 30% It's like beating a 10 year old kid in basketball, then claiming your NBA ready.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

this year they're outspending the Astros by 30% or so, but it hasn't been anywhere close to that before...

2008 - 19% over Cardinals

2007 - 10% over Cardinals

2006 - 2% over Astros

2005 - Cardinals outspent Cubs by 6%

2004 - 9% over Cardinals

2003 - Cardinals outspent Cubs by 5%

but Jocketty is incredible... 

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Jocketty was GM in St. Louis from 95-2007. 7 post season's 2 pennants 1 ws win 9 winning records in 12 years spending less than than the cubs almost every year. Jim Hendry GM from 2002- now 1 90 win season 4 winning records in 7 years You can't even compare the track records

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

if the USA today numbers are correct and Jocketty was the GM from 1995-2007 (not bothering to look it up): Cards outspent the Cubs from 1996-1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005. (a few of these season the 2 teams were only a million or two off either way).

so by spending less than the Cubs almost every year you must have meant spending more than the Cubs more than half the time....it's opposite day. 

And Hendry was named GM half-way through the 2002 season....

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

Is he Billy Beane,Theo Epstein,Josh Byrnes or Walt Jocketty? NO Is someone actually making this claim? What frustrates me about the Hendry hate is the presumption of Hendry love. Who is claiming him to be the best GM in baseball? I mean, did we all see the cock-up that was his 40-man roster management this year? That said, he's gotten more big things right than wrong. I agree that B- is about right on JH. GOOD: Big wins on a few obvious big trades. Successfully re-signing players like Wood and ARam to home-town discounts. Scrapheap recovery for Dempster/Borowski. Getting his free agent targets once the purse strings were unleashed by McDonough BAD: As mentioned, goofy roster management. Trading prospects and players at their lowest value. VERY frustrating reliance on marginally useful stats for evaluating hitters, like hitting with RISP. The Juan Pierre trade. Awful team OBP until Lou showed up. Division champs for 2 years in a row and 3 of the last 6 is still pretty good. I will dance in the aisles when the Cubs take it all, but I've always maintained that I can be happy if this team is consistently and highly competitive. Jim Hendry has given me that. I give Lou a lot of credit too, but Jim's the boss. He deserves credit with his blame.

[ ]

In reply to by Stevens

is it worth mentioning that beane is overrated vs. his results...especially when you look at them longer than just a few years past his projects being drafted or hitting the bigs? last season's team was beyond an embarrassment full of 1-dimensional players...$300 million team or $30 team.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

they were 49-41 before they traded Harden, 3.5 behind the wild card with a payroll in the bottom 5. They're almost always in the bottom half of the payroll and had a run of 8 straight winning season from 1999-2006. Probably would have been over .500 last year before the fire sale.

I would have pegged them to contend with the Angels this year before the pitching injuries.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

harden couldn't help the pile of crap they've had there the past 2 years. the bats last year were inexcusable. What the hell are you are talking about? Sometimes you say some really strange shit. Lets repeat what Rob said. When Harden was traded, they were 49-41. That is the best smelling pile of crap that I have ever smelled.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Very simply question... how is a team that is 49-41 a pile of shit? Oakland's offense was bad last year. There is no question. But that doesn't mean that Beane didn't still put together a team that could win. And, btw, if you think this year's Oakland team's offense is similarly a "pile of shit," then I have a bridge to nowhere to sell you somewhere in Alaska.

(stifles laughter) somehow this is his 4th Opening Day start...maybe there's another Jeff Suppan I don't know of...

I find it really funny that some of the same people who complained a couple years ago that Hendry never signed big name free agents and only kept people if he got a hometown discount are now complaining that he sucks because he spends too much money and/or spends it wastefully. If you have a veteran team like the Cubs, and you've got a quality roster like the Cubs, you're going to have to spend money. The Cubs don't let people go or trade them near the end of their contract because they get too expensive, and the payroll numbers show it. I think you can say that Hendry probably paid more than he needed to this past offseason for Dempster and Bradley, but that's only because he was agressive and went after the players he wanted before it was quite so clear that the market for player salaries had fallen off so dramatically.

[ ]

In reply to by Bleeding Blue

In hindsight I think it was probably McFail who put the handcuffs on Hendry spending. Why can't we have some sort of happy medium? Sitting at a poker table with McFail and Hendry would be like sitting between a guy who folds each and every hand and a guy who pushes "all in" every hand. That being said, we have a good team and I am really optimistic.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

"In hindsight I think it was probably McFail who put the handcuffs on Hendry spending" I have no proof of McFail handcuffing Hendry, but I believe he did also. From the stories of Mark Grace annual resigning being seen as a free agent signing to McFail wetting his pants when he offered Mike Hampton the biggest contract in Cubs history I could see it being true.

[ ]

In reply to by Bleeding Blue

Personally, I applaud Hendry for not sitting on his ass in the offseason. We won 97 games last year, so it would have been easy to just phone it in and say that we were good enough to win again this season, but he made some moves to try and make us better. Not every free agent signing and trade gets a gold star, but Hendry helped to perpetrate rapes on both the Pirates and Marlins to get Ramirez and DLee, and Soriano was far and away the best offensive free agent on the market when he was signed, and he is by no means a bust. I know some of the moves made this past offseason were questionable, like trading DeRosa and signing Miles, but I've said it before and I'll say it again (and it was reiterated in this article) - my belief is that those moves were made (along with obtaining Garrett Olson) in anticipation that the Peavy deal was going to get done. Something obviously changed, and I'm guessing either Hendry changed his mind about not wanting to pay the ridiculous price Towers was asking, or Towers wanted to up the ante a bit more. I guess we'll never really know, but my point is that Hendry is always looking to try and make the team better. It doesn't always work out, but hindsight is 20/20 and I'll take back to back playoff appearances any day...

Other than Dallas Green he is the best Cubs GM of our/my lifetime. He isn't terrible. He's just a middle of the road GM with a top 5 payroll. Brian Cashman with less foresight. At least he isn't Larry Himes or Ed Lynch.

Soriano, Theriot, Lee, Bradley , Ramirez, Johnson, Soto, Fontenot, Dempster

vs

Matsui, Rodriguez, Berkman, Lee, Tejada, Blum, Pence,  Bourne, Wandy

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Very pleased to see Fontenot in there against the lefty. If he can be marginally productive against LHP early in the season, we may not see much of Miles beyond a strictly utility IF role--a role for him that I can certainly live with. 250 PAs for Miles: OK. 400 PAs for Miles: not OK.

Submitted by navigator on Tue, 04/07/2009 - 1:08pm.
Over to the right of me as I post lies Arizona Phil's updated estimated payroll and there are some glaring discrepancies , e.g. USA Today has Ryan Dempster at $9MM and AzPhil has it at $12MM.

===============================

NAVIGATOR: This comes up every year.

USA Today prorates (averages) signing bonuses over the lenghth of a player's contract when determining players salaries & club payroll even if the signing bonus is paid in a lump sum when the player signs a contract (as is usually the case), while the numbers I provided on the right tab here at TCR are what the Cubs are actually paying out in payroll in 2009 (which commences with the end of the 2008 World Series), including lump sum signing bonuses, buy-outs, termination pay, and other pay-outs (like the Cubs paying a portion of Jason Marquis' salary), and also includes guaranteed salaries or minor league split salaries for players on the 40-man roster who are optioned to the minors.

Allowing clubs to calculate payroll by prorating signing bonuses is part of the CBA and it's done to reduce club payroll when determining revenue sharing & luxury tax.

Clubs consider post-season contract buy-outs, lump-sum signing bonuses for players signed after the conclusion of the World Series, termination pay for released players, and any agreement to pay a portion of a traded player's salary (as is the case with Jason Marquis), as a part of the next season's payroll, although that type of accounting is not reflected in the USA Today payroll numbers.

The only post-season payments that clubs consider to be a part of the previous year's payroll are performance bonuses that are earned by players who have incentives in their contracts.  

Recent comments

  • 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. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch.