Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
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: 2001 Season

Previous Reviews: 2000

Coming off a second straight last place finish, Andy MacPhail had his first full offseason to try and rebuild the club after taking over for Ed Lynch.

Angels v Cubs

Shane Andrews, Brant Brown, Willie Greene, Rick Aguilera and Mark Grace were allowed to leave via free agency. The overhaul began with signing Julian Tavarez in mid-November and later signings of Jeff Fassero, Jason Bere, and Tom Gordon revamped the rotation and the bullpen. A trade with the San Francisco Giants of Tim Worrell for Bill Mueller landed the Cubs their new third basemen. And on December 19th of 2000, MacPhail made his big splash in free agency, signing catcher Todd Hundley away from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hundley - a catcher turning 32 - had played in 53, 114 and 90 games over the last three seasons, but did hit over 20 HR's in each of the last two seasons even in limited playing time. The deal - for the 32 year old catcher - was for four years and $23.5M and SI.com thought he'd be a huge improvement.

The Cubs also got Matt Stairs from the Oakland Athletics for Eric Ireland and signed Ron Coomer from the Minnesota Twins as a possible first base platoon. They ended up releasing oft-injured pitcher Geremi Gonzalez, who would later lose the lightning lottery odds. They selected pitcher Scott Chiasson from the A's in the Rule 5 draft and then, before the end of spring training, traded eventual Rookie of the Year winner Eric Hinske to keep Chiasson's rights as well as getting infielder Miguel Cairo from the A's.

Sammy Sosa was in the final year of his contract and was shopped around earlier at the 2000 trade deadline, with a possible Alfonso Soriano for Sosa swap being one of the hot rumors. He finally signed an extension through 2005 during the middle of spring training.

The Cubs opened up at home against the Montreal Expos and dropped two of three including the first two games of the season. Opening Day lineup:

E. Young - 2B, B. Mueller - 3B, S. Sosa - RF, R. White LF, M. Stairs - 1B, R. Gutierrez - SS, D. Buford - CF, J. Girardi - C, J. Lieber - P

The 5-man rotation to start the year was Lieber, Kerry Wood, Kevin Tapani, Julian Tavarez and Jason Bere.

They went on to go 15-9 in April though and with Tom Gordon on the disabled list to start the season, Jeff Fassero was the surprise closer, starting the season with 6 straight successful conversions and 9/11 for the month. Gordon would come back in May and ended up with 27 saves on the year.

Sosa had his lowest OPS of any month that year and lowest amount of HR's - 1.026 OPS and 7 HR's in April.

The team was up by one game by the end of the month over the Cincinnati Reds.

May went just as well and the team went 16-11 and finished two games up in the NL Central over the St. Louis Cardnals...the Reds dropped to 11.5 games back. Damon Buford was released in mid-May with Todd Dunwoody and Gary Matthews Jr. splitting center field duties.  Bill Mueller tore up his kneecap in early May and Ron Coomer and Miguel Cairo did most of the fill-in work. Todd Hundley ended May with a .616 OPS and 4 home runs as a Cub to date. Sosa had 15 HR's through May and posted his second worst OPS by month - 1.060.

June rolled around and a pitcher from USC was receiving all the pre-draft buzz. The Cubs had the second pick in the draft, but the Minnesota Twins went with local high school catcher Joe Mauer instead. The Cubs were considered to have lucked into Mark Prior at the time. They also selected Andy Sisco, Ryan Theriot, Ricky Nolasco, Brendan Harris, Sergio Mitre, Geovany Soto, and Khalil Greene (unsigned) in the same draft and signed Jae-kuk Ryu a few days earlier.

The team went 15-13 in June with Sosa hitting 11 home runs and were up 4.5 games over the Houston Astros and 6 over the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs began their pursuit of Fred "Crime Dog" McGriff as well. After a brief September call-up in 2000, Corey Patterson was called up near the end of June and started on June 30th, splitting time with Gary Matthews Jr. until the Cubs ended up trading for Michael Tucker in July. Todd Hundley went on the disabled list on June 19th with back problems and only started 26 games the rest of the season.

Felix Pie was signed as an amateur free agent on July 3rd. The Cubs signed Delino DeShields on July 7th after he was cut by the Baltimore Orioles. He had a .785 OPS the rest of the way while playing mostly left field and second base. Rondell White hit the disabled list at the beginning of the month, played two games in mid-July and then missed the rest of the month and all of August with a groin injury. Sammy Sosa and Jon Lieber were the Cubs representatives at the All-Star game. Fred McGriff finally waived his no-trade clause and was acquired from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Manuel Aybar and a player to be named later which ended up being infielder Jason Smith. McGriff had a .942 OPS with the Cubs the rest of the way in 201 PA's and hit 12 home runs... as many as Todd Hundley hit all season. The Cubs traded Ruben Quevedo and Peter Zoccolillo to the Milwaukee Brewers for reliever David Weathers and Roberto Miniel. Sosa had 34 home runs by this point, 99 RBI's and 83 Runs Scored. The Cubs went 16-10 and remained 4.5 games up over the Astros and 8.5 games up on the Cardinals. The Cub Reporter was started by Christian Ruzich.

In August, the Cubs regulars were now:

E. Young - 2B, D. DeShields - LF, S. Sosa - RF, F. McGriff - 1B, R. Coomer - 3B, R. Gutierrez - SS, M. Tucker - CF, Girardi/Machado - C

Matt Stairs got a lot of fill-in work and Bill Mueller returned from the disabled list as well. Jon Lieber continued to be the Cubs best pitcher and finished the month at 17-5 and a 3.43 ERA. Kerry Wood was 10-6 with a 3.50 ERA up until he went on the disabled list on August 4th with shoulder tendonitis.

Gary Matthews Jr. and Miguel Cairo were put on waivers and selected by the Pirates and Cardinals respectively. Corey Patterson was recalled on August 15th after briefly being sent down at the end of July. Joe Borowski was outrighted on the same day.  Carlos Zambrano was called up on August 20th to start the second game of a doubleheader versus the Milwaukee Brewers. He lost after going 4 innings and giving up 7 runs and was sent back down two days later in favor of Ron Mahay. Juan Cruz was called up on August 21st with Will Ohman being sent down. Cruz started that day and struck out 8, but was hung the loss in a 3-1 game.  He ended up making 8 starts on the season and had a 3.22 ERA on the year. The Cubs signed Mark Prior on August 29th to a major league deal.

The team had its first losing month in August at 13-16 and were 75-59 on the year. They dropped 8.5 games in the standings and now trailed the Astros by 4 games and were 2 games in front of the Cardinals. Sosa hit 17 more home runs and had his best OPS month - 1.405.

Courtney Duncan, White, Wood and Felix Heredia returned from the disabled list at the beginning of the month and the team started 3-6 in September including a five game losing streak and dropped 6 games back of the Astros.

Then something terrible happened...

Aerial View of Ground Zero

Major league baseball didn't resume for another week. When it did, the Cubs went 10-9 the rest of the season and finished five games out of first place in the Central and the wild card race. The Cardinals went 20-8 in September and October to tie the Astros, but were awarded the wild card due to a 7-9 head-to-head record versus the Astros.

Jon Lieber ended with 20 wins - the Cubs last 20-game winner - and finished 4th in the Cy Young voting. Kerry Wood struck out 217, even after missing a month, and finished 12-6 with a 3.33 ERA. Sosa tallied 64 Home Runs, an NL Leading 160 RBI's and 146 Runs Scored and was second in OPS at 1.174. He had 425 total bases and set the club records for extra-base hits (103) and slugging percentage (.737). He finished second in MVP voting to Barry Bonds who set the home run record with 73 and had a 1.379 OPS. The team set a major league record with 1,344 strikeouts by the pitching staff starting a run that lasted through 2008 in which they led the league. Mark Grace won his World Series title...with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Comments

I remember questioning releasing Sarge Jr, and Cairo at the time. I also remember thinking that we would win the division once we got McGriff and then being so disappointed by his play once he agreed to be a Cub. Some very odd moves through out the year for a team that was competing for a division title.

[ ]

In reply to by JohnT

I recall being disappointed by McGriff as well, but he was great that year. The pitching started to fall apart at the end along with the injuries and the Cardinals and Astros just went nuts. Oswalt made his debut in May and they had the Dotel/Wagner bullpen that year. Lugo and Ausmus were sub .700 OPS guys, but everyone else was .800 or better (Alou, Berkman, Biggio, Bagwell, Castila, Hidalgo). Cardinals discovered Pujols that year, McGwire was finished (.187 BA). Lankford, Drew and Edmonds were the outfield, although Lankford was moved in August for Woody Williams. Morris and Kile did the rest of the pitching along with a bullpen by committee in Veres, Kline and some others.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Without the Palmeiro trade we don't make the playoffs in '89. The 4 players from Texas played parts in the success of that team with Williams obviously being the key. As much as I liked Palmeiro during his AL days, he didn't hit with any power in the NL and may have been one of the least clutch performers ever to wear a Cub uniform.

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/features/rumors don't have Insider, so not sure which article, but sounds like Matthews/Burrell/Bradley/Castillo were the 4 players with various money I assume going somewhere. W/o being able to read it, I'm guessing it was Cubs get Castillo, Matthews to Mets, Burrell to Angels and Bradley to Rays.

by ESPN Chicago (I added their WARP-1 totals as Cubs in parenthesis) http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/news/story?page=top10_2009 1. Aramis Ramirez (28.9) 2. Carlos Zambrano (36.4) 3. Derrek Lee (21.8) 4. Kerry Wood (26.3) 5. Ryan Dempster (14.6) 6. Sammy Sosa (31.6) 7. Moises Alou (7.3) 8. Ryan Theriot (9.1) 9. Mark Prior (15.1) 10. Mark DeRosa (6.4) only checked a few names, but Soriano(9.9), Lilly (10.3) and Clement (11.5) have cases to be made. they also have the top 10 Chicago games Z's no hitter is 10th, Game 5 win over Braves in 2003 is 5th

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

FWIW, this is what was written in the DeRosa entry: Though with the team for only a short period of time, he became arguably its most popular player. DeRosa was a key component of the 2007 and '08 division championship teams. He batted .289 with 31 home runs and 159 runs batted in during his two-plus seasons. His versatility and game-altering hits were his forte. And he could still win an election as alderman in Chicago.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

I feel quite chagrined. Baiting you into saying something stupid and then getting you to admit it was wrong and asking why you said it in the first place. Egg's all over my face.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Is anyone else excited about the Matt Capps era? Am I the only one saying "Meh." I'm tired of the underperforming relief pitcher signings..save the $$ and use the kids..

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

I like Matt Capps. 2009 was pretty bad for him. His H/9 skyrocketed and his BB/9 went up a full point. Yeah, the guy doesn't really have a secondary pitch, but you don't necessarily need one when you have really good control over 93-96, which he does. The guy is a legit MLB closer in my book as long as he's on the corners and not in the fat part of the zone. He spent a lot of '09 in the happy zone.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Per MLB Trade Rumors: Braves deal Javier Vaszquez and Boone Logan to Yanks for Melkey Cabrera, pitcher Mike Dunn and possibly another prospect. The Yanks not only eat all of Vazquez' salary but also ship $500k to the Braves.

Actually, MLB TR got it from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, as per their usual "breaking rumors". Who will be the last CF-turd standing for the Cubs as a decent option on Cabrera is now "off the board"?

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

Or sign any 2 of the following: Vlad Aubrey Huff Rocco Baldelli Brian Giles Chris Duncan Johnny Gomes And leave Fukudome and his weak ass bat in Center where it isn't such an albatross.

[ ]

In reply to by MikeC

You should back off on the "choking his pregnant wife" thing. He may well have been defending himself. They had a history of problems, and Bradley himself called 911 once because his wife was hitting him. Moreover, neither were charged by the prosecutor investigating the case. Bradley's obviously not a good clubhouse guy, but the wife story is old news and Bradley seems to be as much the victim as aggressor.

[ ]

In reply to by Ryno

Really what? Really, Bradley made at least one 911 call because his wife was hitting him? Yes. Really. Really, neither were prosecuted for abuse? Yes, really. Baseball stars can have wives who attack them. Remember when Tawny Kitaen beat the shit out of Chuck Finley? Finley didn't hit back, and he got messed up. Bradley may have tried to defend himself. Who knows. I'm just saying that nobody was prosecuted makes it a non-story.

[ ]

In reply to by Stevens

Bradley was defending himsef?!?!?! You might want to check the police reports on that one. A man defending himself doesn't go around the house collecting all the cell phones and keys and credit cards to isolate his wife and prevent her from calling for help. She had to run next door to get the police to respond. Clearly the acts of a man defending himself. He is just gonna take away her ability to leave, her communication, and her money. Sounds like what most aggressors in domestic violence cases do to their spouses in an attempt to control them so they can continue to abuse. Bradley is a 6 foot 225 pound man throwing a forearm shiver into his pregnant wife and forcing her to hit herself with her own hand until she bleeds. Now that he has caused physical assualt on his own wife, he attempts to prevent her from reaching the authorities and eventually flees. Ohh and just because no one was prosecuted doesn't mean it never existed. Thats a lame ass cop out to excuse Bradley for attacking his pregnant wife. Something similar happened, though with much more famous people, that prosecutors could not ignore... Police were called to the scene of a domestic quarrel in the early hours of 8 February, where Rihanna – then in a relationship with Brown – was found with injuries to her face. According to a police affidavit, the row began when Rihanna found a text message from another woman on Brown's mobile phone. He later tried to push her from the parked car, choking her, punching her repeatedly and allegedly biting her ear. When Rihanna pretended to phone her assistant for police help, Brown threatened to kill her. Hitting, choking, trying to stop a call for help. One happened in the public spotlight, the other happened in the saftey of Miltons own house. There isn't much difference in either case. The fact is Milton beat and choked his wife and then denied her a chance to get help.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

The Cubs would likely drop a total of $10 million for 2010 alone on Capps and Byrd if they were to sign both. If we went in-house with a CF platoon (Reed Johnson/Fuld-Colvin) and let the kids (Caridad, Berg, Gray, Stevens, etc.) fill in the pen, is there a real difference-maker out there that the Cubs could get with that $10 million?

[ ]

In reply to by Seamhead

Reed Johnson is not "in house". Hudson or Valverde would, to me, represent significant upgrades over what we have now. I think there's a real need to bring in Marmol insurance, that's probably the #2 need right now after a center fielder, in my mind. Capps is probably the best fit for that. If he bounces back, which seems likely, he can be peddled as a closer to some team that needs one after 2010. Right now Blake Parker is our backup closer.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Capps has an interesting choice. Assuming that the money is roughly equal, he can go to the Nats as the closer (a good career move) and lose for two years in a lousy baseball market, or come to the Cubs as a set-up man (a backwards career move) where he and his wife have a high comfort level and play in an intense, somewhat dysfunctional environment. The agent would likely steer him to the Nats, while his wife would push for the Cubs.

[ ]

In reply to by Seamhead

I don't think it would be a bad career move for Caps to sign as a setup guy. Even if he doesn't take the closer role from Marmol, he's already "proven" that he can close, so when he hits free agency he's already got that check box marked. I doubt a lot of GMs around the game really look at saves totals. They want to know if you can handle the pressure, and then what your other numbers are. Also he'd get the brownie point benefit of being seen as a guy who wants to win and as a "team first" guy for signing with the Cubs.

The next few days are very busy and I might not get another chance to say it later, so Merry Christmas to everyone here. May Santa make all your Cubs dreams come true. (if your dreams are overpaying for a setup man and centerfielder)

Matt Capps will decide by tomorrow night between Washington and the Cubs. I understand that Capps isn't going to put the Cubs over the top, but having Capps will be better than what Howry or Gregg ever brought to the Cubs. Plus with Marmol and his control problems it would be wise to have someone else capable of stepping into the closer role. I think he would be a good complement to Grabow in the back of the bullpen. I also think that the Cubs will trade for a starting center fielder rather than be stuck with what is out in free agency. I can see Jay Jackson being a piece in the trade as well.

I'm probably more excited than I should be about the prospect of getting Matt Capps. It's not that he'll be the one to put the team over the top as Southpaw said, rather I'm excited the Cubs are paying attention to the bullpen. I've said many times that I blame the bullpen on 2009 more than any other aspect of the team. Aram getting injured was huge, sure, and Milton Bradley was a distraction, but the bullpen literally gave games away in April and May.

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

this was awesome...after saying Chapman at 4/35M is too rich for the Cubs and Damon is too expensive, we get this answer...
Steven Volchek (Wilmette, IL) The rich get richer. Vazquez is a Yank now, so is Granderson. Lackey is in Boston, and so is Mike Cameron. The Cubs are the 4th biggest franchise and don't have money? That's not right... Bruce Levine (1:13 PM) Look for the Cubs to be very active over the next ten days. Their first move might be to sign Matt Capps sometime on Wednesday.
This is the year!!!

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

some intriguing notes... Chapman asking for 4/35M right now Cubs like O. Hudson, but not a priority Cubs would love to trade Fukkakadome, would have traded for Swisher if they didn't sign him (that's a bit of old news) Ricketts seem to love Ryne Sandberg

Ricketts loving Sandberg is understandable. He was the star of the team when Ricketts used to get drunk in the bleachers. And he probably has some less conventional favorites from the era as well. Can Jerry Mumphrey's and Paul Noce's long hoped for emotional return to their old team be far off? It has been too long, Mr.Ricketts. Let's make it right.

"With the trade and including the not-yet-finalized signing of Nick Johnson, the Yankees' payroll stands at $200.9 million for 16 signed players." damn...

Count me in on: Matt Capps signing with Cubs Wednesday. Mark Derosa signing with Bravos for nine points. Jason Bay to the Giants for six points. Jim Hendry being smart ohhh(bad choice of words) and not doing anything else for 30 days wait till february some one will be there for one year at a decent price why rush we can always trade (David Dejesus)or go with some kids to save for deadline.

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

People in Atlanta were pretty pissed about the Javier Vasquez trade to NYY. Frank Wren had been talking about adding a big right handed bat to the lineup and it appeared from the trade that Melky Cabrera was that bat. I guess you can understand the Braves fans being upset. After the trade, Wren came out and said that he was still looking for the big right handed hitter and he would use the $9 million the Braves saved by trading Vasquez to get it. If Troy Glaus is the big bat, I think Braves fans are going to stay pissed.

[ ]

In reply to by Seamhead

Some valid arguments. I think if the Cubs have a slightly better offer on the table, he'll probably choose the Cubs, but Rosenthal has a point about the Nats are at least trying to improve and Capps being assured a closer role there. If I'm the Cubs, I'd give him the closer role, at least to begin with. With Caridad setting up, that'd make a pretty solid 8-9 inning. Marmol is not suited for the final two innings. He simply doesn't throw enough strikes.

LHP Jayson Ruhlman (2005 23rd round pick out of Central Michigan) was released after the conclusion of the Rule 5 Draft. The 2005 draft was the last John Stockstill draft before Stockstill moved over to the Baltimore Orioles, and is arguably the worst Cubs draft of all time. In addition, 2006 8th round pick RHP Billy Muldowney (Pitt) was also released. Muldowney had TJS in July 2008 and then had continual setbacks throughout his rehab. And Rule 55 minor league FA 2B Nate Spears (the last vestige of the Corey Patterson trade) has signed a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds. And Brad Snyder should be in demand, given his MVP-level performance for Mexicali in the Mexican Pacific League (2nd in BA, SLG, and OBP, 3rd in SB and RBI, tied for 4th in triples and tied for 6th in doubles, with one of the best outfield arms in baseball).

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).