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

I-Cubs Ride Hot Streak in Nevada

The  I-Cubs are off today and on their way home to begin a binge of games in Des Moines over the next six weeks after a junket to Nevada where they cleaned up by going 7-1 in Las Vegas and Reno. Seems like a good time to check up on them.

In the last 10 days the club has raised its team BA about 25 points. While winning eight of their last nine they've pummeled the opposition by a count of 74-26. Chad Tracy didn’t play in yesterday’s 6-1 getaway win in Reno, but Iowa is 7-0 in his starts since he was demoted in the Castro shuffle. He’s hitting a little league-esque .581!

Thomas Diamond was yesterday’s winning pitcher. He didn’t walk a man in six one-run innings while running his record to 3-0 and now sports a flashy 2.08 ERA for the year. He’s only given up more than two earned runs once in eight starts, and then only three, but hasn’t stretched out too far yet, logging only 43 total innings. He also bears a striking resemblance to golfer Hal Sutton even though his middle name is Nicklaus [yes, that’s how it’s spelled].

Jay Jackson threw another scoreless inning yesterday as he preps for a possible role in the Wrigley relief corps. In contrast to the parent club, the I-Cubs’ bullpen has compiled an ERA of 2.89 in 123 innings.

Another contrast between the siblings is that Iowa is 17-3 when outhitting their opponent. After last night’s mini-sweep of the Rockies the C-Cubs are only 11-9 in that category, another indication of their penchant for wasted opportunity.

Behind the plate Wellington Castillo continues his one-man speed trap for PCL base stealers. He leads the league with a 58% CS rate [10-17].

Micah Hoffpauir finally nudged his BA north of .200 on the road trip, but even when he struggles, he produces. For the year he’s managed to drive in 29 runs with only 28 hits. Very soon he’ll own the team record for career doubles.

Darwin Barney has gotten hot enough to be hitting just over .300 for the year, but he’s fanned 22 times while drawing only five walks. He would seem like a nice accent to a trade package given the talent above and below him in the organization at SS.

Cashner should pitch the Sunday matinee here after winning his first two Triple A starts on the road and I hope to have my first look at him then.

 

Comments

Does anyone know why Blake Parker never gets mentioned in the conversation about possible Chicago bullpen call-ups? He's been really good as the closer at Iowa. Is his stuff not up to snuff?

Mike: Nice article. The players I am keeping an eye on are the Bullpen Guys; quite obviously, this is an urgent need in Wrigley. In addition to Jackson, can you comment on BLAKE PARKER and JEFF STEVENS? It appears Parker is still missing bats but also hasn't walked anyone lately, which was his problem initially. And STEVENS is also dealing. Though he failed last year, he has an advantage in that he is already on the 40-man. Parker or Jackson would require a 40-man move, though the Cubs have several options: 60-Day Guzman, or Outright Hoffpauir, or outright Berg. If we like Hoff we can re-sign him, I don't think anyone is going to jump on a 30-year old, .207 AAA First Baseman, though I might be wrong. I don't think Justin Berg is a major-league pitcher. His minor league numbers show that batters always made contact on him, and his peripherals are actually worse than his 6+ ERA. He should go.

[ ]

In reply to by Q-Ball

Agree about Berg. You have to miss a bat once in a while. I'm impressed that Sandberg has taken this roster and turned it into a team that can have a winning streak--although the pitching is quite good. But they've been scoring runs lately in the usual Iowa manner. Von Joshua's mojo seems to be working again. Everybody is hitting or has started to hit (Adduci, Hoffpauir) except Chris Robinson. Speaking of pitching, Chris Archer (Daytona) had a good outing yesterday: 6 innings, 2 hits, 0 walks, 10 strikeouts.

[ ]

In reply to by Q-Ball

Submitted by Q-Ball on Wed, 05/19/2010 - 8:27am. Parker or Jackson would require a 40-man move, though the Cubs have several options: 60-Day Guzman, or Outright Hoffpauir, or outright Berg. ================================================== Q-BALL: Blake Parker was added to the Cubs 40-man roster last November. You are right about Jay Jackson not being on the 40, though.

command holding back both parker [walked 9 in 16 IP] & stevens [10 in 21]...atkins has given only 15 hits in 25 IP & has a 0.92 WHIP [same as jackson's]; last 2 appearances starts after 8 relief outings to start the year...

probably no Marshall tonight, leaving Russell and Grab-Ass to face Utley (if he's over the flu), Rollins, Victorino (switch-hitters), Howard and Ibanez

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

He's the lefty version of Rich Harden. If he could just get through the first innings in decent shape, he could probably get pretty deep into games. Against the Phillies I expect another five inning, 7K, 4BB outing, though. 16.6 pitchers per inning on the season. Not Madduxian, but not evil bad either. That comes to 116 pitches for seven innings. He's been lucky on his FB/HR ratio, though. Hopefully that luck continues, at least one more night.

I have to admit I'm pretty excited about Diamond and of course Cashner. Diamond was the top prospect in the Rangers system in 2005, dropping to 3 and 4 the following years before undergoing TJ surgery, which usually isn't more than a speed bump. Problem was he had an ankle injury while rehabbing the arm that delayed him further and for whatever reason the Rangers soured on him. awesome story from Wikipedia if true
In the fall of 2004, Diamond made a name for himself in an obscure Instructional League game during which he tripped and fell on the mound while attempting a pickoff move. The opposing Oakland A's prospects laughed at Diamond, who then walked off the mound towards the A's dugout and told them that the next person to laugh was going to be wearing a fastball in the temple. Diamond then threw his next pitch three feet behind the hitter at the plate and then delivered nine consecutive strikes to punch out the side.

Victorino CF, Polanco 3B, Utley 2B, Howard 1B, Werth RF, Rollins SS, Ibanez LF, Ruiz C and Moyer Phillies with a .846 OPS against lefties so far this year, tops in the majors. Cubs at .783 for 5th best...

Cubs lineup vs. Moyer: riot, castro, lee, byrd, rami, sori, BAKER (RF), soto, gorz. no Nady, ruh roh Jeff Stevens at the park, not sure who's going although I'd guess Caridad back to DL or Berg sent down.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

So Lou puts a guy who's played outfield a grand total of 3 times in last 3 years in right against one of the most potent lf lineups in NL? Because he bats RH? Just checking.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • 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.