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

Just how fast was Tony Campana's inside the parker?

 

Even the most jaded, bitter Cub Fan could find joy in Tony Campana's inside the park home run yesterday.
Of course, the guy who misplayed Camapna's ball was Reds 3rd-string first baseman Yonder Alonso.
But lets take nothing away from Campana, because this play was fantastic.

Starlin Castro leads off the bottom first with a single, the only bad thing about that was it wasn't Koyie Hill so we could have seen Campana lap him...
Uh, anyway then lefty Campana hits a liner the opposite way past 3rd base that gets by Alonso as 40 Cub Fans point and yell, "Hey, the ball's over Yonder!" (sorry, couldn't help it)
And in a flash Campana was around all the bases for his first home run in the Bigs.
I didn't see it live, but I watched the replay at Cubs.com a bunch of times and then I thought man, how fast does he really get around those bases?
Got out a stop watch.
Okay, this is SOOOOOO imperfect (did they edit it? don't think so based on Len's call), but still interesting and you can do it yourself.
About 14.4 seconds.
To run 90 feet 4 times and then suffer the indignity of having one of your team mates pick you up like a child in the dugout.
This little gif above is actually semi-accurate - it takes that dot about 14.4 seconds to move about 4 inches.
Okay so 4 into 14.4 equals...uh...3.6.
Tony Camapna takes 3.6 seconds to run 90 feet?
Is that even possible?
Considering he's got to slow down to go around the turns and everything?
Somebody at TCR knows about these things, please tell me.
I can barely lift a Budweiser from my lap to my mouth in 3.6 seconds, and that's only if I'm afraid it's getting warm.

So...Cubs 4 Reds 3.
Perhaps adding to my fear for the future, the Cubs win their 6th in a row.
But Tyler Colvin gets a homer and Starlin Castro, a Chicago Cub, gets his NL-leading 146th hit.
The kids were pretty awesome yesterday.

Comments

Righty on the mound for the Reds, and Q starts three right handed hitters in the outfield?? How much longer will we have to live with this joke as a manager? I am to the point that I am hoping the Cubs lose a lot just so they don't bring Q back next year.

Vitters homered and is up to .282 and slugging about .450. Zeke DeVoss has walked and doubled in three PA's, playing second for Boise.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

I guess the jury is still out on whether or not "Camp Colvin" helped Vitters this year. Maybe it will be the difference late in the season. Vitters line prior to the game today// .278 .316 .441 Vs his minor league career averages// .276 .317 .437

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

I don't think Vitters would be a major disappointment if he managed that line in the big leagues. I think everyone projected his ceiling to be a 300 hitter with 25-30 HR. Anyone who has tracked Vitters minor league journey knows that he was moved fast, which has diminished his career numbers. If he was allowed to finish out seasons once he got hot everyone would have a hard on for him moreso than Brett Jackson.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 08/07/2011 - 8:57am. if he can stick at 3rd he'd be worth the time and slot invested, imo. turns 21 in a few weeks...he's got some growing to do still. ==================================== CRUNCH: Most organizations would have moved Josh Vitters to a corner OF spot by now. BTW, if Vitters had opted to attend college (he had signed an NLI with Arizona State) instead of signing with the Cubs out of HS in 2007, he would have finished his junior year at ASU last year and would have been eligible for the Rule 4 Draft again for the first time since 2007 in June 2010. And if the Cubs had drafted him again in 2010 (let's say), he would probably have been at Boise (or maybe Peoria) by the end of last season, and at Daytona right now. So he is ahead of where he otherwise would have been had he played college ball. The Cubs have been very aggressive with promoting Vitters, which has resulted in him struggling when he first arrives at the next-higher level, before settling in and adjusting. But each time he has been promoted he has adjusted, and that's why it is not a stretch to expect Vitters to also adjust to MLB once he gets there.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

By necessity. It's true I don't like to rely on internet "scouts," who I suspect are mainly looking at the same box scores and tables as I am. I know that there's more to prospecthood than numbers, I'm just not sure what to do about it. I have argued that it's worth looking at postseason all-star teams, which is a single team, not a pair of teams, that is selected by managers, coaches, scorers, reporters--people who have actually seen the players play. I thought it was meaningful, for example, that Barney was named to the PCL team last year, indicating that he was the league's best shortstop. You didn't necessarily get that from the numbers. Then there are players who get promoted aggressively and always seem to be in over their heads. Vitters, maybe. Samardzija, for sure. But the reason they get promoted is that the organization really likes them. The organization should know, since it sees the player every day. I don't. Samardzija was never on my radar when I was looking for pitchers who had more strikeouts than hits allowed. In 485 minor-league innings, Samardzija gave up 486 hits--not bad--but only struck out 339. He was always pretty low in my rankings. This year in the majors, in 63.2 innings, he has given up 47 hits while striking out 66. Nice! Sometimes you have to trust the organization to know what they're doing. Another example might be LeMahieu versus Flaherty. Objectively, with defensive versatility similar to LeMahieu's and better power numbers, Flaherty is the better prospect. But I'm pretty sure the organization likes LeMahieu better. Of course, if management is all idiots, then it's a waste of time to analyze their actions. But I continue to give them the benefit of the doubt.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

"Vs his minor league career averages// .276 .317 .437" Somewhat misleading to quote his career averages, since he never went anywhere and actually hit those numbers--until this year. Two previous seasons, his numbers are up at the beginning of the season, then down after getting a promotion. Last year he hit .223/.292/.383 at Tenn, in a decent number of plate appearances, 228. This season at Tenn he's .284/.321/.455. I've been watching him for several weeks and I don't see the slump-proneness (consecutive days without a hit) that he always showed. This is the first time he's had a good August and a good second half. Something has changed, whereas I think the point you're trying to make by citing the aggregate numbers is that nothing has changed.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

I can't find a list, let alone a complete list. The problem is that the camp seems to go on in December and January, when Mesa is not populated by beat reporters. Fleita will sometimes be asked about the camp during the winter meetings or the Cub Convention. Here is Bruce Miles in December:
Farm director Oneri Fleita said about 12 players are attending a strength and conditioning camp in Mesa, Ariz., the club has named after outfielder Tyler Colvin. Fleita said big-leaguers Ryan Dempster, Jeff Samardzija and Darwin Barney are at the camp along with minor-league prospects.
Here is blogger Neil in Chicago Cubs Online in January:
The Cubs handpicked ten guys according to Oneri to participate in "Camp Colvin" earlier in the off-season. Darwin Barney, D.J LeMahieu and Logan Watkins were among the players and Ryan Dempster showed up as well. Before long 38 guys will be participating in what's been dubbed "Camp Colvin." When LeMahieu was there he put on 20 pounds and Barney added 18 pounds. Fleita jokingly said, why didn't we think of this 10 years ago. Tim Wilken pointed out that is the reason he stresses athleticism in the draft and amateur signings. It is called "Projection Scouting." When LeMahieu was drafted he checked in at 6'4" and 195 pounds. D.J. is up to 220. Wilken pointed out guys are going to get bigger and stronger. "Projection will come to fruition," according to Wilken. Josh Vitters has been out at "Camp Colvin." The Cubs feel he was really going in the right direction last year before an injury ended his season. Fleita explained that sometimes high school kids take awhile. Vitters started coming out of his shell and was interacting with his teammates.
Apart from Colvin, of course--who I assume was in attendance--the players named are having pretty strong seasons. Watkins is having something of a breakout year, especially if you start counting on June 1. Sorry, that's all I could find.

I was at the game yesterday and Campana is FAST! I watched the hit, saw it get by Alonso and then looked to see where Campana was and he was already halfway to third. All that said, it was inexcuseable for him not to catch the pop-up fly ball hit by Mike Leake that led to 2 runs. First of all, he was playing him (being a pitcher) WAY too deep and then must have gotten a horrible jump because the ball was hanging up in the wind and it landed about 60 feet outside the infield. With his speed, he should have caught it running in instead of having to lay out. That was poor... but the catch up against the wall was very nice!!

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

took a look at some game logs last night 5 SB's were off Alex Cobb, 2 off Juan Cruz (with Coco Crisp doing most of the damage) his first weekend against the Yanks 2 off Alex Cobb, 3 off J. Hellickson, 4 off David Price The David Price one is a little surprising, but I don't know if he's more Andy Petitte or more Rich Hill at holding runners. that being said, Maddon defends Chirinos at least last night "Our times to the plate were awful," said Maddon in regards to the less-than-speedy manner in which his pitchers got the ball home. " [Chirinos] had no chance. He had 1.5 [seconds] to the plate." Maddon explained that 1.5 seconds gives the catcher absolutely no chance to throw the runner out. "1.3 is average," Maddon said. "Like if you are 1.3 or better, that would be optimal; 1.2, 1.3 would be optimal. And we were like 1.5, and they got us."

Texas carried a 4-3 advantage into the ninth before the Indians rallied against closer Neftali Feliz (1-3), who had his sixth blown save in 28 chances. Kosuke Fukudome led off the ninth with a double off the glove of right fielder Nelson Cruz, who sprinted back to the warning track and nearly made a spectacular catch. Ezequiel Carrera's sacrifice bunt moved Fukudome to third, and Lonnie Chisenhall's single to right on a 1-2 pitch drove in Fukudome to tie it.

Of the 124 players to have made their Major League debut this season, eight are former Chiefs players. However only three — Tony Campana .277.313.340, Chris Carpenter 2.79 ERA,and D.J. LeMahieu .243 .243 .270— reached the Cubs roster. The others this season to reach the Majors are Al Alburquerque (Detroit) 5-1 2.34 ERA, Robinson Chirinos .300.378.425 45PA, Brandon Guyer 1/6 a HR(both Tampa Bay), Erik Hamren (San Diego) 2 ER 4 BB 2.2 IP and Josh Harrison (Pittsburgh) .263 .271.305 30 games. Hamren, a left-handed pitcher on the Chiefs’ 2009 playoff team was called up by the Padres this week.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

Submitted by navigator on Sun, 08/07/2011 - 7:02am. Of the 124 players to have made their Major League debut this season, eight are former Chiefs players. However only three — Tony Campana .277.313.340, Chris Carpenter 2.79 ERA,and D.J. LeMahieu .243 .243 .270— reached the Cubs roster. The others this season to reach the Majors are Al Alburquerque (Detroit) 5-1 2.34 ERA, Robinson Chirinos .300.378.425 45PA, Brandon Guyer 1/6 a HR(both Tampa Bay), Erik Hamren (San Diego) 2 ER 4 BB 2.2 IP and Josh Harrison (Pittsburgh) .263 .271.305 30 games. Hamren, a left-handed pitcher on the Chiefs’ 2009 playoff team was called up by the Padres this week. ================================ GATOR: Erik Hamren is a RHP. He didn't show much as a RH middle-reliever in his two seasons in the Cubs organization, and he spent the 2010 season in Indy Ball before getting a second chance with SD this season. BTW, an interesting thing about Al Alburquerque is that although the Cubs did trade him for Jeff Baker in 2009, they could have got him back by claiming him off waivers when the Rockies outrighted him to the minors in April 2010, and even if they didn't claim him off waivers at that time, he also was available to all MLB clubs as a minor league 6yFA post-2010.

SS Castro, LF Campana, 3B Ramy, 1B Pena, CF Byrd, 2B DeWitt, C Soto, RF Colvin, P Wells dewitt is getting a decent amount of play time recently for a guy that was almost non-existent for a while...3 out the last 4 games he's found a way to get a start. and wtf is with lou/quade and soto's lineup position? it's one lou-thing i hoped quade wouldn't carry over. i get that he's slow, but he's slotted to get set up by guys who can't set up anything (even situational) too frequently.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 08/07/2011 - 5:20pm. i honestly don't think they're doing that as some kind of policy. i just think it's nice they're at least seeing if dewitt's worth paying $500K-???K next year (1st arb year)...unless they've already made up their mind. as much as i'm not thrilled with colvin they have to do something about RF next year...and if early rumors are true most of the loot in 2012 should be going to 1st and a SP (barring a miracle trade). =================================== CRUNCH: Finding a Top-of-the-Rotation starter via trade or FA after this season is not going to be easy, but one thing the Cubs can do in-house is move Sean Marshall back to the starting rotation next season (at Spring Training). Marshall was developed as a starting pitcher in the minors and was a starter (at least part-time) for the Cubs in 2007-09, and he is a better pitcher now than he was then. While moving Marshall to the starting rotation would leave a hole in the bullpen, James Russell and either Scott Maine, John Gaub, or Jeff Beliveau should be able to provide the Cubs with a couple of adequate/capable lefty relievers (if not an 8th inning set-up guy to replace Marshall), and it should be easier to find an 8th inning set-up man/back-up closer to replace Marshall than it would be to to acquire a starting pitcher via trade or FA in what should be a rather mediocre SP market post-2011. Marshall will be a FA post-2012, so I would think he would be thrilled to get a shot at being a starter again next season as he approaches free-agency, since free-agent starting pitchers make more money than do relief pitchers (even really good ones like Marshall).

this is at least promising as far as being a cub one day for m.szczur (via his twitter) "superSZCZ4 Matt Szczur LOVE day games! 2 hours ago" also... "superSZCZ4 Matt Szczur Just a matter of time when people will start pronouncing my last name right 4 Aug" lulz.

"Yonder Alonso suffered an ankle injury when he stepped on sprinkler head while chasing a fly ball in Saturday's game." also, cairo is supposedly unavailable today (oblique)...and janish starting for b.phillips who is probably not available, dunno though.

from Bruce Miles ...The vibe I've been getting is that a solid starting pitcher will be atop the winter shopping list, whether trade or free agency.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Yeah, I was thinking about Rohan a little earlier. He's one of those guys who won't go away, even though he's not getting much encouragement from the Cubs. After doing fine at Peoria in his first full season last year, they sent him back again this year. He's 25, but if you're drafted at 23, what age do they expect you to be when you get in hailing distance of the majors? They finally promote him to Daytona a couple of weeks ago, and he has 6 homers and a full set of gaudy numbers in 18 games. He's starting to be interesting because the Cubs have a shortage of righty-hitting outfield prospects just now. (Wait a minute, I know I had one here somewhere--oh, yeah, that was Brandon Guyer.) If they dump Soriano and if Johnson's back forces him to retire, then there's Marlon Byrd and not much else until you get to Ha at Tennessee and Szczur and Crawford at Daytona. Rohan could step into that mix.

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).