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

Javier Baez Takes Maholm Deep at Fitch Park

Paul Maholm threw 5-2/3 innings (77 pitches), allowing three runs (all earned), seven hits (including two doubles, a triple, and a Javier Baez tape-measure home run), two walks, and a HBP, with five strikeouts and 5/5 GO/FO, in intrasquad action this morning at Fitch Park Field #3 in Mesa.

Baez crushed his two-run bomb off a house on the north side of 8th Street, and then later in the game, lined a rope-double off the LF fence, stole 3rd, and scored the tying run on an Oliver Zapata single (Zapata’s third hit of the game, BTW).

Baez also made the defensive play of the day (diving stop behind 2nd base, before getting to his feet and making a strong throw to 1st to nip speedy Trey Martin by less than a step).

The game was extended beyond nine innings to accommodate all of the pitchers who were scheduled to throw today.

Here is the abridged box score from the game:

SQUAD “A” LINEUP:
1. Oliver Zapata, CF: 3-5 (1B, 2B, K, P-2, 1B, R, RBI, SB)
2. Gioskar Amaya, 2B: 1-5 (L-8 DP, 1B, F-8, 6-3, 6-4 FC, RBI, PO)
3. Ryan Cuneo, DH #1: 1-4 (F-8, 1B, BB, 1-3, 4-3)
4a. SLOT WAS SKIPPED FIRST TWO TIMES THRU BATTING ORDER
4b. Trevor Gretzky, DH #2: 1-3 (1B, K, K, CS)
5. Jair Bogaerts, 3B: 1-4 (5-3, 5-3, HBP, 2B, K, R)
6. Rock Shoulders, 1B: 2-3 (6-3, 2B, BB, 1B, RBI)
7. Xavier Batista, RF: 0-4 (K, F-9, K, 5-4-3 DP)
8. Wilson Contreras, C: 1-4 (6-3, 6-2 FC, 1B, 5-3, R, SB)
9. Javier Baez, SS: 2-4 (K, HR, K, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, SB)
10. Garrett Schlecht, LF: 1-4 (K, 3B, 4-3, K)
11a. SLOT WAS SKIPPED FIRST TWO TIMES THRU BATTING ORDER
11b. Luis Acosta, DH #3: 0-2 (F-9, K)

SQUAD “B” LINEUP:
1 Trey Martin, CF: 1-5 (3-U, BB, 1B, 3-U, F-7, 6-3, R)
2a. Carlos Penalver, SS: 0-3 (P-4, E-6, P-4)
2b. Brian Inoa, 2B: 1-3 (1B, K, K, PO)
3. Jeimer Candelario, 3B: 2-4 (K, 1B, 2B, 4-3, BB, BB, RBI)
4. Dan Vogelbach, 1B: 2-6 (2B, 5-4-3 DP, 4-3, 1B, K, 4-6-3 DP, R)
5a. Dong-Yub Kim, LF: 1-3 (F-9, P-6, 2B, RBI)
5b. Shawon Dunston, Jr, LF: 1-2 (1B, P-1, R)
6. Anthony Giansanti, DH: 2-4 (BB, 1B, F-9, 1B, P-6, R, 2 RBI)
7. Danny Lockhart, 2B-SS: 1-5 (6-4-3 DP, P-6, P-5, F-9, 1B, SB)
8a. Delbis Arcila, RF: 1-3 (K, 1B, K)
8b. Jeffrey Baez, RF: 0-1 (F-8 SF, K, RBI)
9. Wilfredo Petit, C: 1-5 (P-6, K, 6-3, 3-U, 1B)

SQUAD “A” PITCHERS:
1. Brooks Raley: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 3 K, 2 GIDP, 60 pitches (41 strikes), 6/5 GO/FO
2. Frank del Valle: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R (4 ER), 0 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 1 PO, 44 pitches (31 strikes), 5/5 GO/FO
3. John Gaub: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 17 pitches (8 strikes), 0/1 GO/FO
4. Starling Peralta: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 19 pitches (13 strikes), 1/2 GO/FO
5. James Pugliese: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 GIDP, 15 pitches (9 strikes), 2/0 GO/FO

SQUAD “B” PITCHERS:
1. Paul Maholm: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R (3 ER), 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HBP, 1 HR, 1 PO, 77 pitches (48 strikes), 5/5 GO/FO
2. Gerardo Concepcion: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 1 GIDP, 38 pitches (26 strikes), 6/2 GO/FO
3. Tayler Scott: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, 20 pitches (11 strikes), 1/0 GO/FO
4. Joe Zeller: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 15 pitches (11 strikes), 1/0 GO/FO

SQUAD ”A” CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Wilson Contreras: 0-1 CS

SQUAD “B” CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Wilfredo Petit: 1-4 CS

SQUAD “A” ERRORS: 1
SS Javier Baez – E-6 (fielding error allowed batter to reach base safely)

SQUAD “B” ERRORS: NONE

ATTENDANCE: 15

WEATHER: Sunny with temperatures in the 70’s

Comments

Keith Law: Cubs claim Luis Valbuena https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/187619559606460416 (per mlbtr) Valbuena, 26, was traded from the Indians to the Blue Jays in November. He spent the majority of 2011 with Cleveland's Triple-A affiliate where he hit .302/.372/.476 with 17 homers in 472 plate appearances. The infielder played 194 games for the Indians' varsity squad in 2009 and 2010 and saw a good deal of time at second base. Not sure how he fits in other than Iowa, he's a lefty bat and played 28 games at SS in 2009 (about 25% of his appearances that year) per Wikipedia... On November 26, 2011, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for cash considerations. On April 4, 2012, Valbuena was claimed off waivers by the Chicago Cubs after being optioned by the Blue Jays.

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 2:17pm — Cubster Keith Law: Cubs claim Luis Valbuena Not sure how he fits in other than Iowa, he's a lefty bat and played 28 games at SS in 2009 (about 25% of his appearances that year) ============================= CUBSTER: Luis Valbuena is out of minor league options, and while he could be placed back on waivers again so that the Cubs can send him to AAA (but that's only if no other teams make a claim), he might have been claimed because the Cubs are planning to put Bryan LaHair on the DL and they want another lefty bat on the bench with some pop (and LaHair not being ready to start the season is probably also why DeWitt has been playing a lot of 1B at the end of Spring Training). If LaHair was ready to go, he probably would have been playing in intrasquad games at Fitch Park this week (getting six or eight ABs each game to make up for lost time), but he did not. .

More Padilla twitter...INF Luis Valbuena claimed off waivers. Will make roster. Only 11-man pitching staff to start. LaHair 50-50 for Opening Day with tight back. Campana here (at Wrigley). Says he doesn't know about his status yet.

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 3:05pm — Cubster More Padilla twitter...INF Luis Valbuena claimed off waivers. Will make roster. Only 11-man pitching staff to start. LaHair 50-50 for Opening Day with tight back. Campana here (at Wrigley). Says he doesn't know about his status yet. ======================================== CUBSTER: So Tony Campana making the Opening Day roster probably hinges on whether LaHair starts the season on the DL. BTW, if LaHair is placed on the 15-day DL, it can be backdated to March 31st (he last played in a Cactus League game on 3/30), so he could be activated as soon as a week from this Sunday (4/15).

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

Actually there already was one slot open on the 40-man roster when Valbuena was acquired of waivers. NOW the 40-man roster is full. And then outrighting De La Cruz opens up one slot again, although three will be needed for Shawn Camp, Blake DeWitt, and Joe Mather. Again, I expect Marcos Mateo and Gerardo Concepcion to be placed on the 60-DL to create the two more slots that are needed. But then a fourth slot will be needed if and when Rodrigo Lopez is added to the 40. That would probably involve a DFA (possibly Scott Maine), or it could mean working out a trade with the Phillies so that the Cubs can remove Rule 5 pick Lendy Castillo from the 40-man roster and outright him to Tennessee or Daytona.

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

Because he was outrighted previously in his career, Frankie de la Cruz is an Article XX-D player, meaning he has the right to refuse an Outright Assignment to the minors. (Players who have accrued at least three years of MLB Service Time are also Article XX-D players, which is why Blake DeWitt had the right to refuse his Outright Assignment in February despite not having been outrighted previously in his career). De La Cruz now has three days to decide whether to accept the Outright Assignment. If he refuses the assignment (as Andy Sonnanstine did a couple of weeks ago), he is an unrestricted free-agent, and he receives no termination pay (his contract is essentially voided). If he accepts the Outright Assignment, he reports to Iowa, and he can file for free-agency as an Article XX-D minor league free-agent starting on the day after the conclusion of the MLB regular season (unless he is added back to an MLB 40-man roster prior to the conclusion of the 2012 MLB regular season).

25 man based on the above info: DeJesus, Barney, Castro, Soriano, LaHair, Soriano, Stewart, Byrd, Soto (8) Bench: Baker, DeWitt, RJohnson, Mather, Clevenger, Valbuena (6) SP: Dempster, Garza, Samardjiza, Volstad, Maholm (5) RP: Marmol, Wood, Russell, Camp, Dolis, LCastillo (6)

from rotoworld:
Tony Campana will remain with the team in case LaHair needs to be placed on the disabled list.
(kind of a small target for him to be our replacement at first, or maybe they will let Campy use a really big glove)

Another thing about the Cubs roster: Once Joe Mather is added to the 40-man roster, he cannot be sent to the minors unless Outright Waivers are secured. Same goes for Luis Valbuena. And Jeff Baker and Reed Johnson have too much service time to go the minors. But Blake DeWitt does have one minor league option left, so if the Cubs decide to keep Valbuena on the 25 (mainly because he can play SS), DeWitt could be optioned to the minors later on down the line once the Cubs add a 12th pitcher and if they face a 25-man roster squeeze amongst the position players.

I can kind of understand going with an 11-man pitching staff on Opening Day if your 4th starter isn't needed until Monday and the 5th starter isn't needed until next Wednesday, except 4th starter Chris Volstad threw 67 pitches in an intrasquad game at Fitch Park yesterday, and 5th starter Paul Maholm threw 77 pitches in the intrasquad game today, and so neither will be available tomorrow.

In case anyone thinks the Cubs claimed Luis Valbuena so that he could be flipped to the Phillies in a trade (like for Lendy Castillo), remember... A club is not permitted to make a waiver claim and then trade the player to another club if the purpose of the claim was to prevent a third club from being awarded the waiver claim. (A waiver claim that is judged to have been made for this purpose will be revoked). So if any other club with a waiver claim priority between the Cubs and the Phillies claimed Valbuena, and then the Cubs traded Valbuena to the Phillies, the Cubs waiver claim would be revoked (and so would the trade), and the club that put in a claim for Valbuena but lost out to the Cubs would get Valbuena and the Cubs would pay the $50,000 waiver fee.

Ex-Cub RHP Marco Carrillo is now with Los Sultanes de Monterrey in the Mexican League. The Cubs sold RHP Oswaldo Martinez to Los Diablos Rojos de Mexico (the Mexico City Red Devils) a couple of weeks ago. Both Carrillo and O. Martinez could be in the bullpen for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic next Spring. RHP Hung-Wen Chen (the first Taiwanese player signed by the Cubs) was released, and he will likely be on Team Chinese Taipei in the 2012 WBC. The Cubs loaned Chen to Los Piratas de Campeche in the Mexican League last summer (where he was one of the top closers in the Mexican League), so he could end up back there, or he could go home and pitch in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).

Cubs have officially added RHP Shawn Camp and OF-IF Joe Mather to 40-man roster, and have placed RHP Marcos Mateo (elbow) on 60-day DL. Camp is eligible to be an Article XX-B MLB free-agent post-2012. He has no minor league options left, but it doesn't really matter because he has five-plus years of MLB Service Time, so he cannot be sent to minors (by Outrighht or Optional Assignment) unless he gives his permission in advance (which is VERY unlikely). Mather has no Minor League Options left and can refuse an Outright Assignment if he is outrighted because he was outrighted previously in his career. Cubs MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) is now full, and MLB Active List (25-man roster) is one over limit because LHP Gerardo Concepcion hasn't been officially optioned yet. Concepcion was never in big league camp, and he was left behind when the Daytona Cubs left for Florida last Sunday (he pitched in the Fitch Park intrasquad game this morning), so he could go on 60-day DL to open up another slot on the 40-man roster if he is not optioned by tomorrow. IF-OF Blake DeWiit and RHP Rodrigo Lopez have NOT yet been added to 40-man roster. Rodrigo Lopez gets automatic $100K retention bonus if he is not added to Cubs 40-man roster by Opening Day. That's because he was a post-2011 Article XX-B MLB free-agent who signed a minor league contract, and Cubs did not release him by 5th day prior to MLB Opening Day. So if Cubs plan to add Lopez to 40-man roster (and 25-man roster), they would save $100K by doing it by Opening Day instead of waiting to do it and paying him an extra $100K unnecessarily. DeWitt cannot refuse to go to Iowa because he was outrighted in February and had his chance to be a free-agent at that time. Now he's stuck.

[ ]

In reply to by Dr. aaron b

Thu, 04/05/2012 - 9:35am — Dr. aaron b What do you think the split is on his Minor League contract? 100K now might be less than what his Major League split would be. =================================== DR AARON: Bruce Levine reported Rodrigo Lopez's contract as $900K if he was on an MLB 40-man roster, with a $235K minor league split salary to be paid if he is at AAA Iowa. So that's $150K per month if he is in MLB, or about $60K per month if he is at AAA. If he spends a month at Iowa, the Cubs would save about $90K in salary (but offset by paying the $100K Article XX-B retention bonus) versus what they would have had to pay him if he had been in MLB over that period of time. What I was trying to say about the Article XX-B retention bonus is if Lopez is going to AAA and there is no doubt about that and he's going to be there at least a month, then fine. But if the Cubs are planning to add him to the 40-man roster when they add a 12th pitcher, then waiting a couple of days to do that cost them an extra $100K that they would not have had to pay if he was added to the 40-man roster prior to Opening Day.

Even though I knew the Cubs had cut payroll, I was surprised to read this from @BizballMaury on Twitter:
Everyone talking about Mets' cuts, but Cubs more (-29.47%): $88,197,033 in 2012 compared to $125,047,329 last Opening Day
Who would have thought this would be the result when Epstein and Hoyer took over?

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

So in a nutshell, the quote above from @bizballmaury was a waste of the time it took Maury to tweet it, the time it took me to re-quote it, and the space it took up on this page. Other than that, it was very worthwhile. On another note, if you subtract 18% of the Yankees payroll and then claim they have a much lower, fictitious payroll...oh, never mind.

Looks like Concepcion is back on Daytona. I don't recall the initial list for Daytona that was put out, so not sure who got sent down. Guessing one of the lefties (Kirk/Jokisch) join Harman in the pen, as it's hard to see Cates/Loosen not in the rotation (and Loosen is starting opening day), and I gotta think Simpson gets a rotation look.

[ ]

In reply to by toonsterwu

Thu, 04/05/2012 - 6:59am — toonsterwu Looks like Concepcion is back on Daytona. I don't recall the initial list for Daytona that was put out, so not sure who got sent down. Guessing one of the lefties (Kirk/Jokisch) join Harman in the pen, as it's hard to see Cates/Loosen not in the rotation (and Loosen is starting opening day), and I gotta think Simpson gets a rotation look. ====================================== TOONSTER: With Gerardo Concepcion getting optioned to Daytona (and he looked very good in yesterday's intrasquad game, BTW), the Daytona Cubs now have 26 players listed on their 25-man roster, including 14 pitchers. They could keep 14 pitchers for a while and drop a position player (they use the DH in all "A" ball leagues, so a team could probably operate with a two-man bench), or they could DL or drop one of the other pitchers.

Recent comments

  • 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. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.