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

Gameday Open Thread / Cubs @ Angels

The Cubs travel to Tempe today to face the suddenly depleted Angels. Carlos Zamrbano's final tune-up before Opening Day and he'll be opposed by Jered Weaver. The game is on MLB.tv.

The Cubs also settled on their position players to start the season, choosing the lefty bat and infield abilities of Mike Fontenot over the superior righty bat of Matt Murton's. A difficult, but understandable decision on the Cubs part. While Murton is the better hitter, the addition of Fontenot gives the Cubs two lefty bench bats and someone besides Ronny Cedeno to back up the middle infield. The bench will consist of Henry Blanco, Daryle Ward, Ronny Cedeno, Reed Johnson and Mike Fontenot. I can't say I'm thrilled, but I do hope that if Soriano or Fukudome go down with an injury that Murton is still the top choice to replace them on an everday basis. The Cubs also released non-roster invitee Alex Cintron.

Finally, a loyal reader has four tickets for the April 2nd game at Wrigley versus the Brewers. I'm not too interested in becoming a ticket exchange or broker, but he's offering them at below face value, so I thought I'd pass along the note. Drop me an email and I'll forward it to him if you're interested. They're in Aisle 434, Row 2 and retail for $23 each. He's willing to break them up into pairs and is only asking $20 for each ticket. In other words, $40 or $80 instead of $46 or $92. I take no responsibility for their authenticity and don't think I'll do this for everyone.

Comments

only the play-by-play announcer is pronouncing it wrong. weird, huh? and now he's doing it right as well. Someone musta told them.

a late scratch What's wrong with him?

Looks like he's got it in shape! 2nd inning assist that was a bullet.

[ ]

In reply to by billybucks

i live with it. i have to take steroids once or twice a year to shrink tissue growth in my sinuses. yeah, fun stuff. at least he can easily afford the $200 a month in meds he may need if its chronic. wildflower season in arizona is in its best flush in almost a decade. i think its the best flush they've had out there since 02/03 or so. the desert is alive. they have to get a concentrated amount of rain over the winter or there's little to no wildflowers at all.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

i can believe it...but i can't. as much as i'd like to keep murton around...wow...he is absolutely done with AAA. he's not going to gain arm strength suddenly by playing the bus-leagues in RF. he's not going to suddenly turn into a defensive wizz in AAA. and unless there's some part-100 of tinkering with his swing (which i doubt at this point) i definitely dont see what his bat is doing in the minors. even with floyd injured 1/2+ or so of the season it was nice having the R/L bench power option (for the first time in a long time) of murton/ward.

wish your opening day tickets post had been up a week ago, i paid $50 each for about those same seats...knew i could do better if i waited but didn't want the anxiety since i'm flying back into town specifically for opening day. Rob, any chance that we could have some sort of section of TCR where people could post extras/needs for tickets? i have a mini-season ticket plan and will have some tickets that i would be happy to dump for face value. this would be awesome if possible. also, sad that murton won't be on the opening day team but i guess it makes sense, i still would have taken him over fontenot.

kerry wood comes in with men on to relieve marmol (pitching unsuccessfully into his 2nd inning of work)...wild pitch...then retires the next 2 to escape the inning. neat. -edit- wood going for another inning after .2ip (both fielded outs) the inning before. groundout to 1st, K (swinging), and K (looking) 1.2ip 0h 0bb 2k

Murton was basically doomed the moment that Soriano moved from CF to LF last year. He would a great fit for the A's, who would value his OBP and low cost.

[ ]

In reply to by Seamhead

murton would be a great fit for a lot of clubs. question i have is why these clubs dont have him yet. at least it *seems* like hendry doesn't want to give him away just for the sake of moving him...so far... either way, if he tears up AAA and gets another callup he could move into that easy-to-get-hard-to-maintain cubs fan cult status. kerry wood could get 1/2 of wrigley to give him a standing O just getting up off the pen bench during a game to take a leak.

ah yes, not for opening day indeed. my bad. i'll check over at the blog whose name shall not be spoken for ticket stuff. thanks for the heads-up. Pie! Pignatello for MVP!

any real discussion of it, but man, do I wish the Cubs had taken a longer look at Josh Hamilton in 2006's Rule 5 draft. He's hitting .455/.492/.818 this spring and apparently playing a very good outfield.

[ ]

In reply to by Andrew

a lot of people were looking at the reds when they wanted hamilton...they've done this before with players obviously not ready (willie mo pena), but hamilton was a guy many years and many drug related suspensions away from even playing organized ball. i dunno what's more amazing...him or ankiel (even with known PEDs in ankiel's case).

[ ]

In reply to by Andrew

it's a bit too early to make the call on hamilton, but as of right now it would have been one of the biggest coups in cubs history if they had the foresight and willingness to risk the roster space. it was a hell of one for the reds, and it though it got what most perceive to be an under-market return on hamilton...they turned it into a nice crop of prospects.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

We did have Hamilton if I am not mistaken. His drug problems were/are serious. Yes, he's talented, but he's older and has to have a fulltime babysitter (Johnny Narron) with him most of the time. A guy whose sobriety is that tenuous, might be considered too much of a risk and expense for many teams. The Narrons have worked for the Rangers in the past. Not to mention he is injury prone and our outfield wouldn't be too kind to him I imagine.

Pie with 3 more hits today. Isn't he hitting like .988 since the Cubs "clearly soured on him" about a week ago? Why didn't they think of this sooner?

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In reply to by Jackstraw

A couple thoughts: Pie hitting .356, leading the starters in hitting. Who saw that coming? Large. Will someone please tell Lou to shut it about trading Murton? Even if we are going to trade him -- no, ESPECIALLY if we are going to trade him -- no one associated with the Cubs should be making public announcements about the fact that we don't need him anymore. It's another frustrating case of minimizing the trade value of a pretty good player who should fetch something useful in return.

[ ]

In reply to by 433

I'm as excited as anyone for Pie to break out this year but let's not give him the batting crown yet. Remember these games still don't mean anything. -Debbie Downer

and my deepest condolences to everyone who drafted Jarrod Saltalamacchia for their fantasy team.

made the Blue Jays as well, he was a Rule 5 draftee from our organization. We'll see if he sticks all year though.

Well, I was for getting Roberts mainly for what he would bring to the top of the lineup offensively. As long as the price was reasonable (e.g. Veal, Gallagher, and 1 of EPat, Cedeno, Murton), OK. Asking 4 or 5 players for one slightly above average second baseman is McPhail just being baseball retarded. My guess is Andy will regret not making this move by July when the O's are 25 games out of 1st, dead in the water, and it's a buyer's market for his expensive castoffs. Nonetheless, the bright side is Hendry still has all his top and mid-level prospects from which to deal with between now and July 31st. My guess, again, is that Jimbo's going to need them for his starting rotation and LH hitting off his bench and middle infield. The 'pie in the sky' hope is that Gallagher, Samardzija, and/or Veal could be ready to step into the rotation and/or bullpen by mid-July. Until then, I hope Angelos and McPhail choke on Roberts.

[ ]

In reply to by George Altman

Couldnt have said it better myself. I have a gut feeling that negotiating with McFail would be like negotiating with the IRS or a Skilled Tax attorney. Or a petulant 5 year old for that matter.

March 23 San Diego North County Times "Prior will continue to pitch every five days and may face live hitters soon. He hopes to rejoin the team in May" March 27 Padres put MP on 60 day DL "The flame-throwing Prior is not expected to pitch until June at the earliest."

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In reply to by navigator

"flame throwing"? Wasn't he down around 89-90 the last time we saw him. Even Padres' beat writers are more concerned with sun/surfing than baseball. Prior could be throwing towels on the PCH and no one in San Diego would even notice.

I've been running a Home Run Pool for the last 5 years. You pick 11 players from 4 groups of players similar to this pool. But, you also get to write in 4 players that aren't on lists - a lot of people really like this strategic aspect. There is a total of 15 players selected plus 1 tiebreaker. It costs $20 per entry and all money is returned to the pot. Last year there were 80 participants. The 4 highest HR totals payout. I expect the same level of participation this year but am always hoping for more! If you're interested send me an email at [email protected] and I'll send you an entry form. The deadline to submit picks is March 30th at 11:59 PM CST so act quickly!

So the BJs got rid of Reed Johnson and Buck Coats makes their 25-man. What do you make of this? Coats is a left-handed hitter.

Q: Who pitches first in an MLB game, Mark Prior or Angel Guzman? A: None of the above.

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.