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

25-Man Roster Update

AZ Phil's Cubs Depth Chart | Cubs Reserve List (40-man Roster)

Let's take a revised look at what we might expect the Cubs Opening Day Roster to look like after the recent series of moves.

Starters

C - Geovany Soto
1B - Derrek Lee
2B - *Mike Fontenot
3B - Aramis Ramirez
SS - Ryan Theriot
LF - Alfonso Soriano
CF - *Kosuke Fukudome
RF - #Milton Bradley

Bench

C - *Paul Bako
OF - Reed Johnson
OF - *Joey Gathright
INF - #Aaron Miles
INF/OF - *Micah Hoffpauir

Starting Pitching

#1 - Carlos Zambrano
#2 - Ryan Dempster
#3 - *Ted Lilly
#4 - Rich Harden
#5 - Aaron Heilman

Bullpen

#1 (Closer) - Carlos Marmol
#2 (Set-Up) - Kevin Gregg
#3 - Luis Vizcaino
#4 - *Neal Cotts
#5 - Chad Gaudin
#6 - Angel Guzman
#7 - *Sean Marshall

Moving Wuertz opens up a spot in the bullpen for the loser of the 5th starter job and sometime during spring training, Lou is going to say he wants two lefties in the pen. Hoffpauir gets the final bench spot at the moment, that is until they sign Rich Aurilia, Nomar Garciaparra or Kevin Millar. If Harden starts the year on the disabled list, then I'd expect Marshall in the rotation and Jeff Samardzija or an NRI invitee to take the final bullpen spot. Of course, Samardzija may end up with a starter's job and Heilman and/or Marshall will end up in the pen. 

Comments

phew...that pen is gonna walk some guys. and hopefully guzman wont give up 1000000 homers.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Biggest problem with letting Wood walk is now you take your top "Come in in a bind and strike out three clowns" guy and move him from being flexible to being labeled "The Closer"...now he only pitches in the 9th, so we'll bring in Gregg/Vizciano/Scrub and they'll give up the runs and will make having Marmol available in the 9th a moot point. The pen screams mediocrity and that isn't good for a contending team.

[ ]

In reply to by The Joe

"Lou gives less than a shit about your fantasy team." Sorry The Joe, not everyone can be TCR Keeper Champion/Runner-Up like you. Some of us are still in the little leagues playing public leagues over at Yahoo. One day I aspire to be like the man, the myth, and the legendary fantasy baseball player that is The Joe.

Can somebody explain to me why Hoffpauir will be on the outside looking in? To my knowledge he's done nothing but hit the cover off the ball at the major league level, and he's not really at an age where time in the minors will help him anymore.

[ ]

In reply to by kmokeefe

let me preface this as it's not my idea...

But Hoffpauir does have options and might be better suited to start off in Iowa in case of an injury, plus he's a one position player - 1B. The Cubs seem to have soured on the lefty pinch-hitter with power since they got a little more left-handed now and they might be worried that Hoffpauir will struggle with very limited at-bats.

[ ]

In reply to by CPH2133

if you broke down any hitter by how they did 100-150 PA's at a time, I'm sure a lot had lines that looked like Daryle Ward. Counting on a pinch-hitter to repeat his performance year-to-year is foolish...

He had good AB's, walked a lot as no one wanted to pitch to him, which probably set up Soriano and the top of the order for more opportunities than they should have expected.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

"He had good AB's, walked a lot as no one wanted to pitch to him, which probably set up Soriano and the top of the order for more opportunities than they should have expected." They walked Ward so they could throw two curveballs in the dirt and an eye high fastball to Soriano to get out of the inning... I kid I kid, I understand with a small sample size it's hard to take averages for what they're worth (shit Fukudome was batting .500 at one point least season) Just seems to me that they're looking for a bit more versatility out of that last roster spot than The Hoff...for whatever its worth.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

Not your idea? I remember when you first said it, the first time Aurilia's name surfaced. You may have started the rumor that there was an open spot on the roster, temporarily filled by Hoffpauir. You had me scared for a while, but then Uribe signed a minor-league contract with somebody else, and I just figured the Cubs were looking for someone to stash in Iowa in case Ramirez got injured. Anyway, on a different subject, let me toss this out concerning Vizcaino. A guy who makes upwards of $4 million is automatically on the major-league roster. Normally. But Vizcaino may be different. It may be that the Cubs don't like him much, but were given these two options by the Rockies: pay half of Marquis' salary, or pay one million and then also pay Vizcaino. They would have shelled out the same amount either way. They opted for the warm body. That doesn't mean he's in their plans. They do have to try to make Vizcaino attractive for a few months (so they can pay only $2 million for someone else to take him), so maybe he has to be on the 25-man. I just don't think they necessarily like him at all.

[ ]

In reply to by VirginiaPhil

Not your idea?

I remember when you first said it, the first time Aurilia's name surfaced. You may have started the rumor that there was an open spot on the roster, temporarily filled by Hoffpauir.

Reality is calling, please pick up....

http://stations.espn.go.com/stations/espnradio1000/blog?id=3738908&post…

The Cubs are still looking for a right-handed hitting infielder/1B-3B backup. Names that have come up for the Cubs are Kevin Millar and Rich Aurilia. The team had shown early interest in Nomar Garciaparra, but were told that he was looking for more of a full-time position. The team also inquired about the availability of former White Sox SS Juan Uribe before he signed a deal with the San Francisco Giants.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

The ESPN link is dated 1/30. I was referring to something you wrote on the 15th.
"The Cubs have spoken to Rich Aurilia's agent and may offer Aurilia a one-year deal to take Cedeno's spot and back up Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee." Whose spot was Cedeno going to take though? I'm starting to wonder if Micah Hoffpauir is on the outside looking in at a roster spot.
Nothing wrong with connecting the dots, I just said you were the first to connect Aurilia et al. to Hoffpauir.

In a recent thread somebody raised the point that "Lou hates pitchers". I'm not sure of that, but I do think he hates relievers who walk guys. Hence reliance on HR Howry last year. #5 starter comes down to Heilman or Gaudin, with whomever shows better control actually going to the bullpen. I guess Heilman. I think Marshall will get the least look for the #5 starter, since Lou has talked about liking him in the swing role. I also think by the time it shakes out it will be Samrdizja--Marmol-Gregg to finish games. So either Vizcaino goes somewhere (I assume with the Cubs paying part of his salary) or Guzman goes. I also think Hoffpauir starts the year at AAA to stay sharp. His primary value to the Cubs (at least in management's mind) is as a regular fill-in for D Lee if he gets hurt, rather than as a 24th man. Better to play at Iowa and be only a phone call away.

Ramirez is now on the wrong side of 30, and has averaged 140 games a year for the past five seasons. Miles is the only backup 3B on the roster, and is best suited for 2B-SS. We need a guy who can backup both 3B and 1B and provide a litle PH thump off the bench. Hoffpauir simply can't fill that role.

Speaking of Fantasy Baseball....we should have a Cubs Report fantasy league! Thoughts on that guys?

[ ]

In reply to by spongebob

well, if you look at the 2 signatures above you, you'll notice there are a few around already. I think Transmission runs some as well. We had 2 leagues going on mlb.com last year, that were low maintenance, so might bring that up again.

I'm a bit stretched thin, so I probably won't be starting anything new up this year. Others are welcome to schill their leagues in the comments though or start a new one.

Doug Mientkiewicz is another fallback option ---- he also an anagram for Samardzija in Belarus, nyet?

Concern: If Marshall swings to the rotation, is Cotts the only lefty option in the pen? Beimel never sounded so adequate.

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.