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

First-Year Player Draft (MLB Rule 4 Draft)

Beginning with the 2022 First-Year Player Draft (or "MLB Rule 4 Draft"), the draft will be held over a three-day period between June 1st and July 20th. 
NOTE: The draft will be held July 9-11 in 2023. 

Beginning with the 2022 season and going forward, the draft will be twenty rounds.

Beginning with the 2023 draft:

1. Draft order for rounds #2 - #20 will be based upon the inverse order of winning percentages from the previous season. If the winning percentages of two or more clubs are the same, the club with the lowest winning percentage from the previous season picks first. If two or more clubs are still tied, league standings from two years back (or three years back, four years back, etc) are used to break the tie;

2. Draft order for the first six picks in the first round (only) will be determined by a weighted lottery similar to the one used the NBA. Only the 18 clubs that did not qualify for the post-season in the previous season are eligible to participate in the lottery.
NOTE: The 2023 MLB Rule 4 Draft draft lottery was held on 12/6 at the 2022 MLB Winter Meetings in San Diego. The Cubs fell back one slot and will pick 13th in the 1st round of the 2023 draft. 

3. Draft order for the twelve clubs that did qualify for the post-season in the previous season will be determined by when the club was eliminated from contention in the post-season and that club's  revenue-sharing and/or tax status, with the four Wild Card round losers selecting #19 - #22, the four LDS losers selecting #23 - #26, the two LCS losers selecting #27-#28, the World Series loser selecting #29, and the World Series winner selecting #30. Within the Wild Card losers, LDS losers, and LCS losers groups, draft order  will be determined by whether the club received revenue sharing funds (higher pick), paid a Competitive Balance Tax (lower pick), or neither received revenue sharing funds nor paid a CBT (middle pick), with the tie-breaker the same as used in rounds #2 - #20. 

Competitive Balance Rule 4 Draft picks are slotted in two groups (Competitive Balance Round "A" is slotted after the 1st Round, and Competitive Balance Round "B" is slotted between the 2nd and 3rd rounds). 
NOTE: Beginning with the 2017 Rule 4 Draft, Competitive Balance draft picks will no longer be awarded by lottery. Rather, all clubs who qualify (the ten smallest market clubs and the ten lowest revenue clubs) will receive Competitive Balance draft picks in either Competitive Balance Round "A" (between the 1st & 2nd round) or in Competitive Balance Round "B" (between the 2nd & 3rd rounds), with each club alternating between the two rounds every-other year.

If an Article XX-B Qualified Player subsequently signs a Major League contract with another (different) MLB club prior to the MLB Rule 4 Draft (MLB First-Year Player Draft), the player's former club (the club that lost the Qualified Player) normally will receive a compensatory draft pick in the MLB Rule 4 Draft between the 2nd & 3rd rounds (after Competitive Balance Round "B"). 
EXCEPTIONS: An MLB club that receives revenue sharing funds would receive a compensatory draft pick immediately after the conclusion of the 1st round (prior to Competitive Balance Round "A") - IF - the Qualified Player signs a contract worth at least $50M (the club would receive a compensatory draft pick between the 2nd & 3rd rounds and after Competitive Balance Round "B" if the Qualified Player signs a contract worth less than $50M), and an MLB club that is a Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) payor (club's payroll from the previous season exceeded the so-called "Luxury Tax") would receive a draft pick between the 4th & 5th rounds. 
NOTE: If more than one club receives the same type of compensatory pick, the draft order for the comp picks is the same as it is for all other rounds in that draft (clubs select in inverse order of league standings from the previous season, and in the case of two clubs finishing with the same record the previous season, league standings from two seasons back will be used to break the tie, and if If the clubs are still tied, league standings from three seasons back, four seasons back, etc, will be used to break the tie). 

CUBS ARTICLE XX-B QUALIFIED PLAYERS POST-2023 (last updated 11-6-2023):
Cody Bellinger, OF-1B

An MLB club that signs an Article XX-B player who was extended a Qualifying Offer from his previous club forfeits its 2nd highest selection in the next MLB Rule 4 Draft and $500,000 is subtracted from its assigned International Signing Bonus Pool (ISBP) in the next full International Signing Period (ISP). 
EXCEPTIONS: An MLB club that receives revenue sharing funds would surrender its 3rd highest selection in the draft but nothing is subtracted from the club's ISBP in the next full ISP, and an MLB club that is a CBT payer (club's payroll from the previous season exceeded the so-called "Luxury Tax") would forfeit its 2nd & 5th selection in the draft and have $1,000,000 subtracted from its ISBP in the next ISP. 
NOTE: The Competitive Balance Tax threshold will be $230M in 2022, $233M in 2023, $237M in 2024, $241M in 2025, and $244M in 2026.

POST-2023 ARTICLE XX-B QUALIFIED PLAYERS SIGNED BY CUBS (last updated 11-15-2023): 
NONE AT THIS TIME   

The next highest Rule 4 Draft pick (or draft picks) will be forfeited if a club signs more than one Article XX-B player who was extended a Qualifying Offer from his previous club (one draft pick forfeited for each Qualified Player signed). 
NOTE: A CBT payer (club's payroll from the previous season exceeded the so-called "Luxury Tax") would forfeit its 3rd & 6th highest selections if the club signs a second Qualified Player, its 4th & 7th selections if the club signs a third Qualified Player, and its 8th & 9th highest selections, 10th & 11th highest selections, etc, for additional Qualified Players signed. 

Draft picks subject to forfeiture include the club's own Rule 4 Draft picks, compensatory draft picks awarded to the club after losing an Article XX-B Qualified Player, and draft picks awarded as the result of the Rule 4 SBP Forfeited Draft Pick lottery (including draft picks that were subsequently acquired in a trade). Competitive Balance draft picks (including Competitive Balance draft picks acquired in a trade) and a compensatory draft pick awarded to a club for failing to sign a pick from a previous Rule 4 Draft are - NOT - subject to forfeiture.
NOTE: Prior to the 2018 MLB Rule 4 Draft, Competitive Balance draft picks were subject to forfeiture.

A Rule 4 Draft pick forfeited as the result of a club signing an Article XX-B player who was extended a Qualifying Offer from his previous club is not transferred to any other club (it just disappears).

Beginning with the 2018 Rule 4 Draft, any MLB club that had a payroll from the previous season that was $40M or more above the Competitive Balance Tax threshold will have its highest draft selection moved down ten slots, unless its first selection is among the top six picks in the draft, in which case it will have its second-highest draft slot moved down ten slots.
NOTE: In determining whether a club would have its highest or second-highest draft pick moved down ten slots, the six "protected" picks at the top of the 1st round would NOT include any compensation draft pick received by a club for failing to sign a 1st round draft pick from a previous draft -- these compensatory draft picks are already "protected."

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).