I’ll admit it: it’s difficult to keep track of everyone at Cubs Spring camp right now, even when you’re writing about these guys every single day.
In addition to the entire 40-man roster, there are many, many other non-roster invitees that happen to slip your mind.
Those players range from interesting veterans like Shane Victorino, top prospects like Albert Almora, and even interesting depth-types like Munenori Kawaski – as he would say, he’s from Japan. Hey, so is Matt Murton.
So, today, we’re going to lay out the entire roster and non-roster invitees to camp for your perusal, together with the expected 25-man roster as of today. With the games starting this Thursday, and with cuts to come thereafter, we hope this piece can be a resource both for today, and also for your future self to call back.
Okay, here we go. Let’s take a look at everyone in big league camp.
40-Man Roster:
Pitchers:
Jake Arrieta
Dallas Beeler
Aaron Brooks
Rex Brothers
Trevor Cahill
Carl Edwards Jr.
Justin Grimm
Jason Hammel
Kyle Hendricks
Pierce Johnson
John Lackey
Jon Lester
Spencer Patton
Neil Ramirez
Clayton Richard
C.J. Riefenhauser
Hector Rondon
Pedro Strop
Adam Warren
Travis Wood
Catchers:
Miguel Montero
Kyle Schwarber
Infield:
Javier Baez
Kris Bryant
Jeimer Candelario
Tommy La Stella
Addison Russell
Christian Villanueva
Dan Vogelbach
Ben Zobrist
Outfield:
Jason Heyward
Matt Szczur
Non-40-Man-Roster Invitees:
Pitchers:
Stephen Fife
Brandon Gomes
Jack Leathersich
Jean Machi
Edgar Olmos
Manny Parra
Jonathan Pettibone
Armando Rivero
Drew Rucinski
Duane Underwood
Ryan Williams
Catchers:
Infield:
Munenori Kawasaki
Outfield
John Andreoli
Matt Murton
Shane Victorino
Projected 25-Man Roster:
Rotation:
Jake Arrieta
Jon Lester
John Lackey
Jason Hammel
Kyle Hendricks
Bullpen:
Hector Rondon
Pedro Strop
Justin Grimm
Adam Warren
Travis Wood
Trevor Cahill
Clayton Richard
Neil Ramirez or Rex Brothers or Carl Edwards, Jr. or Manny Parra, etc.
Catcher:
Miguel Montero
Infield:
Anthony Rizzo
Ben Zobrist
Addison Russell
Kris Bryant
Outfield:
Kyle Schwarber
Dexter Fowler
Jason Heyward
Bench:
Jorge Soler (sort of)
David Ross
Javier Baez
Tommy La Stella or Matt Szczur or Shane Victorino, etc.
[adinserter block=”1″]Assuming everyone is healthy – which is rarely ever the case – this is how I believe the 25 man roster will shake out by the end of Spring Training. Obviously, that last spot in the bullpen is up for grabs, as is the final spot on the bench (and there’s a relationship between the size of the bullpen and the size of the bench). But, at this point in the schedule, it would be foolish to make a call on the 24th and 25th man, so I included the most likely options above. Each has his merits, but who is deserving is a question for another time.
For now, the list above are the players at camp and those that are most likely to make the final squad. This list will be whittled down as the weeks go by, but – at least – for now, these are the names to know.
*(If you’re wondering where Zac Rosscup is, you may have missed that he was placed on the 60-day disabled list with shoulder inflammation on the day Chris Coghlan was traded for Aaron Brooks, and Dexter Fowler was re-signed.)