Today marks the deadline for teams to submit to Major League Baseball their initial spring training player pools, which can comprise up to 60 players. Players are not eligible to participate in either a spring training or regular season game until they are included in the pool. Teams are free to change the makeup of the pools as they see fit. However, players removed from a team’s 60-man (for reasons unrelated to injury, suspension, etc.) must be exposed to other organizations via trade or waivers.
Not all players within a team’s pool are ticketed for MLB playing time, of course. Most teams will include well-regarded but still far-off prospects as a means of getting them training reps with no intention of running them onto a major league diamond this season. A comprehensive review of 2020’s unique set of rules can be found here.
The Cubs’ initial player pool consists of the following 50 players….
Right-handed pitchers
- Jason Adam
- Adbert Alzolay
- Tyler Chatwood
- Jharel Cotton
- Yu Darvish
- Juan Gamez
- Kyle Hendricks
- Jeremy Jeffress
- Craig Kimbrel
- Dillon Maples
- Trevor Megill
- Dakota Mekkes
- Alec Mills
- James Norwood
- Colin Rea
- Michael Rucker
- Casey Sadler
- Ryan Tepera
- Duane Underwood Jr.
- Rowan Wick
- Dan Winkler
Left-handed pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
- Javier Baez
- David Bote
- Kris Bryant
- Daniel Descalso
- Robel Garcia
- Nico Hoerner
- Jason Kipnis
- Christopher Morel
- Anthony Rizzo
Outfielders
- Albert Almora
- Brennen Davis
- Ian Happ
- Jason Heyward
- Ian Miller
- Kyle Schwarber
- Steven Souza Jr.
- Mark Zagunis
Why only 50?
Theo’s league. They only need 50
Ha!
Ricketts too cheap
Because they don’t have 10 other minor leaguers worth a damn.
I don’t get why the Cubs are not taking full advantage of the 60 man roster? Why not have some more prospect types get more development in? Kind of Strange but likely a solid reason why.
Bc eff you, that’s why. -Theo
It’s called the “INITIAL LIST” for a reason.
It’s easier to add someone than replace someone.
So they have space to add, without needing to remove?
>However, players removed from a team’s 60-man (for reasons unrelated to injury, suspension, etc.) must be exposed to other organizations via trade or waivers.
If they have to go through the same process as it was the 40 ,man roster to remove a player from it which it does appear then carrying 50 players initaly makes more sense.
@moghopper—-thank you for explaining to some of the trolls out there. With 50 you can add without losing during the season.
Always good to know that the trolls that have been unemployed the past two months can restart looking for Cubs stories so they dont have to just watch Maury reruns all day.
Finally, an informed comment. Thank you.
No Burl Carraway? Hopefully they’ll add more players than just 50.
I’m sure they will. They left 10 spots open so they can add others players to the mix
I could be wrong but I don’t think he has signed yet.
They did, they announced it last Thursday
Yeah he signed last week. Cubs officially announced it
OF and pitching is not very impressive at all, good thing it’s a short season.
They are reminding me of the old crappy Cubs of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
No Brandon Morrow? I thought was projected to be ready in May.
Sharma and Mooney mentioned that Brandon Morrow still probably wasn’t going to be healthy for this season in an article for the Athletic a couple days ago. Typical Brandon Morrow smh
No Brandon Morrow? I thought was projected to be ready in May.
No Brandon Morrow? I thought was projected to be ready in May.
Only hit submit once.
Good catch. I thought the same. If I recall correctly he took a spring invite deal on the cheap.
I was hopeful he’d maybe be able to contribute his typical 1/3rd season – which this year seems built for him.
Another setback unfortunately
Because the cubs don’t have more then 50 big league players in there system
Neither do any of the other 29 teams.
For everyone commenting on the use of only 50 of the 60 spaces. This all relates to the difficulty of taking a player OFF the initial 60 list. This provides them flexibility to sign, release players (I wouldn’t be surprised if Descalo and others on this list are released), trade for players, etc without having to drop any player they actually want from that 60 list and subject them to waivers.
For Pete’s sake, they added Christopher Morel to the 50/60 spots and he is a super raw 21 year old. He will not be seeing anytime in MLB this year, they wanted to get him reps, and they knew they wouldn’t be dropping him to subject him to waivers but for a player like that to be on the 60 – knowing he won’t see MLB time – you have to allow yourself flexibility in other areas.
If they came out with a list of 55 right now, they may release some all for the keeping of 50.
It was smart roster management IMO.