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The Chicago Cubs have finalized their 2024 Opening Day roster as the final few spots were made on official on Monday.
Here is your 2024 Cubs Opening Day roster. Barring any injuries within the next few days, these will be the 26 active players for the Cubs on Thursday against the Texas Rangers.
PITCHERS
(Starters: 5) Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, Jordan Wicks, Shota Imanaga, Javier Assad
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(Reliever: 8) – Drew Smyly, Luke Little, Yency Almonte, Jose Cuas, Hector Neris, Mark Leiter Jr., Julian Merryweather, Adbert Alzolay
POSITION PLAYERS
(Starters: 8) – Yan Gomes, Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner, Christopher Morel, Dansby Swanson, Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger, Seiya Suzuki
(Bench: 5) – Miguel Amaya, Mike Tauchman, Garrett Cooper, Miles Mastrobuoni, Nick Madrigal
The Cubs have been waiting to see how Madrigal would recover from his hamstring injury in spring training and after playing in Sunday’s Cactus League game against the Seattle Mariners, the answer must have been positive. While I don’t personally love Madrigal’s profile at the plate, there’s no denying that he did have a good season defensively at third base in 2023. With the remaining question marks surrounding Morel’s play at the hot corner, I’m not too surprised that Madrigal is on the bench to serve as a defensive replacement and pretty much provide insurance for third base if Morel is terrible out there.
Right-handed slugger Alexander Canario was still vying for one of the final bench spots, but he’ll begin the season at Triple-A.
Overall, there’s not much I’ll complain about looking at the 26-man roster. New Cubs manager Craig Counsell is hopefully going to give Morel and rookie Michael Busch plenty of leeway early in the season and I love that the skipper is showing confidence in his young arms. Jordan Wicks and Javier Assad were both named to the starting rotation last week and rookie lefty Luke Little also earned the honor of being in the Opening Day bullpen after a strong showing in spring training.
The main players beginning the season on the injured list are right-handed starter Jameson Taillon and power-hitting corner infielder Patrick Wisdom. Meanwhile, veteran hitter David Peralta will stay behind in Arizona after the conclusion of spring training, when he’ll hopefully get back to the field. The outfielder had offseason arm surgery and although he has been DHing during Cactus League play, Peralta is still in the middle of his throwing program.
So, what are your thoughts on the Cubs Opening Day roster? Think someone should have made it over someone else? Let us know!
Would have liked to see Canario and Cassie. Do we have reports on if they are sent down this year we get another year of control like Bryant ?