The 2018 Cubs Convention officially kicks off on Friday night, giving fans a taste of the upcoming Chicago Cubs season. It’s a time and place for fans to gather to show their fandom, get the latest on the team, more info on Wrigley Renovations, meet players and play games.
But before all of that can start, there’s some business to take care of.
On Friday morning, the Cubs officially avoided arbitration with two pitchers just ahead of the noon deadline. Starter Kyle Hendricks and the team avoided arbitration, signing for $4.175 million:
The #Cubs sign Kyle Hendricks, invaluable part of rotation, to one year, $4.175 million deal
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 12, 2018
The team also also avoided arbitration with reliever Justin Wilson who they acquired from the Detroit Tigers back in July of 2017. Wilson agreed to a deal worth $4.25M:
Justin Wilson agrees to $4.25m deal, avoids arbitration with Cubs.
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubMLB) January 12, 2018
Just before the deadline, Carrie Muskat reported that the Cubs and infielder Tommy La Stella avoided arbitration as they agreed to a one-year deal worth $950,000:
#Cubs and La Stella avoid arbitration, agree to $950,000 one-year deal
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) January 12, 2018
That leaves Addison Russell, Justin Grimm and Kris Bryant as players who have not settled and are left as eligible for arbitration. Going into the deadline, it was thought that Bryant could break the record for a player’s first year of arbitration potentially surpassing Ryan Howard’s $10M deal from 10 years ago.
As Jesse Rogers points out, the Cubs have never had an arbitration hearing under the Theo Epstein regime.
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