With the Friday contract tender deadline, the Chicago Cubs decided to cut ties with three, will proceed to arbitration with six, and officially resigned one.
The Chicago Cubs front office had a lot of tough decisions, but they were able to make their decisions right at the deadline of 8 PM EST:
#Cubs today announced the following roster moves:
-They have agreed to terms on a 2024 contract with Patrick Wisdom.
-Six arbitration-eligible players have been tendered 2024 contracts: Adbert Alzolay, Mark Leiter Jr., Nick Madrigal, Julian Merryweather, Justin Steele and Mike…
— Taylor McGregor (@Taylor_McGregor) November 18, 2023
None of the decisions the team decided to make were too surprising. All the guys heading to arbitration either will play a huge role in the future success of the team (Steele, Alzolay, Merryweather) or have the chance to be solid contributors (Madrigal, Leiter Jr, Tauchman.) They will all head to arbitration and work out their salary for the upcoming 2024 season.
The team decided to let all of Codi Heuer, Brandon Hughes, and Ethan Roberts go as they didn’t tender them a contract. These guys all have very similar Chicago Cubs careers. All have shown flashes of great stuff and possible dominance at times, but injuries have derailed their careers.
Heuer, who came over in the Kimbrel trade with Madrigal, has needed Tommy John and elbow fracture surgeries. Hughes has had knee issues for the last year and a half. Roberts hasn’t pitched since 2022 due to Tommy John surgery. These guys could sign with another team or could even be back with the Cubs in Spring Training with non-guaranteed contracts.
The lone player to get their 2024 salary locked in was Patrick Wisdom. Though certainly polarizing during his time with the Chicago Cubs, you can’t deny the power he possesses. He has 76 home runs in part-time at bats over the last three seasons. You can’t find power like that anywhere so he may very well have a spot on the bench once again. Now that the teams have all made these decisions, free agency should soon be heating up in the coming days.
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