Cubs Roster Moves, The Hot Stove Begins, Cubs Front Office Moves and Other Cubs News

The Offseason Has Begun. And with it floods of moves; DFAing, signing FAs, trades, and the list goes on. The same is true for the Cubs, who had to bring their roster down to 40, since 5 players on the 60 day IL had to be reinstated, bringing the current roster to 43. So, the Cubs made some moves.

Trayce Thompson was outrighted
Nick Martini was outrighted
Kohl Stewart was outrighted
Jonathan Holder was outrighted

"Outrighted" means that they will be sent to Iowa and become minor league free agents. Other teams can sign them to minor league deals, or the Cubs could resign them, which I doubt would happen.

That brings the Cubs' roster down to 39, meaning they can sign a FA, or get a player off waivers (what happened to Schwindel). Of course, they'll be trimming the roster down more, making room for prospects that need to be protected from the Rule 5 draft, and signing other FA.

The players that were outrighted didn't really bring much value to the Cubs, save for Thompson who was decent... So, in the long-term course of things, the Cubs just have to do what they have to do.

Other MLB tidbits:

Buster Posey announces he will be retiring. That comes as somewhat as a shock as he was a stellar catcher for the Giants this past year, but it's the case.
Nick Castellanos opted out of his contract and is now a free agent. Possible Cubs target?

Mariners lefty Yusei Kikuchi elected free agency. Also an interesting option for the Cubs.
The Reds traded catcher Tucker Barnhart to the Tigers for a 3B prospect. The first official trade of the offseason.
The Brewers signed reliever Trevor Gott to a Major League deal. The first FA signing of the offseason as well.

So no major Cubs moves yet, no signing free agents, etc. But a lot of that has to so with the CBA negotiations, like I've mentioned before. The Cubs will no doubt make a few smaller moves, but regarding "signing Carlos Correa" for example, won't happen yet.

The Cubs have made some front office moves lately...

The Cubs hired the Rays' minor league hitting coach Greg Brown to be their new hitting coach
The Cubs got former Brewers scout Pete Vuckovich Jr.

I see the direction the Cubs want to move in. See the pattern? They're getting front office people from the Cleveland, Astros, Rays, and Brewers- all teams that have been successful in all areas of the baseball realm- including scouting, development, stratagem, and other vital parts of winning.

Anyway, that's all I have time for today, but I'll have an article out on Saturday, so see y'all then!

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