The biggest news from Friday’s non-tender deadline was Addison Russell getting tendered, but that wasn’t necessarily the most surprising move by the Cubs. Russell was expected to get tendered, despite the deserved public outrage after he was suspended 40 games for violating the league’s domestic violence program. Nevertheless, there’s no guarantee Russell will play another game with the Cubs.
On to the somewhat surprising move. Earlier in the week the Cubs traded away Tommy La Stella to the Angels after trading for Ronald Torreyes from the Yankees. So, we pretty much assumed Torreyes, who was arbitration eligible, was essentially taking the final bench spot for next season.
Yet, Torreyes was one of three players that the Cubs non-tendered Friday night. The other two were relievers Allen Webster and Justin Hancock.
Cubs offer contracts to all their arb eligible players except for Torreyes. He was non tendered. Justin Hancock and Allan Webster non tendered as well.
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) December 1, 2018
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So, the Cubs are just letting Torreyes go after making a trade for him? Doesn’t make much sense at first, but here are some possible reasons for the move.
Possible explanations for Torreyes non-tender:
(1) He was insurance in case Cubs traded Russell this week;
(2) Cubs got him in the hopes they could sign him to low contract this week; and/or
(3) Cubs saw all the other non-tenders and thought, "Hmm, we like them better."— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) December 1, 2018
Non-tendering Torreyes surprising, but last couple days gave them time to gather info on him, discuss a contract and work through Addison Russell situation, while monitoring other non-tender decisions around MLB. Can try to re-sign him. If not, it was a no-risk process.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) December 1, 2018
So, Torreyes is now a free agent, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the Cubs are done with him. See, at first it might have appeared as though Torreyes was brought on board to take a spot on the 25-man roster, but after the non-tender, it’s more obvious now that the Cubs view him solely as a depth infielder in the minors.
Torreyes wasn’t replacing La Stella or David Bote, he was replacing Mike Freeman, who spent a couple seasons in the minors with the Cubs and was called up a few times. The Cubs can still re-sign Torreyes to a minor-league deal and are interested in doing so.
Cubs maintain interest in trying to re-sign Torreyes, who they acquired earlier in the week. He was arb eligible.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) December 1, 2018
The same could be said for Hancock and Webster, who might be re-signing with the Cubs on minor-league deals.
Anyway, with La Stella and Torreyes off the MLB picture, and Russell’s future still unknown, the Cubs will definitely be targeting infield depth in free agency.
The Cubs could also go after some of the other players who were non-tendered on Friday.
