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Until the end of the MLB lockdown, the Formation of 40 Chicago Cubs players will not add any new veteran names. Much of the current roster includes players with less than six years of MLB service. Regardless of how many additions the Cubs end up making when operations resume, it’s safe to assume that a significant portion of the Cubs’ next core will be made up of younger members of the current roster and future prospects in the system (not currently on the list).
Why is this important? Team control over potential long-term contributors. Like the previous core, key players will have their years of team control, being eligible for pre-arbitration or arbitration, before the required service time is fulfilled to become unrestricted free agents.
Here is an overview of this key players have years of control over the team. That doesn’t count veterans on free agent contracts or others who have had contract extensions i.e. David Bote and Kyle Hendricks. This also ruled out Willson Contreras, given that 2022 is his final season of testing. We won’t cover all of the list members, but potential future key elements. All of these guys will have played at least 0.1 innings in the majors at some point.
Before we break this down, it should be noted that duty time will likely be a major topic of discussion in CBA negotiations so it will be interesting to see what changes, if there are any significant changes. This is where it stands at the moment. Also, keep in mind that officiating eligibility and serving time depend on whether the player plays the required time in future MLB seasons. This all assumes they do, and we really know not all of them will.
Yes, it can get very complicated.
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