Bleacher Bums Forum

Over the last ten years, this is how many times the Cubs have added different numbers of players to the 40-man roster on this November deadline.

Four - Four times
Three - Two times
Two - Two times
One - Two times

Over.  Confident vote. 

Over.  Non-confident vote with a caveat. 

They often claim somebody, only to de-roster them again in a few weeks once they start signing FA's.  (They never do that with their own prospects).  I'm guessing they'll take a flyer like that today.  But I'm guessing they won't add an outside guy today who will still be on the 40-man come April. 

Maybe, Craig.  But I think if the add is >3 today, it's going to include some guys that will be expected to contribute this season.  Devers, Franklin, Pinango, Strumpf - no.  Correa, Hill, Jensen, Perlaza, Sanders - maybe.

40-man is at 34, including Alexander Vizcaino.  Not sure what his deal is.  Is the Restricted List "active" during the offseason?  Arizona Phil's reckoning of the roster would suggest that it is not.

I'm expecting eight free agent additions.  2 SP, 2 RP, 1 C, 2 IF, 1 OF.  I would think that two at the most could be minor league deals to delay the addition to the 40-man until after the 60-day IL becomes open.

Everyone seems to agree that there will be at least 3 adds today.

34+8+3 = 45

There will be some further subtractions from the current roster.

34+8+3 = 45

11 easy de-rosters still available.  No problem. 
Leiter
Marquez
Roberts
Rodriguez
Rucker
Uelman
Vizcaino
McKinstry
Rivas
Ortega
Velazquez

Even if all 8 of the FA's they sign are good enough to command big-league contracts, there are enough easy de-rosters to cover 2 big-leaguers plus whatever minor-leaguers they add today. 

As I mentioned, *IF* they pick up somebody from the outside, he obviously won't be anybody great or sure.  So any outside pickup today will just immediately joint the "easy-de-roster" list and get bumped later. 

I may be wrong, and perhaps they'll only add 3 today, that's fine. 

I guess I'm just suggesting that *if* they don't add any beyond the obvious 3, it says something about the guys they do NOT roster.  It means some low-risk internal evaluation.  It will mean they either don't think the player(s) will get taken/kept/lost, or else they don't evaluate the players as being significant enough to mind losing them much.  You hope you don't lose Correa or Sanders, but hard-throwing wild relievers are not rare.  Assuming they don't protect Jensen, it kinda reflects that either they don't expect he'll get taken anyway; or if he is that's just the way it goes, it's not like they really expect him to become more than an inconsistent wildman reliever anyway. 

So, in a sense, it's maybe slightly revealing:  *if* they keep an extra guy or two, it means they are pretty interested.  And *if* they hypothetically don't, it's maybe a little disappointing in that it means they probably don't believe in the guy too much. 

Over/over

I don’t see Manny Rodriguez as a slam dunk de-roster, either…

And I don't see any circumstances at all that would result in derostering Velasquez.  He would certainly be claimed if outrighted, and for that matter, would probably bring back something worthwhile in a trade.

Speaking of derostering, would Miles Mastrobuoni much of an upgrade from McKinstry?  They both seem to be pretty much the same player, although I know nothing about MM other than his stats.

MM is our master stroke off season deal.  We can relax now.