MESA, Ariz. — As the Chicago Cubs prepare to leave spring training and put the finishing touches on their Opening Day roster, Jed Hoyer’s front office continues to look for external additions.
Given the sheer number of players being placed on waivers or holding opt-out clauses in their contracts, the Cubs are monitoring the market for possible upgrades. One internal debate is whether the club needs to acquire an extra infielder. The bullpen also remains a constant area of focus.
“There’s just a lot of movement around the league,” Hoyer said Sunday. “We’re trying to figure that out. We still have some balls in the air.”
After winning 92 games and a postseason round last year, the Cubs kept a stable nucleus of players together and maintained continuity on Craig Counsell’s coaching staff. When pitchers and catchers reported to Arizona in February, the roster had only a few openings available, and the Cubs have largely avoided major injuries for the past six weeks.
Yet the Cubs went into Sunday’s final Cactus League game with 38 players still on their spring roster, a sign of their deliberate, opportunistic approach and the disjointed nature of this training camp. With final cuts looming, the Cubs still have two more exhibitions against the New York Yankees at Sloan Park.
The World Baseball Classic pulled players such as Alex Bregman, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Daniel Palencia out of Mesa for stretches. The extreme heat blanketing the Phoenix area forced clubs to stage more Cactus League night games, further disrupting routines.
“You just want guys to get their work in and be healthy,” Hoyer said. “There’s been a good vibe in camp. It’s been unusual this year with the WBC. You talk to people around the game, it feels different. It feels less cohesive. We’re not the only team dealing with that. But it’s nice to have the full complement of guys back.”
Seiya Suzuki’s travel plans are still “up in the air,” Counsell said when asked if the Japanese outfielder would join the major-league team for Tuesday’s flight to Chicago or hang back in Arizona to get treatment, ramp up again and regain his timing.
Suzuki, who sprained the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the WBC, has already been ruled out for Opening Day, making a short-term stint on the injured list a likely outcome.
Seiya Suzuki of Team Japan reacts after getting tagged out during the second inning against Team Venezuela (Al Bello / Getty Images)
“Things are moving in the right direction,” Hoyer said, “but it’s a long season, and we don’t want to do anything for a couple days early that would hurt us later on.”
With Suzuki sidelined, Matt Shaw could become a more prominent option in right field, limiting the scope of his super-utility role and emphasizing the need for a versatile infielder off the bench.
The Cubs are not planning to open the season with a six-man rotation, though the club could revisit that idea at some point. The early part of their schedule includes days off before and after Game 1, plus four Thursdays in April without games on the calendar. In order, Chicago’s rotation is lined up with Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton, Shota Imanaga, Edward Cabrera and Jameson Taillon.
Colin Rea, a valuable swingman last season, has a $6.5 million salary and a guaranteed spot on the pitching staff. The Cubs have not yet declared their intentions with Ben Brown and Javier Assad, two pitchers with minor-league options and undefined roles in terms of beginning this season in the Triple-A rotation or Wrigley Field bullpen.
For years now, the organization has weighed whether Brown’s swing-and-miss stuff should make him a high-leverage reliever, or if it makes more sense to leave open the possibility that the 6-foot-6, 230-pound right-hander might realize his full potential in the rotation.
“We’ve got five healthy starters,” Counsell said. “You got to make some choices.”
• Jonathon Long, the organization’s 2025 minor-league player of the year, will be viewed in Iowa as a backup to first baseman Michael Busch. In sending Long to minor-league camp, Counsell said, “The message for Johnny was that we want you to play. He is a day away from being in the big leagues.”
• Corbin Martin and Collin Snider, two buy-low relievers the Cubs targeted this offseason, were assigned to minor-league camp. Martin’s deal includes an upward mobility clause, which can require the Cubs to offer him to every other club. If another team is willing to bring him to the majors, the Cubs would have to either add him to their roster or trade him there. (This mechanism is how the Cubs acquired lefty reliever Drew Pomeranz from the Seattle Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate last year.) Snider’s contractual opt-out window is after the start of the season, not the end of spring training.
• Chas McCormick, an outfielder who’s dealing with a right shoulder issue, has been informed that he won’t make the team, though the Cubs are hopeful that he will stay in the organization on a minor-league deal with their Triple-A club.
Ethan Conrad, Chicago’s first-round pick last year, will not start the minor-league season on time due to a back injury. Cubs director of player development Jason Kanzler estimated that Conrad will be sidelined for the next month, a setback for a player who has not yet appeared in an official game as a Cubs prospect.
Conrad, who began his college career at Marist before transferring to Wake Forest, was recovering from season-ending surgery on his left shoulder when the Cubs selected the outfielder with the No. 17 pick. Conrad was listed fifth on Keith Law’s preseason rankings of the organization’s top prospects for The Athletic. On the back fields and in the batting cages, the Cubs have seen glimpses.
“It’s loud tools,” Kanzler said. “It’s exactly what we expected when we drafted him. He’s got skills. We’re just going to manage this right now so that we can get him back on the field.”