Players with under six years of service time are said to be under “team control” because they aren’t yet eligible for free agency. If the team wants to keep them, the team can keep them. And players who don’t yet have enough service time to qualify for salary arbitration are under even more control, as a team can “renew” their contract at any price they choose, so long as it’s above the big league minimum.
Like most clubs, the Cubs use a formula to come up with salaries for pre-arbitration players, and the goal is to get the players to “agree” to the contract (lotta quotations marks in this post!). If the player doesn’t agree, but the team wants to keep the player, then the team simply renews the player. It’s a symbolic situation.
So, then, it’s nice – for the purposes of symbolism, if nothing else – that the Cubs agreed to contracts with their 19 pre-arbitration players on the 40-man roster. No players were renewed.
Those pre-arb guys who are now officially signed for 2021:
Right-handed pitchers Cory Abbott, Jason Adam, Adbert Alzolay, Gray Fenter, Dillon Maples, Tyson Miller, Alec Mills, James Norwood, Manuel Rodríguez, Keegan Thompson, Duane Underwood Jr. and Rowan Wick.
Left-handed pitchers Brailyn Márquez, Justin Steele and Brad Wieck.
Catcher Miguel Amaya.
Infielders Nico Hoerner, Christopher Morel and Ildemaro Vargas.