The Cubs aren’t the only club to experience roster crunching this time of year, which is why you often see better-than-usual players hit waivers in the spring (like Duane Underwood, Jr. just now, making room for Ryan Tepera), and then you also often see guys make it through waivers.
For example, Robert Stock. The Cubs DFA’d the hard-throwing righty this weekend to make room for the re-activated Kyle Ryan, and it turns out he already made it through waivers:
RHP Robert Stock has cleared waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Iowa. He’s a non-roster invitee to spring training.
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) March 2, 2021
This means the Cubs still get to evaluate Stock, 31, for the bullpen out of the gate. But if he doesn’t make the team, he heads to AAA Iowa as depth. If and when the Cubs then want to add Stock at the big league level, they’ll have to open a 40-man roster spot back up. For Stock, the outright also means that if he’s not added back to the 40-man roster by the end of the year, he hits free agency.
More on Stock here from when the Cubs initially added him in December. Now the Cubs just have to hope Duane Underwood, Jr. also clears waivers.