There was some confusion over the weekend about whether the Cubs’ 40-man roster stood at 36 or 35. The beats were saying 35, after the various outrights and 60-man activations, but the actually announced moves would have the number at 36.
Turns out, there was a reason for the discrepancy:
Yeah they’re at 35. Brothers was outrighted and elected free agency Friday. It’s not updated yet on Cubs site
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) November 8, 2021
My guess is that the move wasn’t officially processed/announced over the weekend, which happens sometimes. Either way, Rex Brothers was an arbitration-eligible guy who was not going to be tendered a contract on December 2 anyway, so the Cubs are just giving him a head start on free agency.
Your updated Cubs 40-man as of this morning:
Pitchers (19)
Cory Abbott
Jason Adam
Adbert Alzolay
Scott Effross
Anderson Espinoza
Kyle Hendricks
Codi Heuer
Brailyn Marquez
Trevor Megill
Wade Miley
Alec Mills
Tommy Nance
Manny Rodriguez
Michael Rucker
Justin Steele
Keegan Thompson
Alexander Vizcaino
Rowan Wick
Brad Wieck
Catchers (2)
Miguel Amaya
Willson Contreras
Infielders (7)
Sergio Alcantara
David Bote
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
Alfonso Rivas
Frank Schwindel
Patrick Wisdom
Outfielders (7)
Alexander Canario
Greg Deichmann
Ian Happ
Michael Hermosillo
Jason Heyward
Christopher Morel
Rafael Ortega