The next moves for the Cubs’ 40-man roster

The 2017 World Series begins Tuesday, and will end no more than eight days later. One day after that, every major-league player eligible for free agency will in fact become a free agent.

So only a few days from now, the Cubs’ 40-man roster will look quite a bit different, as there are eight players eligible for free agency, and some others who will likely eventually be let go.

Some of the open spots on the 40-man will be left for players that need to be protected from the Rule 5 draft; others left for signings or off-season trades.

Here’s the entire 40-man roster and what each player’s status will likely be in the upcoming offseason. Some of this is, of course, my speculation. Players listed as “under team control” are not yet arbitration-eligible.

Pitchers (21)

Jake Arrieta: free agent
Eddie Butler: under team control through 2021
Wade Davis: free agent
Brian Duensing: free agent
Carl Edwards Jr.: under team control through 2022
Luke Farrell: rookie status still intact
Justin Grimm: arbitration-eligible. Likely non-tender
Kyle Hendricks: arbitration-eligible
John Lackey: free agent
Jon Lester: under contract through 2020
Dillon Maples: rookie status still intact
Alec Mills: under team control through 2022
Mike Montgomery: under team control through 2021.
Jose Quintana: under contract through 2018, with two team option years after
Hector Rondon: arbitration-eligible. Possible non-tender
Pedro Strop: under contract through 2018
Jen-Ho Tseng: rookie status still intact
Koji Uehara: free agent
Duane Underwood Jr.: rookie status still intact
Justin Wilson: under contract through 2018
Rob Zastryzny: under team control through 2022

Catchers (5)

Alex Avila: free agent
Victor Caratini: under team control through 2023
Willson Contreras: under team control through 2022
Taylor Davis: rookie status still intact
Rene Rivera: free agent

Infielders (7)

Javier Baez: under team control through 2021.
Kris Bryant: arbitration-eligible
Mike Freeman: under team control through 2022. Likely non-tender
Tommy La Stella: arbitration-eligible
Anthony Rizzo: under contract through 2019, with two team option years after
Addison Russell: arbitration-eligible
Ben Zobrist: under contract through 2019

Outfielders (7)

Albert Almora Jr.: under team control through 2022
Ian Happ: under team control through 2022
Jason Heyward: under contract through 2023. Opt-outs available after 2018 and 2019
Jon Jay: free agent
Leonys Martin: arbitration-eligible. Possible non-tender
Kyle Schwarber: under team control through 2021
Mark Zagunis: rookie status still intact

As I noted above, there are eight 2017 Cubs who are now free agents, plus four others who could be non-tendered before contracts must be delivered to players. In addition, there are seven players who are arb-eligible, and that includes a couple who I think might be non-tendered. There’s lots of room to add players who need to be protected from the Rule 5 draft (and Maples and Tseng were probably going to be added after the season had they not already made their major-league debuts).

It will be an interesting offseason.