Just prior to Friday’s game against the Brewers, the Cubs announced their first round of spring roster cuts, reducing the camp roster from 73 to 51 players.
Miguel Amaya, who likely will soon compete for a spot on the active roster, was optioned to Double-A Tennessee, along with RHP Manuel Rodríguez and infielder Christopher Morel.
Three righthanded pitchers: Cory Abbott, Tyson Miller and Kohl Stewart, have been optioned to Triple-A Iowa.
Sixteen non-roster invitees have been assigned to minor league camp: RHP James Bourque, Juan Gámez, Jake Jewell, Tommy Nance, Michael Rucker and Robert Stock; LHP Brendon Little and Jerry Vasto; catchers Taylor Gushue and Tyler Payne; infielders Abiatal Avelino, Alfonso Rivas, Chase Strumpf, Andy Weber and Patrick Wisdom, and outfielder Brennen Davis.
None of these cuts should be of any surprise to you. Many of these players will wind up at Triple-A Iowa and could ride the so-called “Iowa shuttle” later this year.
Of course, these are all procedural moves. There is no minor-league camp going on at this time and so these players will likely stick around Mesa and some of them could still appear in spring games. There will also be “alternate sites” established for early this season, before the minor-league season begins in early May, and some of these players could wind up there. Per MLB’s 2021 Operations Manual, each team must submit its alternate site plan to MLB no later than 15 days before Opening Day, which would be next Monday. And so, we await developments.
The 51-players spring roster currently consists of 28 pitchers (which includes six non-roster invitees), four catchers (two non-roster invitees), 10 infielders (four non-roster invitees) and nine outfielders (five non-roster invitees).