Cubs Avoid Arbitration With Wisdom

The Chicago Cubs reached a contract agreement with Patrick Wisdom, one of several moves the team made at Friday’s tender deadline.

The Cubs had to make agree to terms or make pre-tender offers to players that don’t have a contract for 2024 and are on their 40-man roster. In most cases, the focus is on arbitration-eligible players.

Wisdom was one of those players. Per MLB Trade Rumors Wisdom might have cost the Cubs $2.6 million in an arbitration estimate. The terms of their agreement were not disclosed.

The Cubs made pre-tender offers to six arbitration-eligible players — pitcher Adbert Alzolay, pitcher Mark Leiter Jr., infielder Nick Madrigal, pitcher Julian Merryweather, pitcher Justin Steele and outfielder Mike Tauchman.

The Cubs non-tendererd pitchers Codi Heuer, Brandon Hughes and Ethan Roberts. They are now free agents.

If the Cubs and their arbitration-eligible players cannot agree on a deal by Jan. 12, then they must exchange figures and go to arbitration. In most cases, teams will come to an agreement on a one-year salary, or an extension, before the deadline.

Based on projections, the Cubs are looking at a bill that could be in the neighborhood of 13-14 million.

Here are the Cubs that are eligible for arbitration, along with MLB Trade Rumors’ projected figures:

Nick Madrigal: $1.9MM

Mike Tauchman: $2MM

Julian Merryweather: $1.3MM

Adbert Alzolay: $2.5MM

Mark Leiter Jr.: $1.6MM

Justin Steele: $4.1MM

Of those players, it’s Steele who stands to outperform the projection. He just finished in the Top 5 in Cy Young voting, which netted him a $1 million bonus.

Steele, who was in his third season in the Majors last season, exploded for what was by far the best season of his career. He led the Cubs in wins, going 16-5 with a 3.06 ERA. He threw a career-high 173.1 innings, striking out a career-high 176 and walking 36. He earned his first All-Star Game bid and he led the National League in home runs allowed per nine innings at 0.7

He now enters his first year of salary arbitration with a career record of 24-16 with a 3.30 ERA with 361 strikeouts and 113 walks.