Kyle Hendricks and Jorge López Elect Free Agency, Caleb Knight Outrighted

The Cubs cleared three spots on the 40-man roster Thursday with Kyle Hendricks and Jorge López electing free agency and catcher Caleb Knight being outrighted to Triple-A. The first two were pretty obvious, as was the outright…other than the fact that very few outside the front office even realized Knight was on the roster. A career minor leaguer who has provided organizational depth behind the plate, Knight was added to the 40-man on the last day of the season.

That move was essentially a reward for his years of grinding along since being signed as an undrafted free agent out of Virginia in 2018. He can choose the free agency route or he could return to the Cubs on a new minor-league deal, something we’ve seen in the past with guys in similar situations.

Based on the number of players who will be activated from the 60-day IL on Monday, the Cubs have another few moves to make in order to keep the roster at 40. Drew Smyly will give them a spot when he elects free agency, then there’s Cody Bellinger‘s decision. The “general” sense from the beat is that he’ll opt out, which is where I’ve been on the matter for a while.

Bellinger choosing free agency would give the Cubs five free spots on the 40-man with eight players coming off the IL. If forced to guess right now who they remove to make room, I’d say Yency Almonte, Colten Brewer, and Nick Madrigal. Adbert Alzolay and Brennen Davis are possibilities as well and I don’t believe either will be with the team past the November 22 non-tender deadline, but the Cubs typically like to stretch out these procedural moves as long as they can.

We’ll get confirmation of the moves by Monday at 4pm CT if not sooner.