Cubs Avoid Pre-Arbitration With All Eligible Players

In what was one of those “potentially a big deal but not really a big deal until something goes wrong” issues, the Cubs have reached a deal with every single one of their pre-arbitration candidates.

Mar 2, 2013; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Chicago Cubs second baseman

(15) throws out San Francisco Giants shortstop

(not pictured) during the second inning at Scottsdale Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

This list includes some pretty significant pieces of the future puzzle. They are:

• Anthony Rizzo – $498,000
• Darwin Barney – $562,000
• Travis Wood – $527,500
• Welington Castillo – $503,000

You’ll notice that a lot of these guys are working for cheap in 2013, especially gold glove winner Darwin Barney. Sure, he’s valuable defensively but his bat sure keeps him from making an ass load of cash. Rizzo also stands out on that list, but he’s young and relatively unproven despite his massive potential. Keep in mind that through the pre-arb process, the club doesn’t have to pay the players as much as their play can demand. Any club controls a player’s destiny for the first 6 years of their professional career (pending a few exceptions) which limits free agency, and that encourages a player to sign a long term, cash friendly deal with their host team to avoid being renewed each season. A raise is usually given with each season during the renewal process, but it’s a system that helps control inflation and benefits both the teams and players.

The arbitration process is sticky at best and most teams will renew any arb eligible players long before that process has to kick in. This is an example of that exact situation.

Others who were signed and avoided pre-arb in the process include:

P: Brooks Raley, Chris Rusin, Alberto Cabrera, Rafael Dolis, Trey McNutt, Hector Rondon, Arodys Vizcaino and Robert Whitenack

IF: Junior Lake, Christian Villanueva, Josh Vitters and Logan Watkins

OF: Brett Jackson, Dave Sappelt and Matt Szczur; and catcher Steve Clevenger.

Not exactly anything to go nuts over, but certainly an important little tidbit of news.