Cubs News: Recapping an active day, Anthony Rizzo closure, and more

Tuesday was expected to be an active day for the Chicago Cubs and the rest of Major League Baseball as teams were to receive answers from pending free agents in regard to whether or not qualifying offers would be accepted and Tuesday also marked the deadline for teams to protect Rule 5 draft-eligible prospects by adding them to the 40-man roster.

For the Cubs, their first move of the day was completing a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays as they acquired utility infielder/outfielder Miles Mastrobuoni from the Rays in exchange for class-A pitching prospect Alfredo Zarraga. Mastrobuoni is likely the type of acquisition that will be forgotten by the time Spring Training arrives in February but he does project as a solid piece on the bench and does have the ability to play several positions.

The Cubs also added four prospects to their 40-man roster on Tuesday and saved the prospects from potentially being poached by another organization during the Rule 5 Draft later this offseason. The Cubs' 40-man roster now stands at 38 but there will likely be some more movement on that front as teams must decide by Friday whether or not tender contracts to players on their roster that do not have guaranteed deals for 2023. For the Cubs, two names that could be non-tendered are infielder Zach McKinstry and Rafael Ortega.

More Cubs News

Anthony Rizzo will not be returning to the Cubs as he agreed to a two-year deal on Tuesday to return to the New York Yankees. Rizzo essentially betted on himself after turning down the 5-year, $70 million offer that the Cubs previously offered prior to the trade to the Yankees and he won. If all the options in Rizzo's new deal with the Yankees are exercised, Rizzo will have earned $67 million over the next four seasons.

MLB News

Free agent starting pitcher Tyler Anderson signed the first free agent deal of consequence on Tuesday as he inked a three-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels. Anderson posted a 2.57 ERA in 178.2 innings pitched last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB Network Insider Jon Morosi mentioned on 670 The Score on Tuesday afternoon that the Cubs were involved in the bidding.

In continuing the rollout of their annual awards, Major League Baseball crowned Cleveland Guardians' manager Terry Francona and New York Mets manager Buck Showalter as the managers of the year respectively for the American League and National League.