Here are all of the Cubs players entering free agency after the 2024 season

Kyle Hendricks (2024 salary: $13.875 million)

If nothing else, Kyle Hendricks turned back the clock in what could be his final start in a Chicago Cubs uniform, pitching into the eighth and not allowing a run in front of a packed Wrigley Field crowd.

That's about all I can say for the veteran, who turned in the worst season of his professional career in 2024, eating innings and getting starts strictly out of necessity after the staff was hit hard by injuries. He was better in the second half, but he had only one direction to go after a disastrous first half that had everyone (Hendricks including) wondering if he'd even finish the year in Chicago.

Perhaps a team gives him a $2 million big-league deal this winter (maybe that team is the Cubs, who knows) - but a minor-league pact seems likely at this point. Never a guy with overpowering stuff, Hendricks' margin for error is smaller than ever and it showed this year.

David Bote (2024 salary: $3 million) - $7 million team option for 2025

After letting him rot at Iowa to close out the deal, the Chicago Cubs' ill-fated extension of David Bote is finally at an end. In what felt - and still feels like - an emotional move on the part of Theo Epstein, the Cubs handed Bote a five-year, $15 million extension in 2019 and never got much for their investment.

Of course, the ultimate walk-off will live on in Cubs lore forever, but from 2020-2024, Bote appeared in just 220 games at the big-league level, slashing .220/.294/.372 and accumulating just 0.4 bWAR, according to Baseball Reference. The team holds a $7 million team option with a $1 million buyout they're sure to exercise, ending Bote's time with the Cubs that dates back to the 2012 MLB Draft.