One Chicago Cubs roster decision we won't see at the end of the 2024 MLB season

The Chicago Cubs were officially eliminated from postseason contention over the weekend. With a return to the postseason no longer among the Cubs' possibilities at the end of the season, there had been speculation that this would be the time that the team would promote a top prospect or two.

Owen Caissie, Kevin Alcantara, and Matt Shaw were among the Cubs' top position prospects who finished the season at Triple-A Iowa. With the Iowa Cubs' season concluded, an open 40-man roster spot, and the fact that Caissie needs to be added to the 40-man before December, the thought was the outfielder would get a look at the Major League level at some point during the month of September.

Despite that speculation, it seems that the Cubs will finish the 2024 season with the cast of veterans they currently have. Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (Subscription Required) reported that the Cubs have no plans to promote any of their top prospects to the Major League level this week.

With the Cubs mathematically eliminated from the playoff race, the final week of the season could have been a chance for the club to take a look at Kevin Alcántara and Owen Caissie. Counsell, however, said, “There’s no plans for that right now.”

One thing that the Cubs should look to change with their approach next season is how they handle prospect promotions. The Cubs are notoriously slow in deciding to promote top prospects from Triple-A to the Major Leagues. That's not a strategy that Jed Hoyer can afford to use in 2025, considering he is in the final year of his contract as the team's President of Baseball Operations. Hoyer has pinned his hopes on the success of the Cubs' farm system, and it will need to be on display during the 2025 season.

That is why it would have been nice to see Caissie with the Major League team during the final week of the season. No, Caissie wasn't going to unseat a current starting outfielder, but it would have been ideal for him to at least get exposure to Major League pitching prior to the offseason.