A few thoughts about non-tenders and some who might help the Cubs

If you thought there were a lot of players non-tendered by MLB teams earlier this week... you’re right:

There were 40 players eligible for arbitration who were non-tendered today. Last year, that number was 27. The year before, 19.

Teams are clearly being aggressive with tenders, recognizing that if there is better value on the open market, using the arb system is not necessary.— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 3, 2019

This isn’t the way the arb system is supposed to work. But front offices are taking advantage of an apparent loophole — putting together a list of what we might call “mid-range” arb-eligible players, non-tendering them, then re-signing them to lesser money than they might have gotten in arb.