The Cubs have nine arbitration-eligible players this year, none of whom are yet in the range where Tom Ricketts will feel the need to explain to people in hotel lobbies how escalating salaries will prevent other moves. Not that something like that has ever happened to me, just throwing out a totally hypothetical situation just for the hell of it. Barring something unforeseen, this should be a relatively easy facet of the offseason for Jed Hoyer and the front office.
There are, however, some decisions to be made on three or four of the players in question, so let’s take a look at how the Cubs may handle this.