It's been a busy week for the Cubs, who are getting ready to hopefully have a productive offseason (more on that later) but so far they've been picking up options and adding players to the 40-man roster.
Early on Friday, the Cubs traded Drew Smyly to the Rangers, while officially bringing back Cole Hamels for 2019. The Cubs picked up his $20 million option. In the afternoon, the Cubs announced a few other moves, putting guys back on the 40-man roster from the DL, letting go of two players and adding Mets infielder Jack Reinheimer.
That would be infielder Mike Freeman and the speedy outfielder Terrence Gore who are gone. As for Reinheimer, he's basically replacing Freeman for the Cubs infield depth in case of injury. The 26-year-old has played in 23 games at the big league level, most recently with the Mets in 2018. Reinheimer only has 35 MLB at-bats, getting five hits in 30 at-bats in 2018. He's a middle infielder, who even got some time in left field with the Mets. The right-handed hitter has a career slash line of .275/.343/.361 in the minors. Reinheimer ended the 2018 minor league season with a .702 OPS in 257 at-bats with three different teams. He did post a .874 OPS in his last 16 Triple-A games. So, the Cubs have one open spot on their 40-man roster as free agency has begun.
