Cubs lose 26 players to free agency after contracts end in minor leagues

Billy Heyen

Cubs lose 26 players to free agency after contracts end in minor leagues image

The Chicago Cubs will have to replenish their system.

A long list of 26 players who ended the season in the Cubs organization is now heading to free agency.

It's something that happens every year around this time. Most of the players will have just completed their six years with an organization and be heading to the open market, but a number of the free agents were also veterans on different lengths of minor league contracts that have also expired.

Baseball America provided the entire list of 26 names electing free agency from the Cubs:

  • Yency Almonte
  • Brad Deppermann
  • Chris Kachmar
  • Caleb Kilian
  • Zach Pop
  • AJ Puckett
  • Tommy Romero
  • Joe Ross
  • Antonio Santos
  • Tom Cosgrove
  • Austin Gomber
  • Mitchell Tyranski
  • Pablo Aliendo
  • Ethan Hearn
  • Caleb Knight
  • Carlos Perez
  • Nicky Lopez
  • Chase Strumpf
  • Reivaj Garcia
  • Corey Joyce
  • Dixon Machado
  • Rafael Morel
  • Miguel Pabon
  • Jaylen Palmer
  • Billy Hamilton
  • Forrest Wall

Billy Hamilton remains one of the fastest players in baseball and will surely get another minor league deal.

Wall was once a promising prospect and has big league experience.

The likes of Pop, Ross, Gomber and Lopez have all played in the majors, too.

The Cubs could even choose to bring some of these players back. But they'll have options, given that every major league team had at least eight players head into minor league free agency, with most lists in the double digits.

MORE: Could Kyler Murray leave the NFL to come play baseball?

Staff Writer