Today was the deadline to tender a contract for arbitration eligible players and the Cubs did that tendering a contract to six of their seven arbitration eligible players. Shortstop Addison Russell was the non-tender, and LHP Danny Hultzen was non-tendered as well despite not being arbitration eligible.
Russell is obviously the big name here and for good reason. It was already a controversial decision to bring him back last year with his domestic violence suspension looming combined with a significant decline in his performance.
Just going by on the field results Russell was not worth a tender. He hit just .237/.308/.391 with nine home runs in 241 plate appearances along with several miscues on the base paths and on the field. He just plain and simple wasn't going to going to be worth the estimated price tag due to the fact that he wasn't going to be guaranteed playing time next with with the emergence of Javier Baez as the everyday shortstop and guys like David Bote and Robel Garcia who can handle second base as well.
Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein said in a statement "We decided to non-tender Addison Russell today simply because the role we expected to play for the 2020 Cubs was inconsistent with how he would have been treated in the salary arbitration process,"
It's hard to bring up Russell without mentioning the terrible domestic violations made by his ex-wife last year. He was suspended 40 games due to the allegations, and it's hard not to believe the allegations played some sort of role in the decision to let him go.
Russell certainly had his moments with the Cubs. He had some huge hits in the 2016 NLCS and World Series, but ultimately his tenure will go down as a disappointment. He hit just .242/.312/.392 in 615 games over five seasons with the team after being ranked as the #2 prospect in all of baseball by Baseball Prospectus before the 2015 season.
Danny Hultzen was a nice feel good story in an otherwise disappointing Cubs season. The former 2nd overall pick in 2011 by the Seattle Mariners was brought in before 2018 on a minor league deal and bounced back from several injuries and setbacks to make his major league debut in 2019 at the age of 29.
He pitched fairly well in his six appearances pitched three and a third innings allowing four hits and two walks while striking out five along with zero earned runs. The non-tender likely does not end his Cubs tenure however, he was out of options next year and the Cubs may bring him back on a non-guaranteed deal that could allow him to start the season in the minor leagues to ramp himself up for the season.
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