Kevin Alcántara and the Art of Making the 26-Man Roster 40 Players Deep

[Matthew Trueblood]

It could still happen, but so far, the Cubs have passed this offseason without making the big trade that would offload prospects on the verge of the majors. If they hold onto all their Triple-A stars into the season, it will have to be part of a bigger plan to use the roster optimally.

Image courtesy of © Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

If the season started today, the Cubs' backup center fielder would unequivocally be Kevin Alcántara. In theory, the toolsy Gage Workman and the out-of-options slugger Alexander Canario could stand in center for a handful of innings at a time, but the team will need to evaluate them all spring and give them a wealth of reps to have any hope of actually relying on them in that role come the regular season. In practice, Pete Crow-Armstrong is not only the regular out there, but the everyday center fielder—no, really, the every day center fielder. That's why this next bit isn't a problem, at least right now: Alcántara, Crow-Armstrong's backup, will be with the Iowa Cubs on Opening Day.

At the moment, the Cubs' roster construction is a love letter to Crow-Armstrong's glove. They have to know there's a real risk of him hitting poorly; they just don't care. They're planning to take the 15 (or so) runs he'll save them with his glove, use them to pay down the cost of winning games, and not sweat the 15 (or so) runs he will cost them at the plate. Thus, they're willing to wear it if an injury or a truly nightmarish matchup forces Crow-Armstrong out in the middle of a game. They'll use Canario (who's about 5-foot-11 and weighs 200 sturdy pounds, with below-average speed for the spot) and/or Workman (tall, lanky, fast, but with just eight pro games in the outfield, all in right) to stop those tiny gaps.

If Crow-Armstrong gets hurt in a way that will keep him out even a few days, of course, things change. If we assume Workman (or Vidal Bruján, who's out of options; neither can be sent to the minors without being exposed to the rest of the league for a claim) makes the roster, it's hard to get a position player out of the way to bring up Alcántara. That's what would have to happen, though, because you can't play anyone projected to make the 26-man roster in center for more than a day or two at a time. The Cubs could find themselves needing to play a pitcher short for brief stretches. If Crow-Armstrong hits the injured list, it's easier: Alcántara is the call-up.

Extending the 26-man roster to make use of everyone on the 40-man is a difficult but necessary trick, performed in a shared maneuver by the front office and the manager. It's up to Craig Counsell to be ready to get the most from Crow-Armstrong, Canario, Workman and Bruján, but that means protecting them from both overuse and bad matchups—as well as helping them materially improve their performance. In turn, the front office has to find ways to squeeze as many optionable players onto the 40-man roster as possible, so they can rotate not only their bench options but their bullpen and even the final slot in a fluid rotation, as needed. 

Alcántara being 350 miles away from the player to whom he will be the de facto backup is just one example of several, as the team opens camp. They need to find ways to keep a large number of players in the organization and available at a moment's notice, but they'll have to stash many of them in Des Moines on any given day. That's why the possibility of a trade continues to loom large, whether the team signs Alex Bregman or not. In all likelihood, a Bregman deal would bring them uncomfortably close to the CBT threshold, so they would probably trade Nico Hoerner in such an event—not just to clear payroll space and ensure that Bregman and Matt Shaw can both play every day, but to ease the 40-man roster crunch and recoup the long-term value they'd surrender in the form of draft picks and international free-agent spending power by signing the All-Star third baseman.

If they don't sign Bregman, though, they would still benefit by consolidating two or three of their useful but slightly redundant 40-man pieces into one or two more talented, higher-volume players. Dylan Cease makes sense not only because he would be the best starter on the team, but because his durability would allow the team to worry less about keeping their roster stocked with nine or 10 viable starters. It would make juggling the roster easier, because it would mean fewer spins of the revolving door at the bottom of the pitching staff hierarchy.

There's overlap in these ideas, of course. Trading Hoerner in the wake of signing Bregman could involve opening a 40-man spot, but adding a center field-capable non-roster guy—or someone much like Canario, but with options. Canario could be a trade candidate, because for a team with greater prospective need in the corner outfield positions, he would hold real promise. Manuel Margot is still a free agent, and could be in line for a minor-league deal. If the Cubs signed him and brought him to camp, they would have (most likely) until Opening Day to decide whether to add him to the roster, making him the easier, more accessible backup to Crow-Armstrong, and they could sort out the resulting roster crunch by jettisoning some of their excess arms via designation for assignment—guys like Ethan Roberts and Caleb Kilian, who will be gone soon anyway.

One reason why the team has yet to resolve their backup first base role is tied into this conundrum. Letting Jonathon Long be that guy for now makes more sense than bringing anyone to camp as a locked-in 40-man roster guy, unless they're a bona fide veteran stud like Justin Turner. Trading for an optionable first baseman (like the Tigers' Spencer Torkelson or the Marlins' Deyvison De Los Santos) could become an option down the line, and could eventually be tied into moves either to offload Hoerner or to onboard Cease, but they don't have much motivation to corner themselves right now.

All over this roster lie interesting possibilities. Yet, there are holes, and their crowded 40-man roster means that they have to fill those holes through creative usage or team-building. It's allowed them to remain flexible enough to engage Bregman this late in the winter, but it's also left them in a suspended state of roster tension. This is a good team, but a fascinatingly incomplete one, despite overflowing with talented players in some key places.

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