Brennen

Davis

This was a formality after all of these players were DFA’d to open up 40-man roster spots on Tuesday. They’re officially free agents now. It sounds like the Cubs are hoping Alzolay returns, but Wisdom is likely to head elsewhere.

The move is now official. Alzolay opened last year as Chicago’s closer, but lost his grip on the role and eventually wound up undergoing Tommy John surgery in August. The 29-year-old former stopper is likely to miss most of, if not all, of the upcoming season. There’s most likely an organization out there willing to bring him in for his rehabilitation process and roll the dice on him returning to form.

Davis, who was viewed as one of the game’s very best prospects after 2021, has been limited to 179 games the last three years, but unlike 2022 and ’23, he was fairly productive when he played this season, hitting .220/.369/.451 in 217 plate appearances. He hasn’t been written off just yet, but he’s definitely fallen behind other outfield prospects ion the Cubs’ depth chart.

The 24-year-old outfielder opened the scoring with a two-out RBI double off of Chris Flexen in the second inning. He then raced home to score on a run-scoring double off the bat of Miles Mastrobuoni. Davis also drew a walk in the fourth inning, but was promptly picked off of first base by Flexen. He has impressed in his limited time in big league camp, hitting .444 (4-for-9) with a homer, four runs scored and four RBI. Davis has lost some of his prospect luster in recent years, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him debut with the big league club during the upcoming 2024 season.

There are a ton of notable prospects in the latest batch of cuts from Cubs camp, including Shaw, Caissie, Brown and Alcántara. However, the headliner here is Crow-Armstrong, who figured to open the season as Chicago’s starting center fielder. The 21-year-old defensive virtuoso figures to be up shortly, but his roster spot will likely go to Mike Tauchman, who is out of options this spring. Shaw and Caissie are among the top prospects in the organization and figure to make an impact for fantasy managers once they get a shot, which could happen in a few months.

Davis was off to a strong start to spring training before getting hit by a pitch last week in a game. It’s just another injury in a long list of injuries that have paused his development; however, it’s good to see that Davis is beginning to ramp his activity back up. Prior to the 2023 season, Davis was seen as one of the top prospects in the minors and a potential breakout candidate, so there is still some upside here if the 24-year-old can remain healthy.

The 24-year-old outfielder seemed to can’t catch a break. After missing about two months last season with an abdominal procedure, Davis is back in the injury column. He was hit by a pitch during Tuesday’s spring training game against the Reds and will be sidelined until he is cleared to play. This is tough luck after Davis started spring training extremely well going 2-for-3 with a HR and 3 RBI in last Saturday’s game against the Giants.

The 24-year-old outfielder opened the scoring in the ballgame with a two-out, two-run single off of Giants’ right-hander Logan Webb in the second inning. He then crushed a two-out solo shot off of Erik Miller in the fourth inning that extended the Cubs’ lead to 4-0. Davis missed almost half of the 2023 campaign after undergoing core muscle surgery and slashed a pitiful .201/.297/.307 with five homers and 30 RBI in 293 plate appearances when he was on the field, so it’s nice to see him get off to a strong start in Cactus League play.

Davis has been stationed at Triple-A Iowa this season and will be out until at least late August after undergoing the abdominal procedure.

The Cubs trimmed their roster from 66 players to 56 players on Friday. Davis remains one of the team’s top prospects, even though he’s coming off a back injury which ruined his 2022 season. Crow-Armstrong, on the other hand, is very much on the rise in prospect circles and impressed with his defense in Cubs’ camp this spring. He looks like the center fielder of the future for Chicago.