UPDATED 7/13: 

Players selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft (MLB Rule 4 Draft) are placed on a club's Negotiation List.

Welcome back from your well-deserved break. Starting Friday, the Cubs get back at the division battle with a three-game set against the Pirates. They'll try to leave behind a bit of a mid-season slump (one in which the entire division had been mired) and put some distance between themselves and their division rivals. See game-by-game matchups below.

As things stand right now at the 2019 MLB All-Star Break.... 

The following Cubs have used up their last minor league option year in 2019 and thus will be out of options come Spring Training 2020 (presuming they are still on the Cubs 40-man roster):

7/5 RE-POST: I posted this about three months ago, but here it is again since we are within a month of the 2019 MLB trade deadline... 

4/9 ORIGINAL POST 


There were a couple of changes of note made to MLB Rules in 2019 (they were officially approved this week), one pertaining to Trade Assignment Waivers and the MLB Trade Deadline, and the other with regard to Outright Assignment Waiver claims. 

One change was reported (with much fanfare but without much detail) in the media, but the other one was not reported at all.

So here they both are (in somewhat greater detail).  

The Cubs offense put up eleven runs, Quintana went seven innings for the win, Joe Maddon got himself tossed, and Robel Garcia was a double short of the cycle in first MLB start. Lucky for the Cubs, they won't need to top that performance to send fans to the All-Star break happy--a couple of wins would do! The Cubs split a two-game set at Wrigley with the Sox last month. Since their last matchup, the White Sox have not significantly improved. The Cubs, on the other hand, have had the 8th worst ERA- in those few weeks--just ahead of the White Sox at 9th. See the matchups below.