Addison Russell's status will be further defined Friday night when the Cubs must decide whether to tender contracts to their suspended shortstop and seven other arbitration-eligible players.
By tendering a contract to Russell, the Cubs will retain his rights while he is in the midst of serving a 40-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's domestic-violence policy.
The Cubs can continue to decide whether to retain him or trade him by May 3 _ when Russell's suspension ends. President Theo Epstein told reporters at the general managers meetings three weeks ago that he is still monitoring Russell's behavior while talking to him about "self-improvement" and adding "more stability in his life."
Russell was placed on administrative leave on Sept. 21 and missed the final 11 games of the regular season after his ex-wife, Melisa Reidy, accused Russell of domestic abuse in a late September blog post. Russell issued a statement denying any wrongdoing. The leave counted toward his suspension, which was levied by MLB on Oct. 3.
The Cubs acquired closer Aroldis Chapman from the Yankees in July of 2016 _ less than three months after he completed a 30-game suspension for violating the domestic-violence policy and only after Chapman convinced Chairman Tom Ricketts and Epstein that he would be a good citizen with the Cubs.
Russell, 24, is projected to earn $4.3 million as a second-year arbitration-eligible player according to MLBtraderumors.com, although he won't be paid during his suspension.
The other players and their projected salaries are third baseman Kris Bryant ($12.4 million), pitcher Kyle Hendricks ($7.6 million), slugging infielder Javier Baez ($7.1 million), left fielder Kyle Schwarber ($3.1 million), left-hander Mike Montgomery ($3 million), reliever Carl Edwards Jr. ($1.4 million) and infielder Tommy La Stella ($1.2 million).
Any player not tendered a contract by 7 p.m. Friday will become a free agent.
The White Sox have six arbitration-eligible players, led by first baseman Jose Abreu (projected to receive $16 million by MLBtraderumors.com) and right fielder Avisail Garcia ($8 million). Abreu and Garcia are one season away from free agency and are expected to receive plenty of trade attention leading up to the winter meetings Dec. 10-13 in Las Vegas.
The Sox's other arbitration-eligible players are infielder Yolmer Sanchez ($4.7 million), left-hander Carlos Rodon ($3.7 million), infielder Matt Davidson ($2.4 million) and infielder Leury Garcia ($1.9 million).
