The Cubs have acquired utilityman Miles Mastrobuoni from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for right-handed pitcher Alfredo Zarraga.

Mastrobuoni is a career .286/.367/.395 hitter in six minor league seasons, making his major-league debut in 2022. The Rays faced a tough 40-man roster crunch and were expected to be active ahead of Tuesday’s Rule-5 Draft protection deadline. The Cubs pounced, acquiring an intriguing option that provides a high-contact bat from the left-side with defensive versatility.

The Cubs 40-man roster sits at 34 ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. They’re expected to be active with plenty of 40-man decisions of their own. 

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer mentioned last week at the GM Meetings that the Cubs could make some moves.

“We’ll be active and probably some small trade discussions, but we haven’t finalized anything,” Hoyer said. “We’ll kind of work over the next couple of days to get that finalized and we’ll sleep on it over the weekend and make those decisions next week.” 

The 27-year-old Mastrobuoni has played over 80 games at four different positions in the minor leagues — shortstop (81), right field (94), left field (110) and second base (247). His natural position is in the middle of the infield but the Rays were deep there, forcing Mastrobuoni to showcase his versatility.

He had a breakout season offensively this year at Triple-A Durham, slashing .300/.377/.469 with 16 home runs, 64 RBI, 23 stolen bases and a 126 weighted runs created plus, which is 26 points above league average. The .469 slugging percentage was the highest of his minor league career.

Mastrobuoni provides depth for the Cubs across the field and — with minor league options — has the flexibility to start the year with either the big-league team or with Triple-A Iowa.

Zarraga, 21, pitched to a 1.93 ERA across Low-A Myrtle Beach and High-A South Bend. Zarraga appeared in 16 games for Myrtle Beach and 1 for South Bend — all in relief — before landing on the 60-day injured list in late August. Zarraga was signed by the Cubs from Venezuela in 2021.