SAN ANTONIO, Texas — In small samples, both Yency Almonte and Christian Bethancourt played key roles for the Cubs in 2024.

So, seeing the Cubs part ways with the veterans came at a relatively mild shock.

But the Cubs faced their first roster crunch of the offseason on Monday, needing to add several players back on the 40-man roster from the 60-day IL and clearing spots was a necessity.

In Bethancourt’s case, it doesn’t mean he can’t find his way back to the Cubs.

“Christian played great for us,” Hoyer said on Monday afternoon at the JW Marriott resort. “I think he was a lot of fun to watch, and certainly a guy that we’ll probably have conversations with.”

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The 32-year-old catcher slashed .281/.305/.509 with 3 home runs and 15 RBI while primarily serving as Miguel Amaya’s backup. But it was arguably the best stretch of his career — he’s a lifetime .229/.259/.362 hitter in parts of 8 seasons.

The Cubs might feel there’s better options for that role, but every team brings in veteran catchers during Spring Training, knowing they need both the depth in case of injury and the experience to guide a multitude of arms during the 6-week ramp up. That’s why Bethancourt’s return isn’t totally ruled out.

For Almonte, he had developed into a key weapon out of manager Craig Counsell’s bullpen early in the year, pitching in leverage innings. But injury struck in early May and his season ended there. He underwent shoulder surgery over the summer and will miss a chunk of 2025, too.

“Felt bad for him, obviously he got hurt, it was a serious injury, so he’s gonna miss a lot of this year,” Hoyer said. “So that led to that roster move.”

The Cubs already made one move to augment their bullpen on Monday, claiming a member of their 2016 team in lefty Rob Zastryzny.

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“He’s developed into a solid lefty,” Hoyer said. “Our models liked him, our scouts liked him, and that was a big part of that claim.”

Zastryzny has struggled with injuries and bounced between the minors and majors, pitching in 54 games since debuting with the Cubs during their World-Series winning season.

But he’s thrived in stymying lefty hitters — they have a lifetime .190/.319/.232 slash line against him. It’s something the Cubs bullpen lacked for most of the 2024 season, especially after the trade deadline.

Mark Leiter Jr. was Counsell’s de-facto lefty, his splitter was a weapon against those hitters and allowed Counsell to deploy him as such. But he was traded to the Yankees at the trade deadline. Rookie Luke Little had emerged as another option, posting a 3.46 ERA in 30 games, but injury ended his season early.

Drew Smyly was in the Cubs bullpen almost the entire year, but he had pretty neutral splits — .250 average against righties and .255 average against lefties.

Zastryzny adds a much-needed lefty option. And he likely won’t be the last southpaw added to the Cubs bullpen.

“Obviously, when we traded one of our lefties in Leiter, it felt like we weren’t optimizing for individual matchups as much as we would have been,” Counsell said. “You could feel it in the second half. We oftentimes didn’t have the best matchup for a lefty, especially [when] Luke went out. So that is something that we’ll be actively looking for this offseason.”