Burdi, whom the Cubs selected in the minor-league Rule 5 draft in December, will join the MLB team for spring training.
The 29-year-old right-hander previously saw big-league action with the Pirates in parts of three seasons between 2018 and 2020, but he hasn't appeared in affiliated ball in either of the past two years after undergoing his second career Tommy John surgery in October 2020. The fact that he wasn't able to pitch even in the second half of the 2022 campaign suggests that he might have experienced a setback at some point along the way, but he looks as though he'll be healthy for spring training. Given his lengthy layoff from pitching, Burdi probably won't have a realistic chance at winning a spot in the Cubs' Opening Day bullpen and will most likely be ticketed for Triple-A Iowa.