There are many ways for baseball executives to acquire players to play on their MLB rosters: Amateur draft, free-agent signings, trades, even sometimes finding a gem in the independent leagues.
Let’s look at the Cubs’ current 40-man roster (as of this morning) and how each player was acquired by the team. There are 41 players listed, with one (Caleb Kilian) on the 60-day injured list. NOTE! For some reason, Kevin Alcántara and Porter Hodge, who are both on the 40-man, are not listed at the Cubs website link bove. Thanks to Josh for helping me figure out who was missing!