The biggest Spring Training battle for the Cubs has been the final spot in the starting rotation, with several guys competing each with their own merits for the spot.
Adbert Alzolay is the prospect on the cusp of big league success, Colin Rea was the 2019 PCL Pitcher of the Year, Alec Mills has been effective in short stints with the big league team, and Tyler Chatwood, the veteran who had been somewhat of a disappointment.
The Cubs cut Alzolay and Rea today, leaving the battle between Chatwood and Mills, and Chatwood seeming to have the edge as of right now.
During his start today, against a Giants lineup that features several regulars, Chatwood was excellent. Pitching three and two thirds innings of shutout baseball with four strikeouts and most importantly: zero walks. In total this Spring he has posted a 1.96 ERA in nine and two thirds innings pitched with 11 strikeouts and just two walks along with allowing two home runs.
Chatwood has been a frustrating player for Cubs fans over the first two years of his contract. His first year was an absolute disaster as he walked an incredible 95 batters in 103.2 innings to lead the league, he was pretty effective as a swing man last year posting a 3.76 ERA in 76.2 innings pitched with 74 strikeouts and keeping the walks mostly in check allowing just 37.
He has always had the stuff to succeed at the big league level, with a fastball that averaged 96.3 MPH and a curveball that has constantly ranked at the top for spin rate. His problem is that he hasn't been able to throw strikes consistently which has led to some less than stellar big league numbers.
Chatwood was already presumed to have the edge for the final rotation spot due to his previous big league history and the fact that he is owed $13 million for this upcoming season, but he is letting his results on the field do all the talking and as of now he definitely deserves the spot.
That isn't to say Mills hasn't been good this Spring. In his 4 appearances (3 starts) he has posted a 0.93 ERA in nine and two thirds innings pitched with seven strikeouts along with three walks and four hits allowed.
Mills big league numbers from 2019 look excellent with a 2.75 ERA in 36 innings along with an impressive 42 strikeouts to 11 walks, but his underlying numbers are a bit concerning. He has a a xFIP of 3.98 thanks to a completely unsustainable 90.5 strand percentage. His lack of overpowering stuff is also a potential red flag.
If Mills doesn't win the job it's possible he could serve the role that Chatwood served in 2019, which was multi-inning relief pitcher/occasional spot starter. It could be a good chance for Mills to finally prove himself in the big leagues, he has been fairly effective in his short stints, but has never gotten an extended opportunity to prove himself.
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Cubs trim roster to 44
The Cubs announced a series of roster moves today, bringing down their Spring Training roster to 44 and starting to give some clarity in roster battles.
The most relevant cuts were on the pitcher side as the team optioned both 2019 Pacific Coast League pitcher of the year Colin Rea and top prospect Adbert Alzolay to AAA Iowa which leaves the 5th starter competition between Tyler Chatwood and Alec Mills. Chatwood is presumed to have the advantage due to his experience and contract, but Mills is starting to build a very solid case for that role due to his single earned run allowed in nine and two thirds innings pitched.
SS Zack Short was considered a longshot for a bench role, but he will take his excellent batting eye to AAA Iowa and continue to develop his other skills while trying to be useful as a utility infielder. I would expect him up at the big league level towards the tail end of the season.
The most significant, but expected cut, was catcher Miguel Amaya. Who was ranked by Baseball Prospectus as the 78th best prospect in baseball. He is considered an excellent defensive catcher already, but the hitting is still a work in progress. He hit .235/.351/.402 for Class-A Myrtle Beach in 410 plate appearances. He will go to AA Tennessee and continue to hone his skills, but he likely won't be big league ready till mid 2021/22.
Trent Giambrone was assigned to minor league camp and the 26-year old former 25th round pick will look to build on a solid season at AAA where he hit .241/.314/.464 with 23 home runs in 478 plate appearances in the very hitter friendly PCL. If he can continue to build on his numbers, especially with the power, he could see himself playing at the Friendly Confines by summer.
Corban Joseph, Noelle Cuevas, and Carlos Asuaje weren't considered significant threats to make the roster, and will all go to Iowa to serve as depth.
The Cubs also reacquired Michael Rucker from the Baltimore Orioles who had selected him in the Rule V draft. He will not make the big league roster, but could be someone to pay attention to in the minor leagues this year. In 34 appearances for AA Tennessee last season he posted a 4.28 ERA in 75.2 innings pitched with 89 strikeouts with just 22 walks. His issue seemed to be with hits and home runs as he allowed 76 hits with 10 of them leaving the yard.
The most relevant cuts were on the pitcher side as the team optioned both 2019 Pacific Coast League pitcher of the year Colin Rea and top prospect Adbert Alzolay to AAA Iowa which leaves the 5th starter competition between Tyler Chatwood and Alec Mills. Chatwood is presumed to have the advantage due to his experience and contract, but Mills is starting to build a very solid case for that role due to his single earned run allowed in nine and two thirds innings pitched.
SS Zack Short was considered a longshot for a bench role, but he will take his excellent batting eye to AAA Iowa and continue to develop his other skills while trying to be useful as a utility infielder. I would expect him up at the big league level towards the tail end of the season.
The most significant, but expected cut, was catcher Miguel Amaya. Who was ranked by Baseball Prospectus as the 78th best prospect in baseball. He is considered an excellent defensive catcher already, but the hitting is still a work in progress. He hit .235/.351/.402 for Class-A Myrtle Beach in 410 plate appearances. He will go to AA Tennessee and continue to hone his skills, but he likely won't be big league ready till mid 2021/22.
Trent Giambrone was assigned to minor league camp and the 26-year old former 25th round pick will look to build on a solid season at AAA where he hit .241/.314/.464 with 23 home runs in 478 plate appearances in the very hitter friendly PCL. If he can continue to build on his numbers, especially with the power, he could see himself playing at the Friendly Confines by summer.
Corban Joseph, Noelle Cuevas, and Carlos Asuaje weren't considered significant threats to make the roster, and will all go to Iowa to serve as depth.
The Cubs also reacquired Michael Rucker from the Baltimore Orioles who had selected him in the Rule V draft. He will not make the big league roster, but could be someone to pay attention to in the minor leagues this year. In 34 appearances for AA Tennessee last season he posted a 4.28 ERA in 75.2 innings pitched with 89 strikeouts with just 22 walks. His issue seemed to be with hits and home runs as he allowed 76 hits with 10 of them leaving the yard.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Cubs add Jeremy Jeffress
The Chicago Cubs have added free agent reliever Jeremy Jeffress on a one year $850,000 deal according to Jeff Passan of ESPN. The deal will also allow Jeffress to earn up to $200,000 in incentives based on games pitched.
Jeffress, 32,was a disappointment for the Brewers in 2019 results wise as he posted a 5.02 ERA in 48 appearances while dealing with injury including a hip problem right before his release in early September. There are some indicators to suggest a bounce back in 2020. His 3.96 FIP is far better than his ERA and 63.8 left on base percentage is well below his career average.
It's fair to wonder what went from for Jeffress in 2019, he suffered from a significant 1.4 MPH drop on his sinker velocity which allowed hitters to hit .291 against the pitch compared to a .215 mark from the year before. His split-fingered fastball was also disastrous for him as hitters hit .400 off the pitch in a much smaller sample size than the year before where hitters hit .188 off the pitch.
Overall for his career he has posted a 3.16 ERA in 392 career games including one start. He has pitched 401 total innings striking out 370 while walking 163. He has pitched for four big league teams, but has had the most success for the Brewers posting a 2.66 ERA in 301 appearances split across seven seasons.
It is extremely unlikely that Jeffress will return to his 2018 form where he was all All-Star posting an incredible 1.29 ERA in 76.2 innings for the Brewers bullpen. But he has shown the ability to be a solid big league reliever and if he can get his velocity back up and some of the bad luck disappears then he can definitely be an asset to the Cubs bullpen in 2020..
Monday, January 13, 2020
Cubs trade Tony Kemp to the A's
According to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle the Oakland A's have acquired 2B/OF Tony Kemp for a currently unknown return.
The Cubs acquired Kemp at the 2019 trade deadline and he struggled with the Cubs hitting just .183/.258/.305 in 44 games and 93 plate appearances. He struck out 18 times to seven walks and he had just six extra base hits while going 0-1 on stolen base attempts. Although he graded fairly well in the outfield, he just didn't do enough with the bat.
It was likely going to be difficult for Kemp to find playing time for the Cubs in 2020. David Bote is currently projected to start at second base along with Nico Hoerner and Robel Garcia lurking as options as well. The Cubs also have a significant amount of outfield depth and he isn't a good enough hitter to justify displacing anyone on the roster.
Kemp had a few nice moments for the Cubs, including a big go ahead pinch hit home run against the Cardinals when they still had a chance, but ultimately his short tenure with the Cubs will go down as a disappointment.
Update:
The Cubs will receive 23-year old Alfonso Rivas who was the A's fourth round draft choice in 2018. He spent the majority of the year for the A's High-A affiliate in Stockton where he hit .283/.383/.408 in 114 games and 509 plate appearances. He also received a stint in AAA where went 13-32 with a home run in eight games.
He does not hit for a lot of power with just a .121 ISO for his professional career, but he has a good hit tool and with a 6' 0" 188lb frame he could potentially add more power.
In an interview for A's Farm A's special assistant Grady Fuson said: "Like I’ve always said, power is the last thing to come. And so, we’ll just wait and see on that. But very polished, knows the strike zone, swings at strikes, takes balls, good defender. He’s a good-looking player,"
The Cubs acquired Kemp at the 2019 trade deadline and he struggled with the Cubs hitting just .183/.258/.305 in 44 games and 93 plate appearances. He struck out 18 times to seven walks and he had just six extra base hits while going 0-1 on stolen base attempts. Although he graded fairly well in the outfield, he just didn't do enough with the bat.
It was likely going to be difficult for Kemp to find playing time for the Cubs in 2020. David Bote is currently projected to start at second base along with Nico Hoerner and Robel Garcia lurking as options as well. The Cubs also have a significant amount of outfield depth and he isn't a good enough hitter to justify displacing anyone on the roster.
Kemp had a few nice moments for the Cubs, including a big go ahead pinch hit home run against the Cardinals when they still had a chance, but ultimately his short tenure with the Cubs will go down as a disappointment.
Update:
The Cubs will receive 23-year old Alfonso Rivas who was the A's fourth round draft choice in 2018. He spent the majority of the year for the A's High-A affiliate in Stockton where he hit .283/.383/.408 in 114 games and 509 plate appearances. He also received a stint in AAA where went 13-32 with a home run in eight games.
He does not hit for a lot of power with just a .121 ISO for his professional career, but he has a good hit tool and with a 6' 0" 188lb frame he could potentially add more power.
In an interview for A's Farm A's special assistant Grady Fuson said: "Like I’ve always said, power is the last thing to come. And so, we’ll just wait and see on that. But very polished, knows the strike zone, swings at strikes, takes balls, good defender. He’s a good-looking player,"
Monday, December 16, 2019
Cubs sign Noel Cuevas
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic the Chicago Cubs have inked outfielder Noel Cuevas to a minor league contract. The deal will pay him $575k if he is at the big league level.
Cuevas went 0-2 in his only big league game this year for the Rockies, but hit a solid .278/.358/.439 in 233 plate appearances for their AAA team in Albuquerque. He missed time due to a quad injury, returned, was not effective, and found himself designated for assignment in September.
The 28-year old appeared in 75 big league games for the Rockies in 2018, but he struggled horrifically posting a .233/.268/.315 line, which was good enough for a wRC+ of 41. He did post an above average contact rate of 81 percent and struck out just 15.7 percent of the time, but a complete inability to drive the ball (.082 ISO and 23 percent hard contact rate) and lack of plate discipline (3.9 percent walk rate and 3.35 pitches per plate appearance) exposed his flaws as a big league player.
Cuevas doesn't exactly excel defensively either, in 285.2 big league outfield innings he has been worth -4 runs defensively, though he did grade much better in right field than he did in left.
This isn't much more of a depth signing. Cuevas does add some much-needed contact skills to the organization, but he doesn't do enough with that contact to justify giving him a serious role with the big league club.
Cuevas went 0-2 in his only big league game this year for the Rockies, but hit a solid .278/.358/.439 in 233 plate appearances for their AAA team in Albuquerque. He missed time due to a quad injury, returned, was not effective, and found himself designated for assignment in September.
The 28-year old appeared in 75 big league games for the Rockies in 2018, but he struggled horrifically posting a .233/.268/.315 line, which was good enough for a wRC+ of 41. He did post an above average contact rate of 81 percent and struck out just 15.7 percent of the time, but a complete inability to drive the ball (.082 ISO and 23 percent hard contact rate) and lack of plate discipline (3.9 percent walk rate and 3.35 pitches per plate appearance) exposed his flaws as a big league player.
Cuevas doesn't exactly excel defensively either, in 285.2 big league outfield innings he has been worth -4 runs defensively, though he did grade much better in right field than he did in left.
This isn't much more of a depth signing. Cuevas does add some much-needed contact skills to the organization, but he doesn't do enough with that contact to justify giving him a serious role with the big league club.
Monday, December 2, 2019
Cubs non-tender Russell, Hultzen
Today was the deadline to tender a contract for arbitration eligible players and the Cubs did that tendering a contract to six of their seven arbitration eligible players. Shortstop Addison Russell was the non-tender, and LHP Danny Hultzen was non-tendered as well despite not being arbitration eligible.
Russell is obviously the big name here and for good reason. It was already a controversial decision to bring him back last year with his domestic violence suspension looming combined with a significant decline in his performance.
Just going by on the field results Russell was not worth a tender. He hit just .237/.308/.391 with nine home runs in 241 plate appearances along with several miscues on the base paths and on the field. He just plain and simple wasn't going to going to be worth the estimated price tag due to the fact that he wasn't going to be guaranteed playing time next with with the emergence of Javier Baez as the everyday shortstop and guys like David Bote and Robel Garcia who can handle second base as well.
Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein said in a statement "We decided to non-tender Addison Russell today simply because the role we expected to play for the 2020 Cubs was inconsistent with how he would have been treated in the salary arbitration process,"
It's hard to bring up Russell without mentioning the terrible domestic violations made by his ex-wife last year. He was suspended 40 games due to the allegations, and it's hard not to believe the allegations played some sort of role in the decision to let him go.
Russell certainly had his moments with the Cubs. He had some huge hits in the 2016 NLCS and World Series, but ultimately his tenure will go down as a disappointment. He hit just .242/.312/.392 in 615 games over five seasons with the team after being ranked as the #2 prospect in all of baseball by Baseball Prospectus before the 2015 season.
Danny Hultzen was a nice feel good story in an otherwise disappointing Cubs season. The former 2nd overall pick in 2011 by the Seattle Mariners was brought in before 2018 on a minor league deal and bounced back from several injuries and setbacks to make his major league debut in 2019 at the age of 29.
He pitched fairly well in his six appearances pitched three and a third innings allowing four hits and two walks while striking out five along with zero earned runs. The non-tender likely does not end his Cubs tenure however, he was out of options next year and the Cubs may bring him back on a non-guaranteed deal that could allow him to start the season in the minor leagues to ramp himself up for the season.
Russell is obviously the big name here and for good reason. It was already a controversial decision to bring him back last year with his domestic violence suspension looming combined with a significant decline in his performance.
Just going by on the field results Russell was not worth a tender. He hit just .237/.308/.391 with nine home runs in 241 plate appearances along with several miscues on the base paths and on the field. He just plain and simple wasn't going to going to be worth the estimated price tag due to the fact that he wasn't going to be guaranteed playing time next with with the emergence of Javier Baez as the everyday shortstop and guys like David Bote and Robel Garcia who can handle second base as well.
Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein said in a statement "We decided to non-tender Addison Russell today simply because the role we expected to play for the 2020 Cubs was inconsistent with how he would have been treated in the salary arbitration process,"
It's hard to bring up Russell without mentioning the terrible domestic violations made by his ex-wife last year. He was suspended 40 games due to the allegations, and it's hard not to believe the allegations played some sort of role in the decision to let him go.
Russell certainly had his moments with the Cubs. He had some huge hits in the 2016 NLCS and World Series, but ultimately his tenure will go down as a disappointment. He hit just .242/.312/.392 in 615 games over five seasons with the team after being ranked as the #2 prospect in all of baseball by Baseball Prospectus before the 2015 season.
Danny Hultzen was a nice feel good story in an otherwise disappointing Cubs season. The former 2nd overall pick in 2011 by the Seattle Mariners was brought in before 2018 on a minor league deal and bounced back from several injuries and setbacks to make his major league debut in 2019 at the age of 29.
He pitched fairly well in his six appearances pitched three and a third innings allowing four hits and two walks while striking out five along with zero earned runs. The non-tender likely does not end his Cubs tenure however, he was out of options next year and the Cubs may bring him back on a non-guaranteed deal that could allow him to start the season in the minor leagues to ramp himself up for the season.
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Cubs claim lefty CD Pelham from the Rangers
The Cubs and Rangers have teamed up again with the Cubs claiming 24-year old lefty CD Pelham off of waivers from the Rangers today. The 40-man roster stands at 38 as of this move.
Pelham had a disastrous season in the minor leagues in 2019 with an 11.97 ERA in 42 appearances split between AA Frisco and AAA Nashville. He walked 40 and struck out 37 while allowing 48 hits and six home runs in 32.1 innings pitched.
He did make his major league debut in 2018 and did not pitch well in 10 appearances allowing six earned runs in seven and two-thirds innings pitched. He allowed four walks and 12 hits to go along with seven strikeouts.
He did show some flashes of promise, for example this slider to Stephen Piscotty back in 2018 was a very well executed pitch. His slider has the potential to become a good out pitch with some decent bite to it.
He is a hard thrower with a four seam fastball that averaged 96.4 MPH that he threw about 72 percent of the time. The sample size is small, but batters went 10-27 off the pitch with three doubles off the pitch. He struggle to induce swings and misses as batter whiffed just 16.1 percent of the time so despite the velocity it's clearly a pitch that needs some work.
This stands as just a pure depth move. The Cubs could use some lefty bullpen depth, as they don't have much besides guys like Kyle Ryan and Brad Wieck. Pelham still has an option remaining and can be freely shuffled between the Cubs and the minor leagues.
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