The Cubs claimed right-hander Frankie De La Cruz off of waivers from the Brewers, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets. The Brewers now have one open spot on their 40-man roster.
De La Cruz made 11 appearances with the 2011 Brewers, posting a 2.77 ERA with nine strikeouts and five walks. The 28-year-old spent most of last year as a starter at Triple-A, where he had a 3.88 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 137 innings.
This guy has no control with his pitches.
this seems pointless
Certainly an odd move.
Good riddance, was scared that he might actually make the team. Now they can put one of the quality young guys in the pen.
Why? Didn’t the Cubs have a slew of less-than-stellar pitching options already in camp to consider? Wouldn’t the loser of the Volstad/Wells/T. Wood battle be destined for long man out of the pen anyways?
Increase competition is always good.
They’d have to pass him through waivers for AAA, but yea, no-risk experiment for north-siders.
The Brewers have pretty decent pitching depth, and Frankie De La Cruz is not very good. He had an outside chance, at best, to become a middle reliever/swingman in Milwaukee–and even then only if Marco Estrada, Wily Peralta, and Michael Fiers are all injured this Spring.
Where are you getting that Brewers have very little pitching depth? I think the Brewers thought he’d slip through waivers (he’s out of options) so they could assign him, but Cubs grabbed him. That’s not surprising. Sveum was a Brewer coach last year and Bosio the pitching coach worked for the Brewers too. He’s no lock to make the Cubs either.