The Cubs are returning left-hander Caleb Smith to the Yankees, reports Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago (Twitter link). Chicago selected Smith in the Rule 5 draft in December.
The 25-year-old Smith potentially could have made the Cubs’ bullpen as a southpaw swingman, but they’ll instead go with Mike Montgomery and Brian Duensing as their lefty relievers. Smith didn’t see much spring action with the Cubs, having tossed 6 1/3 innings and given up three earned runs on eight hits. Impressively, he struck out seven batters and only issued two walks.
Smith, whom the Yankees chose in Round 14 of the 2013 amateur draft, ascended to Triple-A in 2015, though he has only thrown 4 1/3 innings at that level. In 367 1/3 Double-A frames (94 appearances, 69 starts), he has logged a 3.41 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9. Smith is the second Rule 5 pick the Yankees have gotten back in the past few days – the Diamondbacks returned righty Tyler Jones to them last Friday – and will now head to their minor league camp.
Should have DFA Duensing and gave Smith a shot.
Why? They signed Duensing to a major league contract?
Because Duensing is terrible. At least Smith has potential
Why? Duensing put up better numbers than Smith did? And it’s pointless to keep him on the 25 man roster when he would’ve gotten “hurt” and barely played anyways
Thank goodness. Good teams shouldn’t waste a roster spot on a guy who will end up getting shelled and “hurt” anyway.
It all depends upon how he turns out in the future.
Quite a few teams would have benefited long term from biting the bullet on Jose Bautista. And that might have required a few years of little value.
Matt bowman and joe biagini say hi
Meh. These guys are good for blow outs. Mop up innings. Long relief etc
So is Justin Grimm.
So when a player gets returned to original team, are there any restrictions on whether they have to be on 40 man roster or not?
No because these players were picked in the Rule 5 draft because they weren’t on the 40 man roster in the first place.
The Caleb Smith link is to the wrong Caleb Smith – it links to Caleb Martin Smith in the SF Giants organization instead of Caleb Anthony Smith of the Yankees.