The Cubs on Thursday announced that they’ve claimed outfielder Jacob Hannemann off waivers from the Mariners and designated infielder/outfielder Mike Freeman for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Hannemann was originally with the Cubs earlier this year but was claimed off waivers by the Mariners in September. He’ll now return to the organization that selected him in the third round of the 2013 draft.
The 26-year-old Hannemann made his MLB debut with the Mariners following that claim, though he collected just 20 plate appearances over the final month of the season and hit .150/.150/.300 (3-for-20 with a homer and four punchouts).
Through 322 PAs with Triple-A Iowa in 2017, Hannemann slashed .265/.324/.404, though his rough Double-A performance dragged his cumulative batting line down to a less palatable .240/.312/.372. Baseball America rated Hannemann as Chicago’s No. 23 prospect last offseason, writing that he has 70-grade speed and is the “best athlete in the Cubs system.” However, he also has a fringy arm in the outfield, per their report, and has never demonstrated that much power in the minors.
The 30-year-old Freeman saw time with the Cubs, Mariners and Dodgers in 2017, appearing at all four infield positions but mustering just a .100/.182/.183 slash in 66 trips to the plate. Freeman’s jack-of-all-trades status on the defensive end of the spectrum and quality on-base numbers in Triple-A have made him a desirable commodity to round out 40-man rosters over the past couple of seasons, though. He’s played every position other than catcher over the past two seasons and has a career .312/.377/.420 batting line in parts of four Triple-A campaigns.
Lol another outfielder.
Lol another guy who thinks the only OFs you need in the whole organization are the ones in the bigs.
Precursor to a Happ Almora or Schwarber trade?
Pretty sure this guy will not replace any of them
You don’t keep hannemann over any of those 3.
He’ll be riding the Szczur shuttle along with Zagunis.
You can’t be serious.
Good ol’ Jaocb.
Glad I wasn’t the only one who caught this haha
I think the Mariners were hoping to slip him through to AAA so they could clear a roster spot and it didn’t work. They did it on some players before. Most clubs do this and sometimes they lose the player.
Cubs took both of the M’s depth CFs!! Rip leonys and Jacob.
The Cubs won’t tender Leonys. He’s all yours.
Kyle’s mom is a good source, in my opinion.
So this must be true
Hannemann is very good defensively.
I’d rather have heywards gold glove over him. I think it will be 4 for JHey and 3 for Rizzo this year. One for Baez and one for Contreras
Which position for Baez?
Almora isn’t going anywhere. Happ and or Schwarber. Different story
Schwarber is not moving. You guys need to let that go. It’s not happening now or any time soon. Almora playing ove rKyle = no playoffs.
Agreed. The guy had an atrocious first half, but he was coming back from an INJURY. That’s the thing most people forget.
Has anyone tried to play MLB-level baseball with a body part that doesn’t feel 100% right?? Probably not easy.
Additionally, in the second half, he did much better and hit around .250.
With his kind of power, he’s an enormous threat in the lineup, and an immediate game-changer. You don’t just trade that away because you need a bullpen arm.
The defense still needs work, but it’s fixable.
Not a bad depth piece. He has a good mix of speed and doubles power that make him a pretty solid injury replacement later in the season, for whatever team he finishes the offseason with.
If you guys want Seattle cast offs I have an idea you can have Vogelbach and we will take Montgomery straight across. I think that is a fair deal. He is going to be a great, good, OK, decent, a player for many years and Montgomery is just a LH relief pitcher.
Need Blackburn back.
Lol whatever it takes to make that trade go away.