The Cubs have announced a pair of 40-man roster moves, with Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic among those to cover things on Twitter. The club selected the contract of veteran infielder Jason Kipnis, ensuring he’ll be on the Opening Day roster when the season gets underway.
To create 40-man roster space, the club made a two-part move with respect to recent Rule 5 pick Trevor Megill. After he cleared waivers — any other team could’ve stepped into the R5 rights by committing a 40-man spot — the Cubs sent cash to the Padres to secure Megill’s permanent rights. He’ll remain in the team’s 60-man player pool.
Kipnis has long seemed likely to crack the Cubbies’ roster and that’s now in the books. The 33-year-old struggled in spring action but offers ample versatility and veteran guile while also carrying a hint of upside. Kipnis has hit at a below-average rate for each of the past three seasons, but was a star-level performer before that. He has long carried heavy platoon splits, so the Cubs may see value in limiting him to deployment against right-handed pitching.
As for Megill, 26, the Cubs obviously saw merit in not only drafting him but pursuing his long-term rights. He did carry 12.7 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 last year in 50 1/3 Triple-A frames, though he managed only a 4.47 ERA. The club was clearly also concerned with being required to carry Megill on the active roster this year. This way, it can allow him to continue developing and call upon him only if it seems prudent. If he doesn’t earn his way to the majors in 2020, Megill will be eligible again for the Rule 5 draft this winter.
Theo shows his aptitude once more!
I concede that Theo as one of the great GMs right now and arguably of all time, but calling up someone who was already expected to play and paying cash for a guy that his original team didn’t care to protect from the rule 5 draft is not really anything exceptional.
What does that mean? He was expendable. The padres also left Franmil Reyes exposed to rule 5
*Eyeroll*
Am I the only one who is bored with incessant sophomoric comments like this one every time there is a minor Cubs transaction? Who could possibly think that this is clever?
Give it a rest.
Well, he thought it was clever.
Same. It’s really ruined Cubs comments sections. There are noticeably less comments and specific Cubs users that no longer comment here.
Theo’s league
Well, he can’t be any worse than Descalso.
To think I wanted Arizona to resign him… He gave us some good moments I have to admit.
What makes his numbers even worse is he actually had a solid first month.
re-sign*
@ bronyaur/kayrall—–Kayrall, I see you are already there, but think about the jump in subscriptions if MLBTR would just allow us to block the continual “Theo’s League”, “Dumpster Divin’ Theo”, etc that trolls make the every Cubs comment section hard to read.
I pray some day the White Sox are good so those trolls can comment and CARE about a different team. Even though most of them would rather the Cubs lose than the Sox win.
As unfortunate as it is, I think this comes and goes in waves for all teams and its somewhat reflective of whether people believe the team/ownership are willing to spend more to win. That may or may not be fair, but I think thats how the public perceives it. Considering the Cubs payroll is maxed out and they cannot really spend more, you’re going to see more of these types of comments as they decide who they can lock down long term and who will need to be traded off.
For example, I’m a Padres fan and before they shelled out money for Machado and increased payroll there were tons of “print the world series tickets!” comments on obscure AAAA waiver claims, but now the sentiment is more positive because it feels like the team is trying to do more than in the past.
Then you look at the Red Sox comment sections and because they have been shedding payroll its filled with “dumpster diving” type comments and people accusing the team of being cheap because they were trying to get under the threshold. Its somewhat a vicious cycle of getting mad at the team for not spending enough and then when they spend to a point where they cannot spend anymore, getting upset at them for that.
@CNichols
I understand what you’re saying and it’s typically true. But I suggest you go back and look at the 10 most recent Cubs posts. Compare it to any of the other 29 random teams. You’ll understand.
Dumpster Divin’ Theo!
Feed the troll.
Pretty cool Kipnis gets to finally play for his home town team. Shattered all sorts of records at Glenbrook South High School back in his day.
He played at Glenbrook North HS, about 3 minutes from Glenbrook South but same area. Close enough
Good for Kipnis, the consummate ball player.