The Cubs have agreed to a minor league pact with righty James Bourque and invited him to Major League Spring Training, reports MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (Twitter link). The 27-year-old Bourque appeared to be in line to get a look with the Nats in September, but an elbow strain landed him on the IL and limited him to four innings. The Nats removed Bourque from the 40-man roster after the season drew to a close, and he opted for free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment.
A 14th-round pick in 2014, Bourque ranked near the back end of the Nationals’ top 30 farmhands in recent years due largely to a power fastball that sits in the mid 90s and an above-average curveball. Control has increasingly become an issue for Bourque as he’s advanced through the minors and faced better competition, but his strikeout rates have also climbed. In 117 innings from 2018-19, Bourque whiffed 162 batters in just 117 innings — good for 12.5 K/9 and a 32.5 percent overall strikeout rate. He also averaged 4.8 BB/9 with a 12.4 percent walk overall walk rate.
Bourque is the second bullpen flier in as many days for the Cubs, who yesterday agreed to a non-guaranteed, Major League deal with former Yankees setup man Jonathan Holder. Chicago hasn’t spent much on the bullpen at all in recent years outside of a one-time splash with Craig Kimbrel that hasn’t panned out, and the team has also struggled to develop consistently productive arms. As such, there are several spots up for grabs in a largely unsettled bullpen mix, creating Spring Training opportunities for Bourque, Holder and any other speculative adds by new president of baseball ops Jed Hoyer.
Ol’ Litter Leapin’ Jed!
Trash Heapin’ Hoyer back at it!
AS the years roll by we will all remember the “golden age of Cubs baseball”. One trip to the WS. There should have been more. The Cubs are slowly being relegated to their all too familiar role of also rans . It was fun while it lasted.
Agreed. Sadly.
The Cubs president of baseball operations must have been trained by the Cardinals president of baseball operations, John Mozeliak!! Buy low and sell cheap!! Then tell the fans “Oh Yes, we will be competitive!” Ha!
Rubbish russlin` Hoyer
Sounds like a hockey player
Trevor Gretzky still playing?
I don’t think so. Saw him play for the Burlington Bees some years back. Great speed, every fly ball was an adventure and a hole in his swing. Think he made high A for the Angels
He gave it up a few years back to do film acting and producing.
I was hoping Ray Bourque was in his family.
His pitches aren’t great, but he has the best slap shot of any relief pitcher out there.
Bourque is pronounced as “Burke.” The Nats really didn’t give him much of a look, but his moustache game has always been on point. There’s tons of former Nats minor league relivers floating around the majors, so he could be a good get for the Cubs.
Not too optimistic about this one but it’s a minor league signing so whatevs
I would hardly call these last 2 moves noteworthy Steve, nor are they likely to mean much of anything.
The Cubs do this every offseason, tons of minor league deals for bullpen arms, then comes June and fans are like what’s a bullpen arm, we must not have one on the team
Just more garbage to keep the payroll low , Ricketts suck
SELL THE TEAM !!! Please
No Who do you want WGN again Ricketts care‼️
So the Braves signed Drew Smyly and Charlie Morton, and the Cubs sign lottery ticket relief pitchers. How many off-seasons of no changes for Cubs?
The Cubs are not going to make-up ground on the Braves, Dodgers, and Padres by continuing to operate this way.
Either trade some of the players with value (Darvish and Contreras) and re-tool with younger players, mixing in with a few veterans OR spend the $60 million you have before reaching the luxury tax threshold and actually try to win.
Save some money but that new Japanese pitcher could be a nice combo with Darvish plus we got the Professor
Junkster Jed
I’ll keep reading Cubs articles, but I’m giving up on reading the comments. Too many trolls.
Agreed
I’ve Bourqued tons of women
“I’ll keep reading Cubs articles, but I’m giving up on reading the comments. Too many trolls.”
its actually 1 guy with about 5 usernames, i keep trying to bring this to light but my posts get deleted, MLBTR would rather let the trolls drive away actual fans
notice how zero of the ‘chitown’ and ‘chisox’ usernames have a badge? you’d think he’d support the site considering he lives to refresh the cubs rumors page and troll