The Cubs have agreed to sign right-handed reliever Jonathan Holder to a non-guaranteed contract, Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. It’s a one-year, $750K deal, per Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago. Holder will have a chance to earn another $150K in incentives, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets.
The Cubs will be the second major league organization for Holder, a 2014 sixth-round pick of the Yankees who appeared in the bigs in each of the previous five seasons. Holder was at his best from 2017-18 – a 104 1/3-inning run in which he registered a 3.45 ERA/3.22 FIP with 8.54 K/9 and 2.16 BB/9. However, the 27-year-old’s production has declined precipitously since then.
In 60 1/3 frames since 2019, Holder has logged a 5.82 ERA/4.85 FIP, owing in part to an increase in walks and home runs. Holder is now coming off a season in which he recorded career worsts in K/9 (5.82) and BB/9 (4.57), which helped lead to an undesirable 4.98 ERA/5.22 FIP in 21 2/3 innings. The Yankees non-tendered Holder after the season in lieu of paying him a projected $900K to $1MM in arbitration, but he’ll now try to get back on track with the Cubs.
Dumb comments in 3….2…..1….
Way to kick it off
Theo must’ve left his dumpster divers in Chicago.
LOL!!!
I actually like the move. Holder looked promising earlier in his career and the cost is nothing. Why not give him a shot in spring training?
Low risk, decent reward.
Dumpster Diving Jed!!!
Yay! I get the dumb post honors!!
Stop being so dismissive. Beauty is in the eye of J. Holder.
Trash Heapin’ Hoyer!
Jed the Junkyard Dog
Best name in baseball right there.
It would be a lot worse in football, for sure.
In football, and for German speakers, it’s “hard” to top Jim Schwantz. Sam Ficken comes close.
Best baseball name has to go to the Royals’ Scott Blewett. And yes, he’s a relief pitcher. Can’t make this stuff up.
Grant Balfour and Johnny “Ugly” Dickshot say hello (although I’m guessing your referring to current players so I’ll let it slide)
Grant Balfour was my favorite baseball name ever. Legend.
You’re a nerd
Season saved.
Confirmed.
4 minutes. That’s how long it takes for you to switch accounts and reply to yourself. Good to know.
ChiSox doesn’t even comment on most White Sox posts. But he’s here for every Cubs post. I think someone has a crush
Agreed!!
Don’t you guys have better things to do like making sure Tony gets to his AA meeting?
Nice.
Just attending means nothing. Ever hear of the expression “a dry drunk”?
No. I’ve never heard those first two words.
If we’re going to be 100 on it, his actions make me think he’s much more of a tee totaler than a lush.
He drove into a curb & he was barely over the limit. Shouldn’t have had that second glass of wine, Mr La Russa.
I “herd” that.
Moron.
Is ^this for me, @buckneretc?
If so, I appreciate the well thought out, articulate, intelligent & thoroughly classy response.
Who says skilled debate is a thing of the past, uh?
I hope you have a great night, man.
Looking forward to our next respectful & informative dialogue, serious.
;)
Wasn’t for you one bit, rather the lone Sox troll who goes under multiple screen names and all from his Mom’s basement.
Man.
Ya know, I just can’t really understand this commenting platform sometimes. I’ll get notifications of a response at times that are well above anything I’ve posted. Other times, a comment right below mine with an “@Ducky” never shows up.
Madness.
I’ve had a good day & feel like I’m in a pretty good mood. However, this is the second time I’ve had to apologise today for being snappish.
My bad. Carry on.
I’ll bet Al Yellon’s son Tim Huwe is wildly nonplussed about this signing.
Be perfect in the 8th inning role with that last name
This move paves the way for the cubbies to get back to the World Series. LOL
Don’t know what went wrong with him. He was looking like a guy who’d be a solid reliever for us for years.
And then he turned into…well, *not* that.
I know in the Yanks minors he was one of those spin rate darlings. I certainly wish him the best. Never made excuses & like I said was pretty good for us for awhile.
I do hope Cashman has designs on dipping into all those second tier relievers, man. Again, wish him the best but I’m definitely interested in upgrading his spot.
Agreed. I just think he topped out. Heller has passed him.
Heller hasn’t been healthy long enough to pass anyone.
Yanks would be ecstatic if Heller can produce like Holder did in ’17-’18.
Another year of the Cubs trying to piece together their bullpen with minor league signings.. it’s fine for a couple of guys, but having a couple veteran arms that you can rely on would help… instead, the Cubs overpaid Kimbrel – and everyone saw it that way at the time… and they use guys like Wick (I actually like him), Kyle Ryan, Dan Winkler, Duane Underwood, Ryan Tepera, etc.. They sign Jeffress to a low-risk deal and it worked out, but his stuff isn’t what it used to be..
If you don’t have starters that can go deep, and you don’t have dependable arms in your bullpen, what do you have? A losing team.
…a “losing team” that won the division w those guys.
I get that you hate the Cubs, that this was not a great signing, that the future doesn’t look great…but jeez, at least be cognizant of reality past as well as present. I am sure you will have plenty of time in the future to kick them while they’re down. (Which totally shows how cool you are)
Hate the Cubs – shoot me your email – I’ll send you pictures from me being at Game 6 and 7 of the World Series in 2016, and also Game 6 against the Dodgers where they beat Kershaw, and also in the division series against the Giants where Baez hit the moonshot that barely made it in the basket.. I’m a realist.. the Cubs won the division because it was an abbreviated season. If anything, they should have won by more but their best players drastically underperformed. They did well because Darvish and Hendricks were dominant in most of their starts.. and the rest of the staff was so-so. Lester started hot and then tailed off.
Back to the bullpen – name me ONE guy that comes out of that pen from last season or actually any Cubs roster dating back to the start of 2017 that you’d say is a “shutdown reliever.” Chapman (2016) is the last one. They’ve had guys with decent seasons, but no shutdown guys… so who is your go-to guy in the Cubs bullpen? Go ahead, I’ll wait.
The way the cubs constructed the bullpen last year was actually really smart. They signed a bunch of upside guys and a few hit. Jeffress and Tepera were very good. The big bullpen contract almost never work out. I’d rather the cubs did this every year and spend money on offense and starting pitching. At the trade deadline you can always find some hot bullpen arms to get from other teams.
Those hot arms were Andrew Chafin and Josh Osich. Big bullpen contracts aren’t always bad, but yea it’s not a great investment to throw big bucks that way. It really comes down to pitching development being terrible for the Cubs in Theo’s tenure and also unwillingness to bring in consistent, proven arms.
I didn’t say the cubs grabbed any last year but some were available. Lots of teams that normally would of been sellers were buyers or holders last year too.
And yet the Cubs won their division last year. Go figure.
And the Marlins made the playoffs.. 60 games
Uh, the NL Central is terrible.
Such a troll. The AL central has been a powerhouse for the last five years.
*is
non-guaranteed MLB contracts just seem like a good way to waste 40 man roster spots
If he doesn’t pitch well you just cut him. You are literally out nothing. Not sure what his upside is but he had some solid years in New York and he is young.
again, its a waste of a 40 man spot. obviously its not guaranteed, but you’re committing a spot that coulf otherwise be used to makw claims or sign other players.
But it’s the same as signing a ML contract you just aren’t guaranteed to have to pay him so in some ways it’s better than a guaranteed contract
You find something better, you release him. I am stunned anyone would sign a non guaranteed contract in today’s mlb.
Darkside. Who’s spot did he take? He could be cut tomorrow if the team inks Bauer…
That would fall under a Holder (signing) problem then not non guaranteed contracts tho wouldnt it?
I dont like Holder as well but non-guaranteed contracts are a boon to orgs not the other way around
Some young players just get too big of a head when they play in New York. It happened with Holder, and Stanton as well — going after supermodels and partying the first chance they get — instead of performing to expectations so you can stay in the Big Leagues (or stay healthy in Stanton’s case). Dance with the devil, and you will get burned. Hopefully Chicago will go better for Holder, otherwise it’s off to the WeeWee Wiz team in Korea or whatever they’re called.
So your saying Holder is the “dark knight” vs 2.0?
First & last time Jonathan Holder will ever be compared to Giancarlo Stanton, man.
Yeah there is no nightlife and models in Chicago so these man-children players won’t have temptations to have lives outside of baseball. Your take is completely ridiculous.
The Big Apple destroyed Ryan Howard’s career, too.
Oops, that was season 4 of the Office, not the Phillies 1B. Wrong forum. My bad.
Nice
Why not spend some of this $ and lure other teams scouts from teams like the Dodgers, Rays or Cardinals that can actually find good young pitching. The Cubs have been doing it wrong for quite a while.
? Yep. It’s been how long since they won a world series? “Doing it wrong for quite a while”??? Made some bad mistakes over the past few years to be sure, but this seems a bit of a strange claim.
I never understood why so many people hate the Cubs. Same people make fun of Cubs’ fans for sticking around when the team sukks…I guess they just go w whomever is doing well?
Its 2020 Redwine, hate is the most common used currency on the internet –
The Cubs simply got gun shy after Prior & Wood….they have made it their MO to go after offensive players thru the draft and pitching via free agency… I have no problem with it if theres a plan to the madness in place which there seems to be… not all moves are going to end well, they pushed some chips in and lost a couple big pots, nothing outta the norm here imo or reason to burn the house down
Look at their payroll and their farm. It is time to burn the house down and start fresh. Too many big contracts to be big time competitors over the next two years ( when you factor in ownerships payroll restrictions), so better to trade anyone who won’t be on the 2023 or 2024 team
I have to agree. Especially if there is attendance restrictions again. Although, I thought they should have blown it up prior to last year as well.
He’s just a placeholder for the next guy
I’m kinda confused why the Phillies signing Neftalí Féliz was not reported anywhere it’s a low-risk high reward cheap signing like the Phillies need.
My favorite name out there currently is Joe Biagini.
Good,stealthy, under the radar move by the Cubs. This addition should at least put them at the top of the NL Central
lol
“Great depth signing.”
Cubs fans.. he was really good in the beginning of the season like best reliever on the team but kinda blew up towards the end
dupe
We want a closer. Not a Holder.
He’s gone! Oh, thank God.
I’ll go with Wade Davis.
* Converted 32/33 saves including 27 in a row,
* 2.3 ERA
* 12 K/9
* 2017 All star
Chapman was better but he also blew more saves. After 2017 Morrow was great but Maddon ran him into the ground coming off seasons where he fell apart after overusage.