The Cubs have released right-hander Colin Rea, according to the MLB.com transactions page. Rea avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $702.5K deal with Chicago on December 2 (the day of the non-tender deadline), but he will now look to sign a new contract with a Japanese team, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets.
The 30-year-old Rea tossed 14 innings for the Cubs last season, posting a 5.79 ERA, 16.1% strikeout rate and a very solid 3.2% walk rate. Rea started two of his nine outings but was much more effective as a reliever, as seven of Rea’s nine earned runs allowed in 2020 came during his 5 1/3 innings as a starter. It’s probably safe to assume he’ll look to rebuild his stock as a starting pitcher in Japan, as the bulk of Rea’s pro experience (161 of 203 games) in the majors and minors as come as a starter.
Those 14 innings for Chicago represented Rea’s first MLB action since 2016, as he spent the previous two seasons in the minors with the Cubs and Padres and missed all of 2017 recovering from Tommy John surgery. Rea’s arm problems stand out as a major what-if for Padres fans, as a seven-player trade in July 2016 that originally sent Rea to the Marlins was partially reversed since Miami felt Rea was already injured at the time of the swap, so Rea was returned to San Diego and the Padres sent another pitcher involved in the deal back to the Marlins — that pitcher was future Reds ace Luis Castillo.
With Rea gone, the Cubs are short another starting candidate as they prepare to roll out an overhauled rotation in 2021. Free agent departures and the trade of Yu Darvish to the Padres will set Chicago up with a projected rotation of Kyle Hendricks, Zach Davies, Adbert Alzolay, Alec Mills, and a host of young candidates vying for the fifth spot. It seems likely that the team will add another veteran to the mix, though probably someone on a minor league deal or on a low-cost MLB contract.
Abandoning the sinking ship
Another guy that almost no hit the Mets
Insert Jed Hoyer Comments:
I was going to go into hiring of the loud and lame ginger headed version of Chris Berman as new play by play announcer but apparently Jed is off limits now that he’s solo?
comparing Sciambi to Chris Berman is just wrong on so many levels. Sciambi actually studies the game… Berman is a blowhard that skates by on sound f/x and silly nicknames.
Wow. A fan of a silly nickname of a guy that goes by Boog.
Deep thinker, jhanley108.
Please tell your audience how a radio-listening experience is ruined by an announcer’s hair color.
Nails on a chalkboard? Red-level decibels? Or just a plain ol’ lame ginger, like Vin Scully.
Yes, the reset begins! Rea just got in the way of contention and the starting rotation and bullpen is finally coming into fruition. 2021 is gunna be Jedtastic.
Now he can just focus on his country music career.
Pretty soon he’ll be selling VCRs in Arkansas at a Wal-Mart.
I guess that the Cubs could Rea-d between the lines that he wasn’t going to help them next year?
*sits in corner*
How does a team release a player after agreeing to a contract just a month ago? Do the Cubs get compensation from a Japanese team if they sign him? Was he already placed on waivers if he was under contract? I am so confused.
Without knowing, we’ve seen guys just opt out of competing in the states for a season to rebuild their career in hopes of a starting gig the following year. I highly doubt the Cubs get anything for him going over there. May have been a mutual decision by the Cubs and Rea. Free up 700k, and he gets a fresh start. Who knows. Maybe Hoyer talked to him about their starting pitching plans and he doesn’t want to be a reliever again. Probably a move we won’t hear anything more about.
That makes sense, thank you. I have to think he is looking at signing overseas for over a million dollars or at least a multi year contract.
Generally speaking you can make modifications/new agreements to void old ones and the mention that he’s seeking a deal in Japan indicates this was somewhat mutual, so they probably just agreed to do this.
Also the player has to mitigate their losses in this situation, so if he signs a $1M deal in Japan, he would be fully mitigating the $700K that the Cubs owe him and wouldn’t be entitled to anything anyways. Sort of the other side of the coin for the situation where players who are cut while on multi-million dollar guaranteed contracts and then only get offered league minimum by other teams.
Rhea is entitled to 30 days termination pay.
Players who are cut 16 days or more before reporting to spring training are entitled 30 days termination pay. During Spring Training they are entitled 45 days termination pay.
This is the best answer.
Sure, but what is Rea entitled to?
Ully, check out this link. https://www.cubsinsider.com/2021/01/07/cubs-may-actually-gain-around-1-6m-by-releasing-colin-rea/
Looks like the Cubs will actually get $1 million from the Japan team he signed with. So with a $115k 30 day termination pay he gets from the Cubs, he forfeits the remaining $600k or so, so it actually looks like the Cubs gained $1.6 mil or so with this transaction.
The sad thing is the cubs actually needed his arm this year.
Right, he was the fifth starter on the depth chart. But let’s see who else they can pick up for less than a million.
In reality, he’s probably making a wise decision as he’ll probably make more money overseas and not have to ride the shuttle to Iowa and back all year.
Agreed. But the salient point here is that there’s a lot of sad things about the Cubs.
Ah yes, Colin Rea. Part of the exclusive list of players Luis Castillo has been traded for, including Dan Straily and Casey McGehee.
he was traded for him twice no less!
Preller the supposed “genius” frogged this guys medicals and it cost the Padres Luis Castillo.
And the Marlins frogged Chris Paddack and Carter Capps’ medicals.
Too bad. The Padres are obviously in desperate need of another TOR starter.
Against the Dodgers, I would take it
The Marlins had 2 chances to keep Luis Castillo and blew both of them.
The Giants signed him first then traded him for Casey McGehee. Within a year, McGehee was released by the Giants and re-signed with the Marlins.
Would like the Orioles to take a chance with Colin
Hypothetical, for a rebuild team- Colin Rea for $778k and team control or Jose Urena for $3.25m.. hmmm