The Cubs have a minor league deal in place with free-agent righty Mark Leiter Jr., per their transaction log at MLB.com. As a minor league free agent who was not on a 40-man roster or Major League injured list at season’s end, Leiter was eligible to sign a minor league deal during the lockout.
It’s been three years since Leiter — the son of 11-year MLB veteran Mark Leiter, nephew of 19-year veteran Al Leiter and cousin of 2021 No. 2 overall draft pick Jack Leiter — last pitched in the Majors. He split the 2018 campaign with the Phillies, who selected him in the 22nd round of the 2013 draft, and the Blue Jays, who claimed him off waivers from Philadelphia in Sept. 2018. The righty logged 114 innings through 47 games (36 relief appearances, 11 starts) between Philly and Toronto from 2017-18, pitching to a 5.54 ERA with a 20.5% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate.
Leiter would’ve competed for a spot with the 2019 Jays had he been healthy, but he was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament during Spring Training that year and missed the season due to Tommy John surgery. He signed a minor league deal with the D-backs in Feb. 2020, but he was not included in Arizona’s 60-man player pool when the league returned from the Covid-19 shutdown (as was the case with most minor league signees of this nature).
Leiter finally did make it back to the mound in 2021, spending the season with the Double-A and Triple-A affiliate for the Tigers. His work in Triple-A was particularly sharp, as he totaled 89 innings of 3.34 ERA ball with an outstanding 30.5% strikeout rate, a strong 6.6% walk rate and an above-average 46.9% ground-ball rate through 17 appearances (15 starts). Those numbers fall in line with Leiter’s prior success in Triple-A, where he now has a career 3.60 ERA, 29.1% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate in 147 1/3 innings.
The Cubs have strengthened their rotation considerably this offseason, signing Marcus Stroman and effectively being gifted left-hander Wade Miley when the Reds surprisingly placed him on waivers. They’ll join mainstay Kyle Hendricks and righties Adbert Alzolay and Alec Mills in the rotation, barring further MLB additions after the lockout. Leiter could vie for a bullpen job this spring (assuming his deal contains a Spring Training invite) or head to Triple-A Iowa to give the Cubs some experienced rotation depth.
Chicago has also added lefty Stephen Gonsalves on a minor league pact and selected lefty Conner Menez from the Giants in the minor league Rule 5 Draft this month, adding some additional non-roster depth even as transactions of the Major League variety have been frozen.
Dumpster diving!
What makes you say that?
that’s all they say because with their team loaded with talent, they still couldn’t make it out of the first round of the playoffs.
His lack of originality and humor.
Not Jack but the cousin.
Good grief. The Flubs are zeroing in.
Flubs are on the right choo choo train track now.
and yet another White Sox fan that hates on the Cubs to make themselves feel better.
I am a Cubs fan, but as a Chicagoan, I rooted for the Sox. A bright spot in Chicago baseball this year. Wish they’d work together as a team though and get further in the playoffs.
Every move the cubs make is dumpster divin to him. If they signed Correa an hour after the lockout he’d say it was dumpster divin’ if Luis Robert got to free agency then signed with the cubs it would be dumpster divin’ move
Well, let’s check back after Robert turns 29 and see! Luis is 24 now!
That’s when Luis’ contract and options mature.
Wow five years, that’s one immature contract!!
It doesn’t seem like its been three seasons since the last time Leiter appeared in the Majors
Has had an up down career like Pops. Those strikeouts in AAA could put him in the bullpen and can give them some quality ING. Failed startering draft picks are Relief pitchers with talents waiting to be unlocked.
Not at all like Pops. Pops was a legitimate front end starter in the MLB.
That was uncle Al.
Opps. Yeah. My bad. Apologies Ron.
Mark Sr. was the Phillies Closer in 1998. He was a serviceable swingman/5th Starter in his career with the Yankees, Tigers, Angels, Giants, Expos, Phillies, Mariners, and Brewers
You should have seen his great uncle Felix. He hung around for years and seemed to be everywhere, though he never closed things out. His fans have always felt a real Bond with him.
His Dad didn’t make it to the Majors till he was 27. At this point in his career he had 3 solid years as a swingman. Being Jr. Is 30 he still has a chance to put together the same type of career as Sr
Yeah, Sr. was no scrub, nor a AAAA pitcher, he was a legit back of the rotation option, ajd later on a solid relief pitcher.
Right now, it looks like he’d be lucky to carve out the same career as his dad.
I will say, for the Cubs sake, this is a solid signing for them, and definitely provides them with a depth option they can stash at AAA. Also, as some have mentioned, he could be used for long relief out of the pen, and that could allow for his pitches to play up.
Solid move for the Cubbies..
Still can’t believe the reds have Miley away for free. Salary relief tho!
Mark Leiter Jr up to now is not a quality MLB level pitcher. Perhaps a new ligament can resurrect his career and get him over the AAAA hump. All the best to him for trying.
MINOR LEAGUE DEAL, calm down.
You might need to CALM DOWN.
ᵉᵛᵉʳʸᵇᵒᵈʸ ᶜᵃˡᵐ ᵈᵒʷⁿ
How did you small font
I looked up “tiny whisper font” and visited a couple of websites until I found one that I liked.
Link to the one I ended up using: capitalizemytitle.com/small-text-converter/
Jacob’s losing it.
Nah, I’m just really bored…
Okay, maybe I am losing it.
These are the comments baseball owners need to read ro bring back our baseball!
He saw him one time in Toledo this past season and he looked quite good. I hoped he would remain with the Tigers as a depth piece.
He was consistently good this year for Toledo. I expected the Tigers to call him up at some point; however, after being hit by injuries, Detroit first inserted Wily Peralta and later Hutchison into their rotation. Both prevented runs very well, so Detroit obviously made the right moves.
Leiter jr. is very good AAA depth; I also wish he had stayed with the Tigers organization. The Cubs did very well here at this point.
Gruß,
BSHH
A better ceiling that most of the minor league signings. If it was my team I would have been pleased with this lottery ticket. Just glad it wasn’t the Dodgers or he would probably have been an All Star.
Didnt see Jr first. Was like isnt he 60
Seem to remember Chisox coach Minnie Minosa getting a hit in his 50’s, even getting a cpl more AB’s well into his when showman Bill Veeck owned the team.
Careful knocking others when a broadcaster (Hawk Harrelson) was given the job of GM, then failed miserably because an owner believed all he heard thrown forth during game broadcasts.
This could be a terrific pick-up for the Cubs. He was pretty good leading up to a not-great year where he was likely injured, then had surgery, and recovered but left off the roster because all minor leaguers were. Last season was a build-back year which he did rather well in and even better while his arm was getting stronger. I think he will have a pretty good year.
Why no story on andres melendez?
RIP
I was also surprised they haven’t mentioned his tragic and unexpected passing.
I was surprised The Tigers did not give him a chance last season….they had more than a few games where they were starting some unproven minor-league talent like Drew Hutchison and Leiter’s numbers looked deserving of a chance.
Attended NJIT. He’s no slouch in the brains department. Career in baseball beyond being a player?
This lockout needs to end ASAP! Only seeing minor league deals or Asian league deals is really starting to wear on a lot of us. Personally, I love the Hot Stove season…seems like there is player news every day during a normal offseason. I have ‘real’ transaction withdrawals!
Transaction withdrawals must be the reason why taking a look at a guy on a minor league contract during a rebuild is scrutinized to the nth degree.
If the guy can get a couple of outs here & there and not give up a million walks or a million home runs this year, great! If not, he will be released in April
In all honesty if not for the then-coming lockout we would not have seen all the action we saw prior to December 1st anyway. Baseballs offseason has moved at such a glacial pace the past several winters. You get very little before the winter meetings, a flurry of moves at the winter meetings, and then very little after the winter meetings til about the middle/end of January when players realize spring training is a couple of weeks away and they need to get into a camp somewhere.
Thats the one major difference in the NFL/NBA/NHL offseasons; free agency hits fast and furious in those sports and makes for an exciting time
Cubs still suck.
So does Miami and the Florida man.
He has a decent shot at opening the season in the rotation. His numbers at AAA were quite impressive. He had not pitched since 2018. Was down in 19 for TJS and off in 20 due to Covid. He will be in the rotation either in April or later in season as a replacement for an injured player.