The Cubs are in agreement with reliever Mychal Givens on a one-year, $5MM guarantee, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN (Twitter links). Givens will make a $3.5MM salary next season, and there’s a $1.5MM buyout on a 2023 mutual option. The right-hander can make up to $6.25MM in bonuses, Rogers adds.
It’s yet another bullpen pickup for the Cubs, who have revamped the relief corps in recent days. Chicago has also signed David Robertson, Chris Martin, Daniel Norris and swingman Steven Brault to big league deals since the lockout ended. They’ve also brought in Jesse Chavez, Robert Gsellman and Adrian Sampson as non-roster invitees to big league camp.
Givens has been a bullpen workhorse since debuting with the Orioles in 2015. He’s tied for fourth in relief innings pitched over the past six seasons, working 366 1/3 frames over 338 appearances. Givens hasn’t spent any time on the injured list since his rookie year, and he’s consistently provided his managers with an effective arm they can frequently call upon in the middle innings.
Part of an elite back-end group alongside Zack Britton and Brad Brach in his early days with the Orioles, Givens has settled in as “merely” a solid middle relief arm over the past few seasons. He hasn’t posted a sub-3.00 ERA since his 2017 campaign in Baltimore, but he has a mark below 4.00 in three of the last four years. That includes a 3.35 mark in 51 innings last year with the Rockies and Reds, for whom he combined to accrue eight saves.
Givens’ peripherals didn’t quite align with that ERA, though, no doubt contributing to his settling for a one-year pact. The former second-round pick struck out a marginally above-average 25% of batters faced, but his 12.5% walk percentage was a career-high. That’s a couple points north of the league average, and it marked Givens’ third consecutive season issuing free passes at greater than a 10% clip.
Spotty control notwithstanding, Givens adds a durable live arm to the mix for manager David Ross. He averaged 95 MPH on his fastball last season, and the high-spin offering generated plenty of swinging strikes. The low-slot righty has also been a nightmare for opposing right-handed hitters throughout his career, holding them to a .194/.271/.330 slash line. He wasn’t nearly that dominant against same-handed batters last year (.250/.306/.470) but Cubs brass presumably believes the 31-year-old can bounce back in that regard.
The Cubs have overhauled a good portion of the roster in the past few months, but they’ve regrouped and at least made the team much more competitive than it had been towards the end of last season. Chicago has added Seiya Suzuki, Jonathan Villar, Yan Gomes and Andrelton Simmons on the position player side; they’ve acquired Marcus Stroman and Wade Miley to strengthen the rotation and, as mentioned, have completely reshaped the bullpen. They’re still nowhere near the franchise-record $203MM payroll with which they opened the 2019 season, but the Givens pickup bumps them to around $152MM in projected player expenditures, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That’s a touch above last season’s $148MM season-opening mark.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
It’s a Given he would sign with them.
Nice! Let’s keep going Jed. I need an of, sp, and Correa lol
Let’s all participate in Thanksgiven this year, nice pickup, this ain’t no turkey. An excellent middle reliever with a proven record.
He already got you Seiya Suzuki, what more do you want?
Seriously though. The Cubs should be looking for a 1B/3B type (Travis Shaw, Asdrubal Cabrera, Todd Frazier, Brock Holt) to be able to supplement Schwindel/Wisdom
I think that’s what they signed villar for
Nice move. Wish the Phils would have targeted Givens instead of Familia. Although the Stroman move still doesn’t seem to have a lot of value in it, I really like the moves the Cubs have made otherwise.
Why would you want your team to waste $300 million on Correa? Do you realize how much more they can do with that money? Some fans just don’t get it.
The cubs would like to corner the market on any relievers left available
As always, we await developments.
Not bad
BTW, Cubbies fans, there’s free Cubbies spring training ball on MLB’s site right now, if you’re interested.
The guy pitching is named Effross. I dunno what Ross ever did to him though.
lol this one took me a second
Haha nice, davis was batting third in one of the split squad games with pca 4th or 5th. Excited to pca in action and Davis is going to be a star. Expect to see him in a few months!
Cubbies played a 7 inning game and other game was on.. woo-sox/portland sox vs twins, who actually had half their lineup at ft myers were on earlier. 2 games total today after nothing for months.. It’s a start.
Hope for sox fans.. Nesn has next 3 games…
Damn cubs are at it !!!
Bullpen looks fine now. Wonder if Gsellman gets stretched to start or if Brault can sieze the opportunity.
Hoyer let the market come to him.
Cubs Training Staff: “Codi Heuer and Brad Wieck are done for the year.”
Jed Hoyer: “Hold my drink.”
Correra is too much… I think a Duffy or cueto or maybe even both of them would be a better signing that Correra. Don’t rule out castellanos either.
Duffy signed with the Angels and no way they’ll sign Castellanos.
I think he’s talking about Danny Duffy the starting pitcher. The angels signed Matt Duffy the utility infielder
Well, Matt Duffy did pitch for the Cubs last year 🙂
Danny signed with Dodgers.
Mychal Givens is a good pickup. Have to think he will be in closer mix at some point in the season.
Duffy signed somewhere, I think. I like him a lot
Yea don’t rule out cas or even conforto. I still hold out unrealistic hope for Correa. But I do think jed has at least one more “big” move left
Rule out Castellanos. That aint happening. Wieck is the greatest P who never actually pitches. Best 60 day DL player ever. No more OF’s coming unless they can unload Heyward’s 2 yr 44 million albatross.
I would of rather had Tepera. It was about the same money except Tepera got 2 years.
At the rate guys are getting hurt one year may be better?
Givens is a solid asf, like the move. Dude is a workhorse too
No idea what direction the Cubs are trying to go in this up coming season. But all these bullpen additions can be moved at the deadline for good to decent prospects if they have good seasons and are out of contention. Everyone is looking for relief help at the deadline. I like what the Cubs are doing. And I doubt they’re truly trying to contend. It’s another way to build up the farm.
It’s pretty clear. Try to win and if not you have 7-8 very movable contracts. The Payroll is clearing every year to reload.
You just saved me the trouble of posting the same thing. They’ll win some games this year, maybe have a trading chip or two, and not tying them up with any ‘senior’ contracts.
Givens a middle reliever? Last 3 full seasons he has about 90 games finished and 30 saves. Most every closer chart tracker has him closer by committee at worst…he should be getting at least half the save chances, if not more.
I could see him closing for sure. They have some young live arms but not much experience. I think Marquez might be in the bullpen by the end of the year.
Sure, on paper it appears as if the Cubs are doing a lot. But the majority of these signings are meh. Not one reliever that they’ve signed is a guy you’d be comfortable using in a high leverage situation – either because they’ve never done it, they’re old, coming off injury or they just plain suck.
Meanwhile, the offense is going to really struggle to score runs and the starting rotation has only one guy I’d even want (Stroman).
But it sells tickets I guess. I predict 78-84.
The 78-84 sounds about right and I am a Cubs fan. That sort of assumes that out of Hendricks and Miley, one of them is pretty good and the other is not. But B. Davis and Suzuki in 2023, if they could re-sign Conteras, flip Gomes for a pitching prospect, and get healthy versions of Hoerner and Madrigal, this team is two starting pitchers away from 90 wins and wild card contention. Maybe one of those starting pitchers will come from Marquez and Steele.
Justin Steele will be a pleasant surprise I think. Marquez, I don’t have as much hope for. Great stuff, but lack of control.
Wellll, Chris Martin pitched 4 scoreless innings in the playoffs last year.. That seems kind of like a high leverage situation.
The Cubs are trying to compete good for them. They could use more SP still but at least they’re not sitting on their hands.
I watched him with the Rockies. I swear, his first-pitch strike percentage must have been about 10%. Good stuff but always having to come back from being behind in the count.
Next, the Cubs will sign Jake Taylor from the Mexican League. I hope they can get Vaughn as well.
Hippo Vaughn? Pretty sure he’s dead.
No, the Vaughn from the California Penal League
Reality note- Ron LeFlore was literally signed from Billy Martin getting a tip from a buddy in state prison. Billy went to the penitentiary, saw him and Ron hit .325 for the Tigers a couple years later…and a few years after that stole 97 bases, becoming the first player to ever lead both leagues in steals.
Mo Vaughn. Immense power. Played for the Red Sox. He’s in his 50’s now however. Not sure how much he can help.
I’m surprised he didn’t get a better offer. Thought he would get two years, $10-15 million.
This is a Given.