The Phillies announced Tuesday they’ve acquired reliever Michael Rucker from the Cubs in exchange for cash. He’d been designated for assignment by Chicago last week. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, the Phillies designated fellow right-hander Andrew Bellatti for assignment.
Rucker, who turns 30 in April, changes organizations for the first time. The BYU product had been a member of the Cubs since they selected him in the 11th round of the 2016 draft. After a couple seasons as a starter in the minors, he converted to relief by the 2019 campaign. Lofty strikeout tallies in the upper minors in 2019 and ’21 earned him a major league look midway through the 2021 season.
The right-hander has pitched at the MLB level in each of the past three years. He has allowed just under five earned runs per nine through 123 1/3 big league innings. Rucker allowed a near-7.00 ERA as a rookie before turning in a decent 3.95 mark across a personal-high 54 1/3 frames in 2022. Things skewed back in the wrong direction last year, as he was tagged for a 4.91 figure over 40 1/3 innings.
That led the Cubs to squeeze him off the roster when they signed veteran reliever (and former Phillie) Héctor Neris to a one-year deal. Rucker’s arm strength and reasonable peripheral numbers led Philadelphia to take a low-cost look. Rucker has punched out between 21% and 24% of opponents in each of his MLB seasons. He generated ground-balls at a personal-high 51.8% clip a year ago, although he also walked nearly 11% of batters faced. Rucker’s fastball averages just under 95 MPH and he showed some swing-and-miss upside with each of his slider and cutter last season.
Rucker also has a minor league option remaining, so the Phils can keep him at Triple-A Lehigh Valley for another season. That’s not true of Bellatti, whom he replaces on the 40-man roster. Bellatti looked like an excellent find for Philadelphia on a minor league contract heading into 2022, when he turned in a 3.31 ERA over 54 1/3 innings. He didn’t find the same level of success last year, pitching to a 5.11 mark through 24 2/3 big league frames.
The 32-year-old Bellatti posted strong results while in Triple-A a year ago. He worked to a 2.42 ERA with an above-average 25.7% strikeout percentage in 27 appearances with Lehigh Valley. The Phillies have a week to trade him or place him on waivers. Bellatti has been outrighted multiple times in his career, so he’d have the ability to elect free agency if he goes unclaimed in the coming days.
Hmmm. Okay. I guess.
has a Philly fan of this getting retread relievers dead or designated for assignment from other organizations. why can’t we not invest in a good relief picture I don’t want to hear Craig Campbell last year we paid him a lot but did anyone sit there and think he was going to have the first half he did? we needed to get a dominant arm for the bullpen Jose Alvarado has been dominant when he’s healthy Dominguez is either really good or below average each season hopefully Gregory Soto can rebound from last year. but there’s Bullpen arms out there they can make a true difference
I gotta get a Craig Campbell jersey now.
maybe I should reread my voice to text!
I’m not a fan of the retread movement. I’d rather bring up young talent, test them and see what you have. Bellatti is a bit surprising and then again not, I think with the emergence of Hoffman and the hopes of Kikering being a full season pen guy, Bellatti is off man out. Brogdan is also an interesting case this year. He’s a show improvement or get going guy too.
Might be a downgrade.
A mop up man in the MLB is still better than anything I’ve achieved
What are you talking about? You’re a Wheeler and a Dealer, you’re making moves every day
You guys wanna hear a neat story about Andrew Bellatti?
Um…sure?
Nibbling around the edges of the 40 man is never all that exciting, but if they are intelligent enough in how they go about the task it can make a real difference.. Depth is a huge thing in a long season.
Liked “Nibbling around the edges of the 40 man…”
Kinda seems like a lateral move, but at least this guy has an option remaining. Tells us Dombrowski didn’t feel Bellatti was going to make the opening 26.
So rather than lose B for nothing, they get a 29yr old lottery tix I guess. Just depth.
The obvious is that it takes B out of the running for one of the last 2 b-pen spots…. Covey smiles…
This is actually the 2nd time Rucker is changing organizations. He was selected by the Orioles in the Rule V draft 3 years ago but was returned to Cubs when he did not make their opening day roster.
So it’s the third time?
2nd “change” because Cubs were his original org.
Looks like he struggles to find the strike zone…ugh
Phillies receive:
M. Trout LF
R. Detmers SP
J. Addel RF
Angels receive:
N. Castellanos RF
T. Walker SP
A. Bellatti RP
D. Hall 1B/DH
S. Muzziotti CF (#7)
S. Aldegheri LHP (#18)
J. Cabrera RHP (#25)
Salary cancels out for the next 3 seasons.
Phillies responsible for entire Trout contract beyond that, which avoids sending any top 5 prospects in return. Trout comes home- Angels get an Allstar, a rotation stabilizer who led the NL in wins in 2023, the DFA Bellatti (who’s from CA), a LH slugger w/ 6 years of control, a true CF (ML-ready) and two top 25 pitching prospects.
No thanks.
No way LAA does that.
Yeah exactly.
Never happen nor even discussed over cocktails.
“We’re going to send you our castoffs, plus a couple of minor leaguers we designated for assisgnment, and we’ll generously throw in a couple of lower-level prospects. In exchange, all we want is your one marquee player, someone at the top of your starting rotation, and a possible has-been. Totally fair deal.”
This guy is about the tenth man in the bullpen. He will get into a lot of games – probably more at the mlb level than minors due to injuries. A true quad A+ player. Nothing wrong with depth.
Rucker was literally cringe-worthy when he got the call from the pen in Chicago last season. As a Cubs fan, I am happy to say to Philly; “good luck with that”.
why does that Picture look NOTHING like Rucker? Is that really him?
Gained some experience last year, Phillies may have hit jackpot here.