The Cubs are acquiring reliever Tyson Miller from the Mariners for minor league infielder Jake Slaughter, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (X link). Seattle had designated Miller for assignment last week.
Miller returns to the organization that selected him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. The Cal Baptist product reached the majors for a very brief stint during the 2020 season. The Cubs lost him on waivers to the Rangers the following year. That kicked off a nomadic stretch of his career that has seen Miller suit up for five teams without reaching even 15 innings for any of them.
The right-hander played for three teams last year. He bounced via waivers between the Brewers, Mets and Dodgers. Miller combined for 15 1/3 innings of eight-run ball and cleared waivers in September. He hit minor league free agency and inked a non-roster deal with Seattle going into 2024. The M’s called him up two weeks into the regular season.
Miller had a productive month in the Pacific Northwest. He threw 11 2/3 frames over nine appearances, allowing four earned runs. Miller punched out 12 against one walk with a solid 12.6% swinging strike percentage. It was a little surprising that Seattle nevertheless took him off the roster, although he’d been in a low-leverage role in a solid bullpen.
The Cubs have a shakier relief corps than the Mariners do. Chicago’s bullpen entered play Monday ranked 24th in the majors with a 4.58 earned run average. Their 23.4% strikeout rate is fine, but they’ve issued walks at a huge 11% clip. Chicago also has five relievers on the injured list at present. Yency Almonte landed on the shelf over the weekend, while Adbert Alzolay just went down with a forearm strain this evening.
Miller is out of options, so he’ll step right into the major league bullpen. The Cubs need to create a 40-man roster spot to finalize his acquisition and will need to make an active roster move once he reports to the team.
In return for a middle reliever who had been squeezed off the depth chart, Seattle adds an upper minors infielder who is out to a strong start. Slaughter, 27, has a .297/.392/.486 slash line over 130 plate appearances for Chicago’s top affiliate in Iowa. He has connected on five homers, stolen 10 bases in 11 tries, and drawn walks at a strong 11.5% clip. His 24.6% strikeout rate is slightly higher than average but around three percentage points lower than last year’s 27.5% mark.
Slaughter was an 18th-round pick out of LSU back in 2018. He has never drawn much prospect fanfare and has gone unselected in the Rule 5 draft twice. His numbers this season are strong enough that he has a chance to reach the majors in a reserve capacity this year, though. He would qualify for minor league free agency at the start of next offseason if Seattle doesn’t add him to the 40-man roster before then.
They want the slider. His arm slot and the movement make that thing nasty, when he’s locating
Did they overpay for someone they already DFA’d 3 years ago?
I wouldn’t classify a 27 year old AAAA utility guy as an overpay.
I feel like to be a AAAA guy, you would have had to at least played in the bigs once. He’s a AAA guy.
Slaughter was also left unprotected in the last 2 Rule 5 drafts, with no takers.
Too much will probably be made of this. Miller was good for Seattle, but he was used selectively and rarely. I don’t expect either player to have significant roles for their new, respective clubs.
That said, I’m struggling to understand why Bazardo wasn’t optioned following his rehab stint.
I agree. “Selectively” is the key word here. He had a 3.09 ERA in essentially all low leverage situations. He’s a bullpen version of an inning eater.
They probably really like Bazardo and think he could break out.
Bazardo was hard to watch the other day. Yikes
FWIW, this was Miller’s 2nd full season as a RP. Very possible he can make it work in this newer role.
Cubs taking a flyer on this move. They could be only buying time, while some BP arms heal.
Nothing of significance to lose, and no one can say for sure how it might help, even if it’s only for a short time. Slaughter was a loyal soldier in the minors, he didn’t have a path to Chicago – the Cubs are doing him a big favor.
White Sox, Southside.
That’s a waste of a really good player in Slaughter for another P who can’t get anybody out. Terrible trade. Hoyer loves his pets. Smyly, Straily, Wisdom. Slaughter was the guy who could replace Wisdom.
I was surprised to read he was passed up twice in the Rule 5 draft. He’ll be a decent player for Seattle.
I would love for that to be true, but I have my reservations. I think both players are more so going to be swing players.
Scouts see things different than fans. If 30 teams passed on Slaughter in the rule 5 and the Cubs are dealing for a player who was DFA, that pretty much tells me all I need to know. Just because a guy can hit decent in the minors, doesn’t mean he will hit at all in the majors.
I don’t know much about him. I thought he was a top 30 cubs prospect. I hope he gets the call finally. I think he was blocked by too many players. I think if they were going to trade for a bullpen piece. I could have seen them getting a bigger name reliever and packaged Slaughter with a top 20 prospect maybe 2. Maybe not Mason Miller but maybe Tanner Scott.
He’s the type who can maybe slaughter (pun intended)fastballs for a few weeks before pitchers stop giving them to him and he craters into oblivion.
He can play 1B, 2B, 3B, Of can run and has power. It was all the same crap The Cubs have been saying about Wisdom for the last 4 years Ad Nauseum. So they lost a hitter, They have enough, And lose a bum Lovelady, And replace him with an old Hoyer bum Miller. Not going to lose a lot of sleep over it and can’t wait to see Miller pitch against the Braves. You know they’ll toss him right out there. Keep shopping at the bottom of the reliever pond and you’ll have a DFA bullpen.
Uncle—I challenge you, as one that watches all the minor league stuff, to show ONE time EVER where you touted Mr. Slaughter. Please. I dug through some articles this morning just to backtrack on his projections—guess what—pre-season NOT in the top 30 prospects—back to January–not in the top FIFTY prospects and he’s 27.
You’ll jump online and complain about the pen (no issue what that) but be the first to question ANY move when they try to patchwork it together at absolutely no cost at all. Seattle had a glut and had to desginate someone—the Cubs picked him up with nothing. And, I promise, when Slaughter becomes the second coming of Frank Schwindel in Seattle I will eat crow—promise.
You have to quit living in the absolute millisecond of everything—it’s a 162 game season and thankfully Jed and team have that concept in mind.
For their AAA team
Since Miller has no option he needs to come directly to the roster—hmmm, does this mean a 60 day IL for Alzolay? Does Uncle finally get his wish and Davis is DFA? Or is it Brewer that gets DFA and Miller slots there?
The odd part of the trade is that Miller has no options left so it reduces, even more, any shuttle ability the Cubs have to “try” to piece together the right bullpen parts.
And Uncle—the guy that replaces (when that time comes) Wisdom had better be Matt Shaw, not some 27 year old career minor leaguer. I’m not a Wisdom fan at all, but I’m certainly willing to admit that Dras is much more correct on Wisdom than either of us. He is and has to be a key part of this team.
cubbies may try to DFA Miller themselves and push him to the minors if they don’t think they can roster him immediately.
What? Slaughter is a 27 year-old minor leaguer. He wasn’t replacing anybody in Chicago. Cubs desperately need bullpen help because Hoyer continues to believe that relievers aren’t worth paying.
Slaughter might give the Mariners a Schwindel-ish three weeks at 2B later this season. But he wasn’t going to do that in Chicago. Hopefully he gets a call up and gets a few hits for the Mariners.
I mean, sure, anyone can get hot over a small sample size. I wasn’t implying that Slaughter is useless.. We don’t know. Inwas responding to the overreaction on moving a guy like him.
Or 3rd. He would be an immediate upgrade to Eugenio Suarez.
He has been getting outs this year. He is definitely worth a look for a bullpen that has seen a rash of injuries.
Ty France, you have been put on notice.
Because they traded for a guy who was passed up in the rule 5 draft? Or are you joking?
Who gets the boot, Thompson or Cuas for the 3rd time this week?
Neither of them—it has to be a DFA or 60 day IL stint to add Miller to the 40 man. You are not flat out letting go of either Keegan or Cuas. It has to be someone the organization is willing to lose for good. My bet is Adbert goes on the 60 day IL to create the spot. THEN Miller will slot in for Keegan or Cuas. I think that is what you were getting at, Stick.
I would easily let go of Cuas. Keegan, I would still keep around, although he isn’t pitching well enough to be on a contending team’s active roster right now.
Correct. Somebody on the active roster had to be optioned.
Thompson went to the IL some some kind of illness.
You see, if you sign enough middling relief pitchers, you can combine them into one all powerful relief pitcher. Like Devastator, only a relief pitcher.
I sometimes wonder if Hoyer actually believes this.
Now that you mention it this seems exactly what CLE has been doing so far this year in acquiring 3 dumpster fire-level righty relievers. Even if they merge the three it’s still gonna take a lot of luck and spellcasting on the part of Carl Willis to create one somewhat serviceable, shaky at times bullpen piece.
In the grand tapestry of professional baseball, this trade epitomizes the symbiotic relationship between past experiences, present needs, and future aspirations. It serves as a testament to the perpetual evolution and strategic acumen inherent in shaping championship-caliber teams.
Yeah, was that Yogi Berra?
SEA killed it in this trade.
Nobody killed it in this trade. You’re making way too much out of nothing.
Slaughter is what is known as a Quad-A player. There is a reason he is passed up in the rule 5 draft every year. Teams know his bat will not translate to major league level.
Slaughter rules!
Country Slaughter 2.0
I liked this trade, hitting from any source whatever if for nothing else shows the M’s have there eyes on the ball. And with a name like Slaughter that sounds like a good start.
Let the Sergeant Slaughter era begin.
They traded for the wrong Miller.
Miller time ain’t what it used to be.
Genuinely strange that Miller got DFA’d ahead of Bazardo on what I’d seen so far but the Ms do know their pitching. Slaughter seems more interesting than the usual token return but we will see.
This is about as bad as dumpster diving gets
Slaughter has play improved defense of late, plays multiple positions, can hit well, runs the bases also well. He checks all the box’s, and yet there remains some reservation about him accenting further. Now for him to hit in the majors.