The Cubs have sent veteran infielder David Bote outright to Triple-A Iowa, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment on Friday when the Cubs claimed Gavin Hollowell off of waivers from the Diamondbacks.
Bote has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. However, he is a few days shy of the five years of MLB service time he would need to reject the assignment without forfeiting the guaranteed salary remaining on the five-year, $16MM contract he signed with the Cubs during the 2019 campaign. With just under 20% of the season left to play, that works out to about $1.05MM in salary this year, plus a $1MM buyout on his club option for 2025. That’s significantly more money than Bote could command if he elected free agency and signed on with a new team, so he will almost certainly accept the assignment and report to the Iowa Cubs.
In 37 games for the Chicago Cubs this year, Bote hit .304 with a 105 wRC+ over 48 plate appearances. He spent most of his time playing third base, though he also filled in at first and second. Despite his positional versatility and solid offensive numbers off the bench, he was an easy choice for the Cubs to DFA when they needed to free up a spot on the 40-man roster. Not only has he struggled over the past month (2-for-12 since the All-Star break), but given his unique contract situation, the Cubs knew they could remove him from the roster without the risk of losing him completely. Thus, he will continue to serve as additional depth for the team at Triple-A, where he has 37 doubles, 21 home runs, and a 109 wRC+ in 126 games over the past two seasons.
Bote back to Triple-A where he’ll have to sink or swim.
He doesn’t care about that. He has over 2 million reasons to accept it and plan for what he’s gonna do next year.
Japan, Korea, or retirement?
He’s not going to retire and lose that money, and the Cubs aren’t going to cut him loose when they can leave him in Triple-A as a depth option, so he’s almost certainly going back to Des Moines next year.
Once the Cubs exercise the opt out clause he is a Free Agent and can go wherever he wants. I would suspect he wants a better opportunity to play in the Majors, so why would he stay with the Cubs once the money machine stops dispensing cash?
duhawk83,
Good point, I first read the post last night and didn’t have the details fresh in my mind. I was thinking Bote had one more guaranteed year. Once he gets the $1M buyout, I’m sure he’ll explore all his options.
He’s not going back to Iowa next year because the Cubs will surely exercise the 1 million dollar buyout and save the rest. The Cubs will(Should) Have a smorgasbord of prospects to play there rather than a guy who’s proven he really doesn’t have a future anymore. Somebody should want him though as he might still be a decent bench guy for somebody. Just not here. If you can’t beat out Patrick Wisdom, You literally have no future. Or you have a lousy GM. In this case -both.
I think he will be back when rosters expand.
With the Cubs shooting for mediocrity I don’t get why they didn’t just start him at 3B the whole season. I’d rather have Bote than Madrigal and Morel could’ve just been the everyday DH.
Morel is hitting under .200 and he strikeouts 30% of the time. He’s a great kid, but he’s immature and no matter what the situation is he swings from the heels and tries to hit a five run home run every time at the plate. If Tampa can’t fix him he’s going to have a short career.
No question. Just think there were multiple in house options for third. Not sure why they were so set on Morel needing to play defense.
Scoreboard shot
He can’t DH for the Cubs from Tampa.
lol yes that would be why I used past tense.
First we hear that Neris was released so he couldn’t accumulate enough games to qualify for a $9M contract for next year. Now Bote is designated for assignment so he doesn’t get 5-years of service time. Do any other teams do stuff like this? Seems like the Cubs are cultivating an anti-player benefits reputation which seems well deserved.
I think another team might claim him if they need infield help for the playoffs. A Giant move maybe? Or a Dodger move?? We shall see
Bote being “outrighted” to AAA means he already cleared waivers and no one put a claim on him.
Good call. Missed seeing that
Nobody was going to pay over $2 million for one month of Bote, just like nobody is going to pay over $4 million for Drew Smyly.
It’s still the right move to try it and hope to get lucky.
I read Mayo’s assessment of the Cubs farm system ranking “lacking pitching”… Justin Steele, Javier Assad and Ben Brown never were ranked on MLBs top 100 prospect list. Who was? Wicks, Azolay and Tailon. When it comes to pitching prospect ranks, it means jack.
Would rather have Bote over Madrigal on the roster. Let’s see what Hoyer does with the roster in the offseason. This was a very disappointing season, I think we can all agree that this team should have been fighting with the Brewers for the division all season long…
Jed Hoyer is not the Cubs GM.
He’ll be back with another team, next season, on a minor league deal.