The Cubs outrighted reliever Matt Festa off the 40-man roster, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. Chicago designated him for assignment last week as the corresponding move when they finalized the Ryan Pressly trade. Festa has been outrighted before in his career, so he can choose to decline the minor league assignment in favor of free agency.
If he does elect free agency, Festa’s time with the Cubs will have lasted less than a month. They acquired him from the Rangers for cash in the second week of January. Texas had also squeezed him off the roster as the corresponding move when they added a veteran reliever — in their case, Chris Martin on a one-year free agent deal.
Festa, 32 next month, has spent the bulk of his career with the Mariners. He posted a 4.32 earned run average across 89 appearances over four seasons with Seattle. Festa has bounced around the league in recent months. He made a lone MLB appearance with the Mets early last season and pitched 18 times for Texas after catching on there via minor league deal. He allowed a 4.37 ERA through 22 2/3 innings in Arlington. He punched out a quarter of opponents against a solid 7.6% walk rate.
While Festa has shown decent swing-and-miss stuff during his MLB career, his command has been inconsistent. He has issued free passes to 10.3% of batters faced overall. Festa is out of options, limiting the roster flexibility for teams. If he elects free agency, he’ll likely be limited to minor league offers with Spring Training invites.
Is Matt Festa, or has his festball lost some pop?
Relief: Ryan Pressly, Porter Hodge, Nate Pearson, Colin Rea (assuming Assad gets SP5), Tyson Miller, Juilan Merriweather, Keegan Thompson, Eli Morgan and Caleb Thielbar
Starters: Imanaga, Steele, Boyd, Taillon and Assad
No Festivus for you!
He was in and out of Chicago Festa than anyone else I recall.
Settle down
At least he didn’t fester badly
He’d be a classic shuttle rider if he still had options but alas… he’ll prob have to settle for a minor league deal w ST invite at best. Seems like if anyone could corral that control, it would have been the Mariner’s pitching dev staff. At 32, he might be about to start his post playing career at the Charlotte pitching lab or other Driveline kind of place.
Not Matt..please not Matt!
Wouldn’t mind him coming back to Seattle for depth. He was never great but a good arm to throw out in certain situations. Not a guy to be a closer but a decent guy to eat some innings.