The Cubs have designated right-hander Tyson Miller for assignment after reinstating him from the 60-day injured list, per Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. He had been pitching on a rehab assignment of late but it seems the club didn’t want to add him back to the roster. Since he is out of options, he has been sent into DFA limbo. Their 40-man roster count stays at 40.
Miller, now 29, is a bit of a surprising roster cut. The Cubs acquired him from the Mariners in May of last year, after Seattle had designated him for assignment. But he went on to finish out the year well with the Cubs. Between the two clubs, he finished 2024 with a 2.32 earned run average in 62 innings. He struck out 23% of batters faced and only walked 4.7% of opponents.
He hasn’t yet had a chance to build on that here in 2025. He traveled with the Cubs to Japan but didn’t pitch in the major league portion of the Tokyo Series. He then landed on the IL ahead of domestic Opening Day due to a hip impingement. He was transferred to the 60-day IL in mid-May when Moises Ballesteros was added to the roster.
Miller started a rehab assignment a few weeks ago and has tossed 13 Triple-A innings with a 2.77 ERA. However, his 19% strikeout rate and 15.5% walk rate in that sample are both poor numbers. He’s only been averaging 88.6 miles per hour on his fastball during this rehab, a drop from last year’s 89.6 mph, though that’s perhaps understandable for a guy working back from a long absence.
As mentioned, Miller is out of options. That’s also true for essentially everyone in the Cubs’ bullpen. Of the eight relievers currently on the active roster, Daniel Palencia is the only one who can be optioned to the minors. He has become the club’s closer of late, so he’s not at risk of getting sent down.
Rather than cut anyone currently on the team, the Cubs have decided to cut Miller. He’ll head into DFA limbo, which can last for as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Cubs could take as long as five days to explore trade interest. Based on the success Miller had last year, it’s possible some other club takes a shot on him, presumably one with a less rigid bullpen construction. He’s still cheap, having not yet qualified for arbitration. Though he’s out of options, he can be controlled for the rest of this season and potentially four more if he sticks somewhere.
Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images
Odd decision. He was quite effective last year and his rehab in Iowa seemed to be going well.
22 base runners in 13 innings probably had something to do with it. Miracle he only gave up 4 er’s.
He also had a very poor spring training.
It’s better than releasing a pitcher on a roll in the pen, right now. And I doubt anyone is flipping talent for Chris Flexen.
If he brings back a minor league upgrade, Hoyer is off to a good month.
This feels like a weird one. .8 WHIP in 62 IP last year while making the minimum. Still clearly some rust while rehabbing but I’d wager a lot of teams are going to be interested.
Not surprising. With Fulmer and Bickford, Neely, Hollowell getting it done how many old relievers do you need? He’s even behind Keegan and Roberts at this point. Wish him luck and say goodbye. I mean they still have Pearson too but he didn’t get the memo that Palencia and Little got about throwing strikes. Should probably cut bait there too as I don’t think the light is going on.
Is Cubs pen still a dumpster fire of people throwing 99MPH but not knowing where it’s going?
Not really. Cabrera is doing fine and Palencia and Little are around 4-1 K’s to BB’s ratio. Figured out that 97 over the plate is better than 102 in the dugout. Pearson is the worst right now.
We have better. The Cubs’ pen is OK. People who write or talk about it being a “dumpster fire” and all that have not been watching lately, or are just regurgitating things they heard weeks or months or years ago.
By the way, isn’t it time to retire “dumpster fire” as a metaphor? It became a tired cliché a long time ago.
I coudnt agree more! My GOD that metaphor is so used!
What a dumpster fire of a comment, Alan.
“By the way, isn’t it time to retire “dumpster fire” as a metaphor? It became a tired cliché a long time ago.”
Hear, hear! There must be other metaphors that express this sentiment. If not let’s create something new!
Who’s right? Lloyd or Stud?