The Cubs have signed right-hander Ryan Jensen to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been in the Twins’ system but was released a little over a week ago. The Cubs also released right-hander Phil Bickford, according to his tracker.
Jensen, 27, was a first-round pick of the Cubs back in 2019. On his way up the minor league ladder, significant control problems seemed to get in his way. From 2019 to 2022, he tossed 151 2/3 minor league innings with a 4.04 earned run average. He struck out 26.3% of batters faced and got ground balls on more than half the balls in play he allowed but he also gave out walks at a 13.1% pace.
Despite the control problems, the Cubs gave him a 40-man spot in November of 2022, not wanting him to be plucked in the Rule 5 draft. Less than a year later, he was on the waiver wire, getting claimed by the Mariners. He would subsequently go to the Marlins and Twins, also on waiver claims, until the Twins passed him through waivers in February of last year.
Along the way, the control problems haven’t improved. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has thrown 149 2/3 minor league innings with a 5.35 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate and plenty of ground balls but an 18.3% walk rate. The Twins have apparently given up but his original organization will take a flier and see what happens.
Bickford, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in the offseason. He may have triggered an opt-out in that deal because he has been dominant this year. He has thrown 27 2/3 innings for Triple-A Iowa with a 2.60 ERA, 34% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate.
He also has some good major league work on his track record. Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, he tossed 112 1/3 innings in the big leagues with a 3.85 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate. In 2023, he was still getting punchouts but his walk rate spiked to 12.8%. Last year, he only got a brief MLB look, which didn’t go well. He tossed 8 1/3 innings for the Yankees with an 8.64 ERA.
Photo courtesy of Chris Tilley, Imagn Images
No need to go further, we’ve got our man to put us over top!
Feels like a favor to an “old friend,” as Official Baseball Moron Brett Taylor insists on calling anyone who ever had anything to do with the Cubs. We’re unlikely to ever see Jensen suit up for the major-league team, or if we do, that’s not a good sign.
Not sure why to sign Jensen when Bickford has had the better track record lately. Bickford could have come up if a bullpen arm went down, can’t see Jensen on the cubs roster at all with the walk rate.
@Alan53, I’m not even a Brett Taylor defender, but I’m pretty sure “old friend” is just acknowledging a past connection to the organization. I find your post funny, I’m not sure why that makes him a moron, especially since he sold the website after building and running it for 15 years. He may have some interesting takes, but he’s far from a moron.
@Alan53 famously said that Matt Shaw didn’t have the arm strength to play at 3B…
So there’s that
Oops
Alan53
March 20, 2025
And just between us, this team is going to get off to a terrible start and never contend for anything.
Yes, I’m wrong sometimes. What’s weird is that you keep track, with your phony accounts.
Taylor is a moron because he writes moronic things. He’s a shill because he shills for Hoyer.
Yes, it is an acknowledgment of a past connection. But why does he have to acknowledge that with a cloying, obnoxious locution? As a writer, he has an unerring instinct for the cutesy, precious way of saying something. Another example is his “please and thank you” stuff, and another is his writing that whenever an opponent does well against us they are being “annoying.” He thinks he’s being cute. If you agree, that’s fine, but I don’t.
By the way, our supposed superstar Tucker seems to have gone into another of his patented power- and rbi-slumps. WHEN will he start to be what he was supposed to be? He is a good player, but, so far, no more than that.
Are we watching the same Cubs team? Tucker hit .311/.404/.578 in June, is a .982 OPS not good enough for you? Yes he’s been a little cold in July, but it’s been 4-5 games. He’s already a 4.0 WAR player in 2025, and you’re crying about a very short slump. Relax, kimosabe.
OK. But if it lasts much longer, will you reconsider? Or are you so wedded to the IDEA of Tucker as a superstar that you will be blind to the reality that he isn’t?
If Cam Smith passes him in rbi’s in a couple of weeks, will you allow yourself to notice it?
No point in continuing an argument with a moron.
Probably try to convert back to a starter at Iowa. Never will pitch for the cubs mlb team. Bickford is a bull pen arm. Pen is full of decent arms and Pressly who has been serviceable in low leverage situations.
Chef Jenny is back. Roommates will no longer be hungry