The Cubs signed left-hander Austin Gomber to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Iowa. He’s on the mound tonight against Kansas City’s top affiliate in his organizational debut. The MLB.com transaction tracker indicates he signed the contract on August 26 even though it wasn’t announced until today.
That’s a relevant distinction because it keeps open the long shot possibility that Gomber could get a look in the postseason. He was in the organization before the beginning of September, so he’ll be eligible for the playoff roster even though he’s not currently on the 40-man roster. That obviously wouldn’t be Plan A for the team, but the southpaw provides rotation depth for a team that is without Michael Soroka and Jameson Taillon at the moment. The Cubs also brought in Joe Ross on a minor league deal.
Gomber was released by the Rockies last month. The soft-tossing southpaw missed the first couple months with shoulder discomfort. He was tattooed for a 7.49 earned run average in 12 starts since being activated from the injured list in the middle of June. Gomber didn’t pitch well at home or on the road. He struggled to miss bats no matter the venue, posting a career-worst 12.5% strikeout rate across 57 2/3 innings. Gomber’s fastball averaged a little over 89 MPH, down a tick from last year and three miles per hour from the first few seasons of his career. He was a passable fifth starter last year, turning in a 4.75 ERA while making 30 starts.
The Rockies are on the hook for what remains of Gomber’s $6.35MM salary. The Cubs would owe him the prorated $760K league minimum for any time he spends in the big leagues. He’ll be a free agent again at the beginning of the offseason.
Joe Ross and now Gomber, Jed is definitely visiting the clearance rack. Gomber might be a good candidate for a change of scenery.
I liked Aaron Civale as an innings eater better than this.
If it helps save innings on all the regular pitchers, and have these guys soak up some innings to get the guys rested, it only helps in the playoffs. I’m actually pleased with this, saves the arms!
I agree, just don’t let him on the post-season roster. Sure would like the Cubs to hold onto the first wild card position to get the home field advantage.
Yeah you never know. I DESPISED the Civale move when they made it as he was trash on a good team (Brewers) and trash on a terrible team (Sox). Then he goes out and throws 3 scoreless in his first Cubs game. Go figure? None of these guys the last few days would sniff the postseason roster anyway (I know Alan53 LPCFSM25 will point out they have a 0.3% chance of missing the playoffs so perhaps I shouldn’t jinx it 😂)
Gomber I believe has pedigree at least as a once high rated prospect, he was Colorado’s big get in the Arenado trade back in the day.
It’s pretty clear Jed is just trying to find guys that can give the Cubs MLB innings later this month to allow their main pitchers to skip a time through the rotation.
I’m sure he wants to get Boyd, Horton, Shota a long break before October.
It’s not a bad move, and he might find a diamond in the rough.
Not even the major league team. They need to throw starters out there for Iowa as well.
Seems as though the Cubs are snatching up every guy they can in the last couple weeks.
His K% is concerning.
Joe Ross, Aaron Civale, Austin Gomber… how many veteran #6 starters do the Cubs need this month? What is the plan?
Good for Gomber. He just was such a defeated person over the last month in Colorado. You could tell every time he was interviewed after his start, he was just so defeated. And he just didn’t know how to fix it. I hope he figures it out, not for just his career, but for his life. I’m no shrink, so I could be completely off base, but that is what is what it looked like to to me.
He showed promise early on in his career, not many young starters figure it out in Colorado, hopefully he has a shot to be a serviceable MLBer.
The Rockies officially have no pieces left from the Arenado trade
I am glad the Arenado trade is officially over because I honestly am tired of people bringing it up. He didn’t want to be a Rockie anymore, so as a Rockies fan, I didn’t want to hear about him anymore. I am still okay with the trade simply because it was addition by subtraction and it gave Ryan McMahon, a much more pleasant person, the chance to be the Rockies leader for several years..
GOMBER signed for a PYLE !!