The Giants announced that outfielder Justin Dean has been claimed off waivers by the Cubs. San Francisco had designated him for assignment last week to open a roster spot for Tyler Mahle. Chicago had multiple 40-man vacancies and doesn’t need to make a corresponding move. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to relay the transaction.
Dean, 29, just made his major league debut with the Dodgers last year. He was mostly used as a pinch runner and late-game defensive replacement. He appeared in 18 games for the Dodgers but only made two plate appearances. He then appeared in 13 postseason games as part of the Dodgers’ World Series run, but without making a plate appearance in any of those.
His speed gives him a decent floor as a guy who can steal some bases and run the ball down on the grass. From 2021 to 2025, he swiped 176 bags in 213 attempts in the minors, an 82.6% success rate.
His offense is more questionable but his 2025 was encouraging. Throughout his minor league career, he has drawn free passes but also been punched out at hefty rates. From 2021 to 2024, he had a nice 12.2% walk rate but an ugly 29.6% strikeout rate. In 2025, he was only struck out 23.6% of the time while keeping his walk rate at a healthy 11.2%. The result was a .289/.378/.431 line and 110 wRC+ in Triple-A, though that was propped up by a .380 batting average on balls in play.
The Dodgers bumped him off their 40-man at the end of the season. The Giants grabbed him off waivers and held him for a couple of months but ended up putting him back on the wire. For the Cubs, he’s a fine depth add, especially since they had multiple roster spots open. Dean still has a full slate of options and doesn’t need to be on the big league roster.
Chicago’s outfield alignment projects to feature Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki in starting roles. Kevin Alcántara, James Triantos and Pedro Ramírez are on the 40-man roster and could be candidates for bench roles. Triantos and Ramírez have no big league experience and still have options, so the Cubs would likely prefer them to be getting regular reps in the minors as opposed to sitting in the big league dugout. Alcántara has been optioned for extended stretches in each of the past three years but could qualify for a fourth option.
Since Dean is himself optionable, he could either be getting regular playing time in the minors or he could be in the majors, providing speed and defense off the pine. He has just 52 days of service time, so he can be cheaply controlled for the foreseeable future, as he won’t qualify for arbitration for at least three years.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images
Forever Giant
He will be a Forever Cub soon enough
Justin has “not touched the ball” for lots of teams now. My guess is that Cubs will DFA Dean in less than thirty days.
World Series role player: check.
To be fair, the biggest play of Justin’s career involved him not touching the ball.
Is he the guy that bobbled a routine fly ball in game 6 of the 2016 NLCS. Similar to Arson Judge dropping the ball in the world series.
Why do you call him arson judge
Jon Heyman reference from when Judge was a free agent. It’s humorous because Heyman was so confident that he was signing with the Giants that he didn’t proofread his tweet.
I believe it was a phone autocorrection that became famous.
Because it’s funny.
What is your favorite type of nachos.
@dbag I just wasn’t aware of the reference, and idk my favorite but if I’m just being lazy Monterey Jack with some jalapeño Tabasco is pretty good.
If you ever get a chance to go to Coors Field. I highly recommend the rocky mountain nachos. Pork not the chicken
@playerfotmerly known. That was a different OF. But that was a monstrous mistake that is rarely mentioned. Want to say his bane was Towles?? But that’s not quite it.
That was Keith Moreland
Moreland last played in 1989
So?
Nah. He’s the guy that was in center field when the ball got stuck under the wall in game 6 of the 2025 world series.
Giants sure lose alot of players getting claimed off waivers. I’m sure that’s true for most teams though.
Full 40 man, constantly churning.
An eternally spinning Lazy Susan, giving, taking, giving…
The cubs AAA affiliate currently only has 1 outfielder on the roster so we might see a few more claims like this one
A few guys could get assigned to AAA who might otherwise belong in AA (like Parker Chavers) and there’s a jam in the infield, so probably James Triantos will spend more time in the outfield this year (maybe the everyday CF’er?). and Scott Kingery & Hayden Cantrelle play infield & outfield. Others will include Jordan Nwogu, Justin Dean (if he makes it through waivers later in the offseason) and anyone else signed this offseason. But yes, ideally the Cubs sign 1-2 more minor league free agents to play outfield in Iowa.
Yeah I looked it up after posting the comment. It was Andrew Toles
Dean may not be major league material just yet, but he is getting better year by year
Justin is my grandparent’s name.
Great grandson of Dizzy Dean. I know this is cause my Cat Charlie told me.
Related to Jan And Dean by way of Grenna Dean.
Source?
Any relation to James Dean(musician not Superman / Ripley’s Believe it or not.)
Or maybe he is a distant relative of Superman
Mean Joe’s nephew.
Can he play center field? The article doesn’t really specify. If so, perhaps he could spell PCA from time to time. As of right now, I don’t think the Cubs have a backup center fielder.
Yeah. He was the guy that was in center field when the ball got stuck under the wall in the 2025 world series.
All these uniform changes are, to paraphrase his great, great Uncle James, “ are tearing him apart!”
I see he didn’t play in Mexico this winter after picking up that World Series check.
Dean can now raise his hands & say ball is stuck in Wrigley Field ivy
Too bad he never put together offensively. Thought he would be a nice 4th outfielder. Billy Hamilton type that overcomes the weak bat with elite speed and defense.
World series legend!
You guys really showed those Dodgers by claiming Dean. How will they ever manage without a late inning defensive substitute? Mookie is probably wiping tears with his multiple World Series rings
Deans speed is needed by cubs
Justin time