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Angels Sign Fernando Romero To Minor League Deal

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The Angels announced a host of non-roster invitations to Spring Training this evening. Among the group was right-hander Fernando Romero, who returns to the affiliated ranks after two seasons in Japan.

Romero, a native of the Dominican Republic, was a highly-regarded prospect early in his professional career. Baseball America slotted him among the ten most promising talents in the Twins’ minor league system in 2017-18. He reached the majors in the latter of those two seasons, starting 11 games and posting a 4.69 ERA as a rookie. He worked exclusively out of the bullpen during his sophomore campaign but was tagged for 12 runs in 14 innings.

The Twins granted Romero his release at the start of the 2020-21 offseason. That facilitated a deal with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball. He logged parts of two seasons there, tallying 173 innings at Japan’s top level. Romero posted a 4.01 ERA with a meager 12.7% strikeout rate and average 8.5% walk percentage. That included 92 frames of 4.87 ERA ball last year, though Romero fared better with the BayStars’ minor league affiliate.

While he worked out of the bullpen for his final season in the Minnesota organization, the 28-year-old has plenty of professional experience as a starting pitcher. He can serve as a depth option for either the rotation or multi-inning relief. Romero joins players like Chris Devenski, Jonathan Holder, Gerardo Reyes, César Valdez, Nash Walters, Austin Warren and Jacob Webb as right-handed non-roster options in Halos’ camp.

Cardinals Outright James Naile

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The Cardinals have sent reliever James Naile outright to Triple-A Memphis after he went unclaimed on waivers, the club informed reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat). Having never previously been outrighted and yet to reach three years of MLB service time, Naile doesn’t have the right to reject the assignment. He’ll stick in the organization without holding a 40-man spot and be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee.

Naile debuted in the majors last summer a little shy of his 30th birthday. He made it into seven big league games, throwing nine innings of five-run ball. The righty struck out five, issued a pair of walks and averaged 91.7 MPH on his sinker. The 2022 campaign was his first in the St. Louis organization after parts of seven seasons in the Oakland system. The former 20th-round pick spent the majority of the season with Memphis.

He had a nice showing there, working 73 1/3 innings through 44 appearances. Naile posted a 3.31 ERA while inducing grounders on a very strong 53.4% of batted balls he allowed. He had a fairly modest 20.2% strikeout percentage but only issued walks at a 6.6% clip. That earned him his first big league work, but he lost his spot on the 40-man roster when the club acquired Anthony Misiewicz from the Royals a few days ago.

A UAB product, Naile figures to open the upcoming season back in Memphis. The Cardinals’ front office has given plenty of opportunity to various ground-ball specialists given the strength of their infield defense, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he works his way back to the bigs at some point.

Blue Jays Sign Bo Bichette To Three-Year Deal To Avoid Arbitration

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FEBRUARY 10: The Associated Press reports the specific financial breakdown. Bichette receives a $3.25MM signing bonus and a $2.85MM salary for the upcoming season, bringing his 2023 payout to $6.1MM. He’ll make $11MM in 2024 and $16.5MM in ’25. If Bichette wins an MVP in either of the first two seasons, his salary would escalate by $2.25MM for any future seasons. Future salaries would escalate by $1.25MM for a second or third place finish and by $250K for a fourth or fifth place tally.

FEBRUARY 9: The Blue Jays announced Thursday evening that star shortstop Bo Bichette has signed a three-year contract to buy out his remaining seasons of arbitration eligibility. The deal will not affect the team’s window of club control by delaying his path to free agency. Bichette, a Vayner Sports client, will reportedly be guaranteed $33.6MM over the three seasons with escalators that could eventually bring the total to $40.65MM.

Bichette debuted in the second half of the 2019 campaign and has spent the past three years as Toronto’s everyday shortstop. He has produced against big league pitching from day one, breaking into the majors with a .311/.358/.571 showing through 46 games as a rookie. Bichette hasn’t quite maintained that kind of pace over a full season but has posted well above-average offensive marks in every year of his career.

He reached arbitration for the first time this winter after surpassing the three-year service threshold during the summer. Bichette was slated to carry a career .297/.340/.491 line with 69 home runs, 239 runs batted in and 46 stolen bases through 393 MLB games into that process. The 2022 campaign was right in line with his career marks, as he hit .290/.333/.469 with 24 longballs, 93 RBI and 13 steals (albeit in 21 attempts). He has led the American League in hits in each of the past two seasons and finished in the top 15 in AL MVP balloting in both years.

Financial terms of the contract remain unreported. Bichette’s camp had filed for a $7.5MM salary last month, with the Jays countering at $5MM. The $2.5MM gap tied that between the Astros and outfielder Kyle Tucker — who are themselves discussing a potential multi-year deal — for the largest discrepancy between a team and player this offseason. That’s a moot point now, as the three-year pact overrides that and ensures the Jays and Bichette won’t go to an arbitration hearing at any time.

Bichette turns 25 next month and is still slated to hit free agency after the 2025 season — when he’ll be entering his age-28 campaign. It’s unclear whether the sides plan to engage in discussions on a more significant long-term pact that would alter the Jays’ window of club control this spring. Toronto brass has predictably spoken of a desire to explore such arrangements with their top young players (generally assumed to be Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alek Manoah) but isn’t facing pressing urgency to do so. Guerrero is also arbitration-eligible through 2025, while Manoah won’t reach arbitration until next offseason as a likely Super Two qualifier and isn’t going to hit free agency until after the 2027 campaign.

The Jays have now completed their arbitration work for the offseason. Bichette was the only of their 12 eligible players who didn’t agree to a deal prior to last month’s deadline for exchanging figures.

Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet first reported the Jays and Bichette had agreed to a multi-year deal to avoid arbitration and that a three-year pact had been under consideration. Joel Sherman of the New York Post confirmed the sides were in agreement on a three-year deal. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported the guarantee and potential maximum value.

Brewers Re-Sign Jon Singleton To Minor League Deal

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The Brewers have re-signed first baseman Jon Singleton to a minor league contract, the club informed reporters (including Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel). He’s back with the organization after being released last month and receives a non-roster invitation to Spring Training.

Singleton hasn’t played in the majors since 2015, his second season as a member of the Astros. A one-time top prospect and recipient of a $10MM extension before reaching the majors, Singleton struggled to a .171/.290/.331 line through 114 big league games. He connected on 14 home runs with a massive 14.3% walk percentage but struck out at an untenable 36% clip.

After spending a couple seasons in the minors, Singleton was released by Houston. That came on the heels of a suspension after failing a drug test, with the left-handed hitter later admitting he has battled marijuana addiction. Singleton was out of the sport entirely for a few seasons but embarked on a comeback in Mexico two years ago. A monster 46-game run there earned him a minor league opportunity with Milwaukee heading into 2022.

Singleton spent the year with the Brew Crew’s top affiliate in Nashville. He struck out at a near-28% clip and only hit .219, but he more than compensated with his typical blend of patience and power. Singleton walked at a 20.1% clip to reach base at a strong .375 rate and popped 24 home runs in 581 plate appearances. It didn’t get him a big league call but impressed Milwaukee’s front office enough they re-signed him to a minor league deal at the start of the offseason and quickly added him to the 40-man roster to prevent another team from taking him in the Rule 5 draft.

He didn’t retain that roster spot into the season, as he was designated for assignment once the Brew Crew signed Brian Anderson. After clearing waivers and spending a few weeks on the open market, he circled back to the Milwaukee organization. He’ll have to earn his way back onto the 40-man roster, where he’d hope to join Rowdy Tellez and Jesse Winker as lefty bats in the first base/designated hitter rotation.

Cubs Continuing Search For Bullpen Addition

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The Cubs have had a busy offseason, signing seven players to big league free agent deals. Most of the attention has been on the position player side, with Dansby Swanson, Cody Bellinger, Trey Mancini, Tucker Barnhart and Eric Hosmer added to the lineup. Chicago also signed Jameson Taillon to a four-year contract to fortify the rotation.

They’ve been rather quiet with regards to the bullpen, however. Chicago inked Brad Boxberger to a modest $2.8MM guarantee in December. They’ve claimed hard-throwing Julian Merryweather off waivers from the Blue Jays. Otherwise, it’s been minor league deals to backfill a relief corps that saw the departures of David Robertson, Chris Martin and Mychal Givens at last year’s trade deadline.

It seems an addition to the later innings could be on the horizon. Patrick Mooney of the Athletic writes the organization is hopeful of bringing in another reliever before pitchers and catchers hold their first spring workouts next week. It isn’t clear which players are under consideration or the specific odds of Chicago pushing a deal across the finish line, though it’s notable the front office doesn’t appear to be done with Spring Training near.

A left-handed addition would be an ideal fit on paper. Chicago has just one southpaw reliever, Brandon Hughes, on the 40-man roster. He had a solid rookie season and should be in the MLB bullpen, though there’s room for another addition. Non-roster invitees Ryan Borucki, Eric Stout, Anthony Kay and Roenis Elías currently stand as the top options to join Hughes if the front office wants to give David Ross a second southpaw.

Last month, Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic listed the Cubs among a third of the league that was exploring the market for left-handed bullpen help. That subset of free agency has been bizarrely quiet since Taylor Rogers signed a three-year deal with the Giants shortly after Christmas. Andrew Chafin, Matt Moore and Will Smith are among the top remaining free agents at any position, while former stars Zack Britton and Brad Hand are available beyond that trio.

Of course, the Cubs don’t have to look exclusively at the left-handed market — even if that is the stronger group overall. Chicago could certainly accommodate a right-hander to join Boxberger, Adbert Alzolay and perhaps Merryweather or Rowan Wick in the middle to late innings. Michael Fulmer, Jeff Hoffman and Corey Knebel are among a number of still-unsigned options from the right side.

Mariners, Leonys Martin Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners are in agreement with outfielder Leonys Martín on a minor league contract, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. The Wasserman client will be in MLB camp as a non-roster invitee.

It’s the second Seattle stint for Martín, who spent parts of the 2016-17 seasons in the Pacific Northwest. The former campaign was one of the best of his career, as he stole 24 bases while hitting .247/.306/.378 across 143 games. Statcast’s Outs Above Average suggested he played Gold Glove caliber defense in center field, his calling card throughout his early run in the big leagues. Martín had previously spent three years as the primary center fielder for the Rangers, where his glove represented his best asset.

The lefty-hitting Martín never made much of an offensive impact, as low walk rates and a lack of power reduced his overall upside at the plate. He posted below-average hitting numbers throughout his career and carries a .244/.301/.367 line in just under 2800 trips to the dish. When he reached base, Martín rated as a plus baserunner. He twice topped 30 steals in a season and has taken 126 bags over parts of nine years.

Martín hasn’t played in the big leagues since struggling to a .199/.276/.343 showing in 65 games for the 2019 Indians. He went to Japan midway through that season, signing on with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball. The Cuban outfielder has spent the last three and a half years there, combining for a .220/.350/.461 line with 75 homers, an excellent 13.7% walk percentage but a lofty 25.3% strikeout rate over 1441 plate appearances.

After putting up an OPS north of .830 in each of his first three seasons with the Marines, Martín had a disappointing year in 2022. He’s coming off a .163/.293/.317 showing in 68 games. That marked a disappointing end to what had been a generally successful tenure in Japan.

Martín returns to the affiliated ranks in hopes of an MLB comeback. He’ll be 35 next month and presumably isn’t the excellent runner or defender he was at his peak. The M’s will give him a look as a depth outfielder to see if he’s still capable of playing solid defense up the middle. Julio Rodríguez obviously has the position locked down. Sam Haggerty, Jarred Kelenic and Taylor Trammell can each cover center but are better suited for corner outfield work. Well-regarded prospect Cade Marlowe joins them on the 40-man roster and has yet to make his major league debut. It’s hard to envision Martín cracking the roster out of camp but he’d bring 17 years of professional experience to Triple-A Tacoma if he starts the season in the minors.

The Nationals’ Breakout Late-Career Rookie

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Very little went right for the Nationals in 2022. They limped to an MLB-worst 55-107 record but lost out on the first overall pick in the inaugural draft lottery. Their year was primarily defined by ownership uncertainty and the continuation of a rebuild they’d kicked off at the 2021 trade deadline — culminating in perhaps the biggest deadline blockbuster in recent memory.

That sell-off opened a spot on their 40-man roster. They plugged it by selecting the contract of minor league veteran first baseman Joey Meneses. While it was surely a life-changing moment for a 30-year-old who had played professionally for 12 seasons before receiving his big league call, that transaction didn’t generate much attention outside the nation’s capital. In all likelihood, the Nats’ front office wasn’t convinced Meneses would even hold that roster spot through the offseason.

Meneses instead seized his first MLB opportunity in a way no one would’ve anticipated. He popped 13 home runs and 14 doubles through his first 56 games, compiling a .324/.367/.563 line across 240 plate appearances. That offensive production was 56 percentage points better than league average, as measured by wRC+. That tied for 12th among qualified hitters in that span, with Meneses placed right alongside a number of All-Stars and Silver Slugger winners.

It’s not entirely fair to say that production came out of nowhere. Meneses had been having a strong season for Triple-A Rochester, where he hit .286/.341/.489 with 20 longballs through 96 games. The right-handed hitter has typically performed well against minor league arms. That was often against younger competition, however. Paired with his lack of defensive versatility, that kept him from getting an MLB chance until last summer. Meneses holding his own offensively at the MLB level wouldn’t have been surprising, but the extent of his production was.

Meneses will certainly need more than two great months to demonstrate he’s capable of sustaining middle-of-the-order production over the long haul. His rookie year isn’t too dissimilar from the .342/.389/.613 line Frank Schwindel posted over 56 games as a 29-year-old rookie for the Cubs in 2021. Schwindel stumbled to a .229/.277/.358 mark in 75 games in year two and is headed to Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball for the upcoming season. Maintaining consistency over multiple years at the major league level is a challenge.

That said, Meneses couldn’t have drawn up a much better start. In addition to his excellent production, he demonstrated some impressive underlying marks. Meneses made contact on an above-average 78.9% of his swings, getting the bat on the ball against pitches both within and outside the strike zone. His plate discipline metrics were roughly average.

Most notably, he made consistent quality contact. Meneses hit the ball hard (an exit velocity above 95 MPH) on 47% of his batted balls. That ranked 42nd among 334 hitters with 150+ batted balls, per Statcast. He hit plenty of line drives and took the ball to all fields with regularity. Meneses isn’t likely to sustain a .371 batting average on balls in play over a full season, but his contact profile suggests that probably won’t regress all the way to the .290 league mark either.

The rebuilding Nationals are in position to give Meneses a chance to cement himself as a regular. Washington took a buy-low flier on Dom Smith to play first base this offseason, though the designated hitter role is still up for grabs. Jeimer Candelario could factor in there but seems likely to play regularly at third base after Carter Kieboom missed the entire 2022 season due to an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. Smith and Candelario themselves are far from sure things after struggling last year.

Meneses isn’t going to continue at last season’s level, but there’s room for his production to regress while remaining better than average. If he can mostly back up his early promise, he’d potentially be a useful trade chip for the Washington club. As a soon to be 31-year-old first baseman, he’s not going to be a long-term core piece coming out of the rebuild.

Another strong first half would make him an intriguing deadline target for a more immediate contender looking for offensive help. Even if he establishes himself as a permanent big leaguer, Meneses won’t reach arbitration until after the 2025 season. That affordability would be of obvious appeal to both low-budget franchises and bigger spenders that are approaching or into luxury tax territory.

Whether he can play his way into legitimate trade candidacy, Meneses makes for one of the better stories on the Washington roster. The Nats aren’t likely to win many games during the upcoming season, with the organization’s greater emphasis on the performance of individual players. Younger former top prospects like CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Josiah Gray and Keibert Ruiz are the players the front office and fanbase will be most focused on. There’s room on the margins for role players to perform well enough to net the club some future value in trade as well. Bounceback candidates like Smith, Candelario and Corey Dickerson fit a more traditional mold, though Meneses could be more interesting than any of those established veterans if he can build off a revelatory rookie showing.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Pirates, Caleb Smith Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Pirates are signing left-hander Caleb Smith to a minor league deal with a non-roster invitation to Spring Training, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). The Ballengee Group client had been non-tendered by the Diamondbacks at the start of the offseason.

Smith has spent the past two-plus seasons working as a swingman in the desert. Also a former Yankee and Marlin, the southpaw went from Miami to Arizona at the 2020 trade deadline in the deal that sent Starling Marte to Miami. He started three of four games for Arizona to close out the shortened season but worked primarily in long relief the next two years. Smith made 13 starts in 45 outings during the 2021 campaign and worked out of the bullpen for all but one of 44 appearances last summer.

In both years, the former 14th-round pick managed similar production. He allowed between four and five earned runs per nine innings in each, missing bats at a decent rate but struggling with both walks and home runs. Smith walked nearly 13% of opponents in each season with Arizona while allowing more than 1.5 home runs per nine.

That’s been a consistent theme throughout his big league career. Smith’s high-spin fastball generates a fair number of whiffs and infield pop-ups at the top of the strike zone, though that fly-ball approach has also translated into a decent number of round-trippers. Over parts of six big league campaigns, the 31-year-old has allowed 1.69 homers per nine en route to a 4.55 ERA.

Clubs have been continually intrigued by his ability to miss bats, however. He’s struck out just under a quarter of career opponents while generating swinging strikes on an above-average 12.2% of his offerings. Last year’s 21.5% strikeout rate represented a career low, though his swing-and-miss numbers on a per-pitch basis was right in line with his overall track record. The Pirates have one of the sport’s more favorable ballparks for pitchers, which could aid Smith in keeping the ball in the yard if he cracks the big league roster at any point.

Smith was diagnosed with a tear in the UCL of his throwing elbow last October. It wasn’t severe enough to necessitate Tommy John surgery, as he’s rehabbed the injury without going under the knife. The D-Backs didn’t provide any specifics on his recovery timetable, though the Pirates are sufficiently satisfied with the health of his elbow to bring him aboard.

Assuming he’s healthy enough to partake in Spring Training, Smith can battle for a bullpen job. Jarlín García is the only southpaw locked into the season-opening relief corps, though Rule 5 draftee Jose Hernandez will need to remain in the big league bullpen if the Pirates are intent on retaining his contractual rights.

Smith has been better against left-handed hitters than righties over the course of his career but not dramatically so. He profiles more as a long reliever or depth starter than as a situational matchup weapon. Smith has more than five years of MLB service time and can therefore refuse any minor league option, so if he cracks the MLB roster at any point, he’ll have to stick in the majors or be designated for assignment.

Kyle Tucker Loses Arbitration Hearing Against Astros

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Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker has lost his arbitration case, the Associated Press reports. He’ll be paid at the team’s filing rate of $5MM instead of the $7.5MM his camp had sought.

That $2.5MM gap was the largest of any player and team who had gone to an arbitration hearing this offseason. (The Blue Jays and Bo Bichette had an identical filing gap but agreed to a three-year contract to avoid the process this week). That’s in large part a reflection of Tucker’s status as a first-time eligible player, as the sides and panel couldn’t base their determination on any of his previous salaries.

The team’s filing rate was closer to MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s projection of $5.6MM at the start of the offseason. The outfielder’s bid to beat that number came up short, although he’ll still collect one of the bigger salaries for any first-time eligible player. Only Dylan Cease ($5.7MM), Zac Gallen ($5.6MM) and Will Smith ($5.25MM) settled on a one-year deal at a higher rate among first-year players. Bichette’s deal guaranteed him $33.6MM over his three arbitration seasons; the specific financial breakdown is not yet known, though it’d seem likely he’ll make more than the $5MM for which the Blue Jays were set to file in the first season of that deal.

Tucker owns a .268/.335/.502 line in a little more than 1500 career plate appearances. He’s connected on 73 home runs, driven in 256 runs and stolen 53 bases. Nearly half of those steals came last season, when he went 25-29 on the basepaths. Tucker hit .257/.330/.478 with 30 homers and 107 RBI during his final season leading up to arbitration. He also won a Gold Glove for his excellent defense in right field, played in his first All-Star Game and received some down-ballot MVP support for the second consecutive season.

The arbitration loss means Tucker will be working from a lower platform salary than he’d hoped for the next couple years. The process is designed so that salaries escalate each season based on both the player’s salary in the prior year and his ongoing performance track record. Given Tucker’s consistent, well above-average production, he should be in position to bank solid raises for the next couple seasons — though those will start from a $5MM base level rather than his desired $7.5MM platform. He’s slated to go through the process twice more before qualifying for free agency during the 2025-26 offseason.

That could be more or less a moot point if Tucker and the Astros can work out a longer-term agreement. New general manager Dana Brown has already spoken of his desire to sign the star outfielder to a multi-year contract. Clearly, the sides couldn’t agree to terms before going into this week’s hearing, though that doesn’t preclude them from further negotiations this spring or next offseason.

The victory closes one of two arbitration cases for the Astros this winter. Starting pitcher Cristian Javier is set for a hearing (barring a multi-year deal of his own) in the coming days. The young righty is seeking a $3.5MM salary, while the club countered at $3MM.

The Cubs’ Third Base Options

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The Cubs have made a number of additions to their lineup, none more impactful than the signing of Dansby Swanson at shortstop. That pushed Nico Hoerner over to second base. Chicago also brought in Cody Bellinger to play center field, signed Tucker Barnhart to share time with Yan Gomes at catcher in place of Willson Contreras, and added Trey Mancini and Eric Hosmer for the first base/designated hitter mix.

It was a dramatic overhaul, with the corner outfield tandem of Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki the only players whose positions haven’t seemed up in the air at any point. The other position the front office left untouched, third base, looks as if it’ll come down to a battle between a handful of internal options with the free agent market all but picked through. There are two players who have the clearest path to reps at the hot corner in the early going.

Patrick Wisdom

Wisdom has been the primary third baseman on Chicago’s north side for the last two seasons. He’s tallied just under 700 plate appearances at the position since the start of 2021, handily topping second-place Matt Duffy (204 PAs in 2021). The only other player with even 100+ trips to the dish as a third baseman, David Bote, lost his spot on the 40-man roster at the start of the offseason.

Signed to a minor league deal over the 2020-21 offseason (following a cup of coffee with the MLB club the year before), Wisdom has combined for 53 home runs and 41 doubles in 239 games over the last two years. He carries a .465 slugging percentage and .248 isolated power mark over 909 plate appearances, continually making an impact from a power perspective. The right-handed hitter has paired that with significant on-base concerns, however. He’s hit just .217 while reaching base at a below-average .301 rate. That’s mostly due to massive swing-and-miss in his game, as he’s gone down on strikes in 37% of his plate appearances. That’s the highest rate in the majors for any player with as much playing time, narrowly topping Joey Gallo’s 36.6% clip.

Wisdom’s power has been sufficient to manage a slightly above-average slash line in spite of the contact issues. That’s fine production, particularly when paired with the above-average defensive grades he managed in 2021. Metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average estimated he was well below average with the glove last season, however, leading both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference to value his 2022 campaign around one win above replacement.

The 31-year-old has proven he deserves a spot on an MLB roster and the Cubs have made out exceptionally well on their no-risk signing two years ago. Yet the on-base and defensive concerns suggest Wisdom might be better suited as a role-playing power bat who can rotate through all four corner positions off the bench than as an everyday third baseman. He’s been far better against lefties (.238/.329/.533) than against righties (.209/.290/.438) over the past two seasons.

Christopher Morel

If the Cubs were to scale back Wisdom’s playing time, Morel would seem to be the primary beneficiary. The 23-year-old made his major league debut last season and generally impressed, albeit with some of the same question marks facing Wisdom. Morel connected on 16 home runs, 19 doubles and four triples in just 435 trips to the plate. He posted an overall .235/.306/.433 line through his first 113 big league contests. That slightly topped Wisdom’s .207/.298/.426 showing from last season.

That said, Morel also struggled significantly to make contact. He struck out in 32.2% of his plate appearances. Perhaps more alarming was that he swung and missed at 18.1% of the pitches he saw. That was the sixth-highest rate in MLB (minimum 400 PAs), and those concerns became more pronounced down the stretch. Morel carried an impressive .266/.338/.477 line into the All-Star Break despite a 30.7% strikeout rate. In the second half, his strikeout percentage jumped to 34.2% and he limped to a .194/.269/.376 finish.

At age 23, Morel is certainly capable of taking a step forward as he gains experience against big league pitching. He’s long flashed promising power but posted higher than average strikeout totals throughout his time in the minors. Concerns about his bat-to-ball skills kept him from emerging as a top-tier prospect prior to his debut despite evaluators’ praise for his power potential, athleticism and arm strength. Morel’s an interesting player, but one whose approach could make him a volatile offensive performer. He had reverse platoon splits in 2022, hitting .190/.297/.300 against left-handers against a .251/.313/.470 mark versus righties. That’s too small a sample from which to glean meaningful conclusions, though Wisdom’s more traditional splits could point towards him getting a few more reps against left-handed arms than Morel will.

It’s a similar story on the other side of the ball. Morel played mostly infield in the minor leagues, with third base his primary position. The Cubs bounced him around the diamond at the MLB level but deployed him most often in center field, hoping his speed and arm strength would translate. DRS and Statcast agreed he was a below-average center fielder in spite of his athleticism, as his inexperience at the position was evident. He also drew lackluster marks in limited action on the left side of the infield, though the sample in that case was exceedingly small.

Other Options

While Wisdom and Morel seem the two likeliest candidates to battle for playing time, the Cubs have a few other infield options on the 40-man roster. Miles Mastrobuoni, 27, was acquired from the Rays at the start of the offseason. He has only eight MLB games under his belt but hit .300/.377/.469 with 16 homers and 23 stolen bases in 573 plate appearances with Triple-A Durham last year. He’s primarily been a second baseman in the minors but has experience everywhere on the diamond aside from first base and catcher. His left-handed bat would pair well with the righty-hitting Wisdom and Morel if skipper David Ross wanted to play matchups. Mastrobuoni mashed at a .315/.396/.497 clip while holding the platoon advantage in 2022.

Nick Madrigal was displaced by Hoerner’s move to second base. He had a dismal 2022 season, hitting just .249/.305/.282 in 59 games while thrice landing on the injured list thanks to a back strain and strains of both groins. Madrigal had started the previous season with a solid .305/.349/.425 showing for the White Sox before suffering a season-ending hamstring tear. He’s only ever played up the middle dating back to his time at Oregon State — primarily at the keystone — but third base might be the clearest path to getting his bat in the lineup if the front office is still intrigued by his elite bat-to-ball ability.

His 5’8″, 175-pound frame isn’t the build of a traditional third baseman and that’s been manifested in his below-average arm strength. Perhaps that’s untenable at third base, though the Cubs could at least consider getting him some work at the hot corner to expand his defensive flexibility. It’s also at least worth contemplating whether Hoerner could kick to third base if Madrigal earns everyday playing time but isn’t capable of manning the left side of the infield.

The Cubs also picked up Zach McKinstry from the Dodgers in last summer’s Chris Martin trade. The 27-year-old has just a .208/.269/.384 line in 121 big league games over the last three years. He got 171 trips to the plate for the Cubs down the stretch, hitting .206/.272/.361. McKinstry has the ability to play second, third and both corner outfield spots and is a .323/.401/.550 hitter in parts of three Triple-A campaigns. He’s out of minor league option years and has to stick on the active roster or be taken off the 40-man entirely. Given his lack of big league track record, he could find himself on the bubble — particularly if the Cubs want to give Mastrobuoni a lengthier look instead.

There are a handful of players behind this group on the depth chart who’ll be in camp as non-roster invitees. Bote, Esteban Quiroz and Jared Young all remain in the organization after clearing waivers in November. Sergio Alcántara signed a minor league deal this offseason, while former second-round pick Chase Strumpf got an MLB invite after hitting .234/.379/.461 with Double-A Tennessee.

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While there are a few candidates who could play their way into consideration, it’d appear the third base job will be a battle between Wisdom and Morel to open the year. Both have minor league options remaining. The former has a more established big league track record, while the latter probably has greater upside but might also be more likely to post untenable numbers on both sides of the ball. They’re broadly similar as right-handed power bats with OBP concerns, though Morel has a little more defensive versatility if he’s relegated to a utility role.

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