Steve Adams | MLB Trade Rumors

Cubs Designate Sergio Alcantara For Assignment

By Steve Adams | February 18, 2021 at 9:10am CDT

The Cubs announced this morning that infielder Sergio Alcantara has been designated for assignment. He’d been claimed off waivers from the Tigers earlier in the month, but his roster spot will now go to righty Brandon Workman, whose previously reported one-year deal is now official.

The 24-year-old Alcantara made his MLB debut with Detroit in 2020 and had three hits, including a homer, in 23 plate appearances. The long ball was surprising, as Alcantara has shown virtually no power in seven minor league seasons (nine home runs in 2611 plate appearances).

Lack of pop notwithstanding, Alcantara is regarded as a slick-fielding option at shortstop and can handle second and third base as well. He’s yet to play in Triple-A, thanks to the lack of a minor league season in 2020, but is a .261/.340/.317 hitter in parts of two Double-A campaigns.

The Cubs now have a week to trade Alcantara, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him. Alcantara is out of minor league options, so any team that claims him will either need to carry him on its Opening Day roster as a glove-first utility option or again designate him for assignment.

Padres Sign Mark Melancon

By Steve Adams | February 18, 2021 at 9:09am CDT

Feb. 18: The Padres have announced the signing. Mike Clevinger was placed on the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Clevinger, of course, is expected to miss the 2021 season following Tommy John surgery.

Feb. 17: Melancon will be guaranteed $3MM on the deal, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. He’ll earn a $2MM salary in 2021, and there’s a $1MM buyout on a a mutual option for the 2022 season, Heyman adds. The contract allows Melancon to earn another $2MM via incentives.

Feb. 12: The Padres have agreed to a deal with free-agent reliever Mark Melancon, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal with Melancon, an ISE Baseball client, will become official once he’s passed a physical.

Melancon, 36 next month, adds a former All-Star closer to an already deep Friars bullpen. He’ll give skipper Jayce Tingler another option for ninth-inning work, joining Drew Pomeranz and Emilio Pagan as closer candidates in San Diego. Based on his recent work, Melancon could well jump to the front of the line as the favorite for saves.

Melancon just finished up the final season of a four-year, $62MM contract that briefly stood as the all-time record for a reliever. (Both Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen topped that mark within weeks of Melancon signing.) The deal didn’t exactly pay dividends for the Giants, as Melancon battled injuries in both 2017 and 2018, but he bounced back with a strong showing in 2019 and was quite strong over the past season-plus following a trade to the Braves.

Melancon pitched 43 2/3 innings with Atlanta, racking up 22 saves while posting strong strikeout and walk percentages (26.3 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively). He’s also one of the game’s leading ground-ball pitchers, evidenced by a whopping 61.4 percent mark over the past two years.

Despite the success in Atlanta, there are some red flags surrounding Melancon. In addition to the fact that he’ll pitch all of 2021 at age 36, last year’s 91.7 mph average fastball represented the second-lowest mark of his career while his 8.7 percent swinging-strike rate was a career-low. He still excelled at inducing weak contact and ought to benefit from a generally strong defensive infield defense, though.

The Friars already had not only a crowded but also relatively immobile bullpen (from a roster flexibility standpoint). None of Pomeranz, Austin Adams, Pierce Johnson, Dan Altavilla, Craig Stammen or Javy Guerra can be optioned to the minors. Pagan has options but surely isn’t in danger of being sent down, and Tim Hill (who also has options) is one of the team’s three lefties. It could be tough for the Padres to continue carrying the out-of-options Guerra, a converted shortstop who has yet to find much success in Triple-A or the Majors, but they may not want to give up on him considering his heater averages better than 98 mph.

Those, of course, are the types of decisions that playoff-caliber clubs are forced to make when adding improvements, and the Padres have solidified themselves as just that. After making the postseason for the first time under newly promoted president of baseball operations A.J. Preller in 2020, the Padres have added the likes of Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove and KBO superstar Ha-Seong Kim this winter while also re-signing Jurickson Profar. Melancon is the latest, and perhaps the final, piece of an active offseason that has deepened an already-talented team which looks increasingly capable of giving the World Champion Dodgers a run for their money in the NL West.

Rays To Re-Sign Oliver Drake

By Steve Adams | February 17, 2021 at 7:22pm CDT

7:22pm: Drake will earn $775K in the deal, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. The contract includes a roster bonus of $325K if Drake hangs onto a spot for fifty days.

7:43am: The Rays have agreed to a Major League deal with right-hander Oliver Drake, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). The 34-year-old had a very strong showing with Tampa Bay in 2019 but battled forearm and biceps issues in 2020 and was ultimately removed from the 40-man roster during the postseason in order to make room for an ALDS replacement. He elected free agency after clearing waivers. He’s still recovering from the effects of that injury, it seems, as Topkin adds that Drake is expected to be ready to pitch around midseason.

Drake’s 2020 season was a rough one, as he was tagged for eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits and six walks with seven strikeouts in 11 frames. The forearm strain clearly dogged him, however, as evidenced by his fastball velocity dropping more than two miles per hour in his limited slate of work. He first hit the injured list with biceps tendinitis in early August before landing back on the IL due to a flexor strain in October.

The 2019 season was another story entirely for Drake. A year after riding the DFA carousel like none other and appearing for a record five teams in one season, Drake cemented himself in the Rays’ bullpen with a very strong showing. Through 56 innings, Drake worked to a 3.21 ERA and near-identical 3.18 SIERA while striking out 32 percent of opponents against a tidy 8.7 percent walk rate. Drake also induced grounders at a 52.3 percent clip and was, in general, something of a Statcast darling that year. He ranked in the 83rd percentile or better in each of the following categories: whiff percentage, overall strikeout percentage, expected ERA, expected batting average against, expected slugging percentage against and expected wOBA.

Whether he can return to those heights will be largely dependent on his health, but it makes good sense for the Rays to bring him back on an affordable deal to see if he can do just that. And by waiting until pitchers and catchers report to make the move, Tampa Bay can effectively stash Drake on the 60-day injured list from the jump. Had they signed him earlier in the offseason, they’d have had to boot someone else from the 40-man roster and carry him on the 40-man until camp opened and the 60-day IL was made available. Should Drake return to form, he’d be controllable through the 2022 season via arbitration.

Mets Showing Interest In Tajiuan Walker

By Steve Adams | February 17, 2021 at 2:32pm CDT

The Mets have circled back around to free-agent right-hander Taijuan Walker and engaged his camp in “extensive” discussions, SNY’s Andy Martino reports. Walker is the club’s top target over righty Jake Odorizzi at the moment, per the report. Metsmerized’s Michael Mayer connected the two sides this week as well, adding that the righty has been looking for a multi-year deal worth $10MM+ annually.

Still just 28 years old, Walker is one of the youngest free agents on the market but has yet to find a multi-year offer to his liking. The former top prospect missed the vast majority of the 2018-19 seasons due to injuries — most notably Tommy John surgery — but returned to his original organization, the Mariners, on a one-year deal last offseason. Walker tossed 27 solid frames for the Mariners before being traded to the Blue Jays and continuing to throw well. On the whole, he turned in 53 1/3 innings with an appealing 2.70 ERA.

That said, the numbers beyond his ERA don’t look quite as rosy. Walker benefited from a .243 average on balls in play and a slightly elevated 78.5 percent strand rate. His 22.2 percent strikeout rate was a it worse than league average, as was his 39.1 percent ground-ball rate. The righty’s 93.5 mph average heater was down from its 95.1 mph peak, and his swinging-strike rate was among the lowest in the league (13th percentile, per Statcast). Fielding-independent marks like SIERA (4.60) and Statcast’s xERA (4.87) aren’t as bullish on Walker as his bottom-line ERA.

Coupled with some durability concerns stemming from his 2018-19 absence, it’s understandable that clubs might not be sold on giving Walker a lucrative multi-year deal based on 11 starts (during which he averaged fewer than five frames per outing). To Walker’s credit, he was at one point one of the game’s premier pitching prospects and is younger than virtually all of his peers on the open market, thus arguably giving him more upside than said peers.

The Mets wouldn’t need Walker to be much more than a fourth starter for them, though, and we’ve seen fourth starters get paid eight-figure salaries on multi-year deals frequently in the past. New York currently has a solid but top-heavy rotation mix at present, with two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom again set to lead the charge. He’ll be followed by Carlos Carrasco and Marcus Stroman, with former first-rounder David Peterson currently in line for the fourth starter’s gig after an impressive rookie campaign.

Beyond that quartet, the Mets have trade acquisitions Joey Lucchesi, Jordan Yamamoto and Sean Reid-Foley on the 40-man roster, as well as offseason signee Sam McWilliams. Their depth is unequivocally better than in 2020 — the Mets also have Mike Montgomery and Jerad Eickhoff in camp on non-roster deals — but there’s still some uncertainty after the top three names. Walker comes with his own question marks, but he’s also had more success at the MLB level than any of the options the Mets currently have for the back of the rotation. In 581 2/3 innings dating back to 2013, Walker has a 3.84 ERA.

From a financial vantage point, adding Walker surely wouldn’t put the Mets in any danger of surpassing the luxury threshold. They’re currently at $187.7MM in luxury obligations at the moment, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, so any deal with Walker would likely leave them eight figures of breathing room with regard to the tax barrier.

Phillies Sign Brad Miller

By Steve Adams | February 17, 2021 at 12:22pm CDT

12:22pm: Miller is guaranteed $3.5MM on the deal, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.

11:45am: The Phillies announced Wednesday that they’ve signed utilityman Brad Miller to a one-year, Major League contract. Right-hander Seranthony Dominguez, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, has been transferred to the 60-day injured list to create space on the 40-man roster. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi reported last week that the Phillies and Miller, an ISE Baseball client, were in talks on a one-year deal in the $3MM range.

Miller, who is returning to the Phils after a year with the Cardinals, makes for a sensible upgrade for a thin bench. With Didi Gregorius back in the fold and Jean Segura expected to serve as the everyday option at second base, the 31-year-old Miller will join versatile Scott Kingery in backing up at a number of positions around the diamond. He probably won’t get much reserve time at shortstop and won’t see action in center — both spots Kingery can handle — but Miller could see time at second base, first base, third base and in the outfield corners.

Prior to re-signing Miller, the Phillies would’ve lacked infield depth on days that Kingery was roaming the outfield. Philadelphia acquired infield prospect C.J. Chatham — a former Dave Dombrowski draftee — from the Red Sox earlier this winter but have little on the 40-man roster behind him. Ronald Torreyes is in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, but a couple of injuries could have left the Phillies reliant on a thin farm system that lacks MLB-ready infield talent.

Miller isn’t the plus defender that Kingery is, but he’s been a much better hitter of late and has a longer track record at the MLB level. In 171 plate appearances with the Cardinals in 2020, Miller slashed .232/.357/.451, and over the past three years combined he’s a .247/.329/.468 batter with 27 homers, 27 doubles and four triples. He’s strikeout-prone (29.1 percent in that time), which limits his batting average, but Miller draws plenty of walks (10.4 percent) and makes frequent hard contact.

The Cardinals used Miller as a designated hitter more often than anything else in 2020, although he played 15 games at third base and also appeared at shortstop and second base. He lined up most frequently in left field and at third base with the Phillies in 2019, but Miller has more than 1200 at second base and more than 600 at first base as well. He’s also logged 3000-plus innings at shortstop, so while he’s only their third- or fourth-best defensive option there, he can certainly handle the position in a pinch.

The Phillies, by all indications, are angling to stay beneath the $210MM luxury tax threshold, though adding Miller on a reasonable deal doesn’t really jeopardize that goal. Assuming that roughly $3MM price point proves correct, the Miller signing will push them to just under $202MM in luxury obligations, per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource.

That leaves the club with a bit of room for some in-season maneuvering, although if either of Brandon Kintzler or Tony Watson makes the club’s roster, that figure will climb further north. Both veteran relievers agreed to minor league deals that contain $3MM base salaries upon making the MLB roster. The Phillies formally announced Watson’s deal, which was reported earlier this morning, alongside their announcement of the Miller deal.

Marlins Designate Harold Ramirez For Assignment

By Steve Adams | February 17, 2021 at 11:54am CDT

The Marlins announced Wednesday that they’ve designated outfielder Harold Ramirez for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander John Curtiss, whose previously reported acquisition from the Rays is now official. Miami also formally announced its one-year deal with outfielder Adam Duvall today, placing righty Jeff Brigham to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move.

Ramirez, 26, made his Major League debut with the Marlins in May 2019 and came out of the gates on fire, batting .368/.419/.474 in his first month of action. His bat cooled after the fact, but that early hot streak was enough to leave him with a respectable .276/.312/.416 batting line through 446 plate appearances as a rookie.

The 2020 season was another story entirely, however, as Ramirez was among the many Marlins players to test positive for Covid-19 early in the year when the team was hit with an outbreak of the virus. He returned in early September but sustained an immediate hamstring injury that resulted in him being carted off the field. Ramirez didn’t make it back to the active roster following that injury and finished out his 2020 season with just three games and 11 plate appearances.

That was obviously a disappointing outcome for a player who likely hoped to have cemented himself on the big league roster with a decent rookie showing, and today’s DFA is a further downturn in trajectory. The Marlins will have a week to trade Ramirez or pass him through outright waivers. SportsGrid’s Craig Mish tweets that Miami has been attempting to move him “to no avail,” though with the DFA clock now ticking, it’s possible those talks could be accelerated.

Ramirez does have a minor league option remaining, and in addition to a respectable output at the plate in 2019, he carries a career .303/.358/.421 slash in parts of eight minor league seasons. He’s still appeared in only 31 games at the Triple-A level, but Ramirez has been productive both there and in Double-A. He’s best deployed in an outfield corner, but the Fish gave him 192 innings of center field work in 2019, so he can at least handle the position. Teams in search of a right-handed, corner outfield bat could certainly have interest in swinging a minor deal for Ramirez, who can be controlled through at least the 2025 season.

Pirates Sign Tyler Anderson

By Steve Adams and Connor Byrne | February 17, 2021 at 10:50am CDT

It’s been an offseason focused on stockpiling prospects and shedding payroll for the Pirates, but the club on Wednesday announced its first Major League free-agent signing of the winter. Left-hander Tyler Anderson has signed a one-year contract for the 2021 season, while Rule 5 righty Jose Soriano has been placed on the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Anderson, a client of Beverly Hills Sports Council, is reportedly guaranteed $2.5MM on the deal.

Anderson became a free agent when the Giants non-tendered him at the Dec. 2 deadline. The 31-year-old appeared in 13 of their games last season, started 11, and notched a 4.37 ERA in 59 2/3 innings. Those numbers look OK, but Anderson survived despite below-average strikeout, walk and groundball percentages of 15.8, 9.6 and 28.5, respectively. Anderson also only managed a 5.69 SIERA, which ranked next to last among 81 pitchers who amassed at least 50 innings in 2020.

Before he joined the Giants, Anderson spent 2016-19 as a member of the Rockies, with whom he largely posted acceptable production. Overall, Anderson has a 4.65 ERA/4.36 SIERA with a 21.0 percent strikeout rate and a 7.7 percent walk rate across 456 2/3 innings. The former Oregon star and first-round pick has seen his time on the mound interrupted by a series of knee injuries, by Anderson’s elbow and shoulder have held up throughout his pro career.

Anderson should fill a rotation spot this year with the non-contending Pirates, who don’t have anything resembling a front-line starter at the moment after trading away both Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon this winter as part of their ongoing rebuild. Anderson will join Steven Brault and Chad Kuhl as the most experienced starters on the 40-man roster in Pittsburgh, while younger arms like Mitch Keller, JT Brubaker, Wil Crowe and Miguel Yajure will vie for opportunities to prove themselves at the MLB level.

Any of Anderson, Brault or Kuhl could emerge as summer trade chips if they’re throwing well this year, and it’s still plausible that either Brault or Kuhl could be moved between now and Opening Day.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the agreement (via Twitter). Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported the terms (Twitter link).

Cubs To Sign Pedro Strop

By Steve Adams | February 17, 2021 at 9:58am CDT

The Cubs have another reunion in the works, agreeing to a minor league contract and Spring Training invite with free-agent righty Pedro Strop, as first reported by Mike Rodriguez (Twitter link). Strop, a client QC Sports, will earn $800K if he makes the big league club.

Strop, acquired alongside Jake Arrieta in one of the more lopsided deals in recent memory, was with the Cubs from 2013-19 before an extremely brief, 2 1/3-inning stint with the Reds in 2020. He and Arrieta, who reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with the Cubs last week, could now both be back at Wrigley Field for the 2021 campaign.

A groin injury limited Strop’s time with the Reds in 2020, but his results even when on the mound weren’t particularly encouraging. It was a small sample, of course, but Strop walked six of the 15 batters he faced and also threw a wild pitch, indicating that his control wasn’t anywhere near its usual levels. It’s likely that the groin injury contributed to those struggles, but the Reds didn’t give him much of a chance to right the ship; Strop was designated for assignment immediately upon coming off the IL. He returned to the Cubs on a minor league deal but didn’t get back to the Majors.

Now healthy, the 35-year-old Strop should have a decent chance of making the team. The Cubs’ bullpen is largely unsettled behind closer Craig Kimbrel — and even he has yet to ever truly find consistency in Chicago. The Cubs reportedly agreed to a deal with Brandon Workman earlier this morning, and they’ve also signed lefty Andrew Chafin to a big league deal. Beyond that, they’ll rely on a host of journeymen and/or prospects with limited MLB track records. Rowan Wick, Dan Winkler, Duane Underwood Jr., Jason Adam and Brad Wieck are among the team’s other options in the ’pen.

Certainly, given his track record, Strop could have an inside track on a bullpen spot. The righty’s original seven-year stint with the Cubs, after all, was an undeniable success. He racked up 373 innings out of the Chicago bullpen, pitching to a 2.90 ERA with 28 saves, 110 holds, a 28.1 percent strikeout rate and a 9.7 percent walk rate. He added in 17 innings of 2.12 ERA ball in the postseason, including a pair of scoreless frames in the 2016 World Series.

There’s surely some sentimental value in the signing for Cubs fans, but it’s hard to overlook the fact that the team is putting together a patchwork bullpen for the third straight offseason. The combined $3.75MM the Cubs have spent on Workman and Chafin is the only guaranteed money invested in the bullpen this winter, and the club hasn’t succeeded in developing a reliable in-house reliever in years. To their credit, the organization has still posted middle-of-the-pack results in terms of bullpen ERA despite the lack of homegrown arms or notable additions, but it’s also tough to cobble together an effective relief corps in this manner each offseason.

Rays Acquire Chris Mazza, Jeffrey Springs From Red Sox

By Steve Adams | February 17, 2021 at 9:19am CDT

9:19am: The teams have officially announced the four-player trade. Tampa Bay placed lefty Jalen Beeks, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, on the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. The Red Sox, notably, announced that backup catcher Kevin Plawecki has been placed on the Covid-19 related injured list (which can be done either for positive cases or for players who have been exposed to positive cases).

9:00am: The two sides have agreed to the trade of Mazza, Springs and cash for Hernandez and Sogard, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

8:09am: The Rays and Red Sox are moving toward a trade that would send recently designated-for-assignment pitchers Chris Mazza and Jeffrey Springs from Boston to Tampa Bay in exchange for minor league catcher Ronaldo Hernandez and another Rays farmhand, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter thread). MLB.com’s Adam Berry tweets that 23-year-old Nick Sogard, the Rays’ 12th-round pick in 2019, is the other player going to Boston in the deal.

Hernandez ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects as recently as the 2018-19 offseason, so it’s a bit of a surprise to see the Rays deal him and another minor leaguer in exchange for a pair of recently DFA’ed arms. Hernandez’s prospect stock has tumbled in recent seasons, however, and the Rays are likely aiming to stockpile as much optionable pitching depth as possible to get them through a 2021 season when most pitchers will be on limited workloads.

Mazza, 31, has spent time in the Majors with the Mets and Red Sox across the past two seasons but hasn’t matched his strong Triple-A results. In 46 1/3 big league innings, he’s posted a 5.05 ERA and 4.96 SIERA with sub-par strikeout (21.3), walk (11.0) and ground-ball (35.4) percentages. Mazza does carry a 3.72 ERA in 92 Triple-A frames and a 3.24 mark in 283 2/3 Double-A innings, but he’s been with five MLB organizations (Twins, Marlins, Mariners, Mets, Red Sox) and hasn’t carried those results to the big leagues yet.

The 2020 season was Springs’ first with the Red Sox, and it proved to be a struggle. In 20 1/3 frames, the former Rangers southpaw was tagged for a 7.08 ERA. He struck out 28 percent of his opponents against just a seven percent walk rate, but five of the 99 opponents Springs faced took him deep. He has a 5.42 ERA and 4.66 FIP in 84 2/3 innings at the Major League level between the Texas and Boston organizations.

Mazza limited hard contact reasonably well in 2020, while Springs showed plenty of aptitude for missing bats even if he yielded too many long balls. Both figure to be shuttled back and forth between the Rays’ Triple-A club in Durham and their MLB roster throughout the season. The Rays surely believe they can coax more out of both players as well, either by tinkering with their pitch mixes or altering their approach with the existing arsenals of Mazza and Springs.

The trade also illustrates the volatility of prospects and serves as a reminder not to be too beholden to prospect lists, which are typically just a snapshot in time anyhow. Hernandez posted big numbers in Rookie ball and had a strong full-season debut in 2018 when he slashed .284/.339/.494 with 21 homers in 109 games. His 2019 season in Class-A Advanced, however, resulted in a lackluster .265/.299/.397 showing, though he did rebound with a good showing during 11 games of Arizona Fall League action.

Hernandez still ranked 13th among Tampa Bay prospects, per Baseball America, but perhaps the Rays’ internal evaluations vary. It’s tougher than ever to evaluate prospects right now after they didn’t have a minor league season in 2020 and weren’t as widely accessible for scouts. The Rays may feel that Hernandez’s stock is more diminished than the general public consensus. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, meanwhile, knows Hernandez quite well from his time as a Rays vice president and was likely more than content to roll the dice on a prospect at an organizational position of need when the cost was a pair of arms the Sox determined to be fringe 40-man contributors.

Boston will also pick up Sogard, a utility-infield type who is devoid of any power but can move around the diamond with a contact-driven skill set at the plate. Sogard hit all of two home runs in his NCAA career and slashed .290/.405/.313 in 63 games for the Rays’ short-season Class-A affiliate following the draft. He walked nearly as often as he struck out that year — a trend which aligns with his college days at Loyola Marymount.

Cubs To Sign Brandon Workman

By Steve Adams | February 17, 2021 at 8:38am CDT

8:38am: The two sides have a Major League deal in place, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.

8:34am: The Cubs are closing in on a one-year, Major League deal with right-hander Brandon Workman, reports Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal in question would guarantee Workman $1MM with another $2MM available via incentives. The Workman deal comes one day after Cubs president of baseball operations signaled that he expected to soon add one more reliever on a Major League deal.

Outside of a catastrophically bad 13 2/3 innings with the Phillies last year, Workman has ranged anywhere from a solid to shutdown late-inning arm in recent years. From 2017 up until last year’s trade to Philadelphia, the 32-year-old Workman gave the Red Sox 159 1/3 innings of 2.65 ERA ball with a 28.8 percent strikeout rate, an 11.8 percent walk rate and a 46.4 percent grounder rate.

Workman’s 2019 season, in particular, was a source of intrigue. The righty stepped up as Boston’s primary closer and posted a 1.88 ERA with a ridiculous 36.4 percent strikeout rate, but he also turned in a bloated 15.7 percent walk rate that was far and away the highest of his career.

In 2019, Workman scaled back the use of his four-seamer and cutter that year and leaned into his curveball at a career-high 47.2 percent, perhaps contributing both to the spike in walks and the much larger spike in strikeouts. He was following the same gameplan in 2020, and doing so with better control of the strike zone in a limited sample, before greatly reducing his curveball usage in Philadelphia. Whether Workman lost the feel for his curveball with the Phillies or lost confidence in the pitch (perhaps both), the once-wipeout offering quickly became the source of his struggles. After hitting just .135/.250/.195 on plate appearances ending with Workman’s curveball in 2019, opponents uncorked a staggering .436/.511/.641 slash against that same hook in 2020.

The Cubs will obviously look to restore Workman’s curveball to peak levels. If they’re able to do so, Workman ought to be a considerable bargain at his modest price point. He should have the opportunity to pitch in high-leverage situations, reprising his role as a setup man for former Boston teammate and current Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel.

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