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Reds Claim Max Schrock

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The Reds have claimed infielder Max Schrock off waivers from the Cubs, per a team announcement. Chicago had recently designated Schrock for assignment. The move fills the Reds’ 40-man roster.

Schrock, 26, was a 13th-round pick by the Nationals back in 2015 but has since been traded to the A’s (in return for Marc Rzepczynski) and the Cardinals (in exchange for Stephen Piscotty). He made his big league debut with the Cards in 2020, going 3-for-17 with a home run, but was then claimed off waivers by the Cubs at season’s end. The Reds’ claim will put Schrock on his third NL Central roster in a span of just four months.

While Schrock won’t do much for the Reds’ glaring lack of a shortstop — he’s played just 78 innings at the position in his pro career — he gives them a left-handed bat with experience at second base and at third base. He’s never shown much power, but Schrock is a career .300/.354/.406 hitter in five minor league seasons, including a .260/.324/.350 line in 760 Triple-A plate appearances.

Jed Hoyer On Extension Possibilities

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  • The Cubs are planning on discussing contract extensions with some of their important veterans during spring training, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer revealed (via Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago). It’s “almost” certain they’ll talk new deals with first baseman Anthony Rizzo and shortstop Javier Baez, Wittenmyer reports, though it’s unclear whether the Cubs will make a spirited effort to retain third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant for the long haul. All three players are only under team for one more season. Bryant has been part of plenty rumors in recent weeks, so he seems the most likely of the trio to be part of a trade.

Details On Cubs' Pursuit Of Nolan Arenado Last Offseason

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The Braves had some talks with the Rockies about Nolan Arenado before the star third baseman was dealt to the Cardinals, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (subscription required).  Rosenthal also sheds some light on one of last offseason’s more intriguing rumors, the talks between the Rockies and Cubs about a trade involving both Arenado and Kris Bryant.  Jason Heyward was also part of the negotiations at one point as the Cubs looked for payroll offset for Arenado’s contract, though the Rockies weren’t interested in adding any money beyond the 2021 season (which marks the end of Bryant’s current contract and when Arenado could have exercised his opt-out clause).

As Rosenthal notes, the Cubs could end up looking back on those talks as “a what-might-have-been” given that they’ll now be facing Arenado on a regular basis in the NL Central.  From Colorado’s perspective, such a trade might not have been a clear win if a Rockies-bound Bryant had suffered a similar run of injuries that hampered him in the actual 2020 season, but it still might have drawn better reviews than their trade package from St. Louis.  “Rival executives remain baffled by the deal,” Rosenthal writes, as the Rox rather inexplicably worked themselves into an unsalvageable situation with their best player.

Cubs Designate Max Schrock

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The Cubs have designated infielder Max Schrock for assignment, Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets. The DFA helps clear room for Joc Pederson, Trevor Williams and Andrew Chafin, whom the Cubs recently agreed to sign.

Schrock had a short stay on the Cubs’ 40-man roster, as they claimed him off waivers from the Cardinals at the end of October. The 26-year-old has limited major league experience (17 plate appearances, all of which came in 2o20) and hasn’t posted impressive production at the Triple-A level. Over 760 PA there, Schrock has batted .260/.324/.350 with six home runs.

Cubs To Sign Joc Pederson

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FEB. 5: The mutual option includes a $10MM salary or a $2.5MM buyout, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. Pederson could also earn an extra $125K for 500, 525, 550 or 575 plate appearances.

JAN. 29, 9:05am: There’s a mutual option for the 2022 season on the contract as well, Sherman tweets. As with many mutual options, it comes with a notable buyout, so Pederson’s actual 2021 salary will come in a ways south of that $7MM sum. (Option buyouts are always included in the “guaranteed” portion of a contract.)

Mutual options are typically used as accounting measures more than anything else. A player who overperforms his contract will generally decline his half of the option in favor of a return to market in search of a more lucrative deal; similarly, a player who underperforms may opt into his side of the deal, but the team will turn down its half in those settings. It’s not unprecedented for both sides to exercise a mutual option, but it is quite rare. In other words, the overwhelming likelihood is that Pederson will again be on the open market next winter.

8:30am: It’s a one-year, $7MM deal for Pederson, tweets ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The contract carries an additional $500K of available incentives, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Passan suggests that the Cubs will give Pederson an opportunity to play on an everyday basis rather than platooning him — a component of the deal that was particularly appealing for Pederson.

7:24am: The Cubs are in agreement on a deal with free-agent outfielder Joc Pederson, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). The Excel Sports Management client’s contract is still pending the completion of a physical.

Joc Pederson | Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Pederson, 28, represents the first notable addition of the offseason for a Cubs team that has otherwise been quiet on the free-agent front this winter (small deals with Austin Romine and Kohl Stewart notwithstanding). Pederson, in fact, will become the most prominent name to sign a free-agent deal with the Cubs since Craig Kimbrel. The team has generally eschewed the pursuit of notable free agents in each offseason since signing Yu Darvish to a six-year deal, as owner Tom Ricketts has openly lamented a lack of resources and declared 2020’s revenue losses to be “biblical” in proportion.

Chicago, of course, traded Darvish and Victor Caratini to the Padres earlier this season and non-tendered Kyle Schwarber as well. They’ll reinvest some of those savings into this deal with Pederson, though it’s at least something of an odd fit given the vast similarities he has to Schwarber. Pederson is a career .230/.336/.470 hitter to Schwarber’s .230/.336/.480 batting line, though Pederson has put up that nearly identical line in a more pitcher-friendly setting (hence the gap in their respective 118 and 113 wRC+ marks).

Both left-handed hitters are largely considered to be platoon bats, and as is the case with their overall numbers, their splits against righties are nearly identical: .238/.349/.501 for Pederson against .239/.345/.514 for Schwarber. The same five-point gap in wRC+ (128 vs. 123) leans in favor of Pederson because of his home park. The primary difference seemingly comes down to defense, where Pederson has a solid track record in left field and Schwarber has been consistently below average. Still, it’s rather surprising to see the Cubs go out and sign a player whose offense is a near-mirror image of an established clubhouse presence they cast aside not two months ago.

With Pederson on board, the Cubs’ projected payroll jumps to about $152MM for the upcoming season, although future dealings could still impact that number. Both Willson Contreras and Kris Bryant are still candidates to be moved prior to Opening Day, with Bryant in particular standing out as a candidate given his lone remaining year of club control (at a hefty $19.5MM salary). The Cubs also figure to explore extensions with Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez as the season approaches.

Cubs Claim Sergio Alcantara

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The Cubs have claimed infielder Sergio Alcantara off waivers from the Tigers, per announcements from both clubs. Detroit designated him for assignment last week to make roster space for Wilson Ramos. Chicago’s 40-man roster is up to 38 players.

Alcantara, 24, made his big league debut with the Tigers last season and had three hits, including a homer, in 23 trips to the plate. The long ball was a bit 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. Alcantara is out of minor league options, so he’ll need to either break camp on the Cubs’ Opening Day roster as a defensive-minded utility piece, or else again be exposed to waivers (or traded).

Cubs Agree To Minor League Deals With Rex Brothers, Joe Biagini

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The Cubs have agreed to a handful of minor league pacts, Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle reports in his latest minor transactions roundup. Left-hander Rex Brothers, right-hander Joe Biagini, outfielder Nick Martini and corner infielder Patrick Wisdom have all joined the organization. Presumably, they’ll all be in big league camp.

Brothers, 33, tossed 3 1/3 innings with the Cubs last year and was tagged for three runs in that time. He spent the bulk of the season at Chicago’s alternate training site. Brothers looked the part of a potential lights-out reliever early in his career, logging a 2.82 ERA and 29.2 percent strikeout rate through his first 175 2/3 innings with the Rockies in 2011-13.

Brothers struggled through a brutal 2014 season, however, and he’s only pitched sparingly in the Majors since that time (37 1/3 total innings). Overall, the lefty carries a 3.84 ERA in the big leagues, but all of his success came in that early Rockies run. He’s punched out nearly 34 percent of hitters faced in parts of six Triple-A seasons, though, and his ability to miss bats continues to intrigue teams even if it’s paired with shaky control.

Biagini, 30, had a strong rookie season with the Blue Jays as a Rule 5 pick back in 2016. Toronto tried to move him into the rotation in 2017, though, and over the next two years he struggled in that role and in a return to the bullpen.

Biagini looked to have righted the ship in 2019, pitching to a 3.78 ERA through 50 frames before being traded to the Astros alongside Aaron Sanchez, but his brief tenure in Houston proved to be a nightmare. In 19 innings from 2019-20, he yielded 22 runs on 31 hits (seven homers) and 13 walks. He’s had success out of the ’pen on multiple occasions with the Jays, and he can perhaps give Chicago some right-handed depth in that regard.

Martini, also 30, has been an OBP machine in the upper minors and even in his brief time at the MLB level. From 2018-19 between the A’s and Padres, he slashed .269/.372/.380 in 288 trips to the plate. The left-handed-hitting Martini has had similar OBP-driven value at the plate in Triple-A, where he’s a .305/.401/.435 hitter in more than 1400 plate appearances. For a Cubs team that has wanted to cut down on its strikeouts, he’s an intriguing depth option to stash in the event of an injury at the big league level. Martini has experience at all three outfield spots but has worked mostly in the corners in recent minor league seasons.

The 29-year-old Wisdom was hitless with two plate appearances as a Cub in 2020 and carries a .218/.299/.397 batting line through 88 plate appearances over the past three seasons. The longtime Cardinals prospect has shown some power at the Triple-A level but has also been prone to strikeouts there. He’s a .252/.328/.478 hitter in parts of four seasons of Triple-A ball but has experience at both first base and third base.

Cubs, Andrew Chafin Agree To Major League Deal

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9:49pm: Chafin will earn $2.25MM in 2021, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, who adds that the deal includes a $5.25MM mutual option or a $500K buyout for 2022. Chafin could also make up to $500K in incentives based on games pitched in each of the two seasons, bringing his total guarantee to $2.75MM.

9:31pm: The Cubs have agreed to a major league contract with left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin, according to Zach Buchanan of The Athletic. Chafin is a client of Meister Sports Management.

Chafin ended last year with the Cubs, who acquired him from the Diamondbacks for young infielder Ronny Simon at the Aug. 31 deadline. A left finger sprain limited Chafin in Chicago late in the season, though, as he didn’t make his debut with the team until Sept. 20. The 30-year-old ultimately gave the Cubs three innings of one-run ball, though his finger issues held him to just 9 2/3 frames between the two clubs.

Since he debuted with the Diamondbacks in 2014, Chafin has notched a 3.67 ERA/3.60 SIERA with roughly average strikeout and walk percentages (25.0 and 10.1) and a solid groundball rate of 52.3 percent in 274 2/3 innings. He could enter this season as the most proven southpaw in a Cubs bullpen that’s largely devoid of established options in that respect.

Cubs "Doubtful" To Sign Jake Arrieta

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The Mets have already put a lot of focus on their rotation this winter, between retaining Marcus Stroman via the qualifying offer and adding Carlos Carrasco and Joey Lucchesi in trades.  While Trevor Bauer’s name continues to loom over Citi Field, the Mets are also continuing to explore other hurlers.  According to Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times (via Twitter), New York had interest in right-hander Trevor Williams before Williams signed with the Cubs.  The Mets were also among the teams present to watch Mike Foltynewicz during his recent throwing session, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter).

  • The Cubs had interest in Jake Arrieta but a signing is “doubtful,” ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers tweets, since the Cubs want a less-expensive option.  Arrieta’s asking price can’t be all that high considering his middling results over the last two seasons, but perhaps the $2.5MM (with deferred money involved) the Cubs gave Williams is a better example of what the team is willing to spend.

Cubs To Sign Trevor Williams

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The Cubs have agreed to a one-year, Major League deal with right-hander Trevor Williams, Evan Altman of Cubs Insider reports (Twitter link).  The contract will become official once Williams passes a physical.  Williams will earn roughly $2.5MM, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, and Altman notes that some portion of Williams’ salary is likely to be deferred.

After spending all five of his MLB seasons in a Pirates uniform, Williams will remain in the NL Central and now look to win a job at the back of Chicago’s rotation.  Kyle Hendricks, Zach Davies, Adbert Alzolay, and Alec Mills are lined up for the first four starting spots, though only Hendricks and Davies truly have their spots locked up.  Kohl Stewart was also recently signed to a big league contract, Shelby Miller to a minors deal, and at least one more arm is on the way, as ESPN’s Jesse Rogers tweets that the Cubs are expected more pitching before Spring Training opens.

Williams opted to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment from the Pirates back in November, with the Bucs’ move essentially acting as an early non-tender — Williams was projected to earn between $3.2MM and $4.6MM in his second year of arbitration eligibility, and the Cubs control him through 2022 via that third arbitration year.  The righty received a fair amount of interest on the open market despite some rough numbers in 2020.

Williams posted a 6.18 ERA and only a 19.4 strikeout percentage (ranking in the 25th percentile of all pitchers) over 55 1/3 innings.  The home run problems that plagued Williams in 2019 worsened last season, as he allowed a league-high 15 homers.  Both the home run increase and a marked uptick in hard contact allowed has led to struggles for Williams since the start of the 2019 season.

During the 2017-18 seasons, however, Williams looked like a durable young pitcher on the rise, as he had a 3.56 ERA over 321 innings in Pittsburgh’s rotation.  Williams kept hitters off-balance despite a lack of a blazing fastball or big strikeout numbers, though since his SIERA was over a run higher than his 3.56 ERA, there might have been some good fortune involved.

Williams (who turns 29 in April) does have a solid track record when it comes to eating innings, which will certainly be valuable on a Cubs staff that may be juggling multiple arms at the back of the rotation.  Alzolay, Mills, and Stewart have only 215 1/3 combined big league innings on their resume.

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