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Cubs Sign First-Round Pick Cade Horton

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The Cubs have signed their first-round selection Cade Horton with a $4.45MM signing bonus, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter). Horton’s deal comes in south of the slot value for the seventh overall selection, which is allotted $5.71MM.

By coming in under slot for Horton, Callis notes, the Cubs were able to use their savings to draft Jackson Ferris in the second round of the draft. That certainly counts as a win for Chicago, but Horton himself is no slouch. The athletic 20-year-old right-hander comes to the Cubs as a pitcher, but he was also a competent infielder with Oklahoma, though his offensive numbers don’t jump off the page. He hit .235/.323/.324 across 168 plate appearances while mostly playing third base.

But of course, the Cubs did not draft Horton as an infielder. On the hill for Oklahoma, Horton posted a 4.86 ERA over 14 outings (11 starts) totaling 53 2/3 innings during the NCAA regular season. Horton brings a power arsenal to Chicago. He throws heat in the upper nineties, which he complements with a wipeout slider that touches 90 mph.

Horton does come with an injury history, having missed his freshman season at OU because of Tommy John surgery. The Cubs may believe the best is yet to come with Horton as he continues to find his footing after surgery. He was particularly impressive during the College World Series, which no doubt raised his stock enough to put him into the first-round conversation.

Dwight Smith Passes Away

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Former major league outfielder Dwight Smith has passed away, according to an announcement from the Braves. He was 58 years old.

“We are saddened by the passing earlier today of Dwight Smith, an integral member of our 1995 World Series Championship team,” the Braves said in a statement. “The 1989 NL Rookie of the Year runner up, Dwight enjoyed an eight-year major league career that included two postseason trips with the Cubs and Braves. Dwight was also a beloved alumni member, and his infectious smile will be missed around Truist Park. Our deepest condolences to his wife Cheryl, daughters Taylor and Shannyn, and son, Dwight, Jr.”

As the team mentioned, Smith broke into the majors with an excellent season. He hit .324/.382/.493 through 381 plate appearances with the Cubs in 1989, finishing runner-up to teammate Jerome Walton in that year’s Rookie of the Year balloting. He’d spend the next few seasons on the North Side of Chicago, seeing action all around the outfield. After a few down years, Smith rebounded to post a strong .300/.355/.494 showing across 111 games in 1993.

Smith split the 1994 campaign between the Angels and Orioles before joining Atlanta in advance of the ’95 season. He’d spent the next two years with the Braves as a part-time player, appearing in 204 regular season games between 1995-96. Smith saw a bit of playoff action that first year, which culminated in a World Series title. Altogether, he appeared in more than 800 contest over parts of eight seasons. He tallied just fewer than 2000 plate appearances, hitting .275/.333/.422 with 46 home runs, 42 stolen bases and 226 runs batted in.

MLBTR joins others around the game in sending our condolences to Smith’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates.

Brad Wieck Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Cubs reliever Brad Wieck underwent Tommy John surgery this week, the team informed reporters (including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). Given the timing of the procedure, it seems likely he’ll miss the bulk or all of the 2023 season.

Wieck has spent the entire 2022 campaign on the 60-day injured list. He was diagnosed with an elbow strain in Spring Training, and efforts to rehab over the past few months have apparently proven unsuccessful. He’ll obviously not pitch this year and could miss two full seasons depending on his recovery timetable.

It’s a brutal blow for Wieck, who may have featured into the high-leverage mix for Chicago if healthy. He tossed 17 scoreless innings last season, striking out a whopping 39.4% of batters faced. The left-hander battled some shaky control, but he’d still been one of the Cubs best relievers through the first half. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat and was shut down early in July.

The only silver lining is that Wieck will collect a major league salary and a full year of service time while recovering this season. He’ll surpass the three-year service threshold this year, qualifying for arbitration for the first time. The 30-year-old’s salary would be fairly modest given all his time lost to injury, but the Cubs could still non-tender him rather than reinstate him to the 40-man roster over the offseason.

The Cubs Should Think About Selling High On Patrick Wisdom

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With a record of 35-57, the Cubs are 14 1/2 games behind the Brewers in the National League Central and 14 games out of a Wild Card spot. That makes them one of the more clearcut sellers at this year’s trade deadline.

Naturally, there were a number of Cubs featured on MLBTR’s list of top trade candidates, with Willson Contreras, David Robertson, Mychal Givens and Ian Happ all making the cut. Contreras and Robertson are both hitting the open market at year’s end, with Givens almost certainly joining them. He has a mutual option for 2023 but those are almost never picked up by both sides. That makes them all logical trade candidates. Happ has an extra year of control but still makes sense to be on the block, as MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently explored. Taking players with limited control and turning them into prospects that can help in the long term is the standard playbook for losing teams.

They also have another player who could make sense as a trade chip, though for different reasons. Third baseman Patrick Wisdom is not nearing free agency. He came into this season with one year and 58 days of MLB service time, meaning he should finish this season at 2.058. He won’t even qualify for arbitration until after 2023 and is set to become a free agent after the 2026 campaign. The Cubs will almost certainly get out of this rebuild and return to contention at some point in that window, though Wisdom could still make sense to move given his unusual journey.

Wisdom was selected over a decade ago, when the Cardinals used the 52nd overall pick on him in the 2012 draft. He got a taste of affiliated ball that year, playing in Low-A, faring well enough to be ranked the 11th best Cardinals prospect in 2013 by Baseball America. However, he struggled as he climbed the minor league ladder and eventually fell off that list.

Wisdom always had power, but also strikeouts and low batting averages. In 2014, he got his first taste of Double-A, hitting 14 home runs but striking out 29.9% of the time, with a .215/.277/.367 line and wRC+ of 83. He repeated the level in 2015 and had fairly similar results. Going up to Triple-A in 2016, he missed time with injuries and only played 78 games, producing tepid results when on the field. 2017, his second shot at Triple-A, he showed some promise, hitting 31 homers and batting .243/.310/.507. He struck out 29.4% of the time but was still a bit above average, with a wRC+ of 105. He got a third stint with the Memphis Redbirds in 2018, reducing his striking rate a bit to 26.6% and increasing his batting average to .288.

That was enough to get him a call-up to the big leagues, where he fared very well. He hit four home runs in 32 games and slashed .260/.362/.520. Jumping to major league pitching made his strikeout rate tick up even higher, coming in at 32.8%, though he still produced a 142 wRC+ in his debut.

Blocked for playing time in St. Louis, the Cardinals traded him to the Rangers prior to the 2019 campaign. The new jersey didn’t help Wisdom, though, as he struggled badly as a Ranger. They only let him play nine games at the big league level, where he struck out in over half of plate appearances. Spending most of his time in Triple-A, he hit 31 home runs for the Nashville Sounds but struck out 27.6% of the time and hit .240/.332/.513 for a wRC+ of 97. Reaching free agency, he signed with the Mariners in 2020 but they designated for assignment before he appeared in a game with them. He then signed with the Cubs, appearing in just two games for them that season. He was designated for assignment again at the end of the year.

Then came 2021, which would prove to be a tremendous breakout for Wisdom. Re-signing with the Cubs on a minor league deal, he began the year in Triple-A. Injuries opened a roster spot for him in May, and the Cubs eventually underwent a massive deadline selloff, trading away Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez. That opened up at-bats for Wisdom, who made the best of them. He would go on to hit 28 home runs and 13 doubles in 106 games, slashing .231/.305/.518. He still struck out a lot, even more than usual, in fact. Among players with at least 350 plate appearances last year, his 40.8% rate was the easily the highest, more than five points higher than the next guy on the list, Mike Zunino at 35.2%.

Wisdom has seemingly always had the same formula and this year is no exception. He’s hit 17 home runs and 18 doubles, slashing .220/.316/.441. Despite the low batting average, he provides enough power to be above average, as evidenced by his 111 wRC+. He’s improved his strikeout rate to 34.5%, though that’s still well above the league average mark of 22.3% and third in the league among qualified hitters.

Through all of those twists and turns and despite his flaws, Wisdom has turned himself into a productive big leaguer. He produced 2.2 wins above replacement last year, according to FanGraphs, and has racked up another 1.1 already this year. But due to the prolonged nature of his development, he is now 30 years old and turns 31 in August. Though the Cubs could conceivably have a very aggressive winter and get back into contention next year, it becomes more probable in 2024 and 2025, seasons in which Wisdom will celebrate his 33rd and 34th birthdays.

It’s entirely possible that Wisdom is still mashing dingers in those years, but rebuilding teams generally prefer to open a competitive window with players who are just entering their prime years and will remain productive core pieces for five, six, seven years into the future. Given his age, Wisdom would be a better fit on a win-now club. Getting Wisdom out of the way could also allow the Cubs to move Christopher Morel back to the dirt. An infielder throughout most of his minor league career, he’s hitting very well in his rookie season despite being pushed into more outfield work. He has -5 Outs Above Average on the grass this year, a -5 Defensive Runs Saved and -3.3 Ultimate Zone Rating.

There’s also the fact that Wisdom’s high-strikeout approach comes with volatility. Players that strike out at these incredible rates are prone to swoons in performance. Looking at last year’s highest strikeout rates among qualified hitters, you get Joey Gallo, Miguel Sano, Javier Baez, Matt Chapman, Adam Duvall and Tyler O’Neill. Other than Chapman, all of those guys are having disappointing seasons compared to last year, and Chapman’s is still disappointing compared to some of his previous seasons. Gallo had a 123 wRC+ last year but 85 this year, Sano went from 110 to 19, Baez from 116 to 74, Chapman from 101 to 102 (but was higher in the four previous season), Duvall from 103 to 87 and O’Neill from 144 to 87. In the case of Sano and O’Neill, injuries are playing a big factor, but it still demonstrates the unsustainability of this style of hitting.

For the Cubs, perhaps they should try to cash in the Wisdom chip before it cracks. There haven’t been any public rumors mentioning Wisdom, but there are a few fits that make sense. He largely plays third base but has also lined up at first base and the outfield.

The Mets are using Eduardo Escobar at third most of the time, who’s hitting just .224/.279/.397 on the year for a 94 wRC+. They’re also known to be looking for another bat to supplant Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis in the bench/DH mix. Wisdom could perhaps be viewed as a better version of Davis, who is striking out 31% of the time but has just three homers and eight doubles.

The Rays have been shuffling various guys through the hot corner, with Yandy Diaz and Isaac Paredes both having great seasons. Though Diaz also plays first base and Paredes second. If Brandon Lowe, fresh off the IL, is healthy enough to move to the outfield, that would help them cover for the injuries to Kevin Kiermaier, Manuel Margot and Harold Ramirez. Even if not, Wisdom would certainly be a better bench bat than Yu Chang and his batting line of .181/.253/.264. Of course, the low-spending Rays would certainly like Wisdom’s lack of a meaningful salary.

The Brewers are leading the Central due to their pitching but are just about league average offensively. They’ve been spreading at-bats around to Luis Urias, Jace Peterson and Mike Brosseau, though all of those three are capable of playing elsewhere. Bob Nightengale of USA Today recently reported the Brewers are open to moving Kolten Wong, which could open room for Wisdom to take some time at third and bump that trio into spending more time at second.

The Phillies keep trotting out Alec Bohm at the hot corner, who’s hitting .276/.311/.388 for a wRC+ of 92. His numbers were even worse before he went on a tear here in July, hitting .382/.421/.647 for the month. They’ll probably just stick with Bohm and hope he sustains that, but Wisdom would certainly fit financially. The Phils are in uncharted territory in terms of payroll, crossing the luxury tax line for the first time. Since Wisdom hasn’t yet reached arbitration, he wouldn’t stretch them in that regard.

The Rangers have been mixing veterans in at third all year but have given most of the playing time to rookie Josh Smith lately, who’s hitting at a below-average rate. They’re 7 1/2 games out of a playoff spot and probably sellers but could acquire Wisdom to see what happens down the stretch. He could also hold down the position next year while they wait to see what’s going on with Josh Jung. Their top position player prospect had a chance to be the Opening Day third baseman this year but suffered a shoulder injury in February. He underwent surgery and has yet to return to game action.

There are also a handful of teams that aren’t necessarily “win-now” in the strictest sense but could try to implement Wisdom next year. The Rockies, Orioles, Angels, Tigers and Diamondbacks all have long odds of cracking the postseason here in 2022 but are all likely to make moves towards competing next year.

Even if a team doesn’t have an obvious fit at the hot corner, he’d likely serve as an upgrade on one of their bench bats, even among the best teams in the league. The Dodgers, for instance, have Hanser Alberto who’s hitting .227/.236/.364 for a wRC+ of 66. The red-hot Yankees have Marwin Gonzalez and his .234/.301/.378 batting line, 95 wRC+. The Astros have rookie J.J. Matijevic, who’s hitting a tepid .150/.209/.350 for a wRC+ of 58. Limiting Wisdom to a part-time role could also improve his output, as he’s generally been better against lefties. He has a 120 wRC+ against southpaws and 106 against righties for his career, with a more pronounced 142-100 split this season, though he still strikes out a lot against both.

There’s certainly no urgency for the Cubs to work out a Wisdom trade right this second. They will no doubt be busy working out trades for Contreras, Robertson, Givens and Happ in the coming weeks. With Wisdom’s extra years of control, he’s certainly on the backburner in terms of priorities. However, given the volatile nature of his production, they could look to strike while the iron is hot.

Cubs, Red Sox Among Teams To Discuss Dominic Smith With Mets

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Mets first baseman/outfielder Dominic Smith has been an obvious change-of-scenery candidate for months, and Robert Murray of FanSided reports that the Cubs and Red Sox are among the teams to have recently spoken to the Mets about the 27-year-old.

It’s been a season to forget for Smith, who opened the year in a bench role that gave him limited playing time before he was optioned to Triple-A on May 31. Smith received 101 plate appearances over the season’s first two months, starting 22 of the team’s first 40 games — including just 13 of the Mets’ 29 games in May. Along the way, he struggled to a .186/.287/.256 batting line, losing more and more time to fellow DH candidate J.D. Davis.

Upon being optioned to Syracuse, Smith appeared in 15 games and turned in a .266/347/.438 batting line with a pair of homers, five doubles and three steals in 72 trips to the plate. He was summoned back to the big leagues in late June and has batted .208/.255/.333 in 51 plate appearances since — again seeing sparse playing time as a part-time option off the bench. He’s played in 19 games since returning but only played a complete game on nine occasions.

This is the second straight season in which Smith has struggled, though he acknowledged back in Spring Training that he played through a small tear in the labrum of his right shoulder during the 2021 season. That surely played a role in Smith’s lackluster .244/.304/.363 showing last season — particularly when comparing that output to the robust .299/.366/.571 slash he posted in 396 plate appearances from 2019-20.

Smith’s trade value is at a low point, given the consecutive poor seasons at the plate and minimal defensive value. He’s improved his glovework at first base in recent years but is miscast as a left fielder. Still, Smith is a former first-round pick (No. 11 overall in 2013) and multi-time top-100 prospect who, from 2019-20, looked to be well on his way to solidifying himself as a middle-of-the-order presence in Queens. Pete Alonso’s emergence understandably cut into his opportunities, however, and Smith’s playing time was further cut down this season when the Mets added Eduardo Escobar, Mark Canha and Starling Marte to an already crowded infield/outfield mix.

There’s some sense to both Boston and Chicago as potential fits for Smith, who is earning $3.95MM in 2022 and has two seasons of club control remaining beyond the current campaign. The Red Sox have seen Bobby Dalbec’s sky-high strikeout rates catch up to him as his 2020-21 batting average on balls in play has come back down to earth, and they could lose J.D. Martinez to free agency at season’s end. Franchy Cordero, meanwhile, got out to a decent start at first base in his latest big league look but has faltered since the calendar flipped to July. Cordero, Dalbec and top prospect Tristan Casas give the Sox some options at first and at DH beyond the 2022 season, but Smith is a sensible enough buy-low candidate to add to the mix.

Over at Wrigley Field, the Cubs have received poor production from both Frank Schwindel and Alfonso Rivas. The Cubs surely hoped that they’d unearthed a diamond in the rough after Schwindel erupted with an out-of-nowhere .342/.389/.613 slash and 13 homers in 56 games with them down the stretch in ’21, but Schwindel is hitting just .238/.283/.383 in a similar sample size this season. Rivas, meanwhile, is at .236/.313/.323 in his first extended big league audition. The Cubs have been threading the needle between rebuilding and also trying to add some interesting long-term pieces (e.g. Seiya Suzuki, Marcus Stroman), and Smith would align with that type of addition.

Given Smith’s pedigree and the production he displayed in 2019-20, it’s likely that other clubs will check in, hoping that a more consistent role might bring about a return to form. Smith hasn’t outwardly requested a trade from the Mets, but he’s also been candid when asked by reporters about the possibility of a trade, stating that while he loves the Mets organization, his goal is to be an everyday player — wherever that might be.

Steven Souza Jr. Announces Retirement

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Outfielder Steven Souza Jr. took to Twitter today to announce his retirement from baseball after almost a decade in the big leagues.

“It’s been an incredible journey that I dreamed as a kid I would be able to go on,” wrote Souza, before going on to give a heartfelt thanks to the many people whose lives touched his along the way.

Steven Souza | Kirby Lee-USA TODAY SportsSouza, 33, was a third-round pick of the Nationals out of Cascade High School in 2007 and made his big league debut with the Nats in 2014. After getting into 21 games for Washington down the stretch, Souza went to the Rays in December 2014 as part of a convoluted three-team trade that saw Wil Myers go from Tampa to San Diego and Trea Turner go from the Padres to the Nats.

Souza would spent the next three seasons with the Rays, which will no doubt go down as the best stretch of his career. From 2015 to 2017, he played 378 games, hitting 63 home runs, 53 doubles, four triples, stealing 35 bases and hitting .238/.327/.426.

Incredibly, Souza was part of yet another three-team trade prior to the 2018 season. In this deal, Souza went to the Diamondbacks while Brandon Drury went to the Yankees, among other pieces changing hands. Unfortunately, Souza’s trip to the desert would be a disappointing one, with injuries preventing him from sustaining the production he showed in Tampa. He was limited to 72 games in 2018 due to pectoral issues and hit just .220/.309/.369 when on the field. In March of 2019, Souza sustained a far worse injury, slipping on home plate during a Spring Training game. The club would later announce that Souza tore or damaged multiple ligaments in his knee, which would require season-ending surgery.

After missing the entirety of the 2019 campaign, Arizona non-tendered him, allowing Souza to reach free agency for the first time in his career. He’d go on to see MLB action over the next three seasons with the Cubs, Dodgers and Mariners, respectively, but unable to recapture his previous form. Over those three seasons, he hit .152/.221/.291.

In the end, Souza was able to appear in 505 MLB games and make 1,895 plate appearances. He’ll head into retirement with a lifetime batting line of .229/.318/.411, 72 home runs, 71 doubles, eight triples, 383 total hits, 223 runs scored, 207 runs driven in and 42 stolen bases. He was able to earn more than $10MM over his big league tenure. MLBTR congratulates Souza on a fine career and wishes him the best of luck in his next chapter.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

The Cubs’ Second All-Star Trade Candidate

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Much of the focus in Wrigleyville over the next two weeks will be on Willson Contreras. That’s perfectly understandable. A career-long member of the organization, Contreras is set to don a Cubs uniform in the All-Star Game for the third (and very likely final) time tomorrow. He’s both one of the few remaining ties to the 2016 World Series-winning team and perhaps the game’s top trade candidate. An impending free agent whom the club hasn’t seemingly made much effort to sign long-term, he’s a virtual lock to be dealt by the August 2 deadline.

Contreras’ trade candidacy is so self-explanatory it has been discussed extensively for months. Yet the future of the other Cub headed to the Midsummer Classic will be equally fascinating to follow. Ian Happ is a first-time All-Star, a deserved National League representative amidst another productive year at the plate. The switch-hitting Happ carries a .274/.364/.443 line across 368 plate appearances through the season’s unofficial first half. By measure of wRC+, that production is 25 percentage points better than league average.

Happ had fared similarly in two of the past three years. He posted respective wRC+ marks of 126 and 130 in 2019 and 2020. Both those showings were in limited playing time, however. Happ spent a good chunk of the former season in Triple-A, where his .242/.364/.432 line was less impressive than his .264/.333/.564 work in a smaller MLB sample. The 2020 campaign, of course, was truncated because of the pandemic. Last year was Happ’s first full season of major league action since 2018, and he put together a .226/.323/.434 showing that was only marginally above average.

With Happ having held onto his 2019-20 rate production over a three-plus month stretch, one could argue he’s already had a career year in 2022. Perhaps even more importantly, the 27-year-old (28 next month) is getting to those results in a manner that appears more sustainable than he has in prior seasons. Happ’s game has featured quite a bit of swing-and-miss throughout his big league career, but he’s made notable strides in that department. He’s made contact on just under 76% of his swings this year. That’s four points higher than he has in any previous season, and he’s pulled just shy of league average in that regard. He’s paired that with a slightly more aggressive approach, particularly with regards to attacking pitches inside the strike zone.

Even slightly below-average bat-to-ball skills is workable for Happ, who does most other things well offensively. He’s always had solid strike zone awareness, and this season’s 11.4% walk rate is right in line with his career mark. That patience has consistently been paired with above-average power, with Happ posting higher than typical rates of hard contact in each of his six big league seasons. Traditionally, Happ’s power impact has skewed towards his time in the left-handed batters box. That hasn’t been the case this year, though, as he’s collected eight extra-base hits in 85 plate appearances as a right-handed hitter.

A switch-hitter with above-average patience and power and serviceable contact skills, Happ’s a well-rounded and valuable offensive player. He’s not elite, but he’s certainly a good hitter who’d upgrade plenty of teams’ corner outfield situations. Happ is miscast in center field (and on the infield, where he’d logged sporadic innings earlier in his career), but he’s a solid defender in left field. Statcast has pegged him as roughly league average at that position, while Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating have him a touch above. Left field is far down the defensive spectrum, but Happ’s work at the plate has been plenty sufficient to clear the loftier bar necessary to be a productive regular.

There haven’t yet been substantive reports linking any contenders with Happ, but it stands to reason there have already been clubs in touch with president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and his front office. The Red Sox, Braves, Twins and Dodgers are among the contenders that have gotten average or worse production out of their left fielders this year. Minnesota and L.A. are currently without their top preferred options (Trevor Larnach and Chris Taylor, respectively) due to injury.

The Blue Jays, Yankees and Padres have gotten solid work from left field but are looking for ways to upgrade their outfields generally. That’s perhaps also true of the Rays, who have Randy Arozarena in left but are expected to be without each of Kevin Kiermaier, Manuel Margot and Harold Ramírez for the foreseeable future. Other clubs like the Mariners, Mets and Guardians have solutions in left field but could look into adding another productive bat with question marks at designated hitter. That’s a broad range of possibilities Hoyer and his staff should be able to explore if they make Happ available this summer.

How motivated will the Cubs be to deal him? Trading Happ isn’t as urgent as moving Contreras will be. The latter is headed to the open market two months from now, while Happ is controllable for 2023 via arbitration. He’s playing this season on a $6.85MM salary, around $2.7MM of which will remain owed after the deadline. He’s sure to land a decent arbitration raise — likely putting next year’s tally in the $10-12MM range — before his first trip to the open market. That’s not an insignificant sum, but it’s still a strong bargain for a player of his caliber. Accordingly, the return package the Cubs receive for Happ is unlikely to ever be better than it will be this summer, when the club can market two playoff pushes to contenders. He’s young enough the Cubs could kick around extension possibilities, but there’s been no public indication that’s on the table.

One way or another, it feels like the appropriate time for the front office to pick a longer-term course of action regarding the former ninth overall pick. Merely holding onto Happ via arbitration doesn’t align with the club’s contention window. The Cubs may not intend to punt on 2023 entirely, but it’s hard to see a path to competitiveness. The team is 22 games under .500 at this season’s All-Star Break, and there are enough holes both at the bottom of the lineup and in the starting rotation they’re unlikely to be completely plugged in one offseason. 2024 feels like the more realistic target for a return to respectability, and Happ is slated to be a free agent by that point.

Unless the Cubs are particularly confident about the chances of getting a long-term deal done with his representatives at WME Baseball, the front office should actively explore the trade market over the next couple weeks. The possibility of dealing him next offseason means Hoyer and his staff don’t need to simply accept the top offer presented, but this feels like the best opportunity for the Cubs to land a marquee return. Happ’s remaining window of club control probably makes him a more valuable trade asset than Contreras, so dealing him may be the organization’s clearest path towards adding another Top 100-caliber prospect to the farm system.

Seeing Contreras and Happ depart in rapid succession would be disappointing to some members of the fanbase, but the organization’s massive sell-off last summer firmly signified this is the direction they’re headed. Plenty more change will be afoot in the next couple weeks, with a host of relievers and the franchise catcher all but assured to be moved. Happ very well might join that group in departing the North Side for a near-term contender as the Cubs continue to restock the minor leagues as part of an ongoing retooling effort.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Cubs Select Steven Brault, Designate Matt Swarmer For Assignment

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The Cubs selected the contract of Steven Brault prior to today’s ballgame, tweets Mark Gonzales. In corresponding moves, Mark Leiter Jr. was optioned to Triple-A and Matt Swarmer was designated for assignment. Anderson Espinoza, meanwhile, is serving as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader.

Brault appeared in the Majors with the Pirates in each of the past six seasons going back to 2016. He owns a 4.77 career ERA/4.67 FIP across 343 1/3 innings. He has served primarily as a starter, but he is no stranger to coming out of the bullpen either.

The 28-year-old Swarmer had some real ups and downs in his short time on the Cubs’ roster. In five starts and six relief appearances, Swarmer posted a 5.03 ERA/7.35 FIP over 34 innings. After giving up just one earned run in each of his first two starts, Swarmer was tagged with six home runs in his third start of the season against the Yankees.

Leiter Jr. is no stranger to the road between Chicago and Iowa. The 31-year-old has logged 38 2/3 innings with the Cubs with a 5.35 ERA/5.00 FIP. He has logged 19 innings in Triple-A over five starts with a 6.16 ERA.

Cubs Shut Kyle Hendricks Down From Throwing For At Least 2-3 Weeks

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The Cubs have been without Kyle Hendricks for a week, as the right-hander landed on the injured list with a shoulder strain last Wednesday. While the team didn’t provide any timetable for his recovery at the time, it seems he’ll be out for an extended stretch.

Manager David Ross told reporters this evening that Hendricks will be shut down from throwing for at least two-to-three weeks (link via Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). He won’t require surgery, but the shutdown portends a lengthy recovery stint. Given the timeline Ross provided, Hendricks seems unlikely to pick up a ball until around the start of next month.

He’ll surely need multiple weeks thereafter to build up throwing before getting back on the Wrigley Field mound. Hendricks will presumably have to start his progression from flat ground before beginning bullpen sessions and eventually moving towards a minor league rehab stint. It seems likely he’ll be out until mid-late August even in a best-case scenarios.

The shutdown virtually closes the books on whatever small chance there may have been that Hendricks could change hands this summer. Players on the injured list are eligible to be dealt, but it’s hard to envision any team taking a shot on the 32-year-old before the August 2 trade deadline. At that point, he’ll be at the very early stages of a throwing program if he’s begun one at all. He wouldn’t be of immediate assistance to any rotation-needy contenders.

Hendricks was a longshot trade candidate even prior to the injury, as he’d not been having a great season. He’s taken the ball 16 times and given the Cubs 84 1/3 innings, but he owns a career-worst 4.80 ERA. Hendricks had plenty of success in prior years, compensating for subpar velocity and swinging strike numbers with stellar control and high ground-ball rates. He’s seen his grounder numbers decline over the past couple seasons, and that currently sits at a career-low 36.2%. Unsurprisingly, Hendricks has been increasingly prone to home runs as he’s surrendered more airborne contact.

He remains an excellent strike-thrower and has posted serviceable back-of-the-rotation numbers, but it wasn’t likely he’d have a ton of trade value given his contract. Hendricks is playing this season on a $14MM salary, and he’ll make the same amount next year. That’ll be the final guaranteed season of his deal, though he’s due a $1.5MM buyout on a 2024 option.

Cubs Place Kyle Hendricks On Injured List

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12:00pm: The Cubs announced that righty Anderson Espinoza is being recalled from Double-A to take Hendricks’ place on the roster.

11:30am: The Cubs have placed right-hander Kyle Hendricks on the 15-day injured list due to a shoulder strain, manager David Ross announced to reporters Wednesday (Twitter link via Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago). Hendricks exited last night’s game after three innings due to soreness in his right shoulder. The team will announce a corresponding roster move later today. No recovery timetable has been provided at this time.

Hendricks, 32, is in the midst of a second straight season of lackluster results, as his 4.80 ERA through 84 1/3 frames thus far is a near-mirror image of the 4.77 he posted through 181 innings a year ago. The soft-tossing righty’s 18.5% strikeout rate is an improvement upon last year’s 16.7% clip (the second-worst of his career), but he’s also seen his walk rate rise from 5.6% in 2021 to 6.7% in 2022. It’s been something of a Jeykll-and-Hyde season for Hendricks, who has allowed two or fewer runs in nine of his starts this year but has also been torched for six or more runs on four separate occasions.

Signed to a four-year, $55.5MM contract extension late in the spring of 2019, Hendricks is being paid $14MM this season and is due to earn $14MM again in 2023. The Cubs then hold a $16MM option for the 2024 season, which can be bought out for $1.5MM.

The timing of the injury isn’t great for the Cubs if they had any thoughts about potentially marketing Hendricks prior to the Aug. 2 trade deadline. While he’s no longer the steadily excellent performer he was from 2014-20 (3.12 ERA in 1047 1/3 innings), Hendricks might still have held some appeal as a back-of-the-rotation veteran — particularly if the Cubs were willing to cover some of the remaining money on the contract. Instead, he’ll be sidelined at least two weeks and perhaps more. That still leaves some time between his earliest potential activation date and the Aug. 2 deadline, but the shoulder issue makes a deal even more of a long shot than it might’ve already been, due to the financial component of a deal.

Hendricks joins a full rotation’s worth of talent on the injured list for the Cubs, who are also currently without Marcus Stroman, Wade Miley, Drew Smyly, Alec Mills and Adbert Alzolay due to various injuries. At the moment, the only healthy rotation options are Justin Steele, Keegan Thompson and Adrian Sampson.

Given that huge slate of injuries, it’s possible that Espinoza, once one of the game’s top-ranked pitching prospects, could get some opportunities in the rotation. Injuries and the canceled minor league season in 2020 kept Espinoza off the mound entirely from 2017-20, however, and he’s had a brutal showing thus far in a dozen Double-A starts. Through 44 1/3 innings with the Cubs’ Tennessee affiliate, the 24-year-old Espinoza has a 7.11 ERA with 10 home runs allowed. He’s fanned 27.8% of his Double-A opponents but also issued walks at a 12.9% clip and plunked another five batters (representing an additional 2.6% of his total hitters faced).

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