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Cubs Planning To Select Mark Leiter Jr.

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The Cubs are planning to add right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. to the big league roster, manager David Ross told reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times) this evening. He’ll get the start tomorrow night against the Rockies, his first MLB action in four years.

Leiter, the son of the longtime big league hurler with the same name, is a former Phillies draftee who reached the majors in Philadelphia in 2017. The New Jersey Tech product started 11 of his 27 appearances that season, working a career-high 90 2/3 innings. He pitched to a 4.96 ERA with capable if unspectacular strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates.

It seemed as if Leiter might settle in as a long-term swing option for the Phils, but he had a difficult follow-up campaign. Working exclusively in relief, he was tagged for a 5.40 ERA in 12 appearances in 2018. Leiter allowed five home runs in 16 2/3 innings, and the Phils designated him for assignment late in the year. The Blue Jays grabbed him off waivers, but they outrighted him that offseason after he struggled in eight more appearances with Toronto.

Leiter underwent Tommy John surgery the following March, an injury that cost him the entire 2019 season. He signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks in 2020, but the pandemic wiped out the minors schedule. Leiter landed with the Tigers last season on another non-roster pact. He pitched to a 3.77 ERA in 114 2/3 innings between Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo, striking out an excellent 30.7% of opponents in the process.

Detroit never gave him a big league look, but Leiter’s strong showing caught the attention of the Cubs’ front office last winter. After just one four-inning outing with their top affiliate in Iowa, he’ll head back to the majors. Leiter is not on the 40-man roster, so the Cubs will need to free up a spot before tomorrow’s game.

NL Central Notes: Pirates, Nutting, Crowe, Contreras

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Shortly after signing third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes to an eight-year $70MM extension, Pirates owner Bob Nutting spoke to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the team’s plans moving forward. After applauding the work done by third-year GM Ben Cherington to rebuild the team’s talent pipeline, Nutting stated his belief “that we’ve rebuilt that foundation to the point that now we can really focus on the major league club.” That’s surely welcome news for Pittsburgh fans, who have sat through an arduous rebuilding process that’s included three consecutive fifth place finishes and a bottom-three payroll entering the 2022 season (per Cot’s Contracts).

Of further note, Nutting spoke of the need to look internally and pick “a few key building blocks […] to start building here in Pittsburgh.” It’s already known that the team tried to extend All-Star outfielder Bryan Reynolds prior to the 2021 season, and have since settled on an arbitration-avoiding pact with the 27-year-old earlier today. Still, with Hayes locked up through his prime years and extensions on the front office’s mind they’ll be hard-pressed to find a better building block than Reynolds. Whether further extension talks take place with Reynolds or other “building blocks”— Mackey suggests breakout reliever David Bednar as one option— remains to be seen, it’s clear the franchise is ready to pivot and secure a division title for the first time since 1992.

Some other news of note from the NL’s central division…

  • We’re only a few games into the new season but the Pirates feel they may have another breakout reliever on their hands, reports Kevin Gorman of Tribune-ReviewSports. After picking up a three-inning save yesterday, the first of his career, converted-starter Wil Crowe extended his streak to seven scoreless innings to open the season. Small sample size caveats are abound here, but it’s clear that the headlining return from 2020’s Josh Bell trade has seen his stuff play up out of the bullpen. After posting a 5.48 ERA across 26 games (25 starts) with below average strikeout numbers last year, Crowe has upped his swinging strike rate and ranks among the early leaders in avoiding hard contact this season.
  • The Cubs and catcher Willson Contreras remain far apart in arbitration talks and it doesn’t appear an agreement will be reached without an arbiter, per NBC Sports’ Gordon Wittenmyer. While a few months remain for both sides to settle on a midpoint between their exchanged figures— Contreras filed at $10.25MM while the Cubs put forth a $9MM offer— a tidy resolution never seemed likely between the club and one of the last members of their 2016 World Series-winning core. The Cubs are a file-and-trial club and take a hard stance on discussing arbitration salaries after the figure-exchanging deadline (this year’s deadline was March 22). When asked if the club would make an exception for Contreras, given his reputation on the team and as one of the league’s better hitting catchers, team president Jed Hoyer replied “That’s not our policy. We went past the deadline.” For his part, Contreras doesn’t seem too bothered by the prospect of an arbitration hearing, noting that he’s “been going through a lot of [criticism] since I was in the minor leagues, and everything they have to say I’ve already heard it”. The 29-year-old Contreras is set to headline a decent free agent catcher market after the season, and while he hasn’t closed the window on lengthening his Cubs tenure he did note his chances of remaining with the team may take a hit once the Cubs allow him to test the market. The two-time All-Star also drew trade interest over the offseason, which may eventually expedite the catcher’s exit from his original organization.

MLB Issues Three-Game Suspension To Cubs’ Keegan Thompson

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Major League Baseball announced this afternoon that Cubs right-hander Keegan Thompson has been suspended three games and fined an undisclosed amount “for intentionally hitting Andrew McCutchen … with a pitch during the top of the eighth inning of Saturday afternoon’s game at Wrigley Field.”

Chicago manager David Ross has also been suspended one game and fined for Thompson’s actions, as is customary. Ross will serve his ban tomorrow afternoon and miss Chicago’s upcoming game with the Pirates. Thompson’s suspension is set to go into effect tomorrow as well, but unlike Ross, he has the right to appeal.

The Cubs and Brewers traded hit batsmen on Thursday. Milwaukee pitching hit three Cubs players during the early stages of Saturday’s contest. After Milwaukee’s Trevor Gott hit Ian Happ, Thompson faced McCutchen with no one on base in a 9-0 game. His 1-1 offering was well inside and went to the backstop; on the next pitch, Thompson plunked the veteran outfielder. The benches cleared, although there was little more than barbs traded on each side. Home plate umpire Lance Barksdale ejected Thompson.

In the following inning, Cubs righty Ethan Roberts hit Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich. That pitch was a 1-2 slider that clipped the left-handed hitter in the back foot, though, and Roberts remained in the game to record the final three outs.

NL Central Notes: Happ, Cardinals, Sims, Solano, Castillo, Minor

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Cubs left fielder Ian Happ was removed from today’s 9-0 win over the Brewers after being hit in the left kneecap by a Trevor Gott pitch during the seventh inning.  X-rays were negative, as Happ told NBC Sports Chicago’s Tim Stebbins and other reporters after the game.  “It’s going to be pretty stiff [Sunday], I’m sure, but right now it’s not too bad,” Happ said.  It would seem as if Happ is questionable for tomorrow’s lineup, and since the Cubs don’t play on Monday, Happ has some more time to heal up and receive further treatment to determine if an IL trip could be necessary.

The Cubs/Brewers series has thus far seen seven batters hit by pitches over two games, which has some a frequent occurrence in recent meetings between the two division rivals.  The result was a skirmish that saw both benches and bullpens empty after Andrew McCutchen was hit by a Keegan Thompson pitch in the eighth inning, but ultimately nothing but harsh words were exchanged.

More from the NL Central…

  • Busch Stadium is known as a pitcher-friendly ballpark, and the Cardinals have added to this built-in run suppression by creating a tremendous defensive roster.  As Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch examines, the club has embraced this to the point of deciding against moving in the walls at their ballpark, even after commissioning a study to examine the possible impact.  “We started to think we may have an edge here with this particular configuration,” chairman Bill DeWitt III said.  “In theory, a bigger ballpark, more balls in play, a defense that catches anything — why don’t we put this on ice and see how things develop?  We have an elite defense and we’re contemplating doing something that might minimize the impact of that defense.  Let’s not.”  Goold’s piece breaks down some of the findings of the study, with the Cards looking at how potential alterations to any of the dimensions would affect everything from fan experience to on-field performance.
  • Reds manager David Bell provided reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon) with several updates on injured players over the last two days.  Lucas Sims is on pace to head to Triple-A this week after throwing a live BP session at the team’s extended Spring Training camp, and Bell set April 20 or 22 as the target dates for Sims’ likely return.  Donovan Solano is out with a left hamstring injury, but Boone said Solano has been doing some running drills and even took some swings during some simulated game sessions.
  • Mike Minor and Luis Castillo both began the season on the IL due to shoulder soreness, and while Castillo was initially thought to have the quicker return of the two, Minor has now seemingly moved ahead after throwing a 35-pitch simulated game on Friday.  Minor could now be ready for Triple-A work or at least another sim game, while Castillo still has to get a second bullpen session under his belt.  In terms of projections, the Reds are now aiming for Castillo to be back by late April, while Minor could make his debut closer to the middle of the month.

Offseason In Review: Chicago Cubs

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The Cubs made two big signings and added a ton of veterans on short-term deals as they attempt to move past their 2016 championship core.

Major League Signings

Options Exercised

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

The Cubs’ first order of business during the 2021-22 offseason was hiring a general manager, after leaving the position under president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer open for nearly a year.  Hawkins had spent 14 years in Cleveland, regarding which Hoyer noted, “certainly their ability to develop pitching has been remarkable.”  Finding pitching late in the draft or cheaply in the marketplace and getting good Major League results had not been a strong suit of the Theo Epstein/Jed Hoyer regime.

In addition to improving the pipeline, the Cubs needed pitching to get through the 2022 season, which Hoyer called his “top priority” in early October.  Hoyer spoke about being “active” in free agency, a word echoed by owner Tom Ricketts in a letter to fans.  Hoyer and Ricketts made sure to couch their comments with words like “intelligent” and “thoughtful,” which I took to mean the Cubs would be out on the top dozen or so free agents given a desire to avoid long-term commitments.

After following the Hawkins hire with the additions of Ehsan Bokhari as assistant GM and Greg Brown as hitting coach, the Cubs kicked off their active offseason by claiming veteran lefty Wade Miley off waivers from the cost-cutting Reds.  Given the Cubs’ extremely thin starting rotation at the time behind Kyle Hendricks, snagging Miley off a 3.37 ERA/163 inning campaign without giving up any players was an easy win – even if he doesn’t meet the desire for someone with strikeout ability.  It was the equivalent of an early free agent signing, at a commitment probably a bit lower than what the market would have required.  An injury development has dampened enthusiasm for the Miley claim, as the 35-year-old southpaw is experiencing elbow inflammation that will keep him out until at least late April.

As the lockout approached in late November, the Cubs reportedly made an offer to free agent lefty Steven Matz.  According to Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic, “The Cubs were heavily involved with Matz, but were unwilling to go to four years,” as the Cardinals ultimately did.  Instead, the Cubs were able to lure Marcus Stroman with a three-year, $71MM offer that was very different from MLBTR’s projected five years and $110MM.  Apparently the pre-lockout market wasn’t offering Stroman four or five years at an AAV he liked, and the Cubs pounced.

The Stroman signing marked the Cubs’ biggest free agent expenditure since they signed Yu Darvish nearly four years earlier.  Like Miley, Stroman still didn’t match Hoyer’s goal of adding strikeout pitchers to the rotation, as Stroman’s success has been built on groundballs and good control.  It was another case of the Cubs adapting to what the market gave them while avoiding long-term commitments, and Stroman should give the team much-needed above-average innings.  They didn’t have to commit to his age 34 and 35 seasons, as the Blue Jays did with Kevin Gausman, or forfeit their second-highest draft pick as they would have with Robbie Ray.

The Cubs also added a pair of position players prior to the lockout, signing catcher Yan Gomes and corner outfielder Clint Frazier.  Gomes, perhaps the best catcher in a weak free agent market at the position, will serve as Willson Contreras insurance in multiple ways.  For as long as the two are together, Gomes will lighten the load on Contreras, who caught two-thirds of the Cubs’ innings behind the plate in 2021 despite missing more than three weeks with a knee sprain.  Gomes also ensures the Cubs will have a capable backstop in the event they trade Contreras between now and the August 2nd deadline.

The Cubs seem to have little desire in extending Contreras, one of the last remaining links to the 2016 championship club.  Thus far, they haven’t even been able to agree on his 2022 salary, and they’re headed toward a midseason hearing over the $1.25MM gap.  Contreras’ free agency will begin with his age-31 season, and he figures to seek at least a four-year deal.  The Cubs have one well-regarded catching prospect in Miguel Amaya.  He underwent Tommy John surgery in November after playing only 23 games in 2021, so Gomes is necessary to bridge the gap.

Frazier is a lottery ticket that makes tons of sense for the Cubs.  The 27-year-old former fifth overall pick cost just $1.5MM, and if he has any measure of success the Cubs can control him through 2024 as an arbitration eligible player.  Frazier hit well in the brief 2020 season, but he’s also dealt with the effects of multiple concussions.  The Cubs’ outfield should offer ample opportunity for Frazier to re-establish himself.

The Cubs’ first post-lockout move was a contract extension for manager David Ross.  After that, it was back to the free agent market.  While fans had visions of Carlos Correa, to whom the Cubs were at least loosely connected, they instead signed Andrelton Simmons to a modest one-year deal.  The 32-year-old defensive wizard will start the season on the IL due to a sore shoulder, putting Nico Hoerner into the starting role.

As for Correa?  His three-year, $105.3MM deal with the Twins, which includes opt-outs after each season, reportedly came together with the Twins in the span of 14 hours, initiated by agent Scott Boras.  Boras certainly spoke to other clubs during that frenzied late-March period.  Aside from the draft pick forfeiture, Correa’s contract generally fit with the Cubs’ new m.o., but it’s unknown whether they were in the mix late.  As of now, shortstop is an unsettled position for the Cubs for the next several years.

I had mentioned in November that free agent right fielder Seiya Suzuki, one of the best players in Japan and only 27 years old, made sense for the Cubs.  Hoyer agreed, winning the bidding with an aggressive five-year, $85MM contract plus a $14.625MM posting fee.  According to MLBTR’s Steve Adams, “The most bullish opinions we’ve gotten peg Suzuki as an everyday Major League right fielder — a solid defensive player with a strong arm and enough power to hit in the middle of a big league lineup.”  This is the type of player the Cubs were sorely lacking, and if Suzuki’s power translates, fans will start to replace those Rizzo, Baez, and Bryant jerseys with Suzuki ones.

Beyond the big splashes in Stroman and Suzuki, the Cubs lived up to their word about being active in free agency.  I can’t remember another time a team brought in a dozen free agents on Major League contracts, and the number grows to 14 once you add Miley and Jesse Chavez, whose contract has already been selected.  It’s a crazy number of players to add to the Major League roster in one offseason, and it speaks to the lack of MLB-ready talent the Cubs had after trading away every decent veteran last summer.

The Cubs’ approach to building a bullpen is as good as any, given the volatility of relievers and how often the larger free agent contracts go bust.  With basically no established bullpen to speak of, especially after Codi Heuer went down for Tommy John surgery, Hoyer added five free agents on one-year deals for a total of $14MM: Mychal Givens, David Robertson, Chris Martin, Daniel Norris, and Jesse Chavez.  It’s difficult to say which of these five new relievers will succeed in Chicago, but the Cubs were likely emboldened by getting excellent work out of Ryan Tepera and Andrew Chafin after signing them for a total of $3.55MM last winter.  The pair signed two-year deals for $14MM and $13MM with the Angels and Tigers, respectively, this offseason.

We thought Jonathan Villar might require a two-year deal, so the Cubs did well to grab him for one year and $6MM.  He’ll likely see time mainly at third and second base, but could also serve as the Cubs’ third-string shortstop.  Villar is a switch-hitter without much of a platoon split, and he’ll spell Patrick Wisdom, Nick Madrigal, and Hoerner.

Drew Smyly has had interesting free agent experiences in his career.  The 32-year-old southpaw has just one 2-WAR season on his resume, back in 2014.  He signed a two-year, $10MM deal with the Cubs with an eye on his 2019 season, as he spent 2018 recovering from Tommy John surgery.  The Cubs instead shipped him to Texas to save money before realizing that plan.  Smyly struggled in ’19 but still found $4MM the following offseason as one of the Giants’ pitching projects.  That went well enough that the Braves gave Smyly $11MM on the strength of 26 1/3 innings in 2020.

After middling results for Atlanta, Smyly received another $5.25MM from the Cubs and will open the season in a rotation that’s missing both Miley and Adbert Alzolay due to injuries.  The Cubs also added some rotation depth with Steven Brault, who continues to battle injuries.  The Cubs’ season-opening rotation is shaky behind Hendricks and Stroman, with Smyly, Justin Steele, and Alec Mills penciled in.  As aggressive as Hoyer was in free agency, the Cubs are still running a competitive balance tax payroll more than $60MM below the $230MM threshold, and it seems like they could have piled up more rotation depth.

The 2022 Cubs figure to be, if nothing else, a watchable club with the additions of Suzuki and Stroman and the likely summer promotion of top prospect Brennen Davis.  FanGraphs projects them for about 75 wins.  Given a 12-team playoff field, the Cubs should at least be able to hang around the periphery in a division where the Pirates are rebuilding and only the Brewers stand out.

Roster Notes: Twins, Marlins, Pirates, Yankees, Cubs, Phillies

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With the season just a few days away, roster decisions around the game continue to trickle in. We’ll round up some notable non 40-man roster decisions here.

    • Twins pitching prospect Jhoan Duran has made the Opening Day roster, per a club announcement. He’ll initially work out of the bullpen. Ranked the #9 prospect in the Minnesota organization by Baseball America, Duran draws praise for an upper-90s fastball and a power splitter that have helped him run plus strikeout rates throughout his minor league career.
    • The Marlins have informed outfielder Roman Quinn he will not make the Opening Day roster, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid (Twitter link). It comes as a bit of a surprise, as Quinn had seemed the favorite for a fourth outfield role after the Fish released Delino DeShields Jr. over the weekend. Presumably, that job will fall to utilityman Jon Berti early on.
    • Infield prospect Diego Castillo has made the Pirates’ Opening Day roster, tweets Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Castillo, acquired in the trade that sent righty Clay Holmes to the Yankees, will make his big league debut the first time he gets into a game.
    • The Yankees announced they’ve reassigned outfielder Ender Inciarte and left-hander Manny Bañuelos to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Inciarte has an opt-out clause in his minor league deal and tells ESPN’s Marly Rivera he hasn’t yet decided whether he’ll accept the assignment to Triple-A.
    • The Cubs informed pitching prospect Ethan Roberts he’ll be on the Opening Day roster, he informed reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times). A fourth-round pick in 2018 out of Tennessee Tech, the right-hander is the #33 prospect in the organization according to Baseball America. The reliever posted an even 3.00 ERA over 54 innings between Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa last season. The Cubs reassigned non-roster invitees Jonathan Holder, Robert Gsellman, Steven Brault, Stephen Gonsalves and Ildemaro Vargas to Iowa, tweets Jordan Bastian of MLB.com.
    • The Phillies reassigned non-roster invitees Ronald Torreyes, Yairo Muñoz and Dillon Maples to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, tweets Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Torreyes and Muñoz were competing for utility spots, while the hard-throwing Maples had been seeking a spot in the Philly bullpen.

 

Cubs Select Jesse Chavez’s Contract

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Jesse Chavez has officially made the Cubs’ Opening Day roster, as the team announced that it had selected the veteran right-hander’s contract.  No corresponding move needed to be made, as the Cubs had an open spot on their 40-man roster.

There isn’t much surprise to the move, as it was widely expected that Chavez would crack Chicago’s roster when he signed his split contract earlier this month.  Chavez’s first game will officially make it 15 MLB seasons for the 38-year-old, and his second stint as a Cub, after tossing 38 innings for the Wrigleyville team in 2018.

A rough 2020 season with the Rangers meant that Chavez had to settle for minor league contracts in the 2020-21 offseason, with Chavez first signing with the Angels and then with the Braves after Los Angeles cut him at the end of Spring Training.  The end result was the first World Series ring of Chavez’s long career, as he eventually made Atlanta’s roster and then pitched 33 2/3 innings in the regular season and 6 1/3 more frames in the playoffs.

Chavez posted a 2.14 ERA during the regular season, and while his 3.69 xFIP/3.58 SIERA indicate some good fortune, the righty helped his case with a solid 27.1% strikeout rate.  Most strikingly, Chavez didn’t allow a single homer in either the regular season or postseason, a surprising outcome for a pitcher who has long struggled at keeping the ball in the park.

The bullpen has been a priority for the Cubs this winter, as Chavez joins David Robertson, Mychal Givens, Daniel Norris, Chris Martin, Adrian Sampson, and Robert Gsellman as new relief options to join the club.  Chavez figures to pitch in his usual middle relief role, though he also received four pseudo-starts last year as an opener.

Cubs’ Wade Miley To Begin Season On 10-Day Injured List

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Cubs southpaw Wade Miley has been shut down for the next 10 days after an MRI revealed inflammation in his throwing elbow.  There isn’t a known timetable for Miley’s return, but the shutdown period does mean that Miley will begin the season on the injured list.  This could delay Miley’s season debut until late April or even early May, but Cubs manager David Ross told reporters (including The Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro) that Miley’s injury isn’t seen as a major concern.

Miley’s absence creates at least a temporary hole in Chicago’s rotation.  Miley was projected as the third starter behind Marcus Stroman and Kyle Hendricks, with Drew Smyly (another offseason veteran acquisition) now looking to be moved up a slot in the starting five.  Alec Mills, Justin Steele, and Keegan Thompson are the top candidates for the final two rotation spots, though with such options as youngers Brailyn Marquez, Anderson Espinoza and Cory Abbott, and non-roster veterans like Steven Brault and Adrian Sampson, the Cubs have a lot of options on hand, if also many question marks.

Miley was one of the first players to change teams this offseason, when the Reds surprisingly placed him on waivers rather than just pay the $1MM buyout of Miley’s $10MM club option for 2022.  The Cubs jumped to claim Miley and then exercise that option, thus giving Chicago some much-needed veteran rotation depth at the expense of a cost-cutting division rival.

As he enters his age-35 season, Miley has been a pretty durable pitcher for much of his career, though he tossed only 14 1/3 innings during the abbreviated 2020 season due to groin and shoulder problems.  Miley rebounded with a solid effort in 2021, posting a 3.37 ERA and 49.4% grounder rate over 163 innings for Cincinnati and relying on soft contact and above-average control to counteract his lack of strikeouts or fastball velocity.

Another newly-acquired Cub might also be starting his Wrigleyville tenure on the IL, as Montemurro tweets that shortstop Andrelton Simmons is still working through some right shoulder soreness.  Simmons has been throwing, but getting fully ready by Opening Day may not be feasible, since the veteran has played in only one Spring Training game.

Diamondbacks Acquire Sergio Alcantara From Cubs, Designate Josh VanMeter

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The Cubs have traded Sergio Alcantara to the Diamondbacks for cash considerations, per a team announcement from the D-backs. Josh VanMeter was designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Alcantara was designated for assignment by the Cubs last week to open up a roster spot for reliever Mychal Givens. His reputation is that of a glove-first infielder who can provide value with defense and speed, even if his bat doesn’t produce much. Last year, in 89 games for the Cubs, he hit .205/.303/.327 for a wRC+ of 71. But on the defensive side of things, he generally rated well, with Statcast ranking his work as being worth 9 Outs Above Average in that sample of just over half a season, spending time at shortstop, second base and third base.

It was recently reported that Nick Ahmed is still dealing with some shoulder soreness that has been bothering him for almost two years now. The acquisition of Alcantara boosts the team’s shortstop depth, with the new team member acting as a safety net in the event Ahmed requires some time on the IL or even just occasional rest days.

As for VanMeter, he originally came over to Arizona as part of the Archie Bradley deal before the 2020 trade deadline. Over the past three seasons, he’s gotten into 233 games between the Reds and the Diamondbacks. In that time, he’s hit just .212/.300/.364, for a wRC+ of 75. Despite that tepid batting line, he may still draw interest from other clubs for a couple of reasons. First of all, his Triple-A numbers are much better, as he’s hit .298/.379/.576 at that level. He’s also only 27 years old and has the positional versatility that teams love these days, having seen big league action at first, second and third base, as well as the outfield corners. He’s likely to hit the waiver wire in the coming days, with any team looking for a versatile bench piece potentially putting a claim in. But VanMeter is out of options, meaning he would have to stick on the roster of the acquiring team or else be put on waivers yet again.

Marlins Claim Tommy Nance, Designate Yoan Lopez

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The Marlins announced that right-hander Tommy Nance has been claimed off waivers from the Cubs. To make room on the roster, fellow righty Yoan Lopez was designated for assignment.

Nance, 31, was designated for assignment by the Cubs on Friday. The righty made his MLB debut last year, tossing 28 2/3 innings out of the Cubs’ bullpen. His 7.22 ERA on the year was certainly unsightly, though there may have been some bad luck in there, as Nance’s 52.9% strand rate was about 20 points below league average. All of the advanced pitching metrics believed he deserved much better results. In 15 1/3 Triple-A innings last year, his ERA was much better at 2.35, along with excellent strikeout and walk rates of 31.6% and 5.3%. The Marlins clearly were able to see past the unfortunate results in the big leagues last year in order to focus on his potential. Since Nance still has options, he could be sent to the minors for extra bullpen depth.

As for Lopez, 29, this is yet another trip to DFA limbo for him, a place he’s spent a good deal of time in the past year. After being designated by the Diamondbacks in May, he was traded to the Braves, who designated him again in November, being claimed by the Phillies. Yet another DFA after the lockout resulted in a claim from the Marlins just over a week ago.

The fact that he keeps getting claimed shows that teams still see signs for hope in Lopez. After earning a hefty bonus when originally signed out of Cuba in 2014, Lopez didn’t show much reason for optimism in the following years. However, after being acquired by the Braves last year, his Triple-A performance seemed to give some hope, throwing 32 2/3 innings there with a 26.7% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate, finishing with an ERA of 3.03. Given that he still has options, it’s possible he is claimed on waivers another time, with some team adding him as depth and hoping that he can continue with the momentum he seemed to be building last year.

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