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Red Sox Acquire Zach Bryant From Cubs

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The Red Sox have acquired right-hander Zach Bryant from the Cubs to finish the Josh Osich trade, per Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). The Red Sox sent Osich to the Cubs at the August 31st trade deadline last year for a player to be named later.

Bryant now heads to Boston to complete that deal. The Cubs didn’t ultimately get much out of this transaction. They designated Osich for assignment at the end of September when he struggled to a 10.13 ERA in four appearances. The southpaw signed a minor league deal with the Reds in December. For his career, he owns a 5.02 ERA, 4.37 xFIP, and 125 FIP- across 234 appearances totaling 206 1/3 innings with the Giants, White Sox, Red Sox, and Cubs. Osich is better as a lefty specialist, holding a 3.75 xFIP against lefties and a 4.99 xFIP against right-handed hitters.

The 22-year-old Bryant made his professional debut in 2019. The Cubs signed him for $125K as a 15th round draft choice out of Jacksonville University. He made it to Low-A posting a 1.27 ERA across 12 appearances at two levels, striking out 24 versus to eight walks over 21 1/3 innings.

Cubs Notes: Baez, Pederson

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  • Shortstop Javier Baez once again made it clear Friday that he wants to remain with the Cubs, not depart in free agency next offseason, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic tweets. “Obviously, I want to stay here. I don’t want to play for another team,” Baez said, though the Cubs may lose the opportunity to extend the two-time All-Star if they don’t do so by the time the season begins. Baez stated he’ll “probably” put a deadline on talks in spring training. Barring a new deal, Baez could be one of several free-agent standouts at his position next winter, though he’s in need of a rebound after hitting a dismal .203/.238/.360 with 75 strikeouts against just seven walks in 235 plate appearances last year.
  • One of Baez’s new teammates, outfielder Joc Pederson, told Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times and other reporters that he turned down longer offers to join the Cubs. The former Dodger inked a one-year, $7MM guarantee with the Cubs because of the allure of playing every day. Pederson was a platoon player in Los Angeles, where the left-handed swinger batted .238/.349/.501 over 2,132 trips to the plate versus righties. On the other hand, he managed an ugly .191/.266/.310 line in 385 PA against southpaws.

Cubs To Re-Sign Ryan Tepera

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10:15am: Tepera can earn an additional $800K via performance incentives and $150K via active roster bonuses, MLBTR has learned. The deal can max out at $1.75MM.

9:45am: Tepera is guaranteed $800K on the deal, tweets NBC Sports Chicago’s Gordon Wittenmyer. The deal is still pending a physical.

9:25am: The Cubs have reached an agreement to re-sign free agent right-hander Ryan Tepera, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). It’s a Major League deal, per the report. Chicago non-tendered Tepera earlier in the winter rather than pay him a raise via arbitration, but he’ll now return for a second season on a new deal. Tepera is represented by All Bases Covered Sports Management.

Tepera, 33, was a regular in the Blue Jays’ bullpen from 2015-19 before being non-tendered and latching on with the Cubs last offseason. Many have had fun with the fact that Tepera received a lone tenth-place MVP vote, and while that was surely unexpected, the righty did give Chicago a fairly strong season. Through 20 2/3 innings of relief, Tepera turned in a 3.92 ERA (3.51 SIERA, 3.34 FIP) with a career-high 34.8 percent strikeout rate and a 13.5 percent walk rate that he’ll want to curb in 2021.

This makes three Major League additions to for the Cubs’ bullpen this month, as the club has also signed righty Brandon Workman and lefty Andrew Chafin to help fortify the relief corps. It’s still a shaky looking group that lacks proven depth, but Tepera unequivocally gives them another solid option. He’s tallied 236 innings as a Major Leaguer and logged a combined 3.66 ERA with a 24 percent strikeout rate and a 9.1 percent walk rate. That alone makes him a nice add for the Cubs, but if he can maintain last year’s huge boost in strikeouts while returning closer to that career walk rate, he’d be a substantial upgrade.

Tepera has five-plus years of Major League service time, so unlike last year when the Cubs signed him, they won’t have the option to keep him through arbitration this coming offseason. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end and return to the open market. That’s also true of Workman, Chafin, Dan Winkler and Craig Kimbrel — Chafin and Kimbrel have options that aren’t likely to come into play — so the Cubs will once again have some work to do to fill out their bullpen next winter.

Kris Bryant Still Open To Extension With Cubs

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Despite myriad trade rumors that have centered on him over the past several months, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant told reporters (including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune) that he’s still open to a contract extension with the team. “I’ve always said I’ve been open and willing to hear what (the Cubs) say and take it with open arms and consider everything that’s thrown my way,” Bryant said. “I think I’ve communicated that to them.” Bryant is scheduled to become a free agent next winter, but in the meantime, he’ll make $19.5MM this season. It doesn’t seem any team has jumped at the chance of taking on that type of money for Bryant – even though he’s a former MVP who has typically held his own, he had a difficult 2020 campaign. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer suggested earlier this month that he expects Bryant to open 2021 with the club.

Braves Claim Phillip Ervin Off Waivers From Cubs

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The Braves announced that outfielder Phillip Ervin has been claimed off waivers from the Cubs.  Ervin was designated for assignment by Chicago yesterday.

Ervin joins his fourth organization in less than six months, after being designated for assignment by the Reds in August and then picked up on successive waiver claims by the Mariners and Cubs.  Ervin had previously spent his entire career with Cincinnati after the Reds selected him with the 27th overall pick of the 2013 draft.

The 28-year-old hit .262/.326/.438 over 571 plate appearances from 2017-19, with most of the damage coming against left-handed pitching.  Ervin’s production badly fell off last season, as hit hit only .149/.292/.189 over 89 PA with the Reds and Mariners.  This led Seattle to expose him to the DFA wire to create roster space for Keynan Middleton, and after Chicago made a claim, the Cubs DFA’ed Ervin themselves when Jake Marisnick was signed.

Ronald Acuna Jr. and Marcell Ozuna will play every day in the Atlanta outfield, with Acuna’s ability to play either center or right field opening the door for a number of possibilities for the third slot.  Highly-touted youngster Cristian Pache might have the first crack at the center field job, while Ervin joins Ender Inciarte as a backup option who can play all three outfield positions.  Abraham Almonte and utilityman Johan Camargo are also in the mix for outfield at-bats.  Ervin is out of minor league options, so he may be facing another trip to DFA waivers if he doesn’t land a job on the Braves’ active roster.

2021 Arbitration Hearing Results & Post-Deadline Agreements

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January 15 was the deadline for teams and arbitration-eligible players to officially submit salary figures for the 2021, and by the time the day was done, only 13 players didn’t reach agreement on a contract.  The majority of teams now adhere to the “file or trial” strategy, meaning that no further negotiations on a one-year deal will take place between the arbitration deadline and a hearing with an arbiter, which theoretically puts pressure on players to get a deal done if they are wary about taking their case to a third party.

“File and trial” tactics didn’t stop the Astros and Carlos Correa from agreeing to a one-year deal for just the 2021 season, which is also Correa’s last year before gaining free agent eligibility.  We also saw three multi-year deals reached, all from the greater Los Angeles area — the Dodgers reached two-year deals with Walker Buehler and Austin Barnes, while the Angels inked a two-year pact with Shohei Ohtani.

This left nine unresolved cases that went all the way to a hearing (held over Zoom) between an arbiter, the player, his representative(s), and front office personnel arguing the team’s side.  The teams won five of the nine hearings, continuing the very narrow edge teams have held over players in arb cases in recent years — over the last 99 arbitration hearings, teams hold a 51-48 record over players.

For the full list of every salary for every arbitration-eligible player this offseason, check out the MLB Trade Rumors Arb Tracker.  Sticking to the 13 players with unresolved cases from January 15, here’s the rundown…

Avoided Arbitration, One-Year Contract

Avoided Arbitration, Multi-Year Contract

Arbitration Hearings, Won By Player

Arbitration Hearings, Won By Team

Cubs Designate Phillip Ervin

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The Cubs have designated outfielder Phillip Ervin for assignment.  The move opens up a roster spot for Jake Marisnick, whose signing is now official.

This is the third DFA in less than six months for Ervin, who was first designated by the Reds at the end of August and then claimed by the Mariners.  The Cubs then claimed Ervin off Seattle’s waiver wire in December.  Since Ervin is out of minor league options, it’s possible he could be a frequent visitor to DFA limbo over the course of the 2021 season.

Selected 27th overall in the 2013 draft, Ervin didn’t blossom into an everyday regular in Cincinnati but he did contribute a solid .262/.326/.438 slash line over 571 plate appearances from 2017-19.  He badly struggled last season, however, hitting just .149/.292/.189 over 89 PA with the Reds and Mariners.  This included a brutal coda to Ervin’s tenure in Cincinnati, as he collected only three hits in his last 42 PA in a Reds uniform.

Ervin has hit well against left-handed pitching in his career and he can play all three outfield positions, though the Cubs seem to have tabbed Marisnick (who signed a Major League contract) as their top choice for the fourth outfielder role.  With Cameron Maybin also back on a minor league deal, Ervin looks like the odd man out of the right-handed hitting outfielder mix.

Cubs Sign Jake Marisnick

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TODAY: Marisnick’s deal has been officially announced.

FEB. 11, 9:12am: Marisnick and the Cubs have agreed to a one-year Major League deal with a mutual option for the 2022 season, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The contract guarantees Marisnick $1.5MM. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that the guarantee will be paid out in the form of a $1MM salary in 2021 and a $500K buyout on a $4MM mutual option. He can earn another $500K in 2021 via incentives, Heyman adds.

8:15am: The Cubs and free-agent outfielder Jake Marisnick are in agreement on a contract, Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports (via Twitter). Marisnick is represented by Reynolds Sports Management.

Jake Marisnick | Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Marisnick, 30 in March, has spent the bulk of his career with the Astros but was with the Mets in 2020. A pair of hamstring injuries limited the fleet-footed outfielder to just 16 games, although Marisnick was quite productive in his tiny sample of 34 plate appearances, hitting .333/.353/.604 with a pair of homers and three doubles.

That level of production, of course, shouldn’t be expected moving forward. Marisnick has been a below-average hitter for most of his time in the Majors, though he’s offset that sub-par bat with well above-average speed and excellent glovework. Over the past four years he’s a .234/.297/.441 hitter overall, though he’s fared better when facing left-handed pitching (.247/.313/.443).

Marisnick’s speed was down a bit in 2020, though the pair of hamstring strains surely contributed to that fact. Statcast measured his sprint speed at 29.2 feet per second from 2016-19 but had him down to 28.2 last year. That still ranked in the 84th percentile of MLB players, however, and Marisnick typically sits in the 94th percentile or better with those wheels. He also ranked among the 20 best outfielders in the game in Statcast’s Outs Above Average each year from 2016-19, and he’s been viewed as a similarly elite defender by Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating.

The Cubs already had a right-handed-hitting option to platoon with fellow newcomer Joc Pederson and right fielder Jason Heyward in the form of Phil Ervin, so it’s possible Marisnick will bump him out of the plans. Ervin is a much better hitter against lefties than Marisnick but doesn’t stack up as well defensively. Chicago could certainly carry both players on the roster and more aggressively utilize a platoon setup in the outfield. At the time of the Pederson signing, it was reported that he’d be given near-everyday at-bats, although playing him against lefties would mitigate much of his value.

However it shakes out, the Cubs are a much better defensive team now with Marisnick on board. Somewhat amusingly, they’ve also now in effect swapped fourth outfielders with the Mets. Albert Almora Jr., non-tendered by the Cubs earlier in the winter, signed with New York this past week.

Cubs Outright Sergio Alcantara To Triple-A

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  • The Cubs have outrighted infielder Sergio Alcantara to Triple-A, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian reports (Twitter link).  Alcantara was designated for assignment earlier this week, and has been invited to the Cubs’ Major League spring camp.  Alcantara only joined the Cubs earlier this month via a waiver claim from the Tigers, as the 24-year-old looks to compete for a roster spot after making his big league debut (10 games, 23 plate appearances) in 2020.  Over 2611 career minor league PA, Alcantara has hit .256/.340/.318.

Cubs Re-Sign Cameron Maybin

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The Cubs have re-signed free-agent outfielder Cameron Maybin, according to Jon Morosi of MLB.com. It’s a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training, Morosi adds.

Maybin ended last year with the Cubs, who acquired him from the Tigers at the Aug. 31 trade deadline. The 33-year-old didn’t post great numbers as a Cub (.669 OPS in 56 plate appearances), but he was fairly productive in Detroit. Maybin ended the season with a .247/.307/.387 line with one home run and three stolen bases across 101 PA. Defensively, Maybin saw action at all three outfield positions, though most of his work came as a right fielder. He concluded 2020 with minus-2 Defensive Runs Saved and a plus-0.7 Ultimate Zone Rating in 209 1/3 innings.

Along with his defensive versatility, Maybin has typically provided OK offense, having hit .256/.324/.376 with 72 homers and 186 steals in 4,218 PA since he debuted in 2007. While Maybin never developed into the star many thought he would turn into when he was a prospect, he has at least been a useful reserve outfielder. However, Maybin could have his work cut out in earning a spot on a Cubs team that already has Ian Happ, Joc Pederson, Jason Heyward, Jake Marisnick and Phil Ervin among the outfielders on its 40-man roster.

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