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Cubs Reinstate Three From IL; Rex Brothers Elects Free Agency

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Cubs lefty Rex Brothers rejected an outright assignment after clearing waivers and has instead opted for free agency, tweets Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago. The Cubs have also reinstated James Norwood, Manuel Rodriguez and Brad Wieck from the 45-day injured list, bringing their current 40-man roster to 34 players.

Brothers, 33, pitched in just three games for the Cubs in 2020 and has had much of a sample of MLB work since his 2017 run with the Braves. The former Rockies prospect was the No. 34 overall pick back and got out to a nice start through three seasons in Colorado before his already shaky control got out of hand in 2014.

Over the past six years, Brothers has bounced around between the Rockies, Yankees, Braves and Cubs organizations. He’s seen intermittent action at the big league level en route to a 5.77 ERA and 101-to-64 K/BB ratio in 93 1/3 frames in that time. Brothers’ heater averaged 95.3 mph in this year’s tiny sample of innings. That velocity from the left side should get him another look as a minor league depth option with another club.

Norwood, 26, missed most of the season due to shoulder troubles. The 24-year-old Rodriguez didn’t appear in the big leagues this year but went on the 60-day IL due to a biceps strain late in the year, giving the Cubs some late flexibility on the roster. Wieck, 29, went down with a hamstring strain after one game and did not return.

Cubs Decline Daniel Descalso’s Option

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The Cubs have declined their $3.5MM club option on infielder Daniel Descalso for the 2021 season, the team announced.  Descalso will instead receive a $1MM buyout and head into free agency.

Descalso was inked to a two-year, $5MM contract in December 2018 with the expectation that he would provide Chicago with multi-positional depth and some of the left-handed hitting pop he displayed with the Diamondbacks during the 2018 season.  Unfortunately for the Cubs, Descalso hit only .173/.271/.250 over 194 plate appearances in 2019 and missed all of 2020 recovering due to an ankle injury.

A veteran of 10 big league seasons, the 34-year-old Descalso will surely have to settle for a minor league contract if he catches on with another team this winter.  A career .235/.320/.362 hitter over 2893 career PA with the Cubs, D’Backs, Rockies, and Cardinals, Descalso has played mostly second base and third base in recent years, with some other experience as a first baseman, shortstop, and left fielder on his resume.

Cubs Exercise Anthony Rizzo’s 2021 Option

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TODAY: The Cubs officially announced that Rizzo’s option has been exercised.

OCTOBER 30: The Cubs bought out left-hander Jon Lester’s option Friday, but first baseman Anthony Rizzo won’t get the same treatment. The team’s planning to pick up his $16.5MM option for 2021, which will be Rizzo’s last season of team control, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reports.

Retaining Rizzo shouldn’t come as a surprise, but as we’ve seen this week, all bets seem to be off in baseball’s current economic climate. And while Rizzo has generally been fantastic since he first became a Cub in 2012, the 31-year-old took sizable steps backward this season. Rizzo put up a pedestrian 103 wRC+, his worst since his debut with the Padres in 2011, and batted .222/.342/.414 with 11 home runs in 243 plate appearances. Moreover, Rizzo’s .339 expected weighted on-base average was his worst since the Statcast era began, and it was a 55-point drop from the .394 mark he logged in 2019.

While Rizzo will return to the Cubs for another season and hope for a rebound, their lineup might look quite a bit different otherwise. After a first-round playoff exit this fall, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein suggested an offensive shakeup is forthcoming. That could put other Cubs mainstays (Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber, to name a couple of examples) in jeopardy of sticking with the team in 2021.

Minor MLB Transactions: 10/30/20

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Rounding up some minor moves around the game:

  • Royals left-hander Mike Montgomery and right-hander Kevin McCarthy cleared outright waivers and have elected free agency, reports Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com (Twitter link). Montgomery, 31, was limited to 5.1 innings in 2020 due to a lat injury, derailing his chance of cementing himself in the Kansas City rotation. McCarthy was an oft-used bullpen piece in 2019 but only got into five games last season. Additionally, Kansas City claimed righty Carlos Sanabria off waivers from the Astros, per Flanagan (Twitter link). The 23-year-old reliever performed well in the high minors in 2019 and made his MLB debut in this year.
  • The Twins claimed right-hander Ian Gibaut off waivers from the Rangers, per an announcement from Texas. The 26-year-old pitched to just a 6.57 ERA in 12.1 innings this year but was once a well-regarded relief prospect. He comes with one option year remaining. Fellow Texas righty Luke Farrell cleared outright waivers.
  • The Twins also claimed left-hander Brandon Waddell off waivers from the Pirates, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com (Twitter link). Additionally, Pirates’ catchers John Ryan Murphy and Luke Maile, utilityman Kevin Kramer, right-hander Yacksel Rios and outfielder Jason Martin all cleared outright waivers, per an announcement from Pittsburgh.
  • The Mets claimed right-hander Nick Tropeano off waivers from the Pirates, per an announcement from Pittsburgh. The 30-year-old pitched in seven games with a 1.15 ERA for the Pirates in 2020. He’s projected for a salary just under $1MM in arbitration.
  • The Nationals announced they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Steven Fuentes. The 23-year-old pitched to a 2.69 ERA/2.24 FIP in 63.2 Double-A innings in 2019 and would’ve been eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter. Baseball America ranks Fuentes the #27 prospect in the Washington system.
  • The Cubs announced that they have claimed infielder Max Schrock via waivers from the rival Cardinals. Chicago also outrighted lefty Rex Brothers to Triple-A Iowa. Schrock picked up just 17 plate appearances for St. Louis in 2020 and collected three hits (two singles and a homer). Brothers, 32, threw only 3.1 innings with the Cubs and allowed three earned runs.
  • Speaking of the Cardinals, they announced outright assignments for righty Nabil Crismatt and lefty Ricardo Sanchez. Crismatt was successful for the Cardinals in 2020, notching 8.1 frames of three-run ball with eight strikeouts and one walk. Sanchez had some difficulty across 5.1 innings, though, as he gave up four earned runs and issued five walks.

Red Sox, Alex Cora Have Been In Contact

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A reunion between the Red Sox and Alex Cora may be in the offing. After a year away from the team because of a suspension, their former manager is a candidate to return in the same role. The Red Sox have been in contact with Cora, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports.

The Red Sox have already interviewed seven other candidates, as shown on MLBTR’s Managerial Search Tracker. Pirates bench coach Don Kelly and Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza have received second interviews, according to Speier, who adds that Cubs third base coach Will Venable and Twins bench coach Mike Bell are no longer under consideration. Diamondbacks bench coach Luis Urueta is also out of the mix, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com tweets. Among known candidates, that leaves Cora up against Kelly, Mendoza, Marlins bench coach James Rowson and Padres associate manager Skip Schumaker. However, Speier writes that there are other names under consideration.

No one from the Kelly-Mendoza-Rowson-Schumaker group has managed in the majors, so they certainly can’t match Cora’s accomplishments in the role. Cora managed the Red Sox to a 192-132 record from 2018-19, guiding the team to a World Series in the first of those seasons. But the Red Sox parted with Cora last offseason after Major League Baseball suspended him for a year because of the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal. Cora was the Astros’ bench coach that season.

Cubs Decline Jon Lester’s Option

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The Cubs have declined left-hander Jon Lester’s $25MM option for 2021 in favor of a $10MM buyout, the team announced. The accomplished hurler is set to reach free agency for the first time since the 2014-15 offseason. However, the two sides appear willing to stick together on a less expensive pact, as Lester confirmed Friday on MLB Network Radio.

Lester revealed that contract talks haven’t occurred yet, but he added, “The feeling is mutual on both sides that we want to try to get something done.”

Lester anticipates a slow offseason because of the pandemic and doesn’t expect to sign imminently, but he’s sure to garner interest from other teams if the Cubs don’t make an earnest effort to bring him back. While Lester will turn 37 in January and is no longer his five-time All-Star self, he remains an immensely respected starter and someone capable of eating innings at the back end of a team’s rotation. Lester amassed no fewer than 171 2/3 innings in any season from 2008-19 and is now coming off a year in which he recorded 12 starts and 61 frames. On the downside, though, he registered career worsts in ERA (5.16), FIP (5.14) and strikeouts per nine (6.2).

Should he return to the Cubs on a buy-low contract, he’d continue to follow Yu Darvish and Kyle Hendricks in their rotation. At the moment, however, there isn’t much certainty after Darvish and Hendricks. Alec Mills joined Lester in posting subpar run prevention numbers in 2020, though Adbert Alzolay did pitch well over a small sample of work.

Latest On Angels’ GM Search

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OCT. 30, 6:07pm: Brewers assistant GM Matt Arnold has also interviewed with the Angels, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Arnold was a candidate for Pittsburgh’s GM vacancy last winter, but that position went to Ben Cherington.

3:47pm: Ricciardi is not a candidate, Fletcher tweets. Former Giants GM Bobby Evans has received an interview, though, and Mariners assistant GM Justin Hollander (formerly with the Angels) is also in the mix, according to Fletcher. Additionally, they’ve reached out to Eddie Bane, their former scouting director, to gauge his interest in the GM job, Robert Murray reports.

OCT. 29, 11:01pm; Former Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill, Nationals special assistant to the GM Dan Jennings and Cubs VP of player personnel Jason McLeod are also in the running, according to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.

10:28pm: The Angels have moved slowly to find a new general since firing Billy Eppler at the end of September, but at least a few names have emerged for the job, per reports from Robert Murray, Jon Heyman of MLB Network, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times and Mike Puma of the New York Post.

According to the aforementioned group of reporters, Diamondbacks assistant general managers Jared Porter and Amiel Sawdaye, Athletics assistant Billy Owens and Padres senior advisor Logan White have all interviewed for the job in Anaheim. Giants special advisor J.P. Ricciardi, once the Blue Jays’ GM, is also in the running. The Angels also contacted Cubs vice president of scouting Dan Kantrovitz to gauge his interest in the position, but he’s not a candidate. Kantrovitz turned down the Angels’ overtures and will stay with the Cubs in 2021, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reports.

While both Porter and Sawdaye received new contracts with the Diamondbacks just over a year ago, perhaps they’re amenable to taking over another team’s baseball operations. Owens just finished his 19th season in the A’s front office, though he may be open to a change with executive VP Billy Beane possibly set to pursue other interests. And then there’s White, who previously worked for the Dodgers but has been with the Padres since before 2015.

Of course, anyone succeeding Eppler will be taking over a fairly appealing situation. The Angels have missed the postseason six times in a row, but they have the game’s best player, center fielder Mike Trout, as well as a great complement in third baseman Anthony Rendon. Infielder David Fletcher, two-way player Shohei Ohtani, young outfielder Jo Adell and starters Dylan Bundy and Andrew Heaney are also on hand. Plus, owner Arte Moreno has typically been willing to spend, so the budget shouldn’t be a hindrance for the club’s next GM.

Managerial/Front Office Notes: White Sox, Kantrovitz, A’s, Cards

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There’s quite a lot of intrigue in the front office and managerial arenas this offseason. Let’s check in on the latest bits of information …

  • WGN broadcaster Dan Roan crafted an eyebrow-raising tweet regarding the next White Sox manager. Indications are that the organization is preparing to make a swift and dramatic decision to fill the top dugout opening. Roan hints at a forthcoming announcement that Tony La Russa will be tapped for a return run on the South Side. It’s certainly not a firm report of an imminent agreement, but Sox fans may want to keep an eye on the news wire on Thursday.
  • The Angels have a new potential target in their GM search, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com (via Twitter). The Halos have asked the Cubs to green-light a chat with Dan Kantrovitz, the current VP of scouting in Chicago. Kantrovitz, who has been with the Cubs for less than a year, could in theory be considered for the top job in Anaheim or targeted as one of two hires if the club decides to bring on both a president of baseball ops and a general manager.
  • This time last year, Kantrovitz was still with the Athletics — a team that now appears to be looking at the end of an era with the potential departure of Billy Beane. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle addresses several elements of the situation in response to reader inquiries. Unsurprisingly, she anticipates that GM David Forst would step into Beane’s shoes in the event of the latter’s departure. Kantrovitz might’ve been in line to succeed as GM had he remained. As things stand, Slusser suggests that AGM Billy Owens stands to move up the ladder if he’s not first snatched up by another org.
  • The Cardinals are planning to trim costs in player payroll after a round of front office cuts. It turns out that the recent departures included a trio of notable former players, according to Mark Saxon of The Athletic (via Twitter). Former Cards Chris Carpenter, Jason Isringhausen, and Jim Edmonds are no longer being paid as special assistants.

Cubs, Terrmel Sledge Part Ways

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After a below-average offensive season, the Cubs are parting with assistant hitting coach Terrmel Sledge, Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic report. They’ll look for someone else to partner with hitting coach Anthony Ianoce.

A former major league outfielder, Sledge spent two seasons on the Cubs’ staff. They finished 2019 ninth in wRC+ and 10th in runs with Sledge in the fold, but the Cubs fell to 21st and 20th in those categories this year. That surely didn’t help Sledge’s cause, though it’s difficult to quantify the impact of an assistant coach.

Beyond Sledge’s departure, the Cubs’ offense could face more drastic changes leading into next season. While the club did win the National League Central in 2020, it bowed out in the wild-card round against the Marlins, and president of baseball operations Theo Epstein has expressed an openness to overseeing a significant offensive shakeup since then. With that in mind, it’s possible the Cubs will seriously consider trade offers for some of their most notable hitters (Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber may be at the top of the list), especially considering the dwindling team control over some of their key players.

NL Central Notes: Betts, Brewers, Venable, Tigers, Pirates

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Could Mookie Betts have blossomed to stardom in a Brewers uniform?  It could have been a reality if former Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin had had his way, as he tried to acquire Betts from the Red Sox in 2013 in exchange for closer Francisco Rodriguez, according to MLB.com’s Adam Berry and Adam McCalvy.  As a fifth-round pick for Boston in the 2011 draft, “Mookie sort of went under the radar if you went by the so-called MLB Pipeline or whatever.  I don’t think at the time he was in their top 10-15 prospects,” Melvin said.  Both the Brewers’ analytics and scouting departments agreed on Betts’ potential, however, so the pitch was made to then-Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington, who wisely declined the offer.

Betts was already in the midst of a big season at the A-ball levels in 2013, and Cherington recalls that by season’s end, Betts’ “name was the first one” mentioned by other clubs in trade negotiations.  “Doug Melvin was the first to ask, so I always give Doug credit.  He was the first one to ask for him,” Cherington said.

While Milwaukee fans take a moment to sigh ruefully, let’s look at some other items from around the NL Central…

  • Cubs third base coach Will Venable spoke with the Tigers about their managerial vacancy, NBC Sports Chicago’s Gordon Wittenmyer reports.  Venable was first cited as a potential candidate for the Tigers job back in September, and Venable has also recently interviewed with the Red Sox about their managerial job.  Beyond the Red Sox and Tigers, “other clubs also have sought the Cubs’ permission to talk with Venable about other, non-managerial openings in their organizations,” Wittenmyer writes.  A veteran of nine MLB seasons, Venable has spent the last three years in Wrigleyville as a special assistant to Theo Epstein, as well as a first base and third base coach.  This is the second straight winter that Venable has been a popular candidate, as the Cubs considered him for their own manager’s job last offseason, and the Astros and Giants also interviewed him for their managerial openings.
  • The Pirates have 19 players eligible for arbitration this offseason, the most of any team in baseball.  At least some of those names won’t be back in Pittsburgh in 2021, as The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel thinks as many as six players could be non-tendered and several others are trade candidates.  Interestingly, Biertempfel cites Trevor Williams as a potential non-tender, on the heels of a season that saw Williams get off to a good start but then struggle to finish with a 6.18 ERA over 55 1/3 innings, with a league-high 15 homers allowed.  Williams received some trade interest from at least one team (the Blue Jays) back in August, so it’s possible Toronto or another club could have some talks with the Pirates before the non-tender deadline.  Williams had a pair of solid seasons in 2017-18 and is entering his age-29 season with two years of team control remaining.  MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Williams to earn between $3.2MM and $4.6MM through the arbitration process this winter.
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