Latest On Cubs’ Bullpen
With Brandon Morrow expected to miss the first month of the season and Pedro Strop now nursing a hamstring strain, the Cubs are looking at some questions in their relief corps. The organization has sent some conflicting signals, though, on how it intends to proceed.
Skipper Joe Maddon suggested there was some discussion of potential acquisitions in recent comments, as Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times writes. Though Wittenmyer reports that there have been no budgetary changes that would support pursuit of Craig Kimbrel, he indicated that the organization might look to the waiver wire and explore potential trades to deepen their bullpen.
President of baseball operations Theo Epstein put a somewhat different spin on things in his comments later today. He said that he does not “foresee anything significant at all” in terms of new acquisitions and added that he is confident in the team’s existing depth. (Twitter links.)
It stands to reason that the club will at least look into other possibilities. The Cubs could at a minimum peruse this season’s crop of out-of-options players, as several of those players face uphill battles to make their current rosters.
That said, Chicago isn’t exactly teeming with bullpen flexibility. Even if Morrow and Strop open the year on the injured list, the team projects to commit roster spots to at least six veterans who can’t be optioned: Mike Montgomery, Steve Cishek, Brad Brach, Brandon Kintzler, Brian Duensing and Tyler Chatwood. Beyond that, while Carl Edwards Jr. can technically be optioned, he’s a lock for the Opening Day roster.
Speculatively speaking, perhaps the Cubs would simply part ways with an underperforming veteran if a more affordable bullpen option presented itself. It could also be that an intervening development will open a spot. As it stands, though, the club’s relief corps currently looks like a potentially problematic area that can’t be easily addressed.
NL Central Injury Notes: Jeffress, Descalso, Strop, Martinez
The National League’s Central division projects to be a closely fought contest, making it all the more important for each team to have all of its players available and in top form. Here are the latest notes on a few health situations from the division:
- Brewers reliever Jeremy Jeffress is likely to open the year on the injured list, skipper Craig Counsell acknowledged to reporters including Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Twitter link). The veteran righty was slowed by some shoulder issues early and has not yet returned to working from the mound, though he is throwing. While the Brewers would no doubt prefer to have Jeffress available from the jump, there’s no sense rushing him and risking a lengthier absence.
- The Cubs have a shoulder issue of their own, as infielder Daniel Descalso is dealing with soreness, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter). There’s no indication that it’s a serious malady, though neither is a timeline presently available. On the bright side, the initial indications are that reliever Pedro Strop‘s injured hamstring won’t be a major concern. As ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers reports (Twitter links), Strop is quite confident that he’ll be able to return in time to get ready for the start of the season. Though he’ll be taking a break from his mound work, Strop was able to participate in practice today, indicating that the rest is primarily a precautionary matter.
- The Cardinals now have a plan in place for right-hander Carlos Martinez, per MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch (Twitter link), to bring him through some shoulder weakness. Martinez will “build up arm strength” with a throwing program over the next two weeks. At that point — just on the cusp of the season — the team will decide how to complete his preparation for the season. It’s still possible, from the club’s perspective at least, that Martinez will be on a program designed to deliver him to the MLB pen. As of late last month, that was not a path he wanted to take.
NL Central Notes: Lyles, Strop, Reds
Right-hander Jordan Lyles is still the leading candidate for the Pirates‘ final rotation spot, general manager Neal Huntington said today (Twitter link via Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Huntington candidly indicated that the 28-year-old entered camp as the favorite to win the job, adding that neither he nor his primary competition — Nick Kingham and Steven Brault — has done anything to change that. Those comments did come before Lyles exited today’s appearance with some cramping in his right side (link via the Post-Gazette’s Nubyjas Wilborn), though the move was described as “precautionary.” Lyles hasn’t exactly dominated this spring, pitching to a 4.91 ERA on 13 hits and five walks with seven strikeouts through 11 innings, although the Pirates are surely more concerned with the quality of his offerings than his bottom-line results in a small sample of exhibition innings. Lyles signed a one-year deal worth $2.05MM to join the Pirates this offseason after posting a 4.11 ERA with career-best K/BB numbers in 87 2/3 innings between the Padres and the Brewers.
Here’s more from the NL Central…
- Cubs righty Pedro Strop sustained a “mild” right hamstring strain in his most recent Cactus League outing on Saturday and is now questionable for the beginning of the season, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. (That, it should be noted, is not the same hamstring that sidelined Strop near the end of the 2018 season.) Strop will continue to play catch while resting and rehabbing the leg issue, and there’s still a chance that he could be ready to open the season on the active roster rather than the injured list. Currently, he’s in line to close games in Chicago while Brandon Morrow is out early in the year, though if Strop does hit the IL, veteran Steve Cishek would seem likely to be the next man up.
- The Reds‘ offseason additions of Sonny Gray, Alex Wood, Tanner Roark, Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp were a welcome departure from what has become standard operating procedure for many noncompetitive teams in recent seasons, opines Joel Sherman of the New York Post. While many teams have followed the Astros’ model of aggressively tanking to stockpile draft picks and international bonus resources, the Reds at least positioned themselves to have a chance in the division, even if few would peg them as any sort of favorite. “For the first time in a long time we added multiple well-known major league players to this team in an offseason,” president of baseball operations Dick Williams tells Sherman. “That clearly has people’s imaginations going. That is part of the fun. … Just to be able to ponder the possible and the excitement is a huge psychological benefit to our fans.” Even if the moves ultimately fail to yield dividends, several of the newly acquired assets (namely Wood, Roark and Puig) could hold value on the summer trade market, and the Reds didn’t sacrifice any of the organization’s very top prospects in order to take a shot at improved results in 2019.
NL Notes: Uecker, McCann, Cubs, Braves, Pache, Conforto
Few people in baseball are as well-liked as legendary Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker, and he garners so much respect within the team’s clubhouse that the players voted Uecker for a full share of playoff money from their NLCS run last season, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes. Uecker will divide the full $123K amount amongst four charities, and was humbled to receive such a gesture. “I would never keep the money, but I sure appreciated what they did. I’m proud of that. When I talked to them about it, they said, ‘Ueck, that was no big deal. You were part of that.’ Still, I was shocked when they did it,” Uecker said.
Some more from around the National League…
- The Cubs made an offer to Brian McCann this offseason that was worth more than the one-year, $2MM deal that McCann eventually received from the Braves, The Athletic’s David O’Brien reports (subscription required). The money wasn’t the primary factor in McCann’s choice, however, as the catcher wanted to either return to the Astros or to the Braves, his original team. It doesn’t seem that any other suitors were given serious consideration, as McCann “had no interest in being a hired gun and going elsewhere to play what could be the final season of his career,” O’Brien writes. Between this item and reports from earlier today that the Cubs had interest in Martin Maldonado, it seems as if Chicago was a quiet player in the catching market this offseason. Willson Contreras is the incumbent starter, though the Cubs are looking for more depth beyond Victor Caratini and minor league signing Francisco Arcia.
- Also from O’Brien’s piece, he mentions that Braves prospect Cristian Pache received trade interest from rival teams this winter as part of a larger profile on Pache. It would’ve been surprising, frankly, if Atlanta hadn’t gotten calls on the 20-year-old outfielder, given Pache’s emergence as one of the team’s (and baseball’s) most intriguing young players. Though he hit only a modest .279/.307/.410 over 495 combined PA in A-ball and Double-A last season, Pache is beginning to show more power potential, as evidenced by some big numbers in Atlanta’s Spring Training camp. If Pache can develop into even a passable hitter at the MLB level, he’ll still have enormous value given his widely-touted speed, throwing arm, and defensive play. Even prior to 2018, some Braves scouts considered Pache to be the organization’s best defensive outfielder, ahead of even Ender Inciarte or Ronald Acuna. Pache made his debut in the preseason top-100 prospect lists, with varied assessments from MLB.com (who ranked him 37th), ESPN.com’s Keith Law (45th), Baseball Prospectus (62nd), Baseball America (85th). The Marlins were one club known to have Pache on their radar, as he was on the short list of prospects Miami wanted from Atlanta as part of a J.T. Realmuto trade package.
- Michael Conforto will stick to right field this season, Mets manager Mickey Callaway told Newsday’s Anthony Rieber and other media. Over Conforto’s four MLB seasons, he has actually spent the least amount of action in right field (208 1/3 innings) of any of the three outfield spots, as he has 869 1/3 innings as a center fielder and 2045 innings in left field. As per UZR/150 and Defensive Runs Saved, Conforto has struggled in center field but been solidly above-average in the corner outfield spots, so keeping in right field should enhance his overall value. Conforto’s placement should provide some stability within a very in-flux Mets’ outfield situation, as Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo are slated to see much of the work in left field, with Nimmo, Keon Broxton, and Juan Lagares all in the mix in center field. Veterans Carlos Gomez and Rajai Davis are also in camp, and there’s still a slim chance that Yoenis Cespedes could return from the injured list at some point in 2019.
Quick Hits: Cubs, Maldonado, Cedeno, M’s, Healy, Rox, Estevez
The Cubs had interest in catcher Martin Maldonado before he agreed to join the Royals on Saturday, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reports (subscription required). The presence of established starting catcher Willson Contreras worked against the Cubs in this instance, though, as Mooney hears Maldonado wanted to go to a team capable of offering him a solid amount of playing time. After losing out on Maldonado, the Cubs are still interested in bolstering their depth at catcher behind Contreras and Victor Caratini, Mooney hears.
- Maldonado only ended up in Kansas City because starting catcher Salvador Perez needed Tommy John surgery – a procedure veteran Matt Wieters expects to become more commonplace for backstops. Wieters, who underwent the procedure in 2014 (the first time a starting catcher required the surgery since 1997), told Joel Sherman of the New York Post this week, “I think it is because more and more you are on the clock,” referring to the fact that teams are now timing catchers when they throw. “I am not sure that is a great way to go,” the Cardinals’ Wieters opines. Along with Perez and Wieters, the Red Sox’s Christian Vazquez and the Mets’ Travis d’Arnaud are the most prominent catchers who have undergone TJ surgery in recent years, Sherman notes.
- With Kyle Seager battling a wrist injury, Ryon Healy has emerged as the Mariners’ top fallback option at third base, Greg Johns of MLB.com writes. Healy totaled over 100 games’ worth of action at the hot corner with the Athletics from 2016-17, but he barely played there last year with the Mariners, instead spending almost all of his time at first. The addition of Edwin Encarnacion has pushed Healy out of a starting spot there, however, and so did his subpar production in 2018. In his first year with the Mariners, Healy slashed an unimpressive .238/.277/.412 (90 wRC+) in 524 plate appearances, continuing his drop-off from an encouraging 2016 rookie campaign with the A’s.
- Contrary to popular belief, Rockies reliever Carlos Estevez is not out of minor league options, Thomas Harding of MLB.com tweets. Rather, the Rockies will be able to demote Estevez this season “based on complicated regulations regarding full seasons played and age at the time of signing,” Harding writes. That will afford the Rockies more flexibility in their bullpen, where it appeared they’d either have to keep Estevez or potentially lose him. The 26-year-old was a part of the group from 2016-17, but he struggled to a 5.36 ERA (though he did post a much better 4.08 FIP) with 9.27 K/9, 4.33 BB/9 and a 44.3 percent groundball rate across 87 1/3 innings. Thanks in part to oblique and elbow injuries, Estevez failed to appear in the majors last season.
- Cubs reliever Xavier Cedeno is likely to miss the start of the season on account of a wrist injury, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. It doesn’t seem overly serious, though, as Cedeno’s only expected to sit out the next seven to 10 days. Cedeno, whom the Cubs signed to a minor league contract in February, had been competing for a bullpen spot after several productive seasons divided among the Astros, Nationals, Rays, White Sox and Brewers. Over 175 1/3 innings, the 32-year-old southpaw has logged a 3.69 ERA/3.80 FIP with 8.91 K/9, 3.54 BB/9 and a 50.4 grounder percentage, and has held same-sided hitters to a weak .218/.285/.298 line.
NL Notes: Darvish, Beede, McNeil
The latest from the Senior Circuit…
- It’s a big year for Cubs righty Yu Darvish, as The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney explores in an in-depth look at the Japanese star. Darvish “didn’t feel any power in [his] body” last season, easily the nadir in the righty’s decorated seven-year MLB career thus far. The righty’s season-long search for the root of his struggles came to a head in August, when he was ultimately diagnosed with a stress reaction in his right elbow. Limited to just 8 starts last season, Darvish claims to be flinging the “best stuff of his life” in early Cactus League-play, and his coterie of Cub teammates and coaches agree: “He’s been almost a different person this year,” manager Joe Maddon said. “We all know him. He knows us better. Definitely the self-confidence level seems to be soaring a bit right now. I just think the familiarity with the whole group matters to him, plus he’s healthy. All those factors are pointing the needle in the right direction right now.” Peak performances refrains are all too familiar in Spring Training, but a forthright Darvish may just be the weight that tips the scales in favor of Chicago in this season’s brutal NL Central.
- Giants righty Tyler Beede, who’s had difficulty harnessing a high-octane arsenal since spurning a huge Toronto offer as a first-round selection in the 2012 draft, may finally be turning the corner, writes Grant Brisbee of The Athletic. The Vanderbilt product, who overhauled his scintillating repertoire at the behest of the old Giants regime, turning himself into a sinker/command guy who sought soft contact, has gone back to his roots: a hard four-seam/overhand curve mix that’s baffled Cactus League hitters thus far. Technology implemented by the new, data-conscious staff under GM Farhan Zaidi (who singled out the righty in an early-spring media chat) appears to have been the catalyst, and the 25-year-old Beede is all ears. Beede’s eventual role remains unclear – there’s talk of him breaking camp with the club as a reliever – but he’s again a name to watch by the bay.
- Mets IF/OF Jeff McNeil will split time between third base and left field for the remainder of spring, per manager Mickey Callaway (via the NY Daily News’ Deesha Thosar). McNeil, 27 next month, was a virtual non-prospect before mashing his way to the big leagues in 2018: once there, he impressed further, slashing .329/.381/.471 over 248 late-season plate appearances. Much of McNeil’s big-league time came at second base last season, but the lefty has seen time at seven different positions over a six-year minor league career. Veterans Jed Lowrie and Todd Frazier are still shelf-ridden, with no concrete timetable for a return, so an opening-day spot at the hot corner appears increasingly likely for the feel-good story of last season.
Roster Notes: Padres, Paddack, Rangers, Cubs, Scahill
The Padres #5 ranked prospect per MLB.com (#34 overall) is angling to get the nod on Opening Day, per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. Chris Paddack threw four scoreless innings, which included a stretch in which he struck out five consecutive Oakland A’s batters in his most recent spring start. Last season, Paddack made seven starts in Double-A after cruising through High-A, where he notched an eye-popping 14.3 K/9 versus 0.7 BB/9 in 52 1/3 innings. Double-A didn’t slow him much, going 3-2 with a 1.91 ERA in 7 starts, 8.8 K/9 to 1.0 BB/9. Still, from Double-A to an Opening Day start would be quite the jump for the 23-year-old, just a year removed from missing all of 2017 to Tommy John surgery. The competition is fairly wide open, however, as the Padres, by design, brought very little in the way of established talent to camp. Since the offseason departures of veterans Clayton Richard (traded to Blue Jays) and Tyson Ross (signed with Tigers), Robbie Erlin boasts the most experience in the group, and he’s not even a lock to make the rotation. Fellow southpaws Joey Lucchesi and Eric Lauer each have a shot to get the Opening Day nod, as well. Let’s check in on the Rangers’ and Cubs’ camps as teams begin to whittle their spring rosters…
- The Rangers culled their number of players in camp to 60. Pitchers Taylor Guerrieri, Michael Tonkin, Miguel Del Pozo and Brady Feigl were all assigned to minor league camp, per the Rangers’ executive VP of communications John Blake (via Twitter). Guerrieri, 26, joined the Rangers after making his major league debut last season with the Blue Jays. A former first round pick of the Rays, he was a starter in the minor leagues until missing most of the 2017 season due to injury. Toronto claimed him off waivers before last season, where started 7 games in Triple-A before appearing 9 times out of the Blue Jays pen, pitching to a 5.02 FIP in a small-sample 9 2/3 big league innings. Tonkin, 29, appeared in parts of five seasons for the Twins from 2013 to 2017 with a 4.57 FIP across 141 games. Del Pozo, 26, reached as far as Double-A in the Marlins system before joining the Rangers as a non-roster invitee. While Feigl, 28, is back in the Rangers system where he has pitched for the past two seasons.
- The Cubs made a number of roster moves today, with promising righties Adbert Alzolay and Jen-Ho Tseng being optioned to Triple-A, while Justin Steele and Oscar De La Cruz were sent to Double-A, per the Athletic’s Patrick Mooney (Twitter links). Also on the move, Duncan Robinson, Ian Clarkin, Colin Rea, Ian Rice, Charcer Burks and Jacob Hannemann are being moved to minor league camp (Twitter link). Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter) adds Craig Brooks, Alberto Baldonado and Evan Marzilli to the list of players headed to minor league camp. The Cubs spring roster has now been cut to 54.
- Rob Scahill, meanwhile, was released outright by the Cubs, per Mooney (via Twitter). Scahill has pitched at the big league level for parts of seven seasons running, topping out at 31 appearances in 2016 spread between Milwaukee and Pittsburgh. In total, the 32-year-old boasts a career 3.95 ERA (4.67 FIP) in 124 games for Rockies, Pirates, Brewers and White Sox.
Royals Trade Donnie Dewees To Cubs For Stephen Ridings
The Royals have acquired right-handed pitcher Stephen Ridings from the Cubs in exchange for Donnie Dewees, the team announced (via Twitter).
Ridings, 23, was an 8th round draft pick of the Cubs in 2016. Last season for the Eugene Emeralds, the Cubs short season A-ball club, he went 3-3 with a 4.15 ERA in 34 2/3 innings across 22 relief appearances. In his short professional career, the 6’8″ product of Haverford College has shown the classic power-pitcher profile, missing bats (11.4 K/9) while struggling with command at times (3.9 BB/9).
The Royals originally acquired Dewees from the Cubs in February of 2017 in exchange for right-hander Alec Mills. Currently competing for a spot in the Cubs bullpen, Mills produced solid small-sample results for the Cubs in a swing role last season, a role he’s angling to reprise in 2019 – though he’s likely ticketed for the Triple-A rotation at least to start the season. In two starts and five relief appearances for the Cubs in 2018, Mills, 27, earned a 4.00 ERA in 18 innings at the big league level.
Dewees returns to for his second stint with the Cubs after struggling to hit for much power in the Royals system. The lefty outfielder hit .258/.310/.383 in Double-A and Triple-A last season. The Cubs selected him in the 2nd round in the 2015 draft, topping out in Single-A with a strong .282/.337/.414 with 15 doubles, 12 triples, and 3 home runs in the season before the Cubs sent him to KC.
He can capably handle all three outfield positions, though without a standout offensive skill, the 25-year-old lefty will probably begin the year in Triple-A. He’ll have a chance to crack the 25-man roster, as the Cubs don’t have a natural 5th outfielder on the roster. They are, however, flush with outfield options, as Kyle Schwarber, Ian Happ, Jason Heyward, Albert Almora Jr., Ben Zobrist, Kris Bryant, David Bote, and Daniel Descalso have all seen time in the outfield. Johnny Field, Mark Zagunis, Jacob Hannemann, and Jim Adduci fill out the next tier of outfielders that will compete with Dewees in his second stint with the Cubs.
Latest On Brandon Morrow’s Rehab Timeline
It has been known for some time that Cubs closer Brandon Morrow would likely not be ready for the start of the season, but his precise timeline has been tough to guess. As MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian was among those to tweet, there’s now a clear target date for Morrow to throw his first pen session: March 25th.
Morrow dealt with a biceps injury last season and underwent offseason surgery on his elbow. The current rehab plan seems to be for Morrow to continue building up strength and testing his powerful right arm over the next several weeks. So long as he tolerates further increases in his long-toss program, he’ll get back on the bump near the end of the month.
Even if Morrow toes the rubber on the 25th, it’ll still leave several steps left before he’s ready for competitive action. From that point, he’d need to regain the feel for his arsenal, step in against live hitters, and progress to some sort of game-like action before potentially undertaking a rehab assignment in lieu of the Spring Training contests he’ll have missed.
The broader timeline remains foggy and obviously depends quite a bit on how Morrow comes through each forthcoming test. His bullpen mates reported to camp on February 13th; by that measure, at least, he’ll be something like five or six weeks behind schedule. Of course, Morrow has been ramping up for duty in other ways and has previously indicated he anticipates missing about a month of action.
It remains to be seen how quickly Morrow will move once he nears readiness. By that point, the Cubs will already have quite a bit more information than they do now about their immediate roster needs. Regardless, the club will surely weigh heavily the knowledge of Morrow’s long and short-term health history.
This time last year, Morrow was ramping up for a highly successful first half of the 2018 season — his first on a two-year, $21MM contract that brought him to Chicago. That he was in position to sign that deal was in itself quite notable, given that Morrow had only just revived his injury-wracked career. After 30 2/3 innings of 1.47 ERA pitching, though, Morrow hit the DL with what seemed like a minor issue. He never made it back, with the team shutting him down in mid-September after hope of a late-season return faded.
Entering the winter, the Cubs made clear they would keep Morrow penciled in as their primary closer. But his outlook was downgraded again when he ended up requiring an elbow debridement procedure in early November. With little free payroll to allocate in free agency, the Cubs never pursued a true replacement, though they did add a hurler who has late-inning experience. Brad Brach joins Pedro Strop, Steve Cishek, and Brandon Kintzler as Chicago relievers with at least twenty MLB saves.
Cubs, Brad Brach Restructure Contract
The Cubs and right-hander Brad Brach quietly restructured their original contract following Brach’s medical reviews, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reports (subscription required). Brach says “a little bit of a viral infection” caused the change.
It appears the new pact promises Brach at least $3MM. Like the first iteration, it has quite a few moving parts.
The two sides initially agreed to a $4.35MM deal that included a $3MM base salary for 2019. It also came with competing club/player options that put at least $1.35MM in Brach’s control for the 2020 campaign.
Under the new agreement, Brach’s ’19 base salary will be just $1.65MM. He’ll have the ability to earn an additional $850K worth of bonuses based on days spent on the active roster, with $350K due for just one single day. After the season, the Cubs will decide between a $5MM option and a $100K buyout. If declined, Brach can exercise a player option at $1.35MM.
At the end of the day, it seems the Cubs will get an even better buy on a solid relief arm. Brach, who’ll soon turn 33, has worked to a 3.08 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 over 456 career innings in the majors. The veteran hurler says he’s excited to join the Cubs, but joined a growing list of players to raise an eyebrow at a free-agent process in which he received similar offers on a similar timeline from multiple teams.