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Rex Brothers Elects Free Agency

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Cubs left-hander Rex Brothers elected free agency after he was outrighted off Chicago’s 40-man roster earlier this week, The Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro reports (Twitter link).  Since Brothers has been outrighted multiple times in his career, he had the right to become a free agent rather than accept the Cubs’ assignment — in fact, Brothers also opted for free agency almost exactly a year ago, after another outright off the Cubs’ 40-man.

Brothers has inked minor league deals with the Cubs in each of the last two offseasons.  After tossing only 3 1/3 innings in 2020, he received a much longer look this season, with 53 innings out of Chicago’s bullpen.  The first 27 1/3 of those innings were stellar, as the southpaw posted a 2.63 through June 27, but things then started to decline for the veteran.  His final 25 2/3 innings resulted in an 8.06 ERA, giving Brothers an overall 5.26 ERA for the season.

Home runs (nine), hard contact, and especially walks were the biggest problems for Brothers, as his 14.8% walk rate was one of the highest of any pitcher in the league.  These issues outweighed some very impressive strikeout numbers, as Brothers’ 31.8 K% and whiff rate both fell in the 92nd percentile of all pitchers.  While the home runs have been a more recent problem for Brothers, he has long struggled with his control, even dating back to his 2011 rookie season with the Rockies.

Brothers posted some very solid numbers with Colorado from 2011-13, but the team cut ties with him following the 2015 season, dealing him to the Cubs for Brothers’ first stint in Wrigleyville.  The Cubs released Brothers that spring, however, and he didn’t play anywhere in 2016 before catching on with the Braves organization for two more seasons.

Brothers turns 34 in December, so time may be running out for the left-hander to show that he can finally harness his control and take full advantage of his ability to miss bats.  It seems likely that another team (maybe even the Cubs again) will give Brothers another look on a minor league contract.

Cubs Claim Wade Miley Off Waivers From Reds

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Nov. 7: The Cubs have announced that they have officially picked up Miley’s option, securing his services for the 2022 campaign.

Nov. 5: The Cubs announced Friday that they’ve claimed left-hander Wade Miley off waivers from the Reds. Cincinnati general manager Nick Krall said just two days ago the the team needed to “align our payroll to our resources,” and the surprising decision to waive Miley, who has an eminently reasonable $10MM club option for the 2022 season, further foreshadows the team’s direction this offseason.

Wade Miley | Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports

By placing Miley on waivers rather than declining his option, the Reds spared themselves a $1MM buyout (while also strengthening a division-rival club’s rotation). Given the fact that Miley was claimed at that $10MM price point, it stands to reason that the Reds could have exercised the option and found a trade partner later in the offseason.

Krall tells reporters that he explored the market for Miley over the past couple of weeks and found no interest (Twitter link via the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale). That said, we saw last offseason that Brad Hand went unclaimed on waivers at $10MM, only to eventually land a $10.5MM guarantee in free agency. It’s certainly plausible (if not likely, based on the Cubs claiming Miley with the No. 7 waiver priority) that a team would have eventually shown interest once the option was exercised. However, it seems the ownership wanted no part of either paying the buyout on the option, paying down any of Miley’s would-be salary, or simply being “stuck” with a $10MM left-hander who pitched 163 innings of 3.37 ERA ball in 2021.

It’s the second straight season that the Reds are signaling a clear intention to reduce payroll. The Reds’ $126MM Opening Day mark in 2019 took the team to a new franchise-record, and ownership committed to an even larger sum in advance of the 2020 season, when the Reds would’ve had a payroll north of $150MM were it not for the Covid-19 shutdown and the eventual prorating of salaries.

Last offseason was punctuated by a series of Reds moves designed to reduce expenditures, most notably dumping Raisel Iglesias’ salary on the Angels and non-tendering both Archie Bradley and Curt Casali. The Reds spoke of “reallocating” those resources at the time of those moves but largely sat out the free-agent market despite needs at shortstop and (due to the Iglesias/Bradley decisions) in the bullpen. The early-offseason decisions to waive Miley and trade catcher Tucker Barnhart (who had a club option of his own) pair with Krall’s comments to date to portend a rough winter for Reds fans.

With Miley now out of the rotation in Cincinnati, starting roles will fall to Sonny Gray, Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle and Vladimir Gutierrez. Krall listed lefty Reiver Sanmartin and prospects Nick Lodolo and Hunter Greene as candidates for the fifth spot in the rotation (Twitter link via C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic), at least indirectly suggests the team will first look inward to replace Miley’s innings. Of course, given the mounting context associated with these moves, it stands to reason that any of Gray, Castillo or Mahle could be moved this offseason.

As for the Cubs, the sudden acquisition of Miley no doubt qualifies as a highly unexpected but extremely welcome surprise to begin their offseason dealings. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has made no secret that the team will seek out veteran innings this winter, and Miley provides just that in bulk — at a highly affordable rate. While the lefty’s career looked to be on the downswing back in 2016-17, he’s enjoyed a stark turnaround over the past several seasons, culminating in a brilliant 2021 showing.

Since signing a minor league deal with the Brewers in 2018, Miley has amassed 425 1/3 innings of 3.53 ERA ball with three different clubs. He carries a below-average 18% strikeout rate in that time but a solid 8% walk rate and a well above-average 50.2% ground-ball rate. This past season was his best since way back in 2012. Miley’s 163 frames ranked 37th among the 909 players who pitched in the Majors this season, and that 3.37 ERA ranked 18th among qualified hurlers. His 49.8% ground-ball rate, meanwhile, ranked 10th.

The Cubs lacked any real form of certainty beyond Kyle Hendricks and, to a lesser extent, Alec Mills in next year’s rotation. Miley joins Hendricks as veteran anchor pair with the less-established Mills and younger arms like Adbert Alzolay, Justin Steele, Keegan Thompson and Brailyn Marquez. It’s quite likely that Hoyer & Co. will remain in the market for additional rotation help this winter, but securing Miley this early on affords both cost certainty and the luxury to perhaps pursue a younger free agent with a bit of upside.

Guardians Expected To Hire Chris Valaika As Hitting Coach

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The Guardians are expected to hire Chris Valaika as their new hitting coach, reports the MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Valaika had been serving as the assistant hitting coach for the Cubs.

A former infielder, Valaika appeared in the big leagues with the Reds, Marlins and Cubs from 2010-14. (His younger brother Pat Valaika still plays in the majors and spent the 2020-21 seasons with the Orioles). Chris Valaika wrapped up his playing career after 2015 and moved into an administrative role with the Cubs not long after. He spent a few seasons as the team’s minor league hitting coordinator before becoming Chicago’s assistant hitting coach over the 2020-21 offseason.

After just one season on a big league staff, Valaika looks set to land the Guardians’ hitting coach position. Should a deal ultimately come to fruition, he’d replace Ty Van Burkleo, who served as Cleveland hitting coach from 2013-21 but was let go last month.

Cubs To Hire Greg Brown As Hitting Coach

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The Cubs are planning to hire Greg Brown as their next hitting coach, report Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of the Athletic. Brown has spent the past two seasons as the Rays’ minor league hitting coordinator.

This will be Brown’s first job on a big league coaching staff. The 41-year-old spent a few seasons in minor league and independent ball in the early-mid 2000’s before transitioning into his post-playing career. Brown spent two seasons scouting with the Astros before taking over as head coach at Division II Nova Southeastern University. He held that role for nine years, with his club winning the D-II national championship in 2016, before departing to join the Rays.

Brown replaces Anthony Iapoce, who was let go after four seasons as Cubs’ hitting coach last month. He’ll be tasked with overseeing a Chicago offense that’s in transition, much like the roster in general. Having shipped out much of the core of their 2016 World Series winner over the past year, the Cubs leaned heavily on minor league veterans down the stretch. The front office will presumably bolster the lineup externally somewhat this winter (although catcher Willson Contreras might be a trade candidate), but it seems likely they’ll also take another look at players like Frank Schwindel and Patrick Wisdom to see if they can find a potential late-blooming regular or two.

Cubs Hire Ehsan Bokhari As Assistant General Manager

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The Cubs’ reshaping of the front office continued Monday, as they announced the hiring of Ehsan Bokhari as an assistant general manager. Bokhari, 38, has spent the past four seasons in the Astros’ front office — first as their director of R&D in 2018 and, more recently, as their senior director of player evaluation from 2019-21.

With the Astros, Bokhari contributed to player evaluation at the amateur, professional and international levels in addition to overseeing the entirety of the team’s research and development projects. He was one of the original members of the Dodgers’ research and development staff, serving as a senior analyst with Los Angeles from 2015-18. Bokhari holds a PhD in quantitative psychology and an MS in Statistics from the University of Illinois, in addition to undergraduate degrees in psychology and mathematics from the University of Arizona.

Bokhari will replace longtime Cubs executive Randy Bush as assistant general manager, as the 63-year-old Bush transitions into a consultant/advisory role with the Cubs, per Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link). The Cubs’ front office has seen a good bit of turnover throughout the past calendar year, beginning with Theo Epstein’s decision to step down as president of baseball operations. Longtime GM Jed Hoyer was elevated to that vacant title, and earlier this month Hoyer announced the hiring of Cleveland assistant GM Carter Hawkins as the team’s new general manager.

Coaching Notes: McLeod, Dozier, Hillman, Rodriguez

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Cubs senior vice president of player personnel Jason McLeod is departing the organization, according to Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. Mooney says that McLeod, whose contract is up at the end of the month, “declined an offer to remain with the Cubs.” McLeod may not be a household name, but he’s been an instrumental part of baseball’s recent history. Theo Epstein was hired to be the Cubs’ president of baseball operations in October 2011, with McLeod and Jed Hoyer coming along two weeks later. The trio, who had all previously worked together in Boston, helped build the recent Cubs dynasty that broke the century-old curse with their 2016 World Series championship. The triumvirate was broken up with Epstein’s resignation a year ago. Hoyer was then promoted from general manager to take Epstein’s place as president. Although Hoyer delayed naming a replacement GM because of the pandemic, it was recently announced that it would be Carter Hawkins, who had previously been with Cleveland. In past years, McLeod has been frequently connected to other general manager positions in rumors but had stayed in his senior VP role with the Cubs until now.

Other coaching notes from around the league…

  • It was less than a year ago that Brian Dozier announced his retirement from playing, and now he wants to get right back into a dugout as a manager. In a conversation with Robert Murray of FanSided, Dozier discusses his ambitions and says, “Even though I don’t want to play anymore, I feel as if I have a lot more to give in the sense of managing. For me, I’ve always taken a lot of pride in being a leader on and off the field and learning from managers that I’ve had on things to do and not to do. I’ve always had a desire to manage.” Dozier goes on to discuss various topics related to managing, such as analytics and communication. He says that he has not yet talked to any teams about managing but wanted to put his intentions out in the open. Dozier is 34 years old, turning 35 in May, and would easily be the youngest manager in the league, if hired. (Rocco Baldelli and Luis Rojas were the youngest this year at 39.) However, there’s at least some recent precedent for a manager getting hired in his mid-30s. Baldelli was 37 when he was first hired. Kevin Cash was hired just before his 37th birthday. A.J. Hinch and Eric Wedge were both approaching their respective 35th birthdays when their hirings were first announced, Hinch with Arizona in 2009 and Wedge with Cleveland in 2002.
  • The Marlins are losing a couple members of their coaching staff, per Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. Third base coach Trey Hillman and assistant hitting coach Robert Rodriguez are both leaving to pursue other opportunities. This concludes a three-year term in the organization for Hillman, who was hired before the 2019 campaign. He has some managerial experience, having been the bench boss for the Royals, as well as the NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the SK Wyverns of the KBO. Rodriguez previously managed the Gulf Coast League Marlins and was promoted to the big league club prior to the 2020 season.

Cubs Assistant GM Randy Bush Moves To Advisor Role

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Longtime Cubs assistant general manager Randy Bush is leaving his position to become a senior advisor for the team’s baseball operations department, The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney reports.  Bush has been Chicago’s assistant GM since December 2006, and briefly served as the interim GM in between Jim Hendry’s firing in August 2011 and Theo Epstein’s hiring in the 2011-12 offseason.

Bush stayed with the team throughout Epstein’s tenure, and though Jed Hoyer’s first season as the Cubs’ president of baseball operations.  The role change has been in the works since August, when Bush let Hoyer know he wasn’t planning to return as assistant GM, so this advisory position will allow Bush to spend more time with his family while working mostly remotely from his Jacksonville home.

“It’s just been an awesome chapter in my baseball career.  Working with great people here, and the things we’ve accomplished, it’s just been a ball,” Bush said.  “With all that being said, I’m looking forward to this next chapter in my career and my life.  I honestly feel like the luckiest guy in the world with all the blessings that I’ve had in my whole baseball life.  It’s been unbelievable.”

Minnesota fans will remember Bush from his 12 seasons with the Twins from 1982-1993, as Bush saw regular duty as an outfielder and first baseman over 1219 career MLB games and was a member of the Twins’ two World Series championship teams.  He also worked as the head baseball coach at the University of New Orleans from 2000-05 before joining the Cubs organization as a special assistant and advance scout.

Cubs Designate Erick Castillo, Tyler Payne For Assignment

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The Cubs have designated catchers Erick Castillo and Tyler Payne for assignment, as relayed by Jordan Bastian of MLB.com (Twitter link). Additionally, Johneshwy Fargas, Tyler Ladendorf and Joe Biagini — each of whom were selected to the majors as COVID-19 replacements — have been removed from the 40-man roster and returned to Triple-A Iowa.

Castillo and Payne are both longtime organizational veterans who got late-season cameos with Willson Contreras dealing with a hip issue. Both 28-year-olds got their first big league calls in the last week of the regular season, with Castillo picking up a couple of hits. Neither player was regarded as a high-level prospect and neither has a strong offensive track record in the minors. It’s not surprising they were removed from the roster rather quickly, then, although both did at least get into an MLB game.

Both Castillo and Payne will go on waivers in the coming days. Should they pass through unclaimed, they’d each have the right to elect minor league free agency as players with seven-plus seasons of minor league experience. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see either player re-sign with the Cubs on a minors pact for 2022, as they’ve each only played in the Chicago organization throughout their pro careers.

Fargas, Ladendorf and Biagini are all soon to become minor league free agents themselves. That trio was brought up at the end of the year while the Cubs dealt with coronavirus spread in the clubhouse. Players selected as COVID replacements needn’t be passed through waivers to be removed from the 40-man, although they’ll all have the requisite minor league service time to test the open market this winter anyhow.

Ricketts: Cubs Will Be “Active” In Free Agency

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Three full offseasons have elapsed since the Cubs signed Yu Darvish to a six-year contract, and the only multi-year arrangement they’ve signed with a free agent in the offseasons since was a two-year, $5MM deal to utilityman Daniel Descalso. Even including the in-season three-year contract Craig Kimbrel signed in 2019, the Cubs’ total free-agent expenditures over the past three years comes to just under $82MM — about 65 percent of the total figure they gave to Darvish alone. Suffice it to say, they haven’t been especially active — at least not by the standards of a former $200MM-payroll club that plays in one of the game’s largest markets.

Team chairman Tom Ricketts has attributed the downturn in spending to myriad factors. As far back as 2019, he claimed that the Cubs “didn’t have any more” resources to commit to payroll, and in the years since he’s referenced the “dead-weight loss” associated with paying the luxury tax and “biblical” losses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 2021 season, of course, saw the Cubs blow up the core of their World Series-winning 2016 team. They traded Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez (as well as several other veterans) prior to the deadline. Now, with a much cleaner payroll slate, Ricketts has publicly indicated for the first time in several years that the club plans to spend to some extent this winter.

“We have the resources necessary to compete in 2022 and beyond, and we will use them,” Ricketts wrote in a letter to season ticketholders Friday. “We will be active in free agency and continue to make thoughtful decisions to bolster our roster.” He goes on to stress that the organization “respects” the “high expectations” of fans and shares their desire to win. “We commit to fielding a competitive team reflective of your unrivaled support,” Ricketts added.

Cubs fans will surely be relieved to see any ownership mention of spending after a few seasons marked by payroll cuts. That said, Ricketts’ use of “thoughtful” might not set the stage for major expenditures — particularly when taken in conjunction with president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer’s recent comments about being “opportunistic.” Hoyer noted that the type of flashy, aggressive moves made when teams strive to “win the offseason” can quickly become detrimental once the initial excitement fades.

Having gone out of his way to promise that the club will be active in free agency, Ricketts will surely push the front office to spend to some degree. The more meaningful question will come down to what constitutes an “active” offseason, particularly after Hoyer’s more measured comments last week. Gordon Wittenmyer’s recent interview with Carlos Correa over at NBC Sports Chicago will no doubt have Cubs fans dreaming of a mega-deal for a new franchise shortstop, but it’s hard to imagine the team going in such an aggressive direction not even a year into this retooling/rebuilding process.

Hoyer has been clear that this won’t be a full teardown to the extent of the Cubs’ prior rebuild, but Chicago is lacking depth all over the diamond. Pouring so many resources into one position at a time when there’s a dire need for starting pitching, outfield help and long-term options elsewhere in the infield would register as a surprise. The Cubs probably do have that type of financial wherewithal — we’ve seen as much in the past — but Hoyer’s comments portend a series of smaller-scale signings aimed at addressing many areas of need up and down the roster.

Cubs Name Carter Hawkins General Manager

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Eleven months after Jed Hoyer was promoted from general manager to Cubs president of baseball operations in the wake of Theo Epstein’s decision to step down, the team has settled on a new general manager. The Cubs announced Friday that they’ve hired Indians assistant general manager Carter Hawkins as the 16th general manager in franchise history. Hoyer will still lead the team’s baseball operations department, but Hawkins will work closely alongside him and serve as the No. 2 executive in the team’s baseball operations hierarchy.

“I am thrilled to bring Carter into our organization,” Hoyer said in today’s press release. “He has earned a fantastic reputation as a leader through hard work, open-mindedness, humility and intelligence. I enjoyed getting to know him throughout the interview process, and it quickly became clear that we share the same passion for team building. I look forward to partnering with him to build the next great Cubs team.”

Though Hawkins is only 37 years old, he already has 14 years of experience working in Cleveland’s front office, working his way up the ranks from an internship to being the team’s player development director in 2014, and then a promotion to assistant GM in 2016.  He’ll now join a Cubs organization that has made no secret of its desire to upgrade its farm system and player development operations.

To that end, it perhaps isn’t surprising that both Hawkins and Indians VP of player development James Harris were each on Chicago’s reported short list of GM candidates.  Rays VP of player development/international scouting Carlos Rodriguez and Twins assistant general manager Jeremy Zoll were the other names known to be on the Cubs’ radar.  Hoyer said last winter that the team would wait to fill the GM role, since the circumstances of the pandemic made a proper interview process more difficult at the time.

Hawkins will now step in as Hoyer’s chief lieutenant as the Cubs begin what could be a fascinating offseason.  After a fire sale of veterans at the trade deadline, Chicago now has a younger and less expensive roster, though it isn’t yet known if the Cubs plan to use this available future payroll space to make an immediate splash for 2022.  Hoyer has stated that the team intends to “spend money intelligently” this winter, but the Cubs will also be “really active in free agency.”

Measured offseason spending is nothing new for Hawkins, as the Indians have a longstanding model of building through trades and homegrown prospects rather than major free agent signings.  Of course, the Cubs have a much larger revenue base than Cleveland, and a drastic cut in spending doesn’t (or shouldn’t) seem feasible considering that the Cubs have been regularly approached or surpassed the $200MM payroll mark in recent years.  This isn’t to say that the Cubs will immediately zoom back up to the $200MM threshold this offseason, but the plan seems to be for Hoyer, Hawkins and company to remodel the team’s minor league pipeline to the point that Chicago will have a steady run of young talent ready to augment whatever higher-priced veterans are on hand.

Britt Ghiroli, Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic first broke the news that the Cubs planned to hire Hawkins and were finalizing a contract.

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