Ken Holtzman Passes Away
The Cubs announced that former big league left-hander Ken Holtzman passed away recently. Per an obituary from Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Holtzman had been hospitalized for the past three weeks due to heart problems. He was 78 years old.
Holtzman was born in St. Louis in 1945. He attended the University of Illinois and was selected from there by the Cubs in the 1965 draft. It didn’t take him long to get to the big leagues, with the Cubs calling him up later that same year.
He only made three appearances in 1965 but got a more proper debut in 1966. He made 34 appearances for the Cubs, 33 starts, and tossed 220 2/3 innings with a 3.79 earned run average. In 1967, he was serving in the National Guard and only able to pitch on weekends, but he made the most of his time in that limited role. He made 12 starts and went 9-0 that year, posting a 2.53 ERA in 92 2/3 innings.
With his military obligations completed, he was able to return to a full-time role. 1968 was the first of nine straight seasons in which he made at least 30 appearances and tossed at least 195 innings. Those Cubs teams of the late ’60s and early ’70s were pretty decent, finishing above .500 each year from ’67 to ’72, but not making the playoffs in any of them. Holtzman was a key component of those clubs, taking the ball and posting generally solid results. That included a no-hitter that he tossed against the Braves in 1969 and another against the Reds in 1971.
Prior to the 1972 season, Holtzman was traded to the Athletics for fellow southpaw Rick Monday. The move to Oakland seemed to suit Holtzman. From 1972 to 1975, he tossed at least 255 1/3 innings in each season with his ERA never finishing higher than 3.14. He was selected to the All-Star team in ’72 and ’73 and the A’s won the World Series in three straight years from ’72 to ’74, with Holtzman playing a big part in those titles. Over those three years and in 1975, he pitched in 13 postseason games with a 2.30 ERA in 70 1/3 innings. He even hit a home run in the ’74 series, with the DH not being implemented in the World Series until 1976.
Holtzman was traded to the Orioles prior to the 1976 season and then to the Yankees in the middle of that campaign. He stayed with the Yanks for a while as his playing time faded, getting traded back to the Cubs midway through the ’78 campaign. He made 23 appearances in 1979 with a 4.59 ERA in what eventually proved to be his last season.
His entire big league career resulted in 451 appearances with a 174-150 record and a 3.49 ERA. He pitched two no-hitters, made a couple of All-Star teams and won three rings. Per Hochman, Holtzman has the most wins for a Jewish pitcher in MLB history, with his 174 just ahead of the 165 wins of Sandy Koufax.
MLBTR joins the rest of the baseball community in sending our condolences to the Holtzman family, as well as his many friends and fans around the game.
Cubs Place Seiya Suzuki On Injured List Due To Oblique Strain
The Cubs announced to reporters, including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, that outfielder Seiya Suzuki has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain. Fellow outfielder Alexander Canario has been recalled in a corresponding move.
At this point, it’s unclear exactly how severe the injury is, but it’s undoubtedly bad news for the Cubs. For one thing, even mild oblique strains usually lead to absences of multiple weeks. Since Suzuki has been one of the club’s hottest hitters so far this year, it’s doubly frustrating that he’s now on the shelf. Suzuki suffered an oblique strain in Spring Training last year, on his left side, and missed the first few weeks of the season.
Through 15 games this year, Suzuki already has three home runs and has produced a batting line of .305/.368/.525 for a wRC+ of 139. Michael Busch is the only other guy on the club who is getting regular playing time and producing more than that. Those two along with Dansby Swanson are the only regulars with a wRC+ above the 100 average. Despite the tepid offense, the Cubs have managed to go 9-6 so far this year but will now have to try to continue winning without Suzuki’s bat in the lineup.
Canario, 24 next month, got to make his major league debut last year but was put into just six games. He’s generally done a lot of hitting in the minors but with plenty of strikeouts as well. Shoulder and ankle injuries limited him to just 53 minor league games last year, but he hit nine home runs and slashed .273/.356/.488 in those, along with strikeouts in 27.5% of his plate appearances.
So far this year, he has reduced his strikeout rate to 24.6% in his 61 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He has also walked at a strong 13.1% rate and hit .269/.377/.481. It’s a fairly small sample size but it nonetheless shows some encouraging progress for the young outfielder.
Whether the Cubs plan on having him take regular playing time in Suzuki’s absence remains to be seen. The club could perhaps use an outfield alignment of Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger and Mike Tauchman while using Garrett Cooper in the designated hitter slot and keeping Canario on the bench. Christopher Morel could also be moved from third base to designated hitter, with Nick Madrigal getting more time at the hot corner. But given the struggles up and down the lineup, perhaps there’s a path for Canario to earn himself some more playing time if he make good use of whatever opportunities he’s given initially.
Cubs Sign Julio Teheran To Minor League Deal
April 15: It’s a minor league deal for Teheran, tweets ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.
April 14: The Cubs have signed right-hander Julio Teheran, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). After the Mets designated Teheran for assignment earlier on Tuesday, he opted for free agency after clearing waivers, and has now quickly landed with a new team to complete a whirlwind week.
Teheran’s time in New York lasted all of one start, as he allowed four runs over 2 2/3 innings in an 8-7 win over the Braves on April 8. Since the Mets signed Teheran to a Major League (albeit non-guaranteed) contract, one imagines that the team would’ve given him a longer look if he had pitched well, but the Mets chose to move one once roster technicalities allowed them to recall Jose Butto.
Since the Cubs are also trying to deal with some injuries within the rotation, Teheran looks like he’ll again be in line to cover a few starts until the team gets healthier. Jameson Taillon might be close to returning from the 15-day injured list but Justin Steele will still be out until sometime in May, leaving the Cubs with a current rotation mix of Kyle Hendricks, Shota Imanaga, Jordan Wicks, Javier Assad, and Ben Brown. There isn’t much MLB experience within that group apart from Hendricks, so between Taillon’s return and Teheran’s signing, Brown seems like the odd man out, and the Cubs can then decide on whether Wicks or Assad will remain as the fifth starter. It is also possible that Teheran could pitch as a depth option at Triple-A, if Chicago wants a longer look at any of their younger arms.
Teheran pitched for Milwaukee last season, meaning Cubs manager and ex-Brewers skipper Craig Counsell is very familiar with the veteran righty. Teheran’s 71 2/3 innings with the Brew Crew represented his highest Major League workload since the 2019 season, and he delivered a respectable 4.40 ERA while starting 11 of his 14 games for Milwaukee. A two-time All-Star during his heyday with the Braves, Teheran moved from front-of-the-rotation arm to durable mid-rotation starter to journeyman, as the Cubs are now his seventh different organization since the start of the 2020 campaign.
Cubs Notes: Taillon, Steele, Wisdom
Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon opened the season on the injured list after missing all of Spring Training due to calf and back issues, but club manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including the Chicago Sun Times’ Maddie Lee) that Taillon’s next start will come with the big league club in Chicago after a strong rehab start from the 32-year-old Friday night during which he struck out 4 in 3 2/3 scoreless innings while building up to 68 pitches.
Taillon is in the second year of the four-year, $68MM deal he signed with Chicago and enters 2024 hoping to get off to a better start after a brutal first half sank his 2023 campaign. The right-hander pitched to solid results in his first 3 starts with the Cubs last year but struggled badly following a groin injury he sustained in mid-April, posting a 7.61 ERA and 6.07 FIP in his next eleven starts. From there, however, the right-hander appeared to turn a corner and performed more like the mid-rotation arm he was signed to be, with a 3.38 ERA and 4.24 FIP over his final 90 2/3 innings of work.
If the veteran righty can maintain that form he showed in the second half of the season last year, it would provide a major boost to the Cubs’ rotation. The club has been forced to lean heavily on youngsters Javier Assad, Jordan Wicks, and Ben Brown to this point in the young 2024 campaign due to injuries sustained by Taillon and ace lefty Justin Steele in addition to the struggles of veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks, who has posted a 12.08 ERA across the first three starts of his 2024 campaign. Taillon’s return to the rotation could allow one of those young pitchers to move to the bullpen, where the club has seen closer Adbert Alzolay and veteran free agent signing Hector Neris scuffle somewhat to open the season.
Looking beyond Taillon, it seems as though more reinforcements for the club’s pitching staff could be on the way in the coming weeks, as Counsell indicated to reporters (including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune) that Steele was also making progress in his bid to return from the hamstring strain he sustained during his Opening Day start against the Rangers. Per Counsell, Steele was scheduled to throw a 25-pitch bullpen session yesterday. It’s a notable step forward for the lefty, which MLB.com adds comes on the heels of a 75-pitch simulated game pitched off flat ground in San Diego earlier this week.
The news appears to leave Steele on track to return sometime next month. That Steele appears to be on track to return fairly quickly is surely a relief for Chicago, as the lefty has broken out as one of the game’s best starters in recent years. Dating back to June of the 2022 season, Steele has pitched to a sterling 2.73 ERA with a 3.05 FIP across 45 starts. In that time, only Justin Verlander, Shohei Ohtani, and Blake Snell have posted a lower ERA in at least 250 innings of work, while only Verlander, Spencer Strider, Kevin Gausman, and Sonny Gray boast a lower FIP.
Also on the mend from injury is slugger Patrick Wisdom, who began the season on the injured list due to back strain. The 32-year-old is six games into a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa, however, and could be rapidly nearing a return. Counsell told reporters recently (including those at MLB.com) that Wisdom could rejoin the club at some point during their current road trip. The Cubs will finish a series in Seattle this afternoon before wrapping their road trip with a three-game set in Arizona.
Should Wisdom end up joining the club in Arizona, that could be the end of veteran first baseman Garrett Cooper‘s time with Chicago. Cooper has impressed in part-time duty with five hits including a double, a triple, and a home run in his first 15 plate appearances with the club. Even so, it’s hard to imagine the Cubs having room for both the 2022 All Star and Wisdom on the roster when Michael Busch and Christopher Morel appear to have locked down the infield corners for the foreseeable future. Cooper cannot be optioned to the minor leagues after signing a minor league deal with the club in free agency, though each of Wisdom, Nick Madrigal, and Miles Mastrobuoni have options remaining should the Cubs wish to retain Cooper on the big league roster.
Mets Acquire Joe Hudson From Cubs
The Cubs traded journeyman catcher Joe Hudson to the Mets yesterday, per the teams’ transaction logs at MLB.com. It’s presumably a cash deal that’ll give the Mets some additional depth behind the plate. Hudson was assigned to Double-A Binghamton.
Hudson, 32, has seen brief action in three big leagues seasons but none since 2020. He has just 33 MLB plate appearances under his belt. Hudson has spent the past two seasons in Triple-A with the Rays and Braves, hitting for a low average but posting strong on-base marks and showing off good pop at the plate. He was hitless in eight plate appearances with the Cubs’ Iowa affiliate in 2024 but batted .230/.362/.432 with 20 homers in just 437 plate appearances with the top affiliates for the Rays and Braves from 2022-23.
Behind the plate, Hudson is 0-for-7 in halting steals at the MLB level but boasts an enormous 40% caught-stealing rate in 11 minor league seasons. He’s also typically posted strong framing marks in the upper minors, per Baseball Prospectus.
The Mets are set at catcher on the big league roster, with young Francisco Alvarez shouldering the bulk of the workload and veteran Omar Narvaez backing him up. In Triple-A, they’ve got veteran Tomas Nido and well-traveled Austin Allen — a pair of backstops with big league experience (quite a bit of experience, in Nido’s case). For now, Hudson will head to Double-A and pair with top catching prospect Kevin Parada.
MLBTR Podcast: Reviewing Our Free Agent Predictions And Future CBA Issues
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- Why did the 2023-24 offseason play out the way that it did? Was the slow offseason a trend or a blip? Looking at competitive balance tax and TV revenue issues. (2:40)
- The decision between a middleground deal versus a short-term deal, focusing on Cody Bellinger of the Cubs but also other players who didn’t get the huge offers they were expecting (20:00)
- There were very few long deals this winter, so can we glean anything about the trend of extending contracts to lower the average annual value? (34:50)
- Why did we project big contracts for players with clear warts? (42:10)
- Is the middle tier of the free agent market dying? (45:15)
- With the next CBA negotiations coming after 2026, how will the players respond to recent events? (50:20)
- Are the owners divided, with rich and poor teams getting pushed apart by the collapse of TV revenue streams? (59:05)
- Is deferred money a real problem and is there any motivation to change the rules? (1:02:40)
- Does MLB need more parity and what are the best ways to do it? (1:09:30)
- Was Shohei Ohtani‘s deferred money an extreme outlier or is it still a concerning trend? (1:13:10)
- Will there be another lockout after 2026? (01:19:35)
Check out our past episodes!
- Baseball Is Back, Will Smith’s Extension, Mike Clevinger And Jon Berti – listen here
- A Live Reaction To The Jordan Montgomery Signing, Shohei Ohtani’s Interpreter, And J.D. Martinez Joins The Mets – listen here
- Mutiny In The MLBPA, Blake Snell Signs With The Giants And The Dylan Cease Trade – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Cubs’ Julian Merryweather Shut Down With Rib Fracture
Cubs reliever Julian Merryweather has been diagnosed with a rib stress fracture in his back, manager Craig Counsell told the team’s beat (relayed by Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). He’ll be shut down entirely for a month before going for further evaluation.
Merryweather’s absence from game action will last well beyond that initial four-week period. Even if he is cleared to resume baseball activity in a month, he’ll need to build his arm back into game shape. Chicago already placed Merryweather on the 15-day injured list over the weekend. They initially announced the injury as a shoulder strain, but further testing evidently showed it was a back issue. It wouldn’t be all that surprising if he eventually winds up on the 60-day IL.
Injuries have been an unfortunately recurring theme for Merryweather, who has pitched like a quality high-leverage arm when healthy. He didn’t reach the majors with the Blue Jays until he was nearing his 29th birthday, largely because of a 2018 Tommy John procedure. He debuted in 2020 but missed a good chunk of the following season due to a significant oblique strain. A 2022 abdominal strain again led to a notable absence, likely contributing to Toronto’s decision to waive him the following offseason.
The Cubs claimed him, a move which paid off when Merryweather turned in a career-best ’23 campaign. The righty avoided the IL last year and turned in a 3.38 ERA with an excellent 32.3% strikeout percentage across 72 innings. He’d fanned six over 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball this year before going on the shelf.
NL Central Notes: Gray, Cubs, Brewers
The Cardinals started the season without their biggest offseason signing, as staff ace Sonny Gray opened the 2024 campaign on the shelf due to a hamstring strain. The right-hander was scheduled for a final rehab start this past week before returning to big league action, but those plans were dashed by an unfortunate rainout that kept Gray from taking the mound. The club initially announced that Gray would have his Triple-A start pushed back to this coming Tuesday, but manager Carlos Marmol revealed to reporters (including The Athletic’s Katie Woo) today that Gray’s start that day will actually be for the big league club.
Per Marmol, Gray will be limited to around 65 pitches in his Cardinals debut, where he’ll take on the Phillies in the second game of a three-game set between the clubs. Gray landed in St. Louis back in November on a three-year, $75MM deal following a dominant 2023 season in Minnesota. The right-hander posted a 2.79 ERA with an MLB-best 2.83 FIP for the Twins last year in a performance that earned him his third career All Star appearance and a second-place finish in AL Cy Young award voting behind Yankees ace Gerrit Cole.
The Cardinals are surely hoping Gray will bring that same form to St. Louis. The club was plagued by one of the worst starting pitching staffs in the majors last year, and the early returns haven’t been much better so far with the rotation’s 5.64 FIP in the young 2024 campaign is better than only the Rockies and Blue Jays among all big league clubs. Upon his return, Gray figures to replace struggling youngster Zack Thompson in the club’s rotation mix, slotting in alongside fellow veterans Miles Mikolas, Steven Matz, Kyle Gibson, and Lance Lynn.
More from around the NL Central…
- The Cubs made a surprise roster move just before the start of their game against the Dodgers this afternoon, placing right-hander Julian Merryweather on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain as noted by Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. It’s a significant blow to the club’s relief corps, as Merryweather has dominated with a 3.29 ERA (136 ERA+) and a nearly matching 3.46 FIP in 73 appearances for the Cubs across the past two seasons. Merryweather’s absence will pave the way for right-hander Daniel Palencia, who pitched to a 4.45 ERA across 27 appearances in his rookie season last year, to join the club’s bullpen. Meanwhile, Merryweather’s role in the club’s late-inning mix alongside Adbert Alzolay and Hector Neris figures to be filled by Mark Leiter Jr.
- Speaking of pitching roster moves, the Brewers placed right-hander Jakob Junis on the 15-day IL yesterday due to a right shoulder impingement. Fortunately for Milwaukee, it sounds as though the issue isn’t particularly serious. According to Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, an MRI on Junis’s shoulder came back clean and Junis told reporters that he hopes to begin ramping back up in a few days. That would seem to indicate an absence near the minimum for the right-hander, who’s been replaced by southpaw Aaron Ashby on the active roster while he recuperates. Ashby, 26 next month, did not pitch in the majors last year after undergoing shoulder surgery but now appears to be healthy, having already made a five-inning start at the Triple-A level this season.
Cubs Sign Carl Edwards Jr., Ali Sanchez To Minor League Deals
The Cubs have signed right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. and catcher Ali Sanchez to minor league deals, as announced yesterday by the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Iowa. Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register (X link) was the first to report that Edwards was working out with the Iowa pitching staff on Thursday.
Edwards is back for what is technically a third stint with the Cubs, after he opted out of his previous minor league deal with the club two weeks ago. After testing the market, Edwards now returns to a familiar environment to see if another MLB opportunity might yet emerge in the Wrigleyville bullpen, and it be assumed that his new minors pact probably has at least one opt-out clause.
A veteran of nine Major League seasons, Edwards posted a 3.69 ERA in 31 2/3 innings for the Nationals in an abbreviated 2023 campaign. Edwards didn’t pitch after June 19 due to a diagnosis of shoulder inflammation and later a stress fracture that developed in late August. The injury brought a sour end to what had been a pretty successful run in D.C., as Edwards revived his career with a 2.76 ERA over 62 innings for the Nats in 2022. The righty had mostly struggled in the previous three seasons, which hastened the end of his original run with the Cubs when Chicago traded him to the Padres at the 2019 trade deadline.
With Edwards bringing some bullpen depth to the Triple-A, Sanchez will do the same to the Cubs’ catching ranks. Yan Gomes and Miguel Amaya seem to be entrenched as the active roster’s catching duo, so Sanchez joins veteran Curt Casali in Iowa, and Joe Hudson (who signed a minors deal with Chicago in the offseason) has been moved to the Triple-A affiliate’s developmental list. This placement might be a way to keep Hudson sharp while the Cubs sort out their catching situation, or it could possibly hint that Hudson could eventually be the odd man out.
Sanchez signed a guaranteed big league contract with the Pirates in December, though Pittsburgh designated the catcher for assignment on Opening Day. Since Sanchez had previously been outrighted in his career, he had the right to opt into free agency rather than accept Pittsburgh’s outright assignment to Triple-A, and the backstop indeed took the chance to re-enter the open market.
The Cubs are Sanchez’s sixth different organization in less than 38 months. His only MLB experience consists five games with the Mets in 2020 and two games with the 2021 Cardinals, as the catcher has otherwise bounced around as a depth option. While not really known for his bat, Sanchez has a respectable .275/.345/.402 slash line over 893 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level, though those numbers were boosted by a nice 2023 season with the Diamondbacks’ top affiliate in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
NL Central Notes: Candelario, Donovan, Taillon
Reds third baseman Jeimer Candelario took an early exit from Wednesday night’s contest with the Phillies. He appeared to hurt himself on a swing in his final at-bat, and while he smacked a double on the very next pitch, he continued to grimace from second base. After the game, manager David Bell said that “hopefully” it was nothing more than “hyperextension of the elbow” (per Bally Sports Cincinnati). He said the team does not believe the injury is serious, but they will reevaluate Candelario on Friday before their series opener against the Mets.
Not so long ago, the Reds appeared to have a playing time crunch in the infield. However, Noelvi Marte‘s 80-game suspension and Matt McLain‘s shoulder surgery cleared up the logjam. If Candelario requires an IL stint, Cincinnati’s infield depth will suddenly be tested. Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand can play third base, but they’re already playing regular roles in left field and at first base, respectively. Santiago Espinal, acquired in a trade with the Blue Jays late this spring, is another option to fill in at the hot corner.
In other injury news from around the NL Central…
- Brendan Donovan was also removed mid-game on Wednesday. Leading off for the Cardinals, he was hit by a pitch in the very first plate appearance of the game. Several innings later, he was hit again, and this time, he did not return to left field in the bottom half of the frame. The second pitch hit him on his throwing elbow (per John Denton of MLB.com). Donovan, a versatile utility player, has played six of his seven games in left field this season. The Cardinals already have three outfielders on the IL – Tommy Edman, Lars Nootbaar, and Dylan Carlson – and can hardly afford to lose another.
- In more positive injury news, Jameson Taillon is progressing well as he recovers from a stiff lower back. According to Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times, the righty’s live batting practice session went well on Tuesday. He is set to make a rehab start on Sunday. If all goes well in his rehab appearance, he could still be on track to rejoin the Cubs in mid-April; two weeks ago, manager Craig Counsell suggested mid-April was the earliest Taillon could return (per Lee).