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Alec Mills

Quick Hits: Mills, Kim, McCullers, Hernandez

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Alec Mills entered the record books today when the Cubs right-hander tossed a no-hitter in Chicago’s 12-0 victory over the Brewers.  Mills issued three walks and struck out five over his gem of an outing, recording his first career complete game to go along with his no-hit bid.  Today marked only the 15th start of Mills’ Major League career, as the 28-year-old has worked as something of a swingman during his four seasons in the bigs, though he became a full-time starter this year in the wake of injuries within the Cubs’ rotation and now owns a piece of baseball history.

More from around the Show…

  • Kwang Hyun Kim is scheduled to start the first game of the Cardinals’ doubleheader with the Brewers on Monday, marking his return from an injured list stint that retroactively began on September 2.  Kim was sidelined with a kidney problem that required a short stay in hospital, but as MLB.com’s Anne Rogers explains, Kim is now taking a blood thinner and observing other precautions that will allow him to return to action after slightly beyond the 10-day minimum IL absence.  In his first season in Major League Baseball, Kim has thus far had no problem adjusting, as the southpaw has an 0.83 ERA over his first 21 2/3 innings, starting four of his five appearances.
  • Speaking of returning starters, the Astros listed Lance McCullers Jr. as the starter for Wednesday’s game against the Rangers, indicating that the right-hander’s time on the injured list is nearing an end.  McCullers hit the 10-day IL on September 6 due to neck nerve irritation, a rather concerning-sounding issue that left a return date up in the air.  After taking an anti-inflammatory injection, however, McCullers now seems on track to get back on the mound after only a minimal IL stint.  The former first-rounder has a 5.79 ERA over eight starts and 37 1/3 innings this season, though the Astros will surely welcome whatever McCullers can contribute to a rotation mix that has managed middle-of-the-pack numbers despite multiple injuries.
  • There haven’t yet been any contract talks between Cesar Hernandez and the Indians, but the second baseman “would be looking to be part of the team for the coming years,” as he told Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Hernandez was non-tendered by the Phillies last winter and signed a one-year, $6.25MM deal with the Tribe, delivering a .266/.337/.383 slash line over 210 plate appearances in 2020.  While this offensive production is slightly below average (95 wRC+), his bat in combination with his strong second base defense has made for a solid 1.0 fWAR contribution over his 46 games in a Cleveland uniform.  There are some other interesting middle infield options in the free market, plus this player pool is likely to grow once teams make their own non-tender decisions.  Hernandez is the type of decent but unspectacular player who could potentially be squeezed into a one-year contract this winter if teams tighten their budgets in the wake of this pandemic season, so the Indians (certainly a team looking to limit its payroll) could have room to re-sign Hernandez if the price is right.

NL Notes: Castellanos, Cubs, Chatwood, Mills, Nats, Ross, Voth

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Nicholas Castellanos spoke eloquently about his experience dealing with the Cubs this offseason – which is to say, he experience not dealing with them. And yet, the Cincinnati Red appears to harbor no ill will towards the Cubs. Instead, he offered nuanced insight and thoughtful considerations about the challenges facing ownership, per The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma. Said Castellanos, “I don’t know the intricacies of owning a team. The only thing I can speak on when it comes to the Cubs is what a tremendous and incredible soul that organization has when it has life. The only thing I would care about if I owned the Cubs would be to give it as much life as possible. It’s hard, I don’t know what it’s like to own a business.” Polite and diplomatic as he may be, Castellanos does offer an implicit criticism of a Cubs organization that has exhibited, shall we say, less “life” than in years past. Though Castellanos seems to understand and accept why the Cubs made no contact with him after his exit interview, he did wonder broadly about the lack of interest from teams league-wide. Let’s check in on some fifth starter races..

  • Cubs’ manager David Ross gives Tyler Chatwood the lead in the race for the Cubs’ fifth starter role, tweets MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. Alec Mills is also a contender for the role, though whoever wins the spot on opening day is likely to keep it until performance dictates otherwise. Ross has no interest in modernizing his approach to the fifth starter role, preferring to let players earn a role in spring training and enter the season thusly, per Bastian. Mills is out of options, but he’s a heavy favorite to land a bullpen spot if he can’t unseat Chatwood for the rotation.
  • Joe Ross has pole position to break camp as the fifth starter for the World Champion Washington Nationals, per MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. Austin Voth has pitched well enough to provide a legitimate challenge, but given that both players are likely to make the team, Ross has the track record to give him an edge. He also has the gaudy bullpen ERA to suggest he’s best utilized in the rotation. It’s fair to question the significance of rotation/bullpen splits, but few can boast a Jekyll-and-Hyde routine like Ross’ 2019. The 26-year-old put up an 11.17 ERA over 19 1/3 innings as a reliever, only to counter with a 3.02 ERA in 44 2/3 innings as a starter during the second half. Voth, meanwhile, is more of a late-bloomer at age-27, and he has yet to be tested in a relief capacity. Since making his professional debut in 2013, he has just 3 minor league relief appearances to go with 3 major league appearances out of the pen. Since the right-hander is out of options (as is Ross), Voth is likely to get his first real taste of bullpen life in 2020.

Cubs Rotation Candidates

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There’s a chance the Cubs begin the 2020 season with Tyler Chatwood back in the rotation, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times. In the final season of the three-year, $38MM deal signed before 2018, Chatwood arguably represents the most reliable option currently on the roster. Chatwood recovered from a disappointing first season in Chicago with 76 2/3 innings of 3.76 ERA/4.28 FIP baseball while mostly serving as a long man out of the pen. In a year in which the Cubs tested out numerous young arms, Chatwood emerged as a reliable alternative for intermittent opportunities in high-leverage situations, though most of his usage came in the middle innings. He did start five games in 2019, going 1-1 with a 3.97 ERA while averaging between four and five innings per start.

Despite Chatwood’s bounceback – at this stage of his career – there’s probably not a lot of unrealized upside to unearth as a rotation arm. The Cubs will look to add arms to push Chatwood for that rotation spot in the spring. Given their financial situation and the volume of competition for the top remaining arms in free agency, it’s unlikely they’ll be players in that space.

Internally, Adbert Alzolay represents the stiffest competition for the fifth starter’s job. He’s also probably the most exciting candidate for Cubs’ fans, who would love to see a 25-year-old homegrown pitcher earn a turn every fifth day. Theo Epstein and company would surely love to get that monkey off their backs as well. The Epstein regime has somewhat famously failed to develop any homegrown pitching over their Chicago tenure. After an uneven 2019 in which he made his big league debut, Alzolay will need a strong spring to take the role outright. With only 12 1/3 innings at the big league level last season, Alzolay maintained his rookie status and remains the Cubs fifth-ranked prospect per MLB.com.

Alec Mills and Jharel Cotton are two other names to keep an eye on. Mills, 28, doesn’t have the prospect pedigree, but he’s been quietly solid when called upon the last two seasons. The former Royals farmhand is a sleeper favorite should Alzolay prove unready. He also happens to be out of options. Cotton was recently acquired from the A’s in the type of low-cost, high-risk move that has become a staple of the Epstein Cubs. Cotton went to Oakland in the mid-2016 deal that sent Josh Reddick and Rich Hill to the Dodgers. For what it’s worth, the Cubs saw enough in Cotton to add him to the 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 draft.

In terms of long shots, the Cubs added another former Dodgers farmhand, Brock Stewart, during the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. Justin Steele was also added to the 40-man roster. The 24-year-old southpaw made 11 starts in Double-A with a 5.59 ERA. Steele and Stewart rank pretty far down the totem pole, but they’ll have an opportunity to impress the brass in Spring Training.

As of right now, it’s looking like a fairly open competition to take Cole Hamels recently vacated rotation slot. Jon Lester, Yu Darvish, Kyle Hendricks, and Jose Quintana make up the front four, and that’s unlikely to change, barring a Quintana trade. Lester and Darvish have no-trade clauses, and Hendricks ranks among the least-likely Cubs to be traded given the affordable contract that keeps him in Chicago through the 2024 season.

Injury Notes: Scherzer, Kluber, Hamels

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Nationals ace Max Scherzer will push back his first post-All-Star-break start from Sunday to Tuesday due to back tightness, per Sam Fortier of the Washington Post. At 5.5 fWAR on the season, Scherzer trails only Mike Trout (6.4 fWAR) and Cody Bellinger (5.7 fWAR) while leading all pitchers by a fairly significant margin (Lance Lynn is next at 4.4 fWAR, while Charlie Morton, Gerrit Cole, and Nats-teammate Stephen Strasburg follow with 3.4 fWAR). Scherzer has been beyond mortal over the last two months, winning seven consecutive starts over which he sports a 0.87 ERA while limiting opposing hitters to .157/.196/.249 at the dish (his 79:6 K:BB ratio isn’t half bad either). Needless to say, Mad Max is an essential cog in the Nationals revamped playoff hopes, no less so due to their lack of organizational depth. The scheduling adjustment should give Scherzer the extra rest he needs, as he and the team anticipate he will be ready by Tuesday’s opener at Baltimore. Let’s check in on the health of a couple other star hurlers…

  • Corey Kluber intends to pitch again for the Indians this summer, and he’s progressing as planned, per Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes. Kluber is playing catch at a distance of 150 feet, and he looks like he’ll be ready for bullpen sessions soon. He’s not there yet, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel for Kluber, who has been out since May 1 with a fracture in his right forearm. The Indians hope he’ll have time to course correct after an aberrant seven starts in which he posted a 5.80 ERA (4.04 FIP).
  • Cole Hamels has begun playing catch as well, with the next steps being a team evaluation sometime today, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times. Hamels hit the shelf in late June after scoring a 1.22 ERA for the month. On the whole, Hamels’ Chicago rejuvenation has kept pace into 2019 with a 6-3 record and 2.98 ERA (3.57 FIP). The Cubs need only replace Hamels spot in the rotation once until early August, at which point a return is conceivable. In the meantime, Tyler Chatwood has held the line in three spot starts, though the Braves hit him hard the last time he got the nod. Alec Mills, 27, has looked ripe as ever with a 2.72 ERA over his last eight starts in Triple-A, where he holds a 4.72 ERA for the season. Mills doesn’t figure as a long-term piece for the Cubs, but he’s more than adequate for this brand of spot start. Before you ask, no, Adbert Alzolay won’t take Hamels next time through the rotation, as his rest days won’t align with the Cubs’ need after starting last night’s game for Iowa.

Cubs Health Updates: Darvish, Chatwood, Morrow, Duensing

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The Cubs remain in good position in the NL Central, in no small part due to the recent heroics of recently acquired pitcher Cole Hamels. The veteran just wrapped up a complete-game performance tonight and has allowed less than one earned run per nine innings in his first five starts in a Cubs uniform. Of course, he would likely not have ended up in Chicago were it not for the difficulties experienced by a few of the team’s recently signed, high-priced starters.

  • Yu Darvish, Hamels’s former rotation mate in Texas, has already been declared out for the rest of the 2018 season. He addressed that fact with reporters today, with MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat among those on hand. The veteran righty says he felt all along “there was something else other than the tightness” he was experiencing in his pitching arm, so much so that the diagnosis of a stress reaction came as something of a relief. Darvish indicated that he’s not even thinking about the season to come so much as he is trying to care for his ailing arm. Still, he expressed confidence that he’ll bounce back and be “stronger going forward.” That’ll obviously be the hope of the Cubs organization, which still has $101MM invested in Darvish after the present season.
  • The club also announced today that righty Tyler Chatwood is headed to the DL with hip soreness, as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune covers. He’ll be replaced on the roster by Dillon Maples, for the time being, with Alec Mills set to come up to start tomorrow. Chatwood has been plagued by walks all year long, racking up 93 to go with his 85 strikeouts over 101 2/3 innings. That’s simply not a manageable rate of free passes, as his 5.22 ERA reflects. Details of the new malady remain scant, but it certainly seems there are good reasons for the club to find cause to give Chatwood a breather regardless.
  • Another major recent open-market signee, Brandon Morrow, has performed as hoped when he has been available. But the closer has been sidelined for over a month with a balky elbow and still lacks a clear timeline. He went in for a checkup today, says Muskat. That examination evidently did not reveal anything of particular note, though it was not arranged due to any fear of a setback. It seems the hope remains that Morrow will return at some point in the final month of the regular season.
  • In other Chicago reliever news, Brian Duensing — yet another hurler who signed with the Cubs in free agency last winter — is headed for a rehab assignment. The 35-year-old southpaw, who carries an ugly 7.34 ERA on the year, has been on the shelf for the past several weeks with a shoulder ailment.

Cubs Notes: Butler, Mills, Hammel

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The Cubs continued adding to their starting pitching depth in the past two weeks by trading for righties Eddie Butler and Alec Mills, both of whom had been designated for assignment by their old teams. Notably, the Cubs gave up prospects of at least modest value to acquire those players — righty James Farris went to the Rockies with an international bonus slot in the Butler deal, and outfielder Donnie Dewees headed to Kansas City for Mills. But the Cubs felt Butler and Mills were attracting enough interest to justify giving up talent to get them, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.

“Both were getting phone calls,” Cubs GM Jed Hoyer said Thursday in an interview with ESPN 1000. “They have options. They can make starts for you. Finding guys who can make starts for you is very difficult and very expensive. We showed the appropriate urgency to get those guys.”

The fact that both pitchers had options was clearly important to the Cubs, as Rogers notes. But the team also thinks Butler, in particular, has a chance to be more than a depth starter.

“He’s an excellent change-of-scenery guy,” said Hoyer. “Our best example is Jake Arrieta. Sometimes a talented guy needs a change of scenery, and that was our logic with Eddie Butler.”

As Rogers notes, Mills was only designated for assignment when the Royals signed Jason Hammel, whose option the Cubs declined earlier in the offseason. The team’s pursuit of starting depth now raises the question of whether the team would have been better off had it simply exercised the option. But Rogers says a key reason the two sides parted ways was that Hammel had a conflicted relationship with manager Joe Maddon, who Hammel felt didn’t have appropriate faith in him and who frustrated him by pulling him out of games before he would have liked to depart. Though the option on Hammel’s contract was a team option, the Cubs allowed him to decide whether he wanted to leave, and Hammel made the call. Rogers’ sources tell him that was due primarily to his relationship with Maddon.

In any case, beyond Arrieta, Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and John Lackey, the Cubs now have Mike Montgomery and Brett Anderson, along with Rob Zastryzny, Ryan Williams and now Butler and Mills. Of the last four, it has yet to be determined who the Cubs will turn to first should they need extra rotation help in the big leagues.

Cubs Acquire Alec Mills, Designate David Rollins

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The Cubs have acquired right-hander Alec Mills from the Royals in exchange for minor league outfielder Donnie Dewees, the team announced via press release. In order to clear a spot for Mills on the 40-man roster, left-hander David Rollins has once again been designated for assignment. The 25-year-old Mills was designated for assignment himself earlier this afternoon, suggesting that talks between the Cubs and Royals were either in the works prior to the DFA or came together very quickly.

The acquisition of Mills, for the Cubs, is not entirely dissimilar from the recent pickup of right-hander Eddie Butler from the Rockies. Both right-handers give the Cubs an optionable right-hander that can serve as a depth piece for the the back of the rotation or potentially work out of the bullpen. It seems likely that Mills and Butler will both be Triple-A-bound to start the season, but both could realistically emerge on the big league roster at various points throughout the 2017 season — especially if the Cubs do employ spot starters with regularity later in the offseason to keep their top arms fresh.

Mills made his MLB debut in 2016 on the heels of a solid season split between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. In 125 2/3 minor league innings, he worked to a 3.22 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 with roughly average ground-ball rates. While he’s not universally lauded as a prospect, he’s received some attention from Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen, Baseball Prospectus’ Jeffrey Paternostro and from Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. Reviews on Mills range from solid relief prospect/occasional spot starter with useful sinker to a potential back-of-the-rotation starter.

The 23-year-old Dewees, meanwhile, fits the Royals’ profile of a speed- and contact-oriented hitter. The 2015 second-rounder hit .284/.338/.416 with five homers and 31 stolen bases across 577 plate appearances between the Class-A Midwest League and the Class-A Advanced Carolina League in 2016.

ESPN’s Keith Law recently rated Dewees 15th among Cubs farmhands (subscription required and strongly recommended), noting that he’s a 70-grade runner that can handle center field from a range standpoint but has a 20-grade arm that limits him to left field. Longenhagen ranked him 19th among Cubs prospects offering a similar take (albeit a 30-grade arm instead of 20), writing that without the power to profile as a left field regular, his best scenario is a Ben Revere type. B-Pro’s Steve Givarz was a bit more optimistic about his glovework but still pegs him as more of a fourth outfielder than a potential starter.

As for Rollins, this latest DFA continues one of the more remarkable offseasons in recent memory. Rollins opened the offseason on the Mariners’ 40-man roster but was claimed off waivers by the Cubs in mid-November. Since that time, he’s been claimed by the Rangers, who lost him to the Phillies on waivers not long after. Philadelphia designated him for assignment less than two weeks later and lost him back to Texas on waivers. That stay with the Rangers was even shorter than the first, as the Cubs claimed him once again just two days later.

Chicago will now once again try to slip Rollins through waivers, though given the number of times he’s been claimed this winter, one shouldn’t simply assume that he’ll make it through waivers. Teams that have lost out on left-handed relievers in free agency, for instance, could look at Rollins as a potential fallback option.

Rollins, 27, has a 7.60 ERA in 34 innings with the Mariners across the past two seasons and has averaged 7.1 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 with a 41.9 percent ground-ball rate. A .379 BABIP in his big league career indicates that he’s had his fair share of misfortune on balls in play, though most ERA estimators peg him for an ERA in the mid-4.00s. Nonetheless, he’s been claimed off waivers five times by three different teams this winter, so there are obviously a fair amount of talent evaluators that believe he can provide some value to a big league team in 2017 and beyond.

Royals Designate Alec Mills For Assignment

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The Royals have designated right-hander Alec Mills for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for newly signed Jason Hammel, tweets Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star.

Mills, 25, is a semi-surprising DFA casualty for the Royals, as he made his MLB debut in 2016 on the heels of a solid season split between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. In 125 2/3 minor league innings, Mills logged a 3.22 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9. While the former 22nd-round pick showed better in Double-A (2.39 ERA) than in Triple-A (4.19), his K/BB numbers at each level were both solid, and they were accompanied by roughly league-average ground-ball tendencies.

MLB.com has yet to issue its newest list of top Royals prospects, but Mills rated eighth among Kansas City farmhands on their most recent iteration, which was updated throughout the 2016 season. He didn’t crack the organization’s top 15 prospects, as recently laid out by ESPN’s Keith Law, but Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen did note him just outside the Royals’ top 20 back in December. Longenhagen writes that Mills is “purely a relief prospect,” noting that he could be a solid middle relief piece or a sixth starter/long man. Baseball Prospectus’ Jeffrey Paternostro didn’t include Mills in the top 10 but praised his above-average sinker.

While Mills isn’t a standout prospect, he seems like the type that could very well end up claimed if exposed to waivers, so perhaps the Royals will be able to generate some trade interest. Mills does have two minor league options remaining, which should add to his appeal.

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