Cubs Option Nico Hoerner, Brad Wieck
4:11PM: The Cubs announced the move, with both Hoerner and left-hander Brad Wieck optioned to Triple-A.
9:10AM: Last night, the Cubs optioned infielder Nico Hoerner, report Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers of ESPN (Twitter link). That sets the stage for non-roster invitee Eric Sogard to make the season-opening roster, Passan and Rogers add. Sogard’s contract will need to formally selected to the 40-man roster before Opening Day.
Passan and Rogers suggest the Cubs’ decision not to break camp with Hoerner is fueled by a desire to gain an extra year of team control over the 23-year-old. Hoerner has 1.021 days of MLB service time, so the Cubs would need to keep him in the minors for 36 days to avoid him reaching two full years of service in 2021. Hoerner is presently controllable through 2025, so the demotion could keep him in Chicago until after the 2026 season.
If optioning Hoerner is indeed motivated by service time concerns, it’s a bit of a bizarre decision. The Cubs are coming off a year in which they won the National League Central and are part of a four-team group with a plausible chance at claiming the division in 2021. Accepting a suboptimal second base situation for over a month of this season in order to hold onto Hoerner’s contractual rights for 2026 wouldn’t seem to be a worthwhile trade-off.
There is a case to be made the Cubs are better off, strictly from an on-field perspective, in turning to a Sogard-David Bote platoon at the keystone over Hoerner. While Hoerner flew to the majors after being selected in the first round of the 2018 draft, he hasn’t yet been productive there. Across 208 MLB plate appearances, the Stanford product has hit just .247/.309/.333. He didn’t hit a single home run over 126 plate appearances last year, slugging a punchless .259.
Of course, Sogard is coming off a dismal season of his own, having hit .209/.281/.278 with just one homer in 128 plate appearances with the Brewers. Sogard was quite good in 2019 but he’d never before approached the .457 slugging percentage or 13 homers he hit that year, so it didn’t seem he’d be able to sustain that level of production. Both Hoerner and Sogard have hit well in Spring Training.
Cubs Reinstate Three From IL; Rex Brothers Elects Free Agency
Cubs lefty Rex Brothers rejected an outright assignment after clearing waivers and has instead opted for free agency, tweets Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago. The Cubs have also reinstated James Norwood, Manuel Rodriguez and Brad Wieck from the 45-day injured list, bringing their current 40-man roster to 34 players.
Brothers, 33, pitched in just three games for the Cubs in 2020 and has had much of a sample of MLB work since his 2017 run with the Braves. The former Rockies prospect was the No. 34 overall pick back and got out to a nice start through three seasons in Colorado before his already shaky control got out of hand in 2014.
Over the past six years, Brothers has bounced around between the Rockies, Yankees, Braves and Cubs organizations. He’s seen intermittent action at the big league level en route to a 5.77 ERA and 101-to-64 K/BB ratio in 93 1/3 frames in that time. Brothers’ heater averaged 95.3 mph in this year’s tiny sample of innings. That velocity from the left side should get him another look as a minor league depth option with another club.
Norwood, 26, missed most of the season due to shoulder troubles. The 24-year-old Rodriguez didn’t appear in the big leagues this year but went on the 60-day IL due to a biceps strain late in the year, giving the Cubs some late flexibility on the roster. Wieck, 29, went down with a hamstring strain after one game and did not return.
Cubs Select Hernan Perez
The Cubs have selected infielder/outfielder Hernan Perez, placed outfielder Steven Souza Jr. on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring issue and moved reliever Brad Wieck to the 45-day IL with a hamstring problem, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic was among those to report.
Perez, who most recently appeared in the majors with the NL Central rival Brewers, joined the Cubs on a minor league contract in the offseason. The 29-year-old hasn’t brought much offense to the table in the majors, where he has batted .252/.282/.387 (73 wRC+) with 45 home runs and 69 stolen bases in 1,1819 plate appearances, but has garnered significant experience at second, third, shortstop and in the outfield. He’ll give the Cubs some insurance at a time when Souza’s down and third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant is dealing with left wrist troubles. Bryant underwent an injection Tuesday and will miss a few days, Jesse Rogers of ESPN tweets.
Souza, 31, was a 30-home run hitter with the Rays in 2017, but injuries cut him down as a Diamondback the next two years and continue to trouble him now. He signed a $1MM deal with the Cubs in the offseason and has begun this year with a line of .190/.292/.429 (94 wRC+), one homer and 10 strikeouts in 24 PA.
Cubs’ Brad Wieck Undergoes Cardiac Ablation Procedure
Cubs lefty Brad Wieck underwent a cardiac ablation procedure to prevent the recurrence of an intermittent atrial flutter that was discovered during his annual spring physical, the team announced. He’ll rest and rehab from the procedure next week before being reevaluated, at which point a timeline for his return to the mound will become clearer. A return in a few weeks’ time isn’t out of the question though, ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers tweets.
The Cubs acquired Wieck, 28, in the trade that sent righty Carl Edwards Jr. to the Padres prior to last year’s trade deadline. The lefty didn’t make his Cubs debut until being brought to the big leagues as a September call-up, but he gave the team some reason for optimism when he held opponents to four runs on two hits and four walks with 18 strikeouts in 10 innings (3.60 ERA, 2.71 FIP).
Wieck’s previous work with the Padres had been unsightly (18 runs in 24 2/3 innings), but his ability to miss bats was on full display there as well. In total, Wieck has tossed 41 2/3 innings in the big leagues, and while his 4.97 ERA in that time isn’t much to look at, his 59-to-13 K/BB ratio is certainly intriguing. Notably, he’s fared better against righties (.287 wOBA) than lefties (.307) in his young career.
If Wieck isn’t ready to go to begin the season, Kyle Ryan becomes the Cubs’ lone plausible left-handed bullpen option on the 40-man roster. Prospect Justin Steele is on the 40-man but has yet to pitch above the Double-A level (where he struggled in 2019). The only other lefties on the 40-man roster are Jon Lester and Jose Quintana.
That could open the door for a non-roster invitee like Tyler Olson, Rex Brothers, Danny Hultzen or CD Pelham to get a look, although the Cubs could also just roll with a primarily right-handed relief corps early in the season as well. Wieck himself wasn’t a lock for a spot, given that he has a minor league option remaining, though his September showing put him in a good position.
Padres To Acquire Carl Edwards Jr.
In yet another under-the-wire deadline deal, the Cubs traded right-handed reliever Carl Edwards Jr. to the Padres, ESPN’s Jesse Rogers tweets. The once-trusted setup man had clearly seen his standing with the organization slip, as evidenced by a recent demotion to Triple-A Iowa.
The Cubs are getting lefty Brad Wieck back from the Padres in return for Edwards, per Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). Chicago will also send $500K in international bonus pool money to the Padres in the deal, per Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. All indications are that the San Diego organization will take over the remainder of Edwards’s $1.5MM salary.
Edwards Jr. will join a strong bullpen unit in San Diego, offering value as a buy-low candidate with a high ceiling if Padres management can resolve the issues that have driven his fall from grace this season. While the Pads find themselves outside the playoff picture in 2019, the addition of Edwards could pay dividends in years to come; the 27-year-old will remain under team control through the 2022 season, which would seem to jibe with the Padres’ desired timeline for contention. If Edwards can return to form in San Diego, the Padres will add yet another bullpen weapon to its already-deep arsenal.
Wieck, meanwhile, is slightly younger than Edwards and has two more years of team control, which makes him an attractive long-term relief option. However, he lacks the Major-League track record and electrifying potential that made Edwards a mainstay in recent Cubs bullpens. While Chicago still finds itself in position to contend, Jed Hoyer and company viewed Edwards as a change-of-scenery candidate and may not have seen an opportunity for him to contribute to this year’s team. Replacing him with Wieck, while likely not improving their chances in 2019, may provide insurance against possible departures of veteran cogs: Pedro Strop, Brandon Kintzler, and Steve Cishek will all be free agents at season’s end, and there are few internal options outside of that group.
Wieck’s 2019 numbers are not pretty—his 6.57 ERA, fueled by allowing 2.6 HR/9, won’t inspire any optimism in Cubs faithful—but there are signs of promise. Despite the struggles, he’s struck out 11.3 batters per nine innings, good for a 3.44 K:BB ratio. In 2018, between Double- and Triple-A, he struck out 70 batters in 46 1/3 innings while walking just 17. He’s certainly not a finished product, and it’s questionable whether he provides more value to a contender than a diminished version of Edwards; however, with the extra years of team control and good strikeout stuff, the Cubs believe Wieck will grow into a more valuable long-term asset than the Edwards, who may well be a lost cause.
Over a three-year stretch from 2016-2018, Edwards established himself as a key member of the Cubs’ bullpen. Tossing 154 1/3 innings of relief over that span, Edwards posted a 3.03 ERA while striking out 12.4 batters per nine innings. However, his fortunes took a turn for the worse this season, as his ERA has ballooned to an unsightly 5.87. His strikeout numbers, while still impressive, dipped slightly; while his command issues haven’t waned, his 5.51 FIP seems to have been inflated by an increased proneness to the long ball, as he’s already allowed 3 in just 15 1/3 innings of work.