The Cubs have signed left-hander Lucas Luetge to a minor league deal, according to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. Luetge had spent the season in the Red Sox organization to this point but opted out of that arrangement last week.
A veteran of seven MLB seasons, the 37-year-old Luetge made his big league debut with Seattle back in 2012. The lefty spent four seasons shuttling between the majors and the minors with the Mariners, and during that time he posted a 4.35 ERA with a 4.27 FIP in 111 appearances in the majors with a similar 4.21 ERA across 94 appearances in the minors. Luetge’s middling numbers and a subpar 19% strikeout rate that he paired with an elevated 12.1% walk rate led the Mariners to outright him off their 40-man roster in September of 2015.
That outright kicked off a five-year stretch without appearing in the majors for Luetge. During those years, the southpaw bounced between the Reds, Orioles, Diamondbacks, and Angels organizations. He struggled badly with the Reds, Orioles, and Angels but enjoyed a resurgence at the Triple-A level with Arizona in 2019, pitching to a 3.14 ERA in 43 innings of work with a solid 25% strikeout rate at the highest level of the minors. The cancelled minor league season in 2020 prevented Luetge from building on that success, but the lefty finally landed another opportunity in the majors in 2021 when he made the Yankees’ Opening Day roster out of Spring Training.
While in the Bronx, the southpaw enjoyed the best seasons of his career and worked his way into being a preferred left-handed option for manager Aaron Boone while with the club for the 2021 and ’22 seasons. In 129 2/3 frames for the Yankees in those seasons, Luetge dominated to the tune of a 2.71 ERA with a 2.92 FIP while seeing massive improvements in his strikeout and walk rates as compared to his time in Seattle. He struck out 25% of batters faced for New York while walking just 5.8%, making him one of the more valuable relievers in the club’s bullpen during his tenure in the Bronx.
Given that status, it was something of a shock when the Yankees designated him for assignment early in the 2022-23 offseason. He was dealt to the Braves shortly thereafter and began the season in the Atlanta bullpen, although that stint was fairly short-lived as he allowed eleven runs in 9 2/3 innings of work in his first nine appearances as a Brave. The lefty was outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster but remained with the organization at the Triple-A level long enough to return to the majors down the stretch for four scoreless innings. The Braves did not retain him for the 2024 campaign, however, and that led him to a minor league deal with Boston. He pitched very well in his stint at Triple-A Worcester this year with a 3.02 ERA and 26.7% strikeout rate, but was unable to crack a fairly deep Red Sox bullpen that had plenty of left-handed options.
Fortunately for Luetge, it’s not difficult to imagine him finding greener pastures in Chicago. While the Cubs’ bullpen has been the best in baseball by ERA since June 1, the club has only veteran lefty Drew Smyly available as a left-handed option following a lat strain that’s likely to put fireballer Luke Little on the injured list for the remainder of the 2024 campaign. Veteran reliever Mark Leiter Jr. helped to fill in the gaps as a rare right-hander who pitched better against southpaws thanks to his impressive splitter, but Leiter was dealt to the Yankees ahead of the trade deadline. That leaves a fairly clear opening in Chicago’s bullpen for another southpaw, and it’s certainly possible to imagine the Cubs opting to give Luetge a look in the majors at some point during the stretch run.
Johnson, 32, signed a one-year, $5MM deal with the Rockies in the offseason. He was coming off a strong three-year stretch with the Padres wherein he made 102 appearances with a 3.39 earned run average and 32.2% strikeout rate. His 11.3% walk rate was on the high side but it was a good performance overall.