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Joey Meneses, Ildemaro Vargas, Michael Rucker Elect Free Agency After Nationals’ Outrights

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The Nationals announced that first baseman Joey Meneses, utilityman Ildemaro Vargas, and right-hander Michael Rucker are all free agents after clearing waivers and being outrighted off Washington’s 40-man roster.  Meneses was eligible for minor league free agency, while Vargas (due to service time) and Rucker (a past outright assignment) were each eligible to elect free agency and chose to exercise that right.  The moves clear some space on the Nationals’ roster for Josiah Gray, Cade Cavalli, Mason Thompson, and Joan Adon, who were all reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

Vargas was projected for a $1.8MM salary in his third and final year of arbitration eligibility, and with a non-tender likely looming, Vargas will now get an early start on the free agent market.  The 33-year-old Vargas signed a minor league deal with Washington midway through the 2022 season and ended up hitting .257/.302/.354 over 785 plate appearances and 234 games in a Nats uniform.  Most of Vargas’ playing time came at third base, but he spent a substantial amount of time at both middle infield positions and also chipped in for a few games as a first baseman, corner outfielder, and even a mop-up pitcher in blowouts.

Meneses also broke in with the Nationals (and in MLB in general) during the 2022 season, as he stepped in as Washington’s regular first baseman once Josh Bell was traded to the Padres as part of the Juan Soto deal.  After bouncing around the minors and playing in Mexico and Japan during his long pro career, Meneses made the most of his big league debut by hitting .324/.367/.563 with 13 homers over 240 PA during the remainder of the 2022 campaign.

The magic of that unexpected breakout didn’t last, however, as Meneses had an unspectacular .275/.321/.401 slash line in 657 PA in 2023 as the Nationals’ regular DH.  This translated to a sub-replacement level -0.2 fWAR, and the number sunk to -1.0 fWAR when Meneses hit only .231/.291/.302 in 313 PA this season.  Juan Yepez and rookie Andres Chaparro look to be covering Washington’s first base situation for now, though the Nats are expected to make a play for a bigger-hitting first baseman this offseason.

Rucker’s run in the Nationals’ organization was brief, as he was only selected off waivers from the Phillies in September and he didn’t see any big league action.  Rucker hasn’t pitched in the Show since 2023, and he was limited to 30 2/3 minor league innings with Philadelphia and Washington in 2024 due to a lengthy IL stint because of an arterial vasospasm in his pitching hand.

All of Rucker’s MLB experience came with the Cubs from 2021-23, when he posted a 4.96 ERA in 123 1/3 innings out of Chicago’s bullpen.  The home run ball gave Rucker a lot of issues, though his career 3.94 SIERA, 22.6% strikeout rate, and 9.4% walk rate are all palatable.  Assuming that Rucker is now fully healthy, he’ll likely land a minor league deal with a team in need of pitching depth.

Nationals Claim Michael Rucker, Designate Travis Blankenhorn

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The Nationals announced Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Michael Rucker off waivers from the Phillies and opened a spot on the 40-man roster by designating infielder/outfielder Travis Blankenhorn for assignment. Rucker was optioned to Triple-A Rochester. Washington’s 40-man roster remains at capacity.

The 30-year-old Rucker was designated for assignment by the Phillies earlier this week when they selected Nick Nelson’s contract from Triple-A. The Phils picked Rucker up in a cash deal with the Cubs back in February after he’d been designated for assignment in Chicago. He never got into a game with the Phillies in the majors, instead spending most of the season on the 60-day injured list owing to an arterial vasospasm in his right hand. The Phils reinstated and optioned him prior to the trade deadline. He’s pitched 26 minor league innings this season and been tagged for a 6.58 ERA, with the bulk of the damage coming in Triple-A.

Grim as Rucker’s run-prevention has been, his 26.7% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate are both fine marks (particularly the former). He’s also kept the ball on the ground at a strong 45.2% clip. Rucker, however, has been plagued by an astronomical .479 average on balls in play during his time with the IronPigs.

As recently as 2022, Rucker was a solid member of the Cubs’ bullpen. He pitched a career-high 54 2/3 innings and logged a 3.95 ERA with a 21.8% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate in that time. His followup effort in 2023 resulted in a more troubling 4.91 ERA in 40 2/3 frames, but his strikeout and walk numbers remained generally serviceable and his grounder rate spiked to a strong 51.4%. Overall, Rucker carries a 4.96 ERA in 123 1/3 innings as a major leaguer.

As for Blankenhorn, he’s spent the past two seasons as a depth option in the Nationals’ system, appearing in a combined 23 games and batting .145/.232/.210 in 69 trips to the plate. Those are obviously woeful numbers but come in a small sample; Blankenhorn popped 23 homers for the Nats’ Rochester affiliate last season while batting .262/.360/.517, and he’s tallied another 26 big flies in Triple-A this year while hitting .238/.322/.499.

Originally a third-round pick by the Twins back in 2015, Blankenhorn has bounced around the diamond in his pro career, seeing time at all of the non-shortstop infield positions and in both outfield corners. He’s a career .154/.230/.264 hitter in exactly 100 big league plate appearances but carries a more productive .254/.343/.489 slash and 74 homers in 363 Triple-A games. This is Blankenhorn’s final minor league option season. He’ll presumably clear waivers and soon become a minor league free agent, whether by rejecting an outright assignment or by exercising that right at season’s end.

Phillies Designate Michael Rucker For Assignment

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The Phillies announced Wednesday that right-hander Michael Rucker has been designated for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to fellow righty Nick Nelson, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Philadelphia also optioned righty Tyler Phillips to Lehigh Valley to open a spot on the active roster for Nelson.

Rucker, 30, was acquired in a cash deal with the Cubs back in February after he’d been designated for assignment in Chicago. He never got into a game with the Phillies in the majors, instead spending most of the season on the 60-day injured list owing to an arterial vasospasm in his right hand. The Phils reinstated and optioned him prior to the trade deadline. He’s pitched 26 minor league innings this season and been tagged for a 6.58 ERA, with the bulk of the damage coming in Triple-A.

Grim as Rucker’s run-prevention has been, his 26.7% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate are both fine marks (particularly the former). He’s also kept the ball on the ground at a strong 45.2% clip. Rucker, however, has been plagued by an astronomical .479 average on balls in play during his time with the IronPigs.

As recently as 2022, Rucker was a solid member of the Cubs’ bullpen. He pitched a career-high 54 2/3 innings and logged a 3.95 ERA with a 21.8% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate in that time. His followup effort in 2023 resulted in a more troubling 4.91 ERA in 40 2/3 frames, but his strikeout and walk numbers remained generally serviceable and his grounder rate spiked to a strong 51.4%. Overall, Rucker carries a 4.96 ERA in 123 1/3 innings as a major leaguer.

Rucker will now head to waivers, where another club could have interest in his solid Triple-A track record. If not, he’ll be outrighted off the 40-man roster and stick with the Phillies as a depth piece. Rucker lacks the three years of service or prior outright assignment to elect free agency.

The 26-year-old Phillips has had one of the strangest debut campaigns in recent memory. The unheralded righty dominated through his first four big league outings, culminating a shutout of the AL Central-leading Guardians on July 27. He didn’t last two innings in his next start, yielding eight runs to a light-hitting Mariners offense, and has yet to recover. His struggles reached a tipping point when he allowed six runs in the first inning versus the Blue Jays in yesterday’s start. Overalll, since his shutout, Phillips has yielded 23 runs in just 11 2/3 innings. His ERA has skyrocketed from 1.80 to 6.87.

Taking Phillips’ spot on the roster will be Nelson, who’s spent the past three seasons with the Phils. He only pitched in 3 1/3 innings this season and has struggled to produce in Triple-A, where he’s logged a 6.30 ERA on the season. It could be a quick stay on the 40-man roster in Nelson’s return, but he’s stretched out for multiple innings and could give the Phillies four or even five innings of work on the heels of yesterday’s marathon game for the bullpen, if needed. Nelson tossed four innings in a Triple-A appearance as recently as Aug. 24. And, while he’s struggled on the season overall, Nelson has been throwing better of late; he’s yielded only one run in his past 9 1/3 innings pitched in Triple-A.

Orioles, Phillies Swap Austin Hays For Seranthony Dominguez

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The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve traded outfielder Austin Hays to the Phillies in exchange for right-hander Seranthony Dominguez and outfielder Cristian Pache. Baltimore is designating righty Levi Stoudt for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot, the team announced. The Phillies filled their open roster spot by reinstating right-hander Michael Rucker from the 60-day injured list.

It’s a rare swap of major leaguers between a pair of World Series hopefuls. Hays will give the Phillies a more impactful right-handed bat in their outfield mix than they had in the glove-first Pache. Hays isn’t having his best season but was a 2023 All-Star and has pounded left-handed pitching both in 2024 and throughout his career. Dominguez, similarly, is having a down season but sports a much better track record. He’s still a hard-throwing reliever with high-leverage experience and has at times operated as the Phillies’ closer.

Hays, 29, is hitting .255/.316/.395 this season in 175 plate appearances. He missed nearly a month with a calf strain earlier this season, and it’s certainly possible that injury impacted his production; Hays hit just .111/.200/.111 in 50 trips to the plate prior to that IL stint but has returned with an excellent .313/.363/.509 slash in 125 subsequent plate appearances.

That slash is perhaps partially attributable to the fact that Hays has been platooned more than in seasons past, thanks to the emergence of lefty-hitting outfielders Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad in Baltimore. Between that pair, center fielder Cedric Mullins, right fielder Anthony Santander and first basemen/designated hitters Ryan O’Hearn and Ryan Mountcastle, the O’s are dealing from a wealth of corner depth in this swap. Hays has been exclusively a corner outfielder this year and hasn’t played center field with any regularity since 2020.

Prior to this season’s rough start (and the emergence of those young top prospects), Hays has been a fixture in the Baltimore outfield. The former third-round pick was a top-100 prospect himself and from 2019-23 tallied 1886 plate appearances with a strong .264/.317/.441 batting line (109 wRC+). Hays doesn’t walk much (career 5.9%) but strikes out at a 21.5% clip that’s slightly below league-average. He’s typically posted average or better grades in left field, though his marks this season are down across the board. Again, however, that’s not necessarily a surprise for an outfielder who’s battled a lower-leg injury that impacted his speed and mobility.

Hays will give the Phillies a productive platoon partner to pair with lefty-swinging Brandon Marsh in left field. Both Marsh and Hays (in a pinch) can handle center field as well, though it’s likely that defensive standout Johan Rojas will continue to patrol that position regularly — barring an additional outfield acquisition from president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. Hays has bludgeoned lefties at a .328/.394/.500 clip in 72 plate appearances this year and touts a lifetime .272/.328/.463 output against southpaws.

The Phillies will be able to control Hays through the 2025 season if they choose, though he’d be an expensive part-time player if they plan to platoon him all season in 2025. He’s earning $6.3MM this year in his second arbitration season and will be due one final raise this winter — likely to a number north of $8MM — before qualifying as a free agent in the 2025-26 offseason.

Turning to the Orioles’ end of the deal, they’ll first and foremost add an experienced reliever in the form of the 29-year-old Dominguez. He’s been tagged for a 4.75 ERA this year in 36 innings but entered the 2024 campaign with a career 3.31 earned run average, 27 saves and 52 holds. Dominguez has been uncharacteristically homer-prone this year and thus struggled to strand runners, but his velocity (97.5 mph average fastball), strikeout rate (25.5%) and walk rate (7.6%) all remain strong. This year’s walk rate is actually a career-low, and Dominguez’s 25.5% strikeout rate isn’t terribly far off the 27.5% mark he carried into the season.

As is often the case with relievers, Dominguez’s pedestrian earned run average is skewed by a small number of meltdowns. He’s been tagged for four earned runs on two separate occasions this season, accounting for 42% of his earned runs in those two trips to the mound (just 5.2% of his total appearances).

That clearly doesn’t make the bottom-line results any more palatable, but it’s preferable to have a reliever who’s had a handful of awful outings as opposed to one who’s prone to giving up a run or two every other time out. With Craig Kimbrel currently in a rough patch and Danny Coulombe on the 60-day injured list, Dominguez could find himself in some leverage situations.

Like Hays, Dominguez can be controlled through the 2025 season — but the choice is at the team’s discretion. He’s playing out the second season of a two-year, $7.25MM contract that covered his final two arbitration seasons and includes a club option for what would’ve been his first free-agent year. The O’s will hold an $8MM club option over Dominguez that comes with a $500K buyout — effectively rendering it a net $7.5MM decision. If he can rebound to his prior form following the swap, that could prove to be a palatable price point even for what’s typically been a frugal Orioles club (albeit under their now-former ownership).

Baltimore will also add Pache to its bench mix. It’s an offensive downgrade, as the 25-year-old is hitting only .202/.288/.269 in 118 plate appearances and carries a .179/.243/.272 slash in parts of five MLB seasons. That said, Pache is a lights-out defender who’s been credited with a dozen Defensive Runs Saved and 16 Outs Above Average in just 1334 career innings in the outfield. He’s a plus-plus defender in center field, offering the O’s a more true fourth outfielder than Hays did, but he can certainly play strong corner defense as well.

Pache is out of minor league options, so he can’t be sent to the minors without first being designated for assignment and exposed to waivers. As such, he’ll need to stick on Baltimore’s roster. For a team that’s a near-lock to make the postseason, this type of outfielder — light hitting, plus defense, good speed — is a particularly useful asset.

Pache is earning just north of the league minimum this season. Dominguez is being paid $4.25MM and has the $500K buyout on his option. The swap is close to cash-neutral, but the Phillies will be taking on about $297K in additional payroll. When factoring in their luxury tax status, the trade will cost them about $481K overall.

As a result of this swap, the 26-year-old Stoudt will  be designated for assignment for the third time this season. He’s bounced from the Reds, to the Mariners (his original organization), to the Orioles via a series of waiver claims. Stoudt allowed 11 runs in 10 1/3 innings during last year’s MLB debut with Cincinnati. He was one of four players the Mariners sent to the Reds in the Luis Castillo blockbuster two seasons ago.

A former third-round pick, Stoudt ranked among the top 20 prospects in both the Mariners’ and Reds’ systems from 2021-23. He’s worked primarily as a starter in the minors, but the O’s put him in their Double-A bullpen after claiming him. He’s posted a 4.26 ERA in 12 2/3 innings in that role but also walked 12.1% of his opponents, continuing some longstanding command issues. The Orioles can trade Stoudt until Tuesday’s deadline. Failing that, he’ll likely be placed on outright waivers.

Phillies Select David Dahl

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The Phillies announced a series of roster moves today, placing outfielder Brandon Marsh and infielder Kody Clemens on the 10-day injured list. Marsh has a right hamstring strain and Clemens has low back spasms. The latter’s move is retroactive to May 31. In corresponding moves, they selected the contract of outfielder David Dahl and recalled infielder/outfielder Weston Wilson. To get Dahl onto the 40-man, right-hander Michael Rucker was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Marsh was removed from last night’s game due to his hamstring issue, and manager Rob Thomson said after the game that the 26-year-old was considered day-to-day. It seems the club has decided to let Marsh take it easy for at least ten days to get over the issue, though it may not be a long stint on the IL if it was a borderline case. The club also has the best record in the National League at 41-19, perhaps giving them the luxury of being cautious. Clemens was initially in last night’s lineup before being scratched due to the spasms. It’s unknown how serious his issue is but he will sit out for over a week alongside Marsh.

The subtraction of two position players from the Philadelphia roster will create an opening for Dahl. The 30-year-old signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in the offseason and he has been playing for Triple-A Lehigh Valley this year, utterly mashing so far. He has 12 home runs in 166 plate appearances and has walked 11.4% of the time. His .340/.416/.660 slash line leads to a ludicrous 171 wRC+.

It’s been quite some time since this was the case, but Dahl, the No. 10 overall pick by the Rockies back in 2012, was once touted as one of the sport’s top all-around prospects. He hit the ground running in the majors, posting a .315/.359/.500 slash in 63 games as a rookie and batting .297/.346/.521 through his first 921 MLB plate appearances from 2016-19. Injuries have ravaged Dahl’s career, however, and for several years rendered him a shell of the once-dynamic talent he once looked to be.

Dahl suffered a lacerated spleen in a violent outfield collision and wound up needing to have the organ removed entirely. He’s also battled through a stress fracture in his ribcage, a broken foot, a high ankle sprain, a shoulder strain, multiple back injuries and a quad strain in his big league career. It’s an eye-opening injury history, highlighted by that splenectomy procedure — one that obviously took its toll on Dahl’s body. From 2020-23, he appeared in only 91 big league games and hit just .199/.235/.303 in that time. Even his Triple-A output was often lackluster along the way, but Dahl’s standout production in Lehigh Valley this season marks his strongest run of minor league play since the one that led to his original MLB call-up back in 2016.

Whether Dahl can find a second act in his career after so many physical ailments, the mere fact that he’s played his way back to the majors yet again after so many setbacks is a testament to his perseverance and passion for the game. For now, he’ll give the Phils a short-term option to help cover Marsh’s absence, but the Triple-A power surge is also genuinely intriguing. If Dahl proves he’s once again a big league-caliber bat, he’d be controllable via arbitration through the 2025 season, making him a potential multi-year outfield/bench piece for the Phils in an ideal scenario.

Phillies Acquire Michael Rucker, Designate Andrew Bellatti For Assignment

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The Phillies announced Tuesday they’ve acquired reliever Michael Rucker from the Cubs in exchange for cash. He’d been designated for assignment by Chicago last week. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, the Phillies designated fellow right-hander Andrew Bellatti for assignment.

Rucker, who turns 30 in April, changes organizations for the first time. The BYU product had been a member of the Cubs since they selected him in the 11th round of the 2016 draft. After a couple seasons as a starter in the minors, he converted to relief by the 2019 campaign. Lofty strikeout tallies in the upper minors in 2019 and ’21 earned him a major league look midway through the 2021 season.

The right-hander has pitched at the MLB level in each of the past three years. He has allowed just under five earned runs per nine through 123 1/3 big league innings. Rucker allowed a near-7.00 ERA as a rookie before turning in a decent 3.95 mark across a personal-high 54 1/3 frames in 2022. Things skewed back in the wrong direction last year, as he was tagged for a 4.91 figure over 40 1/3 innings.

That led the Cubs to squeeze him off the roster when they signed veteran reliever (and former Phillie) Héctor Neris to a one-year deal. Rucker’s arm strength and reasonable peripheral numbers led Philadelphia to take a low-cost look. Rucker has punched out between 21% and 24% of opponents in each of his MLB seasons. He generated ground-balls at a personal-high 51.8% clip a year ago, although he also walked nearly 11% of batters faced. Rucker’s fastball averages just under 95 MPH and he showed some swing-and-miss upside with each of his slider and cutter last season.

Rucker also has a minor league option remaining, so the Phils can keep him at Triple-A Lehigh Valley for another season. That’s not true of Bellatti, whom he replaces on the 40-man roster. Bellatti looked like an excellent find for Philadelphia on a minor league contract heading into 2022, when he turned in a 3.31 ERA over 54 1/3 innings. He didn’t find the same level of success last year, pitching to a 5.11 mark through 24 2/3 big league frames.

The 32-year-old Bellatti posted strong results while in Triple-A a year ago. He worked to a 2.42 ERA with an above-average 25.7% strikeout percentage in 27 appearances with Lehigh Valley. The Phillies have a week to trade him or place him on waivers. Bellatti has been outrighted multiple times in his career, so he’d have the ability to elect free agency if he goes unclaimed in the coming days.

Cubs Designate Michael Rucker For Assignment

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The Cubs have designated right-hander Michael Rucker for assignment, per Bruce Levine of WSCR. That moves opens a roster spot for Héctor Neris, whose signing is now official.

Rucker, 29, has been on the Cubs’ roster since the end of July 2021. He stayed with the big league club for the remainder of that season and has been serving as a frequently-optioned depth arm for the past two years. In the past three years combined, he has appeared in 96 big league games and logged 123 1/3 innings, allowing 4.96 earned runs per nine. His 22.6% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 46.6% ground ball rate are all around league average.

As mentioned, he was frequently sent on optional assignments, meaning he’s also thrown 76 innings of Triple-A ball over those three seasons. He posted a 3.20 ERA at that level over that time period, pairing a 26% strikeout rate with a 7.1% walk rate, while also getting grounders on nearly half of the balls in play he’s allowed.

Despite those generally solid results, he’s been nudged off the club’s roster this winter. The Cubs added Michael Busch and Yency Almonte in a trade with the Dodgers and have also signed free agents Shota Imanaga and Neris.

They will now have one week to trade Rucker or attempt to pass him through waivers. He could garner interest from other clubs based on his track record and roster flexibility. He still has one option year remaining and won’t need to be carried on an active roster. His service time clock is also just shy of two years, meaning he’s at least a year away from qualifying for arbitration and could be retained well into the future. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he could stick with the Cubs as non-roster depth.

Cubs Place Wade Miley On 15-Day IL Due To Shoulder Strain

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Just a day after activating Wade Miley from the 15-day injured list, the Cubs are sending Miley back to the IL with another strain in his left shoulder.  Right-hander Michael Rucker was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.

Miley tossed three scoreless innings in his start against the Yankees yesterday, but then had to leave the game while warming up prior to the fourth inning.  The veteran left-hander will now return to the IL for what will likely be a longer absence, given the recurring nature of the injury.

Miley’s first shoulder strain cost him a month of action, and he also missed just over a month at the start of the season due to elbow inflammation during Spring Training.  All these injuries have limited Miley to only four starts and 19 innings, though he has posted a 2.84 ERA when he has been able to take the field.

In the near term, the top priority is simply Miley’s health, as the hope is that his shoulder strain isn’t indicative of a bigger problem.  Given the timing of his latest IL visit, there must now be uncertainty that Miley will be able to return at all prior to the August 2 trade deadline, let alone return and pitch well enough to attract the attention of a team in need of rotation help.  The Cubs look like they’ll be sellers at the deadline, and since Miley is scheduled to be a free agent this winter, he stands out as an obvious rental piece if he is healthy.

Marcus Stroman and Drew Smyly are also on the 15-day IL, so the Cubs again find themselves particularly short-handed in the rotation.  Mark Leiter Jr. is the likeliest candidate to fill Miley’s rotation spot, joining veteran Kyle Hendricks and then the less-experienced trio of Justin Steele, Keegan Thompson, and Matt Swarmer.

Cubs Designate Clint Frazier For Assignment

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The Cubs announced a series of roster moves to reporters, including Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic. Lefty Wade Miley, catcher Yan Gomes and infielder Jonathan Villar have all been reinstated from the injured list, while righty Chris Martin has been reinstated from the restricted list, which he joined after being on the bereavement list beyond the seven-day minimum. To make room for those four players, righty Marcus Stroman was placed on the 15-day IL with shoulder inflammation, first baseman/outfielder Alfonso Rivas and righty Michael Rucker have been optioned, while outfielder Clint Frazier has been designated for assignment. The DFA of Frazier opens a spot on both the active and 40-man rosters for Martin.

Selected fifth overall by Cleveland in the 2013 draft, Frazier was a highly-touted prospect as he rose through the minors, eventually headlining the Yankees’ return when they traded Andrew Miller at the 2016 deadline. Frazier showed plenty of signs of his potential while wearing pinstripes, especially in 2020. During that pandemic-shortened season, he played 39 games and hit a tremendous .267/.394/.511 for a wRC+ of 149. Unfortunately, he underwent a miserable 2021 campaign where he hit just .186/.317/.317, 82 wRC+, and didn’t play after July due to vertigo-like symptoms.

After the season, the Yankees designated him for assignment, with Frazier then signing with the Cubs. The one-year contract came with a $1.5MM base salary and $1MM of incentives, though the Cubs would also be able to keep him around for another couple of seasons through arbitration. However, it now seems they are moving on after just a couple of months.

Frazier missed some time this year due to appendicitis and has only gotten into 19 games on the year so far. In that time, he’s hit .216/.356/.297. That unbalanced line is thanks to a 15.6% walk rate but no home runs on the year. All told, that adds up to a wRC+ of 95, which is 5% below league average but hardly disastrous. Given that he’s still just 27 years old and comes with prospect pedigree and a track record of some MLB success, he’s sure to find another opportunity elsewhere. The Cubs will have a week to work out a trade or put him on waivers.

Cubs Reinstate Marcus Stroman

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The Cubs announced they’ve activated Marcus Stroman from the COVID-19 injured list. He’ll take the ball tonight against the Diamondbacks, with righty Michael Rucker landing on the 15-day injured list because of turf toe. Stroman hadn’t counted against the 40-man roster while on the COVID IL, and the Cubs freed a spot for his reinstatement by transferring starter Alec Mills from the 15-day to the 60-day IL.

Stroman signed a three-year, $71MM guarantee as part of an aggressive Cubs offseason. He has made five starts with his new team, tossing 26 1/3 innings of 5.13 ERA ball. Stroman’s typically excellent ground-ball rate is down to a more ordinary 45.6% in the early going, but that’s likely not much more than a sample blip. The 31-year-old’s velocity, strikeout and walk numbers are all in line with their 2021 marks, although he’s also seen a dip in swinging strikes.

In any event, Stroman returns to again take the ball every fifth day from skipper David Ross. He’ll be joined in the rotation by Kyle Hendricks, offseason signee Drew Smyly, Wade Miley and Justin Steele. That group looked like a concern heading into the season, and the Cubs rank among the league’s bottom ten in rotation ERA (4.45) and strikeout rate (18.5%), although they’ve been a top ten group at generating grounders (46.1%).

Mills was a significant member of the rotation last season, starting 20 of his 32 appearances. He posted a 5.07 ERA but threw strikes and induced grounders on over half the batted balls against him, setting him up as a back-of-the-rotation option. He opened the season on the injured list with a low back strain, and he’s also battled a quad issue.

Today’s transfer is largely a procedural move, as it rules Mills out for 60 days from Opening Day, not today. He can’t return to the big leagues until the first week of June, which didn’t seem likely anyways considering he’s yet to start a minor league rehab assignment. Mills recently threw a live batting practice session, however, the opening stages of a new ramp-up program.

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