2026-27 Club Options: NL West
MLBTR wraps up our division by division look at the upcoming team/mutual option decisions with the NL West.
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Arizona Diamondbacks
- Lourdes Gurriel Jr., OF: $14MM club option ($5MM buyout)
This is the final guaranteed season of Gurriel’s three-year, $42MM free agent contract. The veteran outfielder bypassed an opt-out last winter, which gave the Diamondbacks a $14MM club option or $5MM buyout for the 2027 season. The latter looks more likely.
Gurriel had a solid 2024 season. His numbers took a slight step back last year before he tore the ACL in his right knee trying to avoid an outfield collision in early September. He underwent surgery and began this season on the injured list. Gurriel made a quicker than expected recovery to return to the roster by mid-April. He hasn’t looked in full form, however. He managed just one home run while hitting .228/.284/.304 in 102 plate appearances.
One could justifiably write this past month off as him shaking off rust. Gurriel didn’t get any game action during Spring Training. His minor league rehab assignment consisted of exactly two games in Double-A. If Arizona’s outfield were in better shape, they’d probably have given him a few weeks on a rehab stint to get more accustomed to game speed.
All that said, Gurriel’s pre-injury performance probably wouldn’t have merited the extra $9MM to exercise the option. He also went back down last week with a left hamstring strain that’ll again interrupt his attempt to get into a rhythm.
- Carlos Santana, 1B: Mutual option
The details on Santana’s mutual option were never publicly reported. It’s probably a moot point, as mutual options are typically included simply to defer a portion of the guarantee to the end of the season via the payment of a buyout. Signed to platoon with Pavin Smith at first base, Santana has been limited to eight games by an adductor strain and was transferred to the 60-day injured list this afternoon.
- Michael Soroka, RHP: $10MM mutual option ($1MM buyout)
Arizona added Soroka on a $7.5MM free agent deal. He’s playing on a $6.5MM salary and will collect a $1MM buyout at season’s end. Soroka has already added another $500K in incentives by making 10+ starts and could get up to $2MM in bonuses if he reaches 25 starts.
Soroka has been a surprisingly key piece of Torey Lovullo’s rotation. He carries a 3.25 ERA with a 23.5% strikeout rate against a tidy 5.5% walk percentage over 61 innings. Durability is an ever present question with the Canadian-born righty, who hasn’t reached 100 frames in a season since 2019. If Soroka can hold anything close to this level over the full schedule, his side will easily pass on the option. He should command at least two years and would have a case for three if he stays healthy, as he’s one of the youngest pitchers (29 in August) in what looks like a bad free agent class.
Colorado Rockies
- Michael Lorenzen, RHP: $9MM club option ($250K buyout)
Lorenzen’s $8MM free agent deal pays him a $7.75MM salary and at least a $250K buyout on next year’s $9MM team option. The Rockies made a few late-offseason rotation pickups, mostly low-ceiling veterans with deeper arsenals whom they hoped would raise the floor. Tomoyuki Sugano has worked out well enough, but Lorenzen and Jose Quintana have not.
The 34-year-old righty has been blitzed for a 7.22 earned run average across 57 1/3 innings. He has gotten destroyed at Coors Field and hasn’t performed especially well on the road either. Lorenzen’s strikeout rate has dropped from nearly league average to a career-worst 15.4% mark, and he’s only completed six innings one time — a seven-inning start at Citi Field on April 24. This will be an easy buyout if Lorenzen sticks on the roster all season.
- Antonio Senzatela, RHP: $14MM club option (no buyout)
Senzatela is in the final guaranteed season of a five-year, $50.5MM extension signed in October 2021. It was one of the first moves under former GM Bill Schmidt, whose front office continued Colorado’s habit of remaining too committed to their internal development successes. It looked like an unforced error at the time and started disastrously, as Senzatela was injured and/or ineffective from 2022-25.
Colorado moved the righty to the bullpen late in the ’25 season. Senzatela has remained in relief and is thriving this year, seemingly opening a second act as a quality bullpen arm. He has fired 33 innings of 1.36 ERA ball while averaging a career-best 97.1 mph on his four-seam fastball. He’s now using a low-90s cutter — which he picked up last August — as his best secondary offering. Opponents are hitting .143 in 43 plate appearances that end with that pitch.
Senztaela’s 21% strikeout rate and 11.1% swinging strike mark are both easily career highs. They’re still middling for a reliever, but Senzatela has better stuff to go with his longstanding plus control. He’s capable of working multiple innings in leverage spots and has picked up his first three saves. He’s unlikely to close games for a contender, but he has certainly pitched well enough to make himself a deadline trade candidate.
The Paul DePodesta-led front office figures to cash Senzatela in for a couple mid-level prospects this summer. The $14MM option price still seems rich for a reliever without huge strikeout stuff, but Senzatela could command two years at a lower annual range in free agency going into his age-32 season.
Los Angeles Dodgers
- None.
San Diego Padres
- Miguel Andujar, DH: Mutual option ($2.5MM buyout)
The Padres make heavy use of the mutual option, as they’re seemingly always walking a tight rope in trying to add around the margins without taking on short-term commitments. Andujar will be paid a $2.5MM buyout after playing this season on a $1.5MM salary. He’s having an alright but hardly exceptional season, batting .259/.292/.441 with five homers as San Diego’s primary designated hitter.
- Griffin Canning, RHP: Mutual option ($1.5MM buyout)
Canning is pitching on a $1MM salary and will collect a $1.5MM buyout at year’s end. He returned from last year’s Achilles rupture at the beginning of May. Opponents have tagged him for a 7.16 ERA in his first six starts, only one of which has lasted six innings. His stuff looks the same as it did a year ago, but he’s struggling to throw strikes and has already given up six home runs across 27 2/3 frames.
- Lucas Giolito, RHP: $8MM mutual option ($1.5MM buyout)
San Diego finally brought an end to Giolito’s lengthy free agent stay with a $3MM contract in mid-April. He’s making a $1.5MM salary and will earn a matching buyout on an $8MM mutual option. Giolito spent a month in the minors building into game shape and hasn’t looked good in his three MLB starts. He has had at least as many walks as strikeouts in each, and a fastball that averaged 93 mph last season in Boston is sitting 90-91 this year. There’s nothing to suggest Giolito isn’t currently healthy, but it’s not encouraging that he’s working with this kind of stuff after finishing last season on the injured list with flexor irritation.
- Kyle Hart, LHP: $2.5MM club option ($200K buyout)
Hart struggled last year in his first season back in MLB after a strong ’24 campaign in Korea. The Padres nevertheless brought him back for a $1MM salary and at least a $200K buyout on a $2.5MM club option for 2027. Although the 6’5″ lefty didn’t need to show a whole lot to make that a real consideration, this year hasn’t gone smoothly.
San Diego moved Hart to relief. He has worked 16 2/3 innings over 12 big league appearances, allowing 10 runs on 12 hits. Hart has walked six, hit two batters, and recorded 10 strikeouts. The Padres optioned him to Triple-A a month ago, and the minor league results have been even worse. Even with the Pacific Coast League caveats, there’s not much reason for optimism about Hart meriting an offseason 40-man roster spot barring a second half turnaround.
- Germán Márquez, RHP: Mutual option ($750K buyout)
Márquez will take home a $750K buyout after this year’s $1MM salary. This will be another easy one for the team to decline, as the former Colorado righty has given up a 5.76 ERA through 29 2/3 innings. He has missed the past month with nerve irritation in his forearm.
San Francisco Giants
- Rowan Wick, RHP: $800K club option ($100K buyout)
San Francisco signed Wick to a big league deal during Spring Training. The move was always geared toward 2027, as the 33-year-old reliever underwent Tommy John surgery last year and will spend all of this season on the injured list. They’ll evaluate his rehab progress before making the decision on the option.
Wick hasn’t pitched in MLB since 2022 but is coming off a fantastic season in Japan (0.84 ERA across 42 2/3 innings). That the Giants were willing to pay him the MLB minimum salary this year to get him on the roster suggests they’re leaning toward exercising the option as long as his early recovery is smooth.
Giants Sign Rowan Wick
Feb. 23: Wick is guaranteed $880K in the form of a $780K salary and a $100K buyout on an $800K club option for 2027, per Jon Becker of RosterResource.
Feb. 13: The Giants have signed right-hander Rowan Wick to a one-year major league deal, the team announced. The agreement includes a club option for 2027. Wick is recovering from Tommy John surgery and is not expected to pitch this season. Jason Foley has been placed on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move, according to the MLB.com transaction log.
The 33-year-old Wick returns stateside after spending the past two seasons with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He was excellent out of the bullpen during his time in NPB, recording a 1.75 ERA across 87 2/3 innings. Wick secured five saves last season with the BayStars. He’ll look to impact the San Francisco bullpen next year as he continues to rehab from TJ.
The majority of Wick’s big-league experience has come with the Cubs. He was traded to Chicago straight up for Jason Vosler after a brief stint with the Padres. Wick was a semi-regular in the Cubs’ bullpen from 2019 to 2021. He emerged as the team’s closer in 2022. Wick notched a career-high nine saves that season, but faltered down the stretch and lost some opportunities to trade deadline acquisition David Robertson.
Wick began the 2023 season in the minors. The Cubs would release him in July. He bounced to the Braves and then the Blue Jays, but never made it back to the majors. After posting a 6.66 ERA at Triple-A, he made the jump to NPB.
San Francisco has a history of signing injured pitchers with the intention of getting contributions once they recover. The strategy has continued even after Buster Posey took over as president of baseball operations. The club added right-hander Jason Foley in December. He’s coming back from shoulder surgery and will begin the year on the 60-day IL. San Francisco also signed Sam Hentges this offseason. The lefty hasn’t pitched since 2024 following shoulder and knee surgery, but could be ready for the start of this season.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images
Giants Sign Will Brennan To Major League Deal
1:38pm: The Associated Press reports that Brennan’s deal is a split contract that pays him $900K when in the majors and $400K in the minors.
11:11am: The Giants announced this morning that they’ve signed outfielder Will Brennan to a one-year, major league contract. Brennan was non-tendered by the Guardians back in November. Right-hander Rowan Wick was placed on the 60-day injured list to open up a spot on the 40-man roster for Brennan.
Brennan, 28, was sidelined throughout 2025 by surgeries on his left UCL and groin, but Justice de los Santos of Mercury News reports that Brennan is full-go entering camp with no restrictions. An eighth-round pick by Cleveland back in 2019 who made his big league debut in 2022, he’s slashed .267/.307/.373 (90 wRC+) in parts of four seasons in the majors but has just 269 games in the majors thanks to an injury-plagued start to his young career.
Looking at Brennan’s last mostly healthy season in 2024, he slashed .264/.309/.388 (98 wRC+) in 114 games for the Guardians that year. That’s roughly replacement level production, but a closer look reveals that he was actually considerably more effective when healthy. Brennan slashed .256/.314/.415 (107 wRC+) prior to a bout of rib cage inflammation that sent him to the injured list, and when he came back in July he didn’t look quite right and struggled badly with a nine-game hitless streak. After being optioned to Triple-A for a couple of weeks, he returned in early August and slashed .330/.349/.408 (117 wRC+) the rest of the way.
All of that is to say Brennan has flashed impressive potential at times but struggled to stay healthy for long enough to put it all together. That makes him a worthwhile roll of the dice for a Giants team that already has a full outfield (featuring Heliot Ramos, Harrison Bader, and Jung Hoo Lee) on paper but could certainly make room for another big bat if Brennan manages to hit his way into the lineup. His contact-oriented, low-strikeout profile is a familiar one to a club that already employs Lee and Luis Arraez, and it’s easy to look at Lee’s 2025 season (107 wRC+, 2.4 fWAR) as the sort of campaign Brennan might be hoping to put together in 2026.
Brennan has options remaining and could be sent to the minors in the event that he struggles or is otherwise squeezed off the roster, making the deal a fairly low-risk one for the Giants. For now, he’ll look to prove he’s healthy and compete for a bench job with the Giants alongside fellow outfielders Drew Gilbert, Luis Matos, and Grant McCray.
As for Wick, the righty was signed by the Giants last week to a big league deal following an impressive run in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Yokohama DeNA Bay Stars. The former Cubs reliever underwent Tommy John surgery during his time with the Bay Stars and is not expected to pitch in 2026, so his placement on the 60-day IL is hardly a shock.
Blue Jays Sign Rowan Wick To Minor League Deal
The Blue Jays signed reliever Rowan Wick to a minor league contract. He made his organizational debut with Triple-A Buffalo this evening.
Wick’s transaction log at MLB.com indicated he’d agreed to a minor league deal with the Braves last week. He was released three days later without making an appearance. That quick turnaround led to a shot with Toronto.
The 30-year-old appeared in the majors with the Cubs every season between 2019-22. He combined for a 3.66 ERA across 137 2/3 innings, missing bats at a slightly above-average rate but issuing a few more walks than ideal. The Cubs ran him through outright waivers in Spring Training and had kept him in Triple-A for the first half before releasing him last month.
Wick has had a tough season at the top minor league level. He’s been tagged for more than a run per inning through 30 1/3 frames. His 24.1% strikeout percentage was fine, but he’d walked upwards of 13% of batters faced and allowed nine home runs. Wick is making $1.55MM this season; the Cubs are on the hook for that tab, as Toronto will only owe him the prorated portion of the $720K minimum salary if he spends any time on the big league roster.
Toronto has had a solid relief corps this year. They entered play Wednesday ranked 10th with a 3.80 ERA and fourth at a 26.2% strikeout rate. A pair of trades with St. Louis to bring in Jordan Hicks and Génesis Cabrera further deepened the group. There’s no harm in taking a change-of-scenery flier on Wick to add some veteran depth to the upper level of the minor league system.
Braves Sign Four To Minor League Deals
The Braves recently signed four players to minor league contracts, according to the transaction tracker at MLB.com. Three players — relievers Seth Elledge and Danny Young and outfielder Eli White — return to the organization after being cut loose within the past few days. Atlanta also added reliever Rowan Wick, who’d been released by the Cubs last week.
Wick, 30, appeared in the majors with Chicago every season between 2019-22. He combined for a 3.66 ERA across 137 2/3 innings, missing bats at a slightly above-average rate but issuing a few more walks than ideal. The Cubs ran him through outright waivers in Spring Training and had kept him in Triple-A for the first half.
The right-hander has had a tough season at the top minor league level. He’s been tagged for more than a run per inning through 30 1/3 frames. His 24.1% strikeout percentage was fine, but he’d walked upwards of 13% of batters faced and allowed nine home runs. The Braves will take a no-risk flier on a change of scenery. Wick is making $1.55MM this season; the Cubs are on the hook for that tab, as Atlanta will only owe him the prorated portion of the $720K minimum salary if he spends any time on the big league roster.
Elledge has bounced between three organizations on the year. The 27-year-old righty hasn’t gotten into an MLB game this year and still awaits his first opportunity since 2021. He’d elected free agency after being outrighted by Atlanta on Tuesday but quickly circled back on a new minor league pact (a fairly common course of action for players in that situation). He has a 4.66 ERA in 36 2/3 innings over three Triple-A affiliates on the season.
Young and White recently sustained season-ending injuries while playing for Gwinnett. Atlanta released both players to clear space on the 40-man roster as a result. They’re each back in the organization — perhaps on two-year minor league pacts — to rehab from those injuries without holding spots on the 40-man.
Cubs Release Rowan Wick
The Cubs have released right-hander Rowan Wick, per Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register (Twitter link). Wick was already removed from the Cubs’ roster earlier this year so their 40-man remains full.
Wick, 30, once was a solid back-end reliever for the Cubs but has had a rough season here in 2023. From 2019 to 2021, he made 72 appearances for Chicago with a 3.18 earned run average. He struck out 26.8% of opponents while walking 11.5% and kept the ball on the ground at a 44.1% clip. He racked up 11 saves and 12 holds in that time.
Things moved in the wrong direction a bit last year. His ERA ticked up to 4.22 as his strikeout rate dropped to 23.5%, while adding another nine saves and four more holds. The club decided to tender him a contract, with the two sides avoiding arbitration by agreeing to a $1.55MM salary. Wick didn’t crack the club’s Opening Day roster out of Spring Training and was outrighted at the end of March. Since he has over three years of major league service time, he could have rejected that assignment and elected free agency, though doing so would have meant leaving that money on the table.
He reported to Iowa, surely hoping to work his way back to the majors, but it has not gone according to plan at all. He has an ERA of 8.60 this year through 30 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. His 24.1% strikeout rate is strong but he’s walked 13.1% of batters faced. A tiny 49.5% strand rate is probably making that ERA look worse than it actually is, though he’s also allowed nine home runs, as 30% of fly balls he’s allowed have left the yard this year.
The righty will now head to the open market in search of his next opportunity. Although he’s clearly not had ideal results this year, he’s not too far removed from being a quality leverage guy at the major league level. There would be little harm in bringing him aboard on a minor league deal to see if he can get back on track. If he is able to earn his way back into a roster spot, the Cubs would remain on the hook for what’s left of his salary this year, with a signing club only responsible for the prorated league minimum for any time on the roster. He also still has an option remaining, allowing him to potentially provide a club with some roster flexibility.
Cubs Outright Rowan Wick, Option Christopher Morel
The Cubs announced Monday that right-hander Rowan Wick went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Iowa. The team also optioned infielder/outfielder Christopher Morel to Iowa. Non-roster veterans Mike Tauchman and Roenis Elias, meanwhile, have been reassigned to minor league camp. They won’t make the roster out of spring training. Manager David Ross also confirmed earlier in the day that right-hander Javier Assad has made the team’s Opening Day bullpen (Twitter link via Jordan Bastian of MLB.com).
Wick, 30, has enough service time to reject the outright assignment, but doing so would mean forfeiting the $1.55MM salary to which he agreed earlier in the offseason when he avoided arbitration. As such, he’s all but certain to accept the assignment and remain in the organization without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.
Wick has spent the past four seasons with the Cubs, pitching to a combined 3.66 ERA with a 25.2% strikeout rate, 10.7% walk rate and 44.2% ground-ball rate. His results have dipped over the past two years, however, with his ERA clocking in at 4.24 during that time. Last year’s 23.5% strikeout rate was the lowest of his four seasons with the Cubs.
The Cubs had enough faith in Wick to sign him to that $1.55MM deal, and that salary now quite likely helped them pass him through waivers. Since avoiding arbitration with Wick, they’ve signed Brad Boxberger and Michael Fulmer in addition to claiming hard-throwing righty Julian Merryweather off waivers. With a strong showing in Iowa, Wick would figure to put himself back in the mix for a big league spot pretty quickly, given his track record, but he’ll open the year in the minors and off the 40-man roster.
As for Morel, he’ll head to Iowa to receive regular at-bats rather than work in a part-time role on the big league roster. The 23-year-old hit .235/.308/.433 while playing third base, second base, shortstop, left field and center field in his MLB debut last summer. That came on the heels of a huge .306/.380/.565 batting line in Double-A. However, Morel still has only nine Triple-A games to his name, and strikeouts were an issue for him both in last year’s debut (32.2%) and even more so during spring training in 2023 (42.1%). Even though he fanned 24 times in 57 Cactus League plate appearances, he still posted a .269/.333/.577 batting line, but that type of production isn’t sustainable with such pronounced swing-and-miss issues.
The decision to option Morel doesn’t take away from the fact that the Cubs are still hoping he’ll be a major contributor for them over the long term. However, for the time being, the focus will be on reining in his strikeout tendencies in order to better take advantage of his impressive combination of plus raw power and plus speed.
Players Avoiding Arbitration: 11/18/22
The deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7:00pm Central. There will be a frenzy of non-tenders and trades today, but also some signings.
For many players, there’s little pressure to agree to terms this week. The deadline for exchanging figures isn’t until January 13, with the hearings taking place in March. However, players that are borderline non-tender candidates might get a low-ball offer at this time, with the team hoping that the looming possibility of a non-tender compels the player to accept. As such, deals at this part of the baseball calendar have a higher likelihood of coming in under projections.
One new wrinkle from the new collective bargaining agreement is that all of these deals will be guaranteed. Previously, teams could cut a player during Spring Training and only pay a portion of the agreed-upon figure. However, the new CBA stipulates that any player who settles on a salary without going to a hearing will be subject to full termination pay, even if released prior to the beginning of the season.
MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for each team’s arbitration-eligible players last month but, as mentioned, it’s not uncommon for the deals agreed to at this time to come in below projections. This post may be updated later as more agreements come in…
Latest
- The Tigers announced agreement on a deal with outfielder Austin Meadows. Financial terms are undisclosed. Meadows was projected for a $4MM salary. He’s coming off an injury-plagued first season in Detroit but is arbitration eligible twice more. [UPDATE: Meadows signed for $4.3MM, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.]
- The Braves avoided arbitration with Mike Soroka on a $2.8MM contract, the club announced. It’s the same salary he’s made in each of the past two seasons, which is typical for an arbitration-eligible player who didn’t see any MLB action but was nevertheless tendered a contract. Soroka hasn’t pitched since 2020 on account of a pair of Achilles ruptures and some late-season elbow soreness, but he’s expected to compete for a rotation spot in Spring Training. He’s arbitration eligible once more next winter.
Earlier Deals
- The Pirates and infielder/outfielder Miguel Andujar agreed at $1.525MM, per Murray. Andujar was claimed off waivers from the Yankees in September.
- The Padres announced that they have agreed to a one-year contract with left-hander Jose Castillo. The terms have not been disclosed.
- The Diamondbacks announced they’ve agreed to a deal with reliever Cole Sulser. Financial terms haven’t been disclosed, but Sulser has been projected at $1MM. Arizona recently claimed him off waivers from the Marlins.
- The Cubs and right-hander Adrian Sampson agreed to a $1.9MM salary, while fellow right-hander Rowan Wick will take home a $1.55MM salary in 2023, according to Jordan Bastion of MLB.com. Sampson broke out in 2022, finishing with a 3.11 ERA across 104 1/3 innings. Wick tossed 64 innings of relief, finishing up with a 4.22 ERA.
- The Yankees and right-hander Lou Trivino agreed to a salary of $4.1MM, per Feinsand. Trivino had been a solid reliever for Oakland over the past couple of years but struggled to a 6.47 ERA with them in 2022. He was dealt to the Yankees and then righted the ship with a 1.66 ERA the rest of the way.
- The Rockies and Brent Suter avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $3MM salary, per Murray. Suter was claimed off waivers from the Brewers earlier today.
- The Brewers and righty Matt Bush have agreed at $1.85MM, per Murray. Bush came over from the Rangers in a deadline deal. He posted a 2.95 ERA prior to the deal and a 4.30 after.
- The Marlins and Dylan Floro are in agreement on a contract for 2023, reports Craig Mish of the Miami Herald. He’ll make $3.9MM, Mish reports. Floro tossed 53 2/3 innings in 2022 with a 3.02 ERA.
- The Brewers and right-hander Adrian Houser agreed on a $3.6MM salary, per Robert Murray of FanSided. The ground ball specialist saw his ERA jump from 3.22 in 2021 to 4.73 this year as his ground ball rate dropped from 59% to 46.7%. He’s likely the club’s sixth starter going into the winter and could jump into the rotation if someone gets injured.
- The Phillies and right-hander Sam Coonrod have agreed on a salary of $775K, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. He posted a 4.04 ERA in 2021 but was limited to just 12 2/3 innings this year due to a shoulder strain.
- The Tigers and left-hander Tyler Alexander agreed on a salary of $1.875MM, per Murray. Alexander got into 27 games in 2022, 17 of those being starts. His 4.81 ERA was certainly on the high side, but he had a 3.81 in 2021.
- The Yankees and shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $6M salary. You can read more about that here.
- The Braves and left-hander Tyler Matzek avoided arbitration by agreeing to a two-year deal. You can read more about that here.
- The Giants and outfielder Mike Yastrzemski avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $6.1MM deal, per Jeff Passan of ESPN. He first qualified for arbitration a year ago as a Super Two player and earned $3.7MM in 2022. He took a step back at the plate this year with a line of .214/.305/.392 but still provided value with his glovework.
Cubs Activate Rowan Wick From Injured List
The Cubs are activating reliever Rowan Wick from the 60-day injured list before the second game of today’s doubleheader with the Brewers, the team informed reporters (including Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times). He’ll be making his season debut whenever he gets into a game. The Cubs already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is required.
Wick hasn’t pitched since last September on account of a left oblique strain. The righty was one of the Cubs’ top relievers from 2019-20, combining for 50 2/3 innings of 2.66 ERA ball. Wick punched out a solid 25.7% of batters faced in that time, albeit with a slightly elevated 10.3% walk rate.
At 52-62, the Cubs have fallen into fourth place in the National League Central. The team is playing out the string at this point. Still, Wick’s return gives him a few weeks to log some innings and look to cement himself as a back-end option for the team going into 2022.
Cubs Select Trevor Megill
The Cubs have selected the contract of right-hander Trevor Megill, placed righty Rowan Wick on the 60-day injured list and optioned RHP Jason Adam, Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets.
Megill, 27, entered the professional ranks as a seventh-round pick of the Padres in 2015, but they lost him to the Cubs during the 2019 Rule 5 Draft. Thanks in part to the lack of a minor league season, the 6-foor-8 Megill didn’t pitch a year ago, though he did log solid production among High-A, Double-A and Triple-A in 2019. That year, Megill tossed 60 2/3 innings of 3.86 ERA ball and averaged 10 strikeouts against 1.9 walks per nine. Megill added a 4.32 ERA with 12 strikeouts and two walks in 8 1/3 innings this past spring.
Wick was one of the Cubs’ most effective relievers from 2019-20, during which he combined for a 2.66 ERA with a 25.7 percent strikeout rate, a 10.3 percent walk rate and a 48.1 percent groundball rate over 50 1/3 frames. An intercostal strain has prevented Wick from taking the mound this year.