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Trevor Cahill

Cubs To Re-Sign Trevor Cahill

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11:55am: Cahill will receive a one-year, $4.25MM contract from the Cubs, according to Olney (Twitter link). ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers adds that while Cahill is definitely in the bullpen for now, the Cubs told Cahill he could be stretched out for rotation work should the need arise (Twitter link).

11:46am: The Cubs have agreed to re-sign right-hander Trevor Cahill, reports ESPN’s Buster Olney (via Twitter). The John Boggs client was said within the past hour to be nearing a deal with an unreported club.

Still just 27 years of age (28 in March), Cahill enjoyed a renaissance in the bullpen after signing a minor league deal with the Cubs midway through the season. While the D-backs, Braves and Dodgers all seemingly gave up on him in various ways last season, Chicago received 17 brilliant innings of relief from the former starter in a relief role down the stretch. Cahill yielded just four runs in those 17 innings and recorded an outstanding 22-to-5 K/BB ratio to go along with an as-always excellent ground-ball rate: 61.8 percent. He also pitched 5 1/3 innings in the postseason, allowing two runs on seven hits and no walks with eight strikeouts (3.38 ERA).

While Boggs recently told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe that Cahill’s preference was to return to a rotation, it seems likely that he’ll continue to be used out of manager Joe Maddon’s bullpen with the Cubs. Chicago already has Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Kyle Hendricks and Jason Hammel as rotation options, and further additions to the starting mix shouldn’t be entirely ruled out. If the bullpen is indeed the landing spot for Cahill, he will re-join the likes of Hector Rondon, Pedro Strop, Justin Grimm, Neil Ramirez and Travis Wood in the team’s relief corps.

Trevor Cahill Nearing Deal With Unknown Team

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Right-hander Trevor Cahill is nearing a contract with a yet-unknown club, reports Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area (Twitter link). That club is not the A’s, however, according to Stiglich. ESPN’s Buster Olney reported last week (Twitter link) that the Pirates were one club that Cahill was considering. He’s said to be looking for a one-year bounceback deal, according to Olney.

Cahill, a client of agent John Boggs, enjoyed a renaissance in the bullpen after signing a minor league deal with the Cubs midway through the season. While the D-backs, Braves and Dodgers all seemingly gave up on him in various ways last season, Chicago received 17 brilliant innings of relief from the former starter in a relief role down the stretch. Cahill yielded just four runs in those 17 innings and recorded an outstanding 22-to-5 K/BB ratio to go along with an as-always excellent ground-ball rate: 61.8 percent. He also pitched 5 1/3 innings in the postseason, allowing two runs on seven hits and no walks with eight strikeouts (3.38 ERA).

That late surge in the ’pen is a small sample, to be sure, but it undoubtedly piqued the interest of numerous clubs seeking bullpen help. Boggs recently told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe that Cahill hoped to return to a rotation, though he added that his client would be open to a bullpen role if a starting job didn’t materialize. It’s tough to envision a contending club promising Cahill a rotation spot based on 22 1/3 innings — however strong they might’ve been — but a rebuilding club could look to plug him into the rotation as a low-cost, high-upside option and hope he pitches himself either into a trade chip or extension candidate. Cahill is, after all, still just 27 years of age. A resurgence from a pitcher that young that was once a rock-solid rotation piece in Oakland and Arizona (2010-12) certainly isn’t out of the question.

Cafardo’s Latest: Giants, Braves, Gordon, Chapman

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Here’s the latest from The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo…

  • The Braves are one of multiple teams who have asked the Giants about Joe Panik and Matt Duffy in trade talks but San Francisco isn’t interesting in dealing either young infielder.  Panik and Duffy may have come up in discussions with the Braves over pitching, as Cafardo reports the Giants have discussed Julio Teheran and Shelby Miller.
  • Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon is generating “a ton of interest” and Miami is at least listening.  It would take a controllable, front-of-the-rotation arm to really get the Marlins’ attention, however, and it “seems unlikely” that Gordon would go anywhere.  I have to agree that dealing Gordon would be a stunning move even for the Marlins; if anything, the club is far more likely to extend him, as has been noted in recent reports.
  • The Reds and Red Sox discussed a trade for Aroldis Chapman, but Cincinnati wanted more from Boston than the Sox eventually sent to the Padres to land Craig Kimbrel.  That would represent a stunningly high asking price for a closer who is only under contract through the 2016 season.  Kimbrel, by contrast, is owed $25MM through the 2017 season and Boston has a $13MM club option on his services for 2018.
  • Andrew Miller is “atop” the Astros’ list of closer targets and Mark Melancon is also under consideration.  We’d already heard about Houston’s interest in acquiring a top reliever earlier today, with Miller’s name included with the likes of Chapman, Brad Boxberger and Ken Giles.
  • Speaking of Melancon, the Pirates closer tells Cafardo that he’s keeping an open mind about trade speculation.  “I love the Pirates. I love our group of guys and would love to stay here, but I also understand the business of it.  Every organization has a different business plan, and if the Pirates feel they need to deal me, then I understand that. Our people haven’t said a word to me about the possibility, so until that changes, I’m assuming I’m starting the year with the Pirates.”
  • The Twins are another team looking for relief help and they’ve also received a lot of interest about third baseman Trevor Plouffe.  There has been speculation that Plouffe could be moved to make way for Miguel Sano at third base, especially if the Twins come to an agreement with Byung-Ho Park.
  • Though Brett Gardner’s name has surfaced in trade talks, it’s “not a slam dunk” that the Yankees would part with him since he’s a clubhouse leader.  As CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman did yesterday, Cafardo also downplays the idea of a Gardner-for-Starlin Castro trade, noting that the Yankees would only trade Gardner if they got a starting pitcher back.
  • Five general managers told Cafardo that they wouldn’t take Hanley Ramirez in a trade even if the Red Sox covered at least half of Ramirez’s remaining salary.  Ramirez is owed $66MM through 2018 and he has a $22MM vesting option for 2019, so even at a reduced rate, that’s still a hefty price for a player coming off such a rough season on and off the field.
  • Cafardo feels the Cubs and Giants have the best chance at signing John Lackey, who wants to remain in the National League.  The Cardinals have also “kept their toes in the water” for his services.  The Red Sox have checked in on Lackey but are more focused on landing an ace starter.
  • John Boggs, Trevor Cahill’s agent, said his client looks to be a starter again “but he would accept a bullpen spot if he doesn’t secure a starting job.”

Cubs Designate Russell, Soriano; Select Contracts Of Cahill, Berry; Recall Baez

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The Cubs have designated left-hander James Russell for assignment and also activated right-hander Rafael Soriano from the disabled list and designated him for assignment as well, the team announced. These two moves make 40-man roster space for the contracts of Trevor Cahill and Quintin Berry, each of which was selected from Triple-A Iowa. The Cubs also recalled Javier Baez and Tsuyoshi Wada.

Russell, 29, returned to the Cubs on a minor league deal this year after being traded to the Braves last summer and subsequently released in Spring Training. Russell was extremely sharp in Triple-A prior to his promotion to rejoin the Cubs, firing 9 2/3 scoreless innings and allowing just four hits and zero walks against 12 strikeouts. He’s struggled in the Majors, however, totaling a dismal 5.29 ERA with 5.3 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 34 innings. A fluky low 57.7 strand rate has played a large role in his bloated ERA, leading stats such as FIP (3.89), xFIP (4.36) and SIERA (4.32) to project better results. Those numbers, of course, are hardly dominant projections in their own right, and the .338/.368/.606 batting line Russell has yielded to right-handed hitters is its own troublesome issue.

The Cubs signed the veteran Soriano to a minor league deal with a $4.1MM base salary back in June, but the former Nationals/Yankees/Rays closer appeared in just six games with Chicago before landing on the DL due to right shoulder inflammation. Soriano didn’t sign as a free agent over the winter, holding out for a significant deal that never came. He eventually fired agent Scott Boras and signed on with Octagon, taking his deal with the Cubs shortly after. It’s a disappointing followup to a mostly successful two-year stint as the Nationals’ closer, and one would imagine that Soriano is almost certainly looking at another minor league deal this winter following a brief and disappointing stint as a Cub.

Cubs To Sign Trevor Cahill

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The Cubs have agreed to a minor league deal with righty Trevor Cahill, according to the MLB.com transactions page (with Chris Cotillo of SB Nation confirming the information on Twitter).

Cahill, 27, opted out of his deal with the Dodgers last week. Chicago now becomes his fourth organization of the year. He was dealt from the Diamondbacks to the Braves earlier in the year, with Atlanta releasing him before he signed with Los Angeles. (The D’Backs and Braves are on the hook for Cahill’s $12MM salary.)

It’s been some time since Cahill has been an effective big leaguer. He has carried a 5.98 ERA in the majors over 137 innings since the start of the 2014 campaign. Cahill never cracked the bigs with the Dodgers, working instead to a 5.24 ERA over 34 1/3 Triple-A frames.

 

Trevor Cahill Opts Out Of Dodgers Contract

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Righty Trevor Cahill has exercised an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Dodgers, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports on Twitter. He will head back onto the open market in search of a new opportunity.

Cahill, 27, signed on with the Dodgers organization after being released earlier in the season by the Braves. He had been dealt to Atlanta from the Diamondbacks over the winter.

Over his 34 1/3 frames with Oklahoma City on the year, Cahill worked to a 5.24 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9. Needless to say, he never received an opportunity at the big league level with Los Angeles.

Cahill’s difficulties this season continue a rough stretch of results. Since the start of the 2014 season, and covering his time earlier this year with Atlanta, Cahill has put up 137 innings of 5.98 ERA pitching at the major league level.

While Cahill is playing on a $12MM salary this year, the Dodgers never picked up any piece of that in signing him. Instead, the Diamondbacks ($6.5MM) and Braves ($5.5MM, plus his $300K option buyout for next year) are paying the balance.

Dodgers To Sign Trevor Cahill

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The Dodgers have agreed to a contract with right-hander Trevor Cahill, reports Baseball America’s Matt Eddy (via Twitter). Presumably, it is of the minor league variety. The John Boggs client began the season with the Braves after coming over from the D-Backs in a late Spring Training trade but was designated for assignment and released after struggling in Atlanta.

Given the length of time that Cahill has been a relatively prominent name in baseball, it seems surprising that he’s still just 27 years of age, but the former Athletics/D-Backs hurler won’t turn 28 until next March. He’s earning a guaranteed $12MM this season in the final year of a four-year, $30MM contract signed with the A’s, but Arizona is on the hook for about $6.5MM of that sum, while Atlanta is responsible for $5.5MM of that sum plus the $300K buyout on his 2016 option. The Dodgers, then, would be responsible only for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum for any time he spends on their active roster. (The Braves, in turn, would be spared that minor portion of the obligation.)

Cahill was a highly effective mid-rotation starter with Oakland and Arizona from 2010-13, averaging 188 innings of 3.72 ERA ball per season to go along with 6.3 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and the league’s fifth-best ground-ball rate (57.3 percent). A line-drive to the hip shortened his 2013 campaign, though, and in 2014 he saw his control and ground-ball rates both trend in the wrong direction. The wheels quickly came off for Cahill, who has worked to a 5.98 ERA over his past 139 big league innings — a shockingly poor mark considering how recently he was viewed as a cost-controlled rotation asset.

The Dodgers’ interest isn’t entirely surprising, as the team is on the lookout for rotation reinforcements following season-ending injuries to both Hyun-jin Ryu and Brandon McCarthy. L.A. will hope that Cahill can sharpen his control and again find the sinker that routinely racked up more grounders than almost any pitcher in the league, though the D-Backs and Braves have both had similar hopes in the past calendar year and ended up paying significant money to part ways with the right-hander.

Braves Release Trevor Cahill

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JUNE 20: The Braves have released Cahill, according to the MLB.com transactions page. They are still on the hook for the remainder of the $5.5MM in salary they assumed when they acquired Cahill from the Diamondbacks.

JUNE 11: The Braves announced (via Twitter) that they have designated right-hander Trevor Cahill for assignment and selected the contract of lefty Dana Eveland from Triple-A Gwinnett. Atlanta recently signed Eveland to a minor league deal after he opted out of a minors pact with the Red Sox.

Cahill totaled just 26 1/3 innings for the Braves this season, allowing 22 earned runs with 14 strikeouts against 12 walks. He did see his ground-ball rate recover from last year’s dip, posting an outstanding mark of 63.5 percent. However, that did little to help Cahill overcome an increasingly hittable repertoire of pitches and sub-par control.

Acquired late in Spring Training in a trade that sent minor league outfielder Josh Elander to the Diamondbacks (Elander has since been released), Cahill struggled through three starts with the Braves before losing his spot in the rotation and shifting to the bullpen. The Diamondbacks agreed to pay about $6.5MM of Cahill’s guaranteed $12MM, leaving Atlanta with about a $5.5MM gamble on the still-27-year-old righty.

The real value for the Braves, however, was likely in a technically separate but still-connected trade that was announced a couple of days after the Cahill swap. On Opening Day, the Braves traded minor league outfielder Victor Reyes to the D-Backs in exchange for their Round B Competitive Balance draft pick — the 75th overall selection in the 2015 draft. Comp Balance picks are tradeable, but not in the offseason. As such, a separate deal after the start of the regular season was used as a loophole, though reports at the time of the trade immediately linked that swap to the Cahill trade.

The Braves essentially paid $5.5MM to gamble on a rebound from Cahill and to acquire a reasonably strong draft pick, which they used to select left-hander A.J. Minter, who very well could have been selected a good deal higher had he not undergone Tommy John surgery in the spring.

Minor Moves: Josh Elander, Brock Peterson

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Here are today’s minor moves of note:

  • The Diamondbacks have released outfielder Josh Elander, Matt Eddy of Baseball America reports on Twitter. Elander, 24, was the player that went to Arizona in the deal that shipped Trevor Cahill to the Braves, meaning that the club really only ended up achieving some salary relief in that swap. Elander had reached the High-A level last year for the Braves, but started out in A ball for the Arizona organization and posted an interesting .244/.382/.289 line over 55 plate appearances.
  • Brock Peterson has been given his release from the Twins, as the organization’s Triple-A affiliate announced. The 31-year-old first baseman and outfielder made a brief big league appearance with the Cardinals back in 2013, but has mostly worked in the upper minors in recent campaigns. Peterson put up a .186/.289/.351 slash with five home runs in his 114 plate appearances at Rochester, well off the .827 OPS he carries over seven years at the highest level of the minors.

NL West Notes: Padres, Bradley, Rockies, Sabean

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The Padres have “sort of banned the word ’small-market’ ” in regards to how they both perceive themselves and how they wish to be seen around the league, team co-owner Peter Seidler tells Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune.  The Padres’ busy offseason and second straight year with a payroll in the $100MM range were made possible by increased revenues from Petco Park and national and local TV contracts.  Team president/CEO Mike Dee notes that the Padres’ recent spending “should not be looked upon as an aberration.  This should not be looked upon as ownership is going for broke. This should be looked upon as ownership is doing what they said they were going to when they bought the team, which is trying to make this a franchise that operates at a very high level.”

Here’s the latest from around the NL West…

  • Archie Bradley’s promotion to the Major Leagues and to the Diamondbacks’ starting rotation is all but official, Zach Buchanan of the Arizona Republic writes.  Bradley’s strong performance during Spring Training gave the Snakes reason to explore trading Trevor Cahill, eventually sending the veteran righty to the Braves.  “If [Bradley] had needed more work, Cahill would still be here,” Tony La Russa said.  “Trevor got the attention of a number of clubs, so we started getting calls from different clubs.  It wasn’t a question of let’s trade him at some point. It came to a decision of Archie versus Trevor.”
  • Speaking of highly-touted young arms in the NL West, Eddie Butler still has a chance to earn a place in the Rockies’ rotation after his start today, Nick Groke of the Denver Post writes.  Jon Gray, the Rockies’ top prospect and one of the top-ranked prospects in all of baseball, will not be starting his MLB career quite yet, as Groke notes in another piece that Gray will begin the season at Triple-A.
  • Brian Sabean’s promotion from Giants general manager to VP of baseball operations will allow Sabean to personally scout new talent, he tells reporters (including The San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea).  This includes players currently in MLB and also international prospects who could become more available thanks to the expanding Cuban market and the possibility of an international draft being instituted.  “The international schedule is moving fast. I don’t see enough of our minor-league teams to draw my own conclusions,” Sabean said.  “I hardly see any games before the June draft, which I used to do. Selfishly, I’d like to see some guys who could be in play trade-wise and free agents to be. This allows me to be more places.”
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