A’s Sign Stephen Vogt
MARCH 24: Oakland has officially announced the signing of Vogt to a one-year deal. The team already had a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster, so no additional move was necessary. Vogt will earn $850K guaranteed, plus a $100K bonus for 60 days on the active roster and a $150K assignment bonus if traded, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
MARCH 23: The A’s and catcher Stephen Vogt are in agreement on a major league contract, pending a physical, reports Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link). Vogt is a client of All Bases Covered Sports Management.
It’s a return to the organization for Vogt, who had his best seasons with the A’s. The lefty-hitting backstop played in Oakland between 2013-17, hitting .255/.316/.416 over that stretch. That’s exactly league average offense, by measure of wRC+, but Vogt had a couple above-average seasons during that run. He combined to hit 27 homers with a .268/.333/.438 line in 798 plate appearances from 2014-15.
The amiable Vogt became a fan favorite during his four-plus seasons in Oakland, which included back-to-back All-Star appearances in 2015-16. His production tailed off at the end of his run there, though, as he was off to just a .217/.287/.357 start through 54 games in 2017. The A’s placed him on waivers, where he was scooped up by the Brewers. He popped eight homers in a reserve capacity with Milwaukee that year, but he missed basically all of the following season due to a shoulder strain.
Vogt rebounded from the injury in 2019. He returned to the Bay Area with the Giants and hit .263/.314/.490 in 280 trips to the plate. The past two years, on the other hand, have been a significant struggle. Vogt hit .188/.274/.319 in 102 games split between the D-Backs and Braves. He finished last season on the injured list with hip inflammation, preventing him from partaking in Atlanta’s run to a World Series title.
At 37 and coming off back-to-back down seasons, Vogt fell towards the back of this winter’s free agent catching class. He’ll return to a familiar environment where he’s beloved by a sizable portion of the fanbase, providing skipper Mark Kotsay both a valuable clubhouse presence and a bat-first depth option at catcher. Sean Murphy is obviously in line for the bulk of the playing time behind the dish, with the out-of-options Austin Allen the only other backstop on the 40-man roster. Oakland will have to break camp with the 28-year-old Allen or designate him for assignment, but the arrival of Vogt could put his time in the organization in jeopardy.
It’s not entirely out of the question Murphy changes uniforms in the coming weeks. The A’s have kicked off an organizational reboot this winter, flipping Chris Bassitt, Matt Olson and Matt Chapman in an effort to cut costs. Signing Vogt to what’s assuredly a low-cost deal won’t have any impact on the front office’s thinking on Murphy, who is controllable through 2025 and not yet arbitration-eligible. That makes Murphy a long shot to be dealt, but if the A’s did flip him before Opening Day, Vogt and Allen would figure to pick up the lion’s share of playing time. Oakland did acquire top catching prospect Shea Langeliers from the Braves in the Olson deal, giving them another promising long-term option at the position.
The A’s payroll-cutting efforts have trickled over into free agency, where the club has done essentially nothing this winter. Once finalized, Vogt’s deal will be the A’s first (and quite possibly only) major league contract of the offseason. They’d been the only team not to have signed a player to a big league deal. Vogt will get them on the board, but that’s probably only a minor consolation for a fanbase that has seen a few highly-regarded players shipped off since the lockout ended.
Blue Jays, Rockies Swap Randal Grichuk For Raimel Tapia
3:32PM: Toronto will send Colorado $9,716,333, according to Rob Gillies of The Associated Press. Those payments are split up as $5,383,333 this season and $4,333,333 for the 2023 season.
1:57PM: Both clubs have officially announced the trade.
12:01PM: The Blue Jays and Rockies have agreed to a trade sending outfielder Randal Grichuk from Toronto to Colorado in exchange for outfielder Raimel Tapia, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (via Twitter). The Jays will acquire infield prospect Adrian Pinto from the Rockies, and they’ll also send cash to Colorado to help cover Grichuk’s contract, Feinsand adds.
Grichuk, 30, has been viewed as a trade candidate for more than a year now as the Rockies have deepened their outfield mix and Grichuk’s performance has slipped. Signed to a five-year contract covering the 2019-23 seasons, Grichuk is still owed $9.33MM both this season and next, while Tapia and the Rox settled on a $3.95MM salary earlier this week. He’s arbitration-eligible and controlled through the 2023 season himself. The difference in salary between the two players clocks in at about $14.7MM.
Grichuk signed a five-year, $52MM contract back on April 2, 2019 — fresh off a 2018 season in which he’d batted .245/.301/.502 with what was then a career-high 25 home runs in 462 plate appearances. It was something of a head-scratching deal even at the time, as Grichuk’s perennial OBP struggles worked to offset his power and solid glovework in the outfield. That’s not to say he wasn’t a useful player, but the Jays already controlled Grichuk for two seasons and were effectively committing about $39-40MM on top of what he might’ve earned in arbitration to buy out his first three free-agent seasons.
Since putting pen to paper, Grichuk has posted a .242/.286/.448 batting line with 65 home runs in 1414 plate appearances. Among the 159 players with at least 1000 plate appearances in that three-year stretch, he ranks 158th in on-base percentage. To his credit, Grichuk curbed his strikeout rate from 26.4% in 2018 all the way down to 20.9% in 2021, but the gains in contact didn’t result in a better average and his walk rate dipped to a career-low 5.0%. It’s clear that there’s above-average pop in his bat, but defensive metrics have also soured on Grichuk’s work in center over the past couple seasons. Meanwhile, the Jays have signed George Springer and received breakouts from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez since signing Grichuk to that long-term pact.
There were reports even while the lockout was still ongoing that Tapia could be on the move when transactions resumed. Adding Kris Bryant as the new primary left fielder surely only hastened the Rockies’ efforts to move Tapia, who’d previously occupied that position. Grichuk can serve as a primary center fielder or right fielder in Colorado, and he’ll bring the Rox quite a bit more power than Tapia ever offered — albeit at the expense of some speed, on-base percentage and (arguably) defensive value.
In Tapia, the Jays will get a much-needed lefty bat to help balance out an entirely right-handed outfield mix (and a generally right-leaning lineup overall). The 28-year-old has served as Colorado’s primary left fielder since 2019, logging a .282/.327/.394 slash line that appears solid on the surface but falls well shy of average after weighting for home park and league (79 wRC+). Tapia has strong bat-to-ball skills but an extreme ground-ball approach that has resulted in just 16 home runs through 1186 plate appearances since 2019. He can swipe a base when needed (37 steals with a 77.1% success rate across the past three seasons. Like Grichuk, he’s not one to take many walks (6.3% since ’19), but he’s also a tough strikeout, evidenced by last year’s career-best 13.1% mark.
Tapia has received solid marks in left field from metrics like Defensive Runs Saved (4), Ultimate Zone Rating (6.0) and Outs Above Average (7) since emerging as a regular in the lineup at Coors Field. He’s at least capable of playing center in a pinch, having logged 189 innings there in his career (15 this past season, none in 2020, 83 in 2019). Those ratings, plus his left-handed bat, make him a better fit for Toronto’s roster than the right-handed-hitting Grichuk was.
While Tapia may not be the star the Rockies envisioned when he ranked among the sport’s 50 best prospects in the 2016-17 offseason, he’s emerged as a solid defensive outfielder with better-than-average speed and bat-to-ball skills. The Jays will likely hope to coax some more fly-balls out of Tapia, thus generating some extra power, but even if his batted-ball profile remains unchanged, he can be a useful fourth outfielder for a club that is deep in slugging right-handed options.
As for the 19-year-old Pinto, he’ll give the Jays something of a prospect wild card to plug into the low levels of their farm system. Baseball America rated Pinto 19th in a fairly thin Rockies system this spring, labeling the 5’6″ second baseman as a “breakout candidate” who could take substantial steps forward as he moves from the Dominican Summer League to a full-season affiliate.
Pinto hit .360/.486/.543 in 224 DSL plate appearances last season, walking at a massive 17% clip against just an 8% strikeout rate while leading the league with 41 stolen bases. BA’s scouting report lauds his “outstanding” hand-eye coordination, advanced pitch recognition skills and plus-plus speed. Players of his size and stature will always have their share of skeptics, but the Jays probably feel better about paying Grichuk to play elsewhere if they’re viewing part of the transaction as an effective purchase of Pinto from the Rockies.
White Sox Place Jonathan Stiever On 60-Day IL, Claim Yoan Aybar
The White Sox have placed right-hander Jonathan Stiever on the 60-day injured list, the team announced. Chicago also claimed southpaw Yoan Aybar off waivers from the Yankees, just days after the Yankees themselves claimed Aybar off waivers from the Rockies.
Aybar’s velocity and strikeout potential got him as high as the Rockies’ Double-A affiliate last season, though he is still very much a work in progress as a pitcher, after converting to the mound from the outfield prior to the 2018 season. As a hurler, Aybar has a 5.06 ERA and a 14.62% walk rate over 131 2/3 minor league innings, with a 24.9% strikeout rate.
The White Sox don’t have much left-handed depth in their bullpen beyond Aaron Bummer and Garrett Crochet, and the team has made a point of adding several southpaws to their Spring Training camp as non-roster invitees. Aybar probably isn’t likely to be on the radar for a big league promotion, but he’ll add more depth in the minors and perhaps serve as a project.
Stiever underwent lat surgery back in August and was initially expected to be ready for Spring Training, though the 60-day IL placement gives him more time to get fully healthy. Stiever was a fifth-round pick for the White Sox in the 2018 draft, and he has already gotten a brief taste of the majors, albeit in the form of three games and 6 1/3 innings over the last two seasons. Over 247 IP in Chicago’s farm system, Stiever has a 4.26 ERA and 26.86% strikeout rate, starting all 56 of his games. Once fully recovered, Stiever projects as a depth starter or potential bullpen long man for the Sox later in the season.
Red Sox Claim Ralph Garza, Designate Kyle Tyler
The Red Sox announced that right-hander Ralph Garza has been claimed off waivers from the Twins. To create roster space, righty Kyle Tyler has been designated for assignment.
Minnesota designated Garza earlier this week when the Carlos Correa signing became official, thus necessitating the Twins’ need for a 40-man roster spot. Garza was a waiver pickup himself last August, coming to the Twins after being DFA’ed by the Astros.
A 26th-round selection for the Astros in the 2015 draft, Garza spent his first six pro seasons in Houston’s organization, and thus Boston manager (and former Astros bench coach) Alex Cora undoubtedly has at least some familiarity with the right-hander’s work. Garza has a 3.72 ERA and 24.38% strikeout rate over 339 career innings in the minors, and delivered roughly those same numbers over his 132 frames at Triple-A.
Garza made his big league debut last season, delivering a 3.56 ERA over 30 1/3 combined innings with Houston and Minnesota. While his 22.8% strikeout rate and 11% walk rate were nothing special, Garza’s quality slider drew some attention, as noted by R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports. The Red Sox have already optioned Garza to Triple-A, but he represents a fresh arm to be cycled into a bullpen that is long on potential candidates but short on locks to make the roster.
Tyler only just came to Boston two days ago on another waiver claim, as the Angels had designated Tyler to make roster room for Ryan Tepera. The Red Sox could be betting that that can sneak Tyler through waivers again and keep him in their system, though it is also possible that a team who passed last time might put in a claim now, or a team behind the Sox in the waiver order might now get a chance to land the right-hander.
Tyler also made his MLB debut last season, tossing 12 1/3 relief innings over five appearances for Anaheim and posting a 2.92 ERA (despite a matching total of six walks and six strikeouts). Tyler has started 32 of his 60 career games in the minors, making him an interesting possibility for teams looking for a swingman or multi-inning relief type. Over 232 1/3 innings in the Angels’ farm system, Tyler has a 3.25 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate, and 7.4% walk rate.
Diamondbacks Sign Zach Davies
March 24: The D-backs have announced the signing. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, Arizona placed right-hander J.B. Bukauskas on the 60-day injured list. Bukauskas suffered a Grade 2 teres major strain earlier this week and is expected to be sidelined for “months” with the injury.
March 22, 10:54am: Davies is guaranteed $1.75MM on the deal, tweets Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. He’ll earn a $1.5MM base salary and is also guaranteed at least a $250K buyout on next year’s option. The contract allows him to earn an additional $2.5MM based on his number of games started. The 2023 option is a mutual option, Heyman reports.
8:58am: The D-backs have reached a one-year agreement with free-agent righty Zach Davies, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). There’s also a 2023 option on the contract. Davies, a client of the Boras Corporation, can earn up to $4.5MM this year, per Heyman. Robert Murray of FanSided first tweeted that the two sides were close to a deal.
Davies, who turned 29 last month, was one of the younger free-agent starters on the market but also hit free agency in need of a rebound campaign after a lackluster 2021 showing with the Cubs. Acquired from San Diego in Chicago’s salary dump of Yu Darvish, Davies made 32 starts and covered 148 innings but did so while limping to a career-worst 5.78 ERA. Among the 129 pitchers with at least 100 innings last year, Davies’ 17.1% strikeout rate ranked 116th, while his 11.2% walk rate was the sixth-highest mark in that same set.
Just a year prior, during the shortened 2020 campaign, Davies had the finest season of his career. Obviously it wasn’t a full slate of 30-plus starts, but Davies nevertheless pitched 69 1/3 innings over a dozen appearances and turned in an outstanding 2.73 ERA with vastly superior strikeout (22.8%) and walk (6.9%) rates to those that he displayed in his lone year with the Cubs.
Davies has never missed bats at that 2020 level in any other season, which perhaps makes it something of a small-sample anomaly, but it should also be noted that he’s never struggled with his command like he did in 2021. To the contrary, prior to this past season’s surprising uptick in free passes, Davies offset his pedestrian strikeout rates and lack of velocity with strong command of the zone. From 2016-20, he walked just 6.7% of his opponents — a mark that tied him for 48th among 181 qualified pitchers.
In all likelihood, Davies’ true performance level lies somewhere between the extremes he posted in 2020 and 2021. He’s worked to a career 4.14 ERA with a 17.3% strikeout rate, a 7.8% walk rate and a 45.3% grounder rate in 831 2/3 innings between Milwaukee, San Diego and Chicago. Davies doesn’t miss many bats, given that his arsenal is headlined by a sinker that averages 88.2 mph, but he’s better than average when it comes to inducing weak contact. Outside of 2021, he hasn’t been particularly homer-prone in his career, either.
Arizona’s rotation is currently projected to include Madison Bumgarner, Zac Gallen, Luke Weaver, Merrill Kelly and perhaps non-roster invitee Dan Straily, who signed a minor league deal during the lockout after a solid two-year run in the Korea Baseball Organization. Gallen, however, is nursing some shoulder troubles at the moment, and Weaver has battled his own share of injury problems in recent years. Both Weaver and Kelly have also garnered trade interest at various points, though there’s no current indication the Snakes are weighing a move involving any member of their staff.
The signing of Davies could push Straily to a long-relief role or perhaps even to Triple-A Reno to begin the season, but teams are going to be cautious with their starters early in the season following a truncated Spring Training that did not give pitchers a full ramp-up period. It’s likely that there will be innings to go around for all six of those rotation candidates — to say nothing of upper-minors options like Tyler Gilbert, Corbin Martin, Humberto Mejia and Humberto Castellanos.
Reds, JT Riddle Agree To Minor League Deal
The Reds have agreed to a minor league contract with infielder JT Riddle, per Baseball America’s Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. The Meister Sports client will give Cincinnati some additional infield depth.
Riddle, 30, spent the 2021 season in the Twins organization and briefly appeared in four games as a replacement player while the Twins were set back by a Covid-19 positives early in the season. He went 2-for-6 in that tiny sample but spent the bulk of the year in Triple-A St. Paul, where he struggled to a .202/.269/.322 batting line in 350 trips to the plate.
That rough showing severely dragged down Riddle’s career marks in Triple-A, but he’s generally been a serviceable bat in the upper minors — one who can bring a good bit of versatility to the table. Although he’s spent the bulk of his professional career at shortstop (4504 innings), Riddle also has 898 innings at third base, 414 at second base and 306 in center field (420 in the outfield overall).
Even after managing to unload the remainder of Eugenio Suarez‘s contract in a trade that also sent Jesse Winker to the Mariners, the Reds have a pretty full slate in terms of starting infielders at the MLB level. Reigning Rookie of the Year Jonathan India is back at second base, while catcher-turned-utilityman-turned-shortstop Kyle Farmer has emerged as a starter at short in Cincinnati. Mike Moustakas will man the hot corner. Former No. 2 pick Nick Senzel, meanwhile, can play both the outfield and various infield spots, and the Reds also signed veteran Donovan Solano to a big league deal earlier this month.
Riddle brings some depth to the roster and could give them an option at shortstop in Triple-A while top prospect Jose Barrero mends from a broken hamate bone that required surgery which is expected to sideline him up to six weeks. Cincinnati also has infielders Max Schrock and Alejo Lopez on the 40-man roster, while veteran Brandon Drury was invited to big league camp just this week.
Rays Sign Luke Bard
Right-hander Luke Bard has agreed to a deal with the Rays, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). The team hasn’t announced the move, but Bard is in the clubhouse and has a locker set up. Rays broadcaster Neil Solondz adds that it’s a minor league contract for Bard, a client of ISE Baseball.
Bard, 31, is a former supplemental first-round pick (No. 42 by the Twins in 2012) who made his big league debut with the Angels back in 2018. He spent parts of the 2018-20 seasons in the Majors with the Halos, pitching to a combined 5.05 ERA with a 21.8% strikeout rate, a 6.5% walk rate and a 33.3% ground-ball rate in 46 appearances. Three of those were technically “starts,” though Bard served as an opener in each.
The younger brother of Rockies righty Daniel Bard, Luke was with the Angels again for the 2021 season but did not pitch either in the big leagues or in the minors. The younger Bard brother was slowed last spring by a hip injury that eventually required surgery and an eight-month recovery period.
Bard hasn’t had much success in the Majors, and his three Triple-A seasons have produced a 5.04 ERA that’s a near-identical match with his big league ERA. That said, he’s a fairly unsurprising Rays target all the same. Bard possesses off-the-chart spin rates on his four-seamer and, to a slightly lesser extent, on his slider. He led the Majors in four-seam spin rate during the 2019 season, but that didn’t translate to a gaudy swinging-strike rate or overall strikeout rate. The Rays surely have their own ideas on how to get the most out of Bard, who can be controlled through at least the 2025 season if he makes the roster and enjoys a late-blooming breakout.
Dodgers Designate Matt Beaty For Assignment
5:56pm: Beaty actually has one option remaining, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic).
3:23pm: The Dodgers announced this afternoon they’ve designated corner infielder/outfielder Matt Beaty for assignment. The move clears space on the 40-man roster for Hanser Alberto, whose previously-reported one-year deal has been made official.
It’s a bit of a surprising move, as Beaty’s coming off an atypically good season for someone who now finds himself in DFA limbo. The left-handed hitter posted a .270/.363/.402 line with seven home runs in 234 plate appearances last year. He wasn’t a huge power threat, with just 12 extra-base hits and a .132 ISO (slugging minus batting average). Yet he made contact on an above-average 81.7% of his swings and drew walks at a roughly league average rate to post a quality batting average and on-base mark.
Beaty has tallied a bit less than one full season’s worth of playing time since debuting in the majors in 2019. He owns a .262/.333/.425 line in 556 career trips to the plate, overall offense that checks in a hair above par by measure of wRC+. He’s not regarded as a great defender anywhere on the diamond, but the 28-year-old has seen a fair bit of action at all four corner spots in L.A.
However, Beaty is out of minor league option years. The Dodgers had to choose between carrying him on the active roster all year or bumping him from the 40-man. They’ve taken the latter course of action. They’ll give the bench role to Alberto instead, seemingly prioritizing the greater defensive flexibility that comes along with him. Alberto isn’t as good a hitter as Beaty, but he’s a solid defensive second baseman who could be an option at shortstop in a pinch.
The Dodgers will have a week to trade Beaty or place him on waivers. Given his solid offensive track record in the big leagues, he could very well land with a team that’s not as deep as the Dodgers are on the position player side. Any acquiring team would also have to keep Beaty on the active roster or DFA him themselves, but it stands to reason he’d have a better chance of sticking as a bat-first utility option off the bench with another club.
Reds Sign Hunter Strickland
March 23: The Reds have announced the signing, which fills their 40-man roster. Strickland will earn $1.825MM in 2022, tweets MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. He can also earn another $750K via performance incentives and would receive a $250K assignment bonus if traded.
March 22, 12:50pm: It’s a big league deal for Strickland, tweets Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
8:16am: The two sides have agreed to a deal, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
8:00am: The Reds are closing in on a deal with free-agent righty Hunter Strickland, tweets Robert Murray of FanSided. Strickland, a client of All Bases Covered, would give Cincinnati a veteran option to consider for what’s otherwise a largely inexperienced relief corps.
Strickland, 33, split the 2021 season between three clubs, beginning the year with the Rays after signing a minor league deal and pitching well through 16 innings. Tampa Bay still felt comfortable trading him to the Angels for cash, and things quickly went south for Strickland in Anaheim, where he yielded nine runs (seven earned) in just 6 1/3 innings of work. The Halos designated him for assignment and traded him to the Brewers (again for cash).
Strickland quickly righted the ship in Milwaukee and remained in the Brewers’ bullpen for the duration of the season. He notched a tidy 1.73 ERA in 36 1/3 frames with the Brew Crew and added another 2 1/3 shutout frames in the NLDS. Overall, his regular season concluded with 58 2/3 innings of 2.61 ERA ball (4.19 FIP, 4.06 SIERA). Along the way, Strickland whiffed 24% of his opponents against a 9.1% walk rate and a 34.8% grounder rate. He was particularly deft when it came to suppressing hard contact, as Statcast ranked his 29.4% hard-hit rate in the 97th percentile of MLB pitchers and his 86.9 mph average exit velocity in the 84th percentile.
The Reds will be without top reliever Tejay Antone for most, if not all of the 2022 season after he underwent Tommy John surgery in late August last season. Meanwhile, projected closer Lucas Sims won’t be ready for Opening Day, as he’s currently healthy but behind schedule in camp after rehabbing some offseason back troubles. Lefty Amir Garrett was traded to the Royals in this month’s Mike Minor swap, and the Reds have seen both Michael Lorenzen (Angels) and Mychal Givens (Cubs) depart via free agency.
Cincinnati does still have at least a pair of veteran arms at the back of the ‘pen, as former Yankees Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson, both acquired from New York last summer, are still with the club. Righty Jeff Hoffman, though, is the only other projected member of the bullpen with even a year of big league service time. (Hoffman has three-plus years but has still yet to truly solidify himself as a steady option.) Cincinnati does have a handful of more seasoned options in camp as non-roster players, including Buck Farmer, Kyle Zimmer and Trey Wingenter.
Cubs Designate Sergio Alcantara For Assignment
The Cubs have designated infielder Sergio Alcantara for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to veteran reliever Mychal Givens, whose previously reported one-year deal has now been formally announced by the team.
Claimed off waivers out of the Tigers organization in Feb. 2021, Alcantara wound up appearing in 89 games with Chicago — most of which came after the team had stripped down the roster with a July fire sale that saw Kris Bryant, Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo traded (among others). The 25-year-old Alcantara logged 255 plate appearances with the Cubs but managed only a tepid .205/.303/.327 batting line during that stretch — his first extended look at the MLB level. He’d previously had a brief 10-game, 23-plate appearance cup of coffee with Detroit in 2020.
In addition to that lackluster showing in the big leagues, Alcantara owns a pedestrian .261/.340/.317 batting line in 822 plate appearances at the Double-A level. He did hit .305/.447/.451 in a small sample of 103 Triple-A plate appearances in 2021, but that’s an outlier relative to his overall body of work in the minors. Offense, however, has never Alcantara’s calling card anyhow. He’s regarded as a plus defensive player at shortstop who can also handle second base and third base. He’s also walked in 11.1% of his minor league plate appearances against a 17.1% strikeout rate, showing solid bat-to-ball skills and a good knowledge of the strike zone.
An above-average runner with a strong throwing arm and good defensive skills on the whole, Alcantara could potentially be of interest to clubs around the league as they evaluate bench options for the expanded 28-man roster early in the season. He has a minor league option year remaining as well, so he can provide some additional bench flexibility throughout the season. The Cubs will have a week to trade Alcantara or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.