The Cubs made an actual minor league signing just yesterday, and like most of them they have made, it was a bullpen arm. RHP Eric Yardley is a side-arming pitcher familiar to the Cubs, as he pitched for the Brewers in 2020-2021.
Yardley has seen some good success and low numbers in his career, having a 3.00 ERA or less in 8 of his 13 stints in the minor leagues, dating back from 2014. He made his MLB debut in 2019 with the Padres, and posted a 2.31 ERA, ranking with his MaxEV being only 106 MPH (top 10% of MLB). He had a great year with the Brewers in 2020, posting a 1.54 ERA, but went downhill in 2021, showing a 6.75 ERA in 23 IP before heading to Triple A again, where he had a 3.22 ERA in 36 IP.
He is heavily reliant on groundballs, as he has a career 60.8% GB rate, and isn't much of a strikeout guy (career 13% K rate). The curveball has been a successful pitch for him, as it has an 85 percentile ranking on the spin and has been one of his great pitches.
As to the Cubs signing him, it's mainly an intelligent gamble. He has had great numbers in his career, and 2021 was the first time he put up that bad of numbers in his whole career. So, they can intelligently guess that those numbers will even out in 2022, seeing he had an awesome year in 2020.
The Cubs also now have two sidearm pitchers in Effross and now Yardley. I kind of like the idea of adding a variety of arm slots to the bullpen, to keep the other team confused. The Rays were good at that.
Seiya Suzuki was viewed by some as a potential Cubs target, but it was (in a way) confirmed, and also (in a way) not confirmed that the Cubs were a leading candidate for Suzuki. Let me explain.
A Japanese Sports Report said that the Cubs, Mariners, Padres, and Giants were the leading teams to get Suzuki. The Red Sox, a pre-lockout favorite to sign him, was pushed to the backburner along with the Yankees. Then a different report, from Daily Japan, said the Red Sox SHOULD be considered the leading favorites to sign him.
So...the Cubs might be considered by some in Japan to be the leading team to get him, and also some might consider the Red Sox to be an almost "done deal". From an official rumor viewpoint, I think it is more likely that the Red Sox will get him, but I'll talk about why the Cubs would want him.
He hit .315/.414/.570 in his career with NPB and would definitely provide stability to an outfield that is pretty up-in-the-air right now. He has a great bat, and from what I can tell, decent defense.
The downside, if it can be called that, is that the Cubs would now have 7-9 outfielders on their roster to sort through. This includes Happ, Ortega, Heyward, Frazier, Hermosillo, and Ramirez, plus Rivas and Hoerner, who can both play outfield. Adding Suzuki to the mix might even make things more difficult to sort through. Anyway, if the Cubs do sign him, I won't be upset.
On a HOF note, David Ortiz was the only one to be inducted, with Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and others not making it. Pardon my opinion, but Bonds needs to get in. Forget about the PEDs and all that stuff, it's not like you can play that well if you were taking them. HOF is a museum of past legends, and Bonds deserves to get in.
Ian Happ had a great idea:
What if players that got 10+ years of MLB service time also got to vote for HoF?
— Ian Happ (@ihapp_1) January 26, 2022
I like it.
Anyways, that's all for now, so keep praying this lockout will be over soon!
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