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.
Theo seems to be racking up bullpen arms but
I wonder if depth is what the Cubs need right now.
Yes he was fairly dominant for 17 innings or so but
is this small sample size enough to resign a shaky guy like him?
He could be a pretty versatile bullpen piece, pitching in multiple roles. Whether it be a bridge/swing man type or could see more high leverage innings. This way they can take care of two things with one roster spot, someone has to pitch low leverage innings after all They must see something more in him though or they would have just kept Edwin Jackson in that role, instead of paying him not to play.
Cahill was once dominant as a starter. Bosio can maybe get him back to form and he could be a #3 type SP again. With Cahill behind a long BP option to start and could spot start. I wonder if the cubs will try to trade Travis Wood
Cubs had 30 mil to spend . Cahill 4.25 heyward 25 mil. There you go
I wish I could agree, but I definitely don’t see that. Cubs were projected to have about 20 mil to spend before they even signed Lackey. After him and Cahill, I don’t see the Cubs making any significant FA moves this offseason (unless the 140 mil budget projection being thrown around is some kind of decoy). Maybe a mid tier guy, or someone whose price drops to an absurdly low level, but I would be absolutely floored to see the Cubs pay anyone 10 figures, which is certainly what Heyward will command and get.
excuse me, 9 figures. even mike trout isn’t worth a billion
That would be Awesome. ….but not probably what happens. My guess is that they re-sign Austin Jackson for a few million instead, and see what happens. Then, if they are “in the hunt” in July, trade some prospects for a bigger name. They have Almora & McKinney in the minors…..both could be ready in 2017.
I’m happy to have him back if he can continue to pitch like he did for the Cubs last season. He got some big outs in the playoffs too. Could be a spot starter if needed although I expect Wood to retain that role but versatility is good.
That’s a lot of money for a measly 17 decent innings. Giving away $32 million to a 37 year old starter who’s not likely to repeat his 2015 and now over $4 million to a scrap heap guy like Cahill is giving the rest of the division hope that the Cub juggernaut might just have some bumpy patches ahead.
Richard, Cahill, same Cubs from a year ago minus fowler, add lackey. Yeah not seeing a championship roster yet. If the Cubs can sustain health again this year then maybe they will be lucky enough to go as far as they did last year. Not impressed with the early offseason thus far. We need more reliable bullpen arms, lead off hitter, center fielder, better defensive play all around in the outfield. I haven’t seen any of the major issues addressed yet. Great core group of players here, and we will need to retain that core which will be costly but I’m very disappointed in the lack of upgrades so far.
I dont like these moves either. Lackey may wind up being serviceable innings eater and it ensures the cardinals dont get him that helps also, but come on david price wanted to come here and we needed him here. They let him go because of money. They needed his additional wins that he would have brought to the table. 31 mil per for 6 years the cubs should have made the same offer and he would have signed here. the window of contention is hazy at the moment I cant see it past 2018. thats if they resign someone like fowler again at the minimum. I say blow out the bank and sign heyward and price adding 40 mil to their roster than last year big jump in payroll but that would net you a World Series championship yearly for the next 3-5 years. They have the money time to reward us die hard fans with atleast 1=3 WS championships.
but price is a red sock and heyward will probably sign in anaheim the only thing left are gambles. the royals will probably re sign gordon. Maybe the cubs will trade for Shelby Miller or Carlos Curasco or to a lesser extent Ross or Casner. They will still need a CFer and a leadoff hitter.
I’m more bullish so far than you are, but obviously there is still work to be done. We literally don’t have anybody penciled into center field at this point, so a move really needs to be made (some options: pick up Gentry on a minors deal + invite, look into a trade for Marisnick, sign somebody like Span).
Keep in mind there is also trade talk with the Rays right now, reportedly involving one of their back-end relievers (McGee/Boxberger) and possibly one of their non-Archer starters as well.
Theo and his team know what they have to do, they’re just being careful not to make bad deals just for the sake of making them.
They would have been better off taking Beachy on a minor league deal to serve as a Long Reliever
cahill is just a one pitch pitcher now. changeup in the dirt. Hitters will layoff this pitch. cost the cubs a playoff game. predicted to be released during the season.
I like this. The Cubs do not need an All-Star closer or another “ace” for that matter. With the way these maturing Cubs should be hitting they should have an extra half a run per game to spare. And 2017 is at this point just as important or maybe even more so than 2016.
Alastair are you forgetting this “Cubs hitting” was absent during the mets playoff series? Are you forgetting Castro didn’t hit his hat size all year until final two months after losing his job?? Bringing more light on the Cubs what’s the odds that all of there sophomore years that none of them have the ever famous sophomore slump? Then factor in how much they relied on the long ball to win games, yeah I couldn’t disagree with your post for about a million reasons. Cubs need more hitters who can get on base more with base hits and walks. They left a lot of runners in scoring position and when rizzo and Bryant needed to step up they were mia. Yes they won 97 games, yes there future is as bright as any in baseball. I just don’t see this make shift bullpen of has beens sustaining the same luck. Really poor offseason so far for the Cubs. Defensively also they have some glaring weakness in the outfield and any time Castro suits up.
pullhitter445, yes, you’re right. I really like your points on the risp issues, reliance on the homers, and the possibilities of sophomore slumps. You have convinced me to change my way of thinking, but not entirely. I now think that that third outfielder is more important than the clinching closer there are rumors about.
looking at things with a wide lens (a necessity when for badeball stats) Starlin HAS hit, we are generally expecting and excited about WHAT MORE will become from our hitting prospects, and skewing any of the team’s next 2-4 years with the maligned lens of one playoff series or any other short term measurement will cause irrational decisions that will affect the long term. I believe that our management for the first time in as long as I’ve been a Cubs fan, has the right focused lens.
In the end, you have convinced me that to sit on our current bats alone might not even lead to any increase (if not leading to even a digression) in scoring in 2016. I just still like this Cahill signing because he IS a good pitcher who can blow past some bats especially when the going gets tough and he comes at no expense to threaten our Junior year rejuvenation.