The Cubs have signed Mike MacDougal to a minor league deal, Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune tweets. The Dodgers released the right-hander after designating him for assignment earlier this month.
MacDougal, 35, struggled through seven appearances with the Dodgers this year, allowing nine hits, six walks and five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. He had signed a one-year, $1MM deal in January after spending the 2011 season with the Dodgers. He posted a 2.05 ERA with 6.5 K/9, 4.5 BB/9 and a 60.9% ground ball rate in 57 innings last year, when he ranked tenth among MLB pitchers in ground ball rate (minimum 50 innings).
Good short term move. Groundball pitchers in Wrigley are a must. If he carries a 3.50 ERA for the rest of the year if is a epic win.
Solid move. Need some cheap bullpen depth. Camp can’t continue to pitch everyday like he practically has been. Would be nice to find a veteran lefty somewhere.
Must be a good guy. Problem is he can’t find the plate. Not good for a pitcher.
The man hasn’t been able to pitch in years…he has awful control
How he keeps getting jobs is a mystery
This 2.05 ERA last year says differently.
It’s true that a ground ball pitcher like MacDougal can allow a lot of baserunners and still maintain a picturesque ERA, but if you look at him over the course of his career you won’t find much to like, at least if consistency is important to you.
It was pretty amazing that he kept his ERA so low last year. It seemed like each time he pitched he would load the bases. The plus is that he produces some good double play balls.
4.5 BB/9 tells you more about control than ERA.
FIP of 3.96.
He allowed 17 inherited runners to score last season.
I’m not a MacDougal fan or anything but I do wonder about the inherited runners scoring stat. I don’t know how you make a useful statistical comparison. He did appear in almost half of the Dodgers’ games last season and middle relief pitchers will almost always come in with runners on base.
Apparently he allowed 34% of inherited runners to score, while the league average was 30%. So yeah, a lot of that has to due with the number of times he came in with runners on base, but he was still below average, even with his high groundball percentage.
Who tracks that stat? I’ve never seen it anywhere.
Didn’t actually find it on any statistic site, but it was mentioned in a few articles about MacDougal resigning with the Dodgers in the offseason.
Poor Cubs. Hope MickeyD works out for you.
This guy was at one time decent bullpen fodder, but now it seems he is only decent A-ball fodder.
Cubs problem now good luck with this guy!!
I hope to be proven wrong, but I’m not so confident this is the best guy to be bringing in. We already have reliever who can’t throw strikes.
MINOR LEAGUE DEAL… no risk for the big league club.
Send Volstad down to AAA to hang with MacDougal and send Maine back up to give us another lefty in the bull pen. Coleman can then take Volstad’s spot in the rotation.
Volstad is out of options, so they can’t send him down without the risk of another team claiming him. Yes, he’s been brutal this year, but they’re not going to give him away, especially considering the money the paid to get him in exchange for Carlos Zambrano.
The money spent on Big Z was a sunk cost. The Cubs were going to have to pay that no matter what. This team cannot continue to take a “L” every time Volstad pitches and gives up his 5 run inning. He either goes to the bull pen, minors, or some other team. I’d rather take my chances with T. Wood, Coleman or Rusin.
Haven’t Cubs fans suffered enough with relievers who can’t find the plate?!
Cubs fans have never suffered enough. This is one of the great certainties of baseball.
why does anyone sign this guy?
This is a good move. The Cubs need to bring bums to AAA Iowa so someone can fill in there when the good pitchers are called up to Chicago.
This guy has my favorite pitching mechanics in MLB. He really puts everything into throwing the ball. It’s very…kinetic.
It is a minor league contract. Mike MacDougal gives them depth in case of injury. I love all the knee jerk reactions from fans.