The Cubs announced a series of minor league deals with invitations to Major League Spring Training on Friday, signing infielder Dixon Machado, infielder Ildemaro Vargas, righty Jonathan Holder, catcher P.J. Higgins and lefty Locke St. John. The Cubs also confirmed previously reported minor league deals with lefty Stephen Gonsalves and righty Mark Leiter Jr.
Machado, 30 in February, spent parts of four seasons as a backup infielder with the Tigers from 2015-18 before spending the 2019 season with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in Iowa. From there, he signed on with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization, serving as their primary shortstop in 2020-21 and hitting a combined .280/.358/.393 with 17 home runs, 52 doubles, two triples and 23 steals (in 29 tries) over the life of 1095 plate appearances. Regarded as a quality defender, Machado hit just .227/.285/.295 in 505 Major League plate appearances in Detroit, though he posted a .261/.371/.480 slash in 102 games/393 plate appearances with the Cubs’ Iowa affiliate in 2019.
The 30-year-old Vargas spent nine game with the Cubs in 2021 — a season he split between Chicago, Arizona and Pittsburgh. A versatile defender who’s appeared at all four infield positions and both outfield corners in the big leagues, Vargas is a switch-hitter with a .233/.268/.355 batting line in parts of five MLB seasons with four teams. (He’s also been with the Twins, in addition to three already-listed clubs.) He’s had much more success in Triple-A, where he’s a .324/.368/.472 batter in 1736 plate appearances.
Holder, 28, looked to be on the path toward cementing himself in the Yankees’ bullpen as recently as 2017-18, when he logged a combined 105 1/3 innings of 3.42 ERA ball with a 22.6% strikeout rate and a tiny 6.1% walk rate. Holder had a pair of IL stints for shoulder troubles in 2019, however, the second of which ended his season in early August. He finished that year with an ugly 6.31 ERA, and he managed just a 4.98 mark in 21 2/3 innings with the Yankees a year later, posting career-worst walk and strikeout rates along the way.
This will actually be Holder’s second season in the Cubs organization. He signed a non-guaranteed, $750K Major League deal with Chicago last winter after being non-tendered by the Yankees, but recurred shoulder woes wiped out the year for him. Holder opened the season on the 10-day IL with a shoulder strain, moved to the 60-day on April 26, and never returned. He ended the season on the Major League injured list and would’ve been considered a big league free agent who was ineligible to sign, but it seems (based on Holder’s transaction log at MLB.com) that this deal was actually finalized on Nov. 19 but simply not announced until today.
It’s a similar story for the 28-year-old Higgins, who was on the Cubs’ Major League injured list at season’s end but became a free agent after being outrighted in early November. Like Holder, his player page at MLB.com indicates that this deal came together on Nov. 19 but wasn’t immediately announced. (It should be noted that it’s commonplace for teams to hold off on announcing minor league deals/Spring Training invites individually and instead announce them in batches like this.)
Higgins made his big league debut with the Cubs this past season, appearing in nine games and going 1-for-23 at the plate. A 12th-rounder back in the Cubs’ 2015 draft, Higgins has spent his entire career in the organization, batting .273/.359/.370 in just over 2000 minor league plate appearances.
As for St. John, who’ll turn 29 in January, he was a 32nd-round pick by the Tigers back in 2014 and briefly appeared in the Majors with the 2019 Rangers. He yielded four runs in 6 2/3 innings during that brief cup of coffee but has a solid minor league track record, with a 3.44 ERA, a 22.6% strikeout rate and an 8.7% walk rate in 483 1/3 innings (including 79 innings of 4.10 ERA ball with a 28.5% strikeout rate in Triple-A).
Multiple Cubbie dumpster diving for sure!
Minor league depth moves but I get the feeling you’re gonna rag on anything the Cubs do.
You are correct. He’s the biggest bag on this app. And that’s saying a lot.
You have to understand Chi_Sox Fan. He made clear a while ago, he was a Cubs fan not so long ago. Maybe he had a traumatic experience with a Cubs’ fan. He is unemployed, (as you may guess) trolling the Cubs and watching You Tube all day and night. He doesn’t like that someone tells the truth about him, so he like kind of blocked me. The other day he was lamenting the Nick Madrigal trade, and he made it clear the White Sox are going nowhere, and that their window is almost close only winning one post season game. Tigers are about to be just one fair starter pitcher away to go with the AL Central, while Royals can finish second. White Sucks should expect a second wild card, at most. What a shame, after all those “rebuilding” years. He and knows it, since he had commented it here before by himself.
The Cubs would win the AL Central
Flubs desperate to win their fans bag with a meaningless whirlwind of activity designed for who knows what and of course the Flub fans slurp it right up.
@Pete_Ward…You an Chi_Sox Fan must be “very good friends”. Be aware, your little White Sucks were rebuilding all these years, only to win ONE post season game. They should go to another city, like Las Vegas or something.
Tigers are one starter away to go with the AL Central. I am grateful of people like you both helped me turning my hatred of the Cardinals into a Chicago White Sucks hate. Thank you!
Lol the Sox can’t even afford to go dumpster diving right now. Y’all think you’re getting a quality 2B and RF in FA when in reality y’all haven’t done anything cuz Jerry’s gotta hit the couch cushions before he can afford to sign MiLB deals.
We know, and they know it, no good free agent wants to sign with them, no matter how much they offer. They can only have good players via draft or trade. Other than Grandal in the last ten years? Their window is already closed. Just one post season game, after all that “rebuilding” LMAO…
If the article said white Sox announce 7 minor league deals. All of them would get your praise jumping for joy like it’s October 26th, 2005….. if you were around at the time.
This is the equivalent to getting a spider ring from a house while trick or treating.
At least, your Brewers can say they had won a World Series…wait, no they haven’t, (it was under the Braves), so, no they won’t. You should be happy that at least they almost went to a WS recently.
Can’t believe this dude is 30
The Cubs are being really smart this offseason. The Miley & Stroman deals were brilliant; now they are making smart gambles on minor league deals for potential bench depth. If they dip into the piggy bank and sign either Correa or Story, they start to become relevant again much quicker than expected. Good to see that a major market team is not tanking the season after all.
If you’re going to take a couple of minor league fliers on pitchers I feel like Gonsalves and Leiter aren’t bad options. They both had some hype coming up through the ranks but just haven’t impressed at all at the major league level. Sometimes guys randomly figure it out with the right coaching/support from other pitchers on the staff
Guess the Cubs went into the dumpster for Nick Madrigal…oh wait sorry, the White Sox went into the dumpster for Craig Kimbrel….
They are waiting for a Harper or Trout trade for Kimbrell.
You know, the cubs need to field a AAA team at Iowa, right? Cubs have actualy done a pretty terrible job having 7th/8th starters who can survive a handful of starts so maybe Leiter or someone else can do that.