The Cubs are bringing a familiar face back to the bullpen, agreeing to a deal with Jesse Chavez, according to Mike Rodriguez of Univision. The righty first hinted at his Cubs reunion on Instagram. Chavez signed a minor league/split deal, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times. Chavez is represented by Apex Baseball.
Chavez was an effective reliever in Chicago back in 2018 after being acquired mid-season from the Rangers. Since then, the 38-year-old returned to Texas for two seasons. He signed a minor league deal with the Angels back in February ’21, moving on to the Braves after failing to make the Halos’ Opening Day roster. The Braves selected Chavez’s contract in late June after he put in 20 innings for the Gwinnett Stripers. Chavez wasn’t used in high-leverage situations by the Braves, but still cracked their roster for all three rounds of the playoffs.
With a 91 mile-an-hour average fastball velocity, Chavez doesn’t throw as hard as most of his peers these days. Nonetheless, the 14-year MLB veteran still managed to post a 2.14 ERA in 33 2/3 innings for Atlanta in 2021. That came with a better-than-average 27.1 K% and 8.3 BB%. Often prone to the longball – Chavez allowed one to every 13 batters or so he faced in 2020 – fortune broke his way as none of his flyballs left the yard in ’21. Though he’s not known for his velocity or spin rate, Chavez has generally been above average in preventing hard hits.
Chavez brings a veteran presence to a Cubs bullpen that recently took a big hit with the news Codi Heuer underwent Tommy John surgery. The club currently has Rowan Wick atop the depth chart, and is likely to bring in additional veterans.
The post-lockout free agent market has seen Chavez, Matt Strahm, Joe Kelly, Alex Colome, Jeurys Familia, Steve Cishek, Brandon Workman, and Juan Minaya leave the board in short order. Click here to see who remains – a group led by Kenley Jansen, Ian Kennedy, Brad Boxberger, Brad Hand, Andrew Chafin, Ryan Tepera, Yusmeiro Petit, Hansel Robles, Adam Ottavino, Richard Rodriguez, and Jake Diekman, among others.
Dang , he was a positive in Braves pen.
A needed arm for the bullpen.
A needed “veteran” arm in the BP
Okay, I’m going out to shovel snow. No transactions until I get back.
Cubs are shoveling something, too
Dumpster divin’!
The epitome of average. Jesse Chavez.
Nothing wrong with that… I’d gladly have that label to play as long as he has in the pros.
He was a key contributor to the braves and a World Series champ. His picture should represent himself as a brave until after the signing… he earned it
Do the cubs still have that guy that annoyingly doesn’t know how to put his cap on straight?
DH, woo hoo!
No, thank goodness. Had some really strong years for the Cubs but would melt down in crucial situations especially his last couple of years. I don’t know where he is but he’s not with the Cubs. If only there was some way to find out..Too bad there isn’t this web-like entanglement of wires and computers with an ability to do searches…
Pedro Strop really got his arse handed to him by Bob Costas.
Bob Costas is an old fogey now.
He’s not the bullpen arm I was hoping the cubs would sign. Is this a minor league deal?
Split deal; I’m guessing that wasn’t in the article yet when you posted. As a backend bullpen guy with nothing guaranteed, you could do a lot worse.
Well f. There goes the A’s opening day starter
I still remember Chavez as a Pirate, which seems like 30 years ago. Traded away for Akinori Iwamura, which at the time looked like a shrewd move but turned out to be anything but. Just some more historical evidence that the Pirates should never trade with the Rays.
It’s not like Chavez became an ace in TBR. He never even played a game there. Only thing to really come out of that trade was one good year out of Rafael Soriano because the Rays then flipped Chavez to the Braves for the closer.
With this signing, the Cubs just issued a warning shot to the entire National League saying they’re all in.
Yeah Ricketts is all in. On saving every dime he can to buy his soccer team. Gooooooooaaaaaaaalllllllllll!
He was awesome a few years ago with us, welcome back!
Seriously? Well at least Gomes and Contreras won’t have to put down any fingers. He only throws one pitch. This makes zero sense to me. I hope there’s a better plan than this.
I dig a good derp-face photo on the front page. Keep it up MLBTR! More of the same!
Chavez looking to play for all 332 MLB teams in his career
If I remember correctly he is a 91 mph slider guy?
If you remember correctly he is 91 years old…
Chavez must like to visit old haunts. The Cubs are the 4th team he has had multiple stints with
Cubs are really going places with moves like this. They might even be able to field a team now!