Former Cub Frank Schwindel has reportedly signed a deal with the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s NPB. Schwindel had been playing for the Águilas Cibaeñas in the Dominican Winter League. Sung Min Kim had previously tweeted that the two parties were discussing a deal, and Cibaeñas general manager Ángel Ovalles recently told reporters that the 30-year-old had signed with the Buffaloes and was leaving the team.
Designated for assignment in July 2021 by Oakland, Schwindel was picked up by Chicago and immediately sent to Triple-A Iowa. However, after Anthony Rizzo was traded to the Yankees, Schwindel received a call-up and never looked back. During the second half of the 2021 season, he slashed a robust .342/.389/.613, with a strong 15% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate, and 13 homers in 239 plate appearances. This tremendous output, albeit in a limited sample size, earned him minor consideration in the 2021 NL Rookie of the Year voting.
Schwindel opened the 2022 season with the Cubs but struggled and was shuffled between Iowa and Chicago. He also missed time with lower back strains in May and June. His poor performance led to the Cubs designating him for assignment in mid-September, and he was granted his unconditional release. Schwindel finished the 2022 season hitting .229/.277/.358 with eight homers in 292 plate appearances. Notably, his strikeout rate increased to 19.9%.
With a poor 2022, Schwindel might have been hard-pressed to find anything beyond a minor league deal with an MLB team this winter. Instead, the right-handed hitter will head to Japan in search of the magic he captured during the 2021 season. With the Buffaloes, he will likely earn more guaranteed money and ample opportunity to rediscover his swing, perhaps eventually exploring a return to North American baseball.
I always root for the older rookies. Hope he can get back to the show! Love the grind
The Royals screwed up his career when he was younger…..
Right. Him and Calvin Pickering and Kila Ka’aihue and Clint Robinson and the never ending list of other one tool AAAA first basemen that fans have inexplicably accused the Royals of “ruining” by not calling them up. And when they do get called up and are one tool AAAA first base/DH guys, it’s the Royals fault. Can’t possibly just be that they’re AAAA 1B/DH types.
Definitely could have been called up in ’17, or ’18 before finally getting a few at bats in ’19
Dude will mash in Japan. Hope he makes a good living over there.
I’ll always remember the ‘Frankie Schwindel fan club’ from a jomboy video. Those girls were beautiful
Frank tanked.
He was a flash talent for the Cubs. Wish him well.
Sliderwithcheeze thinks he’s amazing
Frank was a neat story during the tough second half of the 2021 season. Wish him well in Nihon. Gunbatene Schwindel-san! Mahalo!
thats great
I think the Cubs are a Dark Horse Wild Card candidate in 2023, especially if they sign Correa or Swanson.
if they sign either of them, they’ll have a $200m payroll. How is that a dark horse team? Every big market crappy team should be a “wild card” darkhorse
Jed Hoyer the Cubs President of Baseball Operations has been given the green light to spend the last two years but hasn’t jumped into the deep end of the pool. It’s as if Jed thinks if he signs guys to big money long term contracts and the Cubs don’t win he’ll be replaced. Instead he leans on “the prospects are coming” hoping to buy himself time while trying to pacify the fans.
Stroman can opt out after 2023 and Bellinger has a one year deal and might be flipped at the deadline. Jed’s kicking the can down the road while the team flounders around mediocrity. The Cubs won’t win until the front office has people who try to improve the ball club. Let’s replace Jed with someone who’s concerned with more than just keeping his job
short term deals are smart. Teams don’t become winners without developing young cheap talent.
Unless you want a $431MM payroll including the tax hit. Jed’s doing things right. Young guys need to get a look
Jed’s a fool
You can have a combination of both
I mean who could have predicted that Schwindel, Wisdom, Ortega wouldn’t play like they did in 2021? Oh wait.. all of us.. yet, the Cubs went into 2022 with them all locked into starting positions. Woof.
I got two words for you: Jed. Hoyer. Most overrated baseball guy in the business. Been riding the coattails of Theo. Too risk-adverse. 2 years in a row we kept hearing that they’re going to get one of the shortstops. Yet here we are.
I don’t think he’s overrated, because to me he was never really built up to be that big of a deal. He was always Theo’s sidekick, but was never the big name, Theo was.
I think it’s funny how many Cubs fans think he’s terrible for not retaining Rizzo, Baez and Bryant.. Even if they had all 3 last year, they wouldn’t have made the playoffs. The mistake they made was not trading them in 2018-2019 – which I was wanting them to do, because it was clear the team wasn’t working with the current structure. That was when Theo was in charge. So what should have Jed done?
I don’t think you can judge him until he actually this next wave of players either shows up or doesn’t. In this market, I can’t fault him for not giving up crazy contracts – especially when the Cubs are still at least a year away. Sure, I’d love to see them compete for a Wild Card spot, but does that mean they should go get Rondon and Correa to make that happen? That would help, but then if they fall victim to their injury history repeating itself, then Jed is a fool for dipping his toes in those risky deals. I’d say at this point the Cubs should hand out a few more 1-2 year deals for decent players and try to compete in 2023 with only short-term contract players and then focus on 2024 and beyond with any significant $. My proposal would be to sign:
Christian Vazquez
Chris Bassitt
Corey Kluber
Trey Mancini
Brandon Drury
Jean Segura
Brad Boxberger
Corey Knebel
That gives you:
Hoerner SS
Segura 2B
Suzuki RF
Drury 3B
Happ LF
Mancini 1B
Bellinger CF
Vazquez C
Wisdom/Mervis DH
Stroman
Kluber
Taillon
Bassitt
Hendricks
Steele
Wesneski
Thompson
Alzolay
Heuer
Boxberger
Knebel
Is it sexy? No. Could they win 85 games? Yes. Could they win 75 games? Possibly.
At worst, you have 5-6 guys you can flip for prospects in July and have very little committed beyond 2023.
So they can win 85 games. But only possibly win 75 games??? Interesting
Why would they s8gn so many position players with nowhere to play. You shouldn’t just write odd Christopher Morel and Madrigal(among a few others. with Segua and Drury. Bassitt would be nice. They need to sign Swanson or Correa to make a bigger move towards contending. They’re in a weak division there’s 3 teams that have a chance to win the division and same 3 teams could win one of the WC spots.
I’m saying it could go either way, and it wouldn’t be all that surprising. The current team is probably good for 70-75 games.
Morel should be a super utility player. He is going to be a poor-man’s Javy Baez. Super athletic, but terrible approach at the plate.
Madrigal needs to stay healthy to even be considered a factor, and even if he is healthy, what doesn’t he bring, a .300 AVG would be great, but then you’re still probably getting a low .700 OPS at best out of him. He’s fine, but he’s not someone I’m going to rely on nor build around.
Ryan, that gives them a seriously crappy team. might as well get a star player than spread all that manure
Why sign an elite player and waste a year of their contract when the team isn’t going to compete? Might as well get some replacement level or better players all around the field, hope they perform and you can compete or if you can’t compete, flip them at the deadline for more prospect depth.. and then sign the big names when the team’s prospect depth is closer to the bigs
I’m fine with the say he dismantled the team. It was clear they weren’t going to win in big games any more. The “magic” was gone. If Rossy wasn’t such a Willy hater we could have prevented him from going to our arch-rivals, but I can’t put that solely on Jed. And look, I actually agree that long-term contracts are a bad idea, generally speaking. Yet it’s the price you must be willing to pay if you want to sign one of the shortstops. I blame whoever is leaking info to the media – it’s as if the Cubs are going to sign a big time FA when all they’re really doing is dipping their toes in the water. But you can’t make a splash that way.
2018-2019 attendance was good and fans loved those players. After seeing the unreal prospect returns for 2 month rentals, Jed did things perfect.
Fans will love any players if the team is winning, and those same fans will turn on those players when they are losing. The Cubs held their homegrown players WAY too long. They could have traded them for so much more.
They did the same thing the Phillies did after 09 – Rollins, Utley, Howard, Victorino.. the Giants did after 10,12,14 championships – Belt, Cain, Crawford.. and Royals after 2015 – Moose, Hosmer, Cain, Perez. I understand giving it a shot for a couple years after winning, but when you can clearly see a player is on a decline, don’t get overly attached to your homegrown players. All of those teams won a World Series with homegrown players and refused to trade them at their peak. It’s always better to trade a guy a year too early instead of a year too late.
Jed road on Theo’s coattails
He sucks as the guy in charge
Good for him. Great guy. What a partial year he had with the Cubs.
Long live Frank the Tank!!
I remember when Cubs’ fans were calling Chicago “the Schwindy City”.
For a week maybe ten people did. Not a lot to cheer for
The legend continues.
From a bear market to a bull market.
Mervis will be the real deal.
Who knows. He might be or it’s probably just as likely that he flames out. Prospects really are such a crapshoot. Just like the playoffs.
To think that there were Cubs fans who actually thought this guy was a long-term solution at first base boggles the mind.
Seemed as plausible as Wisdom and Ortega to stick for a while.
Agreed. His babip was unsustainable.
To be Frank , he’s always Schwindeling schumone for a contract.
You relish talking about “Ball Park Frank”?
Frank had the unenviable task of trying to duplicate his 2021 breakout while battling back injuries all season last year.
He had to play through the injuries to try and keep his spot and prove he wasn’t a fluke, but he did himself a disservice because he wasn’t 100% healthy and just looked worse and worse.
There were a few stretches where he showed signs of life and like he might figure it out, but then fizzled out again.
I wish him the best and hope he’s able to recapture the magic and reclaim his MLB career.
But it was clear he was a regression candidate. I doubt Jed ever seriously figured he’d be an everyday player. But why not try and see if you found a diamond in the rough. Didn’t work out so you move on. It was a worthwhile gamble in a rebuild situation.
With his solid minor league stats why didn’t the Royals fast track him to the majors when he was younger? Did he Mell bad? Oh wait, he’s an 18th round pick, he can’t be a prospect! Another hint at why the Royals suck…..
When he was raking it was fun watching him. I went to my first game at Wrigley since they put up the jumbotrons. Saw him and Wisdom to back to back for the 2nd game in a row. I think alek Thomas hit a Little Lesgue homerun in that game. I left early. Had to catch the last train back to where my sister and I were staying. Cubs Lost.
The Buffaloes lost Yoshida, but gained Schwimdel.
Schwindels AAA numbers are similar to Yoshida’s NPB numbers.
The Orix Buffaloes have been more active in free agency than Jed Hoyer.
Good move on his part. Go hit some dongs and make some money. Maximize your confidence. Maybe look to move back in a year or two. And breaking balls have been his big issue and he’s gonna see A TON of those over there
So Orix got Schwindeled and Frank got Buffaloed.
Best of luck Frankie 2-hits!!
My wife, who is a diehard Red Sox fan, just asked if I wanted to make a bet that Schwindel would hit better with the Buffaloes than Yoshida does with the Red Sox next season. She is would be betting on Schwindel.
She also suggested I end every comment I make with ‘Fire Bloom”. Lol. She is more than a little salty right now.
As a Cubs fan I’ll love Schwindel forever. It was obvious it wouldn’t last, but seeing him finally get a chance as a 29 year old rookie and be one of the best hitters in baseball for two months was really nice. Sad it couldn’t have worked out a little better for him this year but I’m glad he got some success after nearly a decade in the minors. Seemed like a really nice guy too. Hope he can become a star in Japan