The Cubs have agreed to a minor league deal with right-handed reliever Tyler Duffey, as first reported by Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Ballengee Group client will be invited to big league camp this spring.
Duffey, 32, was a mainstay in the Twins’ bullpen from 2017 until this past summer, when he began to struggle with diminished velocity, a dwindling strikeout rate and increased susceptibility to home runs. The former fifth-round pick appeared in 40 games for Minnesota this past season but pitched to a 4.91 ERA with a 21.1% strikeout rate, 8.1% walk rate and a bloated 1.64 HR/9 mark. The Twins designated Duffey for assignment on Aug. 5 and released him three days later. Duffey signed minor league deals with the Rangers and Yankees over the next few weeks but didn’t make it back to the Majors with either.
Prior to those 2022 struggles, Duffey had been a regular in late-inning situations with the Twins. There were some red flags in 2021 when both his strikeout and walk rates trended in the wrong direction, but the Twins bet on the right-hander’s track record and kept him for the 2022 season.
From 2019-20, in particular, Duffey was an absolutely dominant force in the Minnesota relief corps. He tallied 81 2/3 innings over that two-year peak and posted a sterling 2.31 ERA to go along with a gaudy 34.2% strikeout rate, an excellent 6.1% walk rate and a 43.1% ground-ball rate.
That’ll be the form the Cubs hope they can unlock this spring. They’ll be the third team to take a chance on Duffey since he was cut loose by the Twins, however, and neither the Rangers (four walks in five scoreless Triple-A frames) nor the Yankees (seven runs in six Triple-A frames) managed to do so while taking their brief looks at Duffey late last summer.
Duffey fits the Cubs’ preferred mold of offseason bullpen shopping in recent years. Since the Cubs inked Craig Kimbrel to an ill-fated three-year contract, they’ve moved away from lavish additions in the bullpen, instead gravitating toward low-cost one-year contracts and minor league deals for veterans of note who are seeking to reestablish themselves.
The Cubs’ earlier $2.8MM deal with righty Brad Boxberger also fit into this bucket. Over the past three seasons they’ve also signed Mychal Givens, David Robertson, Daniel Norris, Ryan Tepera, Chris Martin, Brandon Workman, Trevor Williams and Dan Winkler to one-year deals worth $5MM or less, while some non-roster deals have been given out to notable names like Jesse Chavez, Pedro Strop, Adam Morgan and Robert Gsellman, among others.
Wow…sarcastic…he will lead the cubs to a historic LOSING season
Bring back the Sheriff
Didn’t the Sheriff just leave town?
This sounds like a Texas signing. I wonder why they weren’t interested after signing Kennedy.
Uhhh…probably because they just signed Kennedy.
This is a throw darts at the board ssituation. 1 of 3 struggle at AAA, 1 may do okay at the MLB level, and 1 would be above average in these cases. If they aren’t spending $ on Moore/Hand/Chafin/Knebel, they should get guys like him and Britton.
Be nice to see Duffey get his groove back.
tyler duffey in wrigley? anyone who owns property across the street from left and right field better beef up their insurance – rockets soon to be flying…
The Cubs minor league teams dont play at Wrigley.
IoI
It is frustrating how long it takes for pitchers to develop in today’s era 4 inning starts etc. If the Cubs were smart they would develop Luke Little as a closer and move him on the fast track. I think he has the make up. Back in the good old days pitchers like Blyleven and Palmer were in the majors at 20.
Not every pitcher gets inducted into the HOF.
That’s a whole lot of trash whipping around that windy city.
Mostly on the South Side.
we literally do this dumpter diving every year and we always end up with a top bullpen, so cope
Luke Little should be a closer not a starter. His stuff is ridiculous. Little would also be on the fast track being a closer. On another note Burl Carraway who was supposed to already be in the majors per earlier prospect reports can not find the plate.
He already has a nickname “Little Unit” so no matter what he ends up for the cubs I’ve been looking forward to seeing him play for the cubs
Teams sometimes start a guy in the minors just to get him innings so not a predictor of where Cubs see him down the line
The Canadian bacon aroma is wafting over lake Michigan… cubs108 is getting a little tipsy from the fall out. Face it the cubs suck and will suck …I’m betting the pirates beat them out for third place.
This reminds me of the days Theo would go dumpster diving for relievers. In my opinion the Cubs destroyed Dillon Maples because they would not let him work out of jams when he was in the majors. He was wild but had ridiculous stuff. It was frustrating watching this. Cubs management destroyed his confidence and now he is out of baseball. He could of been an effectively wild reliever. His stuff was that good.
Dillon Maples was a tragic story, but at the end of the day our bullpen was fine without him working out. There had been plenty of other success stories.
Maples was like Neal Ramirez in 2014 he was electric fried his arm and was never the same. Maples had some head problems and I think would of thrived in another organization. As we all know the Cubs have a long history failing in the pitching development department.
our pitcbing development department is really good tho when it comes to major league arms, just to name several from the past few years:
Jeremy Jeffress
Ryan Tepera
Andrew Chafin
Justin Steele
Keegan Thompson
Adrain Sampson
David Robertson
Brandon Hughes
Scott Effross
And more
And more—like Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks.
But to Ray’s point slightly—-every team has probably an almost infinite multiplier of pitchers that don’t develop into valuable major league pitchers.
This is not a Cubs history lesson, per se.
Only Thompson, Steele and Hughes were drafted by the Cubs. That is not developing pitchers. The Cubs are horrible when it comes to drafting pitchers.
Arrieta and Hendricks were drafted by other organizations not the Cubs.
Yes, they were drafted by other teams, but your point was developing them, not drafting them. Major, major difference.
You clearly said the Cubs have a long history of failing in the development department.
I don’t care where or by whom they were drafted—-it’s how and where they end up.
The Cubs clearly helped develop both Arrieta and Hendricks.
I dont disagree,
Jake Arrieta was 27 and was in his 4th MLB season when he was traded to the Cubs. Arrieta had already shown flashes and his 2012 xFIP with Baltimore was the same as his 2016 season with the Cubs. Basically, Baltimore sold low and Chicago got the luck rebound years before Arrieta stabilized.
Kyle Hendricks made his debut 9 years ago and was having a real nice season for Texas in A+ ball before being traded to the Cubs 11 years ago and Hendricks was the headliner for Ryan Dempster who was having a career year for a guy who was normally considered a strong mid rotation arm. Texas didn’t give Hendricks away only to have the Cubs fix him and turn him into a pitcher.
I can give credit to the Cubs where it’s due, and both Arrieta and Hendricks were highly valuable, but to pretend the Cubs sprinkled miracle water over raw pitchers and developed them using those two player as examples is more than just from too far back in history, it’s sketchy not giving credit to Baltimore and Texas since both pitchers had already shown their skills before the Cubs got them.
This would be like a Twins fan screaming the accolades of guys like Scott Diamond and Andrew Albers and… Tyler Duffey.
True When Hoyer took over without Epstein and McLeod interference he developed arguably the best pitching development system in MLB. That is the reason they got Jameson Taillon to sign and a number of reclamation pitching projects. However, I jumped on to say it’s time to make room for the kids to develop at the major league level. Otherwise, the Cubs are stunting their growth.
I think Luke Little should start the season out as a closer in AA. If succeeds bring him up and insert him in the role. That is how closers are born. He will be 23 and has the makeup as a closer.
The problem with Maples, and I agree that he had probably the most filthy stuff in the last ten years for the Cubs was that he would throw a curve or slider that moved like a wiffle ball for a strike and then couldn’t come close to a batter’s box on any other pitched.
He literally walked 50 batters in less than 55 inning with the Cubs. That’s is historically bad.
Couple that with his years being 2017 to the 2021 range when the Cubs were really, really good and contenders. Theo and staff had zero margin for error to let him try to reclaim confidence and find something. Every single game meant something and continually clogging the bases was a very bad thing to do.
If he were on the rosters between 2011 and 2014 the leash may have been different…..but that one out of six pitches being in the strikeout didn’t work when he was a major leaguer.
You have a good point but better coaching may of helped. I know he was wild but when he was on he was ridiculous. I guess he came up at the wrong time. I want to see Luke Little as the closer. I have wrote comments on this. He should not be a starter. Reports say his stuff is ridiculous. P.S I was a huge Maples fan was also of Neil Ramirez.
You must sit by me at Wrigley—-I absolutely loved Neil Ramirez also—he was electric. Also came in one of Theo’s better trades that brought over CJ Edwards, Grimm, and gulp, Olt for Garza. That one turned out pretty well—they had pretty good success with those pitchers, at least for a little while.
Sorry Ray, Cubs didn’t ‘destroy Maples’ by not letting him pitch out of jams. He got himself in aplenty of jams in his minor league career. And I’m sure he had aplenty of opportunities to try to learn how to deal with them.
And I guess he just never figured it out.
Dillon Maples was given plenty of chances. Zero consistency. Can’t totally blame that on coaching. Sure did root for him. He showed a glimour of hope at one point, but that was just an aberration, unfortunately.
so the rellever deals BEGIN! im calling it now, 100% sure, this guy is gonna be our 8th inning guy and will either be a main-stay, or delt at the deadline for a prospect.
Looks like a good sign for the cubs!He should fit it quite well there!
Apparently its a good day to be a Duff(e)y. First Tyler, then Matt, just waiting for Danny to complete the trifecta