The Cubs have sent veteran infielder David Bote outright to Triple-A Iowa, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment on Friday when the Cubs claimed Gavin Hollowell off of waivers from the Diamondbacks.
Bote has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. However, he is a few days shy of the five years of MLB service time he would need to reject the assignment without forfeiting the guaranteed salary remaining on the five-year, $16MM contract he signed with the Cubs during the 2019 campaign. With just under 20% of the season left to play, that works out to about $1.05MM in salary this year, plus a $1MM buyout on his club option for 2025. That’s significantly more money than Bote could command if he elected free agency and signed on with a new team, so he will almost certainly accept the assignment and report to the Iowa Cubs.
In 37 games for the Chicago Cubs this year, Bote hit .304 with a 105 wRC+ over 48 plate appearances. He spent most of his time playing third base, though he also filled in at first and second. Despite his positional versatility and solid offensive numbers off the bench, he was an easy choice for the Cubs to DFA when they needed to free up a spot on the 40-man roster. Not only has he struggled over the past month (2-for-12 since the All-Star break), but given his unique contract situation, the Cubs knew they could remove him from the roster without the risk of losing him completely. Thus, he will continue to serve as additional depth for the team at Triple-A, where he has 37 doubles, 21 home runs, and a 109 wRC+ in 126 games over the past two seasons.
Bote back to Triple-A where he’ll have to sink or swim.
He doesn’t care about that. He has over 2 million reasons to accept it and plan for what he’s gonna do next year.
Japan, Korea, or retirement?
He’s not going to retire and lose that money, and the Cubs aren’t going to cut him loose when they can leave him in Triple-A as a depth option, so he’s almost certainly going back to Des Moines next year.
Once the Cubs exercise the opt out clause he is a Free Agent and can go wherever he wants. I would suspect he wants a better opportunity to play in the Majors, so why would he stay with the Cubs once the money machine stops dispensing cash?
duhawk83,
Good point, I first read the post last night and didn’t have the details fresh in my mind. I was thinking Bote had one more guaranteed year. Once he gets the $1M buyout, I’m sure he’ll explore all his options.
He’s not going back to Iowa next year because the Cubs will surely exercise the 1 million dollar buyout and save the rest. The Cubs will(Should) Have a smorgasbord of prospects to play there rather than a guy who’s proven he really doesn’t have a future anymore. Somebody should want him though as he might still be a decent bench guy for somebody. Just not here. If you can’t beat out Patrick Wisdom, You literally have no future. Or you have a lousy GM. In this case -both.
I think he will be back when rosters expand.
With the Cubs shooting for mediocrity I don’t get why they didn’t just start him at 3B the whole season. I’d rather have Bote than Madrigal and Morel could’ve just been the everyday DH.
Morel is hitting under .200 and he strikeouts 30% of the time. He’s a great kid, but he’s immature and no matter what the situation is he swings from the heels and tries to hit a five run home run every time at the plate. If Tampa can’t fix him he’s going to have a short career.
No question. Just think there were multiple in house options for third. Not sure why they were so set on Morel needing to play defense.
Scoreboard shot
He can’t DH for the Cubs from Tampa.
lol yes that would be why I used past tense.
First we hear that Neris was released so he couldn’t accumulate enough games to qualify for a $9M contract for next year. Now Bote is designated for assignment so he doesn’t get 5-years of service time. Do any other teams do stuff like this? Seems like the Cubs are cultivating an anti-player benefits reputation which seems well deserved.
Nice conspiracy theory but that’s not how it all went down with those two. Besides had the Cubs been streeeeeeetching the rules the union would file a grievance in no time.
How did it go down then? Because they unquestionably dumped Neris so his option didn’t vest. Sending Bote down is absolutely about his service time + salary. What’s the other explanation?
On the Neris thing–the Cubs had every justification (beginning in May by the way) to stop pitching him at the end of games so avoiding the games completed clause would have been easily understandable. And, don’t you think it would have look a lot more suspicious if he got to say, 57 games, and then never saw the mound again to get to 60 and kicking the clause in. Neris was never getting to either clause.
Now, with Bote, the decision is all his…..the Cubs save absolutely zero money if he accepts the outright to Iowa. He’s literally started one game since July 6th. His contract remains guaranteed if he didn’t choose to become a free agent.
The Cubs needed the 40 man Roster spot for the pitcher they picked up.
Whoever is behind Home Plate for the Cubs game in Pittsburgh on Monday Night is the Brand New Poster Boy for the ABS System. he makes Hernandez look good. he sucks.
He’s missed more pitches tonight than Rob Deer did in his career.
You heard that the Cubs released Neris so his option wouldn’t vest, that’s what the self proclaimed “experts” that write for this site led you to believe but the reality is Neris was awful in save situations and anything else high leverage. The Cubs didn’t need a “mop up man” in their bullpen.
As for Bote, I don’t see why the Cubs designated him vs Wisdom. It really has nothing to do with service time given the Cubs still have to pay him (unless he refuses assignment).
Bote accepted the assignment to AAA and he still is getting paid, The way he was BEFORE they promoted him . Drascoo is right, They have to pay him either way. They just put him out there 1) To see if he could hook on with another team and 2) To see if they could off load his contract with the buyout for next year. A million bucks is a million bucks.
Neris was just bad and couldn’t throw a strike so he hasn’t got a thing to complain about, To the union or anybody else. Every team in the League would have done the same thing. So everybody please stop whining and pointing fingers. Hoyer just got out of another bad deal he made. Nothing to see here. He’s proven once again he’s a horrible GM. Good organizer, Bad at FA signings.
I disagree that Hoyer is a bad gm.
Sure, Swanson has been awful offensively but for the second straight year, Hoyer has put together a good roster that has under performed. Nico and Swanson both have been uncharacteristically bad. We’ve lived through growing pains for Busch, PCA and Amaya, all three now look like building blocks. Suzuki, Happ, Bellinger all have dealt with injuries but have been good. We all talked about third base and felt okay with the options we had going into the season. The pitching has been great. The bullpen struggled early but has also been very good as the season progressed.
What’s funny about the fans who complain about Hoyers free agents signings are typically the fans who argue teams should spread money around vs signing huge stars to huge contracts. I think Hoyer is an okay PBO, shading to good but I disagree with “spreading money around” vs going out and getting impact and building around them (because we don’t have impact on the roster).
Cubs need a 30/100 guy to take the load off all out 20/75-80 guys. If you look at the Cubs roster vs the Yankees, Cubs are better in every position but two but the Yankees are going to the playoffs and Cubs likely won’t.
“Cubs need a 30/100 guy to take the load off all out 20/75-80 guys.”
Yep
As you well know I’ve NEVER said the Cubs don’t spend enough and I reiterate that they just spend it stupidly which is unfortunately for your post because of Hoyer, I could list all the stupid signings but your point about having to deal with the ” Growing Pains” of certain guys is interesting. I’ve been saying for the last 2 years , Play the kids and we wouldn’t be going through the ” Growing Pains” Now. But Hoyer continued to play tramps like Mastrobuoni, Madrigal, Tauchmann and Wisdom and I still have to look at them which is ridiculous. Instead of bringing up the kids Hoyer has continued to give up stupid extensions, Bad FA signings, And totally horrible Bullpen situations. Sure the bullpen is fine NOW. What about the first 3 months when it was disgusting and he did absolutely nothing? Hodge, Bigge and others should have been brought up sooner. His whole bullpen philosophy has been bad except for when he was signing guys to trade. It’s a miserable failure. Not to mention of curiously never signing a decent closer while pretending he wants to compete. And I don’t know what’s with Merryweather but I thought he looked hurt BEFORE last nights debacle and I haven’t seen him throw a slider since he came back so it’s obvious to mean his arm hurts. And like I called it PCA has stopped wrapping the bat around his neck and is hitting the ball hard, But like I said kids are dumb but they learn.
After reading your nonsense I would suggest that MLB Rumors install a “thumbs down” option.
Hoyer is a laugh out loud JOKE.
Go criticize somewhere else. You’re rude, almost always totally off base and tiresome to read.
Hate to break it to you but your “play the kids” argument is off base. Busch wasn’t in our organization last year. PCA was called up, clearly over matched and needed more time in AAA (probably needed more than what we gave him) and Amaya played a lot last season as well.
Call guys up too early can derail development.
You always complain about “extensions” which of course to you is Happ (maybe now you’re complaining about Nico because he’s having a tough season). The same Happ who plays quality defense and consistently hits over 20 home runs. Happ who’s leading our offense in home runs, rbis, doubles and runs scored. Stupid extension indeed.
And then you complain about the bullpen that would have been fine outside of injuries. Your complaints are beyond moot
Dras and Spot—they actually need a 40/115 guy. (but believe me, I’d take a productive 30 hr guy now. Ian Happ, landing at 27 or 28 CANNOT be your top power guy. And a handful of “maybe 20” homer guys isn’t gonna get you anywhere.)
Dras, you are 100% correct—they have to shed the “spreading the money around” thing.
You guys just don’t seem to be able to comprehend what you’re seeing. Bellinger is going to opt in, Busch and PCA are fixtures in Bellingers spots so that’s a waste. As far as Nico goes I love the guy but he’s probably gone because the Cubs can replace him cheaply with either Triantos or Shaw. All caused by the DUMB contract Hoyer signed Bellinger to. The Indians wanted to trade Clase before the season started. How many more games would they have won with him as closer instead of Alzolay. Hoyer put all his chips on Alzolay EVEN though he had a HISTORY of arm problems. So don’t spout that nonsense to me. I have the ability to process what I see. And Hoyer has spewed many a time that you can’t depend on bullpen guys year to year yet he did it anyway. So comporehend what you’re looking at. Why is Wisdom and Tauchmann still here when young guys should be getting some of the “Growing Pains” Right now? The trend of pathetic continues and you guys are like people at a magic show going Ooooh Ahhhhh. Spare me.
Uncle–here is what you said to Dras about Hoyer and the Bellinger signing on the day it was done…Seven months ago it was “great” on Hoyer’s part. Today it is “DUMB”.
(it is cut and paste–of your first post after the signing…I cut out jibberish about depth chart if they signed Dominic Smith and had Mervis and Wisdom).
Drascoo- It is basically a one year deal. Bellinger has opt outs after the first two years. Now he’s motivated to have a good year so he can go back to FA. With Hendricks and Smyly coming off next year that basically pays for Bellinger next year if he opts in….but good signing, It doesn’t really block anyone for long. And they got him at their price, Great negotiating.
In context, Dras has started by saying he wished the opt out was after the second year.
Ooooooohhh Ahhhhhhh. Oh, Where’d my thumb go. Rubbish
Self proclaimed baseball “experts” speculating the Guardians would be willing to deal Clase is a far cry from them “wanting to trade” him.
If Bellinger exercises his options, that’s a good problem for the Cubs to have. Bellinger has been very solid for the Cubs despite suffering a couple injuries. If he opts in, that pushes Suzuki to DH (assuming the Cubs don’t trade him) which in turns improves our out field defense and depth. Alcantara and Caissie are both nice prospects but they are not ready yet, if they become ready, then Bellinger is tradable.
Hoyer didn’t push all his chips in with Alzolay, that’s why we signed Neris. Alzolay, Neris, Merryweather, Leiter jr, Almonte would have/should have given us a good high leverage bullpen.
Just another Hoyer move. No class, no intellect involved. Hoyer has been a detriment to baseball for years and this is just another example of what the Rickets family is like. Sad
I don’t know who you’re talking to, Or about what exactly, But Hoyer is a good POBO. He’s a good organizer and evaluator of FRONT OFFICE talent as every Cub Director who has left has gone on to better things, Harris and Breslow being obvious. But he’s done a great job of replacing them which is good because those guys aren’t easy to find. Banner and Kastrovinz have kept the train rolling but Hoyer has to stay in his lane. And who and what exactly does Hawkins do? IF he has any part of any of those signings he should be fired, Hoyer should stay in his lane, And they should hire a GM who KNOWS how to manage the Tax and Farm system because nobody who’s here now does. There’s nothing wrong with signing up to the Tax as long as you leave money available for the deadline in the WC era that we’re in. A couple of smart signings Aug 1 can go a long way but not when you’re 3 million dollars away every August.
Every team in the majors cuts these corners.
I think another team might claim him if they need infield help for the playoffs. A Giant move maybe? Or a Dodger move?? We shall see
Bote being “outrighted” to AAA means he already cleared waivers and no one put a claim on him.
Good call. Missed seeing that
Nobody was going to pay over $2 million for one month of Bote, just like nobody is going to pay over $4 million for Drew Smyly.
It’s still the right move to try it and hope to get lucky.
I read Mayo’s assessment of the Cubs farm system ranking “lacking pitching”… Justin Steele, Javier Assad and Ben Brown never were ranked on MLBs top 100 prospect list. Who was? Wicks, Azolay and Tailon. When it comes to pitching prospect ranks, it means jack.
Would rather have Bote over Madrigal on the roster. Let’s see what Hoyer does with the roster in the offseason. This was a very disappointing season, I think we can all agree that this team should have been fighting with the Brewers for the division all season long…
Jed Hoyer is not the Cubs GM.
He’ll be back with another team, next season, on a minor league deal.