Do you wander who the Cubs gave up for Rex Brothers?

[jersey cubs fan]

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[jersey cubs fan]

Brothers seemingly strikes out everybody he doesn't walk.

[Guest]

Career away from Coors: 115 IP, 2.33 ERA, 3.48 FIP, 3.75 xFIP, 10.5 K/9, 5.68 BB/9, .294 wOBA against

 

Brothers was in the 'Finding the next bargain relievers' piece Fangraphs did yesterday: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/finding-the-next-bargain-relievers/

 

The name that leaps out for bullpen discussions is Rex Brothers. He doesn’t throw 95 mph any more, but 93+ is still above-average for a lefty. He didn’t get the strikeouts last year, and not really the year before, but he still got above-average swinging strikes, and for the last three years, his swinging strike rate was 69th-best, or 18 slots better than Hector Rondon.

 

Obviously, something has fallen off for Brothers, though. His slider still got whiffs at a good rate: its whiff rate was 57th in baseball among sliders thrown more than 60 times, right there with Gerrit Cole‘s slider, though of course Cole’s slider was thrown more often. What has been failing is his fastball. A falling arm slot has robbed the pitch of rise, and it’s getting a third of the whiffs it got in its heyday. Maybe a new team could right the ship there?

[SouthSideRyan]

Couldn't find him on the main page search function. http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=cabrer001wan

[Sammy Sofa]

I wander the Earth looking for the Ducross Brothers.

[JonJayCutler]

Hell I'm disappointed that we only got one of the Rex brothers.

 

Misleading name.

[davell]

The strength in numbers approach on the bullpen is fine by me. I'm not sure that even if we had the money to spend, that this isn't typically going to work out as well or better.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Rex IS our LOOGY.

[toonsterwu]

Heck, I tend to think I follow the minors enough, and it took me awhile to think of who Wander Cabrera was. Fine gamble for a pen arm. I guess the Rockies get a lottery ticket for someone they were going to let go.

[ctcf]

I'm pretty happy about getting Brothers. I'm curious to see what he can do outside of Coors full time and with the Cubs coaching staff.

[imb]

wander cabrera was a five star prospect in my OOTP franchise from the time he was 18 until he was 27, but he never got any better than 1 star. that's my wander cabrera story

[Jason Ross]

Brothers was someone I wanted once he was DFA'd. Glad to get him in.

 

Cabrera was arguably their top DSL/VSL guy this year, was their top IFA signee last year IIFC, but these were weaker crops for the Cubs.

That and I think this speaks volumes as to what our front office thinks about Wander Cabrera. If they're willing to throw him away on a gamble of a pitcher who was just DFA'ed, I feel like they didn't have very high expectations for him to begin with.

 

Glad to take the gamble on Brothers. Fangraphs had some stuff on him and his arm slot. Maybe Bosio gets that worked out and we could have an impact left-handed reliever out of this. Or, we don't and the price is Wander Cabrera. Either way, fine gamble to me.

[Guest]

Brothers was someone I wanted once he was DFA'd. Glad to get him in.

 

Cabrera was arguably their top DSL/VSL guy this year, was their top IFA signee last year IIFC, but these were weaker crops for the Cubs.

That and I think this speaks volumes as to what our front office thinks about Wander Cabrera. If they're willing to throw him away on a gamble of a pitcher who was just DFA'ed, I feel like they didn't have very high expectations for him to begin with.

 

Not really. $250k bonuses haven't been that big a deal for at least a half decade. He's still a teenager who hasn't thrown a pitch in the US. He's a lottery ticket.

[Jason Ross]

Brothers was someone I wanted once he was DFA'd. Glad to get him in.

 

Cabrera was arguably their top DSL/VSL guy this year, was their top IFA signee last year IIFC, but these were weaker crops for the Cubs.

That and I think this speaks volumes as to what our front office thinks about Wander Cabrera. If they're willing to throw him away on a gamble of a pitcher who was just DFA'ed, I feel like they didn't have very high expectations for him to begin with.

 

Not really. $250k bonuses haven't been that big a deal for at least a half decade. He's still a teenager who hasn't thrown a pitch in the US. He's a lottery ticket.

...that is exactly what I was suggesting...that the Cubs may not have had high expectations of an 18 year old pitcher who had yet to throw in the US to trade him for a gamble in Brothers. Both are lottery tickets, but the Cubs felt like the lottery ticket of Brothers was more valuable.

[Guest]

Didn't see this mentioned elsewhere, but the Cubs and Brothers agreed on 1.42 million for this year. MLBTR estimated 1.5 million so pretty dead on to expectations.