Cubs sign Brandon Workman

[UMFan83]

 

Stellar 2019, not so great 2020

[Bertz]

He was horsefeathers in his partial season with the Phillies but generally he's been a good setup type arm for the Sox.

 

Sounds like teams are planning to do 9 man bullpens this year, so we're likely looking at:

 

CL - Kimbrel

SU - Wick

SU - Chafin

MRP - Winkler

MRP - Adam

MRP - Workman

MRP - TBD lefty (Ryan as the favorite?)

MRP - TBD righty (Underwood as the favorite?)

LRP - 6th starter/swingman

 

If Kimbrel is indeed fixed, I actually really like this group

[JeffH]

Last year, they capped the number of pitchers on a roster at thirteen. Are they going to do that again?

[Bertz]

Last year, they capped the number of pitchers on a roster at thirteen. Are they going to do that again?

 

No. As part of the health and safety protocols they scrapped that. So 26 man rosters with no pitcher limit. In the abstract I hate it, but it's probably necessary for this year.

[Cubswin11]

Last year, they capped the number of pitchers on a roster at thirteen. Are they going to do that again?

 

No. As part of the health and safety protocols they scrapped that. So 26 man rosters with no pitcher limit. In the abstract I hate it, but it's probably necessary for this year.

Seems like this year, even more than last they should’ve had 27 or 28 man rosters.

[Cubswin11]

He was horsefeathers in his partial season with the Phillies but generally he's been a good setup type arm for the Sox.

 

Sounds like teams are planning to do 9 man bullpens this year, so we're likely looking at:

 

CL - Kimbrel

SU - Wick

SU - Chafin

MRP - Winkler

MRP - Adam

MRP - Workman

MRP - TBD lefty (Ryan as the favorite?)

MRP - TBD righty (Underwood as the favorite?)

LRP - 6th starter/swingman

 

If Kimbrel is indeed fixed, I actually really like this group

Who’s all out of options. Underwood and maybe Adbert? Fenter too as a Rule 5 guy (they could always just complete the transaction and send some money or nothing prospect over to the Orioles as well to get his options.). Anyone else?

[JeffH]

Who’s all out of options. Underwood and maybe Adbert? Fenter too as a Rule 5 guy. Anyone else?

 

The following pitchers may not be optioned.

 

Arrieta, Jake

Chafin, Andrew

Davies, Zach

Fenter, Gray

Hendricks, Kyle

Kimbrel, Craig

Maples, Dillon

Mills, Alec

Underwood, Duane Jr.

Winkler, Dan

Workman, Brandon

 

The following pitchers may be optioned.

 

Abbott, Cory

Adam, Jason

Holder, Jonathan

Marquez, Brailyn

Miller, Tyson

Norwood, James

Rodriguez, Manuel

Ryan, Kyle

Steele, Justin

Stewart, Kohl

Stock, Robert

Thompson, Keegan

Wick, Rowan

Wieck, Brad

Williams, Trevor

 

According to Arizona Phil, Alzolay's status is TBD. I think he is most likely to be optionable for 2021.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Not a real person. Not even a good attempt at a real name that could be a real person.

[MWV]

I realize I haven't been paying close attention, but who the horsefeathers is Gray Fenter?

Sounds like a migratory bird species.

[JeffH]

I realize I haven't been paying close attention, but who the horsefeathers is Gray Fenter?

Sounds like a migratory bird species.

 

He was an Oriole who has temporarily migrated from Baltimore to Chicago. So, yes, that's exactly what he is.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I realize I haven't been paying close attention, but who the horsefeathers is Gray Fenter?

Sounds like a migratory bird species.

 

Rule 5 pick from Baltimore, good arm but very old for his levels, could be a starter, swingman, or short reliever. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-2020-rule-5-draft-scouting-reports/

 

Yet another pitcher with a backspinning fastball taken in the Rule 5, Fenter sat 91-93 and touched 95 in 2019 while striking out 11 per nine. He’ll flash a yacker 12-6 curveball. He’ll turn 25 in January and has never pitched above A-ball.

[Cubswin11]

One positive for Workman is that his velocity jumped almost 2 MPH in 2019 (91.7 to 93.2) and didn't really go away (92.98) in 2020. He also drew a 10% whiff rate on the four seam in 2020 and is a legit 3 pitch reliever

 

I didn't notice how good he was in 2019, 1 HR in 71.2 ML IP with Fenway as a home park and a juiced ball is impressive

Yeah I really like this. It may blow up but it’s cheap and he has upside and with Wick down we need another upside guy vs a safer vet play I wanted like Kennedy or Greene who lack that. Only reason for concern I have here is Workman’s BB numbers, we haven’t exactly been great at fixing that with guys and even guys who come in with good BB rates they seem to rise a bit.

[Cubswin11]

Watching some Workman random videos on Baseball Savant. Looks like he already throws a spike curve or a very similar curve type, would think they like something there. Plus I noticed he goes out of a full wind up with no men on base, seems like very few RPs do that anymore. Wonder if they think they can tinker with that/make him go out of the stretch full time

[Cubswin11]

Yeah this might just be a Jake type scenario with Workman with the Phillies messing with him. “Hey, you’re curveball (in Jake’s case cutter) has really good metrics. Throw it more.”

 

[Bertz]

 

I'm not going to call any FO (except mayyybe the Rockies) dumb, but the evidence that the prior Phillies' regime was a couple years behind the rest of the league is pretty compelling. That in turn should probably also color opinions on Arrieta's chances of rebounding...

[Post Count Padder]

Like others have said, he was trash last year but incredible in 2019. Solid buy-low guy. I like the Phillies but it seems like they've messed with a lot of guys the past few years so we'll see what happens.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Dude sports a 3.1 Career WAR, 3.2 of that came from his magical 2019 season. That spells a whole lot of meh-bad.

[WrigleyField 22]

Not a real person. Not even a good attempt at a real name that could be a real person.

Let's hope it's some early 90s video game thing where the dumb fake name is actually the awesome star player secretly.

[Cubswin11]

Dude sports a 3.1 Career WAR, 3.2 of that came from his magical 2019 season. That spells a whole lot of meh-bad.

WAR may be literally the worst metric to evaluate RPs than any stat for the non elite guys. ERA, Saves, Holds and wins mean more.

[sweetpeteman]

Dude sports a 3.1 Career WAR, 3.2 of that came from his magical 2019 season. That spells a whole lot of meh-bad.

WAR may be literally the worst metric to evaluate RPs than any stat for the non elite guys. ERA, Saves, Holds and wins mean more.

 

 

It also ignores that -1.2 of that comes in his first two seasons in 2013 and 14 before he got injured.

 

 

I mean, I don't think much of this signing, but if I noted that the Cubs traded for a guy with a career 1.8 rWAR, with 2.4 of that coming in the season prior, I'd be talking about Pedro Strop.

[Old Style]

I’m not going to know half the losers on this year’s roster.

[Bertz]

 

Still one more 40 man move coming I believe

[JeffH]

 

Still one more 40 man move coming I believe

 

Yes, for Marisnick. It has to be Maples, doesn't it?

[Bertz]

 

Still one more 40 man move coming I believe

 

Yes, for Marisnick. It has to be Maples, doesn't it?

 

Yeah you'd have to think so. He's the name that sticks out on the out of options list. I think talent wise I'd rather dump Norwood but I assume having options is the bigger deal in their situations.

 

I wonder if they can get a little bit for him or if they just have to let him go.

[ddwyer]

How about sending Maples to Baltimore and allowing us to option Fenter to minors