Cubs Claim Wade Miley off Waivers

[Bertz]

 

I believe he's got a $10M club option

[UMFan83]

Looks like the Cubs are spending. Not thrilled with another soft tosser in the rotation but I guess it doesn't matter all that much.

 

Worth 2.9 fWAR last year (6.0 bWAR)

Edited November 5, 2021 by UMFan83

[Andy]

He'll probably be an OK back of the rotation guy and costs nothing but money. Seems like a good move.

[jersey cubs fan]

So this is all to save $1m on the Reds behalf?

[Post Count Padder]

Rather surprising but hey a not-terrible option on basically a reasonable one year contract. I'll take it. Also helps with depth and doesn't force us to consider both of Steele and Thompson for the rotation.

[UMFan83]

He'll probably be an OK back of the rotation guy and costs nothing but money. Seems like a good move.

 

'OK back of the rotation guy' might be understating it. He was 4th amongst pitchers in bWAR last year. I don't know if I trust WAR for pitchers as much as for position players but that's still pretty damn good.

[Bertz]

He'll probably be an OK back of the rotation guy and costs nothing but money. Seems like a good move.

 

Yeah I like this a lot. I don't love adding yet another finesse guy, but Miley's a pretty safe #4 starter (and depending on how much you buy his FIP beater abilities might be more of a #3) and that's not a lot of money.

 

I'd honestly also explore moving Mills at this point.

 

A higher end FA (e.g. Stroman)

Hendricks

An upside FA (e.g. Andrew Heaney)

Miley

Alzolay/Steele/etc.

 

Like obviously wait until you've got FAs in the door to pull the trigger, but that's a rotation I'd be pretty happy with, and Mills probably has some modest value.

[Bertz]

[sneakypower]

Davies replacement

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Good

 

- Consistent Results. Miley is Top 20 in SP in ERA since 2018 (min 400 IP), with names like Greinke, Alcantara, Nola, Montas, Stroman, and Lynn surrounding him

- Handedness. Miley gets lefties out which makes piggybacking an appealing option with righties of uncertain quality/durability(Alzolay, Thompson, Espinoza, Jensen, Killian)

- Durability. He's made 28 starts and 155 IP in 8 of his 9 seasons(excluding 2020 of course). While he hasn't hit 170 IP since 2015, having someone who will be decent or better for 5 innings 30 times is sorely needed given the roster

- Contract. Getting a player with Miley's track record would've likely required a long term commitment and/or a decent amount more in AAV. It makes for an obvious place where 2023 savings can happen by replacing him internally, which is important since there's zero contractural dead weight coming off next offseason

 

 

Less Good

 

- Stuff/velocity. One day Miley won't be able to get MLB hitters out, and given his lack of 4 seam velocity, cutter heavy repertoire, and existing HR tendencies, when it goes it will go very badly. The gamble is that isn't going to happen in 2022. Protecting him from the 3rd time through the order will help prevent turning any good outings to bad.

- Uncertain spending. We don't know how much Miley's 10 million represents of the amount the team will spend this offseason. If it's 10 of 70 or 80 million that looks very different than if it's 10 of 40 million. For my .02 I'd be shocked if they tied a hand behind their back this early just for the opportunity to get Wade Miley, but we went through this before with how the team spent after signing Kimbrel so who knows.

- Lack of competitive solution. While having Miley for a single year is a positive, it means you've only filled the rotation spot short term, and if you're a surprise competitor Miley is the type of arm that doesn't make a postseason rotation or could even get left off a playoff roster entirely. You still want to have 2 SP(in addition to Hendricks) outperform him, be they external additions or emergent players already on the roster

[Cubswin11]

While I believe they got him to be part of the 2022 rotation he also isn’t a terrible trade piece if they do a MLB for MLB deal (with other parts) to net out salary. In say a Hosmer type deal or whatever.

[squally1313]

This is just picking up Zach Davies again, but without having to give up the dude who finished second in the Cy Young. If this would have been the price for Davies, I would have loved it. Hopefully this one works out better.

[Derwood]

Reds fans are pissed. Their ownership makes Ricketts look like George Steinbrenner

[CubinNY]

This not worth it’s own thread.

[David]

This not worth it’s own thread.

 

i mean, it absolutely is, tho.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

There’s no take on a message board more boring than “this isn’t important/worth talking about”

[Bertz]

 

Final payroll last year ended up being a little north of $160M. I believe it was a bit north of $170M before the July sell-off (they included cash in every deal except KB).

 

So if payroll were to remain even flat next year, there's still another $80M to spend.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

 

Final payroll last year ended up being a little north of $160M. I believe it was a bit north of $170M before the July sell-off (they included cash in every deal except KB).

 

So if payroll were to remain even flat next year, there's still another $80M to spend.

 

FWIW, even if you assume Brothers is gone(the other fringe arb relievers already are), Cot’s has the 40 man number around 98 million after Miley.

[CubinNY]

There’s no take on a message board more boring than “this isn’t important/worth talking about”

Who said we shouldn’t talk about it? Put it in the off-season transaction thread. He’s nothing. This is a nothing move. Not even a fungible asset. The definition of dumpster diving.

Edited November 6, 2021 by CubinNY

[Bertz]

 

Final payroll last year ended up being a little north of $160M. I believe it was a bit north of $170M before the July sell-off (they included cash in every deal except KB).

 

So if payroll were to remain even flat next year, there's still another $80M to spend.

 

FWIW, even if you assume Brothers is gone(the other fringe arb relievers already are), Cot’s has the 40 man number around 98 million after Miley.

 

Looks like Roster Resource is right there too (they have $100M). So either he forgot the arb guys or intended to add the player benefits and then forgot to actually do it.

[Derwood]

There’s no take on a message board more boring than “this isn’t important/worth talking about”

Who said we shouldn’t talk about it? Put it in the off-season transaction thread. He’s nothing. This is a nothing move. Not even a fungible asset. The definition of dumpster diving.

 

Tell me you don’t know what you’re talking about without telling me you don’t know what you’re talking about

[Transmogrified Tiger]

 

Final payroll last year ended up being a little north of $160M. I believe it was a bit north of $170M before the July sell-off (they included cash in every deal except KB).

 

So if payroll were to remain even flat next year, there's still another $80M to spend.

 

FWIW, even if you assume Brothers is gone(the other fringe arb relievers already are), Cot’s has the 40 man number around 98 million after Miley.

 

Looks like Roster Resource is right there too (they have $100M). So either he forgot the arb guys or intended to add the player benefits and then forgot to actually do it.

 

Wow how have I gone this long without realizing those Roster Resource pages have multiple tabs, everyone please give Fangraphs money so it doesn’t die.

[OleMissCub]

There’s no take on a message board more boring than “this isn’t important/worth talking about”

Who said we shouldn’t talk about it? Put it in the off-season transaction thread. He’s nothing. This is a nothing move. Not even a fungible asset. The definition of dumpster diving.

 

May I direct your attention to the 2021 leaderboard

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/WAR_pitch_top_ten.shtml

[Little Slide Rooter]

Had no idea he was good for a 6.0 WAR last year- considering that the Cubs highest was Contreras at 4.1.

 

I mean he’s still 35 years old, but for a 1 year/ $10mm pickup, can’t complain at all. If he can hang on for a few months, maybe he can land us our next Arrietta.

[Rob]

Late to the party, but this is exactly the sort of move the Cubs should be making this offseason. He's almost certainly gone at the deadline, but he's a very solid bet to bring something of value back. And if he's performing like he did last year, that value could be sneakily high.

 

I always like these gambles with starting pitching more than position players as a general rule, too. Essentially every team will need more SP heading into the deadline. But there's no guarantees that any contenders would need a 3B or a 2B or whatever other veteran presence you've "hit" on for the season. Or even if a handful of teams need them, there may be a glut of that position available on the market. SP just seem to go for more in general unless some pretty specific situations play out.