Hey, Fun: Cubs Sign Ben Heller, One of Our Offseason Handbook Minor-League Free Agent Targets

[Matthew Trueblood]

Way back in early November, we published our Offseason Handbook for the Cubs' 2024-25 hot stove campaign. Included was a piece recommending six minor-league free-agent pitchers the Cubs could scoop up as depth options. Monday, they signed one of those six.

Image courtesy of © Philip G. Pavely-Imagn Images

In our Caretakers-exclusive look at six minor-league free agents who could help the Cubs' pitching staff in 2025, I ranked the select half-dozen hurlers from most to least desirable. All six had things to recommend them, or else I wouldn't have profiled them, but I felt it was important to put them in a certain order, too. Of the six, Ben Heller ranked second on my list. Monday, the Cubs nabbed Heller on a minor-league deal.

I won't share all the details here that Caretakers got to enjoy there, but to run down the rest of the six:

• Clay Helvey signed a minor-league deal with the Nationals two weeks ago.
• Jason Alexander signed with the Athletics in mid-November.
• Joe Record, Janson Junk, and Brad Keller remain free agents.

I ranked Heller ahead of all except Helvey as a target for the Cubs, because he has terrific stuff that suits a lot of the things the Cubs like to do, anyway. Here's a portion of what I wrote about him in November:

Quote

Working from a lowish slot, Heller throws 95 and touches 98-99 with both a two-seamer and a four-seamer, although the former has a much more effective shape. He complements those offerings with a changeup that has some relative cut, making it a funky offering from that arm slot; a hard cutter that misses tons of bats and became the focal point of his repertoire last year; and a sweeper. If his shoulder heals with rest, he could be a nice out-of-nowhere infusion of high-end stuff next spring, especially after the Cubs perform a cleanup on his pitch mix.

This signing doesn't affirmatively answer those health questions, because those things can always recur or flare back up as a hurler gets ready for the season. If he had been fully healthy throughout 2024, though, it's unlikely Heller would have been available in the first place. The stuff profile is good enough to make him a very strong medium-leverage relief option. Here's the pitch mix he used in 2024, in visual form:

The cutter is very much on the slider end of the fastball-slider spectrum of cutters, so think of it more as a breaking ball and complement to the sinker and four-seamer than as a tertiary fastball look, but this is the kind of shape set the Cubs love from righty relievers. It's similar to those of Tyson Miller or Jorge López, the latter of whom is a free agent right now, so Heller could plausibly replace López in the 2025 mix, in a sense.

You can bet that there's an opt-out date written into this deal, so the Cubs will have to decide to add Heller to their 40-man roster at some point, or let him pursue another opportunity. He's out of options, so whenever they do enfold him, he'll have to stay on the active roster unless or until they are ready to risk losing him. Still, this is a solid addition. As implied by the fact that I identified him earlier this offseason, I think he's a very strong fit for the group, and he helps make up for the loss of Hayden Wesneski and his potential bullpen contributions. If nothing comes of it, that's fine. Nothing much was ventured, since the deal doesn't cost the team a 40-man roster spot. If Heller is healthy and pitches the way he can, though, this will look like a tremendous investment.

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[Development DL]

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