Cubs Claim Right-Handed Reliever Eric Orze Off Waivers from Twins

[Matthew Trueblood]

The Chicago Cubs claimed right-handed reliever Eric Orze off waivers from the Minnesota Twins Monday, the team announced. For Minnesota, waiving Orze was a matter of early-offseason roster cleanup, after he finished the season at Triple-A St. Paul. He'll be out of options next spring, so if the Cubs retain him throughout the offseason, they'll need to carry him on the major-league roster on Opening Day in order to keep him in the organization.

Orze, 29, appeared in 36 games and had one save for the 2026 Twins. In 41 1/3 innings, he posted a 5.06 ERA, with a too-low 19.0% strikeout rate. The 6-foot-4 twirler started the season in a high-leverage role for a weak Twins bullpen, but by midsummer, he'd become a mop-up man. He was optioned to the minors on July 8 and never promoted back to the larger of the Twin Cities.

He's a local product—a native of Elk Grove who attended Glenbard North High School. He was selected by the Mets in the abbreviated MLB Draft in 2020 and debuted with them in 2024, but was traded to the Rays that November. After an uneven season with Tampa Bay, he was dealt to Minnesota last November, so this makes three straight early changes of scenery for the still-controllable arm. He was a collegiate draftee, having attended the University of New Orleans, so he's already used up all of his minor-league options. That made him expendable for a Twins team with an overloaded 40-man roster.

For the Cubs, he's an intriguing flier because of his arsenal and pitch shapes. He throws from a high-three-quarters arm slot and gets good carry on his four-seam fastball, though the pitch has only sat 92-94 during his big-league stints. His primary pitch is a splitter with great depth, though it doesn't always tunnel as well with the fastball as a typical splitter, due to the extremes of movement on the two offerings. He also sprinkles in a slider, and he developed a curveball during his brief time in Minnesota. The building blocks of a pitcher with good swing-and-miss upside and small platoon splits are there.

Control has been his bugaboo. Orze doesn't have plus command of any of his offerings and has walked 11.1% of opposing batters during his three seasons in the majors. Batters don't expand the zone as much as he would need them to, in order to get the strikeouts that his arsenal promises. With the right set of adjustments, that could change, and for now, the Cubs will bet on unlocking him. If their offseason is as robust and active as they hope, he might become a roster casualty at some point, before ever throwing a pitch for the team in the big leagues. There's a chance, however, that he turns into their latest diamond-in-the-rough bullpen find. He's under team control through 2032, or (much more realistically) for however long he can stick on the big-league roster.

Image courtesy of Eric Canha-Imagn Images

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