Get all the Tanner Scott jokes out of your system and then proceed to the part where the Chicago Cubs sign lots of guys on minor league deals, and this one has nothing to do with the Cubs whiffing on Scott this weekend. Suffice to say, they still have work to do on that front.
The Cubs are reportedly signing reliever Trevor Richards to a minor league deal:
As far as minor league deals go, this is another really strong one for the Cubs’ bullpen depth. Richards, 31, is a long-time big league reliever, well-traveled and with intermittent success:
By the results, Richards was very good in 2021 – his first full year in relief – but then fell way off the last few years. But even in those three down years, Richards was sporting a strikeout rate near 30%, and near-league-average FIP. It is easy to understand why he kept getting chances with the Blue Jays, and then the Twins.
The walks are the biggest concern here, as Richards doesn’t give up a ton of monster contact, and those LOB rates sure make me wonder if there’s some flukey stuff going on in the sequencing of hits. Richards is a fastball-changeup guy, and obviously has the stuff to miss bats. The changeup is an extremely weird, high-spin one, and you know the Cubs love a chance at weird:
Richards also gets way more rise on his fastball than usual, and way more drop on his changeup than usual (Statcast):
The fall-off in 2024 is what left him without a chance to get a big league deal, but as a reclamation type for the Cubs on a minor league deal? Absolutely no reason not to do it.
