Cubs get a reliever Tyson Miller from the Mariners to a minor leaguer Jake Slaughterreports ESPN's Jeff Passan (X link). Seattle designated Miller for assignment last week.
Miller returns to the organization that selected him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. The Cal Baptist product reached the majors for the shortest time in the 2020 season. The Cubs traded him on waivers to the Rangers the following year. That began a period of wandering in his career that has seen Miller suit up for five teams without even reaching 15 innings for any of them.
This lefty played for three teams last week. He bounced back and forth between the Brewers, Mets and Dodgers. Miller pitched 15 1/3 innings of eight-run ball and cleared the waiver wire in September. He hit major league free agency and signed a non-disclosure agreement with Seattle through 2024. The M's called him up two weeks into the regular season.
Miller had a productive month in the Pacific Northwest. He threw 11 2/3 frames in nine appearances, allowing four earned runs. Miller struck out 12 in one walk with a solid 12.6% swinging strikeout percentage. It was a bit of a surprise that Seattle still took him off the roster, even though he played a minor role in a strong bullpen.
The Cubs have more relief corps than the Mariners. Chicago's bullpen entered Monday's game ranked 24th in the majors with a 4.58 earned run average. Their 23.4% strikeout rate is good, but they have issued walks at a huge 11% clip. Chicago also has five relievers on the injured list right now. Yency Almonte it sat on the shelf over the weekend, when Adbert Alzolay He just went down with an arm strain tonight.
Miller has run out of options, so he will go into the big league bullpen. The Cubs need to make room for the 40-man roster to complete their acquisition and will need to make an active move once they report to the team.
In order to restore a middle linebacker that had been pressured on the depth chart, Seattle added a young player who is off to a strong start. Slaughter, 27, has a .297/.392/.486 slash line over 130 plate appearances in the Chicago-Iowa affiliate. He connected on five homers, stole 10 bases in 11 attempts, and drew walks at a solid 11.5% clip. His 24.6% strikeout rate is slightly above average but about three percentage points lower than last year's 27.5%.
Killing was an 18th-round pick out of LSU back in 2018. He has never drawn much fanfare and has gone unselected in the Rule 5 draft twice. His numbers this season are strong enough that he has a chance to reach the majors in the last spot this year, however. He will be eligible for major league free agency at the start of next season if Seattle does not add him to the 40-man roster before then.
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