The Chicago Cubs had to fill a couple of bench spots on their roster with it being one of the weaker links coming into spring training.
Earlier this offseason the Cubs made a trade with the Miami Marlins to acquire utility man and defensive specialist Vidal Brujan to be one option.
President of Baseball Ops Jed Hoyer didn’t think that was enough hinting in interviews that he still wanted to add another veteran bench bat. The Cubs got just their man for the job when they signed Jon Berti to a one-year deal giving the Cubs more depth to choose from.
The Cubs DFA a promising young shortstop in Luis Vazquez
Berti’s signing was made official today and to make room for Berti on the 40-man roster the Cubs designated Luis Vazquez for assignment. The 25-year-old was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the fourteenth round of the 2017 MLB June Amateur Draft from Alberto Meléndez Torres HS in Orocovis, Puerto Rico. Vazquez spent most of his season down in the minors but did debut with the Cubs where he played in 11 games where he slashed .083/.143/.083 for an OPS and OPS+ of .226 and -33.
In 64 games down in at Triple-A Vazquez was a far better hitter with slashing .263/.347/.432 for an OPS of .779 and had 16 doubles and 8 homeruns. Vazquez is a far superior defender than he is at the plate showing that at the Major League level with having 50 defensive runs saves in just six games (24 innings) at shortstop.
What happens to Vazquez now?
The Cubs will now have seven days to either trade Vazquez or place him on outright or unconditional release waivers where a team will have a chance to claim him. If Vazquez goes through waivers unclaimed Vazquez who has less than five years of Major League service time will be sent to the minor leagues. Given teams could always use a defensive shortstop and given Vazquez is still just 25 and could still show promise at the plate a team may take a chance on him.
Moving forward
The Cubs roster is starting to take shape as spring training inches closer and closer.
Adding Berti will give the Cubs a lot of depth and will be especially useful early in the season with Nico Hoerner’s uncertainty of being ready for Opening Day still up in the balance.
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