Add Jeremy Jeffress’ name to the list of high-potential, low-risk, bounce-back pitchers the Cubs have put together for a bullpen that could be its Achilles heel or the backbone of the team, depending on the direction of those bounces.
Jeffress, 32, whose $850,000 deal became final Tuesday, was an All-Star workhorse for the Brewers’ 2018 division winner, producing a 1.29 ERA and 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings in a career-high 73 games.
His deal includes up to an additional $200,000 in workload bonuses: $50,000 each for reaching 40, 45, 50 and 55 games pitched.
It marks the Cubs’ first non-split-contract, major-league acquisition of the offseason.
After a sore shoulder delayed Jeffress’ 2019 start by three weeks, he struggled much of the season before the Brewers released him in September. He had a 5.02 ERA in 48 games, with two fewer strikeouts per nine innings.
his deal includes no option clause for 2021, and as with any one-year contract the full value is not guaranteed until he makes the Opening Day roster.
The budget-cramped Cubs also brought back Brandon Morrow on a no-risk, minor-league deal after the once-dominating reliever missed the last 11⁄2seasons of his two-year deal with the club because of injuries.
If young Rowan Wick backs up his 2019 rookie success, and closer Craig Kimbrel shows that his struggles last year were about his season without a spring and not a decline, and Morrow stays healthy, and Jeffress bounces back ... you get the idea.
