Options are great. Teams want as many as possible, especially when they can be acquired inexpensively.
With baseball’s stretch run and postseason approaching, the Cubs have been busy adding spare parts to their inventory of players. They signed first baseman Carlos Santana and pitchers Austin Gomber and Joe Ross after they were released elsewhere and claimed another pitcher, Aaron Civale, on waivers.
They also signed 34-year-old speedster Billy Hamilton after he spent the last two seasons in Mexico. He played for Mexico in the Caribbean Series in February.
Civale signed a one-year, $8 million deal with Milwaukee last winter and was traded to the White Sox for first baseman Andrew Vaughn in June. The Sox were unsuccessful attempting to trade him at the trade deadline and put him on waivers last month. The Cubs will pay Civale about $1.3 million for September.
The others will be owed only a prorated portion of the MLB minimum salary ($760,000). That comes out to $4,418.60 per day.
Santana, a 39-year-old switch hitter who is an option at first base, DH and off the bench, was released by Cleveland in late August. He went on the Cubs’ books on Sept. 1. The other four remain in the wings but can be added to the roster any time, including a spot on a postseason roster, because they were signed by the organization by Sept. 1.
The Cubs have slipped 5 1/2 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central but at 80-60 are positioned to grab the top wild card spot. They are concerned about the recent trend, however, as they’ve gone 21-21 since July 19.
Hamilton is arguably both the most intriguing addition and the least likely to work his way into a significant role. But you can’t blame Cubs’ president Jed Hoyer for wanting an elite pinch runner on his bench.
Hoyer was an assistant to Theo Epstein in Boston when Dave Roberts famously kept hope alive for the Red Sox by stealing second base in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. Hamilton potentially play that role for the Cubs.
While Hamilton never led the National League in stolen bases, he stole 155 bases in 132 games in 2012, setting a minor-league record. He has 326 stolen bases in 951 major-league games, including a career-high 59 in 2017.
Hamilton is a skilled outfielder, with a career total of 74 defensive runs saved, per Fangraphs. But he has rarely been more than a bottom-of-the-order hitter, despite his speed.
In the best of his six seasons in Cincinnati, Hamilton hit .260 with three home runs and a .664 OPS. For his career, he’s a .239 hitter with a .292 on-base percentage and a .325 slugging percentage.
Hamilton has struck out in 22.1 percent of plate appearances, with walks in only 7.3. His hard-hit rate since 2015 is 10.2 with an average exit velocity of 81.8 mph, per Statcast. His sprint speed ranked in the 98th percentile as recently as 2022.
Hamilton stole 80 bases in 132 games in Mexico last year. He only played 10 games with Jalisco this season but had seven stolen bases in 10 games. He will go to Triple-A Iowa and attempt to show he earn his way onto a postseason roster, as he did for the Braves in 2019 and the Cubs in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Hamilton’s career illustrates how MLB’s economic system — built around the twin engines of arbitration and free agency — can work against blue-collar players.
Drafted in the second round of the 2009 draft from Taylorsville (Miss.) High School, he received a $623,000 signing bonus but has played 16 of 17 pro seasons on one-year contracts. The only exception was a 2019 deal with Kansas City that included a mutual option for ’20; he received a $1 million buyout (from Atlanta) when it wasn’t exercised.
According to the Baseball Reference website, Hamilton has earned about $15.64 million in his career. He was not yet arbitration eligible when he made his biggest contributions for the Reds, and thus was held to a total of $1,696,667 in 2013-16, when he racked up 7.3 WAR over 398 games.
Hamilton has generated only 2.5 WAR in 553 games over seven seasons since the productive run over the early years of his career. Between the end of 2018 and ’23, he was granted free agency eight times, released twice, claimed on waivers twice and traded once.
Due mostly to his limited impact as a hitter, he hasn’t had a guaranteed contract the 2019 deal with Kansas City. He played with the Mets, Cubs, White Sox (two stints), Marlins and Twins in 2020-23, always signing minor-league contracts that left him vulnerable to the churn of rosters.
Credit the Cubs for giving him one more chance. He still has the type of speed that can win games.
SportsMoney, /sportsmoney, Business, /business, business, sportsmoney, standard Options are great. Teams want as many as possible, especially when they can be acquired inexpensively.
With baseball’s stretch run and postseason approaching, the Cubs have been busy adding spare parts to their inventory of players. They signed first baseman Carlos Santana and pitchers Austin Gomber and Joe Ross after they were released elsewhere and claimed another pitcher, Aaron Civale, on waivers.
They also signed 34-year-old speedster Billy Hamilton after he spent the last two seasons in Mexico. He played for Mexico in the Caribbean Series in February.
Civale signed a one-year, $8 million deal with Milwaukee last winter and was traded to the White Sox for first baseman Andrew Vaughn in June. The Sox were unsuccessful attempting to trade him at the trade deadline and put him on waivers last month. The Cubs will pay Civale about $1.3 million for September.
The others will be owed only a prorated portion of the MLB minimum salary ($760,000). That comes out to $4,418.60 per day.
Santana, a 39-year-old switch hitter who is an option at first base, DH and off the bench, was released by Cleveland in late August. He went on the Cubs’ books on Sept. 1. The other four remain in the wings but can be added to the roster any time, including a spot on a postseason roster, because they were signed by the organization by Sept. 1.
The Cubs have slipped 5 1/2 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central but at 80-60 are positioned to grab the top wild card spot. They are concerned about the recent trend, however, as they’ve gone 21-21 since July 19.
Hamilton is arguably both the most intriguing addition and the least likely to work his way into a significant role. But you can’t blame Cubs’ president Jed Hoyer for wanting an elite pinch runner on his bench.
Hoyer was an assistant to Theo Epstein in Boston when Dave Roberts famously kept hope alive for the Red Sox by stealing second base in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. Hamilton potentially play that role for the Cubs.
While Hamilton never led the National League in stolen bases, he stole 155 bases in 132 games in 2012, setting a minor-league record. He has 326 stolen bases in 951 major-league games, including a career-high 59 in 2017.
Hamilton is a skilled outfielder, with a career total of 74 defensive runs saved, per Fangraphs. But he has rarely been more than a bottom-of-the-order hitter, despite his speed.
In the best of his six seasons in Cincinnati, Hamilton hit .260 with three home runs and a .664 OPS. For his career, he’s a .239 hitter with a .292 on-base percentage and a .325 slugging percentage.
Hamilton has struck out in 22.1 percent of plate appearances, with walks in only 7.3. His hard-hit rate since 2015 is 10.2 with an average exit velocity of 81.8 mph, per Statcast. His sprint speed ranked in the 98th percentile as recently as 2022.
Hamilton stole 80 bases in 132 games in Mexico last year. He only played 10 games with Jalisco this season but had seven stolen bases in 10 games. He will go to Triple-A Iowa and attempt to show he earn his way onto a postseason roster, as he did for the Braves in 2019 and the Cubs in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Hamilton’s career illustrates how MLB’s economic system — built around the twin engines of arbitration and free agency — can work against blue-collar players.
Drafted in the second round of the 2009 draft from Taylorsville (Miss.) High School, he received a $623,000 signing bonus but has played 16 of 17 pro seasons on one-year contracts. The only exception was a 2019 deal with Kansas City that included a mutual option for ’20; he received a $1 million buyout (from Atlanta) when it wasn’t exercised.
According to the Baseball Reference website, Hamilton has earned about $15.64 million in his career. He was not yet arbitration eligible when he made his biggest contributions for the Reds, and thus was held to a total of $1,696,667 in 2013-16, when he racked up 7.3 WAR over 398 games.
Hamilton has generated only 2.5 WAR in 553 games over seven seasons since the productive run over the early years of his career. Between the end of 2018 and ’23, he was granted free agency eight times, released twice, claimed on waivers twice and traded once.
Due mostly to his limited impact as a hitter, he hasn’t had a guaranteed contract the 2019 deal with Kansas City. He played with the Mets, Cubs, White Sox (two stints), Marlins and Twins in 2020-23, always signing minor-league contracts that left him vulnerable to the churn of rosters.
Credit the Cubs for giving him one more chance. He still has the type of speed that can win games.
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