The Cubs have signed another piece of their bullpen puzzle: right hander Jason Adam. Adam is 28, and has patchy experience at the big league level after spending the last two years between the Royals and Blue Jays organizations. He comes into the Cubs organization on a minor league deal, with an invite to spring training. He's another low cost dice roll for the bullpen.
I'm as excited as can be about a move of this level. Adam had reasonable success in 21 innings with Toronto last year, posting a 2.91 ERA and 1.154 WHIP. Now his FIP was 3.95 and xFIP was 6.20, to help temper that initial excitement. The last two years, he's posted minor league ERAs of 1.50 and 2.08, most of that work coming at AAA. There is certainly potential, if he can take the next step forward in the bigs. Steve Adams reports that he throws a 94.7 MPH four seam fastball, which has a super high spin rate that lands in the 98th percentile among MLB pitchers. With some work, that could be a very effective out pitch. He also throws a changeup (89 MPH) and curveball (78 MPH) that move pretty well according to Brooks
Basically, this guy is a project pitcher. There is potential in his arsenal. It's worked at AAA, and had mixed success at the big league level, so far. Theo's had an eye for identifying these kinds of pitchers in the past, so I firmly believe he could pull a rabbit out of his hat for this one. As an added perk, it's another cheap signing. Compared to a Will Harris, which cost a mean 3/$24, Theo is opting for quantity, and at a much cheaper rate. Trust the plan, even if 2019 results were poor.