This week, the Chicago Cubs acquired righty reliever Jesus Tinoco from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for cash. Tinoco was on a minor league contract with the Royals, so the Cubs are most likely receiving the same deal and bringing him in on a low league contract. But I have to note the possibility that he was opting out and the Cubs signed him instead (i.e., he does not opt out of free agency; he joins the Cubs on his current contract because they decided to call him up). If that’s the case, we should see him called up on Friday.
Tinoco, 29, has long been a borderline MLB/Triple-A player with the Rockies and then the Rangers, producing enough to earn opportunities but failing to stick. He had some time in the major leagues in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. He had a 4.05 ERA at the time across 66.2 big league innings, which was 15% better than the league average by ERA- when considering where he was pitching. However, the peripherals were poor, and contact-managing relievers are not generally given much leeway.
Out of minor league option years at the time, he went to Japan for the 2023 season, where he had good statistics (sub-3 ERA) but terrible peripherals. That meant he only received a minor league contract when he returned to the United States, however he was eventually called up to the Rangers after pitching successfully in Triple-A.
He made nine games for the Rangers, the majority of which were unsuccessful, before being DFA’d in mid-June. Following that, he signed a minor league contract with the Royals, where he dominated at Triple-A, before joining the Cubs. So, as I previously stated, we’ll see if this is a precursor to an instant call-up, or if the Cubs simply wanted him on a minor league contract more than the Royals did and were prepared to pay a little extra for the pleasure.
Let’s see what happens. I could definitely make the case that this is a player worth giving another chance in the big leagues, as the Cubs did with Jorge Lopez. However, with all of the injuries, I might argue that it was worth it to add some Triple-A depth with big league experience.
Oh, and of particular interest to an organization like the Cubs: Tinoco’s velocity has increased over the previous two years to 96+ mph on a regular basis. Perhaps they regard him as being on the verge of unlocking something.
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