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Why The Cubs Placed Hoby Milner On Outright Waivers
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- Why The Cubs Placed Hoby Milner On Outright Waivers
The Chicago Cubs made a surprising decision on Friday afternoon.
The Cubs placed veteran left-handed reliever Hoby Milner on outright waivers. Although earlier reports said that Milner was designated for assignment, MLB insider Mark Feinsand made a correction that the southpaw was placed on outright waivers .
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Placing Milner on outright waivers gives the other 29 teams the chance to claim him. Teams with the worst record get first dibs at claiming the reliever, and it trickles down the list. The Colorado Rockies will have the first opportunity to claim him, while the Milwaukee Brewers will be last.
If no team puts a claim in for Milner, the 35-year-old can return to the Cubs. However, it takes just one team to claim him. If that happens, the North Siders would lose one of their more dependable left-handed relievers.
The Cubs needed to make a decision on Milner's activation because his maximum 30-day rehab assignment was up. The 10-year veteran underwent an emergency appendectomy in late June. He then began a rehab assignment with the Iowa Cubs on July 29.
Milner threw the ball well on his rehab assignment. He had a 2.53 ERA and nine strikeouts across 10 ⅔ innings pitched. The southpaw appeared ready to rejoin the Cubs bullpen this weekend after having four straight scoreless outings with Iowa.
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However, the front office made the tough decision not to activate Milner from the injured list. Now, the Cubs could risk losing him by placing him on outright waivers. This was definitely a head-scratching move.
Milner was one of the Cubs' best left-handed relievers before his unexpected surgery. He had a 3.53 ERA and a 1.206 WHIP across 35 ⅔ innings pitched. Milner also had a 1.17 ERA across a nine-appearance stretch from June 9 to June 25 before landing on the injured list on June 27.
One reason the Cubs could have placed Milner on outright waivers is due to his underlying metrics. The 35-year-old has a 5.31 expected ERA, a .296 expected batting average against, a 28.7% chase rate, a 17.1% whiff rate, and a 12.1% strikeout rate in the big leagues this season. He is simply not missing bats, and some negative regression could be headed his way down the stretch.
It would have made more sense to keep the lefty pitcher (Milner), who has produced better numbers this season, than the lefty pitcher ( Caleb Thielbar ), who hasn't. But Thielbar definitely has the better stuff on the mound. That could have played a part in the Cubs' decision.
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Even though Thielbar has a 5.09 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP across 40 ⅔ innings pitched, his whiff rate (27.1%), chase rate (37%), and strikeout rate (27.9%) all rank in the top 35% of the league. The Cubs might believe that swing-and-miss stuff is better to keep around.
Chicago's front office is probably hoping that Milner does not get claimed on waivers, so he can return to the organization. With the rosters expanding on September 1, he could be activated to the big-league roster next week if he makes it back to the team.
