The Chicago Cubs have reportedly signed right handed pitcher Trevor Cahill to a minor league deal. This will be the fourth Major League team he has played for this year alone. He started the year with the Arizona Diamondbacks before being traded to the Atlanta Braves. Cahill was then released by the Braves and picked up by the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Diamondbacks and Braves are paying his $12MM salary this season and he will become a free agent at the end of this year. He will work on rejuvenating his career at Triple-A Iowa.
Cahill was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 2nd round of the 2006 amateur draft. His best season came back in 2010 when he made the American League All Star team and finished the year with a record of 18-8 and a 2.97 earned run average. Recent years have not been as impressive. Overall, in seven major league seasons, Cahill has a 64-72 record with an earned run average of 4.16. This season in 15 games for the Braves, Cahill is 0-3 with a 7.52 earned run average.
According to FanGraphs, Cahill changed his pitching style last season. From his All Star year in 2010 to 2013, he was strictly a ground ball pitcher and had a top five grounder rate of 57.3% while his strikeout rate was 17.6%. But last season was a bit different as he struck out 21% of the batters he faced while his grounder rate dropped to 48.5%. Cahill still has a decent changeup, sinker and breaking ball and will need to prove he can be effective before the September call ups. The Cubs are not taking any risk by signing Cahill and they could end up being rewarded with a veteran pitcher for the playoff race.
