With Justin Grimm Gone, Who’ll Claim The 25th Roster Spot?

Yesterday the Cubs announced the release of reliever Justin Grimm, who was set to make $2.2MM this season after losing his arbitration case over the winter. Despite losing his case, the mere fact that he was tendered a contract after a rough 2017 seemed like good news for the 29-year-old right-hander.

Grimm’s salary alone was enough to make most people (myself included) assume that he was a lock for the team’s eighth and final reliever spot, but we were wrong.

Cubs release RHP Justin Grimm saving $1.6 million on his $2.2 million contract . He had won his salary case via arbitration . Grimm was out of minor league options

— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) March 15, 2018

Side note: Bruce was incorrect stating he won his arbitration case; Grimm filed at $2.4MM and the Cubs filed at $2.2MM.

The Cubs owe Grimm just $530K in early termination pay, so the money they saved puts them close to $14MM under the salary cap heading into opening day.

With Grimm gone, who’ll be taking that final opening day bullpen spot? There appear to be 3-4 different guys with a real shot.

DILLON MAPLES

The soon-to-be 26-year-old right-hander caught the attention of a lot of people in the organization last season, starting the year in High-A and finishing as a September call-up for the Cubs. It was his first season as a full-time reliever, and he posted a 2.27 ERA over 63.1 innings with 100(!) strikeouts. His fastball-sider combo isn’t just major league caliber, it’s high leverage, closing out playoff games caliber.

Dillon Maples hit 97 MPH on this pitch, 99 later in the inning. Struck out two in his @IowaCubs debut. #Nasty #ThatsCub pic.twitter.com/aTgMQVMdAP

— Keith Schulte (@K173401) July 19, 2017

Dillon Maples strikes out the side in the 7th. pic.twitter.com/M426ztS1DS

— Kevin Marchina (@kg_holler) September 21, 2017

However, if his stuff is this nasty and he isn’t a lock for the opening day roster, there has to be some sort of caveat in his game.

Walks. He can’t stop walking people.

He walked 37 batters in his 63.1 minor league innings last season. The walks have plagued him in Spring Training as well, his 6 walks in 5.2 innings have led to a 2.65 WHIP and 14.29 ERA. Spring stats are mostly meaningless but Maples absolutely has to gain at least respectable control of his nasty stuff for it to work. Unless the Cubs feel that working exclusively with Jim Hickey is the only way to solve his command issues, Maples will likely start the season in Iowa.

ANTHONY BASS

This is a name that a lot of people are unfamiliar with, and for good reason. After five seasons of back and forth between the majors and AAA, Bass spent the 2016 season pitching in Japan. He returned stateside last season but threw just 5.2 innings in the majors with the Rangers before signing a minor league deal with the Cubs this past offseason.

Bass has struck out five and has yet to allow a single earned run over four innings this Spring, and Sahadev Sharma of the Athletic has heard enough from his sources to suggest that Bass is a serious opening day roster candidate.

“That leaves a sleeper candidate emerging as a strong possibility to open the season in the Cubs bullpen: Anthony Bass. Bass’ career numbers in the big leagues aren’t all that pretty. However, the Cubs saw something with him they felt could help him get better results.”

Sharma points out in the piece that Bass has only used his slider about 30ish percent of the time at the major league level. The Cubs are hoping that an increase in usage of the slider will lead to an increase in positive results.

Given the obscurity of Bass’ career path, I don’t think that one Spring training with half a dozen productive innings will be enough to earn Bass an opening day job, the Cubs would likely want to see him utilize the slider successfully at the AAA level for a bit first. However, with Pedro Strop’s opening day status up in the air, the Cubs might be forced to keep Bass on the 25 man big league club.

EDDIE BUTLER

The career-long starter is likely the favorite to latch on to the opening day roster, and there are four reasons why.

• He is out of options. If the Cubs cut him, it’s highly likely that a rebuilding club will scoop up the former top prospect
• His background as a starter will allow him to pitch 2-4 innings on any given night, which will take a lot of pressure and stress off of Mike Montgomery’s left arm. Given what we saw from Montgomery in the 2017 postseason, keeping him fresh for October is paramount.
• Outside of command issues, Butler’s biggest problem has been missing bats, which is odd considering his stuff has always been highly touted. A move to the bullpen could help him refine his off-speed stuff, which could lead to more whiffs, which could lead to Butler finally having sustainable success in the majors
• If Butler doesn’t perform well out of the pen, he’ll be gone by Memorial Day. Having him eat up innings for two months allows Maples to work on his command issues while giving the front office an extended look at former major leaguers like Bass, Dario Alvarez, Kyle Ryan and Shae Simmons at the AAA level. By that time, at least one of the pitchers from that group will emerge as a major league caliber reliever.

Regardless of who ends up taking Grimm’s spot on opening day, the chances that any of the players mentioned in this piece end up factoring in the October bullpen is slim. The Cubs were going to use upwards of 15 different relievers throughout the year, as they do every season, whether or not Grimm made the opening day roster.

So to me, yesterday was more about saying goodbye to 2016 world series champion Justin Grimm. Thanks to you, Grimmer, for everything you gave us over your four-year tenure on the north side.

As the Cubs part ways with Justin Grimm, we should never forget that moment during the 2016 World Series where he got of a bases loaded jam with a double play during a tied game. Wrigley Field was electric.

Grimm was a huge part of the Cubs success. Thanks @GrimmReaper_52 ! pic.twitter.com/PusyeRGz24

— Cubs Live (@Cubs_Live) March 15, 2018

Thank you, @GrimmReaper_52, for your time as a Cub and for helping bring a World Series title to Chicago. #Champion pic.twitter.com/YvhfO72v3q

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) March 15, 2018