In landing Andrew Kittredge, Cubs set to reinforce bullpen
After picking up Michael Soroka from the Washington Nationals to lengthen the back end of their rotation, the Cubs were set up to address the bullpen Thursday, trading for Andrew Kittredge of the Baltimore Orioles.
The Orioles will get Dominican shortstop Wilfri De La Cruz, 17, in the trade.
Kittredge, who pitched a scoreless inning in the Orioles’ 9-8 loss to the Blue Jays on Wednesday, is 2-2 with a 3.45 ERA in his age-35 season, with 32 strikeouts and eight walks in 31 1/3 innings. Formerly a member of the Tampa Bay Rays (2017-2023) and St. Louis Cardinals (2024), he was an All-Star in 2021.
For the Cubs (63-45), who pulled back to within a game of the Milwaukee Brewers with a 10-3 win on Wednesday, the bullpen has been a particular area of needed improvement. While their relief ERA going into Wednesday night was 3.90 — good for 15th out of 30 teams — their relievers had only been worth 1.0 fWAR, which ranked 25th of 30, ahead of only the Detroit Tigers, Nationals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels.
One thing Kittredge does exceptionally well: he gets batters to chase. Per Baseball Savant, he has a 41.3% chase rate. He hasn’t pitched enough innings to qualify for their percentile rankings, but here’s a list of their top five qualifiers, by out-of-zone swing percentage:
Most of that chase comes on Kittredge’s nasty slider, which has 33 inches of vertical drop and 6.2 inches of glove-side horizontal break. His fastball is pedestrian, averaging 94.4 mph, but paired with a slider, split-finger and sinker, his arsenal is good enough to boost the Cubs’ bullpen.
Trade grade
Cubs: B
Orioles: B
Kittredge bulks up the interior of the Cubs’ pitching staff, much like fellow new addition Michael Soroka. He doesn’t induce an excessive amount of strikeouts, but he can entice hitters to chase pitches outside the zone. The Cubs should feel fine using him in higher-leverage spots during the season’s final months.
De La Cruz signed for $2.3 million this offseason, the recipient of the largest bonus in the Cubs’ international class. It’s a good upside play by Baltimore in exchange for a middle reliever. That’s how the Houston Astros acquired Yordan Alvarez (in exchange for Josh Fields in 2016) and the Pittsburgh Pirates picked up Oneil Cruz (for Tony Watson in 2017). — Andy McCullough
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