The Cubs Have A New Pitcher

The offseason is starting to get rolling, as the Cubs have made a few obvious moves and now they also have a new pitcher in the organization. On Wednesday, the Cubs announced that they officially picked up Jose Quintana's 2019 option, worth $10.5 million. The other piece of news is that they claimed left-handed pitcher Jerry Vasto from the Royals.

Vasto, 26, made his MLB debut in 2018, with the Rockies and was then traded to the Royals on Aug. 31, for catcher Drew Butera. Vasto was then called up to the big leagues again in September and ended his season on a good note. The lefty pitched five times for Kansas City, striking out three in 3.2 innings. He allowed one earned run, coming off a solo home run. That was after his lone appearance with the Rockies in which Vasto allowed three earned runs in 2/3 of an inning. Vasto was selected in the 24th round of the 2014 draft by the Rockies out of Felician University. Overall in the minors, he pitched in 180 games, all as a reliever, and he recorded a 3.79 ERA. In 2018, Vasto had a 3.08 ERA in 38 innings at Triple-A.

The Cubs have also declined Brandon Kintzler's $10 million option for 2019, but as expected he exercised his $5 million player option. No guarantee that he'll be in the bullpen come opening day, but if the Cubs choose to cut ties it's going to cost them that $5 million. I guess there's a slim chance they could trade him, but that seem very unlikely.