If you are a former top Chicago Cubs prospect that never quite lived up to expectations, now is your time to come home. Mark Pawalek, I’ve got your ticket when you’re ready.
Fresh on the heels of signing Luis Montanez to a minor league contract with a Spring Training invite, today the Cubs signed former Cubs pitcher Todd Wellemeyer to an $800,000 minor league deal (which I suppose means that he earns the full $800,000 only if he cracks the ML roster). Converted to a starter in recent years, Wellemeyer is perhaps best remembered by Cubs fans for his dominating debut as a rookie when he struck out four in two innings of work (was that actually his debut, or has my memory morphed into the history that I want to remember?).
Wellemeyer will be given a chance to win a spot in the Cubs’ bullpen, but if not, he may end up in AAA Iowa, waiting for injury or ineffectiveness to beset a resident Cubs pitcher.