Cubs Transactions: Clayton Richard Released, Brian Matusz Outrighted
From the Chicago Cubs’ transaction log, we can discern the outcome for two lefties recently designated for assignment by the Cubs.
First, Clayton Richard, who was DFA’d on July 26 to make room for Aroldis Chapman, has been released. From here, it’s not impossible that he could return to the Cubs in the upper minors as depth, but it seems more likely that he’ll be in search of another organization to join for the stretch run. Richard was a huge boost to the Cubs in the second half of 2015 and in the playoffs, but he couldn’t quite get the same results rolling for the Cubs in 2016.
Second, Brian Matusz, who was DFA’d immediately after his three-inning start this weekend, has been outrighted to Iowa. What this means is that Matsuz cleared waivers (unsurprising, since a waiver claim would have required placing him on the 25-man roster (he’s out of options)), and the Cubs elected to outright him to AAA Iowa (that’s how you send players on the 40-man roster to the minor leagues, and it takes them off the 40-man roster).
However, by virtue of his service time, Matusz has the right to refuse the outright assignment and instead elect free agency. That the Cubs have outrighted Matusz does not yet necessarily mean he’ll decide to stick with the Cubs organization and head to Iowa.
He does show up on Iowa’s roster online, though that is not always indicative that the final decision has been made. In short, we’ll see soon if Matusz decided to accept the outright assignment to Iowa, or if he’s going to look around and see if he can find a better fit elsewhere. There’s only a month left in the AAA season, for what it’s worth.
