Another player out the door for the Cubs today, after the (presumed) departure of Michael Hermosillo via a non-tender, it’s reliever Trevor Megill getting claimed off of waivers by the Twins.
Megill, 28, was one of the more enigmatic/vexing/frustrating/tantalizing relievers the Cubs rotated through this year. When he was right, he went through a Kimbrellian stretch of a 45+ % strikeout rate, paired with a 0% walk rate. Seriously, he did that for a long stretch. But too often, he was not right, and he was getting hit hard.
From an earlier discussion on Megill: “His huge size and over-the-top delivery is simultaneously what makes him so hard to hit and also what makes it so much harder for him to locate his pitches where he remains so hard to hit. So when he stays at the top or bottom of the zone, good luck. You won’t hit him. But when he misses to the middle – which he does much more than you’d want any pitcher to miss – he’s just as dingable as any other pitcher. Or at least that’s how I see things, and how I suspect you wind up a guy who gets SO many strikeouts, issues SO few walks, and yet still gives up SO many homers.”
I don’t like losing Megill in this moment, but I can understand why the Cubs wanted to take a chance on sneaking him through waivers at a busy transaction time. Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you don’t. And Megill could still wind up being a successful reliever for the Twins. Good luck to him.
Widening the lens, it’s interesting to see the Cubs opening up some 40-man spots with this and the Hermosillo move. Yan Gomes will take one, but even after that, the 40-man is only at 37. Other imminent moves coming with the flurry of activity and the non-tender deadline coming tonight?