The Cubs continue to fill out their 40-man roster, as they’ve now picked up left-handed pitcher Ian Clarkin off waivers from the White Sox. That name might be familiar to you, as he was part of the seven-player trade a couple years back between the Yankees and White Sox that involved relievers David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle and Todd Frazier.
Clarkin was a first round pick by the Yankees in 2013, right behind Aaron Judge as a matter of fact.
In 2013 draft #Yankees had 2 compensation picks for losing Swisher/Rafael Soriano in free agency. Took Judge 32d, Ian Clarkin 33d. Clarkin went to #WhiteSox in Robertson/Kahnle/Frazier deal, picked up on waivers by #Cubs today.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 20, 2018
The 23-year-old has battled some big injuries already in his young career in the minors. He missed the entire 2015 season because of an elbow injury and was out the last couple months of the 2016 season with a knee issue.
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Clarkin reached Double-A in the White Sox organization in 2018, and although he generated a lot of ground balls, the lefty didn’t have good results, posting a 4.98 ERA in 68.2 innings at Double-A. Overall, he had a 4.76 ERA at three minor league stops in 2018.
The former first round pick has made most of his minor league appearances as a starting pitcher, pitching in 81 games and starting 66 of them. During five seasons Clarkin has recorded a 3.55 ERA, in 349.2 innings. He did have a great 2017, when he pitched 86.2 innings at A-ball and had a 2.60 ERA.
There’s also this positive note from Clarkin’s 2018 season.
After returning from a groin injury, Clarkin was more or less moved into relief role by White Sox at AA in mid-July. From then on, he posted a 1.71 ERA over 31.2 IP. His K and BB rates were nothing to write home about, but he got a crapload of grounders & was impossible to hit.
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) November 20, 2018
In other moves, earlier in the day the Rangers claimed infielder Jack Reinheimer from the Cubs.
INF Jack Reinheimer claimed off waivers by Rangers.
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) November 20, 2018
The Cubs 40-man roster was down to 38 at that point, but it’s back up to 39 with the acquisition of Clarkin.
Before these moves, Ken Rosenthal reported that the Cubs were in trade talks with the Padres.
However, no deal has emerged as of yet, but expect a few more moves before the end of today, as it’s the deadline to set the 40-man roster before the rule 5 draft.
