The Chicago Cubs have finally acquired some bullpen help as they made a trade with the Seattle Mariners Monday night getting right-handed reliever Tyson Miller.
The Cubs are sending right-handed hitting infielder Jake Slaughter to the Mariners in exchange for Miller. ESPN’s Jeff Passan broke the news on Monday.
Miller, 28, was a 2016 draft pick by the Cubs, taken in the fourth round out of California Baptist. The right-hander made his MLB debut with the Cubs during the 2020 season, but didn’t stick around. He doesn’t have much MLB experience, logging a total of 42.2 innings from 2020-24, but he has put up some impressive numbers with the Mariners this season.
Miller was DFA’d by Seattle despite having 12 strikeouts to 1 walk in 11.2 innings pitching for the Mariners in 2024. The righty is only allowing a .186 batting average against him and has a fantastic 0.77 WHIP over nine relief outings. Miller posted a 3.09 ERA, surrendering two home runs and four total earned runs during his time in Seattle.
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The right-handed pitcher has been with the Cubs, Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets and the Mariners since breaking into the big leagues back in 2020.
This certainly won’t be the first trade made by the Cubs this season to address the bullpen. The results have been bad, but the team has also been ravaged by injuries. Currently five of the team’s eight relievers who were on the Opening Day roster are on the injured list.
As for Slaughter, the Mariners are getting a who can hit and has shown some pop at Triple-A. He’s also played all over the infield and has a handful of games out in left field. So far in 2024, Slaughter has slashed .297/.392/.486, with 5 home runs in 130 plate appearances with the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A. Last year, Slaughter crushed 22 home runs 104 games and ended the season with a 103 wRC+ after posting a .243/.340/.482 slash line in 432 plate appearances.
The Cubs drafted Slaughter in the 18th round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of LSU.
Don’t order your World Series tickets quite yet.