Over the offseason, the Chicago Cubs made a rather risky decision, sending one among their former prime prospects to the Miami Marlins for Vidal Brujan. First baseman Matt Mervis, who had appreciable success within the minors, was coming off his first down yr in 2024 earlier than departing the Windy Metropolis. However the danger implied wasn’t in dealing Mervis.
In two stints with the Cubs, Mervis didn’t impress, hitting a mere .155 with three residence runs in 116 major-league at-bats. And with Michael Busch thriving at first base, Mervis’ presence with the membership turned superfluous. Buying and selling for a participant like Brujan, who was as soon as MLB Pipeline’s No. 50 prospect and might play everywhere in the diamond, made sense.
Nonetheless, like Mervis, Brujan had additionally failed to supply on the major-league degree, hitting .189 with 5 residence runs in 497 at-bats whereas taking part in for the Rays and Marlins. And much more regarding is the truth that Brujan is out of minor-league choices. If he’s to be demoted, he’ll have to be DFA’d. Now, it appears this obvious danger is near turning into a actuality.
After the sequence in Tokyo, Brujan shortly fell on the injured checklist, protecting him on the group whereas not on the roster. Earlier than his return, the Cubs optioned their prime prospect and third baseman, Matt Shaw, resulting from his struggles, primarily saving themselves from designating both Brujan or fellow infielder, Gage Workman, for project upon the previous’s return.
Nonetheless, Chicago finally did half with Workman to deliver again veteran utilityman Nicky Lopez. Workman’s absence leaves Brujan because the final susceptible place participant on the Cubs’ roster. That brings us again to Matt Shaw.
When Shaw was demoted, supervisor Craig Counsell, together with president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, voiced a desire to have Shaw enhance in Triple-A and return this season. To date, Shaw has made some encouraging progress. After some temporary preliminary struggles, Shaw is now hitting .324/.457/.486 with one residence run in 37 at-bats coming into Friday. At this price, we will anticipate Shaw to return someday quickly.
Upon Shaw’s eventual promotion, the Cubs could have a painful resolution to make on Brujan. Ought to they lose Brujan on the waiver wire, the Mervis commerce could have been for nothing. This begs the query of whether or not the Cubs sorely mismanaged Mervis, who has proven some important energy potential with the Marlins, having hit seven residence runs on the yr and ideally may have been utilized in a commerce for pitching assist reasonably than a swap for Brujan.
This season, Brujan is 2-for-7 with a double coming into Friday’s match towards the Brewers. He additionally just lately got here beneath hearth from Counsell for misplaying a grounder.
