News Cubs Team Notes

[Chicago Cubs]

Cubs Release Chris Flexen

The Cubs released righty Chris Flexen, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. Chicago had designated him for assignment last week. MLBTR has learned that Flexen declined an outright assignment, leading to the release. As a player with five-plus years of service time, Flexen will collect the remaining portion of his $1.5MM salary.

Flexen signed an offseason minor league deal and was called up at the end of April. That initially worked brilliantly. The 31-year-old fired 28 innings of 0.65 ERA ball over his first two months. Flexen’s 13.5% strikeout rate and pre-2025 track record suggested he was in line for significant regression. That arrived in July, when opponents blasted six home runs and tagged him for 15 runs (13 earned) through 15 2/3 innings. He allowed multiple runs in each of his final four appearances.

The Cubs pulled the plug last week. Flexen concluded his organizational tenure with a 3.06 earned run average over 43 2/3 innings. Estimators like SIERA, FIP and xERA all felt his true level was closer to allowing five earned runs per nine — essentially a match for the 4.95 ERA he posted over 160 innings for the White Sox a year ago.

Flexen has the ability to log multiple innings out of the bullpen or build back out as rotation depth. That’ll at least get him interest on a minor league contract, and it’s not out of the question that he finds a big league deal. A signing team would only pay him the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for the final couple months. That’d be subtracted from the Cubs’ commitments.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/cubs-release-chris-flexen.html

 

[Chicago Cubs]

Cubs Sign Forrest Wall To Minor League Deal

The Cubs are in agreement with outfielder Forrest Wall on a minor league contract, reports Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register. He opted out of a non-roster deal with the Padres last week.

Wall had spent the entire season in Triple-A with San Diego. He hit .298/.384/.429 while going 21-22 in stolen base attempts. Wall only hit four home runs but reached base at a strong clip behind a high batting average and a solid 10.4% walk rate. That wasn’t enough to get an MLB look from the Padres. Wall did get brief big league stints with the Braves and Marlins last year, combining for 16 games. He had eight hits (all singles) with a trio of walks and eight strikeouts in 35 plate appearances.

A former supplemental first-round pick, Wall has played parts of six Triple-A seasons. He owns a .273/.360/.391 slash in nearly 1900 trips to the plate. Wall is a plus runner who has played all three outfield positions, but his big league experience has mostly come in left field. He’s a patient hitter but doesn’t have a ton of power and only makes contact at a league average rate.

The Cubs have a crowded outfield picture. Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker have the spots secure. Seiya Suzuki is at designated hitter but would play the corner outfield in the event of an injury. Kevin Alcantara and top prospect Owen Caissie are on the 40-man roster and on optional assignment. Wall’s best path to a big league job is probably as a September call-up who could serve as a pinch-runner. He has more than 300 steals in nearly 1000 career minor league games.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/cubs-sign-forrest-wall-to-minor-league-deal.html

 

[Chicago Cubs]

Orioles Sign Greg Allen To Major League Deal

The Orioles announced that they have signed outfielder Greg Allen to a major league deal. A roster spot was vacated earlier when infielder/outfielder Vidal Bruján was claimed off waivers by Atlanta. Allen had been with the Cubs on a minor league deal but was released a few days ago, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The O’s also reinstated first baseman Ryan Mountcastle from the 60-day injured list and recalled outfielder Jordyn Adams. Those two will take the spots of outfielders Colton Cowser and Tyler O’Neill. Cowser has been placed on the seven-day concussion IL, retroactive to August 7, and O’Neill on the 10-day IL, retroactive to August 6, due to right wrist inflammation. The O’s had 40-man vacancies for Mountcastle, so no corresponding move was required in that regard.

Allen has been playing fairly well for Triple-A Iowa this year, with a .270/.355/.440 line and 105 wRC+ in 231 plate appearances. He also stole 11 bases while playing all three outfield positions. Given that solid performance, it’s possible he opted out of that pact, rather than simply being released.

Regardless, the result is he gets an opportunity with the O’s. He has had big league chances before but without much success, having slashed .231/.300/.340 in 828 plate appearances from 2017 to 2023. However, he stole 48 bases in that time and got some strong marks for his glovework in the outfield.

The O’s opened up some playing time in their outfield recently. Ahead of the deadline, they traded both Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn to the Padres, in addition to flipping Cedric Mullins to the Mets. Calling up Heston Kjerstad would have made sense but he’s been shut down due to fatigue, per Danielle Allentuck of the Baltimore Banner.

Lately, Coswer, O’Neill, Jeremiah Jackson and Dylan Carlson have been sharing the outfield time. With Cowser and O’Neill now heading to the IL, Allen and Adams give them some other outfielders who can factor into the mix. Allen is out of options, so if the O’s want to remove him from the active roster at any point, he would need to be removed from the 40-man entirely.

As for Mountcastle, he’s looking to put a nice finish on what has otherwise been an awful year. He hit .246/.280/.348 in 52 games before a hamstring strain sent him to the IL at the end of May. The O’s can retain him for 2026 via arbitration but he likely needs to show them something good down the stretch for that to be a possibility. He is already making $6.787M this year. His results this year will hurt his earning power but he would be due at least a nominal raise.

He came into this year with a career .265/.316/.450 batting line and 111 wRC+. If he can hit like that for a few weeks, perhaps the O’s will bring him back next year. He’s in the designated hitter spot tonight with Coby Mayo playing first base.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/orioles-sign-greg-allen-to-major-league-deal.html

 

[Chicago Cubs]

Cubs, Nicky Lopez Agree To Minor League Deal

The Cubs and veteran infielder Nicky Lopez agreed to a minor league contract over the weekend, as first indicated on the MiLB.com transaction log. Lopez opted out of a minor league deal with the Yankees last week and quickly returned for what’s now a third stint with the Cubs organization this season alone. Lopez was already back in the lineup with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate yesterday.

Lopez signed a minor league deal with Chicago back in February. He didn’t make the big league roster in camp and took an opt-out in his deal, after which he signed a major league pact with the Angels. That proved to be a short-lived stint, with Lopez lasting only five games before being cut loose. After clearing waivers, Lopez signed a major league deal with the Cubs and appeared in 14 games off the bench before being designated for assignment again. He’s since signed minor league deals with the D-backs and Yankees but opted out of both.

It’s been a dizzying season, transaction-wise, for the versatile Lopez. He’s signed contracts with four different organizations but tallied only 19 games and 28 plate appearances in the majors. Lopez has gone just 1-for-24 with four walks (and only three strikeouts) in that tiny sample of sparse playing time. His Triple-A work between the Cubs, D-backs and Yankees has (of course) been better than that — but still not great. In 42 games, he’s taken 178 turns at the plate and batted .259/.309/.315.

Lopez has rarely provided much help with the bat, however. He’s the consummate glove-first utility infielder. While he did post an out-of-the-blue .300/.365/.378 performance in 565 plate appearances with the 2021 Royals, Lopez has limped to a .229/.300/.283 big league batting line in parts of four subsequent seasons and carries a modest .245/.310/.311 line in 2374 plate appearances as a major leaguer.

Though he’s lacking at the plate, Lopez is a roughly average runner with a plus glove all around the infield. He’s spent more than 2300 innings at both middle infield positions and drawn high-end grades from Statcast at each position. Defensive Runs Saved isn’t as keen on his work at shortstop but grades him as an elite second baseman. Lopez hasn’t spent as much time at the hot corner (433 innings), but both Statcast’s Outs Above Average (9) and DRS (6) feel he’s been outstanding there.

The Cubs’ needs in the infield don’t look as pressing after Willi Castro was added at the deadline and now that top prospect Matt Shaw has caught fire (.328/.349/.770, seven homers in 63 plate appearances post-All-Star break). But Lopez offers some versatility and depth at multiple positions, and he could be an option to join the club when rosters expand to 28 in September, providing skipper Craig Counsell with some late-game options in terms of both pinch-running and defensive shuffling.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/cubs-nicky-lopez-agree-to-minor-league-deal.html

 

[Chicago Cubs]

Cubs Designate Jon Berti For Assignment

The Cubs announced today that catcher Miguel Amaya and right-hander Javier Assad have both been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. In corresponding active roster moves, the Cubs have optioned right-hander Nate Pearson to Triple-A and designated infielder Jon Berti for assignment. The 40-man roster had one vacancy, with Berti’s DFA clearing another.

Berti, 35, signed with the Cubs in the offseason. He has long been a scrappy and versatile utility player in the bigs, playing almost every position on the diamond while stealing bases and often producing offense around league average.

The Cubs came into the year with some uncertainty at third base and they threw a few things at the wall there. They traded Isaac Paredes to the Astros as part of the Kyle Tucker deal, opening a path for prospect Matt Shaw to earn the job. Just in case Shaw didn’t hit the ground running, they had some backup plans. They acquired Vidal Bruján, took Gage Workman in the Rule 5 draft, in addition to signing Justin Turner and Berti.

Most of those moves didn’t work out well, including Berti. He has hit just .210/.262/.230 in his 107 plate appearances this year. He hung around the roster as Shaw and other guys struggled. Workman was jettisoned long ago. More recently, Shaw has started to click and the Cubs also added Willi Castro ahead of the deadline. That bumped out Bruján a couple of weeks back and now Berti loses his roster spot as well.

With the trade deadline having passed, the Cubs will have to put Berti on waivers. Given his struggles and his salary, he won’t be claimed. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. It’s possible the Cubs skip that formality and simply release him.

At that point, any club could sign Berti and would only have to pay him the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Cubs pay. It’s possible he garners interest at that point from a club looking to bolster its bench. Berti came into this year with 97 steals, a .259/.337/.366 line and 95 wRC+ while playing everywhere except catcher and first base.

Without Berti, the Cubs are going with a three-catcher setup. While Amaya has been on the IL, Carson Kelly has been the primary backstop, backed up by Reese McGuire. No one in that trio can be optioned to the minors, so the Cubs are keeping all three of them, at least for now.

Assad’s return seemingly shuffles the rotation a bit. Assad is listed as tonight’s probable starter. Ben Brown was previously in that spot, so it seems he will slide back into a long relief role. Assad posted a 3.73 earned run average over 29 starts for the Cubs last year. He hasn’t been able to build on that here in 2025, as he suffered an oblique strain during spring training and then re-aggravated that strain during the season. He’ll be making his season debut north of the border tonight as the Cubs are in Toronto to face the Blue Jays.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/cubs-designate-jon-berti-for-assignment.html

 

[Chicago Cubs]

Cubs To Place Miguel Amaya On Injured List With Sprained Ankle

Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya had to be carted off the field during tonight’s matchup with the Blue Jays. He hurt his left ankle running to first base in the eighth inning. After the game, manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times) that Amaya’s X-rays thankfully came back negative for a broken bone, but the backstop still sprained his ankle and will require a trip to the IL. While he has avoided the worst, this is nonetheless a tough blow for Amaya, who was playing in his first game back after suffering an oblique strain in May.

More to come…

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...maya-on-injured-list-with-sprained-ankle.html

 

[Chicago Cubs]

Cubs To Promote Owen Caissie For MLB Debut

The Cubs are planning to promote top prospect Owen Caissie, as reported by Kiley McDaniel and Jesse Rogers of ESPN. The young outfielder is already on the 40-man, and he will presumably take Miguel Amaya’s spot on the active roster. Amaya sprained his ankle tonight and will require an IL stint. As for Caissie, the Ontario native is expected to make his MLB debut tomorrow against the Blue Jays.

The Padres selected Caissie in the second round of the 2020 draft, and they flipped him to the Cubs that winter as part of the trade package that brought Yu Darvish to San Diego. He has since worked his way up Chicago’s minor league system, turning into one of the team’s most promising prospects. Baseball America ranked him 21st in the organization in 2021, eighth in 2022, 13th in 2023, fifth in 2024, and second in 2025. He has also ranked among BA’s overall top 100 prospects in each of the past three years. Not every source was quite as high on Caissie entering the 2025 campaign; FanGraphs dropped him off their top 100 list after ranking him 65th in 2024, while The Athletic’s Keith Law has never included Caissie among his top 100 prospects. Yet, none ever doubted Caissie’s huge raw power – the question was whether he could translate that power into success at the highest level.

That question loomed larger than ever after Caissie slashed .278/.375/.472 with a .195 isolated power and a 115 wRC+ in his season at Triple-A in 2024. Those are solid but hardly earth-shattering numbers, especially not for a bat-first corner outfielder. However, the lefty slugger has taken a massive step forward this year, with 22 home runs and 50 extra-base hits in 92 games for the Iowa Cubs. His .281 ISO and 145 wRC+ both rank fifth among qualified hitters in the International League. His strikeout rate is still high – that has always and probably will always be an issue – but a 28.0% K-rate certainly isn’t fatal, at least not if he keeps drawing his walks and crushing home runs.

None of this is to say that Caissie is a sure-thing, middle-of-the-order jolt for the Cubs’ lineup. He’s still just a 23-year-old prospect who has to prove his swing-and-miss issues won’t sink him against MLB pitching and, in particular, left-handed MLB pitching. Still, it’s exciting that he’s joining the team for the stretch run as they look to hold on to the NL’s top Wild Card spot and try to challenge the seemingly unstoppable Brewers for the NL Central crown. Any offensive boost he can provide will be much appreciated. The Cubs rank among the league’s best offensive teams on the season, but they’ve struggled as of late, scoring just 34 runs in 11 games since the trade deadline.

With that said, it’s worth wondering where Caissie would fit into Chicago’s lineup. He can play the corner outfield or DH, and the Cubs are set at those positions with Kyle Tucker, Ian Happ, and Seiya Suzuki. Tucker bats lefty like Caissie, while Happ is a switch-hitter with stronger splits against righty pitching. Suzuki bats right-handed, but he doesn’t have any trouble facing same-handed pitching. Ultimately, as the cliché goes, this is the best kind of problem for manager Craig Counsell to have. He can take advantage of Caissie’s presence on the roster to give his veterans a bit more rest, particularly the slumping Tucker. As long as Caissie hits, it will work out quite nicely. On the other hand, this means there’s quite a bit of pressure on the youngster to perform right away. The Cubs are as competitive as they’ve been in several years, and they can’t afford to take away reps from Tucker, Suzuki, and Happ if Caissie isn’t producing.

The roster fit isn’t perfect, but the Cubs only had four healthy minor leaguers on the 40-man roster to choose from, and it’s hard to argue that Caissie didn’t earn this opportunity over fellow top prospects Kevin Alcántara and Moisés Ballesteros, or the less-heralded Ben Cowles.

Image in post courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/cubs-to-promote-owen-caissie-for-mlb-debut.html