Cubs to cut outfielder Jason Heyward after the season
The Chicago Cubs CHICAGO— will cut ties with right fielder Jason Heyward after this season, ending one of baseball’s most expensive and unproductive free-agent signings with a year left on his contract.
“We’re not going have him with the team next year,” Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer said Monday. “We’ve already talked to him about that. We want to give him the full offseason to find an oppor- tunity. For us, given where we are as a group and where we’re likely going to be in the corner outfield next year, with Seiya (Suzuki) in (right field), we’re going to move in a different direction.”
Heyward, who turned 33 on Tuesday, signed a $184 million, eight-year contract before the 2016 season but has batted only .245 with 62 home runs in seven seasons with the Cubs.
He famously rallied team- mates with an inspirational pep talk during a rain delay late in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series in Cleveland. Chicago went on to win 8-7 in 10 innings, ending a cham- pionship drought that dated back to 1908.
Heyward is hitting .204 with one home run and 10 RBIs in 137 at-bats this season. He’s been on the 10-day injured list since June 27 because of right knee inflam- mation.
After releasing Heyward this winter, the Cubs will still owe him $22 million for the final year of his contract. Once he clears waivers, any team can sign him at the minimum major league salary.
“I think he’s a great sounding board for the guys, but
Jason and I have talked about where things are going in the future,” Hoyer said. “For next year, we’re not going to have him as part of the team. We’ll go our separate directions at the end of the year and give him a chance to have that full offseason to find a job.”
Heyward was a regular on the 2016 Cubs team that won the World Series and was praised for that famous speech to teammates during Game 7.
He won Gold Glove awards in 2016 and 2017 for his defensive excellence in right field, but his offensive production has steadily dipped. That regression, combined with the addition of younger corner outfielders, put Heyward’s future with the Cubs in doubt.
“He doesn’t like it but understands where we are,” said Hoyer, who indicated Heyward wants to play.
In other news, the Cubs claimed outfielder Franmil Reyes off waivers from Cleve- land. Reyes batted .213 with nine homers, 28 RBIs and a .603 OPS in 70 games with the Guardians this season. He struck out 104 times in 263 at-bats.
The 27-year-old Reyes is a .253 career hitter with 101 home runs and a .793 OPS in five major league seasons.
Sale out for year after breaking wrist in bike accident
Red Sox leftBOSTON — hander Chris Sale broke his right wrist in a bike accident over the weekend and will miss the rest of the season, the team said Tuesday, the latest setback during an injury-plagued three years for the Boston ace.
Sale had surgery Monday and is expected to be ready for the start of spring train- ing next year.
“You couldn’t make this up,” Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom said Tuesday. “It stinks. It’s really unfortunate. We’re relieved this wasn’t worse, obviously. Very glad this wasn’t worse. But it’s been such a run of bad luck for him and obvi- ously for us.”
Sale’s latest injury raises questions about his future with the team once he’s healthy. The 33-year-old appeared in just two games this season, throwing 5 2/3 innings. He suffered a broken left pinkie finger when he was hit by a line drive against the New York Yankees on July 17 and had surgery the next day. The start of his season was delayed after he broke a rib while working out on his own during the lockout.
“We need to dispatch some people to go find whoever has the Chris Sale voodoo doll and recover it,” Bloom said.
Bloom said Sale rode his bike home from a throwing session on Saturday at Boston College near his home. He took his bike out again to get lunch and hit something as he was going down a hill, throwing him from the bike and causing what Bloom called “a pretty rough spill.”
Sale’s still-healing left pinkie wasn’t harmed in the crash, Bloom said.
Sale has thrown only 48 1/3 innings in the regular season and nine in the postseason since the end of 2019. He missed the pandemic-shortened 2020 season because of Tommy John surgery and went 5-1 with a 3.16 ERA in nine starts last year. He’s logged only 14 starts, including three in the playoffs, over the past three seasons.
He is in the third year of a five-year, $145 million deal.
The Red Sox came within two wins of the World Series in 2021 but are last in the AL East thanks in part to injuries that have diminished both their starting rotation and regular lineup. Boston entered Tuesday at 54-56, 4 1/2 games out of the final AL wild-card spot.